any purchases, but this correspondence must pass under the inspection of the chief of the white eunuchs. They receive a very moderate income from the exchequer (Zarb-harre), and in case of sickness are attended by his highness's private physician. Though their female slaves are chosen from among the aged, in order to prevent consequences, still cases of pregnancy occasionally occur. On these occasions, the Kehaya-Cadina, or directress of the barem, accompanied by the midwife and the Kislar Aga, assist at the delivery, and the midwife instantly seizes the new-born infant, male or female, and strangles it. The reigning Sultan is sometimes induced to spare the females, but the males never; and the females so saved are not allowed the title of Sultanas, even after their fathers ascend the throne, but are called Hanoum-Sultanes, or Lady Sultanas. Mustapha III., father of Selim, had a brother named Bajazet, heir apparent to the throne, whom he loved and esteemed on account of his talents, wit, and extraordinary personal strength. He often sent for him to his harem, and detained him during three or four days, consulting him on the affairs of the empire; and when Bajazet was indisposed, Mustapha attended him in his chamber, and often sent the father of the Hospodar, John of Caradza, pupil of Boerhaave, to attend him. One of Bajazet's female slaves was delivered of a male child, and during the accouchement, the Kislar-aga, and the Kehaya-Cadina, were shut out of the apartment by the prince, who was aware of the infanticide law. The only person admitted was the midwife, and Bajazet stood beside her with a poniard in his hand, declaring that if she dared to strangle the child, her instant death was certain. He received the living infant from the midwife, gave it in charge to his other female slaves, and leaving the apartment, thus addressed the Kislar-aga- Go, announce on my part to the Sultan that a son is born to me,' and from that moment kept the child constantly at his side to preserve it from assassination. On hearing this circumstance Mustapha became distracted, and employed every possible argument to persuade his brother to deliver up the child, and for this purpose sent to him a deputation consisting of the Grand Vizier and the Mufti ; but Bajazet was immoveable in his determination to spare the boy. The Sultan, in despair, went himself to his brother, and threatened to give orders for the child's assassination if it were not yielded willingly. Bajazet in a fury drew forth his poniard, and exclaimed-First I will plunge this dagger in thy breast, and will do the same to every one who shall attack my infant's life.' The Sultan, terrified by this menace, retired, and instantly began to devise means for his brother's assassination. He employed a thousand attempts to poison him, but Bajazet was on his guard, though dragging a miserable existence in continual fear for his own life and that of his child; he was obliged to cook his own food, and in his illness he refused to take auy medicine till his physician had tasted it. Notwithstanding all these precautions he fell a victim to his brother's artifices, who had him poisoned by a lavement. During the whole of his illness the unhappy prince held his child in his arms, and seemed to have no other painful sensation than that arising from the fear of losing the object of his paternal love. Mustapha, being attacked by dropsy in the stomach, and feeling the approach of death, sent for the Grand Vizier and the Mufti, and alleging the incapacity of his brother AbdoulHamid, communicated to them that he wished to abdicate in favour of Selim his son, then aged twelve years. He enjoined them to make this proposition to the members of the high clergy, in order that the abdication might receive their full assent; but the Ulemas answered, that they could not infringe the fundamental laws of the empire by taking away the succession from the oldest heir, and that it would be unjust that Abdoul-Hamid, after having waited forty years in the Cafesse, should be deprived of the throne in favour of a boy of twelve. This forcible reply was dictated less by loyalty than by the influence which Abdoul-Hamid's party had already acquired among the ulemas, the ministers, and janissaries. Asma Sultana, sister of Mustapha, an intriguing woman, supported the cause of her brother Abdoul-Hamid, who accordingly ascended the throne on the death of Mustapha, which happened soon after. The new Sultan was a weak voluptuary, entirely guided by his favourites, who advised him to rid himself of Selim. Accordingly he attempted several times to poison the young prince, and forbade him any sort of correspondence or instruction, so that when Selim ascended the