over^ the, most beautiful part of Europe*whileits forces
have, often thrown terror into the roost powerful of its
neighbours.
We know, even in this enlightened age, hardly more
of the Ottoman Empire than its vast extent and local
situation. ; ' The illusion and errors, whi(ril?have-a?óSölted
from -faiut, distant, superibiai, and slight inquiries; have;
Vjrith respect, to some authors, afforded us only pthantoms,
which, being looked and acted .upon as realities, 'have
been , thrust forward as the religion, laws, and manners
of thë Turks.
:<ht is»: indeed, as Monsieur TÿQhssôn justly observes,
very difficult to penetrate the:thick clouds, 'Which sur,
round this: .imconmannieative nation. Thu poeejwdices of
religion hare raised a barrier, Whiehihas been still farth^:
Strengthened physical, moral, -and poliöeal caufti^r
' The present work;; the®* has least the intent. of fee«
ing both -mteresti^g" and vahiafel® as tO''i$s: ubjeetss and
these objects are, - to delineate with -fidelity the various1
modesjof dress and peculiarity1 -of -upBStox&gj; öow existing;
among this singular nation,. and -its various dépendis)*»'
çiesi; and to r accompany tóch portsaks, with' appropriate
and a c c u r a te descriptions. With-respect to the-'latte#
division, much is not to he expected from the very rh arrow
limits, to which it was ijedensutf to con&m the descriptive
pari ° f this work. But it was imposable ta, entèr
m o re in detail upo n th é subjëèf; w ith o u t writing almost
a ! volume in s te a d ’o f u p ag e ' work
depend u pon th e accuracy- an d b e au ty h f th e drawings,
and th e tru th d f th e colouring; and for b t h e ^ h q u i n ^ w e
feu st b a te recourse to th e laborious and curious researches
©f D ’Ofesson, D ’H ë rb e lo t,IDallaway, O liv ie r,'T o tt, Mon-
tag ^ , fh ê sé
sources, in d e ed , added to th e manüscript n ö tic e s óf M onsieur
D aMrnart, th e p re sen t descriptions h a v # b é e h drawn
«p,* nor- h a s th a t admftufefe tf ^ A r i tb i a r i F ig h t s ;
. . en " ^ ected, a t least where an y c ircumstance m e n tioned
m it has"beeVConfirmed b y 'th ë te stim o n y o f d th e r
writers, -JtVe-Hiay: ihdfeed,-depend upon an y d e s c r i p t i ^
We m e e t w ith io t h a t sin g ü k rly in te re stin g work, relative
tö-örifeöt-al nations? T h e y all carry w ith th em *&&W n u irte
Stamp o f originality, and are V e n d e d a u th e n tic b f B
Concurrent- te stim o n y of-o th e r h u th rirs-/' % I . I T ‘
; ; another mas«,-too, » m a y be allowed to
look »forward 'with- something dike m 'p ro ^ e tic eye 'into
M P P Ü additional
! a ln e to ^ h i sw o r k ; As N a t i o n y th e T u rk s seern d ra riJ
The power, and, it may Be=
* * * * * * * and wahts o f the surrOun&g’kitigdöri, %
uot^small: ttey: teok with an and longing m to-
2 H É É most beautiful part ef^the-world; and the-
half-drawn- sword-appears-ready «^strike- at the Ottoman