Moldavia, which had hitherto been governed by the native princes, though under the authority of the Sublime Porte. All means that the most dexterous intrigue and the most restless ambition can employ to gain a point, were put into action by the Fanariotes. The unfortunate Bassaraba Brankovano, the last of the native Hospodars, was deposed and miserably perished, with the whole of his family, accused of the crime of high treason. The Divan, seduced by the fallacious promises of their Drogmans, confided the direction of these fine provinces to them, and Mavrocordato was the first Fanariote Greek who, in 1731, left the banks of the Bosphorus to take possession of the sovereignty of Wallachia. The Divan, while it deposed the indigenous princes, and clothed the Fanariotes in their spoils, did not propose to deprive the natives of all influence in their government. Various posts were reserved for the native Boyards, such as those of ChiefJustice, Mayor, Secretary-General, of the districts and cantons. The place of Governor was filled conjointly by two, the one a delegate of the Fanariote Prince, and the other a native Boyard. The Receiver-General, or Grand Treasurer, was also a native Boyard. But the high situation of Minister of the Interior and for Foreign Affairs, of the Police, the Executors of the Orders of Criminal Counsel (the Sheriffs), the Grand Intendant of the Court, the Second Treasurer, the Commercial Judge, the equerries, the military officers, and a multitude of other posts, were given to the Fanariotes in the suite of the Hospodar, who from the moment of their appointment took the title of Boyard. Four places were reserved to the Mahometans. These are, 1. The Divan Effendi, to superintend the execution of the Mahometan laws. 2. The Bêcheli Aga, who is charged with the police as regards Mahometan travellers, since the law of the Prophet interdicts all interference with one of the faithful on the part of an infidel. 3. The Mechter-Baschi, or chief of music. 4. The Bayracter, or standard-bearer.

From the moment that the Divan has fixed that this or that Drogman shall be promoted to the high dignity of Hospodar of Wallachia

or Moldavia, the Prince takes the title of Highness, and surrounds himself with Wallachians and Moldavians, who by their fortune or character have the greatest influence among the Boyards and people of the province to which he is appointed. He promises to some places and appointments, to others the hands of his daughters, which always go with the highest offices. These promises are repeated, until the Prince, having seated himself in his government, does not feel it necessary either to keep them or to make any more.

The morning after his appointment the Prince dispatches with all possible haste to his province a Fanariote agent, under the title of Kaïmakam, who, until his arrival, performs the part of his representative. The first care of the Kaïmakam is to assemble all the grandees of the country, and to demand of them-1st, that the palace of his Highness shall be completely furnished anew with the most costly and elegant materials; and, 2d, that an immense number of chariots shall be immediately sent to Constantinople, to transport the goods and chattels of the Prince and his suite. Every request is immediately complied with; and the Kaïmakam, during the one or two months of his agency, employs himself in deposing the officers of the former Hospodar, and installing temporary ones. The native Boyards are meanwhile racking their inventions to gain the favour of the new Prince. The most obvious and the most powerful means are magnificent presents, which all over the East have a magical influence on great men. The richest among them send to Constantinople the most superb equipages, which however can only be of service during the journey; for the Turkish laws forbid the use of them in the capital. Others send considerable sums to assist in his outfit. The precautions which the Boyards take in this point are so great, that they ordinarily deposit with their bankers in Constantinople a sum of money to be forwarded to whatever Fanariote may be elevated to the dignity of Hospodar, on the very day of his nomination. In addition to these prudent largesses, the new Hospodar is besieged with the offers of the richest financiers to a large

