ucted the horses; and thus it was with the interchange of such
pleasantries, and followed by his good wishes, that we started.

"Bravo," said K----; "we start with a row, we shall be all right
presently."

And now stoop well your head and keep your eyes open as you turn the
corner into the Armenian quarter. These houses that make such beautiful
streets, are ticklish things to ride by. They all project forward,
having the upper story supported by a kind of flying buttress. These are
at no great height from the ground, so that an unbending horseman
passing under, would infallibly knock his head against the corner of one
of their first floors. But chiefly on donkeys is this risk
noticeable--the stubborn brutes which it is much the fashion to ride,
and whom none but the drivers can guide. On entering Smyrna by
night--those dull streets where gas is not--your only plan is to keep
well in the middle of the street, right in the hollow. It is a beautiful
quarter of the town; in itself picturesque and variegated in colour, and
beset with the fairest embellishments. Look up at that lattice for a
moment only, and then prick your way again. Did you see those lustrous
eyes and graceful head-dress? The sun is now high, and these stars
twinkle but from lattices. Pass this way at even, and you shall see them
congregated in brilliancy. They are not of the retiring nature that
shuns observation. They sit congregated round every door wooing the
breeze. Supper is spread in the spacious halls, beyond which the open
doors give to view a perspective of garden. Nay, you may stop and
stare--the men are occupied with their pipes, and the women are not
offended at admiration.

Right interesting are these Armenians, of whom the men have all the
riches, and the women all the beauty (at least unveiled and cognisable)
of Turkey. They have lost all trace of the active spirit that in an age
of iron kept them busy in the _melee_ of nations. Their gravest senior
would stare unintelligent were you to speak to him of Tiridates, or the
Romans: and with their thoughts of Persia no ideas of tyranny are mixed;
no stirring of the ancient spirit that kept them faithful in an ocean of
foes, and rendered their land a continued battle-field. They give no
signs of intelligence if you challenge them on the subject of Eutychus,
by whose arch heresy they suffered severance from Catholicity, and in
whose dogmas they live. They are a quiet, matter-of-fact, business-lik