II. 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 67 
compilation, made according to the taste and chap. 
opportunity of the writer, or the person who 
orders it of the scribes; it is found only in 
private hands ; and there are not two copies of 
it which contain the same Tales. We could 
not obtain this work in Constantinople, but after- 
wards we bought a very fine copy of it in Grand 
Cairo. It was not until the second winter of 
our residence in Pera, that we succeeded, by 
means of a Dervish of our acquaintance, in pro- 
curing a Catalogue from one of the principal 
shops. The master of it was an Emir, a man 
of considerable attainment in Oriental literature, 
from whom we had purchased several manu- 
scripts, which are now in the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford. Whenever we applied to this man for 
works relating to poetry or to history, he was 
very willing to supply what was wanted ; but if 
we ventured only to touch a Koran, or any 
other volume held sacred in Turkish estima- 
tion, our business terminated abruptly for 
that day. There are similar manuscript markets 
in all the Turkish cities, particularly tliose 
of Aleppo and of Cairo. Many works, com- 
mon in Cairo, are not to be met with in 
Constantinople. The Beys have more taste 
for literature than the Turks; and the women, 
shut up in the Charems of Egypt, pass many 
of their solitary hours in listening to persons 
