Volume I Part 41 (1/2)
The chaplain of the shi+p was a Sclavonian priest, very ignorant, insolent and coarse-mannered, and, as I turned him into ridicule whenever the opportunity offered, he had naturally become my sworn enemy 'Tant de fiel entre-t-il dans l'aht, he posted himself on the quarter-deck, and, with book in hand, proceeded to exorcise all the spirits of hell whoht he could see in the clouds, and to who the way to despair, instead of attending to the working of the shi+p, then in great danger on account of the rocks and of the breakers which surrounded us
Seeing the peril of our position, and the evil effect of his stupid, incantations upon theinto the apathy of despair, instead of keeping up their courage, I thought it prudent to interfere I went up the rigging, calling upon the sailors to do their duty cheerfully, telling them that there were no devils, and that the priest who pretended to see them was a fool But it was in vain that I spoke in the most forcible manner, in vain that I went to work myself, and shewed that safety was only to be insured by activethat I was an Atheist, and he reatest part of the crew The wind continued to lash the sea into fury for the two following days, and the knave contrived to persuade the sailors who listened to hi as I was on board I he had found a good opportunity of fulfilling the wishes of the priest, ca at the extrehly that I was thrown over I should have been irretrievably lost, but the sharp point of an anchor, hanging along the side of the shi+p, catching inin the sea, and proved truly my sheet-anchor Some men came to my assistance, and I was saved A corporal then pointed out toa stout stick I treated the scoundrel to a sound thrashi+ng; but the sailors, headed by the furious priest, rushed towards us when they heard his screams, and I should have been killed if the soldiers had not taken my part The commander and M Dolfin then came on deck, but they were compelled to listen to the chaplain, and to promise, in order to pacify the vile rabble, that they would land h; the priest deive up to him a certain parchment that I had purchased fro I had no recollection of it, but it was true I laughed, and gave it to M Dolfin; he handed it to the fanatic chaplain, who, exulting in his victory, called for a large pan of live coals froalley, and made an auto-da-fe of the document The unlucky parch on the fire for half an hour, and the priest did not fail to represent those contortions as a miracle, and all the sailors were sure that it was an infernal iven to me by the devil The virtue claimed for that piece of parchment by the man who had sold it to me was that it insured its lucky possessor the love of all women, but I trust my readers will do me the justice to believe that I had no faith whatever in amorous philtres, talismans, or amulets of any kind: I had purchased it only for a joke
You can find throughout Italy, in Greece, and generally in every country the inhabitants of which are yet wrapped up in prinorance, a tribe of Greeks, of Jews, of astronos and toys to which they boastingly attach wonderful virtues and properties; amulets which render invulnerable, scraps of cloth which defend frooblins, and a thousand ges of the saoods have no land, in Gerenerally, but, in revenge, the inhabitants of those countries indulge in knavish practices of a much worse kind
The stor on the fire, and the sailors, believing that the spirits of hell had been exorcised, thought no e of a e cast anchor at Corfu As soon as I had found a co I took enerale, and to all the naval cothe acquaintance of the officers of iment, I prepared to enjoy myself until the arrival of the Chevalier Venier, who had promised to take me to Constantinople He arrived towards thebasset, and had lost all ed allevery , unless he should kno to fix fickle fortune by playing with a real advantage derived from calculation or from adroitness, which defies chance I think that a cool and prudent player canto be called a cheat
During thefor the arrival of M Venier, I did not devote any time to the study, eitherthe days on which I was on duty, I passed , as a matter of course, under the adverse fortune which I braved with obstinacy I never won, and I had not the one The only comfort I had, and a sorry one truly, was to hear the banker himself call me--perhaps sarcastically--a fine player, every tiht, when new life was infused in uns fired in honour of the arrival of the bailo He was on board the Europa, a frigate of seventy-two guns, and he had taken only eight days to sail from Venice to Corfu The eneral of the Venetian navy, and the proveditore hauled down his own colours The Republic of Venice has not on the sea any authority greater than that of Bailo to the Porte The Chevalier Venier had with hiuished and brilliant suite; Count Annibal Gambera, Count Charles Zenobio, both Venetian noblemen of the first class, and the Marquis d'Anchotti of Bressan, accompanied him to Constantinople for their own amusement The bailo remained a week in Corfu, and all the naval authorities entertained him and his suite in turn, so that there was a constant succession of balls and suppers When I presented myself to his excellency, he informed ranted h of six months to enable me to accompany him to Constantinople as his adjutant; and as soon as the official docuh had been delivered to oods on board the Europa, and eighed anchor early the next day
We sailed with a favourable hich reo, where we stopped to take in so some curiosity to visit the ancient Cythera, I went on shore with the sailors on duty, but it would have been better for o I made a bad acquaintance I was accompanied by the captain of marines
The moment we set foot on shore, twoappearance, caed for assistance I asked them who they were, and one, quicker than the other, answered;
”We are sentenced to live, and perhaps to die, in this island by the despotism of the Council of Ten There are forty others as unfortunate as ourselves, and we are all born subjects of the Republic
”The crime of which we have been accused, which is not considered a cri with ourjealous of our friends, when, finding our ladies handsome, they obtained their favours with our ready consent
As ere not rich, we felt no reenerosity of our friends in such cases, but it was said that ere carrying on an illicit trade, and we have been sent to this place, where we receive every day ten sous in 'ia-alley slaves, for we are dying of ennui, and we are often starving without knowing how to stay our hunger My name is Don Antonio Pocchini, I as to the illustrious faave the to the shi+p after we had visited the fortress I shall have to speak of that Pocchini in a few years
The wind continued in our favour, and we reached the Dardanelles in eight or ten days; the Turkish barges ht offered by that city at the distance of a league is truly wonderful; and I believe that a nificent panorama cannot be found in any part of the world It was that splendid viehich was the cause of the fall of the Roman, and of the rise of the Greek e at Byzantium by sea, was so much struck with the wonderful beauty of its position, that he exclaimed, ”Here is the proper seat of the empire of the whole world!”
