The sack of the richest city in Christendom

The sack of the richest city in Christendom, which had been the bribe offered to the Crusaders to violate their oaths, was made in the spirit of men who, having once broken through the trammels of their vows, are reckless to what lengths they go. Their abstinence and their chastity once abandoned, they plunged at once into orgies of every kind.

The Greek eye-witness gives the complement of the picture of Villeliardouin. The lust of the army spared neither maiden nor the virgin dedicated to God. Violence and debauchery were everywhere present; cries and lamentations and the groans of the victims were heard throughout the city; for everywhere pillage was unrestrained and lust unbridled. The city was in wild confusion. Nobles, old men, women, and children ran to and fro trying to save their wealth, their honor, and their lives. Knights, foot-soldiers, and Venetian sailors jostled each other in a inad scramble for plunder. Threats of ill-treatment, promises of safety if wealth were disgorged, mingled with the cries of many sufferers.

These pious brigands, as Gunther aptly calls them, acted as if they had received a license to commit every crime. Sword in hand, houses and churches were pillaged. Every insult was offered to the religion of the conquered citizens. Churches and monasteries were the richest storehouses, and were therefore the first buildings to be rifled. Monks and priests were selected for insult. The priests’ robes were placed by the Crusaders on their horses. The icons were ruthlessly torn down from the screens or were broken. The sacred buildings were ransacked for relics or their beautiful caskets. The chalices were stripped of their precious stones and converted into drinking-cups. The sacred plate was heaped with ordinary plunder.

The altars of Hagia Sophia

The altar cloths and the screens of cloth-of-gold, richly embroidered and bejewelled, were torn down, and either divided among the troops or destroyed for the sake of the gold and silver which were woven into them. The altars of Hagia Sophia, which had been the admiration of all men, were broken for the sake of the material of which they were made. Horses and mules were taken into the church in order to carry off the loads of sacred vessels and the gold and silver plates of the throne, the pulpits, and the doors, and the beautiful ornaments of the church. The soldiers made the chief church of Christendom the scene of their profanity.

Among the Western princes made by Innocent

It is probable that the proposals for a truce among the Western princes made by Innocent at this time were due to his desire to place difficulties in the way of the execution of these designs. If Otho could gain time by means of such a truce, he could form a league which might be sufficiently strong to occupy all the energy of Philip. We corrodingly, when Bishop Kivelon and John de Noyon arrived in Rome, in the early part of February, the pope was ready to hear their news. Before their arrival he had sent to Peter Capuano, who was in the neighborhood of Zara, a solemn bull of excommunication against the Venetians, together with a letter which he was directed to forward to the army. “Satan,” said he, “has pushed yon to flesh your swords upon a Christian people. You have offered to the devil the first- fruits of your pilgrimage. You have not directed your expedition against Jerusalem or against Egypt.

King of Hungary

Loyalty to the Cross you bear, respect for the King of Hungary and his brother, and to the authority of the apostolic see, which gave you on this subject precise orders, ought to have prevented you from doing such wickedness. We exhort you to put a stop to the destruction, and to restore all the plunder to the envoys of the King of Hungary. Unless this be done you will be liable to the excommunication which you have incurred, and you will be deprived of all the benefits of the crusade which have been promised you.”

The letter further required that the Crusaders should give written declarations under seal that they would not again attack Christian nations. The pardon granted to them was to be conditional on such declarations being made and observed. In particular they were to pledge themselves not to attack Greece, either under pretext that they would thus be able to bring about the union of the churches or to punish the crimes committed by Alexis the Third.

When the messengers arrived from the army, they did their Report made best to excuse the conduct of the Crusaders, but they to innocents. To a man was their superior in intelligence, and who probably was to a considerable extent behind the scenes. One of the knights who accompanied Nivelon and John de Hoyon refused to explain the matter as the majority wished ; in doing which, says Villehardouin, he perjured himself. The others excused themselves to the pope by saying that the Crusaders had done the best they could under the circumstances.

The subtile Greek intellect was too often inclined to waste

The subtile Greek intellect was too often inclined to waste its strength on the useless distinctions of a hair-splitting philosophy or theology which has become to us intolerable and almost incomprehensible; but even while accepting the waste of intellectual strength and the valuelessness of the subjects usually discussed, one is compelled to admit that the fact that a considerable proportion of the population took an interest in these subtilties implies an amount of education and of literary development to which the men of the West were almost altogether strangers. The interest, too, which the great mass of the population took in the discussion of religious questions shows an intelligence which, entertained by men possessed of the acuteness of Greek thinkers, must in all likelihood have led to a great religious movement for reform of doctrine that would have amounted to an Eastern reformation, which would probably have profoundly modified Western Christianity, had circumstances allowed it to be developed.

In former times religious questions had occasioned infinite Absence of discussion in Constantinople. In the twelfth century the popular interest in such discussions had questions. altogether ceased. The period in question had not, in the East at least, given rise to any special religious or intellectual movement. The disputes which had raged in the early Church, and which had been continued by the Blues and Greens, by many an heretical sect, and by those who took part in the Iconoclast controversy, had died out, and were represented either by what to most men had already become incomprehensible articles of faith, or by persecuted sects banished into the mountains of the peninsula or the recesses of Asia Minor, where, like the Paulicians, they were destined to linger on for centuries longer.

Eight long centuries between Constantine and the thirteenth century

Daring the eight long centuries between Constantine and the thirteenth century there had been burning controversies, in which the city had displayed an intellectual life and activity Visit Bulgaria, a popular interest in abstract questions as keen and as vivid as that shown by the inhabitants of London during the time of Charles the First, and not less eloquently than justly pointed to by Mil- ton as a proof of a quick and bold spirit among his countrymen. Religious belief was understood to have been settled for all time. The centuries which were to bring inquiry and doubt had not yet dawned. The Church was part of the established order of things. Religion was one of the institutions over which the emperor presided almost as absolutely as over law. No inquiry into the subject was necessary.

It had been decreed by the emperor as had law, and had even a higher, and if possible a more indisputable, authority and sanction. As all that subjects had to do with laws was to obey them, so also all that they had to do with religion was to avail themselves of the advantages which it offered. Baptism into the Church, which was the spouse of Christ, regenerated the body; the administration of the sacraments kept it pure; and no one doubted that when man’s earthly course was run, the purified body, having thus been made capable of resurrection, would rise again. The plan of salvation was simple of apprehension, was universally accepted, was easy to follow. Religion thus sat very lightly upon the inhabitants of the empire, gave them no anxiety, and, I am disposed to believe, did not very much influence their conduct. There was no enthusiasm, there were no burning questions, no zeal, and very little piety. If a comparison were to be instituted between the religious condition of the empire and anything existing in modern times, I should again refer to Russia.

Orthodox Church

The way in which the Orthodox Church is accepted by the great mass of the peasants, the wonderful manner in which its practices are interwoven with the habits of the people, and form part of the military, naval, and civil discipline of the empire, are all reproductions of the condition of things which the elder branch of the same Church had presented in the twelfth century in the Rew Rome, except that the Slavonic spirit is, and ever has been, of a more serious tone than that which has prevailed among those either of Greek descent or who have come under the influence of Greek literature. The Greek spirit of Arianism, which was defeated at Ricsea, ultimately conquered throughout Eastern Christendom, and substituted the Hellenic for the Hebraic aspect of Christianity.

Reign of Isaac and Alexis the Fourth

The circumstances attending it are also remarkable, as throwing light on the relations existing during the joint reign of Isaac and Alexis the Fourth between the citizens and foreign invaders. Shortly after the arrival of the Crusaders, the mob attacked the wealthy Pisan quarter within Constantinople and on the shores of the Horn. It was not surprising that they should have done so. Nicetas says that the untaught masses did not distinguish between friend and foe. They knew that the invaders were all Latins—that is, members of the Western Church—that the fleet which was in the harbor was from Venice; and it was natural that a mob should not make the distinction between the inhabitants of one or another Italian city.

Many houses belonging to the Pisans were destroyed. The wealthier portion of the population did what they could to assist the Pisans to save their property, and to explain to the mob that though Italians they were not allies of the Venetians. On the other hand, it is, to say the least, highly probable that a considerable number of the Pisans had fraternized with the Venetians, and had thus awakened the hostility of the Constantinopolitans. Greek and Frank writers agree in saying that Crusaders and Venetians went over in considerable numbers from Galata to see the rich palaces, the richer churches, and the other marvels of the imperial city.

Sympathize with the Italians

The Italians and Burgundians in the army spoke the same language as the Pisans; and it is probable that even the Frenchmen did not find much difficulty in making themselves understood by them. This alone would tend to make them sympathize with the Italians; and when it is remembered that they were all of the Church of the Elder Eome, and that the people among whom they were living had long been jealous of their commerce, it is easy to see that there were many common sentiments and interests which worked towards bringing the Latin inhabitants and the invaders together. Nicetas tells us expressly that the Pisans and Venetians were reconciled, and adds that the reconciliation was the work of Isaac.

DEPARTURE TO CONQUEST OF AND STAY IN ZARA

Dandolo never appears to have felt himself under any obligation to tell the truth, or to respect either his oath as a Crusader or his pledged word to the pilgrims. Provided the republic could be benefited, all means were lawful. If a man “ de bien grand coeur,” yet also a statesman without conscience and an unscrupulous man.

The arrangements having been definitely made in conformity with which the Crusaders and the Venetians were to attack Zara, the preparations for sailing were rapidly pushed forward. Por the moment discontent appears to have been hushed. The Crusaders even, who had objected to making war upon a Christian city, were delighted at any change which would get them out of the steaming and fever swamps of the Lido.

