ledge, that their highest pleasures are the caresses of an infant whom they nourish with their milk.— Mahomet himself is never more amiable than when he enforces this pleasing duty,—“ The kiss given by an infant to its mother equals in sweetness that which we shall imprint on the threshold of Paradise."

Lady Craven observes, that the harem is sacred, even to that rapacious power which has seized the master's life, only because he was too rich. It may be said that, in Turkey likewise, women are safe from an idle, curious, impertinent public; and what is called the world can never disturb the ease and quiet of a Turkish wife. Her talents, her beauty, her happiness or misery, are equally concealed from malicious observers. Of misery, unless a Turkish woman is beyond exception unreasonable, her portion cannot be very great; for the wife whose wretched husband earns subsistence by carrying water or burthens, sits at home bedecked with jewels, or goes out as her fancy directs, and the fruits of his labour are appropriated to her

In great houses, the wives of the Turks, who compose the train of a Turkish husband, are destined to be subservient to the state of the first wife, and she treats them as she pleases in her harem.

It is not the custom among the Turks to make enquiries about their wives, and it would be con

sidered the height of indecorum in Turkey, to ask a Mahometan how his wife did.

The word Seraglio is used by way of eminence to distinguish the palace of the Grand Signior at Constantinople, where he keeps his court, and in which his concubines are lodged, and youth are trained up to fill the highest offices at court. It is a triangle about three Italian miles round, wholly within the city, at the end of the promontory Chrysorecas, now called the Seraglio Point. The buildings run back to the top of the hill, and from thence there are gardens which reach to the edge of the sea. It is enclosed with a very high and strong wall, upon which there are several watch towers; it has many gates, some of which open towards the sea-side, and others into the city, but the chief gate is one of the latter, which is constantly guarded by a company of capochees or porters; in the night it is very strongly guarded towards the sea. The outward appearance is not very beautiful, its architecture being irregular, consisting of several separate edifices in the form of pavilions and domes.

The ladies of the Seraglio arc a collection of beautiful young women, chiefly sent as presents from the provinces and the Greek islands, most of them being children of Christian parents. The brave Prince Heraclius abolished the infamous tribute of children of both sexes, which Georgia

formerly paid to the Porte yearly. The number of women in the harem depends on the taste of the reigning Sultan; Selim had two thousand, Achmet had but three hundred, and the late Sultan had nearly sixteen hundred.

On their admission they are committed to the care of old ladies, taught sewing and embroidery, music, dancing, and other accomplishments, and furnished with the richest clothes and ornaments. They all sleep in different beds, and between every fifth there is a preceptress. Their chief governess is called Katon Kiaga, or governess of the noble young ladies. There is not one servant among them, for they are obliged to wait on one another by rotation; the last that is entered serves the one who preceded herself. These ladies are never suffered to go abroad, except when the Grand Signior removes from one place to another, when a troop of black eunuchs convey them to the boats, which are enclosed with lattices and linen curtains; and when they travel by land are put into close chariots, and signals are made at certain distances, to give notice that none approach the roads through which they pass. The boats of the harem, which carry the Signior's wives, are manned with twenty-four rowers, and have white covered tilts, shut alternately by venetian blinds. Among the Sultan's attendants are a number of mutes, who act and converse by signs with great quickness;

also some dwarfs, who are exhibited for the diversion of his Majesty.

When he permits the women to walk in the garden of the Seraglio, all the people are ordered to retire, and on every side there is placed a guard of black eunuchs, with sabres drawn in their hands, while others go round in order to see that no person is near who is not belonging to the Seraglio. Should any one be found in the garden, even though it be through ignorance or inadvertence, he is undoubtedly killed, and his head brought and laid at the feet of the Grand Signior, who gives a great reward to the guard which brought it. Sometimes the Grand Signior goes into the garden to amuse himself while the women are there; and it is then and there that they use their utmost efforts to please and captivate his Majesty, by dancing, singing, seducing gestures, and amorous blandishments, by which they endeavour to ensnare the heart of the Monarch. It is not permitted to take a virgin to his bed, except during the solemn festivals, or on occasion of some extraordinary rejoicings, or the arrival of some good news. Upon such occasions, if the Sultan choose a new partner to his bed, he enters into the apartments of the women, who are ranged in files by the governess, to whom he speaks and intimates which he likes best.

The ceremony of throwing the handkerchief, as

related of the Sultan, to the girl he likes best, is an idle tale without any foundation. As soon as the Grand Signior has chosen the girl that he has destined to be his companion for the night, all the others follow her to the bath, washing and perfuming her; she is then dressed superbly, and conducted to the Sultan's chamber with singing, dancing, and rejoicing, who is generally on such an. occasion already in bed. After a certain time, upon a signal given by the Signior, the governess of the girls, with all her suite, enters the apartment, and conducts her back with the same ceremony as before, to the women's apartment. Should she fortunately prove pregnant, and be delivered of a boy, she is called Asaki Sultaness, that is to say, Sultaness-mother; for the first son she has the honour of being crowned, and has the liberty of forming a court. She has also an appointed guard of eunuchs for her particular service. None of the other ladies, though delivered of boys, are either crowned or maintained with such costly distinction as the first; however, they have their service apart, and have handsome appointments.

At the death of the Sultan, the mothers of the male children are shut up in the old Seraglio, from whence they are never allowed to come out any more, unless one of their sons ascend the throne, Baron de Tott informs us, that the female slave who chances to be mother of the Sultan, and lives