S E R 



was encored ; for the addio of Regulus, returning to Car- 

 thage to certain torture and death, in fpite of the prayers 

 and intreaties of his family and all Rome, is fo charaaeriihc 

 and truly Roman, that it mull have itruck every one who 

 had the lealt knowledge of the Italian language, and the in- 

 flexible virtue of Regulus. 



SERAGANORE, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in the Carnatic ; 5 miles S.S.W. of Ootatore. 



SERAGE, in Ornithology, an Enghlh name for a bn-dof 

 the larus, or gull-kind, more ufualiy called the fea-fiualloiu, 

 and by authors Jierna. 



SERAGIO, in Geography, a town of the ifland of Cor- 

 fica ; 6 miles S. of Corve. 



SERAGLIO, a diftria of Italy, fouth of Mantua, in 

 which Auguftus had fome pofleffions ; called alfo " Vir- 

 ginian Fields." 



Seraglio, formed of the Turkifii word feral, which is 

 borrowed from the Vevdinferaw, fignifying a houfe, among 

 the Levantines denotes the palace of a prince or lord. 



At Conftantinople they fay, the feraglio of the ambaffador 

 of England, of France, &c. 



The feraglio is ufed, by way of eminence, for the palace 

 of the grand feignior at Conftantinople, where he keeps his 

 court, and where his concubines are lodged, and where the 

 youth are trained up for the chief pofts of the empire. 



It is a triangle about three Italian miles round, wholly 

 within the city, at the end of the promontory Chryfoceras, 

 now called the Seraglio Point. The buildings run back to 

 the top of the hill, and from thence are gardens that reach 

 to the edge of the fea. It is inclofed with a very high and 

 ftrong wall, upon which there are feveral watch towers : and 

 it has many gates, fome of which open towards the fea-fide, 

 and the reft into the city : but the chief gate is one of the 

 latter, which is conltantly guarded by a company of ca- 

 poochees, or porters ; and in the night it is well guarded 

 towards the fea. 



The outward appearance, du Loir tells us, is not beauti- 

 ful, in regard the architefture is irregular, being cantoned 

 put into feparate edifices and apartments, in manner of 

 pavilions and domes. No itranger, it is faid, has ever yet 

 been admitted to the inmoft parts of the feraglio. See 

 Sultana. 



The old feraglio is the place where the emperor's old 

 miftreftes, who have died or who have been depofed, and 

 the fultanas that have belonged to the deceafed grand 

 feigniors, are kept. 



They are here fed and maintained with fome luxury, and 

 lerved with much attention, but they can no lone;er go out 

 of this place of retirement ; for it would not bedecent, in 

 the eftimation of the Muftulmans, that a flave, fuppofed to 

 have enjoyed the favours of a fultan, ihould pafs into the 

 arms of another man. 



The harem is that quarter of the feraglio in which the 

 females are kept. This is foon replenifhed, becaufe traders 

 come from all parts to offer young flaves, and the pachas 

 and great men are eager to prefent beauties capable of 

 fixing the attention of the fovereign ; thus hoping to obtain 

 inftantly his good graces, and place about his perfon the 

 women who at fome future lime may be ufeful to them. 



It is very difficult, and perhaps iinpoffible, to learn ex- 

 aftly the manner in which the female flaves are treated in 

 the harem of the grand feignior : never has the eye of the 

 obferver penetrated into this abode of hatred, jealoufy, and 

 pride ; into this abode where pleafure and love have fo 

 feldom refided. But, according to the account of the wo- 

 men, whofe profefTion calls them thither, the reader may 

 reprefent to himfelf three or four hundred black eunuchs, 



S E R 



malicious, peevifti, tormented by their impotence, rBrfing 

 their nullity, endeavouring to counteract the female flaves 

 intrufted to their charge ; then a confiderable number of 

 young women, whofe hearts would willingly expand, whofe 

 fenfes are moved at the idea of the pleafures which they wiih 

 in vain to know, jealous of the happinefs which they are 

 perfuaded that their rivals enjoy, curfing the overfcers who 

 perplex them, folely taken up with their toilet, with their 

 dref?, and with all the nonfenfe which idlcnefs ar.d ignorance 

 can fuggcft to them ; fecking, rather from vanity than from 

 love, every means of plealiiig a mafter, too frequeiitly Jif- 

 dainful. We may reprefent to ourfelves, in fhort, a fultan 

 young or old, maftered by ridiculous prejudices, without 

 delicacy, often whimfical or capriciou=;, alone in the midit 

 of five or fix hundred women, all equally beautiful, in whom 

 he gives birth to defires which he is unable to gratify, who 

 enjoys with them no pleafures but fuch as are too eafy and 

 witiiout prelude, in which the heart has no fhare, and we 

 (hall have a true idea of what pades in the harem of the 

 grand feignior. 



Tlie charge of the women is intrufted only to black 

 eunuchs, whofe mutilation is fuch, that there remains no 

 trace of their fex. Oriental jealoufy has very rightly 

 judged, that fuch creatures were rather capable of infpiring 

 fentiments of hatred and contempt, than thofe of affeftion 

 and frienddiip, whicli would not have failed to take birth, 

 if the charge of the harem had been intrufted to women. It 

 was not enough to condemn thefe unfortunate females to 

 long privations, never to let them know of love only what 

 was to excite in them defires, it was even neccftary to de- 

 prive them of the conlolation of opening their heart in the 

 bofom of friendfhip. 



The chief of the black eunuchs, called lijlar-aga, n one 

 of the greateft perlonages of the empire : he it is who carries 

 to the female flaves the will of his mafter ; he it is who an- 

 nounces to them the happincls which they have to pleafe 

 him. Independently of the authority wliich he exercifes in 

 the harem, he has the fuperintendance of all the imperial 

 mofques ; he is charged with the general admiiiiftration of 

 all the pious foundations which relate to them ; he has the 

 pre-eminence over the chief of the white eunuchs, and, what 

 is more flattering to a flave, he more frequently approaches 

 his mafter, and more commonly enjoys his confidence. His 

 income is very confidcrable. 



The thafne-vekili is the fecond eunuch of the feraglio : he 

 replaces the hjlar-aga, when he dies, or is turned out of 

 office. He has the general adminiftration of the interior 

 imperial treafure, which muft be diftinguiflied from the pri- 

 vate treafure of the grand feignior, adminiftered by the 

 khajnadar-aga, one of the pages of confidence. Tiicre are 

 fome other eunuchs raifed in dignity, fuch as he who belongs 

 to the queen-mother, he to whom the care of the princes is 

 intrufted, thofe who ferve the royal mofque of the fultana 

 Validai, whither the flaves of tlie grand feignior go to fay 

 their prayer: ; he who has the particular fiperintendance of 

 the apartment of the hajfekee ; and a few others whofe func- 

 tions are lefs important. 



The white eunuchs do not approach the women : they 

 are employed out of the harem, and in the particular fervice 

 of the fultan. They have the charge of the gates of the 

 feraglio ; they fuperintend and inftruft the pages. Their 

 chief IS called f.-jjftou-rt^a^. ( See Capi-aga.) For an ac- 

 count of other officers of the feraglio, fee BosTANGI-baschi, 

 IciioGLANs, and Capigi. 



Balzac obferves, that the feraglio at Conftantinople is 

 only a copy of that which Solomon anciently built at Jeru- 

 falem, for his wives and concubines. For a particular 



defcriptioB 



