CONSTANTINOPLE* 
writer, or (he person who orders it of the scribes, found only 
in private hands, and no two copies contain the same tales. I 
could not obtain this work in Constantinople, but afterward 
bought a very fine copy of it in Grand Cairo * It was not 
until the second winter of my residence in Pera, that I suc¬ 
ceeded, by means of a dervish of my acquaintance, in 
procuring a catalogue from one of the principal shops. The 
master of it was an emir, a man of considerable attainment io 
oriental literature, from whom I had purchased several manu¬ 
scripts, which are now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, 
Whenever I had applied to this man for works relating to 
poetry or history, he #as very willing to supply what was 
w-anted ; but if I ventured only to touch a Koran, or any other 
volume held sacred in Turkish estimation, my business termi¬ 
nated abruptly for that day. There are similar manuscript 
markets in all the Turkish cities, particularly those of Aleppo 
and Cairo. Many works, common in Cairo, are not to be met 
with in Constantinople. The Beys have more taste for litera¬ 
ture than the Turks; and the women, shut up in the charems 
of Egypt, pass many of their solitary hours in hearing persons 
, who are employed to read for their amusement. 
Nor is the search after Greek manuscripts so unsuccessful as 
persons are apt to imagine. By employing an intelligent 
Greek priest, I had an opportunity of examining a great 
variety of volumes, brought from the Isle of Princes, and 
from the private libraries of Greek princes resident at the 
Pkamr.f It is true, many of them were of little value; arid 
* This manuscript was unfortunately so damaged by the wreck of the Princessa 
merchantman, that I have never since been able to get it transcribed, although I sent 
R to Constantinople for that purpose. It contained one hundred and seventy two 
tales, divided into a thousand and one nights. 
j Greeks of the Phanar, 
44 There are six Greek families of more note than the rest, who live at the Phanar, 
a district in the northern part of the city, near the sea *, their names are, Ipsilandi 
Moroozi, Callimaehi, Soozo, Handtzerli, and Mavrocordato. These have either as¬ 
pired to, or obtained in their turns, the situation of hospodar, or prince of Walachia, 
and Moldavia, In 1806, the Porte was persuaded, by the French, to believe that Ipsi¬ 
landi and Moroozi, the hospodars of the two provinces, were in the interest of Rus¬ 
sia, ami in the Month of September of that year, they were removed; Soozo, and. 
Callimaehi being appointed in their room, by the interference of Sebastiani the French 
ambassador. Moroozi, on his recal, came back to Constantinople ; but Ipsilandi went 
to Russia, and thus brought on his family the vengeance of the Porte. His father, 
aged seventy-four, who had been four times Prince of Walachia, was beheaded Janua¬ 
ry the 25th, 1807, while I was at Constantinople. Among the articles of accusation 
brought against him, it was alleged, that he had fomented the rebellion of the Servians; 
and that, at the time when the troops of the Nizam Jedit were about to march against 
the janissaries of Adrianople, he had given intimation of this, through Mustapha Ilai- 
Tacter, a chief in the northern provinces of Turkey, to the janissaries,, who had ac¬ 
cordingly prepared themselves for the designs of the Porte. 
“ The only persons in the Turkish empire, who could in any way promote the cul- 
tiyation of ancient literature; and excite the Greeks to-shake off that ignorance m. 