DEPARTURE TO, CONQUEST OF, AND STAY IN ZARA

THE expedition against Zara left Venice in two divisions, one which started on the 1st and the other on the 8th of October. The whole fleet consisted of four hundred and eighty sail. The departure of the second and great division, containing the army of Crusaders, was one of the most picturesque sights which even Venice can ever have seen.

Artistic display

The republic of the lagoons has always cherished a love of artistic display and nowhere can any spectacle be set amid surroundings which more completely enhance its beauty than amid the waters where the Queen of the Adriatic rises from the sea. The time had not yet come when her rulers thought it necessary to check lavish display of color and undue extravagance. The dwellings and storehouses of her people were already palaces. Her citizens had already grouped themselves into guilds, each with its own characteristic dress, so that brilliancy of color was already a striking feature of a Venetian crowd. The silks and velvets of the East were set off with precious stones and jewelry, while over all the Southern sun shed a light which, reflected from the waters, did not make their gorgeousness seem out of place.

Sanctuary in Ilagia Sophia

They took sanctuary in Ilagia Sophia. An attempt to arrest them by force in the church was defeated. A band of Italian gladiators and of Georgians defended them, and they were protected by the patriarch, and had the support of a large portion of the inhabitants, who were indignant at the treatment of the late emperor’s sister and at the arrogance of the protosebastos. The mob, led by the priests, paraded the streets, declaring for the emperor and against the empress and her lover, and pillaging the houses of the partisans of the latter. Meantime the emperor and the protosebastos determined to tear Maria out of Ilagia Sophia.

An army was collected in the grand palace of Bucoleon, which adjoined the Great Church, and a point of attack was chosen. Maria Porphyrogcnita was, on her side, no less active. By her advice a house was pulled down in order to give an advantage to her defenders, and a strong barrier for defence was hastily constructed. At the third hour of the day the attack commenced. A great number of the soldiers of Maria were wounded. The people outside had flocked to her assistance.

New troops

New troops, however, came up and took possession of the streets leading to the cathedral. The fight continued to rage in and about it all the day, but at sunset the discipline of the soldiers had gained an advantage for the protosebastos. The troops of Maria quitted the Augus- teon and the other buildings where they had fortified themselves, and took possession of the porch of Ilagia Sophia, over which stood the famous figure of Michael the Archangel. There they were safe, for the access to the building was up narrow streets, in which the emperor’s troops fought at a great disadvantage.

At this moment the patriarch, holding the Gospels in his hands, descended and came between the combatants. The cfesar, on behalf of himself, his wife, and their following, claimed asylum, and declared that all that he and they were doing was in defence of the church. The patriarch undertook to negotiate with the protosebastos, and warned him of the dangers of violating sanctuary. Several persons were named to arrange terms, and it was agreed next day that Maria Porphyrogenita, her husband, and her followers should lay down their arms and an amnesty be granted.

The Lingua Franca which the Crusaders

The Lingua Franca which the Crusaders were able to understand was closely allied to the dialect of Latin spoken in Italy, and was probably a compound of the Latin imported with Constantine and his successors, of the Italian introduced by the colonists, and of a kindred dialect more nearly related to Latin than to Greek, which had been spoken in the Balkan peninsula long before the time of Constantine. The people of Romania continue to our own time the dialect of Latin, which I believe to have been the language of a portion of the wider Romania which was under the rule of New Rome.

Whether the modern language is a corruption of the Latin of Dacian colonists, or, as I have already suggested and as there seems more reason to conclude, an independent branch from the common Aryan stem, closely related to that which was developed in Rome, the readiness with which a Latin dialect could be understood throughout at least the littoral of the empire, as well as in isolated communities in the interior of the Balkan peninsula, can be satisfactorily established, and greatly facilitated trade.

Twelfth century the Latins

During the latter half of the twelfth century the Latins had Latin settle- obtained possession of a large part of the commencements of the empire. They had important colonies in most of the great towns. Many Venetians were settled at Sardis and at other places along the west coast of Asia Minor, as far north as the Dardanelles, where at Abydos their colonists were found. Others were at Rodosto, on the north coast of the Marmora. During Isaac’s reign they had settled at Adrianople, while an older colony of Latins was established at Philippopolis.

The chief city and natural port of Macedonia then as now was Salonica. It was the terminus of many roads, which immediately before and after the great fair of St. Demetrius were crowded with traders. The furs and salt fish of Russia for winter supply were exchanged for the grain of the country, for the silks of the Peloponnesus, or the embroidered cloths of Spain.

Offered a continued resistance

He defeated the sultan’s army in a pitched battle, stormed Iconium and captured it. The Turks, as with the usual, offered a continued resistance. “ The more,” Turks says a report written by a pilgrim to the pope—“ the more we killed, the more they multiplied. During many days we fought from morning till night.” The army was in the greatest distress for want of food and forage, and was decimated by disease. All this time the Turks, or rather their ruler, Kilidji Arslan, professed to desire the friendship of the Germans, so that the Western chronicler remarks that the Turks were Greater dissemblers than even the Greeks. In this crusade it was noted that the Christian populations, which had on previous occasions flocked to the Christian armies for support and to give aid, fled before it, a fact affording striking evidence that the subjects of the empire had lost all hope of relief against the Mahometans from the soldiers of the West.

As the army of Frederic advanced its sufferings became more intense. The Turks harassed them daily, and the straits to which the were terrible. Horses were killed in order that their blood might be drunk. The foul, fever-impregnated water of the marshes became sweet to the soldiers in their extremity. Some even deserted the faith and went over to the infidels.

Armenians in Cilicia

Yet the discipline preserved by Frederic was worthy of the race which he led. The Armenian patriarch, writing to Saladin, describes the Germans as extraordinary men, of inextinguishable courage—an army subjected to the severest discipline and in which no crime remained unpunished. Passing from Asia Minor through the territory of the Armenians in Cilicia, Frederic proceeded to Antioch, and the conquest of Palestine appeared within his grasp. There, however, his progress was checked. lie died in June, 1190, according to one account, from cold caught while bathing in the Calycadnus, near Sefticetas, however, affirms that he was drowned in that The Greek historian, like the Western writers, does to his ability, his burning zeal for Christianity, his bravery, and his disinterestedness.

Whole of his soldiers were fighting in revolt

Conrad pointed out that other arms than spiritual ones were necessary, and that the emperor must be ready at once to sacrifice money and men, if he would meet a rebellion where nearly the whole of his soldiers were fighting in revolt.

The emperor, aroused by Conrad’s remonstrances, prepared vigorously for resistance. His efforts were seconded by the inhabitants. Conrad himself set to work to organize the defence. Tie raised two hundred horsemen and five hundred foot, principally from the Italians. He found Georgians and Saracens in the city, who were there for the purposes of commerce, and enlisted them also in the imperial service, and from the court he enrolled a thousand men of good condition. The spirit of Conrad seemed to have passed into the emperor. He collected the inhabitants in the precincts of Blaehern, and urged them to do their utmost for the defence. He begged those who might be hostile to him—in this having specially in view John Sebastocrator, whose son had recently been married to the daughter of Branas—to remain quiet and await the issue of the combat, or to pass openly to the enemy.

Raised forces Branas

Meantime the besiegers had drawn up their troops for the Defeat of attack. Conrad advised that the newly raised forces Branas. should make a sortie and fight them on the outside of the walls. The gates were accordingly opened. Conrad took command of the foreign troops, Isaac of the right wing, and Manuel the Protostrator of the left. After some hours spent in skirmishing the infantry joined their bucklers, raised their lances, and charged, while at the same time the cavalry struck at the flank of the rebels. In spite of the exertions of Branas, who urged his troops to remain firm, reminding them that they were far more numerous than their adversaries, the rebellious army could not withstand the charge, and Branas was unable to stop their flight. He himself rushed at Conrad, who was fighting without helmet and with his body bound round with eighteen folds of linen instead of a buckler.

Western Europe after the Reformation

The conception was not precisely the doctrine of the Comparison divine right of kings as such doctrine was de- divine right eloped in Western Europe after the Reformation, though there was much in common between the two ideas. The more recent doctrine was widely accepted, probably because the Reformation had, in England at least, attached to the person of the sovereign the attribute of supremacy in spiritual things which in the West had, before the Reformation, been conceded to the pope.

But in Constantinople, as at present in Russia, the emperor had always been supreme in things temporal and in things spiritual. The advocates of divine right in England based their argument on the assumption that certain families had been divinely chosen, and retained a divine right in consequence of this choice. In Eastern Europe the assumption was rather that an inspiration was granted to them on their appointment. A divine right of succession, so far as I am aware, never formed part of the popular belief. The ruler was the “ Lord’s anointed,” and is so called by the Greek writers of the twelfth century, but he was only entitled to be regarded as possessing this sacred character after he had been anointed.

Ilis selection wras another matter, and the people of Constantinople never lost sight of the fact that, they had a right to appoint an emperor when there was a vacancy. With this exception the right of the emperor was theoretically undisputed and indisputable. The conception of government was of an authority over the nation with which the people had nothing to do but obey its decrees. The duty of the government was not only to protect the empire from external foes, to provide security for life and property, and to give protection at sea to the commerce of merchants, but also to propound the religious belief of the nation, and to be at once the guardian of its faith, its morality, and its orthodoxy.

Greekspeaking Roman

All the attributes which in the West were possessed by the Roman emperor as head of the state in things temporal, and by the pope in things spiritual, were in Constantinople possessed by the Roman emperor alone. In this respect, indeed, the Russian czar is the true successor of the emperor of the Greekspeaking Roman empire.

