Page images
PDF
EPUB

the epithet of bogh-gi, i. e. nightmen; becaufe, during a war, which laid waste their country, that is to fay the environs of Erzerum, about an hundred years ago, feveral Armenians betook themfelves to flight, and fought shelter at Conftantinople. As this nation were poor and miferable, and knew not how to fubfift, they began at first to follow the meaneft occupations; cleaning the common fewers to procure bread. By industry and economy they at length amaffed fome money, with which they completed a fund; and by this means were enabled, in time, to quit their vile and contemptible employment. Several of their body became very rich by trade; and it is affirmed, that, for fixty years paft, the Armenians have not exercifed the nightly office. It appears, that if their chiefs had united, by the intervention of their patriarch and their bishops, the latter might have forbid them to follow fuch a profeffion, however wretched their condition, because they were continually infulted; and which fometimes ftill happens. For these reasons, the Armenians never use their own language; for the most part fpeaking Turkish, to conceal their origin.

The Georgians are called Beit-gi, that is to fay, eaters of lice. As thofe people are much tormented by thefe vermin, they ufe their teeth, as is faid, to deftroy them; not being able, when they catch them in the dark, to employ their nails. The Turks call the Tartars and the Scythians eaters of carrion, because they really eat the flesh of their dead horfes. The Indians, who live like miffion

At Rome, men may be feen carrying horse-flesh in this manner, which is fold for cat's meat, Thefe men go twice a day through every ftreet, that is to say, once in the morning, and again in the evening; and they distribute a fixed quantity to each cat, which, on hearing a certain ery, immediately appears, and for this they receive a fmall falary from the owners of these ani.

aries and preachers, and who con fequently always beg, are, perhaps not very improperly, diftinguished by the epithet of Dilingi, or beggars. The Arabs are called SiccianTeigi, which fignifies rat-eaters. The Turks alfo name them Akylfiz, or fools, men without judgment. The Greeks, who are the Rajas of the Turks, that is to say their fubjects, receive a very humiliating epithet; that of Boinux-fiz-Coyum; in Italian Becchi-fcornati, or goats with broken horns; becaufe, perhaps, they were fo eafily fubdued, when their empire was attacked.

The people of the continent are defpifed at Conftantinople; the Turks give them the epithet of Arabagi, that is to fay, carters and carriers. For the mott part they live in the country, and keep fome of those carriages called, in the Turkish lan guage, araba: fome ufe them for giving people an airing, and others for tranfporting provifions. The Turks ridicule the Albanians by calling them Giergi, which fignifies fellers of lungs; because they go through the streets carrying long fticks on their fhoulders, to which the inteftines of fheep are fufpended, and expofed for fale. The Moldavians are alfo defpifed, and diftinguished by the epithet of Bogdani-nadan, that is to fay, inhuman. The Bulgarians, or inhabitants of Servia, are called Haibud; fignifying robbers.

P

The Ragufans are ftiled Giaufus, that is to fay, fpies. The Bofniacs, or inhabitants of Bofnia, Potur, or affaffins on the highway. The Ruffians are diftinguished, but very immals. This feeder of cats is always accompanied by a large dog, which is taught to drive away the cats of those masters who do not regularly pay their money. It is very curious to fee all thefe cats, each running to the door of the houfe to which it belongs, as foon as it hears the fhrill cry of its feeder.

`properly,

properly, by the epithet RufimenKius, which fignifies Ruffian, worthlefs foul. The Turks infult the Poles, by calling them Fodul Ghiaur, men very vain, conceited with themselves, unfaithful, and arrogant. The Germans are characterifed by the words Gurur Kiafr, haughty blafphemers, because the Turks find the German language harfh and difagreeable to the ear. To the Venetians they apply the epithet of Balik-gi, that is to fay fifhers, because their city is built in the middle of the fea. The Italians, and all the Franks, are ftiled. Firengh-hezar-rengh, or people of a thoufand colours, on account, perhaps, of their manner of dreffing. The Turks call the French Ainegi, that is to fay, cunning and deceit ful; the Dutch Peinirgi, which fignifies cheesemongers, because they bring a great quantity of that article to Conftantinople; and the English Sciokagi, or cloth manufacturers; becaufe thofe people tranfport to the Levant abundance of all kinds of drapery goods. The Spaniards are diftinguished by the epithet of Tembel, that is to fay, lazy. The inhabitants of the Morea, and of all the iflands of the Archipelago, are derided by the word Taufciani, which means hares; becaufe when the Turks feized not only the Morea, but alfo the different islands in the Archipelago belonging to the Venetians, the terror of the inhabitants was fo great, that they did not make any refistance, and fled to the mountains like hares.

Generally fpeaking, all nations who do not profefs the Mahometan religion, are continually despised and infulted, by the Turks, who give them the denomination of Ghiaur, or unfaithful.

COMMENDABLE ARTIFICE.