throne he was guilty of endless buffooneries, and the first two years of his reign were a series of extravagance and folly. His natural talents were not developed for a long time after. On the death of Abdoul-Hamid the war between Russia and the Porte was still carried on, and Selim, instead of thinking how he might best prosecute the war or obtain peace, abandoned himself to every dissolute excess, surrounded by thoughtless favourites, at the head of whom was Mahmoud-Bey, his tutor. He traversed the streets of the capital from morning till night, disguised in the dress of a Mahometan sailor with his legs and arms bare. The lower orders of the Mussulmen had conceived so great a contempt for him that they hissed him whenever he passed their shops in this unseeming costume, and when they saw saw him approaching were wont to say, 'O, yonder comes Mahmed the fool.*' Amidst all his debaucheries, Selim had not lost his filial love for the Sultana, his mother, who was a Georgian by birth, and endowed with rare qualities of heart and mind. Afflicted at beholding her son's disgraceful conduct, she endeavoured, by threats and entreaties, to dissuade him from his dissolute course of life; but Selim, as soon as he left his mother, always forgot her prayers and remonstrances, and went to the Selamlik, where he joined the partners of his pleasures. His restless habits at length caused ulcers on his feet, of so very serious a nature, that he could neither walk nor stand; but, in fulfilling his indispensable duty of attending the mosque on Fridays, was obliged to be lifted on horseback, and there supported by his satellites. The Caïmakan and the Mufti, by order of the Sultana-mother, waited on him during his illness, and entreated him to change his conduct on recovery; adding, that they were obliged to announce officially that his subjects had lost all respect for his august person; that they openly murmured and complained of his conduct; and that if, on his restoration to health, the former courses were resumed, they could not answer for the consequences. The Sultana-mother did more; she sent a verbal order by the Caïmakan to the patriarch of the Greeks, named Procopius, commanding him to assemble round him the patriarch of Jerusalem, with all the members of the synod, and to make them swear secrecy with regard to what the interpreter of the Porte should confide to them. The patriarchs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, with all the members of the synod, accordingly assembled on the same day, with closed doors, and were sworn to keep the secret. The interpreter then acquainted them that officers from the seraglio would come at midnight, and take the patriarch of Jerusalem to recite prayers by the bed-side of a person dangerously ill, and a friend of the Sultana. Accordingly, two hours before midnight, four Baltadzy, with two great Canteries and two caparisoned horses arrived at the residence of the patriarch; announced to him the order with which they were charged; told him to bring with him the necessary prayer-books, pontifical robes, and a deacon of his order. The patriarch obeyed, and, thus accompanied, went to the seraglio, where a number of eunuchs bearing tapers waited him at the foot of the staircase leading to the apartment of the Kislar-aga. They helped him to ascend the stairs, and introduced him into an ante-chamber, where he was requested to * As the Grand Vizier was at the head of the main army against the Russians and Austrians, a pacha with three tails filled his place as substitute at Constantinople. repose repose while the Sultana was made acquainted with his arrival. While he was thus sitting, several eunuchs stood before him with their arms crossed in the oriental manner, out of respect. A pipe and coffee were presented to him, which the patriarch refused, saying, that he would take them after his function had been completed. Shortly after two black officers took him without his deacon, and led him to the door of the harem, where the Kislar-aga was waiting for him. He then, preceded by the Kislar-aga, and followed by the two eunuchs, one carrying his pontifical robes, and the other his Testament, went forward into a vast saloon filled with female slaves. As they drew near to the Sultan's apartment, the patriarch demanded permission to invest himself with his pontifical robes, when the Kislar-aga proposed that they should assist him in robing; and on the patriarch replying in the affirmative, the female slaves untied his bundle, took out the vestments, and attired the patriarch. Four of them then, with tapers in their hands, preceded him into the chamber of the Sultan, where he entered, holding the gospel in his hand. The Sultana-mother