Paul of Aleppo

“ Would that you too, Illustrious Earl of Guilford! whose premature departure from the sphere of your beneficence has left to your admiring friends, to your loving and numerous dependants, a loss incapable of repair, a grief that can never be consoled—would that you, too, could have prolonged your inestimable life for the advantage of those Institutions most beneficial to mankind, which it was your constant endeavour to establish and support! ”

“ To his Sovereignty and Divinity it is fitting that we offer praise ever and at all times, now and continually, throughout all ages.
I, the poor servant, and of all men the most necessitous of the mercy, of the Lord my God; Paul by name, Archdeacon, or Shammas, of the Orthodox Religion, of Aleppo, was natural son to the Distinguished, Most Holy, Exalted, and Munificent Father, Kyr Kyr Macarius [1] , Patriarch of Antioch, son of the late Canon (الخوري) Paul, son of the Canon Abd-al-Mesih-al-Protos, celebrated by the title of Beit-az-Zaaimi. ”

“ We pursued our way till we came to the Scala or landing-place of Kum Kapi, where we stepped out of the boat. The name of Kum Kapi was anciently, in the Greek language, Κοντοσκάλη. All the Christians, with their clergy, were waiting for us; and advancing to meet our Lord the Patriarch, they conducted him, with torches and thuribles, and every token of honour and veneration, into the above-mentioned church, where a most solemn mass was performed. ”

“ This Boghaz, or throat, of the Black Sea was opened in ancient times, by Alexander; and the passage along it is very difficult. From Galata to Neochori, both right and left, are farms and houses, and palaces and seraglios belonging to the Emperor; and gardens and vineyards, walks and baths, and so forth. We alighted at Neochori, at the house of Dadyan Raïs, surnamed Kalokari, and Theodori; and his son is called Yazgaki. May God perpetuate their existence, and prolong their lives! for their generosity and kind actions to us, and to strangers in general, cannot be expressed by mortal tongue. ”

“ The church is so called from a legend that has rendered it very celebrated among the Greeks. There stood on this place a small Monastery of Greek Caloyers, when Mahomet laid siege to Constantinople; who, it seems, were not molested by his army. On the day of the decisive attack, a Monk was frying some fish, when news was suddenly brought to the convent, that the Turks had entered the town, through the breach in the walls. ”

“ A diligent traveller over remote and but slightly-explored regions, replete with the opposite varieties of East and West, you would look for details of novelty, such as yourself could amply furnish. Familiar with the varied dictions, and accustomed to the chequered thoughts, ripened so diversely in different climates, you would expect to regale vour sight, and gratify your discriminating taste, with the gayer flowers of Eastern eloquence, and the luxurious fruits of warmer fancies, successfully transplanted and cherished in the more oblique rays of the Western sun. ”

“ In like manner, upon the door of the church, its epoch is inscribed in Greek. All the rest of the churches are small. At a short distance outside the convent is an ancient cave, into which you descend by steps: in it the robbers confined the Saint, as their prisoner. Here is a large spring, which he caused to burst forth for them, and of which the water is delicious. We slept in the convent the night preceding Wednesday the fifteenth of Iloul, and in the morning returned to the city. ”

“ The tabernacles are spacious; and behind that which is on the north side is a door admitting to the Book Treasury, whence you go out behind the church, into a court that opens into the street. This is so contrived, in order that when the priests are suddenly visited by any natural want, they may satisfy it, without going cut in face of the people. On the arch of the south tabernacle are painted the figures of Abraham and Melchisedee. ”

“ There is a Scholar, who takes the highest interest in every thing connected with Oriental Literature whose vigilant superintendence of its welfare suffers no production, however small, from its Arabic, Persian, or Hebrew Cabinets, to circulate through the hands of its philologic negotiators, without affixing to it the respected signet of his paramount criticism who will probably deign to honour also this slight Work with his official notice. ”

