saloon. The frigate had been newly painted; and along the whole length of the upper edge of the bulwarks were alternate rows of red and white roses, whilst the ports were occupied by chaste transparencies of different emblems of peace.

"The general effect of this splendid scene must have been very striking, as an aide-de-camp of the Emperor of Russia told me that he had never seen any thing to surpass it, even in the splendour of the imperial fêtes at Petersburgh. Indeed, the magnificence of the frigate, embellished by every ornament which the palace of the embassy could supply, vied with a royal palace. All the minutiae of the detail seem to have been calculated with the same care; and the ladies of Pera still talk with rapture of an aquatic omnibus, in which they were conveyed from the shore to the ball, in a floating drawing-room, beautifully lighted up, and supplied with

cushions and mirrors.

"The company, consisting of all the foreign ambassadors at Constantinople, in their full uniform; several Russian officers of Marshal Diebitsch Zabalcansky's staff, from Adrianople; and the whole Frank society of Pera, were assembled on board before nine o'clock; and my Russian friend represented the inner tent to me as presenting one beautiful flowerbed of ladies, decked out in all the loveliness of Cachemere, and ornamented with that profusion of jewellery which characterises the ladies of the Levant.

"It was about nine o'clock when His Majesty's ship Rifleman, which was stationed at a short distance off the harbour, gave the signal for the approach of the Turks. No sooner had the seraskier, followed by all the ministers, set foot on deck, than the band, which had hitherto remained mute, struck up the sultan's favourite march. The Mussulmans were all dressed alike, in long mantles of dark cloth, reaching below the knee, and displaying, as they sometimes opened in front, the diamond aigrette which distinguished their respective ranks. The head-dress was the simple red fez, an unbecoming close cap, with a blue tassel, which dangles down the side. They were all in the highest spirits, and viewed with ecstasy the festive scene; spending the early part of the evening in alternately playing by themselves at cards, retiring on the ottomans to smoke the long chibouk, or admiring the beauty of the dancers.

"The difficulties of etiquette, which very naturally arose, both with regard to the rank of Turks towards each other, and towards the representatives of the foreign powers, was overcome by Sir Robert Gordon in a very simple and judicious manner. Each foreign minister successively selected, according to her rank, the lady he was to take down to supper; and each lady then gave her other arm to a Turk, according to his rank. They thus descended by threes, instead of by pairs.

"The main deck exhibited a splendid supper-table, at which two hundred guests sat down to a very singular ceremony, for the Turks conformed in every thing to the European manners; eating with knives and forks, joining in bumpers of champagne, in the toasts to the different sovereigns. of Europe; and appearing to enjoy, as if in a dream, every thing that the most princely hospitality and judicious taste could supply, as a specimen of the manners of the West.

"After supper was over, and the dance recommenced, they were even persuaded to share in the promenades of the Polonaise; and, grinning

through their beards, gave their arms to the Houris with infinite zest. They staid later than their early hours sanctioned; and deep in the night were seen, alternately mingling in happy converse, or quaffing cups of European refreshment, Austrian hussars, Turkish ulemas, English midshipmen, and every varied character which the oriental metropolis can assemble. The sun had already illuminated the golden gate of the seraglio, and the muezzin called the Moslems to their first prayer, when the retiring guests, in arabas and on foot, regained, through the solemn cemeteries,

their homes.

"Every body at Pera, whom I saw, spoke with rapture of this fête, which had outshone every thing of the kind ever given at Stamboul, and reflected the highest credit on the embassy, and the judicious arrangements of Captain Lyon and his distinguished officers."—vol. ii. pp. 73–79.

Evidently

We have been amused with the real old Turkish indignation, with which Mr. Keppel comments upon this fête. angry with his bad fortune in having missed such a rare exhibition, he sets it down as a proof of gross ignorance and impolicy in Mahmoud to have exposed his ministers and himself to the contempt of his vassals, by conforming so far to European manners. 'What,' he asks, can be said of the enlightened character of the sovereign, who thus wantonly loosens almost the only remaining tie that binds his subjects in obedience to his despotic will?' Then follow some fine reflections upon the connexion between the Ottoman government and the Mahometan religion, exactly in the strain that might be expected from a high tory Turk, all of which he confirms with a quotation from Montesquieu's "Spirit of Laws," a book which he seems to have carried about with him in his portmanteau, as he appeals to it on every occasion. If Mr. Keppel had been in parliament, he would doubtless be as eloquent in favour of Gatton and Old Sarum as Sir Charles Wetherell. He must have been horror-struck at the idea of the Capitan Pasha's intended ball, at which the Sultan was to have been present incog., an idea, however, which was not carried into execution, because the ladies, for some unexplained reason, declared unanimously against it.

