John Bowring

“ If the chances are few which a pretty girl of the harem has to exhibit her graces, she has the ready ingenuity to avail herself of them. There is no doubt a charm in winning the admiration of the other sex—a charm which in the Levant sometimes tempts a lady beyond the limits of maiden modesty and Western decorum. ”

“ But we return to our journey towards Khan Shekune, and on our way thither we heard much of the extraordinary beauty of the old Sheikh’s young wife, who had the fame of being the most lovely woman that had ever been spoken of in those regions, and who was—jealous and distrustful as Oriental husbands frequently are—the object of special jealousy, but, at the same time, of the most affectionate admiration, on the part of her husband. ”

“ I have availed myself of such opportunities as I have had to learn from intelligent Orientals themselves their views as to the comparative influences of polygamy and monogamy upon domestic happiness; and the result has been most favourable to that policy consecrated by Christian laws and Christian usages, by which one man and one woman are exclusively bound together by the marital link, and the children only of such marriages deemed to be the legitimate descendants of their parents. ”

“ You infidel!” laughed aloud, and drew the veil over her blushing cheeks. Again and again the same amusing comedy was performed by other ladies with a readiness or a backwardness which might be measured by the presence or absence of personal charms; there were several who remained veiled through the whole of our visit with the most stubborn and stolid obstinacy. The Aga said, they were the old and ugly ones of the harem. Woman is everywhere woman—proud, and well she may be proud of her attractions. ”

“ The poetry of the East is full of the passion of love, yet, whatever may be the admiration for beauty and the professions of attachment to females, I know of no part of the world in which they are raised to a position of absolute equality with men,—certainly the Levant affords no such example. Reverence for parents and ancestors in which, of course, are included mothers, grandmothers, and female progenitors, is a universal religion in China,—the religion of all the sects, whether Confucians, Buddhists, or Taouists ”

“ A description which would serve as a modern princely harem, is found in the provision made for King Ahasuerus (Esther ii. 2 and 3) , where fair young virgins are sought by the king, and “all the fair young virgins are gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, under custody of the king’s chamberlain”—an eunuch, no doubt—the keeper of the women. The separation of the sexes was carried further by those of elevated rank than among the less opulent classes, but the veiling of women is still practised both by Jews and Christians in the Levant. ”

“ Under ordinary circumstances it is a great affront to talk to a Mahomedan of the lady portion of his household, or even to suppose or imply the existence of a female sex. You may venture upon a general and vague inquiry as to the well-being or well-doing of a family, but it would be ill-bred and impertinent to show any interest about the health of a mother, wife, or daughter, even though you may have heard rumours of sickness, or even of impending death. ”

“ Much has not been done to convey accurate notions of the family and social interest among Mahomedan races.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu had the advantage of rank and the stimulant of curiosity, and has told her amusing tales of what she saw in Turkey, and some few privileged Christian ladies have since been welcomed into the recesses of the harem—nay, one or two Osmanli women of high position have been seen in European circles. ”

“ The Spaniards are remarkable for the success with which they cultivate the art of improvisation, and I have heard excellent asonante verses sung by the muleteers, in which they recounted their own adventures, and lightened the fatigues of their journeys by rhymed extempore narratives of their own invention. ”

“ No beauty mine—No! nothing but the thronging
Of multitudinous blanks of misery.
She has been called on to improvise verses, omitting all words in which the vowels most commonly occurring in Spanish are found, and there has been no hesitation in their production.
The vowel e is the letter most frequently employed in the Spanish language. and being asked by a lady of distinguished grace and beauty to produce a stanza in which that letter should be wholly wanting, the Ciega improvised this verse:
Divina flor purpurina! ”

“ There is in the Deaf and Dumb Asylum of Madrid a blind old woman known as La Ciega de Manzanares, some of whose exhibitions of the improvisatore arts have excited great attention from their appropriateness and poetical beauty. ”

“ One of the most cultivated Turks I have ever known—a man occupying at the present moment one of the highest positions in the Ottoman empire, and well acquainted with other nations as well as his own—assured me that he had confined his attentions to the lady whom he had selected for his wife as the best means of securing his own felicity. ”

“ It is not an unusual thing among Mussulmans of wealth, when they invite strangers, to give musical or theatrical entertainments after their meals, which the women of the harem honour with their presence ”

“ It is a habit among Orientals to conceal from others, and even from themselves, the extent of any danger or affliction that seems to menace them, under the influence of that fatalism which is almost a religious creed, and which teaches that what is not to be need not be anticipated by an anxiety for which there is no sufficient cause, and what is to be cannot be averted by giving way to solicitudes or sorrows. ”

“ We talk to the mother—that is invariably our practice. We hear from her the symptoms of the complaint, and we prescribe only after getting all possible information—information which the mother alone is able to give. ”

“ Neither is Moya Inglīs (English water) the ordinary term for Cognac brandy when a Mahomedan desires to drink it. Well do I recollect one of the earliest inquiries whispered into my ears by a Mufti, at whose house I descended when visiting the capital of the ancient kings of Syria, Hamath on the river Orontes, and who received me with wonted Oriental hospitality. ”