standing to receive him, said, 'You are welcome, my lord patriarch; and Selim, reclining on a sofa covered with cashmere, saluted him with a slight motion of the head. The patriarch, after having recited passages from the gospel during a half hour, retired, making a profound reverence; and as he left the room the Sultan said aloud to his mother, 'Let honour be done to the patriarch.' He was then reconducted with the same ceremony to the chamber of the Kislar-aga, and reposed in the same apartment, where sherbet, coffee, and a pipe were offered to him. Soon after an officer entered, and presented the patriarch with a bag of sequins, which were declined, on the plea that the Christian religion forbade the acceptance of money for performing a pious function. The same escort of Baltadzy that had conducted the patriarch, attended him on his return; and the following day the Sultana sent him a packet of gold-embroidered cloth for vestments, and fifty pounds of wax tapers. But to return to Selim. Whether by the counsels of his mother, or the energetic representations of the caïmakan and the mufti, or the impression made on him by the patriarch's presence, he certainly changed conduct on his recovery, and became the mildest and most humane of the Turks, but, at the same time, the most feeble among the predecessors of the reigning Sultan. Of Sultan Mahmoud and the principal and extraordinary circumstances of his reign, we shall shortly take an opportunity of laying a full account before our readers. SHORT REVIEWS OF BOOKS. Angelsaksisk Sproglære tilligemed en kort Læsebog, ved R. K, Rask. Stokholm. Anglo-Saxon Grammar, together with a short Practice, by R. K. Rask. Stockholm. THE author of this excellent work, Professor Rask, is already very well known to the British literary public.* His name has been mentioned with deserved commendations in more than one of our periodical publications. That he is a linguist-in all probability, the most eminent of his day-is known to every one who knows his name; that he travelled over Russia and the Great Tartary to Persia, and from thence to India, and remained for some time in the island of Ceylon, where he acquired a better knowledge of the Pali language and literature than most of his predecessors, and whence he brought a very considerable, and, in Europe, unrivalled, collection of Pali MSS., are also facts of notoriety: for while he was on this long and toilsome literary journey, his progress was reported from time to time in the leading journals of Europe. We apprehend that some ampler information concerning the life of such a man would be highly acceptable to the readers of the Foreign Review, though we lament that want of room does not allow us to gratify their wish at present; this must be reserved for a future occasion, when it will appear that this gentleman is as amiable in private life, as he is distinguished in that world of letters of which he is so great an ornament. The work before us is one of six grammars which Mr. Rask has already published. His first work was an Icelandic Grammar, of which he gave an improved edition in Swedish, Stockholm, 1817. The same year he published this Anglo-Saxon Grammar, and since then he has, at different periods, given to the world a Frisian, a Spanish, and Italian Grammar. Beside these, we have by him three several works and tracts, relative to Northern and Oriental philology: of these comprehensive and philosophical views, deep research, love of truth, exemption from partiality, and systematical arrangement are the leading characteristics. What renders Mr. Rask so peculiarly fitted to write a grammar well, is his systematic knowledge of so many tongues. This extensive and, as we think, unparalleled knowledge of what we will term philological facts, which he, for his own use, has so well arranged in his memory, has given Mr. Rask such a clear insight into the natural laws of language and speech in general, that scarcely any man before him has enjoyed it in an equal degree. For even our own Sir William Jones, though the most eminent linguist of his day, was not master of so many tongues as Mr. Rask. Now, it is the professed end of Mr. Rask's endeavours to impart this knowledge, which he has thus acquired, to every philological student, and to bring them upon an easier method of acquiring knowledge of tongues than hitherto has been practised. In this we think he has been successful. The Anglo-Saxon Grammar has the same principal divisions which Mr. Rask follows in all his works of a similar nature-Ist, on Letters; 2d, on Forms; 3d, Laws for the Formation of Words; 4th, on Composition, (or We have already spoken of this gentleman in another page of this number of our journal, Syntax ;) |