amount, on the credit of his future revenues, and with the knowledge of his present poverty. The very moment the election is known, all the tradesmen of Constantinople are seen knocking at the door of his Highness, and begging him to take the stock of their entire bazaars off their hands. But the crowd of bankers, bearers of presents, and tradesmen, is nothing in comparison of the multitude of flatterers who flock about his Hospodariatship. All of them have been always his fervent admirers-the eulogizers of his high qualities: nay, their praises may be said, in some sort, to have determined the Divan in its wise choice. The dissimulation of the Prince is at least a match for the baseness of his flattering friends. Their incense neither changes the countenance nor the purposes of the wily Fanariote, who has won his way to his post by the most active and deeplaid intrigues, and by the overthrow of many rivals, bitter enemies, who, as they opposed his rise, now commence a struggle to procure his fall. He promises largely but his sincerity is only proved after his arrival at Bucharest, or Jassy, whence he forwards lists of proscription to the Divan, who seldom deny the requests of a newlyappointed Hospodar. Thirty days are the term allowed to the new Prince in which he must make his preparations; at the expiration of which, should he not be ready to depart, he is bound to pay a fine of about 167. or 177. a day to the Agà of the Janissaries. This fine he often voluntarily incurs in order to leave an agreeable recollection of him in the memory of the Agà. The Hospodar leaves Constantinople with all the honours of a Pacha, and leaves near the Divan a representative called the Bâche-Capi-Kaihayà, who is the medium of all correspondence between him and the Grand Visir. His first station is at the village of Avaskioy, about three miles from the capital, where he pitches his tent for some days to arrange the ceremonies of his march. His suite is composed of 200 armed Greek Albanians and of 300 other persons, forming his own household and that of the Fanariote friends who are permitted to accompany him, and whom he immediately, on his arrival, instals into all the first places of honour.

The equipages are ordinarily of

great magnificence; and proceed by very short days' marches. The Prince dispatches before him one of his three tails, accompanied by a Boyard, who takes the title of Conakzi, and who performs the part of a courier in the most solemn and important style of announcement. The entertainment is always at the expense of the Greeks who inhabit the country through which he passes. He arrives at last within view of his principality, about the hundred and twentieth or thirtieth day from his departure from Constantinople, and makes a halt within a few leagues, that all may be ready the next day for his solemn entry.

The manner and behaviour of a Hospodar are sufficiently curious. His dignity is of a very different kind from that which usually distinguishes other great men when they condescend to be seen by their inferiors. When he appears in public or in his palace, if he walks, he lets his head hang down upon his breast, and half shuts his eyes; he feigns deafness, and pretends not to be able to hear when any question is put to him which he does not choose to answer. He never looks on one side, but keeps a constant direct stare, rolling a chaplet continually between his fingers, while with the other hand he chinks some newly-struck gold coin, called Roubies, which he keeps in his pocket for that purpose. If he speaks, it is with a very soft gentle voice and in a sing-song tone-a kind of recitative. This is the kind of dignity into which an intriguing and hypocritical Fanariote invariably sinks, either as the natural consequence of his former habits and his present elevation, or because it is understood to accord with the Fanariote notions of what is princely or Hospodariatish.

Nothing can equal the tender attentious of the Boyards, and especially the Boyards from the Fanar. The latter approach the person of the Hospodar with most remarkable eagerness; two or three of them seize his arms and raise him from the ground, so that in walking he scarcely reaches the floor with the point of his toes, while two or three other lords take up the tail of his robe; and thus, with all the air of a wretched paralytic, he passes into his apartments, followed by a train of do

mestics. When he is put down there he throws away his chaplet, and, put ting his money in his pocket, he snatches his pipe with some agility. At that instant a loud Stentorian voice is heard in the hall, when the Prince is seated this is the cry of the Tchaouche, one of his grooms, for coffee and the coffee-bearer. The moment he has sung out Cafe! CafeziBachi, the coffee-bearer of his Hospodariat Highness appears with a little cup richly set with diamonds, which is immediately presented. If he wishes to take a meal, the same ceremonies take place. At mid-day a Tchaouche cries out a sort of speech to the steward, the butler, and the cupbearer, and finishes with these words, and all of you, gentlemen, attached to the service of the table of his Highness prepare yourselves. Scarcely is the Prince seated at table, when thirty or forty unseen musicians strike up with their violins and Pan-pipes of fourteen reeds, known in this country by the name of Miskals. These musicians are the people known in this country by the name of gypsies, and in France of Bohemians: Immense numbers of them inhabit Moldavia and Wallachia; and are called Tringans; some leading a settled life, and some, as elsewhere, wandering from place to place. They are said to be very admirable musicians, and capable of executing the richest compositions of Europe with rare precision, though they play entirely by ear and do not know a single note.

The Prince never asks for anything at table, all is prepared for him, his bread even is cut into little morsels, and every thing being offered to him, he refuses that which he dislikes. The wine is held in small glass decanters, and the cup-bearer, who is always one of his nearest relations, keeps standing behind him, constantly holding out to him a glass half filled with it. When the meal is finished a Tchaouche utters the cry for coffee. It is by that time one o'clock, and another Tchaouche shouts out of a window to inform the city that his Highness has dined and is going to take coffee, and the instant after is going to take his repose. From that moment all is buried in the deepest silence, a universal calm spreads itself over the palace, where business of every kind is suspended.

