[We present the conclusion of the very interesting comparison of two Mahometan Nations, commenced in our last.] MANNERS OF THE MODERN TURKS AND PERSIANS DESCRIBED, IN (Monthly Magazine, August.) N commercial transactions the Turk is just, and rarely breaks his word: the Persian barters his oath like any other commodity. We read in Plato and Herodotus, that the ancient Persians had a horror of lying: how much their descendants have degenerated! The Persians of the present day are the most lying people upon earth. They are accustomed in their infancy to dissimulate, to reply pertly when they are called to account or reprimanded, and to get out of a scrape by means of subterfuges every lie is blameless in their eyes which tends to their interest. The dogmas of their sect authorize them to dissemble and to lie when they are in a foreign country, where they must conceal their faith, and not allow themselves to disclose those things which they have most at heart. It may be judged, then, how far ignorance and wickedness can stretch this religious precept. Our love for truth, and horror for lying, excited their astonishment. A person of the highest rank at the Persian court one day testified his surprise to a French agent in the following words :-" What, not mix a little falsehood with affairs? That appears to me impossible; 1 cannot conceive how they can be managed without lying." He then added, in a low voice, "Truth has its merit, how ever, and we who lie five hundred times a-day are not perhaps any the forwarder for it." Cunning and deceitful, the Persian is never afraid to break his engagements. When he keeps his word, it is only because it is impossible to do otherwise. He will leave no means untried to evade it; and he easily finds false witnesses to assist him in cases of difficulty. This sort of people are still more common in Persia than in Turkey, where they are nevertheless common enough. The crime of theft, which is very rare among the Ottomans, is frequent with the Persians, who commit it without scruple. The Turk is covetous; he loves money; but in this he only resembles oth er nations. The Persian carries this passion to the extreme. In Persia, the smallest service can be obtained only by gold. The great men of the state are here distinguished from the populace by their more bare-faced cupidity, and the most odious avarice. A superior cannot be approached without a present, especially when his protection is sought for. The Persian is so thoroughly imbued with this way of thinking, that, whenever I arrived in a capital, I was asked if I had something to offer to the governor. The Turk is very magnificent in his presents, when guided by ostentation, gratitude, or humanity. But the hands of the Persian, always open to receive, are never open to give: when he cannot do otherwise than give, his gifts are confined within very narrow limits. He ruins himself only in promises, and in these he may, indeed, be said to be munificent. If you extol the beauty of a horse, a sabre, or any other article, he immediately says, "I give it you." If you are delighted with a field bearing a rich crop, or with a smiling valley, he says, "I make you a present of it." But this is all mere ceremony, and nerer turns out to mean anything. The Spaniards have the same custom, which they have no doubt derived from the Arabs. The Persians and Turks, like all the rest of the Asiatics, are unacquainted with that refined and delicate love which constitutes the happiness of civilized man. They are constantly under the influence of jealousy, arising from their suspicious disposition, and the idea of their own superiority. The majority of them look upon their wives as the slaves of their desires and caprices, and as designed only to perpetuate the species. Contempt produces distrust, and distrust gives rise to jealousy. The women cannot go abroad without being entirely veiled. Lodged in an insulated apartment, known by the name of harem, (which we improperly call se D raglio,) they are allowed to receive their intimate female friends, and sometimes pass several days without seeing their husband; to whom they then send his meals in the saloon. The promenade, the bath, musicians, dancers, and games, are the pleasures which the women of the East procure in order to pass away their time agreeably. They also enjoy the company of their father's and their husband's male relations, and that of a few old neighbours. Fond of repose and tranquillity, they are in a great measure occupied with the affairs of their household, in which they have despotic sway; so that a husband would not dare to discharge a domestic without their consent. The power which they have over his children is also very great; they have the entire care of their education, and the right of marrying them. It seems that both the laws and the custom in these countries have wished to make some amends to the women for the privations which in other matters they are obliged to suffer. I can hardly believe that the Persians and the Ottomans in general experience those endearments of conjugal love which render the wife a comforter in distress, a friend partaking of our pleasures and our pains. How, indeed, can a woman conceive a profound attachment for her husband, when she knows that there are others under the same roof who are honoured with the same title as herself, or concubines admitted to share his bed? The number of wives is limited by the law