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manding figure which eminently characterized his father, and in conduct is simple and diffident. His address, when unrestrained by official forms and ceremony, is gentle and kind in the extreme-more affable and engaging than that of his Pachas; and no one can approach him without being won by the goodness of heart which his demeanor indicates. He has never been known to commit an act of severity or injustice; his purse and his hand have always been open for the indigent and the unfortunate, and he takes a peculiar pride in bestowing his honors upon men of science and talent. Among his own subjects he is very popular and much beloved; they perceive and acknowledge the benefit of the reforms which he has instituted, and he no longer need apprehend any opposition on their part. In some of the more distant portions of his empire, such as Albania, where perhaps foreign influence is exerted to thwart his plans, his new system of military rule has not yet been carried out; but it evidently soon will be, especially when its advantage over the old is felt by the inhabitants.

The palaces of the Sultan, on both banks of the Bosphorus, though externally showy, are very plain and simple in their interior arrrangement. They are surrounded by high walls, and guarded by soldiery. The first block of buildings which the traveller approaches on visiting them, up the Bosphorus, are the apartments of the eunuchs; the second his harem, or female apartments; and the third those of the Sultan. Beyond this are the offices of his secretaries, guard, and band of music, all beyond the walls of the palace. The number of eunuchs is some sixty or eighty, and the females in the harem about three hundred to four hundred. The Sultan never marries; all the occupants of his harem are slaves, and he generally selects from four to six ladies as his favorites, who bear children to him, and who succeed to his throne. The remainder of the females are employed as maids of honor, who attend upon his mother, his favorites, his brother's mother, favorite if he has one, and upon his children. Many hold offices in the palace, and are charged with the maintenance of good order and regularity. Many of them are aged females, who have been servants to his father, his mother, and sisters and brother, and have thus claims upon his kindness and protection. The only males who have the right of entrance to the imperial harem are the eunuchs, all of whom are black, and come mutilated from Egypt. The chief of their corps is an aged 'gentleman of color,' possessing the Sultan's confidence in an eminent degree, and in official rank is higher than any other individual connected with the imperial palace. The eunuchs are assigned to the service of the different ladies of the harem, do their shopping in the bazaars, carry their messages, and accompany them on their visits. Indeed, their duties are much like those of wellbred gallants in our country, without any of the ambitious feelings which animate the latter, and certainly they never aspire to the possession of their affections. Some of them grow wealthy, possess much property, and slaves of both sexes, but as they can have no families the Sultan is their legal heir. Eunuchs are possessed by many of the pachas and other officers of rank, for the purpose of serving their wives, sisters, and daughters: they cost four or five times as much as an ordinary black slave, and the highest officers seldom possess more than ten of them at once.

From them much interesting information can at times be procured relative to the most sacred and least known of the Mussulman family system. They are generally of mild disposition, gentle and amiable; though this is not always the case, for they sometimes are petulant, cross, and confoundedly non-communicative.

The Sultan's palace is peculiarly his private home, and no officers of high rank occupy it with him. He has four private secretaries, and as many chamberlains. He has also two aids-de-camp, who are generally in command of the body-guard, which has its quarters in the vicinity of the palace. He seldom, however, commands their attendance: their duties are to keep watch at the principal entrances, and to salute him or any of his higher officers who may arrive at or leave the royal residence. The secretaries write out his orders, and the chief of their number receives all foreign functionaries or Turkish dignitaries who visit the palace on business. One of them is the Sultan's interpreter, and translates articles for his perusal from the many foreign papers received from Europe and America by the Sultan. All official documents are sent to the chief secretary by the different ministers of the Sublime Porte, and those received from the foreign embassies and legations are translated there, previous to being transmitted to the Sultan. No foreign legation ever transacts any official business directly with the Sultan, or through the chief (private) secretary; but the latter may be visited on matters relating to the sovereign personally. Documents from the Sublime Porte are always communicated through the Grand Vezir, who has a number of port-folios in which these are placed, and he sends them to the palace by certain functionaries charged especially with their conveyance. Of these the Vezir possesses one key, and the Sultan, or his chief secretary, another. The Sultan passes several hours of the day, from eleven to three, in perusing these papers, and in hearing their perusal by the private secretary before him; and his imperial commands are traced on their broad margin, either by his own hand in red ink, (as is customary in China,) or he directs his secretary to do it for him. So very sacred are all manuscripts coming from his pen, that these papers seldom ever leave the bureaux to which they belong, except after his decease. It is only on such documents that the autograph of the Sultan is ever seen.

