her of the dwarfs
children.

The procession grows more brilliant as it advances, and the profound
inclination made by the soldiers at the further end of the court,
announces the approach of the Sultan himself. First come three led horses,
of the noblest Arabian blood--glorious creatures, worthy to represent

"The horse that guide the golden eye of heaven,
And snort the morning from their nostrils,
Making their fiery gait above the glades."

Their eyes were more keen and lustrous than the diamonds which studded
their head-stalls, and the wealth of emeralds, rubies, and sapphires that
gleamed on their trappings would have bought the possessions of a German
Prince. After them came the Sultan's body-guard, a company of tall, strong
men, in crimson tunics and white trousers, with lofty plumes of peacock
feathers in their hats. Some of them carried crests of green feathers,
fastened upon long staves. These superb horses and showy guards are the
only relics of that barbaric pomp which characterized all State
processions during the time of the Janissaries. In the centre of a hollow
square of plume-bearing guards rode Abdul-Medjid himself, on a snow-white
steed. Every one bowed profoundly as he passed along, but he neither
looked to the right or left, nor made the slightest acknowledgment of the
salutations. Turkish etiquette exacts the most rigid indifference on the
part of the Sovereign, who, on all public occasions, never makes a
greeting. Formerly, before the change of costume, the Sultan's turbans
were carried before him in the processions, and the servants who bore them
inclined them to one side and the other, in answer to the salutations of
the crowd.

Sultan Abdul-Medjid is a man of about thirty, though he looks older. He
has a mild, amiable, weak face, dark eyes, a prominent nose, and short,
dark brown mustaches and beard. His face is thin, and wrinkles are already
making their appearance about the corners of his mouth and eyes. But for a
certain vacancy of expression, he would be called a handsome man. He sits
on his horse with much ease and grace, though there is a slight stoop in
his shoulders. His legs are crooked, owing to which cause he appears
awkward when on his feet, though he wears a long cloak to conceal the
deformity. Sensual indulgence has weakened a constitution not naturally
strong, and increased that mildness which has now become a defect in his
character. He is not stern enough to be just, a