to four. The Persians take a fifth for a certain time; after which she is loaded with presents, and set at liberty. This sort of marriage is called muttah: these women may be compared to kept mistresses in Europe, the only difference being, that in Persia such contracts are made public, and are not dishonourable. Some travellers have extolled the beauty of the Persian women, and especially those of the province of Yezd: there are, indeed, pretty women in these as in all other countries. The Georgian blood which is spread throughout Per Serail, or rather seraï, is said not of the harem, but of the whole palace. The house of a Persian lord, though he have no apartment for women, is nevertheless called serai. sia causes the children to be born with remarkable features, but they lose them entirely as they advance in age; and I believe that the Turkish blood is in general purer than the Persian. There are not amongst the Persian women any of those elegant shapes which are to be seen amongst our European females. The charms of the former, it is true, being entirely concealed by the manner in which they are dressed, cannot be precisely estimated. Accustomed to the sight of robes displaying graceful forms, I could not help fancying I saw in the Persian females only animated masses, resembling so many indistinct shades. Their head is adorned with a fillet or a cap of greater or less value, the form of which they vary according to their taste: they frequently cover it with a shawl, which they dispose in a thousand different ways. The wives of the people wear only a plain black handkerchief about their head. Their hair flows in tresses behind; and before it are turned back over the forehead some ringlets, falling negligently down each side upon the cheeks. The shift which they wear reaches to the waist, and is of red silk or white cotton; tied with a string that passes over the shoulders, it hides the palpitations, sighs, and movements of a bosom enervated by the vapour-baths habitually taken by both sexes in the east. The gown or robe is open before, being closed only over the breast by means of loops, or of small gold, silver, or silk-covered buttons. This robe is also confined round the body by an embroidered girdle, adorned in front with a plate of gold or silver. The wives of the common people tie round them a Kerman shawl, or some other of less value, of silk or cotton, manufactured in their own country. The Persian women, as well as the men, wear very wide silk or cotton drawers. They, as well as the men, wear none but short knitted stockings, woollen or cotton, of various colours. The women wear on their feet a sort of slippers, some of which have high heels, and others are flat and shod with iron at the point; they are made of horse or goat skin,prepared and died green or red. None of the women can appear in the street uncovered. The face is con cealed by a cotton veil, in which are made two little openings for the eyes. The whole body is wrapped in a sort of white shroud. The wives of the common people also make use of cotton stuff; but it is chequered white and black, and is of Persian manufacture. Such is the general dress of the women. They make use of additional embellishments, according to the means and the liberality of their husbands. The heads and necks of these ladies sparkle with pearls and precious stones, their fingers are loaded with rings, and to their arms are attached bracelets enriched with jewels. The dress of the men has not the imposing and majestic air which characterises that of the Turks. The shirt, of red silk or white cotton, is not open at the breast like ours, but at the side; it is fastened with a button or lace, and reaches only to the waist. The breeches are wide, and nearly resemble our pantaloons. The Persians never wear a cravat, even on the severest days of winter. Upon the shirt they put a garment, which descends half-way down the thigh; it covers the breast, and is tied with two strings. Over this first habit they wear a second of silk, red, green, or of some other colour, of very close texture, open before, and decorated on each side with a row of buttons of gold or silver thread; the sleeves are slit in front, and likewise buttoned. They tie round the waist a Kerman shawl, or one of more common quality; and all, except the mirzas, fasten to it a kind of khanjar or knife. Most of the rich cover themselves in winter with a kind of pelisse of sheepskin, lined with the wool of the same animal. The principal nobles of the court wear black fox, martin, and other furs. The common people have a cloth great-coat, with slit sleeves. All the Persians indiscriminately, from the king down to the meanest of his subjects, wear on the head a cap of lamb or sheep skin, surmounted by a bit of red cloth or printed cotton. Each tribe is distinguished by the particular form which it gives to the upper part of this head-dress. A Cashemir shawl is wrapped about the cap when its wearer makes his appearance at court. The Persians shave their heads, leaving only two locks of hair behind the ears. In Persia, Musselmans, Jews, Armenians, all let their beards grow. They frequently dye them black or red, so that a white one is seldom seen. This is a coquetry to which the old men are very eager to resort. These people attach great importance to the length of their beard it will hardly be believed, that the first eulogium they bestow on Feth-Ali-Shah relates to the