and in order to secure the fulfilment of his prediction, he left Rome for Byzantium If he had known the prophecy of Horace, or rather if he had believed in it, he would not have been guilty of such folly The poet had said that the downfall of the Roustus bethought hiinated The road is not far distant from Thrace
We arrived at the Venetian Embassy in Pera towards the middle of July, and, for a wonder, there was no talk of the plague in Constantinople just then We were all provided with very cos, but the intensity of the heat induced the baili to seek for a little coolness in a country mansion which had been hired by the Bailo Dona It was situated at Bouyoudere The very first order laid uponescorted by a janissary, and this order I obeyed to the letter In those days the Russians had not taners can now go about as much as they please in perfect security
The day after our arrival, I took a janissary to accompany me to Osman Pacha, of Caramania, the name assumed by Count de Bonneval ever since he had adopted the turban I sent in my letter, and was iround floor, furnished in the French fashi+on, where I saw a stout elderly gentleman, dressed like a Frenchman, who, as I entered the roo countenance, and asked e' of a cardinal of the Roer call his ave him all the particulars of the circumstances which, in a moment of despair, had induced me to ask the cardinal for letters of introduction for Constantinople, and I added that, the letters once in s had made me believe that I was bound to deliver them in person
”Then, without this letter,” he said, ”you never would have come to Constantinople, and you have no need ofthus made the acquaintance of a man who has attracted the attention of the whole of Europe, and who still commands that attention”
His excellencymen who, like me, without care, without any fixed purpose, abandon themselves to fortune with that confidence which knows no fear, and telling me that the cardinal's letterfor me, he promised to introduce me to three or four of his Turkish friends who deserved to be known He invited me to dine with him every Thursday, and undertook to send me a janissary ould protectworth seeing
The cardinal's letter representing ht to see his library I followed hirated cupboards; curtains could be seen behind the ork; the books werea key out of his pocket, he opened one of the cupboards, and, instead of folios, I saw long rows of bottles of the finest wines We both laughed heartily
”Here are,” said the pacha, ”my library and ood ill prolong it, or at least, ine your excellency has obtained a dispensation from the mufti?”
”You areas great a power as the Christian Pope He cannot in any case permit what is forbidden by the Koran; but everyone is at liberty to work out his own damnation if he likes The Turkish devotees pity the libertines, but they do not persecute them; there is no inquisition in Turkey Those who do not know the precepts of religion, say the Turks, will suffer enough in the life to come; there is no need to make them suffer in this life The only dispensation I have asked and obtained, has been respecting circuh it can hardly be called so, because, at enerally perfor the two hours that we spent together, the pacha enquired after several of his friends in Venice, and particularly after Marc Antonio Dieto I told him that his friends were still faithful to their affection for him, and did not find fault with his apostasy He answered that he was a Mahometan as he had been a Christian, and that he was not better acquainted with the Koran than he had been with the Gospel ”I am certain,” he added, ”that I shall die-calene I have had to say that God is God, and that Mahomet is the prophet I have said it, and the Turks care very little whether I believe it or not I wear the turban as the soldier wears the unifor but a military man; I could not have turned my hand to any other profession, and I eneral of the Grand Turk only when I foundWhen I left Venice, the pitcher had gone too often to the well, it was broken at last, and if the Jews had offered me the coone and besieged Jerusalem”
Bonneval was handsome, but too stout He had received a sabre-cut in the lower part of the abdoe supported by a silver plate He had been exiled to Asia, but only for a short time, for, as he told me, the cabals are not so tenacious in Turkey as they are in Europe, and particularly at the court of Vienna As I was taking leave of hih to say that, since his arrival in Turkey, he had never passed two hours as pleasantly as those he had just spent with me, and that he would compliment the bailo about me