180 



LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR CARLYLE 



descriptions of in the Arabian Nights. One enters a large court, which 

 is surrounded with high walls ; in the centre of this court is a terrace 

 formed into a kind of garden, with an alcove in the middle. The 

 walks are composed of gravel of different colours. When every thing 

 is in bloom, the effect, I dare say, will not be displeasing. These 

 kind of raised gardens are quite the fashion here. I saw one of the 

 Reis Effendi's, still larger and higher than that of the Patriarch's. 

 One cannot easily conceive why they should thus wish to elevate their 

 gardens into the air ; but I own I had great pleasure in seeing them, as 

 they so well explained what is meant by the hanging-gardens of Baby- 

 lon. The interior of the palace I found constructed in the same 

 manner as almost all the houses here. At the bottom is a large room, 

 betwixt a stable and a hall, as it is occasionally inhabited either by 

 men or horses. From this a staircase rises, which leads into a saloon, 

 opening into the different apartments upon the floor. The rooms of 

 state are exactly alike in every house ; they are nearly square, and a 

 row of windows goes round the top on three sides. Their sole furni- 

 ture consists of a sofa, of about eight inches in height (which likewise 

 fills three of the sides), and a carpet. The fourth side is left for the 

 door and a kind of recess, where, if they can procure one, they place 

 an English clock. This is the general mode of building, from the 

 Divan of the Capudan Pasha to the sitting-room, of the common 

 tradesman. 



We have been very much disappointed in the climate here ; we 

 find it quite as severe, and much more changeable than what it gene- 

 rally is in England. Upon the morning of the first of this month, 

 the thermometer (by Fahrenheit's scale) was at 15°, and eight and 

 forty hours after it had risen to near 50°. I think Your Lordship will 

 scarcely recollect any variation equal to this in the same time. The 

 consequences of these sudden changes have been very uncomfortable 

 to all of us, and particularly to myself, as I have experienced more ill- 

 health since my arrival here than in all my former life put together. 

 But we trust that this will only prove what the inhabitants call a 

 seasoning. 



