Captain David Sutherland

“ As an Englishman, policy obliges me to wish success to the Turks; for I have already proved to you, that our lucrative trade to the Levant can never be carried on so much to our advantage as whilst Turkey remains in the hands of its present possessors; and, as a Philanthrope, I feel the utmost detestation of the ambitious combination entered into by the Emperor and the Empress, to extirpate the Turks, merely because Nature has been bountiful to their soil, and because their country promised an easy conquest. ”

“ The Turks at the Dardanelles always salute with ball, and the nearer they go to the vessel, the greater the compliment. Each fort fired seventeen guns; their cannon are monstrous, and the shot flying en ricochet along the smooth surface of the water across our bows, from Europe and Asia alternately, and throwing up the sand on the opposite shores, while shouts of applause from the admiring multitude, hailed us on our returning their salute, crowned this charming morning. ”

“ As to Europe's having any thing to dread from the Turks extending their conquest, the idea is absurd. Their Empire is already larger than they well can keep in order; and, from the nature of their government, the more they extend it, the more will it be weakened. Their army may make irruptions, but must soon return to its proper bounds.
They do not, like the Romans, incorporate the vanquished with the conquerors, so as, in time, to become one people, and to increase in numbers as they increase in territory. ”

“ A westerly breeze has carried us past Cape Spartevento, and we are now just an hundred miles from the coast of Sicily. Mount Ætna is still in sight, and the sun setting directly behind it, forms one of those heavenly scenes, which at once affects us with the beautiful and sublime. Notwithstanding our very great distance, the mountain is so many degrees above the horizon, that would day-light continue, we should see it twenty miles farther. ”

“ Independent of the satisfaction of being in a region so noted in history, and of traversing scenes which one has so often contemplated in the page of antiquity, we have the happiness of finding a society we did not expect in this lost country--a soil where the iron hand of Despotism checks every generous sentiment in the vanquished Greek, and where the conqueror Turk, proud in his ignorance, scorns the refinements of more enlightened people, and looks down with insolence or contempt on every nation but his own. ”

“ The great staircase forms one of the finest coup d'oeils of the kind I ever beheld. It is in the center of the whole edifice, opposite the church gates. The dome is painted with Apollo and the Muses, in a circle, and the four seasons in the corners. The steps and balustrade are all of marble of different colours, on a very grand scale, crowned with two capital lions. If any fault can be found with this elegant piece of architecture, it is that the area below is too small in proportion to the grandeur of this part of the building. ”

“ On the east the gardens, palace, and museum of Portici, built over the ruins of Herculaneum, Mount Vesuvius throwing forth an amazing volume of smoke in a variety of shapes, according to the wind, with its base covered with vineyards, convents, and villas, rising out of the ashes of Pompeia and Stabia. Beyond these Castello Mare, closed by the Promontory of Gampenela, and the Island of Capria. The whole country is in the highest state of cultivation, richly clothed with beautiful trees, most of which are evergreens. ”

“ His happy favorite is now pregnant for the fourth time, and such is the attention paid her, that the vessels in the harbour are obliged to suspend the regular method of carrying on duty, and are not permitted to fire a musket, nor to strike the bell, nor even to give the word of command in a loud voice. By which you will perceive, that the invisible chains of the fair are as powerful in Turkey as in our blessed island; and that the rude Turk, and the generous Englishman, though different in manners, are alike sensible of the respect due to gentleness and beauty. ”

“ The paintings in the Tribuna are equal to the statues. The most famous is Titian's celebrated Venus, which justly merits the high encomiums universally conferred upon her. She is lying on a bed, with all her beauties displayed. The painter, with great judgment, has given her a passive countenance, and introduced a softness in her air, full of languishing desire, but free from lascivious wantonness. One might compare her to a most beautiful married woman, deprived for the first time of the presence of a beloved husband. In a word, nothing can be more perfect, or more delightful. ”

“ In the evening we got under way, and with a light breeze sailed out of the Bay of Naples, between Capria and Cape Gampenela.
September 29th.
Becalmed on the coast of Salerno. Nothing can be more beautifully picturesque. From the water's edge to the tops of the mountains, not a vacant spot is to be seen. The whole face of the country is covered with vines, trees, and houses, mixed together in the prettiest confusion imaginable. ”

“ It is fortunate for the Porte, that at this crisis her Ministers are avowedly the best that ever governed Turkey. The Grand Vizir is young and vigorous, and a pupil of the celebrated Hassan, now Captain Bashaw, or Lord High Admiral, who is just returned from Egypt crowned with victory. He had been sent there with the fleet, and an army also under his command, to subdue the rebel Beys, in which, notwithstanding the intrigues of the Russians, he happily succeeded, and, by additional proofs of courage and address, has added fresh laurels to his former fame. ”

“ The Empress of Russia's late journey to the Crimea, and the confederacy formed there by her Majesty and the Emperor of Germany, have given the late stroke to those reiterated provocations which would, long ere this, have excited to arms a people less irascible than the Turks: but, however inclined the nation at large might be to resent the insults of the Russians, and the frequent infringements of the Treaty of Cainardgie, yet their fiery spirit was kept in awe by the pacific disposition of the reigning Sultan. ”

“ Such unexpected modesty, in so exposed a situation, filled me with astonishment and veneration. How much did I wish to take her in my arms, and, by a kiss of affection, to express the sympathy I bore in her distress. How did I execrate the parsimony that had prevented my having about me all the money I possessed.--How earnestly did I wish to remove her to a more sheltered fate, where her beauty and her modesty might be better known and admired. ”