We shall not follow Mr. Keppel in his journey across the Balcan, an affair neither of difficulty nor novelty. High mountain passes that might easily have been rendered impregnable, steep roads, and torrents, he saw in abundance: but the passage over this frontier is no longer a mystery, and there is nothing particularly interesting in the author's description of its localities. Count Diebitsch, who is here pourtrayed as a very ugly man, has completely broken the spell by which the summits of the Balcan had, before his march, been kept inviolate. Mr. Keppel does not rightly translate his title of Zabalcansky; it means not a trans-Balcanian, which would only signify that he was a native of a country beyond that range of mountain, but literally a crosser of the Balcan.

'Field-Marshal Count Diebitsch is a little, fat, plethoric-looking man,

something less than five feet high; he has a very large head, with long black hair, small piercing eyes, and a complexion of the deepest scarlet, alike expressive of his devotion to cold punch, and of a certain irascibility of temper, which has elicited from the troops, to his proud title of Zabalcansky, (or the trans-Balcanian), the additional one of the Semavar (or the tea-kettle).

I have said that Count Diebitsch owes his fortune to his face; the sequel will shew how. He is the second son of a Prussian officer, who was on the staff of Frederic. At an early age he entered the Russian army, and obtained a company in the imperial guard. It was at this time that the King of Prussia came on a visit to the Russian autocrat, and it so happened that it was Captain Diebitsch's tour of duty to mount guard on the royal visitor. The Emperor foresaw the ridiculous figure the little captain would cut at the head of the tall grenadiers, and desired a friend delicately to hint to him that it would be agreeable to his imperial master if he would resign the guard to a brother officer. Away goes the friend, meets the little captain, and bluntly tells him, that the Emperor wishes him not to mount guard with his company: for, adds he, "l'empereur dit, et il faut convenir, que vous avez l'extérieur terrible." This "delicate hint," that his exterior was too terrible to be seen at the head of troops not remarkable for good looks, so irritated the future hero of the Balcan, that, with his natural warmth of temper, he begged to resign, not his tour of duty only, but the commission he held in the Russian army; and being a Prussian and not a Russian subject, desired to be allowed to return to his native country.

The Emperor Alexander, who appears to have formed a just estimate of his talents, easily found means to pacify him, by giving him promotion in the line. He has subsequently made himself so useful in that part of the service, where beauty was not indispensable, that the late emperor placed him at the head of the general staff, which situation he held when the reigning emperor appointed him to succeed Count Wittginstein in the chief command.

Respecting this last personage, who has been much blamed for the ill success which attended the Russian arms during his command, I should mention a belief generally entertained by the Russians, that Wittginstein would have done very well, if it had not been for the constant interference of the emperor Nicolas. It is said that Diebitsch was fully aware of this circumstance; and on being offered the command, expressly stipulated, as a condition of his acceptance, that he should be entirely unshackled by the imperial "Je le veux."—vol i. pp. 205-207.

Upon his return from the Balcan, Mr. Keppel proceeded to visit the district of Azani. From Constantinople he at first pursued the high-road to Egypt, in a south-easterly direction, but from Kutaya southward and westward through the ancient kingdoms of Phrygia and Lydia, which have not been much explored. Mr. Keppel made the journey alone, having most probably had quite enough of Lord Dunlo's company, during his expedition to the Balcan, although his politeness obliges him to say quite the reverse. We, who have had a little experience on the subject, perfectly

agree in all that he says as to travelling companions. In nine cases out of ten they are intolerable nuisances.

In this expedition I travelled without a companion; and I recommend every one, whose object is information, to do the same, unless he be so fortunate as to find a fellow-traveller who combines science with all the other indispensable qualifications of a good travelling companion. Here I must anticipate an impression that might naturally be produced, namely, that this remark originated in something which occurred between Lord Dunlo and myself in the late journey. So far was this from being the case, that it was quite impossible for more perfect harmony to have subsisted between two individuals. Both nearly of an age, interested in the same objects of curiosity, each possessing a full command of temper, endowed with the same power of bearing privation and fatigue, we went through this somewhat arduous journey without a single dispute,--a matter of rare occurrence, if all travellers would confess the truth.