But, as I have said, important reservations must be made the mainland. The spirit of the Greek was too much steeped in individualism to allow it to give the unquestioning obedience which is rendered by Slavs bulgaria tour. Its traditions and its intelligence alike made it take an interest in the course of government, and thus to this extent made the condition of things in the Byzantine empire different from that which exists under the ruler of Russia.

Thus it happens that while, when we reach the twelfth century, we find ourselves with abundant traces of a traditional sentiment in favor of absolute right, we find also equally abundant evidence of the dawn of the modern idea that the ruler holds a trust for the benefit of the people, and is re influence possible to them. Trade and commerce had con of trade.

Tributed largely

Tributed largely to the introduction of this new view of government, though Christianity and ancient philosophy had also had a share in bringing about the change. The people of the capital were essentially a commercial people. The inhabitants of the leading cities of the empire were principally engaged in trade. Salonica, Smyrna, Ricomedia, Rodosto, and a host of other cities, derived their prosperity from the fact that they were seaports frequented by merchants coming from far-distant countries. The islands of the Archipelago and coasts of the yEgean have at all times supplied great numbers of sailors.

The movement within the empire itself for the purpose of government over so wide a territory as that ruled from Constantinople must also have been great. The result was a population in which there was an unusually large number of travellers. Travel brought intelligence, and the profits of commerce brought independence.

The interests of the population required security for life and property, and the people on many occasions showed that they were indisposed to tolerate a ruler who neglected these first necessities of good government. We shall see that the population of the capital cared little for mere dynastic changes, but on many occasions showed resentment against rulers who tampered with the coinage, or who could not repress piracy and keep the peace of the seas.

Using frequent Scriptural quotations and allusions

Yet in his younger days, when an important thought was to be uttered, he would straighten up, set his eye steadfastly upon the audience, and with quivering lip throw forth the sentiment with marked effect. In prayer he spoke in much the same voice and manner as in his preaching. He was never pathetic, but conversed with the Deity in calm, deliberate, familiar, though solemn language, using frequent Scriptural quotations and allusions, and not uncommonly introducing the names of persons and places prayed for.

He had a large share of one of Paul’s peculiar qualifications for a bishop,—he was apt to teach. Giving instruction was an employment which to him brought its own reward. He was “ apt ” in it because he loved it. It was doubtless his pleasure in this employment that made him so popular and influential in his early schools. On reaching his mission station in the East, he could not wait for the slow process of acquiring the language of the natives, but made use of the few first words he could learn, and then went on to speak and learn, until in a short time he was able to bear an intelligent part in familiar conversation. He learned portions of Scripture, and when visitors called, from curiosity or otherwise, he took occasion to read to them the Ten Commandments or the Lord’s Prayer.

Children in the mission school

Next he made little ad-dresses to the children in the mission school, and from this began to preach short expository sermons to a group of beggars, to whom, in imitation of his Master, he dispensed both the living and the perishable bread. If what he said to them was understood, it was well; if there were parts that were not understood, it was well, so far as he was concerned. At his evening family devotions he instituted the custom of reading a chapter of the New Testament in Arabic, assisted by his two Armenian teachers and others, he himself giving a prepared commentary on the whole. It is probable that by this exercise, rather than by any other human instrumentality, both these eminent teachers were brought to a saving knowledge of the truth.

The American Mission to the Armenians

“ It had been known for several weeks that the Rev. William Goodell, D.D., of the American Mission to the Armenians, was about to retire from the scene of his labors, and return with his family to America. Dr. Goodell is in his seventy fourth year, and has spent forty-three years in active missionary labor in the East, during thirty-four of which he has resided in this city. In these circumstances it need be no wonder that his long residence among us, his public position, his professional labors, and his inestimable personal virtues, should have endeared him to all who have resided here any considerable time, and made them contemplate his withdrawal almost as a personal bereavement. It needed but a simple suggestion to secure the expression of these feelings in an address to their venerable friend, accompanied by the gift of a timepiece as a memorial of esteem from the older British residents here. The presentation took place in the presence of a numerous assemblage of British and American residents. Charles S. Hanson was called to the chair, and, observing that the meeting was held for the purpose of taking leave of their venerable friend, requested the Rev. Dr. Schauffler to open the proceedings with prayer. He then called upon the Rev. Dr. Thomson, of the British and Foreign Bible Society, to read the address which had been prepared, and of which the following is a transcript: —

“ ‘ CONSTANTINOPLE, June 8,1865.

“ ‘ DEAR DR. GOODELL, — We have asked you to meet us on this occasion, that we may express to you publicly those senti-ments of esteem and regard which we all entertain for you per-sonally, and that respect and admiration with which we look back upon yourJong and unblemished career of Christian use-fulness in this city, — sentiments which we feel all the more deeply in the near prospect of your withdrawal from among us.

Disinterested and laborious services

“ ‘ Several of our number can remember that when you first arrived here in 1831, there was no chaplain to minister to the British residents, and consequently none to address to them in their own language the word of life, to dispense to them the sacraments, or to pour the consolations of the Gospel into the sorrowing heart. Your disinterested and laborious services at that period are still gratefully remembered by many of your friends, and they doubt not that a more enduring record of them is preserved on high.

As members of other churches and of a different nationality, though one intimately connected with your own, we have long highly appreciated that catholic Christian love with which you have ever welcomed good men of every denomination, winning their confidence by your cheerful cordiality of manner, while your whole character and deportment, chastened by wisdom, and pervaded by Christian principle, never failed to instruct and encourage all who had the privilege of your acquaintance. Nor can we omit to refer to the edification and enjoyment with which we have often listened to your lucid, faithful, and impressive expositions of divine truth, while we pray that we may more than ever be guided by that faith and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, which it has always been your happiness to proclaim.

Mr Morgan from the Southern mission

“ One day was held the anniversary of our auxiliary Bible Society, when Sir Henry Bulwer, British ambassador, presided, and Dr. Schaufller made one of his best speeches. Mr. Morgan, from the Southern mission, gave us many interesting particulars of the work in that field. There are sixteen hundred pupils in the Sabbath school at Aintab, the blessed Bible the only text-book. The Christian song-book we have prepared for them they sing with mighty voice, and this not only in the church, but at home, where many of their ungodly neighbors, even the Turks, can hear and learn.

All the filth and offal of the city are carried out of the city into the fields by poor Turkish boys, in bags on miserable donkeys. In returning for fresh loads they jump on and ride without saddle or bridle, and sometimes a dozen of them may be seen riding as fast as they can make the poor creatures go, their faces and hands for days unwashed, their hair streaming in the wind, their clothes all tattered and torn, and they all singing at the top of their voices through the streets of Ain tab, ‘ I want to be an angel,’ &c., in the hearing of the Cadi, the Mufti, the Governor, and all others, great and small. These poor boys are never troubled with the bronchitis, and their clear voices are heard at a great distance. And who can tell how many, by hearing those wonderful words, may wake up to a new life, and enter upon new trains of thought and feeling and action.”

On reaching the age of seventy he wrote to one of his sisters: —

CONSTANTINOPLE, Feb. 14, 18G2.

Worldly consideration

MY DEAR SISTER MARY, — I am this day threescore and ten years old, — a long time to live in this world, and to find every day food to eat, raiment to put on, and air to breathe. I seem now to be standing on the banks of the Jordan, where I see others passing over, and where I can see the shining throng beyond; and for no worldly consideration would I retrace my steps and turn back into the wilderness. To turn back for any thing earthly is like “ taking a leap into the dark,” to press forward is like coming to “ the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven.” Blessed be God, sin dies and grace reigns. I feel more and more that I have made a most blessed exchange with Christ, giving Ilim all my nothingness and sinfulness, and taking all 11 is fulness and goodness; and thus, though 1 find nothing in myself worthy of divine acceptance, I find every thing worthy on me, viz., 11 is righteousness, “ which is to all and upon all them that believe.” And thus,

Our Saviour spoke of tener

There are, I presume, more by the name of Mary on earth, and more by that name in heaven, than there are of any other name. And it was a name which, we may suppose, our Saviour spoke of tener than lie spoke any other name, for several of His best and most intimate friends were Marys. Mary, too, it would seem, was the first person lie addressed, and the first name He pronounced, and hers was the first heart He comforted, after Ili’s resurrection.

Mary Benjamin was but three years old, but she was so original in all her conceptions aiid expressions, her thoughts and words and ways, as to raise the highest expectations of her friends, and to call forth a frequent repetition of the passage remarked upon at her baptism, “ What manner of child shall this be? ” She could sing some twenty or more tunes, sitting on her father’s knee, and carry her part alone, while he sung another part. She spent much time every day in singing, amusing herself, when alone, in singing some of her beautiful hymns. Oue of her favorite hymns was, —

“ I think, when I read that sweet story of old,

When Jesus was here among men,” &c.

One of the very last hymns she ever heard, and the first verse of which she had already committed to memory, was, —

“A home in heaven! what a joyful thought! ”

And she went singing it round the house, in her pleasant home on earth, till within a few hours of the time when she went to sing in her Father’s house above, —

“ A home in heaven! what a joyful ”

Affectionate disposition

This little Mary was of a most affectionate disposition. She loved with great strength. It almost seemed as though she had more love than her little heart could possibly hold, for it ran over on all sides. And who can doubt that she has gone to that bright world above, that heaven of love, which she talked so much about, not only when awake, but even in her sleep; and that she now dwells with that great and good Father, whose face, even months ago, and when in perfect health, she longed even with weepy to see, and in whose holy presence, in order to be prepared to dwell, she was already kk purifying herself even as He is pure,” correcting her own faults, and, waxing strong in spirit” to do right. Strange to say, that, though of a very inquisitive turn of mind, asking most prying questions about things that came under her observation, yet she never asked where the body is put, when the spirit goes to heaven; and thus, in blissful ignorance about the fearful passage over Jordan, she crossed it unawares, and found herself at once in the promised land.

