in reliquis, quæ in Philalethe continentur, non erit operæ pretium impræsentiarum commorari, cum ipsius propria non sint, sed ex aliorum scriptis, iisdem non tantum sententiis, sed verbis etiam, atque syllabis, nimis impudenter sublecta." Eusebius igitur ea tantum in libris Hieroclis refutare aggressus est, quæ de Apollonio scripserat, reliqua vero intacta prætermisit, uti jampridem ab Origine in libris adversus Celsum refutata, aut a seipso in iis quæ contra Porphyrium meditabatur, propediem refellenda. Nullo igitur modo concedendum est Illust. Cardinali Baronio," Eusebium omnes impudentis hominis conatus temerarios hoc Commentario infregisse," cum minimam eorum partem attigisse se fateatur. Et omnino notandum est Eusebii librum contra Hieroclem, pessime a Florentino Interprete versum, nec ut videtur hactenus satis intellectum, vix attigisse ea quæ ab Hierocle sunt profecta, neque comparationi Apollonii cum Christo inhærere ; *imo vero ab eo argumento prorsus abstinuisse, et Philostrati libros octo de Vita Apollonii tantum percurrere, et quicquid ei, tanquam Philosopho, tribuitur libenter concedere, quicquid ad eum supra mortalium sortem evehendum comparatum est, excutere, elevare, convellere. Ceterum Hieroclem illum, de quo hæc diximus, tum ingenii acumine, tum ardore animi, cupidineque persequendi Christianos Diocletiano adeo placuisse probabile est, ut ex Judice Nicomediensi Præfectus Alexandriæ factus esse videatur. Certe Epiphanius de ejusdem temporis inaudita sævitia agens, hæc 68. sive Meletianorum Hæresi habet. Κουληϊανὸς μὲν ἦν ἔπαρχος τῆς Θηβαΐδος, ̓Αλεξανδρείας δὲ Ἱεροκλής, "Præerat tum Thebaidi Culeianus, Alexandriæ vero Hierocles." Unde haud difficulter tandem adduci me patiar, ut cum Vossio credam hunc hostem Religionis nostræ Hyllarimensem Hieroclem fuisse. Sed ea lege, ut illa Stephani verba aliter mihi liceat interpretari, non ut ex Poeta, cum Simlero, [Immo, mens Stephani est, Hierocles ex athleta philosophus evasit. Toup. ad Suid. P. III. 106.-v. ii. 135. ed. Oxon.] neque ex Athleta, cum Vossio, sed ex Persecutore factus sit Philosophus : ἀπὸ ἀθλήσεων ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἀχθεὶς, * inquit Stephanus, aut forte Hermolaus : « autem et ¿bańcus creberrime dicuntur certamina illa, quæ Christiani cum Ethnicis inierunt, persecutionesque quas perpessi sunt. Unicum Eusebium nominabo hujus ipsius temporis calamitates persequentem. Τί χρὴ πολλὰ λέγειν, καὶ καινοτέρας ἐπὶ καινοτέραις τῶν ἀνὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην θεοπρεπῶν μαρτύρων' ἀθλήσεις παρατίθεσθαι ; Quidni igitur Hierocles, ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ἀθλήσεων, σε ab hac ipsa perse 2 1 Huic Eusebii testimonio succinit Photius column. 300. Edit. Rothomag. Μάρτυς δὲ καὶ ὁ Πιέριος ἅμα τῷ ἀδελφῷ Ἰσιδώρῳ τῶν ἀθλητικῶν ἀξιωθέντες στεφάνων, Nec aliter in Geoponicis p. 9. edit. Cantab. Οἱ τεσσαράκοντα Μάρτυρες, τοῖς Παγανοῖς παραδοθέντες, ἤθλησαν. Needham. 2 Hæc verborum Stephani interpretatio, quæ durior sane et longe petita videtur, Dacerio nequaquam arridet, qui in vita Hieroclis judicium Pearsonianum his verbis perstringit. "Ce sçavant Anglois ne s'est pas appercu qu'à peut bien etre dit en ce sens, par rapport à ceux qui souffrent, et nullement par rapport à ceux qui font souffrir: car c'est le Martyr qui combat, et le Juge ne combat point." Idem. cutione," tribunal reliquerit, præfecturam exuerit, præsertim Constantino Magno non tantum lethales illas flammas extinguente, sed veritatis lucem admittente? Quidni ad vitam philosophicam, et studia literarum, quibus etiam antea operam non vulgarem dedisse videtur, insperata rerum mutatione perculsus, se contulerit? Quæ si cui satis verisimilia videantur, huic certe non difficulter persuasero, eundem fuisse et Judicem et Philosophum nostrum ; qui Epiphanio ἔπαρχος ̓Αλεξανδρείας, Suidæ φιλόσοφος ̓Αλεξανδρεύς. Atque hac de libris duobus quos Judex scripsit, et λ nominavit: Reliqua vero, quæ jam Philosophiam professus edidit, recenseamus. [Reliqua continebil partic. seq.] THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, FRUITS, &c. USED BY THE TURKISH LADIES IN THE HAREMS. BY M. HAMMER. FEW Ew of our readers, we believe, are ignorant, that there exists a certain mysterious language of love and gallantry, which expresses - by means of flowers the most delicate and tender sentiments. All the information which we have hitherto acquired on this subject, chiefly derived from Romances, or Books of Travels much resembling Romances, seemed so vague and imperfect, that we resolved to rectify it by examining its very source. The celebrity which this language has obtained in Europe, is due to Lady Wortley Montague-other travellers had mentioned it, before her, and their accounts of it had excited the curiosity of her correspondent, who requested on this subject the information communicated by her ladyship in the fortieth letter. Nothing can be more true than the general groundwork of her letter, and the sixteen phrases, which compose the amorous epistle, are translated with sufficient accuracy. Let us then examine this language of the Turkish HAREMS, and endeavour to appreciate its real merit and its claim to celebrity. We know nothing that resembles it among the other Oriental nations, from Persia to China, or from Tartary to India. The Persians have in their poetry personified the Rose, to make it the Nightingale's mistress; and the enamored bird, on the approach of spring, relates his tale of love to the blushing flower. Among the Indians, flowers are consecrated to the Divinity, and form the attributes of various Gods; but neither the Persians nor the Indians have ever employed these flowers in the composition of a language, although they are so frequently mentioned in the Erotic poems of the former, and the religious hymns of the latter, and although the glowing imagination of the Arabians often personifies them, and supposes flowers to converse with each other in regular dialogues. It is then in Turkey alone, and even there only in the Harems, that we find this mysterious