QUEEN Mary, having dealt feverely with the proteftants in Eng

land, about the latter end of her reign, figned a commiffion to take the fame courfe with them in Ireland; and, to execute her vindictive purpofe with greater force, the noiminated Dr. Cole one of the coinmiffioners. This doctor coming with the commiffion to Chester, on his journey, the mayor of that city. hearing that her majefty was fending a commiffion into Ireland, and, being a churchman, waited on the doctor; who, in difcourfe with the mayor, took out of a cloak-bag a leather box, faying to him, "Here is a commiffion that fhall lafh the heretics of Ireland!" [calling the proteftants by that title]. The good woman of the house, being well affected to the proteftant religion, and alfo having a brother, named John Edmonds, of the fame faith, then a citizen in Dublin, was much troubled at the doctor's words; and refolving to avert the evil, if poffible watched her convenient time; and when the mayor took his leave, and the doctor complimented him down ftairs, the opened the box, took the commiffion out, and placed in lieu of it, a theet of paper, with a pack of cards wrapped up, the knave of clubs being faced uppermoft. The doctor, fufpecting nothing of what had been done, pursued his journey, and landed at Dublin on the 7th of October 1550. The lord Fitz-Walter, lord-deputy, fent for the doctor to appear before him and the privy council; when, after he had announced the purport of his business, he prefented the box to the lord-depu ty; who caufing it to be opened, that the fecretary might read the commiffion, the landlady's pack of cards, with the knave of clubs uppermost made its appearance, which not only ftartled the lord-deputy and council, but the doctor, who feriously affured them he fat out with a commiffion, but knew not how it had been me tamorphofed into what they faw.

The

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

SOME ACCOUNT

rived, we found him feated on a ftone-bench at the door, where he every day goes to repofe, or rather to revive himfelf, in the rays of the fun. When we first faw him, he was afleep. His fleep feemed to be very profound; his refpiration eafy; his pulfe regular; the veins of his forehead were of a lively and tranfparent blue colour, and his whole appearance remarkably calm and venerable. Hair, white as fnow, fell carelessly over his neck, and was feattered over his cheeks, upon which were difplayed the vivid tints of youth and healthfulness. I for fome time furveyed, with the utmost attention, this old man, while enjoying his repofe; but when thofe around awak

OF THE REMARKABLY OLD MAN WHO ened him, in order that he might

LATELY APPEARED AT PARIS.

[ocr errors]

[Tranflated from a Foreign Journal.] BEING at the caftle of St. JuTian, (fays the journalist) fituated in the bofom of the mountains of the Franche-Comte, and not far diftant from thofe of Jura, and the Alps, I imagined that I was walking in the path of ages, and, I thought, I perceived marks of their paffage in that multitude of rocks, half undermined, which feemed to nod on their fummits, and to threaten destruction by their fall. There, formerly, the Roman, the Gallic, and the Teutonic armies paffed. Whilft I was admiring the antiquity of this place, and, on this occafion, obferving the contraft which is always formed between the short duration of man, and the long duration of things, I was told of an old man, aged one hundred and eighteen, who lived at the diftance of a league from St. Julian, on the eftate of Montaigu. Think ing that this wonder was exaggerated, as generally happens, I wifhed to examine its truth, and the clergymen of St. Julian and Montaigu, conducted me to the houfe in which the oid man lodged. When we ar

fpeak to me, he appeared lefs blooming and lefs beautiful; that is to fay, not fo fresh when awake as when afleep. He could with difficulty lift his eye-lids; and in the open day, he fcarcely receives light enough to direct his steps. I found alfo that he was deaf, not being able to hear unlefs when one fpoke loudly in his ears. He had been in this state for about three years only. At the age of one hundred and fifteen, he feemed to be no more than eighty, and at one hundred and ten he could perform almost any labour. "In the meadows he cut grafs at the head of the mowers, whom he aftonifhed by his vigour, and animated by his activity. At table he diftin guifhed himself, no lefs by his appetite, than by his fongs, which he fung with a full and trong voice. At the fame age, having conceived a defire of revifiting the place of his nativity, he repaired thither at a time when the inhabitants were carrying on a lawsuit against their lord, refpecting a crofs which he had erected at a great distance from boundaries, till then acknowledged by cuftom and tradition, and which confequently would have deprived

them

[ocr errors]

them of a confiderable portion of common. When the old man arrived, he heard mention made of this procefs; and as he had been a witnefs of the past, he became a proper judge of the prefent. Have ing conducted a great number of the inhabitants, who accompanied him, to a high pile of ftones, fituated at the distance of a league, he began to remove them, and difcovered the ancient and real crofs, which had occafioned the lawfuit, and which now brought it to a con ciufion."

This old man, whofe name is John Jacob, was born at Charme, a bailiwick of Orgelet, on the 10th of November 1669. Mr. de Caumartin de Sainte-Ange, intendant of Franche-Comte, having in the year 1785, heard of him; and having fatisfied himself refpecting his age, and learned that he had really need of affistance, propofed to the minifter of the finances, to grant him a pension of two hundred livres, to enable him to terminate his long career in peace, and to add to it a prefent of twelve hundred more. This propofal was agreed to in the month of September 1785, and fince that period he has enjoyed this mark of beneficence conferred upon old age. On the 20th of October, laft year, this old man was conducted to Paris, and prefented to the king, who viewed him with equal attention and furprize; and treated with much kindness this extraordinary man, who had been a fubject to Louis XIV. and Louis XV. as well as to himself. Though reduced almoft to a flate of vegetation, he ftill vegetates with pleature; and he has retained three paffions, vanity, anger, and avarice.