Mr Goodell subsequently wrote

Of the circumstances and the reasons which led to the change of policy on the part of the mission in the organization of churches, Mr. Goodell subsequently wrote: —

“ When I came to Constantinople in 1831, having learned something from experience in other places, I was fully convinced that we ought to stand as far aloof as possible from any connection with bigotry, and to be altogether free from any policy that was narrow and contracted; that from our peculiar circumstances, being thrown among persons of all religions, we ought to consider ourselves as belonging rather to the universal church of Christ than to any particular section or denomination of that church. Accordingly, being often called upon by Europeans of different nations and communions to officiate at funerals, baptisms, marriages, in the absence of their respective chaplains, we endeavored to conform ourselves as far as possible to their forms, — those for which they had predilections, — thus not seeking our own profit or pleasure, but of many, for their edification.

Specially directed

“ In our intercourse with the natives of the countries, for whose good our labors were specially directed, we endeavored to act in the same liberal manner. It was not to pull down their churches and build up our own that we came here, and we have not from the first day until now so much as hinted to any one that he should leave his church and join ours. Our efforts have been directed rather to enlighten, improve, and elevate the whole community by means of books and schools, and in our earlier efforts we had the sanction of these ecclesiastics, and had intercourse with their patriarchs and bishops.

But as the people became enlightened, and some of them began to take a lively interest in the things they were learning, persecutions began to take place. In these persecutions no question was asked the accused by their accusers, no opportunity given them to explain the reason of their faith or conduct, no creed offered to them to subscribe. They were seized and thrown into prison or sent into exile without form or ceremony, and when they were released or recalled, as they had never been excommunicated, they still retained their connection, both civil and ecclesiastical, with their ancient church.

“ But this persecution has been different. The people were called upon to recant their opinions. A creed was presented for them to subscribe, — not a creed of the church, but a creed prepared for them by the patriarch, with special reference to their principles, and which no enlightened, conscientious man could subscribe. The consequence was, many were excommunicated, cut off from their church, were persecuted, and the sufferings of many were great.

Prized the Sabbath

“ As excommunicated persons they were, of course, deprived of the sacraments and ordinances of the Gospel. But these were not men of careless lives that they should continue willingly deprived of these sacraments and ordinances. They were not infidels. They were serious men and women, who prized the Sabbath, the house of prayer, and all the institutions of the Gospel. After waiting some four or five months, they applied to us to assist in organizing them into churches. This we have accordingly done, for ‘ who could forbid water that they should not be baptized? ’ Who could forbid bread and wine that they should not commemorate the death of Christ? And who could forbid their having pastors to feed them with knowledge?

We assisted in organizing them into churches at Constantinople, Nicomedia, Ada Bazar, and Trebizond. These churches are not ours, but theirs. We have no control over them holidays bulgaria. They are not formed exactly according to the model of any of our churches in America. We went directly to the New Testament for our model. These are all Protestant churches, and their articles of faith are such as are acknowledged by all the great branches of the Protestant church in America, England, and the continent of Europe. And these churches we present to you at this time as members, and I hope worthy members, of the great Protestant family.”

The church militant

Before the close of the year two aged members were called from the ranks of the church militant to enter upon the rest and reward of the church triumphant. Mention is made of these cases, not only because they illustrate the power of God’s grace, and the genuineness of the work which had been wrought among the Armenians, but also as showing the extend to which the spirit of persecution was carried on the part of their former brethren. These aged saints, who died in the faith and triumph of the Gospel, were hounded to their very graves by their persecutors.

One of them was an old man, who had learned the way of life in the very evening of his days. Ilis previous history had been remarkable. lie had been once saved from the sword of the Janizaries when they ranged the city altogether without law. When a comparatively young man, as he was going home one evening from the bazaars, he passed two of the Janizaries, who sat in front of a coffee-shop admiring a new yataghan, or sword, that one of them held in his hand.

Gather up the fragments

And those who thus take notes do it for the purpose of communicating to others what they hear from us. They ‘ gather up the fragments,’ and retail them; and, as retailers, nobody in all Constantinople carries on a brisker trade than they do. They light their candle, not to conceal it under a bushel, but to put it on a candlestick, for the public benefit. And the water they drink for their own refreshment becomes a well of living water, springing up for the refreshment of all their neighbors and friends.”

The man Christ Jesus

During the year 1842, the Gospel made silent but rapid progress among the Armenians. The Spirit was moving upon the hearts of the people with greater power than at any previous time. Many who had rested in the forms and ceremonies of the church, and who had trusted to the priests to negotiate with God in their behalf, learned for the first time that “ God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth,” and that there is only “ one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Some who had been stout opposes of the truth, taking part or rejoicing in the persecution of the followers of Christ, were humbled at the foot of the cross. The female part of the population, which, owing to the seclusion in which the women of the East are kept, and in part also to their ignorance, had been inaccessible, now began to feel the truth, and for the first time were among the attendants upon the ministration of the word. Having the whole word of God in their own familiar language, many of the people began to study it as did the ancient Bereans, searching the Scriptures daily, though not so much to learn whether these things were so, as to learn more and more of Christ and of His truth.

The believers at the capital had rest for a time, but the arm of persecution was not withdrawn in the interior. Many in the towns distant from Constantinople, who had heard the word gladly, were called to suffer as witnesses for the truth. At Erzroom, an enlightened and truly pious priest, who had begun to preach the Gospel in its simplicity, was seized by order of his bishop, bastinadoed until he swooned, and in that state was thrown into prison and bound with chains. At Nicomedia, and at other places nearer the capital, where the number of believers was multiplied, the enemies of the truth were restrained from using violence, but they did not at all withhold the tongue of hatred and slander.

Great work of translating the word of God

Now what to do I know not. I would most gladly give my time to my friends; I would give it all to my family; I would devote it all to the great work of translating the word of God; and I would with all my heart spend it in publishing the good news. But to devote the whole of it to each one of these objects is an impossibility. Only a certain portion can be given to each, and as one may receive more, another must receive less. Now, if any one could tell me exactly how to proportion the amount to be given to each, I should be thankful. But, while everybody seems to feel that I am very deficient somewhere, nobody seems to agree with his neighbor as to where the deficiency lies; and I seem to myself to be like the poor man who tried to please everybody, and pleased nobody, and accomplished nothing for himself. I must try more to please my blessed Lord, and let the whole world go.”

In the family of Mr. Goodell. Mrs. Goodell, who more than once before had been very low with sickness, was again, in the spring of this year, brought to the borders of the grave, and several members of the family were prostrated by the same disease, — a malignant and prevailing fever. So repeated and protracted were these visitations, that, toward the close of the following year, Mr. Goodell wrote: “ It is now more than two years since the voice of health has been heard in our habitation.”

Stricken household

But the hand of God was laid yet more heavily upon the stricken household, and one who was peculiarly dear to their hearts, the child of promise and of hope, the first-born of Americans in the city of the Sultans, the one who had received his name from the city of his birth and the land of his fathers, Constantine Washington, after a very trying illness, was removed beyond the reach of earthly love. He was the first of Mr. Goodell’s children from whom he was separated by death, and the only one whom he found waiting for him at the heavenly gates, when his work on earth was done.

The Mussulmans on other occasions

“ The Mussulmans on other occasions as well as this have been frequently pointed out to me by Europeans as being a most sincere, devout, and praiseworthy people in respect to their devotions; and their punctilious observance of them, anywhere and everywhere, has been held up as an example for Protestant Christians to imitate. And yet these same Europeans would call us bigots, fanatics, hypocrites, and more names and worse than could be found in any dictionary, were we to pray in that way in the streets, in the coffee shops, in the public places of resort, in the midst of our business, or wherever we might happen to be.

“ ‘ But see! they are not ashamed to pray anywhere.’

“Yes, I see. And so a man in America is not ashamed to wash his hands anywhere. Why should he be? He would be ashamed not to do it. It is the custom to do it. Everybody does it. No one could be admitted into good society without doing it. And for a man to was’n his face or hands, does not imply that he fears God, keeps himself unspotted from the world, leads a conscientious, heavenly life, and acts constantly in view of eternity. If it did, worldly men would be as much ashamed to be seen washing their hands, as they are now ashamed of prayer, or of Christ’s ordinances.

But it is not done out of regard to Christ, nor does any one ever suppose it to be so done. It implies nothing of this kind, expresses nothing of this character. And just so of the prayers of these people. Everybody prays. It is the custom to pray; it is the law to pray; a man would be ashamed not to pray. He would, in fact, be hissed out of society, if nothing worse, should he refuse to pray. And his prayer implies no more as to his moral character than the custom with us of washing one’s hands, or shaving one’s beard.

Nobody here ever expects to find a man more heavenly-minded, more benevolent, more hospitable, more honest, because he prays. Nobody ever feels that his life and property are in any degree the more secure because he has fallen into the hands of those who have just risen up from their prayers. No one is ever supposed to be the less covetous, the less selfish, the less impure, the less a cheat, a gambler, a liar, a defrauder, a murderer, because he prays. Nothing is farther from his own thoughts, or the thoughts of the bystanders, than that his prayer should exert any transforming influence upon his character.”

From the Bishop of Rhodos

“November 14. Received a letter this morning from the Bishop of Rhodos to, addressing me as ‘ the honorable Father,’ 1 the illustrious preacher of the Gospel,’. He begs me to overlook and forgive a misdemeanor in one of the young Armenians in the high school (he had stolen books from us), as he now appeared penitent, and the bishop would himself be a guarantee for his good behavior in time to come, if we would take him again into our service. Another instance of the confidence and kind feelings of these high dignitaries of the church towards us and our objects.

