OF THE TURKISH MONARCHY. 



25 



in Constantinople, none of them containing less than 1000 manu- 

 scripts*; in many are found more than 5000. The collection in the 

 two libraries of the Seraglio exceeds 15,000 volumes. At the time 

 when the Greeks were driven by their conquerors from Constanti- 

 nople, the latter might certainly be ranked among barbarous and 

 uninformed nations ; but the Greeks of the nineteenth century are 

 not warranted in applying the contemptuous expressions of their 

 ancestors to the Turks of later times, who have cultivated some parts 

 of literature, particularly those relating to their own history, with 

 great success, and have probably more real merit than many of the 

 Byzantine writers. The use of the press was first introduced in Con- 

 stantinople in the reign of Achmet the Third (in 1727) ; but in the 

 interval of time which has since elapsed, the copies of few works of 

 distinction and name have been multiplied by it. This is owing, 

 according to the opinion of Sir William Jones -j -, to the difficulty of 

 understanding the classical writings of the Turks, without more than 

 a moderate knowledge of Persian and Arabic. Manuscript volumes 

 are also preferred to printed works. The French were accustomed 

 to send to them books published in oriental types, but only a small 

 number was purchased. Characters formed in writing are considered 

 as more pleasing to the eye %, and as capable of being connected and 

 combined, in a more beautiful manner, than in printing. There are, 

 it may be added, many hundred scribes and copyists §, who would lose 

 all means of support, if books could be circulated at a cheap rate by 

 the press. In order that knowledge should be diffused through the 



* D'Ohsson. Tableau General. 



f Teignmouth's Life of Sir W. Jones, p. 504. 



X " II est constant," (says Galland, in his Discourse prefixed to the Bib. Orient, of 

 D'Herbelot,) " que ces nations ne trouvent point d'agrement dans 1'impression. Les 

 " Mahometans ne voulurent pas recevoir les exemplaires' qu'on leur porta. En efFet, ils 

 u craignoient que dans la suite, on ne leur introduisit Palcoran imprime, ce qui auroit ete 

 " regard e chez eux comme la plus grande profanation que pouvoit arriver a ce livre." 



§ Niebuhr, i. 188. " Une infinite des personnes qui subsistent parmi eux en copiant 

 " des livres, auroient ete reduits a la mendicite par cette nouveaute." Galland. 



E 