“ At present the grand army is elated with victory, and formidable by the spirit infused by success; but as one or two defeats will destroy that religious confidence and enthusiastic fury, which, for a time, supply the want of discipline and skill, the third campaign, I am afraid, will shake this very capital, unless England and Prussia forbid such a catastrophe, and by resolute measures, confirm the expectations of the Porte, and of all those who wish well to the honor and interest of the Triple Alliance. ”

“ There are innumerable spots in our island which might be inclosed for this purpose, where goods from infected places might be properly aired, and afterwards introduced with more safety by our own subjects, than we at present receive them from the Dutch.
A person who has not been in the Levant, cannot conceive the inconvenience and distress arising to our nation, from this want of a Lazaretto. The enterprising spirit of the English leads them every where in search of employment. A vessel arrives at Smyrna--she gets a cargo, and the last day of her loading perhaps the plague appears on shore. ”

“ This is the Turkish method of terminating a rebellion, which they say is only to be done by destroying the seeds: but, to palliate their inhumanity, they allege, that, whenever the Greeks have gained any advantage, they have been still more barbarous; that they have spared neither age nor sex; but that, after being guilty of every other brutality to the women, so sacred among Mahometans, not satisfied with slaying them, they have even carried their revenge so far as to expose their naked corpses to be devoured by dogs and birds of prey. ”

“ None of either sex are permitted to shut themselves up in convents; and marriage is highly encouraged. Such, indeed, is this Prince's success in promoting morality, and preventing vice among his people, that, different from most capitals, the women are innocent and healthy, as well as beautiful; and assassinations and robberies are here no longer heard of.
What a satisfaction will the philanthrope enjoy, when he finds that this public happiness and virtue has been produced by the most laudable means. ”

“ The Turks have, indeed, a lordly, imperious air, which I suppose they acquire from the abject manner of the Greeks, who, being a conquered people, are always suspected of rebellious intentions, and almost extirpated on the least appearance of an insurrection; which obliges them to crouch so much to the conquerors, that they imagine all other Christians equally dastardly, and hold us in the same light as we do the Jews--a mean, money-making, unbelieving sect: but I am convinced, that if we went more among them, we should hear of fewer insults. ”

“ I leave you to conceive, my dear Madam, how much her history increased the veneration I before felt for her. Villarias is my author. Her words, enforced by her expressive countenance, are engraven on my heart; but it is impossible to translate them. The youthful Marchioness is no enthusiast in favor of nunneries; but she has made me allow, that, to dispositions and misfortunes like Lucilla's, they afford a comfortable asylum. ”

“ In this juncture, the Athenians consulted the Oracle, and were desired to trust to their wooden walls. Themistocles persuaded all those who were capable of bearing arms to embark in the fleet; the women and children were removed; and the town, abandoned to the enemy, fell a prey to the barbarians.
The fleet was assembled in the straits, within the Island of Salamis. Xerxes, who already talked of nothing but of extirpating the Greeks, by seizing their ships, flattered himself that he had now an opportunity of destroying them all at one blow. ”

“ This was to the new palace at Casertta. The outside has nothing to boast of but the grandeur of its size; but for convenience, the plan is, perhaps, the best which has ever been laid out. It is a square of six hundred feet each side; and that no room may be lost, the interior court is divided into four, by a range of buildings in the shape of a cross, the head of which forms a most magnificent church, lined with the marble from the Temple of Serapis at Puzzoli. It hath not many paintings, but that of the Presentation is reckoned inestimable. ”

“ Were it not for the number of vacancies occasioned by the non-payment of this stipend, the Capuchins would be unable to find niches for the number of men who must die every year in so populous a city as this.
Women are dried as well as the men, but are not exposed. Nobles are shut up in chests.
I am just returned from seeing Prince Palagonia become a member of this society. The beginning of his funeral, although similar to that of every Lord in this island, struck me as being as preposterous as his palace. ”

“ The Peloponnesians having the advantage of inhabiting a country almost an island, and only assailable at the narrow Isthmus of Corinth, etermined to defend themselves. Themistocles infused the same spirit into the Athenians, and promoted the recall of his rival, Aristides. Their allies thinking it in vain to oppose the Persians beyond the Peloponnesus, wished all their forces to retire within the Isthmus. But the Athenians, encouraged by their former victory, bravely resolved once more to become the champions of Greece, and oppose the enemy before he entered Attica. ”

“ She is asleep, relieved from the weight of her armour, with nothing to conceal any part of her exquisite beauty, but one of the ribbons of her corselet, which the air has most happily directed to shelter her modesty; but which one is almost afraid will wave from her waist. ”

“ The little fleet the Empress had, with great difficulty, collected on the Black Sea has been entirely dispersed and dismasted, and a line of battle ship, of sixty-four guns, commanded by Captain Teesdale, to avoid being wrecked, was obliged to push for Constantinople, and give herself up to the Turks.
As she is very little damaged, she will sail in the spring, under the banners of the Porte. The Russians were before very inferior to the Turks on the Black Sea; and the loss of one ship to them making a difference of two in favor of their enemies, renders their inequality still more desperate. ”

“ The Turks had now all the honour and advantages of a victory, without the trouble of fighting for one. The Emperor fled before them; and his rear, with a great part of his baggage and artillery, fell a prey to the enemy. Some thousands of his troops were killed, or taken, and his whole army thrown into such confusion, that, in the night, two of his columns, meeting unexpectedly, fired on each other. ”

“ In its present state, Turkey, as I have already hinted, may be compared to a rich mine, to which the industrious from every nation have free access. In the hands of the Empress it would be like the barred treasure of an ambitious Lord, never to be opened but to be increased.
In this I do not mean to reflect on her Imperial Majesty, since, I fancy, every European power, in a similar situation, would act the same part. ”