It must not be supposed that this interval, of about three hours, is spent entirely by the Prince in sleep. He employs it, according as he understands it, for the happiness of his subjects. These are his three hours of meditation, of freedom, and, nominally, of leisure, though it is often the time when he is most actively employed. At four o'clock the noise of the innumerable clocks of Bucharest, which amount to about two hundred, and also that of the holy plates, announce that the Prince is not to be supposed any longer asleep. The holy plates are certain pieces of copper suspended by two cords, which the priests before the introduction of bells used to strike with mallets, for the purpose of convoking the faithful. The usage is still preserved by the Moldavians, who call the sacred plates Symandra, the name they bore at Constantinople, when they were applied to the same use.

The dress of the Hospodar does not differ from that of a noble Turk at Constantinople, except in the head dress. In place of the turban, he wears a cylindrical cap in imitation of the Kan of the Crimea, composed of yellow cloth, and covered round the lower part with sable. The Prince and the Boyards are alike distinguished from their inferiors by the length of their beards; but no subject, Boyard or not, is permitted to line his slippers with red-this is a privilege which the Hospodar reserves to himself.

A Boyard is easily discerned from a common inhabitant of the principality by the enormity of his kalpak. This head dress is composed of the skins of seven or eight black lambs, skinned for that purpose before they are born. It is of the form of a balloon, and is surmounted at the summit by a red banderoll, which marks the class to which the Boyard belongs. The son of the Prince likewise wears a kalpak, but with this difference, that his banderoll is white instead of red. The ordinary circumference of these kalpaks, but only in the principalities, is five feet to five feet and a half. Since the grandeur of the Boyard is invariably measured by the magnitude of his kalpak, it may readily be supposed that it is difficult to set limits to its

size. Its dimensions are often so enormous, that a Boyard, if he be a very great man, is unable to admit a friend to sit by the side of him in his carriage.

Luxury and an absurd love of magnificence are the prevailing foibles of the native Boyards. Their habits are generally of great costliness; some of them have wardrobes worth six or seven thousand pounds, and some even richer ones. If to the wardrobe is added the expense of equipages, jewels, plate, and furniture, some idea may be formed of the extent to which these gentry love finery. The Fanariote Boyards, of course, attempt to rival the natives in magnificence; and as they are miserably poor to begin with, they use every means of getting money advanced, and employ every species of extortion to pay it off.

By the Sublime Porte, the Hospodar is allowed a very limited revenue, arising from a tithe upon sheep, bees, &c. the working of the mines, the customs, &c. which are altogether valued only at 7 or 800l. a year. In a very short time, however, he contrives to amass immense treasuresand the means which he takes are well known. Since 1783, the year in which after the abdication of the Kan, the Crimea became a Russian province, the Sublime Porte, deprived of the resources afforded by this fertile peninsula for the provisions of the capital, has directed its views towards Moldavia and Wallachia, whence it now draws the wheat, the sheep, the butter, cheese, tallow, honey, wax, wood, &c. &c. According to its ordinary manner of proceeding, the Porte frequently sends firmans for the purchase of the articles it requires, and fixes at the same time the quantity wanted, and the maximum of price it chooses to give. This price never rises to a third of the real value of the object bought. The receipt of one of these firmans is always an occasion of joy to the Hospodar. He immediately assembles the Boyards, his faithful tools, and communicates to them with an air of zeal the order of his Highness the Sultan. Suppose that the order requires a hundred thousand measures of corn, and forty thousand sheep; the Boyards deliberate, for, according to the laws, it is necessary that

