eight persons to a house, it is supposed that 10,000 houses were destroyed, if the return of the persons be correct. PLAN OF PERA, SHOWING THE EXTENT OF THE FIRE But the circumstance which marks this fire above all others is the loss of property. On all former occasions the strong stone houses had escaped; and a person who had one interposed between the direction of the fire and his wooden edifice, thought himself secure under such a shield. Hence it was, that when the fire began no one who occupied a stone house thought of removing his effects. There were, besides, attached to each of them, in general, a fire-proof vaulted magazine, below the foundation, and whenever from any extraordinary alarm, the inhabitants left the house above, they placed all their pro perty in this magazine below, and retired. But such was the intensity of this fire, that neither iron nor stone walls could oppose, and all the property laid up in places of security was destroyed. A M. Calatro, one of the Dragomen of the English mission, had a magazine of this kind, to which he descended by seventeen stone steps. Here he deposited all the effects not only of himself but of his brother dragomen. The next day he found the iron trap-door melted, and every thing in his vault reduced to ashes, leaving to the whole corps nothing but the Benichas or long gowns they happened to have on their backs. It so happened also, that the families of all the Ambassadors were at Therapea or Buyukdere for the summer, and no one remained in the palaces to remove any of the property, which was all destroyed. The only house that effectually resisted the fire was the British Chancery. It has an arched cell, of brick and stone alternately, with iron windows, which the people in the office hastily plastered up with mud, when the fire came on them, and then they ran off. The next day it was standing, but as it was red hot, they were afraid all the papers within were calcined like the MSS. of Herculaneum. For several days they were afraid to open the doors, lest the air rushing in, as had been the case in several instances, should inflame the highly combustible materials within; but at length they did so, and found all safe. Next door to the Chancery, was a very large and strong house, which the pious founder placed under a guardianship which he thought more effectual than Greek arches and iron shutters. He set over the door, on a marble tablet, the following inscription :-MARIÆ ET IOSEPHO PROTECTORIBUS HANC DOMUM ET OMNIA SUA CREDIDIT FREDERICUS CHIRICHO. A.D. 1708. Notwithstanding this prudent precaution, the house was burned to the ground, leaving nothing standing but part of the front wall with the marble tablet. So complete has been the obliteration of all that marked the former streets of Pera, and so sudden has been the change, that people cannot find their way through them. It is not like a fire in England, where the roofs fall in and leave the walls standing, to mark the direction of the street: here every thing is prostrate, and the open space presents no more direction than a rugged common. An Englishman, who had not been long at Pera, left for Odessa on business, and returned in little more than a week. When arrived at Tophana, he took his bag in his hand and proceeded up to Josepinas Locouda, off Pera Street, where he lodged. He heard nothing of the fire, and, when he came to where he thought his inn ought to stand, he found nothing but an open space, encumbered with heaps of rubbish. He thought he had wandered into some other district, and returned to Galata, to a friend's house, where he first learned the catastrophe, and that nothing remained of his inn or the street in which it had stood. You will ask, are there no firemen or engines in a place where there is such an awful loss of life and property almost every year? I answer, that there is a numerous corps of Trombadgis, the most active and efficient firemen in the world. They are naked to the waist, and wear on their heads inverted copper basins as their only protection; you see them in the streets rushing to the fires with their engines, and, in intrepidity, skill, and muscular vigour, they are unequalled. I one day saw a number of them on a burning wall, direct ing their pipes against a house they were determined to save; and, while they played on the fire, another set below were wholly employed in playing on them, to keep them cool and wet in the midst of the flames. If these fellows were under proper regulations, they would be the most efficient body in the world, but they have no law but their own will and cupidity. They sit idly on their engines before the burning houses, with their naked arms folded on their breasts, and the tubes of their implements decorated with flowers; and, if no one offers them money, they will continue there inactively in the midst of the fire. I one day saw a man who was exceedingly anxious about his property, earnestly entreat them to play upon his house, that was just opposite. They continued insensible and inflexible, till one of them whispered in the man's ear; his whisper was returned; they immediately started and with a fierce and frightful energy, rushed into the fire and soon subdued it. The man had promised them 10,000 piastres. It is supposed that, if similar offers had been made by the respective missions, all the palaces would have been saved; but there was no one in Pera to make the offer, and the Trombadgis did not, and would not, expend a spoonful of water to put them out. Indeed it is generally considered that the Turks were really well pleased at this conflagration of the Franks' property. They did not seem disposed to give the slightest aid to extinguish it. The Seraskier and the Galata Effendi, as official persons, were riding tranquilly about. They entered the English palace gardens, quietly looked on the fire, and walked out again. They went into several Frank houses in Pera Street, where they sat smoking and drinking coffee till the fire drove them out, and no entreaty of the owners could induce them to direct the Trombadgis to exercise their engines. It is rather remarkable that most of the fires which happen here, occur in the daytime, and occur from smoking morning pipes-the contents of which the Turks often throw out on a dry mat, and leave it to itself. From this circumstance it happens, that comparatively