SINGULAR LAW IN SPAIN,

AND ITS EFFECTS...

THE Spanish etiquette is a certain regulation which contains all

the ceremonies which the Spani monarchs are obliged to obferve, and which they dare not, upon any pretence, break through; but yet is a greater check upon the liberty, of the queen confort, for they are of ten forbid things the most innocent. The duchefs of Terra Nova, who was camera major to the wife of Charles II. told her majefty plainly, that the queens of Spain muft not look out of the windows of the palace, There happened to this princefs an adventure, which, by the formalities of the etiquette, had like to have occafioned her death. The queen was very fond of riding; and, feveral fine horfes having been brought her from Andalufia, the had a mind to exercise one of them; but he had no fooner mounted, than the proud fteed, beginning to prance and caper, threw her off; when her majefty's foot hitched in the stirrup, and he was dragged along, to the utmoft peri! of her life. All the courts were fpectators' of this accident; but nobody had thought of fuccouring the queen: the etiquette formally oppofed it;' for it forbid any man whatfoever, on pain of death, to touch the queen of Spain, and more especially her foot. Charles II. who had a great love for his queen, and who, from a balcony, faw her danger, cried out vehemently; but the custom was inviolable, and the untouchable' foot reftrained the grave Spaniards from intermeddling in fo delicate an' affair. At length, two brifk cavaliers, one named don Louis de las Terres, and the other don Jaine de Sotoma jor, refolved to hazard all in fpite of the law prohibiting the touch of the queen's foot. One feized the bridle of the horfe; and the other laid hold of her majefty's foot, and took it out of the flirrup; but, in rendering her this fervice, difplaced one of his fingers. When the queen was extricated, the cavaliers took the

advamage

[ocr errors]

advantage of the confufion occafioned by the accident, and, without ftopping, went home, took their horfes, and fled from the punishment they had incurred, for daring to offend against fo ftrict and so august a custom.

The queen, after recovering from her fright, defired to fee her two deliverers. A young lord, their friend, told her majefty, that they were obliged to fly their country, to avoid the punishment allotted to their crime. The queen, who was a Frenchwoman, knew nothing of the prerogative of her heel; and very juftly imagining it a very impertinent custom, to punish men for faving her life, entreated, and ob tained, their pardon from the king her husband. But the reluctance which he fhewed on this occafion, but ill accorded with his connubial love, and for that vehemence of defpair which he betrayed while the danger continued.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE MURDER OF NADIR SHAH,

THE PERSIAN TYRANT,

[From Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, a perfon of diftinction, who accompanied Nadir on his return from Hindoftan to Perfia.]

NADIR Shah commenced his expedition against the Lezekee of Daghistan, for which he was making preparations when I took my leave of him at Cazvin. As he had conquered Hindoftan and Turan with out experiencing any of the hardfhips of war, he vainly imagined that he fhould alfo now carry all before him, and arrogantly declared that he would make prostitutes of all the virgin daughters of their great men; and, in retaliation of the blood of his brother, would decapitate five thoufand Lezekees; and, confiding folely in his own ftrength, fought not the aid and

❤ The Perfian author of thefe Memoirs.

favour of heaven. But the Lezekees, who are remarkable for their ftrength and valour, gave him a different reception from what he had expected.

I have heard from many of the fervants, who attended his perfon, that in the wars of Hindoftan, Turan and Turkey, he never neglected his ablutions; but would then hum ble himfelf by proftrating his forehead in the duft, and make prayers and fupplications to God; and that particularly during the battle with the Omrahs of Hindoftan, he alighted from his horfe, rubbed his face against the earth, and made loud proteftations of his own unworthi nefs. But in the war of Daghistan, he behaved in a manner quite contrary, being inflated with pride and arrogance, neglecting his duty to God; in confequence of which he experienced a reverfe of fortune;, for the Lezekees, after having made great flaughter amongst his troops, took refuge in their mountains; and thus, although in fact victorious, he was obliged to give up the war, without having committed the rapine, and fatiated his revenge, in the manner he had meditated and threatened. After his return from Daghistan, he ftaid fome time in Iran, to prepare for the Turkifl war. He then marched to Kerhook, and, after plundering Mouffel, Diar beker, and other places in that quarter, proceeded to Nejeff and Kerbela, where he vifited the fhrines of the Imams, and then proceeded through Irak Agem to Khorafan.

Allavee Khan, when he was at the court of Perfia, availing himself of Nadir Shah's favour and kindnefs, employed the opportunities, whilft he was prefcribing medicine, to adminifter alfo wholesome advice, and which the Shah took in very good part. The Hakeem Bathy was alfo continually exerting his skill to correct the impetuofity of his tem

per,

« PreviousContinue »