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melancholy. Comparing it with that of the Arabs, I 
think I might maintain, that if they were both to at- 
tain to the degree of European civilization, the Arabs 
would possess the character of that of the French, and 
the Turks that of the English. 
The fine arts are banished from Mussulmen coun- 
tries; a Turk would, therefore, think himself degrad- 
ed if he were to play upon any instrument, sing (un- 
less at prayers) or dance. The custom of meeting in 
large assemblies is almost unknown among the Turks. 
The women, entirely excluded from intercourse with 
the men, cannot contribute to mitigate the severity of 
the manners, and to render society agreeable. 
The absolute ignorance of the Turks, with respect 
to the languages of Europe, and their little correspond- 
ence with foreign nations, leave them uninformed of 
all that passes in this great theatre; hence they look 
with indifference upon the political vicissitudes in this 
important quarter of the globe. In short, the want of 
books, and masters to instruct them in the physical 
sciences and the innumerable discoveries of the last 
ages, keeps from them those interesting acquirements 
which could not fail to give elevation to their minds. 
From these causes, joined to the precarious exist- 
ence of a despotic government, to the state of mis- 
trust, or rather to that warfare which necessarily exists 
in a country where the governors are of a different re- 
ligion from that of almost all the governed, and to the 
erroneous ideas of happiness with which they are in- 
spired from their tenderest infancy, the Turk, though 
incapable of opening his heart to a free and innocent 
gaiety, thinks himself happy, and the more a man as 
he approximates to the state of brutes. He passes 
whole days seated in complete inaction of body 