length of his beard. It is certainly remarkably long, as it descends to his waist. The Persian architecture is more regular and elegant than that of the Turks; it appears to me to owe its origin to the taste which these people have always had for a wandering life. Every house has a garden, or at least a court, planted with trees. The apartments, of which the pictures form the only ornament, are very neat: their furniture consists only of a thick carpet laid upon the floor, and extending the whole length of the room; around are felts, which are narrower and finer, upon which they sit. The Persians are unacquainted with the pleasure of lying at ease upon a sopha; their luxury is more in imagination than in reality. They have no idea of those elegant apartments which the refinement or the superfluities of life has in Europe. Their chambers have windows ornamented with coloured glass; outside, and in front of them, is hung a kind of shade, to moderate the heat of the sun within the apartment, which is open on all sides, and is entered by lifting a perdek or carpet, that serves as a door. The reception-chambers, decorated with pictures,very much resemble tents. Nothing can be more cool and agreeable than these serails, disposed on the banks of rivulets, and surrounded with verdant trees. The luxury of the ancient Persians was unbounded: that of the Persians of the present day is far from equaling it; it is even inferior to that of the Turks. For what are the garments worn by the former when compared with the rich mohair pelisses, or the flowing vests of magnificent cloth in which the Ottomans are habited. The Persians perhaps keep more horses in their stables than their neighbours do; but the harness is more magnificent in Turkey than in Persia. The Persian contents himself with having a numerous train of domestics behind him when he goes abroad, for pleasure or to pay a visit. The great man goes on horseback, and his servants follow on foot. The Persians are much more voluptuous and refined in their pleasures than the Turks. After a repast, they frequently have perfumed water brought them to wash their hands in. When they go abroad for pleasure, they always carry with them sweetmeats, ices, and sherbet. There are few Persians who go a journey without their galeoun, and a brasier to light it. They do not smoke for so long a time as the Turks, who never lay aside the pipe until the tobacco is consumed; but renew this this enjoyment more frequently, taking only a few whiffs each time. When they drink it is from a vase of the rich est and most transparent porcelain, in which there is always put a certain quantity of ice. Notwithstanding their extreme senquality, the Persians are more temperate than the Turks. The great men in Persia are very nice in the article of cookery; they have roast-meats and high-seasoned dishes. But the ordinary meal at mid-day consists only of a ragout, together with yoghaurt (a kind of sour milk), preserves, or sweetmeats, of which this people are particularly fond, and in the preparation of which they excel. For supper they have a pilau, which they prepare in various ways. Their drink is vinegar, the juice of the pomegranate, citron, or barberry, or curdled milk, diluted with water. The Persians and Turks of the present day are not, as their forefathers were, rigid observers of the precepts which forbids the drinking of wine. Nevertheless, those who transgress are still obliged to do it in secret. In every part of Persia where the vine grows, the Armenians and Jews make the wine, and sell it to the Persians. The Turks are more addicted than their neighbours to the vice of drunkenness. The little freedom of manners, the jealousy of the men, and the rigorous seclusion of the women, gave rise in Persia and Turkey to the establishment of public places for smoking and taking coffee. These establishments were become in Persia houses of debauchery. An end was at last put to these shameful disorders by the severe decrees of the government; the places were undoubtedly abolished, on account of the troubles which agitated the empire after its invasion by the Afghans. In Turkey these establishments have been preserved. There the idle go and pass the day in smoking, and in drinking that liquor which so delightfully excites the brain, and quickens every sense. There the men of business spend their hours of relaxation, and the politicians discuss the affairs of state. These places are particularly frequented during the time of the Ramazan. The Europeans have very exaggerated ideas of the cleanliness of the orientals, to which the ablutions ordered by their religious laws have given rise. But the Persians appeared to me to be still more negligent in this important article than the Turks. Both sexes consider they pay sufficient attention to cleanliness in performing five ablutions a-day, and going to the bath. Imagine a large reservoir of hot water, which is renewed scarcely once in ten days; and in which men and women at different hours, come to immerse themselves; and you will have an idea of the vapourbaths in use amongst the Persians. No Christian is permitted to enter them, lest his body should pollute a water which of itself emits a pestilential odour. As an European, I was allowed the use of the bath. I had one day a mind to go into this reservoir, but was quickly repelled by the mephitic vapour rising from it as I approached. It is not thus in Turkey. There