Venice Strains Out From The Steadfast Land, And In Old
Times Would Send Forth The Chief Of The State To Woo And Wed The
Reluctant Sea; But The Stormy Bride Of The Doge Is The Bowing Slave
Of The Sultan.
She comes to his feet with the treasures of the
world - she bears him from palace to palace - by
Some unfailing
witchcraft she entices the breezes to follow her {5} and fan the
pale cheek of her lord - she lifts his armed navies to the very
gates of his garden - she watches the walls of his serai - she
stifles the intrigues of his ministers - she quiets the scandals of
his courts - she extinguishes his rivals, and hushes his naughty
wives all one by one. So vast are the wonders of the deep!
All the while that I stayed at Constantinople the plague was
prevailing, but not with any degree of violence. Its presence,
however, lent a mysterious and exciting, though not very pleasant,
interest to my first knowledge of a great Oriental city; it gave
tone and colour to all I saw, and all I felt - a tone and a colour
sombre enough, but true, and well befitting the dreary monuments of
past power and splendour. With all that is most truly Oriental in
its character the plague is associated; it dwells with the faithful
in the holiest quarters of their city. The coats and the hats of
Pera are held to be nearly as innocent of infection as they are
ugly in shape and fashion; but the rich furs and the costly shawls,
the broidered slippers and the gold-laden saddle-cloths, the
fragrance of burning aloes and the rich aroma of patchouli - these
are the signs that mark the familiar home of plague.
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