HOW THE SULTAN LOOKS AND LIVES.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2637, 21 June 1877, Page 3

HOW THE SULTAN LOOKS AND LIVES.

The present queen of the harem is new, and- a new love is strong; but it.never retains the Sultan in his harem beyond the hour of his habitual appearance in the imperial study. By 10 o'clock in the morning, clad in a fur-lined anteri, the Sultan takes his place in the- cheerful little room in the right wing of the palace which he has made his own —a little gem in its way, furnished in ebony and green velvet, its only adornment a select library, a number of maps hung on. the walls, the busts of his father and'"uncle, and the portraits of his father and grandfather.' The first person he sends for.- ,in the morning is Said Pasha, Grand Marshal of jthe Palaces, with whom- he,draws out the programme of > his day ; he then calls for the other Said Pasha, his First Secretary, with whose assistance"he carefully examines all the papers sent to him from the Porte. Occasionally, while still in his dressing gown, he receives Ministers on pressing business, otherwise he works at his papers until about noon', when he breakfasts, and shortly after re* appears in* his study - dressed in" the Quaker-cut black frock-coat, called stam? butee. Then commence the" official receptions, generally followed by a second interview with his Grand Marshal, after which he either takes a walk in ihe palace grounds or.a.trip on the Bosphorus in his yacht. He dislikes driving, but oa Sunday he drove over to Stamboul, where I saw him, to inspect the arrangements of the new Chamber of Deputies. He dines shortly after sunset, takes no raki before Ms dinner and no wine with that meal. Once or $wipe a week he invites some members of the Cabinet to spend the evening with him, and talks to them on public affairs ; other evenings are devoted to music. He has a special pianist, an Italian, attached to the palace, and sometimes the palace troupe, performs a pantomime 'for- his ajtfusemcnt. About 11, or earlier, he retires to his harem, which, expressed prosaically, means to go to bed. He is perfectly conscious that his constitution is not robust, and his physicians say that he adheres most faithfully to their advice for the preservation of his health.- No one who saw the Sultan oi^ Sunday examining with interest every detail of the new Chamber, visiting -the Imperial Loge, mounting the Tribune, noticing the silk stuffs which cover the fcppches, and jauntily descending the broad staircase of the Dara-el-fanoum with Said Pasha, could conscientiously conclude that the mens sana was wanting in that slender frame, although the frame is undeniably slender and the expression pf the face anxious and sorrowful.