CHAPTER IX.

WILKIE AT CONSTANTINOPLE, SMYRNA, AND BEYROUT. -JOURNAL CONTINUED. LETTERS TO MR. AND MISS WILKIE, SIR MARTIN ARCHER SHEE, MR. ROGERS, THE COUNTESS OF MULGRAVE, AND MR. YOUNG.

THE sketches made by Wilkie between Munich and Constantinople present little for description: they were mere hasty indications of what struck him most,hints or pictorial memoranda for future use, but all rife in every touch of the master hand that had made them. Constantinople offered a new field in art to our great artist; and his detention there was fruitful in sketches. He made fifty-three in the city itself, and six in the suburb of Pera, representing persons, single and grouped, on which the grave and suspicious character of the people is stamped in the artist's clear and decided way. From the fulness of his journals, the length of his letters, the number of his sketches, and the finish of his oil pictures, the pen and pencil would seem never to have been out of his hand; but our illustrious painter appears to have had time for every thing; when weary of the pencil, he took to the pen, and when tired of writing, his active mind was in quest of fresh incident, fresh character, and fresh costumes-the materials of to-morrow's use. Nor was he, with all his study, without an idle evening to

spend at the tables of Lord Ponsonby, Mr. Cartwright,

or Admiral Walker.

TO MISS WILKIE.

Constantinople, 1st Dec. 1840.

The war in Syria, brilliant and successful as you will now hear it has been to the allied powers engaged in it, has detained us here nearly two months instead of the two weeks we should have devoted to this place. Still our time has not been unpleasantly or idly spent; the kindness we have met with has been extreme; we both have enjoyed excellent health; and, although sometimes fretted with the unexpected delay, we are in great spirits in the hope of prosecuting our journey.

Our lengthened stay has made us more acquainted with this portion of the Asiatic people. With the Turks we find a difficulty of access, and their women, except when they walk the streets in a kind of domino, we have no means of seeing at all. The English ladies here are freely admitted to the recesses of the harem, from which male visitors of all sorts are strictly excluded. With regard to this, however, we have found favour in their eyes. I was admitted to the hidden domicile of a great Persian, to make a drawing of a Circassian lady; and a Mrs. Redhouse, with her husband, who, from his learning, holds the office of Interpreter under the Turkish government, procured for us an invitation to visit the seraglio of a wealthy Armenian, who having a son who had received great kindness on a visit in

London, was well disposed to see any compatriot they might recommend. This Armenian is a great contractor for the manufacture of gunpowder for the state. The house is out of town, overlooking the Sultan's palace, and the Bosphorus. It is surrounded by a high wall in a garden. We were at once admitted. The Armenian, from mistaking the hour, was from home; but the lady, with four daughters and three sons, was ready to bid us welcome. This harem being Christian, there was only one wife. She was a lady of fifty, very stout, but comely, and had been very handsome. They all received Mrs. Redhouse with the greatest affection: handed us through a suite of rooms on the first floor, to a stately room, where we were made to sit by them on the same divan. Their dresses were entirely Turkish. One of the daughters, about fifteen, had put on her handsomest dress, that we might see it, and looked beautiful. There were two Greek girls, with the Smyrna cap on; one spoke French - a governess; the other had a bunch of keys at her waista sort of housekeeper (very handsome); both treated as companions. Long Turkish pipes were brought us-first by servants, then handed to us by the young ladies. Coffee was then brought in by the domestic on a tray; and, to pay us compliment, helped to us by the family. We expressed, by the interpretation of Mr. and Mrs. Redhouse, to the lady of the house, how much we were delighted in being presented to so amiable and handsome a family, and and in seeing so fine an establishment. Mr. Woodburn went even so far as requesting it to be intimated to

a sort of

Madame that he courted an alliance with such a house, and begged to have her youngest daughter in marriage; adding, that as she was about eleven years old, he would only have to wait three. The hilarity with which this was received was extreme. They next brought us, on a tray, a dish of a kind of citron marmalade, of which we each had a spoonful to take. Some of this sweet compound was observed to run down upon my waistcoat. Mr. Woodburn created great merriment by placing his handkerchief like a bib up to his chin, and in being fed by one of the daughters.

We were taken up stairs to another large suite of rooms, where the eldest daughter, who is married, opened a large chest, and took great pride in showing us her wedding dresses, of the most costly and superb kind. She showed jewels, such as would be thought splendid for a lady of high rank in England. We also saw the bath, a large building attached to the house-all this being what strangers never see; the gentleman and sons having a distinct part of the house for seeing visiters.

During our stay in Constantinople we have regarded, with great interest, all the transactions passing in the East. We heard of the fall of St. Jean d'Acre, and looked with great expectation to its consequences in the evacuation of Syria by Ibrahim Pacha, and the submission of Mehemet Ali unconditionally to the Sultan. We are assured that, in a short time, Palestine will be restored to its usual state; and we just hear that Judah is already set free, and Jerusalem delivered. In the whole of these proceedings there is to us a

satisfaction-that these countries will, after the late brilliant campaigns, have far more than their usual interest. Constantinople itself shows far more than common excitement. We see daily both prisoners and successful warriors fresh from the scene of action. We have made among the latter a most excellent acquaintance in Admiral Walker, who was commander of the Turkish fleet, and bore an important part in the taking of Acre, and brought here to the Sultan the news of the victory. He is a fine-looking man, becomes the Turkish dress well, and his wife is a most lady-like woman. They have a house here, and we see them frequently.

Lady Londonderry continues here. She was, with Mrs. Walker, presented to the Sultan yesterday. She was covered with jewels. She sent a message, inviting me to go with them with Lord Londonderry's firman to see the mosques and palaces; but as I had already seen them with Lady Canning, I declined it.

We have had some heavy falls of snow of late. Dr. Davy is here, with four other medical gentlemen, to set an hospital on foot-a matter of some difficulty. I was delighted to meet Davy again.

D. W.

JOURNAL.

December 1st. To-day a heavy fall of snow-scarcely got out-painted all day. Lady Londonderry sent to have some of my pictures to look at; sent her The Scribe, to be brought back, which it was, with a civil message from her Ladyship.

4th. Expecting every day to receive the commands