“ November 30. The good work among the Armenians has been steadily advancing from week to week, and it now seems to be carrying bishops, bankers, every thing before it. And what is still more glorious, the work of regeneration has absolutely commenced, and is following right on after the work of reformation. God’s blessed word was the first in order, and now it is God’s blessed Spirit. 4\re have seen nothing like this, nothing to be compared with it, since we left America, now almost thirteen years ago.

“ December 9. At Hass-Keuy called on Der Kevork, the learned priest of whose ordination, together with that of fourteen others, I have made mention. The evidence he gives of being truly ‘ a man after God’s own heart ’ is becoming more and more decisive. This priest has the charge of a school consisting of three hundred and seventy-five boys, with some half a dozen under-teachers. A class of twenty, the finest boys in the school, were attending, under his more immediate direction, to the critical study of the New Testament.

Endeavor to understand

After hearing them read, construe, and explain, I expressed the great gratification I felt in seeing them have in their own hands, read with their own eyes, and endeavor to understand with their own judgments, the words of eternal life. I then added that I had read the whole New Testament through five or six times in Ancient Greek, several times in Turkish, Armeno-Turkish, and Modern Greek, several times in Italian, Latin, and Arabic, and between fifty and sixty times in English; all this not carelessly, but with thought and reflection, and not only with attention of the mind, but with a sincere and prayerful desire of the heart to understand it, and that the more I read it the better I liked it.

The people the truths of the Gospel

In the mean while, he was prosecuting the general work of the mission, embracing every opportunity for bringing before the minds of the people the truths of the Gospel. Some extracts from his journal and correspondence will give an idea of his work, and of the character of the people among whom he was called to exercise his ministry. The first of these extracts contains a simple but complete answer to the sacramentarian view of the Lord’s Supper, prevalent even now among more enlightened communities: —

“October 24, 1831. Read and conversed with the two papal Armenian youth, as indeed I do with one or both of * them almost every evening. The portion of Scripture, which came in course, was part of the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, which gave me an opportunity of explaining the nature both of the passover and of the Lord’s Supper. The design of both, I remarked, was similar, and it was very remarkable that the language used in respect to both was similar. Thus, in the one case, it is said, ‘ Prepare the pass- over,’ ‘ kill the passover,’ ‘ eat the passover,’.

But the passover was the passing over of the houses of the children of Israel, when the first-born of Egypt were destroyed, and was not, therefore, a thing which could be either killed or eaten, or on which any such sort of thing could be predicated. The disciples did not and could not eat this passing over of houses; they only prepared, killed, and ate the lamb which commemorated this event. In the other case it is said Yuksek Sadakat. ‘ Take, eat; this is my body.’ But the disciples neither took His body nor ate it; they only took and ate the bread which represented it. The language in neither case is literal, but in both is figurative, and in both is easily understood, and in both is to be understood in the same way.

“ November 28. Every thing ip. regard to schools seems to be going on better and better, and my influence seems to be widening and strengthening every day. The schools are also, as might naturally be expected, exciting a desire and creating a market for the Holy Scriptures and for religious tracts. These angels have troubled the waters of the pool. I hope all the first ones who step in will be healed; and I am glad I am here to help some of the poor, impotent folk in, who would otherwise, I fear, lie a long time in their diseased state. Indeed, as Mrs. Goodell has already observed to some of her correspondents, ‘We evidently came to Constantinople at the very right time, and, notwithstanding our losses and privations, we rejoice that we came when we did.’ ”

The memory of the one to whom the following letter was addressed, as well as of the writer, will give to it special interest: —

CONSTANTINOPLE, Dec. 5, 1831.

“ To MRS. JOANNA BETHUNE:

“ DEAR MADAM, — As Dr. De Kay, of your city, is proceeding directly from this to New York, I avail myself of the opportunity of replying to your esteemed favor of July 6. It was received early in October, though the books for Infant School No. 1, which you sent at the same time, were not received until very recently. I received also with these several other books, of which your letter made no mention, and I therefore conclude that I am indebted to other friends in New York, as well as yourself. All the books, both yours and theirs, were very acceptable, and the more so as we had recently suffered such a loss by the conflagration at Pera, of which you have doubtless heard. Indeed, by that terrible visitation we were, in almost every respect, excepting that our persons were untouched and the lives of our children graciously preserved, reduced in one short hour to the condition of the patriarch Job.

But our friends in this quarter, instead of sitting down, like his at the first, upon the ground with us, and not speaking a word of comfort, at once manifested great sympathy and kindness toward us, which they expressed in deeds as well as in words. And if those at a distance do the same, we and they shall be like Job and his friends at the last, when they all came to comfort him; and he prayed for them, and every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of gold; and the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning.

“ As to our circumstances, our schools, and our prospects, I beg leave to refer you to Dr. D*v Kay. He has resided here about four months, and near half the time in our own family; and to his professional advice and services on several occasions, as well as to his friendship, and that of Messrs.

Eckford and Rhind, who are also from New York, we acknowledge with pleasure our obligations.

An invitation from the English consul

Being thus unprotected, and the Turks from the city refusing to remain with me through the night, as the Greeks might return, I accepted an invitation from the English consul to take refuge in his house. ‘ We took joyfully the spoiling of our goods,’ and passed safely through the crowds of armed robbers to the city, where we were received by Mr. Abbott and his family with all that attention and kindness which they have shown ns on former occasions.

“ Thursday, April 6. Mr. Bird’s house now contains all the missionaries that are to be found in Syria. It is a garrison, and as such affords protection to a few houses in the neighborhood. But most of the houses without the city are desolated and greatly injured; those lovely gardens, the glory of Beyrout, lie uncultivated; the leaves of the mulberry-trees have put forth, and the silk season, which is the most busy and profitable season of the whole year, is just at hand; but the possessors of these houses and lands have not yet dared to come forth from their hiding-places, and their ruin seems inevitable, whether they come forth or continue concealed. If they come forth, it is to suffer imprisonment and stripes, and almost unprecedented extortions; and, if they do not come forth, their possessions are all sequestered by the Kehya Bey.

Interview with the Kehya Bey

Yesterday I had an interview with the Kehya Bey, the cadi, and the governor, on the subject of the robbery committed upon me. I afterwards sat two hours with the sheikh of the Bedouins among his troops, with the hope of recognizing some of the robbers; but the villains, knowing the object of my visit, thought it prudent to keep out of the way.

“ May 15. It is impossible to describe the system of falsehood, injustice, oppression, and robbery which has been in operation here for the last two months. Human beings, whose guilt is no greater than that of their proud oppressors, are condemned without a trial, their flesh trembling for fear, their religion blasphemed, their Saviour insulted, their comforts despoiled, their lives threatened, and their bodies filled with pain, and deeply marked with the blows inflicted by Turkish barbarity. Some of them were so badly beaten that they could not walk, but were carried by soldiers, as they went from house to house to obtain a trifle here and a trifle there towards paying the enormous exactions made upon them.

Communities have enjoyed privileges

As these bodies were ecclesiastical corporations, their ecclesiastical chiefs became at once their rulers, both in religious and in civil affairs, and their representatives in all transactions with the Ottoman authorities. In fact, these communities have enjoyed privileges that give them, in some respects, a status similar to that conferred upon foreigners by the Capitulations. On the principle of religious classification, Greeks, Roumanians, Bulgarians, Servians, were considered members of the same civil community, because members of the same Church.

And, on the same principle, if an Armenian left his National Church to join the Roman Catholic or the Protestant communion, he passed beyond the authority of his former ecclesiastical superiors not only in matters spiritual but also in matters secular, acquiring with his new beliefs a new legal standing, as a “Latin” or an “Evangelical” In this new character, he came under the protection of another chief, was placed under new regulations, and made amenable to a different court It is because of this intimate union of the religious and the civil, that converts from the National Churches in the Empire have been compelled to form themselves into distinct civil communities, and to incur the odium of, apparently, deserting their own people. But only thus could they escape the pains which their original ecclesiastical authorities had the power to inflict upon dissident subjects; only thus could the Turkish Government grant the converts a legal independent status in religious life.

Christian subjects of the Empire

This method of dealing with the Christian subjects of the Empire worked, on the whole, smoothly, until the idea of nationality, which has been such a powerful factor in the recent history of Europe, spread also among the various peoples of Turkey, inspiring them to assert their distinctness from one another, and to seek liberation from the rule of the dominant race. Then great searching of hearts arose. For the new idea was subversive of a system based upon the principle that the fundamental bond of unity between men is community of faith. Hence, when the Bulgarians demanded to be organised into a community distinct from the Greek community, though one in doctrine with it, and to have bishops and an ecclesiastical head of their own nationality, the request proved a source of considerable difficulty.

Sergius and Bacchus

SS. Sergius and Bacchus, styled by the Turks little S. Sophia (Kutchuk Aya Sofia), on account of the resemblance it bears to the greater church of that name, is interesting from more than one point of view. It deserves attention as a thing of beauty. Imagine an octagonal building constructed of eight lofty piers united by arches. Cover that structure with a dome furrowed by sixteen flutings. Let the sides in the diagonals be curved and the sides in the axes be straight, to secure more room, to avoid monotony of contour, stiffness, angularity, and to introduce the variety, freedom, softness, which give wings to fancy.

