CONSTANTINOPLE. 
^3 
manuscripts, aad long corresponded with me After my return 
to England.* I sent him, from Paris, the original edition of 
the French Encyclopedic; and no contemptible idea may be 
formed of the taste of men, who, situated as the Greek fami¬ 
lies are in Constantinople, earnestly endeavour, by such pub¬ 
lications, to multiply their sources of information. Some of the 
Greek manuscripts now -in the bodleian were originally in his 
possession; particularly a most exquisite copy of the four gos¬ 
pels, of the tenth or ele venth century, written throughout, upon 
vellum, in the same minute and beautiful characters. 
The exercises of the 'Athletes , whether derived or not by the 
Turks from the subjugated Greeks, are still preserved, and 
often exhibited, in the different towns of the empire.f The 
and gentry will pay according to their liberal dispositions ; but the customary price is a 
piastre a head. ’ 
To confirm what I have said above, relating to the knowledge which some of the 
is oble Greeks possess of their ancient language, t refer the reader to the elaborate 
performance of Nicolas Mavrocordato who was Prince of Walachia, written ia 
ancient Greek; the title of which is, 7 r*pl KctO-nx^ytcov. This work was printed at 
Bucharest in 1719: it contains nineteen chapters, and embraces a variety of moral 
and religious topics, relating, as its title imports, to the duties of man. The following 
paragraph is taken at random from the work, as a specimen of the language ; 
r« <rt yetp obit dpd'zuo/uivH er.vve%u /ulv h> K-oXTroiSy cos uttuv, t cl fir'epfAc&'r'ttt 
dh\' etvicr^vpos i<r<Tiv etu^ho-ai iteu £U <pm alrra wpoctycLyuv' na} vovs nstv 
zltpung .'rJfe f/jzyrot yeapfotcLS cifAOipy<ras, nox&s lo-nrsipoorcu TTpog 
'hipyuctv rooV KaXw, w &#.&*, Iclv<tqv opycev n>a]i (Trad'dctKOXcnr f rctivu y 
rfrcttS'ctyayciu/uttvos, ftyri TUTtov/utzvos us npiciv itea ct'ipzcrtv ctpsTVS* 
Nam si terra., cum non rigatur , continet quidem sinu suo, ut it a dicam , semina, sed ad 
£a vegetanda , et in lucem edenda , invalida est ; et mens quamvis habilis, si destituatur 
irrigatione , auV plane sterilescit ad bonus actus , aut per se turgens et lasciviens prOterve 
agit, dim non insiituitur eiformatur ad discemmdam et eligendam virtutem. 
“The library of Nicolas Mavrocordato was stored with manuscripts procured 
from the different monasteries in Greece, and the islands of the Archipelago ; and 
so valuable was it in every respect, that Sevin, who had been sent, by the govern- 
ment of France, to collect manuscripts in the levant, in a letter from Constantinople 
to Maurepas, dated Dec. 22, 1728, thus expresses himself: ‘La bibliotheque du 
Prince du Valachie peutaller depair avec celles des plus grands princes; et depuis 
deux' ans il a employe deux geent mille ecus en achats des manuscrits Turns, 
Arabes, etdrersans.”— WalpoWe MS Journal. 
^ It was through his means that I procured for Mr. Cripps, at the particular instiga¬ 
tion of the late Professor Porson, who read his letter upon the subject, the superb copy 
of the Orators',, now in the possesion of Dr. Burney. 
The combats of wrestling, which I have witnessed near Smyrna, are the same as 
those which the ancient waiters describe; and nothing strikes a traveller in the East 
more than the evident adherence to customs of remote ages. 
“ The habit of ‘ girding the loins’was not formerly more general than it is now, in 
the countries of the Levant. The effect of this on the form of the body cannot fail of 
being observed at the baths, in which the waists of the persons employed there are 
remarkable for their smallness. The long sleeve worn at this time in all the East is 
mentioned by Strabo, and Herodotus, lib. vii. The head was shorn formerly, as now; 
and the persons of common rank wore a lower sort of turban, and those of dignity a 
high one; as is the case to this day in Turkey. ( Salm.Plin. Exc. 392.) The following 
passage in Plutarch ( Vit , Themist.) describes a custom with which every one is ac¬ 
quainted: 1 The Persians carefully watch not only their wives , but their slaves and con- 
icubines; so that they are seen by no one : at home , they live shut up ; and when on a jour¬ 
ney , they ride in chariots covered in on all sides.' We find that antimony, the stibium of 
Pliny, which is now employed by the women in the East, who draw a small wire dip¬ 
ped in it between the two eye-Jids and give the eye an expression much admired by 
®b m, was used in former times, Jezabel ‘ put eyes m paint,’ {2, Kings, ix. 30.) 
