2830.] the Impaled Turk. 45 



said the opium-eater, " that your Italian was hanged, since I myself 

 have been impaled." 



Upon this a dead silence ensued. The male portion of the audience drew 

 their chairs closer to the speaker, the women laid down their needles, 

 and were all attention. Reader, have you ever remarked a group of 

 female listeners? have you ever admired the animated countenances; 

 the large speaking eyes ; the heaving bosoms ; the stately necks of ivory 

 white, straining forward with intense anxiety ? the dear little hands, so 

 soft, so delicate, they scarce can wield a fan ; the the the in short, 

 if like me you are a judge of such matters, get invited or invite yourself 

 to a soiree, bring about the introduction, of a tale of wonder or of pathos, 

 and then feast your eyes, as I did whilst waiting for the Turk to digest 

 his exordium. 



" Blessed be the name of the holy prophet !" said he at length, " but 

 on one occasion I penetrated to the seraglio of Mahomet's successor, I 

 dared to cast a profane eye on the chaste spouses of the brother of the 

 sun and moon." 



Here the attention of the listeners was redoubled : a blooming Agnes 

 who had scarcely numbered fifteen summers, and who, seated beside her 

 mamma, had fixed her eyes on the speaker, at this juncture modestly re- 

 sumed her work ; but somehow or other the needle found its way into 

 her finger instead of the sampler. 



" My name is Hassan," continued the Turk ; " my father was rich, 

 and bequeathed his wealth to me. Like a true believer, I have devoted 

 my life to the softer sex ; but my fastidiousness has always increased in 

 proportion to the ardour of my passion. In vain did I in my youth fre- 

 quent the most celebrated slave-markets : my delicate appetite could find 

 no female worthy of partaking my flame. Each day the master of my 

 harem paraded before me a new lot of female slaves lovely creatures 

 black as ebony ; while now and then, to please my depraved taste, he 

 would present a bevy of Circassians, white as ivory. All would not do. 

 I became every day more difficult to please ; and, by the prophet, it went 

 to my heart to lavish upon a female of imperfect symmetry the price 

 that would have purchased a well-shaped Arab mare ! Still was I tor- 

 mented by, an undefinable longing ; and one evening, when my restless 

 fancy had wandered into the regions of ideal perfection, I was suddenly 

 assailed by a horrible temptation : in short I determined to penetrate, if 

 possible, even to the secret recesses of the imperial seraglio. 



"I have always detested concealment, and I scaled the walls of his 

 highness in as much fancied security as though neither janizaries nor 

 mutes were on the watch. It pleased the prophet to crown my rash de- 

 sign thus far with success. I traversed without accident the three hitherto 

 impenetrable enclosures which defend the entrance of the seraglio from 

 unhallowed footsteps ; and when daylight dawned, I gazed with impious 

 curiosity upon the inviolable sanctuary. Conceive my surprise when by 

 the pale light of the morning sun I could discern that the wives of 

 Allah's vicegerent were formed like other women. The film fell from 

 my eyes ; I was completely undeceived, and yet my imagination could 

 scarcely credit the sad reality. A fit of tardy repentance stole across my 

 mind, when suddenly I found myself seized by the mutes on guard. 



fe Dreadful was my crime : yet so easy is the yoke with which true 

 believers are governed, that even had my guilt been proclaimed, it would 

 have been merely a matter of decapitation for me and the slumbering 