Within each archway, except the one at the east, where the semicircular apse recedes to make room for the altar and the seats of the clergy, place four columns in two tiers, now green mottled with black spots, now cream-coloured marked with red veins, now white marked with veins of dark blue. Crown the lower columns with capitals, whose lobed form has been compared to a melon partly cut open, but which might, more gracefully, be likened to a tulip bud breaking into flower. Bind these columns, after the old fashion, with a horizontal entablature, where acanthus, egg and dart, reeds and reel, dentils, strands of rope and the ornamental letters of an inscription, in honour of S. Sergius and of the founders of the church, Justinian and Theodora, combine to make a splendid frieze.

Flattened capitals covered with marble lace

Join the upper columns, according to the new taste, with arches supporting conchs, and resting on long, flattened capitals covered with marble lace. Revet all surfaces up to the cornice with variegated marbles, and above the cornice spread mosaics. Then put this octagonal fabric, with its undulated interior surface, thus carved and coloured and gemmed,into a square edifice, like a jewel into a casket; so that the apse may protrude beyond the square’s eastern side, and the aisle, between the octagon and the square, may be divided into two stories by galleries, and the round dome may soar aloft visible to all without, and you have some idea of the plan and beauty of this gem of Art.

Kahriyeh Djamissi

Another church of historical interest is S. Saviour-in-the- Chora (country), now Kahriyeh Djamissi, and popularly known as the Mosaic Mosque, on account of the remarkable mosaics it still contains. It was clearly in existence previous to the year 418, as thereafter it stood within the line of the Wall of Anthemius, and could not then acquire the distinction of being situated “ in the country.” Accordingly, it is a topographical landmark as regards the original extent of the city, only second in importance to Isa Kapou Mesdjidi, which we have seen indicates the line of the Constantinian Wall, the position of the first Golden Gate, and the situation of the Exfoliation.

Like every church with so long a life, S. Saviour-in-the- Chora has known many changes. It saw its best days in the fourteenth century, when it was thoroughly renovated by Theodore Metochites, and invested with the splendour which still glows upon its walls, and makes it one of the most beautiful of the old churches of the Byzantine world.

John the Baptist

Not less interesting historically is the Church of S. John the Baptist (Mir-Akhor Djamissi), situated in the quarter of Psamatia. It was founded about 463 by Studius, a Roman patrician who, like many other persons, when old Rome was tottering to its fall, fled from the West to the East, as when New Rome neared its end, some thousand years later, men escaped from the East to the West The church was attached to a large monastery belonging to the order of the Acoemetae or Sleepless Monks, who were so named because they celebrated Divine service in their churches day and night without intermission.

According to the original constitution of the society the members of the order represented various nationalities, Greek, Latin, Syrian, and were divided into companies which passed from hand to hand, in unbroken succession, the censer of perpetual prayer and praise. They sought thus to make the worship of God’s saints on earth resemble that of the assembly gathered from all nations and peoples and tongues that serves Him without ceasing in heaven.

Advantages offered by its situation

Apart from the advantages offered by its situation, Byzantium had little to recommend it to Constantine’s regard. It presented neither ample room, nor a large population, nor convenient and splendid buildings to favour the rapid growth of a metropolis. Of the tongue of land on which the town stood, only the portion to the east of the line drawn from the present Stamboul Custom House, on the Golden Horn, across to the Seraglio Lighthouse, on the Sea of Marmora, was occupied. In the bay beside that Custom House lay the harbours of the town, where shipping, traders, and merchants did mostly congregate.

Within the Seraglio Grounds

The Acropolis stood on the rocky hill now enclosed within the Seraglio Grounds, and there several temples were found, that gods and goddesses might unite with men in the defence of the citadel against the steep side of the Acropolis, facing the blue expanse of the Sea of Marmora and the hills and mountains of the Asiatic shore, two theatres were built, while a stadium lay on the level tract beside the Golden Horn. The huge structure of the Hippodrome, which Severus had begun, was waiting to be completed, and to the north of it were the Baths of Zeuxippus and the adjoining public square which bore the same name. All this did not constitute a rich dowry for the future capital But perhaps to the founder of Constantinople that fact was not a serious objection; the greatness and splendour of the new city were to be his own creation.

When precisely work upon the new capital commenced cannot be determined, but the year 828 A.D., as already intimated, may be regarded as the most probable date. The circuit of the fortifications which should guard the city was marked out by Constantine himself with solemn ceremonial, and comprised the territory that stretched for nearly two miles to the west of the old town.

Pleven Electrification Region

The Pleven Electrification Region was developed much later, during the 1940’s when the North Bulgaria Electrification Directorate was established in 1940 and transformed into General Directorate of Electrification in Bulgaria on May 8th 1944.

In Pleven, the administrative center of the region, the issue of electric lighting was raised in 1906, then in 1907 and again in 1911 (a project was drawn up), however, electrification there was begun in 1919. At that time a dynamo installed in a mill was also used for supplying electricity lighting to the neighboring houses.

Large-scale electrification in Pleven began in 1927 when the Pleven DPP was constructed and commissioned with two diesel-engine units of 200 hp each. The Plant was extended by 460 hp in 1930 and 1200 hp in 1949. It operated at 6 kV. The same was the town distribution voltage and that of the 6/0.4 kV distribution transformers.

Later on (1950-1951) near the Pleven-West railway plant, a 110/20 kV regional substation was built in order to pro-vide connection to the regional electrification system of the country. That set the beginning of an orderly devel-opment of the Pleven Electrification Region.

Zlatna Panega

It is worth noting that near Loukovit, on the Zlatna Panega river, the first dam in Bulgaria was built. It was given the name of the river and had 1.2 million m3 storage capacity and a power plant on it, with two units of 480 kW total capacity, commissioned in 1938.

The fastnesses of the Albanian hills

Just as the mountains of Wales and the Highlands of Scotland preserve languages and customs which have been driven from the open country of England, so the fastnesses of the Albanian hills have kept alive a difficult language that is older than classical Greek and customs which render the rude inhabitants of the country a picturesque subject for study. The conquering arm of the Turk reduced the Bulgarian inhabitants of open plains to complete subjection within a comparatively short time; but a century and a quarter was required to secure a less firm hold upon the mountainous lands of Serbia, while the inaccessible wilds of Albania and Montenegro were never completely subjected to Turkish power. Montenegro was the last Serbian stronghold to yield to Turkish supremacy and the first to regain complete independence.

The physical characteristics of a belt of country so difficult to traverse deserve a word of further description. In the north the mountains consist of submaturely to maturely dissected folds of the Appalachian type, trending northwest-southeast parallel to the northern Adriatic coast and rising from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea-level in the higher ranges. Between the hard rock ridges streams have excavated parallel valleys on the weaker beds, but these subsequent valleys are of little real service to man since they lie at right angles to the natural course of his movements between coast and interior. Farther south the rock structure is more complex, and the mountain ridges produced by erosion accordingly of more complicated pattern. Among the rocks involved in the mountain building, limestone is a conspicuous element, and its soluble nature has imposed a peculiarly forbidding aspect on the topography.

Most of the rainfall passes under-ground through sink-holes and smaller solution cavities and then finds its way through subterranean channels to a few principal rivers, lakes, or the sea. As a consequence much of the mountain country is dry and barren, springs are far apart, and the open water courses difficult of access because deeply entrenched in rock-walled gorges. The 4 4 gaunt, naked rocks of the cruel karst country ’7 are not only themselves of little value to mankind but they render inaccessible and therefore comparatively useless many excellent harbors on the east coast of the Adriatic.

The janissary insisted on leaving us

The quarrel began again, which I feared would have ended very unpleasantly. The janissary drew his sabre, and had not Mr. M— levelled his gun at him he would most likely have been dreadfully wounded. I now interfered, in hopes of making peace, as the janissary insisted on leaving us and returning to Smyrna. I was much alarmed at this, apprehending that his desire of revenge might induce him to get assistance from the peasants, or join any party in order to plunder, and perhaps murder us. I therefore used every means I could devise to pacify the scoundrel, but to no purpose ; till at last Pauolo putting his arms round his neck kissed him several times in the most affectionate manner, which appeased him a little. He kneeled down, put his fingers in his mouth and made the most ridiculous grimaces, using at the same time the most impertinent language, such as “ Christian Dog,” “Void of faith,” “Unbeliever, etc.” Thus his rage exhausted itself, and Pauolo renewing his embraces, he at last consented to accompany us.

These altercations took up much of our time, so that we did not reach Maccatitch till ten in the evening, where we met our usual difficulties in procuring a lodging and supper. These are weighty concerns to a traveller, though they may appear uninteresting to my readers, to whom I wish to apologise for my tedious repetitions. But as Homer made his heroes eat and drink, and even Voltaire, in his poems, took care not to starve them, so I trust I may be forgiven, if in my narrative, which is truth itself, I record, perhaps too frequently, occurrences so unimportant as my breakfast, dinner and supper.

December the 12th.

Throughout all Turkey

We had now only six hours’ ride from this place of misery to the village of Scala,1 where we were to take boat for Constantinople. Throughout all Turkey the places where goods are embarked or disembarked are called Scala, which literally signifies a ladder ; and in many places we find not only the quay or spot of disembarkation, but the entire village to which it appertains, to go

by this common appellation. This prospect of so speedy a termination to our troubles, raised our spirits, and we set off very early and travelled along the banks of the Maccatitch for some miles. The country was on both sides very beautiful and watered with many rivulets.

Treated like the Prodigal Son

When I had sufficiently recovered my health, I accompanied Mr. R—1 to Dublin, where I was received and treated like the Prodigal Son. I took a house, hired a number of servants, and upon looking into my affairs, found that I had expended, exclusive of my ready money, about twenty thousand pounds of my fortune. Still, however, I might have been happy ; I had an ample property remaining and was caressed by my friends, who looked upon my past follies with indulgence and as merely proceeding from the ebullitions of youth.