“ For a day's journey, either in length or breadth, there is not a green herb to be seen, but the earth is burnt black. During this day we suffered extreme affliction, till we arrived in the evening at Bor, which is a beautiful village, of cheap supplies, abounding in streams of water, and multiplied in riches. Every thing here is cheap. ”

“ We had been informed by several persons, that behind the Odoun Charshi, or Wood Market, near the back of the Walidah Khan, was a small mosque, that had anciently been a church, with a high square cupola surmounted with a cross, which is sometimes seen, and at other times hidden from the Odoun Charshi. I did not cease, therefore, till I had found it out, and went to it. The church is still in its pristine state ”

“ At the distance of a stone's throw from this Pyramid is a pillar of thick brass, twisted together in three rolls, as if it were three serpents or dragons entwined upon each other. Upon the top are three serpents heads, stretched with open mouths towards the three sides of the city: the lower jaw of one of them is broken. ”

“ I now therefore roused my languid mind, and stretched towards the object my recoiling hand: not that I may take rank in the troop of Chroniclers, but wishing to confirm a multitude of facts, which have hitherto been disbelieved to their reporters, and to which all men refuse their due credit; being of opinion, that the writers have noted such matters merely in jest, and for their own amusement, or that of their readers. ”

“ We went next to view the Tombs of the deceased Sultans; that is, of the Othmanlis, from the time they conquered Constantinople, till now; together with the tomb of Sultan Murad and his nineteen children, who were strangled; and afterwards the tomb of his mother, Kosa Cason. We made a circuit through all these tombs. Over them are lamps of gold; and the rich offerings with which they are adorned surpass admiration. The officer in attendance admits visitors for sake of the good work. ”

“ Of all the churches in Constantinople, including also the Patriarchal Church, there is not one so ancient as the times of the Christian Emperors, save this in the Mahalleh Caraman.
↑ "The City of Constantinople is built on a triangular promontory, projecting into the Sea of Marmora: two sides are washed by the sea; and the third is that which connects the triangle with the main land, and may be called its base. These sides are well fortified with walls; which still remain, though in several places so dilapidated as to be incapable of any defence, without great reparation. ”

“ We performed mass in a church they have, in the name of the Five Moons or Lights, Eugenius and his Companions, on Sunday, the thirteenth after Pentecost. There is a very small cave under the altar of this church. We staid with these people eight days; and on the eve of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lady, the eighth of Iloul, we departed with an escort of Turkomans, whom they hired to go with us, from that evening till the afternoon of the next day, a distance of twenty hours. ”

“ It contains an astonishing number of rooms and apartments, and a bath entirely of marble. Its gardens are a delight to the beholder, and are furnished with canals for irrigation, all of coloured cement. ”

“ May your immortal spirit still shed its influence, from the realms above, upon the powerful body of your exalted rank, to follow the bright example which you have bequeathed them of encouraging, to their utmost, the continual and rapid advancement of sound learning and practical information! ”

“ At Top Khanah, we saw guns large enough for a man to creep in; and others, that were each of them equal to three camel-loads. Then we returned to look at the wonderful ships of England and of France, and came away home. On the eve of Sunday we performed the Ἑσπερινὸν (Vesper Service) in the Monastery at Galata: for the Constantinopolitan had sent to our Patriarch a Συστατικὸν, like the former, that he should go and perform mass, on the morrow, in the Church of the Monastery. And we went over with the attendants in a boat to Galata, to the aforesaid church ”

“ It is a pleasant green spot, commanding a view over Constantinople, which is opposite; and here the Christians celebrate the Festival of Easter, in mirth and gladness. They told us, on this occasion, that last year his Highness the Sultan Mahomet, God preserve him! ”

“ Educated in the seclusion of the convent, or the retirement of the sacerdotal cloister, the unworldly Author comes for ward devoid of the preparation which courts and camps bestow, for the keen intuition of human-nature, the comparison of distant objects, and the knowledge of the relations of parts and interests. ”

“ Its chapels and recesses are admirably constructed; nor is it possible for the most eloquent man adequately to praise the beauty of its white marble, the lofty suspension of its cupolas, the well-painted figure of Our Lord the Messiah giving his blessing at the top of the arches and tabernacles ”