few lives are lost. In this present conflagration, which consumed the residences of 80,000 people, but twelve lost their lives, and half of them were killed by the falling in of walls after the fire had burnt down. But the daylight cannot protect property. There are a number of Greeks and Ionians, who have been klepts and pirates during the revolutionary war, and this being over, they have come to exercise their vocation in Pera under another form: robberies were very frequent before the fire, and during its continuance, and after, the most extensive depredations were carried on by these fellows. A law exists in Turkey, that any man caught in the act of plundering during a fire, is thrown into the burning house from whence he took the property; and, on a former occasion, I actually knew that it was practised; but now these fellows evaded this: under the pretence of being hummals, or porters, they took up the effects brought out of a house, to carry them to a place of security, and the proprietor never saw them again. This was carried to such an extent, that the next day orders were given to stop every person in the street with any property, and, in case of suspicion, to bring it to certain houses appointed for the purpose. A friend of mine lost his trunk, and, having heard that one of these depots was the Tersana, he went there to look after it here he saw displayed five or six hundred trunks, and, on searching among them, found his own, which he brought home in triumph. Another friend was still more fortunate; he entrusted a valuable scrutoire, containing money and other property to a hummal, who disappeared. After fruitless inquiries he gave up all for lost, when, some days after, he was accosted in the streets by a Turk, who brought him home to his house in Galata, where he showed him his scrutoire, told him he had been separated from him in the crowd, and was ever since looking for him to restore it. It is impossible to see any thing more dismal and dreary than the aspect that once gay Pera now presents. The Turks are already beginning to run up their wooden houses, which they are projecting farther, and making the streets narrower than ever; but all the stone edifices remain, and will remain, in ruins. It is very doubtful if any of the natives can, or will, incur the expense of rebuilding their palaces; and merchants will hardly hazard their property again on such expensive edifices as they formerly occupied. Pera, therefore, is likely to consist, in future, of wooden houses, among stone rubbish. THE SECOND MARRIAGE. OH! think not I can calmly see Thy second nuptial morn, Thou knowest with what delighted glee I hail'd its former dawn; How proud, how joyous did I feel And with a bridesmaid's eager zeal I clasp'd the string of costly pearls, The wreath of orange flowers; That thy triumphant gaze might hail And when I knew her in the sphere How did I honour and revere The virtues of the wife; She turn'd from Flattery's syren voice, And Pleasure's splendid dome, To bless the husband of her choice, THE MINISTERIAL DINNER. I PROCURED an admission to witness the dinner to Lord Althorp and Lord John Russell from the gallery where the musicians were placed in Stationers' Hall. Here I took my seat, and surveyed one of the most striking spectacles which I have ever seen. The company, consisting exclusively of the members of the House of Commons who had supported the Reform Bill, with the exception of the new peers, were assembled when I entered. I thus avoided the details of preparation, which mar the effect of these convivial gatherings, and beheld at a glance the whole of this splendid company, with Sir Francis Burdett at their head, filling the entire of the room which was selected for the banquet of Reform. The genuine representatives of the British people were there. The nominees indeed-those who are no better than mere proxies of the great oligarchy-were absent; but the men who may be justly considered as affording an express image of the nation's mind, were all collected upon one of the most signal occasions on which they could have been convened. Public virtue, genius, talents, great rank, and boundless opulence, lay beneath me in a splendid array; and as my eye, from the elevated position where I was placed, traversed the hall, I noted almost every man who is distinguished by the union of eminent abilities with a lofty integrity in England. It was most pleasurable to perceive the illustrious president of this great meeting at the head of such a body. From the distance at which I stood, I was obliged to have recourse to a glass, in order to observe his features, and perceived that they were suffused with joy, and that his natural smile, without losing any of its sweetness, had in its suavity a mixture of exultation. Nor was it wonderful. He beheld, after so many years of his political life dedicated to that great cause of Reform, which he had never deserted under all the vicissitudes of its fortune, the triumph of principles to which, at one period, a sort of disrepute, amounting almost to ignominy, was attached. As I looked at him, the recollections of the Tower of London came upon me. It rose in the background of the picture, in strong and gloomy contrast with the splendour in which I now beheld him. Dinner having concluded, and the old Roman Catholic grace having been sung in Latin, (how many remnants do we everywhere find of a religion which is associated with so much of all that is solemn and touching in our public ceremonies!) Sir Francis Burdett proposed the health of the King. It was received with shouts of reiterated acclamation-applause burst out after applause from every part of the assembly; and the clapping of hands, the waving of handkerchiefs, the cries of joy and of victory lasted for minutes. I several times imagined that the enthusiasm had subsided, and that the applause had ceased, when it rose again suddenly on my ear, and broke out in new peals of loyal affection to the monarch who has, indeed, deserved the unparalleled popularity which has given him the heart of England for his throne. At length Sir Francis Burdett addressed the Meeting. His sweet voice, which is so remarkable for the delicacy and the distinctness of its beautiful tones, went in music to every ear, as the sentiments which he expressed reached to every heart. I could have desired, |