This quiet life did not suit my volatile disposition : in order, therefore, to vary the scene, I sent over to London for a female companion, with whom I had been intimate, and who immediately accepted the invitation. I had no motive whatever in giving her the preference but that she was an exotic. My inamorata was neither distinguished for wit or beauty ; but I will do her the justice to say that she had none of that rapacity and extravagance so common with the generality of her profession. What I expended on her account was from my own free will and suggestion. I hired her a magnificent house, suitably furnished, and settled an allowance of five hundred a year on her : this was merely pro forma, for she cost me upwards of five thousand. At her house I kept my midnight orgies, and saw my friends, according to the fashionable acceptation of the word.

But soon growing tired of this manner of living, I conceived the strange idea of performing, like Cook, a voyage round the world ; and no sooner had it got possession of my imagination, than I flew off at a tangent with my female companion to Plymouth, in order to put my plan in execution, which was to purchase a vessel of two hundred and eighty tons burthen, and to carry twenty-two guns. I entered into treaty with a builder, who engaged to furnish me with one of the above description for ten thousand pounds, equipped in every respect, and to be ready in the space of four months.

Turned upon my intended voyage

This affair settled I returned to Dublin, where being one day at dinner with some people of fashion at the Duke of L—’s,1 the conversation turned upon my intended voyage, when one of the company asked me to what part of the world I meant to direct my course first, to which I answered, without hesitation, “ to Jerusalem.” This was considered by the company as a mere jest ; and so, in fact, it was; but the subject still continuing, some observed that there was no such place at present existing; and others that, if it did exist, I should not be able to find it. This was touching me in the tender point : the difficulty of an undertaking always stimulated me to the attempt. I instantly offered to bet any sum that I would go to Jerusalem and return to Dublin within two years from my departure. I accepted without hesitation all the wagers that were offered me, and in a few days the sum I had depending on this curious expedition exceeded twelve thousand pounds.

My whole mind was now engaged on this new project. I was inflamed with the desire of doing what had not been attempted by any of my countrymen marriage under comet, at least by those of my own age ; and I figured to myself the pleasure I should feel at my return to my own country after having accomplished this undertaking : what admiration I should excite by the detail of my wonderful adventures, my hairbreadth scapes, and the descriptions I should give of the beautiful Turks, Greeks, and Georgians, and all the farrago with which my heated imagination was filled.

I was now nearly of age, and Mr. N—2 peremptorily insisted that I should again examine the state of my fortune ; with which request, however unwilling, I was under the necessity of complying. I found it still more diminished by the variety of my dissipation and extravagance. This worthy man, with the greatest delicacy and gentleness, represented to me then, that the way of life in which I was engaged, must inevitably lead me to ruin ; that my extraordinary, not to say scandalous, establishment formed for the English lady did not stand me in less than five thousand a year ; that the annual expense of my ship, exclusive of the first cost, would amount to as much more ; and that at the rate I proceeded, I must in a short time be reduced to indigence, and depend for support upon my friends and relations : that the attachment of the former, as I have since experienced, would cease, when the sunshine of my fortunes, by which they were now attracted, should disappear; and as to the latter, he knew my pride of heart too well to suppose that I could live under the mortification of owing the means of existence to any one, however nearly allied.

Baffling disappointments and romantic episodes

After a series of baffling disappointments and romantic episodes he at length overtook his “ Euridyce,” with whom he returned to London, only to find himself a little while later the inmate of a debtors’ prison. From this unpleasant position, after an ineffectual attempt at gaol-breaking, he was released by his brother- in-law, the Irish Lord Chancellor, who happened to be in town at the time. “ Determined,” as he says, “ not to stay another hour in London,” Whaley then set out for Dublin.

Here he disposed of all his remaining estates for the discharge of his personal debts, and with the surplus, which amounted to about five thousand pounds, true to the spirit of gambling to which he had always been a ready slave, he resolved to try his fortune at play, and either retrieve himself or complete his ruin. “ The latter,” he says, “ was my fate, for in one winter I lost ten thousand pounds, which obliged me to sell all my own jewels, and those I had given to my companion in better days : so that in the course of a few years I dissipated a fortune of near four hundred thousand pounds, and contracted debts to the amount of thirty thousand more, without ever purchasing or acquiring contentment or one hour’s true happiness.”

Hopeless condition of insolvency

He retired shortly afterwards to the Isle of Man in a hopeless condition of insolvency, where he tells us he divided his time between the education of his children, the improvement of a small farm, and the writing of his Memoirs. He ends his story of a wasted and riotous life in a spirit of contrition and remorse, expressing a hope that what he had written might prove of some service to other young men exposed to temptations like his own.

For the continuous folly and eccentricities of Whaley’s ill-spent life it is difficult to account in any rational way ; but, with his accustomed hardihood, he does not shrink from the attempt himself.

Special political bonds

The divine right of the line of Othman is another of their special political bonds, and this too is shown by the following extract from a well-known historian, if it needs showing, to be simply external to Gibbon.

themselves. “ The origin of the Sultans”, he says, “ is obscure; but this sacred and indefeasible right” to the throne, “ which no time can erase, and no violence can infringe, was soon and unalterably implanted in the minds of their subjects. A weak or vicious Sultan may be deposed and strangled, but his inheritance devolves to an infant or an idiot; nor has the most daring rebel presumed to ascend the throne of his lawful sovereign. While the transient dynasties of Asia have been continually subverted by a crafty visir in the palace, or a victorious general in the camp, the Ottoman succession has been confirmed by the practice of five centuries, and is now incorporated with the vital principle of the Turkish nation”. Here we have on the one hand the imperial succession described as an element of the political life of the Os- manlis,on the other as an appointment over which they have no power; and obviously it is from its very nature independent of them. It is a form of life external to the community it vivifies.

Extraordinary vigour and talent

Probably it was the wonderful continuity of so many great Sultans in their early ages, which wrought in their minds the idea of a divine mission as the attribute of the dynasty; and its acquisition of the Caliphate would fix it indelibly within them. And here again, we have another special instrument of their imperial greatness, but still an external one. I have already had occasion to observe, that barbarians make conquests by means of great men, in whom they, as it were, live; ten successive monarchs, of extraordinary vigour and talent, carried on the Ottomans to empire. Will any one show that those monarchs can be fairly called specimens of the nation, any more than Zingis was the specimen of the Tartars? Have they not rather been the Deus e machind, carrying on the drama, which has languished or stopped, since the time they ceased to animate it?

Political development and progress

Again, if there was a power preeminently military, it was Rome; yet what is her history but the most remarkable instance of a political development and progress ? More than any power, she was able to accommodate and expand her institutions according to the circumstances of successive ages, extending her municipal privileges to the conquered cities, yielding herself to the literature of Greece, and admitting into her bosom the rites of Egypt and of Phrygia. At length, by an effort of versatility unrivalled in history, she was able to reverse one main article of her policy, and, as she had once acknowledged the intellectual supremacy of Greece, she humbled herself in a still more striking manner before a religion which she had persecuted.

Here we see the difference between a barbarian and a civilized power. In like manner, while Attila boasted that his horse’s hoof withered the grass it trod on, and Zingis could gallop over the cite of the cities he had destroyed, Seleucus, or Ptolemy, or Trajan, covered the range of their conquests with broad capitals, marts of commerce, noble roads, and spacious harbours. Lucullus collected a magnificent library in the East, and Csesar converted his northern expeditions into an antiquarian and historical research.

If these remarks upon the difference between barbarism and civilization be in the main correct, they have prepared the way for establishing the statements which I have made concerning the principle of life and the mode of dissolution proper or natural to barbarous and civilized powers respectively.

Instruments of political progress

Ratiocination and its kindred processes, which are the necessary instruments of political progress, are, taking things as we find them, hostile to imagination and auxiliary to sense. It is true, that a St. Thomas can draw out a whole system of theology from principles impalpable and invisible; and fix upon the mind by pure reason a vast multitude of facts and truths which have no pretence to a bodily form. But, taking man as he is, he will be dissatisfied with a demonstrative process from an undemonstrated premiss, and, when he has once begun to reason, he will seek to prove the point from which his reasoning starts, as well as that at which it arrives. Thus he will be forced back from immediate first principles to others more remote, nor will he be satisfied till, he ultimately reaches those which are as much within his own handling and mastery as the reasoning apparatus itself.

Turcomans into Georgia

But a more direct and effective instrument of social education followed upon their occupation of Sogdiana. You may recollect I spoke of their empire as lasting for only 200 years, about 00 of which measures the period of that occupation. Their power then came to an end; what was the consequence? were they driven out again? were they massacred ? did they take refuge in the mountains or deserts? were they reduced to slavery? Thus we are introduced to a momentous passage of history: the case was as follows: At the very date at which Heraclius called the Turcomans into Georgia, at the very date when their Eastern brethren crossed the northern border of Sogdiana, an event of most momentous import had occurred in the South.

A new religion had arisen in Arabia. The impostor Mahomet, announcing himself the Prophet of God, was writing the pages of that book, and moulding the faith of that people, which was to subdue half the known world. The Turks passed the Jaxartes southward in A.D. 628; just four years before, Mahomet had assumed the royal dignity, and just six years after, on his death, his followers began the conquest of the Persian Empire. In the course of 20 years they effected it; Sogdiana was at its very extremity, or its border-land$ there the last king of Persia took refuge from the South, while the Turks were pouring into it from the north. There was little to choose for the unfortunate prince between the Turk and the Saracen; the Turks were his hereditary foe; they had been the giants and monsters of the popular poetry; but he threw himself into their arms.

