Narrative of a Journey from Constantinople to England |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Ali Pacha ancient appearance army arrived arubas attack Austrian Balkan banks Black Sea body Bosphorus Boyars bridge brought Buchorest Buda built Bulgarians called Carpathian Carpathian Mountains carriages chouash Christian coffee Constantine Constantinople covered crossed Dacia Danube death dragoman edifice Effendi empire entered Europe extraordinary formed fortress gate Giurgevo Greek church Halet head Hermanstadt hills horses Hospodar houses hundred Hungarians Hungary immediately immense inhabitants janissaries Jews land language length Mahomet miles Moldavia morning mosque mountains Mustapha never o'clock Pasha passed peasants persons piastres plain Porte post-house present proceeded provinces quarantine residence ridge river road Roman round ruins Russians Rutschûk Saxon Scythian Sea of Marmora seemed seen sent Shumla side soil stone streets Sultan surrogee Tartar Thrace tion town Transylvania traveller troops Turkey Turkish Turks Vienna village Vizir waggon wall Wallachia whole wood Ypselantes καὶ τῆς קי
Popular passages
Page 168 - ... him — ours draws it to him ; the carpenter, on the contrary, drew the saw to him, for all the teeth were set in — ours pushes it from him, for all the teeth are set out ; the mason sat while he laid the stones — ours always stands ; the scribe wrote on his hand, and from right to left — ours always writes on a desk or table, and from left to right : but the most ridiculous difference existed in the manner of building the house. We begin at the bottom and finish...
Page 61 - Mohamed rose to depart, with expressions of affectionate good-will on both sides. As they were of the same rank, they rose at the same moment from the divan on which they were sitting, and the Pasha of the Morea, as he was retiring, made a low and ceremonial reverence : the Pasha of Yanina returned it with the same profound inclination of the body ; but before he could recover himself again, Mohamed drew his yatigan from his girdle, and plunged it into the back of his host with such force, that it...
Page 15 - Much of these and similar representations are to be attributed to prejudice, and great deductions are to be made from them ; but certainly the Jews of Constantinople are a fierce and fanatic race ; persecution and suffering have not taught them moderation, and they pursue, even to death, any apostate from their own doctrines.
Page 103 - The first and most striking impression was the exceeding solitude that reigned every where around. We were within a few hundred yards of the walls of an immense metropolis, where 700,000 people lived together; but if we were at the same distance only from the ruins of Palmyra, we could not have witnessed more silence and desolation. The usual villas which are scattered near the suburbs of a large city were not to be seen, and the crowds which generally throng the entrance, no where to be met with....
Page 107 - Sea of Marmora, they again wheel about, and return up the channel ; and this course they continue, without a moment's intermission, the whole of the day. They are never seen to alight, either on land or water; they never, for a moment, deviate from their course or slack their speed; they are...
Page 201 - ... being stabbed or shot. The Bulgarians were distinguished by caps of brown sheep-skin ; jackets of cloth, made of the wool, undyed, of dark brown sheep, which their wives spin and weave ; white cloth trowsers, and sandals of raw leather, drawn under the sole, and laced with thongs over the instep ; and they carried neither pistol nor yatigan, nor any other weapon of offence : but they were still more distinguished by their countenance and demeanour. The first is open, artless, and benevolent ;...
Page 168 - However absurd these minutiae may appear to yoa, they are traits of Turkish character, which form, with other things, a striking peculiarity. It is now more than four centuries since they crossed the Hellespont, and transported themselves from Asia to Europe ; during all that time they have been in constant contact with European habits and manners, and, at times, even penetrated as far as Vienna, and so occupied the very centre of Christendom. Yet, while all the people around them have been advancing...
Page 223 - The surrounding country is therefore constantly drained to supply the waste in the capital, which nevertheless exhibits districts nearly depopulated. If we suppose that these causes operate more or less in every' part of the Turkish empire, it will not be too much to say, that there is more of human life wasted, and less supplied, than in any other country. We see every day life going out in the fairest portion of Europe, and the human race threatened with extinction in a soil and climate capable...
Page 96 - ... both of his predecessors had been strangled — one of whom was his own brother. His son prematurely died ; and it was reported that he had been made away with by his own father, lest he should be set up in his place. It is known, however, that the boy died of the small-pox, and that his father has given an extraordinary example to his subjects, by having his surviving children vaccinated : and so has shown, in one instance at least, a disposition to adopt European improvements in things not...