“ We went with them therefore, early on the morning of the said Sunday, by water, in a boat. Every time we passed over the sea that way, we endured many terrors, when we came to the place behind the Seraglio, called Bournou Serai, from the apparent hopelessness of our situation: for the sea is here very terrific, by reason of the black flood of water from the Boghaz, or Bosphorus, into the White Sea. ”

“ In this Pasomatia it was that happened the procession of angels, at the time the heresies appeared, saying: "Blessed is he that is on our side!" and the young man was rapt up into the air, and came down, repeating, "Blessed be he who dieth not!" ”

“ While the valuable time of diligent investigators has been perpetually wasted on re-editing and re-translating, for times innumerable, the well-known pages of the Greek and Roman Authors, well-attested facts and solidly-grounded theories, which, if made known to the world, might powerfully promote its improvement and augment its general happiness, have lain buried in voluminous Manuscripts of intelligent and benevolent Authors, scarcely ever perused by even the few, whose attainments have qualified them for the task. ”

“ The Constantinopolitan treated our Lord with all attention, and abundant kindness and good-will. They presented so many different kinds of food, and such varieties of wine, that their description is impossible. Towards the evening, the Patriarchs went down to perform the evening prayers; and then took leave of each other. Our Lord the Patriarch returned to the Monastery, with the Metropolitans and clergy before and behind him ”

“ Hitherto it must have been the frequent regret of every scholar, at all acquainted with the riches of Oriental Literature, that so little wealth has been extracted from it, for the practical purposes of Commerce and Government. ”

“ Sweet lemon-trees, and other kinds of orange-plants, are also very abundant. As to our Lord the Patriarch, he went to collect his revenues at Tarsus and the smaller towns of Trimor and Jafer Pasha, and the towns of the Kabarisa in that direction. Then he returned to Adana: and we departed thence in the night of the twenty-ninth of Ab, in the company of an Aga of Turkomans from Damascus. Before noon we came to Khan Bairam Pasha, and alighted on a bank of the river Jakut. In the evening we arose, and marched the whole night through woods and over stony ground. ”

“ Praise to God, who formed the heaven, and raised it without pillars; who spread the earth, and laid it as an habitation for His servants; so that the sons of our father Adam have become nations exceeding all number, and have multiplied on it ”

“ Higher up is a convent, dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady, and called, in Greek, Μοναστήρι τοῦ Μαυρομώλου, or Convent of the Black Rock, which I went to visit. It is upon the top of the hill, is inhabited by forty Monks, and contains a large and ancient church ”

“ Giving ourselves up for lost, we bade adieu to each other, and openly confessed our sins; and our Lord the Patriarch read over us the Prayer of forgiveness, absolution, and remission, whilst we were in momentary expectation of approaching death. But the Creator, exalted be his name! who neglecteth not his servants, did not abandon us ”

“ We ascended to the second story; then to the third; and viewed its pillars, which are of yellow, green, grey, and variegated stone, and of marble of various beautiful and resplendent colours; also its marble tablets, reaching from pillar to pillar, with marks of crosses still to be traced upon them: as they are likewise upon its beautiful pavement, and all its stones and marbles ”

“ Reduced, therefore, to the employment of my single copy, I have had to contend with great difficulties, amidst the erroneous and diversified readings continually presenting themselves, both in the narrative and in the names of places; but most of all in the Greek words, so defectively written in the Arabic Character, that some of them it has been impossible satisfactorily to decipher. ”

“ This place we quitted at the approach of night; and on Thursday, the twenty-fourth of Iloul, came to Eski Shehr, the yellow water-melons of which are famous: they are very sweet; and from their firmness, being hung up, they keep till winter. ”

“ Here is also a very wonderful manufactory of gunpowder, worked by wheels, similar to those of a water-mill for corn: they are very large; and, as the streams of water turn them, they raise and sink beams of wood placed in a row, to pound the powder, which only one man is employed to stir and move by day, and another by night. ”