Saracenic and the Turkish

They engaged in his service, betrayed him, murdered him, and measured themselves with the Saracens in his place. Thus the military strength of the North and South of Asia, the Saracenic and the Turkish, came into memorable conflict in the regions of which I have said so much. The struggle was a fierce one, and lasted many years; the Turks striving to force their way down to the ocean tours bulgaria, the Saracens to drive them back into their Scythian deserts. They first fought this issue in Bactria or Khorasan; the Turks got the worst of the fight, and then it was thrown back upon Sogdiana itself, and there it ended again in favour of the Saracens. At the end of 90 years from the time of the first Turkish descent on this lair region, they relinquished it to their Mahometan opponents.

The conquerors found it rich, populous, and powerful; its cities, Carisme, Bokhara, and Samarcand, were surrounded beyond their fortifications by a suburb of fields and gardens, which was in turn protected by exterior works; its plains were well cultivated, and its commerce extended from China to Europe. Its riches were proportionately great; the Saracens were able to extort a tribute of two million gold pieces from the inhabitants; we read, moreover, of the crown jewels of one of the Turkish princesses; and of the buskin of another, which she dropt in her flight from Bokhara, and which was worth two thousand pieces of gold. Such had been the prosperity of the barbarian invaders, such was its end; but not their end, for adversity did them service, as well as prosperity, as we shall see.

It is usual for historians to say, that the triumph of the South threw the Turks back again upon their northern solitudes; and this might easily be the case with some of the many hordes, which were ever passing the boundary and flocking down; but it is no just account of the historical fact, viewed as a whole. Not often indeed do the Oriental nations present us with an example of versatility of character; the Turks of this day are substantially what they were four centuries ago.

Military effort followed

Two centuries of military effort followed, and then the contest seemed over; the barbarians of the North destroyed, and Europe free. It seemed as though the Turks had come to their end and were dying out, as the Saracens had died out before them, when suddenly, when the last Seljukian Sultan was departing in Iconium, and the Crusaders had broken their last lance for the Holy Sepulchre, on the 27th of July, 1301, the rule and dynasty of the Ottomans rose up from his death bed.

Turkish capital

Othman, the founder of the line and people, who take from him the name of Ottoman or Osmanli, was the grandson of a nomad Turk or- Turcoman, who, descending from the North by Sogdiana and the Oxus, took the prescriptive course (as I may call it) towards social and political improvement. His son, Othman’s father, came into the service of the last Sultan of the Seljukian line, and governed for fifty-two years a horde of 400 families. That line of sovereigns had been for a time in alliance with the Greek Emperors; but Othman inherited the fanaticism of the desert, and, when he succeeded to his father’s power, he proclaimed a gazi, or holy war, against the professors of Christianity. Suddenly, like some beast of prey, he managed to leap the mountain heights which separated the Greek Province from the Mahomedan conquests, and he pitched himself in Broussa, in Bithynia, which remained from that time the Turkish capital, till it was exchanged for Adrianople and Constantinople- This was the beginning of a long series of conquests lasting about 270 years, till the Ottomans became one of the first, if not the first power, not only of Asia, but of the world.

These conquests were achieved during the reigns of ten great Sultans, the average length of whose reigns is as much as twenty-six years, an unusual period for military sovereigns, and both an evidence of the stability, and a means of the extension of their power. Then came • the period of their decline, and we are led on through the space of another 270 years, up to our own day, when they seem on the verge of some great reverse or overthrow. In this second period they have had as many as twenty-one Sultans, whose average reigns are only half the length of those who preceded them, and afford as cogent an argument of their national disorder and demoralization.

Skirted Siberia and the north of the Caspian

Here was the first of the three opportunities of a descent southwards, which were open to the choice of emigrants. A portion of them, attracted by the rich pasture-land and general beauty of Sogdiana, took up their abode there; the main body wandered on. They turned northward, and skirted Siberia and the north of the Caspian, crossed the Volga, then the Don, and thus in the fifth century of the Christian era, as I just now mentioned, came upon the Goths, who were in un-disturbed possession of the country. Now it would appear, that, in this long march from the wall of China to the Danube, lasting as it did through some centuries, they lost hold of no part of the tracts which they traversed.

They remained on each successive encampment long enough (if I may so express myself) to sow themselves there. They left behind them at least a remnant of their own population, while they went forward, like a rocket thrown up in the sky, which, while it shoots forward, keeps possession of its track by its train of fire. And hence it was that Attila, when he found himself at length in Hungary, and elevated to the headship of his people, became at once the acknowledged king of the vast territories and the untold populations which that people had been leaving behind them in the last 350 years.

Such a power indeed had none of the elements of permanence in it, but it was appalling at the moment, whenever there was a vigorous and unscrupulous hand to put it into motion. Such was Attila; it was his boast, that, where his horse once trod, there grass never grew again. As he fulfilled his terrible destiny, religious men looked on with awe, and called him the “ Scourge of God”. He burst as a thunder-cloud upon the whole extent of country, now called Turkey in Europe, along a line of more than five hundred miles, from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Venice.

Displeased within a moment

RILE EVIL

A friend whom yon have been gaining during your whole life, you ought not to IK; displeased within a moment. A stone is many years becoming a ruhy, take care that you do not destroy it in an instant against another stone.

RULE LVIII.

Reason is under the power of sense; as a man becomes weak in the hand of an artful woman. Shut the door of that house of pleasure, which you hear resounding with the loud voice of a woman.

RULE LIX.

A purpose without power, is fraud and deceit; and power without design, is ignorance and madness. The first requisites are judgment, prudence, awl wisdom, and then a kingdom; because putting power and wealtli into the hand of the ignorant, is furnishing weapons against themselves.

RULE LX.

The liberal man who eats and bestows, is better than the religious man who fasts and hoards. Whosoever hath forsaken luxury, to gain the approbation of mankind, hath fallen from lawful into unlawful voluptuousness. The hermit who sitteth in retirement, not for the sake of God, what shall the hopeless wretch behold in a dark mirror? A little and a little collected together, become a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop form an inundation.

RULE LX I.

A wise man ought not to suffer the insolence of a common person to pass unnoticed, as he thereby injures both parties; for his own respectability will be lessened, and the other confirmed in his ignorance. When you speak to a low fellow with kindness and benignity, it increases his arrogance Mid perverseness.

Sin, by whomsoever committed, is detestable, but most so in a learned man: because learning- is the weapon for combating Satan; and if the armed man is taken prisoner, the greater will be his shame. An ignorant plebeian of dissolute manners, is better than a learned man without temperance: for that, through blindness, lost the road; and this, who had two eyes, fell into the well.

ON THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATION

TALE I

A certain Vizier had a stupid son, whom he sent to a learned man, desiring him to instruct him, in hopes that his capacity might improve. After having instructed him for some time without any effect, he sent a person to the father with this message: “Your son has no capacity, and has

almost distracted me. When nature has given capacity, instruction will make impression; but if iron is not of a proper temper, no polishing will make it good. Wash not a dog in the seven seas, for when he is wetted he will only be dirtier. If the ass that carried Jesus was to be taken to Mecca, at his return he would still be an ass.”

TALE II

A philosopher was thus exhorting his sons: “My dear children, acquire knowledge, for on worldly riches and possessions no reliance can be placed;

rank will be of no use out of your own country, and on a journey money is in danger of being lost; for either the thief may carry it off all at once, or the possessor may consume it by degrees. But knowledge is a perennial spring of wealth; and if a man of education ceases to be opulent, yet he need not be sorrowful, for knowledge of itself is riches. A man of learning wherever he goes, is treated with respect and sits in the uppermost seat; whilst the ignorant man gets only a scanty fare, and encounters distress. After enjoying power, it is distressing to be obliged to obey; and he who has been used to caresses, cannot bear rough usage from the world.”

There once happened an insurrection in Damascus, where every one deserted his habitation. The wise sons of a peasant became the King’s ministers, and the stupid sons of the Vizier were reduced to ask charity in the village. If you want a paternal inheritance, acquire from your father knowledge, for his wealth may be spent in ten days.

Bestowing hypocritical kisses

In expiation of what had happened, they fell at his feet, and after bestowing hypocritical kisses on his hands and face, brought him into the boat and carried him over, until they came to a pillar of Grecian building that stood in the river, when the boatman called out, “The boat is in danger; let one of you, who is the strongest and most courageous, get upon this pillar and lay hold of the boat’s rope, that we may save the vessel.” The young man, in the vanity of his strength, of which he bad boasted, thoughtless of the offended heart of his enemy, paid no attention to this maxim of the sages, ‘ If you have committed an offence towards another, and should afterwards confer a hundred kindnesses, think not that he will forget to retaliate upon thee that single offence; for the arrow may be extracted from the wound, but the sense of injury still rankles in the heart.’ What excellent advise Yuktash gave to Khiltash!

‘ If you have scratched your enemy, do not consider yourself safe. When from your hand the heart of another hath suffered injury, expect not to be free from affliction thyself. Fling not a stone against the wall of a castle, lest perchance a stone may be thrown at you from the castle.’ As soon as he gathered the rope round his arm and had reached the top of the pillar, the boatman snatched the rope out of his hand and drove forward the vessel. The helpless young man remained astonished.

For two days he suffered much distress and underwent great hardship; the third day sleep overpowered him, and flung him into the river. After a day and a night, he reached shore with some small remains of life. He fed on leaves of trees and roots of grass, until he had somewhat recruited his strength, when he bent his course to the desert, and arrived thirsty and hungry, and faint, at a well. He saw a number of people gathered round it, who were drinking a draught of water for a small piece of money.