At about three o'clock the Sultan generally leaves the palace, in a caïque or barge, which, being smaller than that used for official purposes, is called the incognito, (tebdil,) and visits the edifices which he may be erecting, calls upon his sisters, or spends the remainder of the day at one of the many delightful nooks on the Bosphorus or Golden Horn, where he possesses kiosks, or summer-houses. Sometimes he takes with him his brother or his sons; and he is strongly attached to them. It is said that he is having the latter instructed in the French language, in geography and mathematics. The elder is some ten years of age, but will not succeed his father to the throne until after the death of his uncle, who, by Mussulman law, is next in right to the reigning Sultan. Inheritance, in Islam lands, runs through all the brothers before it reverts to the children of the eldest son. Females cannot succeed to the throne, and the house of Othman would consequently become extinct with its last male representative.

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THE RECLUSE.

BY RALPH SEAWULF

"THERE have been holy men who hid themselves
Deep in the woody wilderness, and gave

Their lives to thought and prayer, till they outlived
The generation born with them, nor seemed
Less aged than the hoary trees and rocks
Around them; and there have been holy men
Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus.'

BRYANT'S FOREST HYMN.

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THE old man, having proceeded thus far, ceased speaking, and sank back upon a projection of rock that hung over the rude seat upon he had rested, apparently much exhausted with the fatigue and excitement of his unaccustomed task. While delivering the observations which I have but imperfectly repeated in the last chapter, he appeared frequently to forget my very presence, and with eyes uplifted or gazing on vacancy, although uttering aloud his thoughts, seemed rapt and communing with himself. Again at times, hurried away by the ardor of his enthusiasm, his speech would flow rapidly, and he would fix his eyes with such intensity upon me, and with such a wild unearthly expression, that I trembled, awe-struck, and almost terrified into unconsciousness at the sublimity of his appearance. His clear blue eyes at such times would brighten, and his whole face seem to kindle as with a blaze of light.

Be the cause of these impressions what it might, I was spell-bound, and every faculty of my mind was so riveted upon the events as they occurred, that though many years have since passed away, the impression upon my memory is as fixed and distinct as if it were the occurrence of yesterday. I fancied that this aged man had been originally of a powerful frame, with a tremendous will and a giant-like force of character, and that this great power, which in actual practical life, and upon the great theatre of the world, would have made him a triumphant conqueror of 'the stings and arrows of outrageous fortune,' had been almost wholly exhausted in their own discipline, if not systematic self-destruction. Still the phenomenon of a man of clear intellect and resolute purpose, setting himself apart from his fellows, and giving himself up to a life of holy contemplation and pure reason, so attracted my attention and fascinated my imagination, that my mind was excited to such a pitch as it had never been before. Unlike most men of my age and position, I was fortunate by early education in having fixed principles of morality and religion, and sound notions upon almost all leading matters of human conduct. Still I had read and reflected enough to have cultivated a curiosity respecting the opinions of others, whose creed or code might be the result of circumstances, or the dictate of policy. "This man's reflections,' thought I, 'must surely be worthy of my attentive consideration. He is too far removed from me to speak or believe aught but the purest truth;' and his process of ratiocination seemed to me so much aloof from all the disturbing influences of passion and interest, that if human intellect or pure reason could arrive at truth, his deductions were entitled to the profoundest

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