hrows into the shade the minarets of the
mosques, graceful even in decay. Many of the bazar shops have been
fronted and glazed; the Oriental dress has become much rarer; and
houses, several stories high, in the German fashion, are springing up
every where." The Turkish governor was at this time Hafiz Pasha, the
unsuccessful commander at Nezib, lately appointed in the room of Kiamil,
who had been displaced at the mandate of Russia for the share he had
taken in the first election of Prince Alexander; but his jurisdiction is
now confined to the fortress and the Turkish quarter, which lies along
the Danube; the remainder of the town, lying piled street upon street up
the steep bank of the Save, being under the Servian authorities. During
his stay, Mr Paton paid frequent visits to the Pasha, whom he generally
found in an audience room overlooking the precipitous descent to the
Danube, "studying _at_ the maps: he seemed to think that nothing would
be so useful to Turkey as good roads, made to run from the principal
ports of Asia Minor, up to the depots of the interior, so as to connect
Sivas, Tokat, Angora, Koniah, Kaiserieh, &c., with Samsoon, Tersoos, and
other ports." The ramparts of the fortress are said to be in good
condition, though "very unlike the magnificent towers it the last scene
of the _Siege of Belgrade_ at Drury-Lane,"--a piece of useful
information for play-going Cockneys--and the _Lange Gasse_, or main
street, with the palace of Prince Eugene, built during the Austrian
occupation of Servia from 1717 to 1789, is still standing, though half
choked up with bazar shops and Turkish houses. The Prince holds no
formal levees; but Mr Paton was present at a dinner given to the _corps
diplomatique_ in the palace, and was received in a saloon "with inlaid
and polished parquet; the chairs and sofas covered with crimson and
white satin damask, which is an unusual luxury in these regions; the
roof admirably painted in subdued colours, in the best Vienna style.
High white porcelain urn-like stoves heated the suite of rooms. The
Prince, a muscular, middle-sized, dark-complexioned man, with a serious
composed air, wore a plain blue military uniform;[2] the Princess, and
her _dames de compagnie_, wore the graceful native Servian costume; the
Pasha the Nizam dress, and the _Nishan Iftihar_, (diamond decoration of
his rank;) Baron Lieven, the Russian Commissioner, in the uniform of a
general, glittered with innumerable orders;[3]