me extremely; but I own I then began to grow weary of their table, and desired our own cook might add a dish or two after our manner. But I attribute this to custom, and am very much inclined to believe, that an Indian, who had never tasted of either, would prefer their cookery to ours. Their sauces are very high, and all the roast very much done. They use a great deal of very rich spice. The soup is served for the last dish, and they have at least as great a variety of ragouts as we have. I am very sorry I could not eat as many as the good lady would have had me, who was very earnest in serving me of every thing. The treat concluded with coffee and perfumes, which is a high mark of respect; two slaves kneeling, perfumed my hair, clothes, and handkerchief. After this ceremony she commanded her slaves to play and dance, which they did with gui tars in their hands; and she excused to me their want of skill, saying, she took no care to accomplish them in that art. I returned her thanks, and soon after took my leave. LADY M. W. MONTAGUE.

SECT. LIII.

OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

I HAD the advantage of very fine weather all my journey from Adrianople to this city. The Grand Signor furnished us with thirty covered waggons for our baggage, and five coaches of the country for my Women. We found the road full of the great spahis, and their equipages, coming out of Asia to the war. They always travel with tents; but I chose to lie in the houses all the way. I will not trouble you with the names of the villages we passed, in which there was nothing remarkable but at Ciorlei, where there was a little seraglio, built for the use of the Grand Signor when he goes this road. I had the curiosity to view all the apartments destined for the ladies of his court. They were in the midst of a thick grove of trees made fresh by fountains. But I was most

surprised to see the walls almost covered with little distiches of Turkish verse, written with pensils. I made my interpreter explain them to me, and I found several of them very well turned; though I easily believed him, that they had lost much of their beauty in the translation. One was literally thus in English:

"We come into this world, we lodge, and we depart ; "He never goes that's lodg'd within my heart."

The rest of our journey was through fine painted meadows, by the side of the sea of Marmora, the an cient Propontis.

A certain French author says, Constantinople is twice as big as Paris. It does not appear to me to be much bigger than London; I am apt to think it is not so populous. The burying-fields about it are certainly much larger than the whole city. It is surprising what a vast deal of land is lost this way in Turkey. Sometimes I have seen burying-places of several miles, belonging to very inconsiderable villages, which were formerly great towns, and retain no other mark of their ancient grandeur than this dismal

one.

On no occasion do they ever remove a stone that serves for a monument. Some of them are costly enough, being of very fine marble. They set up a pillar, with a carved turban on the top of it, to the memory of a man; and as the turbans, by their different shapes, show the quality or profession, it is in a manner putting up the arms of the deceased. Besides, the pillar commonly bears an inscription in gold letters. The ladies have a simple pillar without other ornaments, except those that die unmarried, who have a rose on the top of their monument. The sepulchres of particular families are railed in, and planted round with trees. Those of the sultans, and some great men, have lamps constantly burning in them.

The exchanges are all noble buildings, full of fine alleys, the greatest part supported with pillars, and

kept wonderfully neat. Every trade has its distinct alley, where the merchandise is disposed in the same order, as in the New Exchange at London. The jewellers' quarter shows so much riches, such a vast quantity of diamonds, and all kinds of precious stones, that they dazzel the sight. The embroiderers' is also very glittering, and people walk here as much for diversion as business. The markets are most of them handsome squares, and admirably well provided, prehaps better than in any other part of the world.

I have taken care to see as much of the seraglio kere as is to be seen. It is on a point of land running into the sea; a place of prodigious extent, but very irregular. The gardens take in a large compass of ground. full of high cypress-trees, which is all I know of them. The buildings are all of white stone, leaded on the top, with gilded turrets and spires, which look very magnificent; and, indeed, I believe there is no Christian king's palace half so large. There are six large courts in it, all built round, and set with trees, having galleries of stone; one of these for the guard, another for the slaves, another for the officers of the kitchen, another for the stablers, the fifth for the divan, and the sixth for the apartment destined for audiences. On the ladies' side there are at least as many more, with distinct courts belonging to their eunuchs and attendants.

The climate about Constantinople is delightful in the highest degree. I am now setting, on the fourth of January, with the windows open, enjoying the warm sun-shine, while you are freezing over a sad sea-coal fire; and my chamber is set out with carnations, roses, and jonquils, fresh from my garden.

The pleasure of going in a barge to Chelsea is not comparable to that of rowing upon a canal of the sea here, where, for twenty miles together down the Bosphorus, the most beautiful variety of prospects present themselves. The Asiatic side is covered with fruit-trees, villages, and the most delightful land

scapes in nature. On the European stands Constantinople, situated on seven hills. The unequal heights make it seem twice as large as it is (though one of the largest cities in the world,) showing an agreeable mixture of gardens, pine and eypress trees, palaces, mosques, and public buildings, raised one above another with as much beauty, and appearance of symmetry, as any person ever saw in a cabinet adorned by the most skilful hands, where jars shew themselves above jars, mixed with cannisters, babies, and candlesticks. This is a very odd comparison, but it gives me an exact idea of the thing.

LADY M. W. MONTAGUE.

SECT. LIV.

VESRES ADDRESSED TO LADY

M. W. MONTAGUE.

I.

Is beauty or wit,

No moral as yet

To question your empire has dar'd ;

But men of discerning

Have thought that in learning

To yield to a lady was hard.

II.

Impertinent schools,

With musty dull rules,

Have reading to females deny'd ;

So Papists refuse

The bible to use,

Lest flock should be wise as their guide.
III.

'Twas a woman at first

(Indeed she was curst)

In knowledge that tasted delight;

VOL. I.

And sages agree

U

A

The laws should decree
To the first possessor the right.

IV.

Then bravely, fair dame,
Renew the old claim

Which to your whole sex does belong,
And let men receive

From a second bright Eve

The knowledge of right and of wrong.

V.

But if the first Eve

Hard doom did receive,

When only an apple had she;

What punishment new

Shall be found out for you,

Who tasting have robb'd the whole tree?

SECT. LV. .

POPE.

SINGULAR HEAD-DRESS A SINGULAR CUSTOMSIR WILLIAM TEMPLE'S OPINION OF HOLLAND. THE head-dress of the women in North Holland is very extraordinary. They have a little hair cut short and thin, which is combed down on the forehead and powdered. The cap sticks close to their ears, under which are two little pieces of silver or gold, which appear at each temple, and a large piece like a broad ribbon is under the cap, on the back part of the head.

A singular custom is likewise retained in this country of having a door in every house, which is never opened but when a corpse is carried out, which must be brought through that door, and no other. I think there is something uncommonly solemn in it; and such a door in every house would be an admirable memento to the family.

Having made the tour of the whole Province of Holland, and suffered nothing curious to escape me,