d Circassian young women, seated under the
shade or playing with their children, some of the most
ravishing beauty, form a scene of variety and interest probably
unique in the world." (III. 331-332.)

These are the details of the piece: here is the general impression:--

"One evening, by the light of a splendid moon, which was
reflected from the sea of Marmora, and the violet summits of
Mount Olympus, I sat alone under the cypresses of the 'Ladders
of the Dead;' those cypresses which overshadow innumerable
tombs of Mussulmans, and descend from the heights of Pera to
the shores of the sea. No one ever passes at that hour: you
would suppose yourself an hundred miles from the capital, if a
confused hum, wafted by the wind, was not occasionally heard,
which speedily died away among the branches of the cypress.
These sounds weakened by distance; the songs of the sailors in
the vessels; the stroke of the oars in the water; the drums of
the military bands in the barracks; the songs of the women who
lulled their children to sleep; the cries of the muetzlim, who,
from the summits of the minarets, called the faithful to
evening prayers; the evening gun which boomed across the
Bosphorus, the signal of repose to the fleet--all these sounds
combined to form one confused murmur, which strangely
contrasted with the perfect silence around me, and produced the
deepest impression. The seraglio, with its vast peninsula, dark
with plane-trees and cypresses, stood forth like a promontory
of forests between the two seas which slept beneath my eyes.
The moon shone on the numerous kiosks; and the old walls of the
palace of Amurath stood forth like huge rocks from the obscure
gloom of the plane-trees. Before me was the scene, in my mind
was the recollection, of all the glorious and sinister events
which had there taken place. The impression was the strongest,
the most overwhelming, which a sensitive mind could receive.
All was there mingled--man and God, society and nature, mental
agitation, the melancholy repose of thought. I know not whether
I participated in the great movement of associated beings who
enjoy or suffer in that mighty assemblage, or in that nocturnal
slumber of the elements, which murmured thus, and raised the
mind above the cares of cities and empi