us forward, we traced on our right hand the extensive outbuildings of the Arsenal, which bound the shore to the very extremity of the port, and only terminate at the point of the “Sweet Waters,” where a lovely river empties itself into the harbour, and gives its name to the locality.
In ten minutes, we were at the Fanar, and landed on a wooden terrace washed by the waters of the port; and in five more we had passed into the garden to which it belonged, and thence into the house of the hospitable family who had offered us a home for the night.
Having traversed an extensive hall paved with stone, whence three flights of marble stairs gave admittance into different parts of the mansion, we passed through a long gallery, and entered the apartment in which the ladies of the family were awaiting our arrival. No chilling salutation of measured courtesy—no high-bred manifestation of “exclusive” indifference, greeted the foreign strangers; but each in turn approached us with extended hand, and offered the kiss of welcome; and in less than a quarter of an hour we were all laughing and chatting as gaily in French, as though we had been the acquaintance of years.
No where do you feel yourself more thoroughly at home at once than among the inhabitants of the East; they may be what we are accustomed to call them—semi-barbarians—but, if such be the case, never was the aphorism of a celebrated female writer more thoroughly exemplified that “extreme politeness comes next to extreme simplicity of manners.” Any privation that you may suffer in a Turkish or Greek house, beyond those consequent on the habits of the country, must be gratuitous, as the natives place a firm reliance on your asking for all that you require or wish; and they are so far from being obliged to you for a contrary mode of action, that you cannot more seriously offend than by giving them cause to suspect, after your departure, that you have been inconvenienced during your residence in their families.
The room in which we were received was of considerable extent, and surrounded on three sides by a sofa, like those in the Turkish houses, which were in fact copied from the Greeks; this was covered with a gay patterned chintz, and furnished with cushions of cut velvet of a rich deep blue; nor was the comfortable tandour wanting; and, when I had laid aside my cloak, shawl, and bonnet, and exchanged my walking shoes for slippers, I crept under the wadded coverings as gladly as any Greek among them; and, having surrounded ourselves with cushions, we all sat in luxurious idleness, speculating on the forthcoming ball, and relating anecdotes of those which were past.
Nothing can be more patriarchal than the domestic economy of a Greek family: that in which we were guests comprised three generations; and the respect and obedience shown by the younger branches to their venerable relatives were at once beautiful and affecting. The aged grandmother, a noble remain of former beauty, with a profile which a sculptor must still have loved to look upon, so perfectly was its outline preserved—wore her grey hair braided back from her forehead, and a dark shawl wound about her head—a long pelisse of brown cloth lined with rich fur, with wide sleeves, and an under-jacket of crimson merinos, doubled with marten-skin—her daughter, the mistress of the house, and the mother of twelve children, reminded me strongly of a Jewess, with her large, dark, flashing eyes, and high aquiline nose: her wide brow was cinctured with a costly Persian scarf; and during the day she three times changed the magnificent cachemere in which she was enveloped. The younger ladies wore turbans of gauze wreathed with flowers, very similar to those which are in use among our matrons for evening dress; their dark, luxuriant, glossy hair being almost entirely hidden; and furred pelisses that reached from the throat mid-way to the knee, whence the full petticoat of merinos, or chaly, fell in large folds to their feet.
As soon as we were comfortably established round the tandour, a servant brought in a tray on which were arranged a large cut glass vase, filled with a delicate preserve slightly impregnated with attar de rose, a range of crystal goblets of water, and a silver boat, whose oars were gilt tea-spoons. One of these the lady of the house immersed in the preserve, and offered to me; after which she replaced the spoon in the boat, and I then accepted a draught of water presented by the same hospitable hand; the whole ceremony was next gone through with my father; and, the tray being dismissed, a second servant entered with coffee, served in little porcelain cups of divers patterns, without saucers, but deposited in stands of fillagreed silver, shaped nearly like the egg-cups of Europe.
After this, we were left to our charcoal and cushions until six o’clock; save that my father smoked a costly pipe with a mouthpiece of the colour and almost of the bulk of a lemon, in company of our host, a tall, majestic-looking man, upwards of six feet in height, whose black calpac differed from those of the Armenians in its superiority of size and globular form, and whose furred garments, heaped one above another, seemed to me, shivering as I had lately been under a sharp spring breeze on the water, the very embodiment of comfort.
A Greek dinner is a most elaborate business; rendered still more lengthy by the fact that the knives, forks, and other appliances which European example has introduced, are as yet rather hindrances than auxiliaries to most of those who have adopted them.
When we had taken our places at table, I looked around me with considerable interest—we were truly a large party—all the junior members of the family, who had been throughout the morning “on household cares intent,” were gathered around the board; and such a circle of bright black eyes I never beheld before in my life!
The very aspect of the repast was appetissant—the portly tureen of rice soup was surrounded by every tentative to appetite that can be enumerated; pickled anchovies, shred cheese, dried sausage divided into minute portions, pickles of every description, salt tunny-fish, looking like condensed rose leaves, and Adrianople tongues sliced to the thinness of wafers. The sparkling Greek wines were laughing in light among dishes upheaped with luscious confectionary—Sciote pastry—red mullet, blushing through the garlanded parsley among which they were imbedded, and pyramids of pillauf slightly tinged with the juice of the tomato. More substantial dishes were rapidly handed round by servants, and a delicious dessert crowned the hospitable meal, at whose termination we hurried to our several apartments, and were soon immersed in all the mysteries of the toilet.
The house of the merchant by whom the ball was to be given, and whose name was Kachishesh Oglou, signifying “Son of the Hermit,” was next door to that in which we were already guests; and the cheerful music of the Wallachian band gave earnest of its commencement long ere we were ready to augment the festive crowd: and a crowd it truly was, a perfect social kaleidoscope; for the variety of costumes and colours in constant motion formed a gay and characteristic piece of human mosaic. There were the venerable men whose hair and beards had grown gray with age, and who had scorned to put off the garb of their fathers; the dark globular calpac and the graceful pelisse—the tiers étât of fashion, in their semi-European dress, the ill-cut frock-coat, and the scarlet fèz, drawn down to their very eyebrows—and the young, travelled beaux, in their pride of superior knowledge and tenue, gloved and chausséd with a neatness and precision worthy of the school in which they had studied.
Among the ladies, the same graduated scale of fashion was perceptible: the elder matrons wore the dark head-dress and unbecoming vest of by-gone years, half concealed by the warm wrapping pelisse—the next in age had mingled the Greek and European costumes into one heterogeneous mass, each heightening and widening the absurdity of the other; and had overlaid the inconsistent medley with a profusion of diamonds absolutely dazzling; while the younger ladies presented precisely the same appearance as the belles of a third rate country town in England: their petticoats too short, their heads too high, their sleeves too elaborate, and their whole persons over-dressed.
I have already remarked on the fondness of the Greek ladies for gay colours; a taste peculiarly, and almost painfully, apparent in a ball-room: such bright blues, deep pinks, and glowing scarlets I never before saw collected together; and this glaring taste extends even to their jewels, which they mix in the most extraordinary manner; their only care being to heap upon their persons every ornament that they can contrive to wear.
I cannot, however, record even this inconsequent criticism without a feeling of self-reproach, when I remember the kindliness of heart, and frankness of welcome, with which I was received among them. No curious impertinence taught me that I was felt to be a stranger; on the contrary, I was greeted with smiles on every side; each had something