they should declare whether the tcharans, that is, the cultivators of the land, are capable of complying with the order. The Boyards are so interested in making a decision in the affirmative, that they invariably declare without investigation that the country is in a situation to furnish the demands. After this, his Serene Highness enters his cabinet, and makes himself the partition of the impost. The partition, as one may suppose, is never founded literally upon the order of the firman. As the price accorded to the inhabitants represents only a third part of the value of the article furnished, the Prince, like a good speculator, quintuples the quantity demanded, and in place of a hundred thousand measures of wheat imposes five hundred thousand, which are collected by the governors of the provinces with admirable promptitude; the surplus he quickly converts into money for his own use. Should the Porte wish to construct a fortress, or to repair any of those that already exist on the confines of the empire; it demands, by its agents, of the inhabitants of the country ten thousand workmen (for instance), and a certain number of carts and waggons. It fixes the price of labour in one case, and of hire in the other. The Hospodar arranges with the contractor named by the Porte, and fifteen hundred workmen only are employed, whilst the country is charged with the whole expense of the ten thousand artizans enacted by the firman. The same collusion is practised as regards the carts, and in every other matter demanded by the Divan. The Hospodar employs an immense number of other means to augment his income, of which it may be useful to give one more example. The wines of Moldavia and Wallachia are of a very light kind, and apt to turn sour. The proprietors of the vineyards export the surplus wine, and import a quantity of eau-de-vie, known under the name of rack in Transylvania, whence it is derived, and of Hulirka in Moldavia, which corrects the acidity of their own meagre beverage. An immense consumption of this spirit takes place in Moldavia and Wallachia, which is a very great favourite with the inhabitants, and is exceedingly cheap. Occasionally the Prince

imposes a very heavy duty on this liquor, having an understanding with certain speculators, who have previously laid in a large stock, and take advantage of the impost to run up the price. The prohibition of the article brings on smuggling; an active preventive service is set on foot, and considerable confiscations are always accruing to the Prince. He, however, not content with the duty, the high price he shares, and the forfeited goods, actually smuggles himself to a large amount. In time however the supply, from the action of different causes together with the preventive service, fails, and a scarcity is universally complained of. Petitions are presented to the Prince for the repeal of the duty, and the finishing stroke is put to all this villanous rapacity and extortion by his selling the repeal to the petitioners for a sum of money. Another resource, of which the fiscal genius of the Hospodar avails himself, is that of diminishing the nominal value of the foreign money immediately before the time at which the duties are paid, and doing precisely the converse when the payments are to be made. The money of the Grand Seigneur is the only coin with which he dares not take these liberties, but it is exceedingly rare in the provinces. It would be tiresome even to allude to the ten thousand other modes which these Princes have invented, of fleecing the unfortunate multitudes who are placed at their disposal.

The wife of the Hospodar has revenues independent of her husband, and assists him, on her own account, in grinding the wretched slaves of his dominions. She is entitled to a capitation tax on the Bohemians, or Tzingans or gypsies of the country, who amount to thirty or forty thousand. They are considered as her property, and she has the right to sell any of them where and when it pleases her. Between the Princess and the wives of the native Boyards a perpetual contest in luxury and magnificence is maintained. Should it, however, unfortunately happen that the spouse of the Hospodar is clearly outdone, the successful rival falls under her high displeasure, and is immediately banished the court. The sexile, however, only endures for a short time, until the Princess has

succeeded in getting from Vienna or Holland some costly decoration, or set of ornaments, which she thinks must secure the superiority to herself. At that moment the imprudent rivals are recalled to court, and put to shame by the exhibition of the newly purchased splendours.

It is the invariable practice with the Turkish government, that each high functionary who resides out of Constantinople leaves an accredited agent near the Divan, with whom the ministers of the Sultan alone communicate. He receives the orders and sends them to his patron, and from him receives and forwards his dispatches, and to him they look for the satisfaction of any questions they may put to him with respect to the conduct of his principal. It has been already mentioned, that the agent or representative whom the Hospodar leaves is named the Bâche-Capi-Kiahaya. The choice of this delegate is one of the greatest importance, for the destiny of the patron may be said to be in his hands. The Hospodar usually chooses him from amongst his nearest relations. He is surrounded by a numerous suite in the pay of the Hospodar, and he himself touches considerable emoluments. Not content however with any degree of precaution which he has used in the choice of this representative, the Prince usually appoints a secret spy upon the conduct of the Bâche-CapiKiahaya: for, among these people, when intrigue and perfidy are the order of the day, there is no point of confidence above the reach of suspicion.

The office of the Bâche-Capi-Kiahaya is one of incessant vigilance, activity, and intrigue. It is his bu siness to execute the orders of his Prince, and to transmit those of the Divan-to distribute, with all possible prudence, the presents due to the powerful members of the govern ment-to study their character, and to dispose them to the interests of his master. On the other hand, he has to counteract the intrigues of those deposed Hospodars who have not fallen under the sabre of the Capidgi-Bachi, and those of the new aspirants to the Hospodariat-the ambitious Fanariotes, who pick up and invent all kinds of calumnies against the Fanariote already in possession. The news of the