'Yet, notwithstanding these advantages, we unavoidably interfered with each other's plans; for example, my illness at Adrianople had caused three weeks' detention to Lord Dunlo; and his being obliged to return to his duties as an attaché at Constantinople, prevented me from visiting Silistria, and other fortresses on the banks of the Danube. In short, from some experience in these matters, I pronounce a fellow-traveller, in most cases, to be a great obstacle to advantageous research. To him only who makes a journey for information do I address myself. The society of a companion is certainly more pleasant; but if pleasure be the only attraction, the tourist had better confine his wanderings to civilised Europe.'-vol. ii. pp. 130-132.

It is highly creditable to Colonel Leake's geographical knowledge, that although he had not visited the Phrygian cities of Cadi, Azani and Synaus, he gives in his work on Asia Minor such clear directions with respect to their locality, that Mr. Keppel, by following his instructions, reached the two former, and discovered them precisely where he says they ought to be found. The route from Kutaya is over hills and through vallies, in a depopulated country, where nothing beyond a few worthless inscriptions on stone can reward the toil of the traveller. Several of these have been collected by Mr. Keppel. At Azani he saw the splendid ruins of a theatre and temple, of which he gives a detailed description. So much of the latter remains that it is still visible at the distance of six miles. The near approach to it is marked by 'a prodigious quantity of prostrate shafts of columns plain and fluted, highly ornamented capitals, and superbly wrought entablatures.' The city itself has been reduced to a mere village, in several parts of which rows of erect columns are still standing. The cemeteries abound in architectural fragments, and Greek inscriptions arrest the eye of the stranger at every turn.

These ruins,' says the author, occupy the banks of a river, which, on my return to Constantinople, I ascertained to be the Rhyndacus. Over this stream are two ancient bridges raised on elliptical arches, and

once surmounted by balustrades, as is evident from the remains of metal which formerly retained them in their places; a superb quay connects these bridges together. On the right bank of the river is the temple, from which a communication can be traced to the water's edge. Facing its north front, at about a quarter of a mile distant, is the theatre; and a little to its north-west angle are the remains of a building constructed of huge blocks, standing on a low hill.'-vol. ii. p. 205.

The temple is supposed to have been dedicated to Jupiter, and appears, from Mr. Keppell's account of it, to be equal in elegance and beauty of architecture to the best specimens of Greek taste now extant. On the outside and inside of the north wall there are inscriptions in the Greek and Latin languages, of some of which Mr. Keppel succeeded in making copies. Those which he has inserted in his work relate principally to a dispute among the citizens of Azani, concerning some land that was sacred to Jupiter, and to honours which were paid to particular individuals who had deserved well of their country. Mr. Keppel also obtained here some silver and copper coins, Greek, Latin, and of the Lower Empire. Not far from Azani is the ancient city of Cadi, now called Ghiediz, of which,' says the author 'no account has been given by any European traveller.' The population, consisting exclusively of Turks, occupy eight hundred houses, which are flat roofed, differing in that respect from the houses generally seen on that side of Asiatic Turkey, and closely resembling those of Bagdad. It is watered by the classic stream Hermus, which, entering the town from the north-west, winds through it with impetuosity caused by the steepness of the mountain, and after taking a picturesque course, passes out through a chasm of a high abrupt rock, that would appear to have been cleft in twain for the purpose, and rolls onward towards the Archipelago. The architectural ruins to be seen here are very inferior to those of Azani, consisting only of a few scattered fragments of columns. The fact of the greater part of this country having been at the time in open rebellion against the Porte, prevented Mr. Keppel from exploring as much of it as he had intended. We trust that some future traveller will be more fortunate in that respect. During a portion of his journey he was accompanied by one of the Government Spies, who are a numerous race, it appears, in the Turkish dominions.

Mr. Keppel boasts that he is the only English traveller' to Ghiurdiz, supposed to be the Julio-Gordius of Ptolemy, a city which he visited after leaving Cadi. He gives no description of it, however, as he was prevented from making the usual inquiries by the presence of the spy. Proceeding thence through a beautiful country, he reached Ak-hissar, the first town in his journey from Kutaya, of which mention is made by any modern traveller.' Thus ends his visit to Azani, and to the newly-discovered ruins in Asia Minor' so pompously announced in the title page!

With a view, we presume, to create or revive amongst us an