language, which is equally limited in copiousness, as in the sphere where it is used. A little reflection will suffice to show that such an idiom can never be brought to that degree of perfection which Lady Wortley Montague describes, that it must always continue a mystery, and of course that it can never be a sure medium of correspondence between the harems and those without their precincts. A language understood by all the world, could not, by any means, answer the purposes of two lovers, whose lives would be forfeited on the slightest discovery of a mutual understanding. So extremely difficult it is for common mortals to hold any communication with the interior of harems guarded by eunuchs, that we may class among Eastern Tales all the successful adventures of this kind related by vain-boasting travellers. But let us suppose that, by an extraordinary combination of good fortune and discretion, a lover should find means of corresponding, in spite of walls and eunuchs, with the lady of his affections, would he employ a visible language, the secret of which is not only in the porter's hands, but known to all the eunuchs, and all the fair rivals who might see the nosegay?-or, if this language was not generally understood, how could the lover imagine that his mistress, lately arrived perhaps from the frontiers of Circassia, or of Abyssinia, should comprehend his meaning? It appears, then, that this language of Flowers does not constitute, as we have generally believed in Europe, a love-cypher for billet-doux between men and women who wish to carry on a secret correspondence, nor do the females of the harems use it, whenever they risque their lives by forbidden communications. It is almost entirely unknown to men, both to those most devoted to the fair sex, and in other respects of highly cultivated understandVOL. IX. Cl. J. NO. XVII. ings, and those whom a depraved taste renders insensible to the charms of female beauty.' This language, however, does exist in a certain degree, and in the harems among the women themselves. It has been invented by them in the leisure hours of their solitary life, and they use it either as a mere amusement, or as a cypher to express the violent affec tions which they frequently entertain for one another. Separated from the world, reserved for the pleasures of a single man, vege tating in the most profound idleness, and tormented with desires which a burning clinate and a warm constitution inspire, they have given to objects constantly before their eyes, flowers, fruits, perfumes, and trinkets, significations and meanings, as we have done to simple colors, and by these they are enabled to convey declarations of attachment as glowing and impassioned as that which Sappho expressed for her fair friend to whom she inscribed that inimitable ode, "Blest as th' immortal gods is he The youth who fondly sits by thee," &c. It was necessary, therefore, to apply for information on the sub ject of this language to females-and from the Greek and Armenian women, who have access to the harems, we obtained what is now communicated to our readers. That we may comprehend the genius of this language, we must enter into some details on the idea which forms its principle, and illustrate them by examples. The few, which Lady Wortley Montague has quoted, are not sufficient to give a clear and precise notion of its system. The genius of it does not consist, as one might naturally suppose, in seizing the relations which a fanciful imagination may find between flowers, and fruits, and the thoughts or sentiments which it is their object to express. The idea of such perfection never entered the romantic heads of those fair triflers who invented this language. They contented themselves with employing certain words which rhyme to the names of different fruits and flowers; and the rhyme being once chosen and determined, they have arranged, in their own manner, the whole proposition, ending with the rhyme given, so that this language is not composed of simple words or phrases, but of entire propositions, of which a flower or a fruit recalls the sense by the word which chimes with the name-thus, for exam A well-informed Turk at Constantinople, from whom the author of this memoir requested some information on the Flower Language, was extremely offended, and replied with indignation, that he was not a woman's slave. ple, seeing the pear (armoude) they take no trouble in seeking any relation between this fruit and any idea or sentiment whatsoever, but they have chosen, among many words which rhyme to it, Omoude, signifying " Hope;" and then filling up the whole phrase, they say "Armoude, Ver bana bir omoude, or Pear, give me hope," and this becomes a received and established sentence in the language. The Turkish tongue abounds in rhymes, and furnishes many for all the names of flowers, or of any other object which may be chosen; but all rhymes are not admitted into the Flower Language, only one or two at most, and it is a knowledge of these rhymes, and of the propositions adapted to them, which constitutes an acquaintance with it. The images which it presents, as well as the rhyme, render this language poetical; and it is hieroglyphical, by the signs which it uses to express not only simple ideas, but a whole series of passionate sentiments. The Dictionary of it cannot be voluminous: in fact we do not know that any exists, although during a residence of several years at Constantinople, we made every necessary inquiry. The whole treasury of this language does not much exceed a hundred signs and received phrases, and we present some of them to our fair readers as we learned them from the Greek and Armenian women who had frequent opportunities of visiting the interior of the Harems. Specimen of a Dictionary of the Language of Flowers, Fruits, &c. &c. ابرشیم Ibrishim, Allaha kaldi ishim. Organsin, I have resigned my destiny to God. Ezhderha kani, Janimun jani. Aktchè, gorursem seni jureghim oldi baghchè. Silver, The sight of thee changes my heart into a florishing garden. |