Mussulmans and Christians, indiscriminately, are rubbed and washed by a boy who attends the bath, in rooms into which hot and cold water are admitted by different taps, and constantly renewed. The Persian never uses a handkerchief, his fingers serving instead of that article. He carries his filthiness so far, as sometimes to wear the same shirt for a fortnight. Both rich and poor are frequently covered with vermin, which is also seen on their clothes, and on the carpets in their apartments. It may with truth be said, that the Persian knows cleanliness only by the name. I conclude this parallel with a reflection which will not, I think, appear a rash one. The Persian, degenerate as he is, might, with wiser and juster laws, and a government less despotic and arbitrary, model his manners after those of the European nations; but the Turk, notwithstanding he possesses qualities which give him in some respects the advantage over the Persian, will never be able to free himself from his religious and political shackles, and take his place amongst the nations more advanced than his own in civilization. NAPOLEON IN EXILE; OR, A VOICE FROM ST. HELENA. On the most important Events of his Life and Government, in his own Words. BY BARRY E. O'MEARA, his late Surgeon. [There is but one opinion, we believe, about this publication, namely, that it is a very interesting one. Placed, as the author was, so near Bonaparte, in so many trying and secluded moments of his existence, when even the proudest of human spirits was likely to unbend itself to confidence and familiarity with one on whose kindness he was, in some degree, dependant, in such circumstances and with such a subject it was hardly possible for a man of ordinary capacity to compose an uninteresting diary. Among the sources therefore which the future historian will consult for the means of fully and minutely developing Napoleon's character, it is not conceivable that the present work will be overlooked. There is no doubt that Mr. O'Meara writes with a palpable and strong attachment to the fallen hero, and we will not assume that he is utterly free from either prejudices or inaccuracies. But where shall the materials that are to serve for a life of Napoleon be found that shall be wholly beyond the suspicion of passion or partiality? Mr. O'Meara is the willing and sympathetic reporter of Napoleon's bitterest complaints against those whom he considered as the imposers of unnecessary and vexatious additions to the sufferings of his exile. Of these Sir Hudson Lowe is particularly impeached. Utter strangers as we are to that officer's personal character, except through this channel, and abhorring, as we do, the idea of condemning any accused individual without a full and patient hearing of all that can be said in his behalf, we abstain from rashly deciding on the governor's conduct. We cannot help acknowledging that Mr. O'Meara records restrictions on Napoleon which, to our humble apprehensions, appear to have been unnecessary;-such as debarring him from the perusal of certain newspapers, and some other traits of his treatment: but in a general view of Sir Hudson's conduct, we hold it but common charity to keep in view that his responsibility was awfully anxious, and that the British Cabinet enjoined him a most rigorous and severe system of restraint upon his prisoner. The charge of inhumanity, if it be applicable, we apprehend must go much higher than Sir Hudson Lowe. In the real and credible picture of human affairs, there is no theme more calculated to excite reflection than the life and destiny of Napoleon: a man who for nineteen years chained the history of Europe to his biography. It is true that there have been men absurd enough to doubt even of his abilities; but the word has never yet agreed, without some exception, in confessing the talents of great and formidable personages. The pious author of the "Night Thoughts" forgot to render even the Devil his due, when, at the end of one of his cantos, he denominated him a dunce. Generally speaking, however, Napoleon's transcendant genius has been unquestioned. There has been more dispute about his moral intentions and personal worth. Whilst some have believed that it was possible for England at least to have kept at peace with him; to have checked, without extirpating, his power; and to have allowed him to wield it as an useful counterpoise to the tyrannical governments of the Continent: others have regarded him as a malignant spirit, born only for the unhappiness of mankind, and therefore condemned to die on the rock of his imprisonment as justly as any of the Genii in the Arabian Nights was plunged in a sealed-up jar to the bottom of the ocean. In trying to judge between such conflicting opinions, the impartial mind naturally watches with anxiety for every glimpse of his character that can be more or less authenticated-from his deportment in adversity, from the explanations of his past actions and intentions detailed in conversation, and from the expression of speculative opinions that indicate the greatness or the prejudices of his mind. As to his personal character, no hatred that we have ever cherished against his ambition, and no dislike to be ranked among his blind and bigoted admirers, shall deter us from acknowledging the impression produced by Mr. O'Meara's anecdotes to be decidedly in his favour. They attest the sobriety of his habits, the manly fortitude of his mind in setting |