tales, they are prefent at all feftivals, and are the chief ornament of banquets. They place them in a raised orchestra or pulpit, where they fing during the feast, after which they defcend and form dances, which no way refemble ours. They are pantomimes that reprefent the common incidents of life. Love is their usual subject. The fuppleness of thefe dancers bodies is inconceivable, and the flexibility of their features, which take impreffions characteristic of the parts they play at will, aftonishing. The indecency of their attitudes is often exceffive; each look, each gefture fpeaks, and in a manner fo forcible as not poffibly to be misunderstood. They throw afide modefty with their veils. When they begin to dance a long and very light filk robe floats on the ground, negligently girded by a fafh; long black hair, perfumed, and in treffes, defcends over their fhoulders; the shift, transparent as gauze, fcarcely conceals the fkin: as the action proceeds, the various forms and contours the body can affume feem progreffive; the found of the flute, the caftanets, the tambour de bafque, and cymbals, regulate, increase, or flacken their fteps. Words, adapted to fuch like fcenes, inflame them more, till they appear intoxicated, and become frantic bacchantes. Forgetting all referve, they then wholly abandon themselves to the diforder of their fenfes, while an indelicate people, who with nothing fhould be left to the imagination, redouble their applaufe. Thefe Almai are admitted into all harems; they teach the women the new airs, recount amorous tales, and recite poems in their prefence, which are interefting by being pictures of their own manners. They learn them the mysteries of their art, and inftruct them in lafcivious dances. The minds of thefe women are cultivated, their conversation agreeable, they speak their language with purity, and, habitually addicting themselves to poetry, learn the moft winning and fonorous modes of expreffion. Their recital is very graceful; when they fing, nature is their only guide: fome of the airs I have heard from them were gay, and in a light and lively meafure, like fome of ours; but their excellence is most seen in the pathetic. When they rehearse a moal, in the manner of the ancient tragic ballad, by dwelling upon affecting and plaintive tones, Abulfeda has preferved the conclufion of a moal, fung by Ommia over the cavity in which his kinfmen had been thrown after the defeat of Beder. Have I yet not wept enough over the noble fons of the princes of Mecca ? I beheld their broken bones, and, like the turtle in the deep recefs of the foreft, filled the air with my lamentations. Proftrate on earth, unfortunate mothers, mingle your fighs with my tears. And ye, who follow their obfequies, fing dirges, ye wives, interrupted by your groans. What happened to the princes of the people at Beder, the chiefs of tribes ? These defolate plains, these wildernesses, seem to partake my grief. Vie de Mahomet, par Savary, page 83. they they inspire melancholy, which infenfibly augments, till it melts in tears. The very Turks, enemies as they are to the arts, the Turks themselves, pafs whole nights in listening to them. Two people fing together fometimes, but, like their orcheftra, they are always in unifon: accompaniments in mufic are only for enlightened nations; who, while melody charms the ear, wish to have the mind employed by a juft and inventive modulation. Nations, on the contrary, whofe feelings are oftener appealed to than their underftanding, little capable of catching the fleeting beauties of harmony, delight in thofe fimple founds which immediately attack the heart, without calling in the aid of reflection to increase fenfibility. The Ifraelites, to whom Egyptian manners, by long dwelling in Egypt, were become natural, alfo had their Almai. At Jerufalem, as at Cairo, it seems they gave the women leffons. St. Mark relates a fact which proves the power of the Oriental dance over the heart of man *. "And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a fupper to his lords, high captains, and chief eftates of Galilee; "And when the daughter of the faid Herodias came in, and danced, and pleafed Herod, and them that fat with him, the king faid unto the damfel, Afk of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. "And he fware unto her, Whatfoever thou shalt afk of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. "And he went forth, and faid unto her mother, What fhall I ask? and she said, The head of John the Baptift. And he came in ftraightway with hafte unto the king, and afked, faying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptift. "And immediately the king fent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought, and he went. and beheaded him in the prifon." The Almai are prefent at marriage ceremonies, and precede the bride, playing on inftruments. They alfo accompany funerals, at which they fing dirges, utter groans and lamentations, and imitate every mark of grief and despair. Their price is high, and they feldom attend any but wealthy people and great lords. I was lately invited to a fplendid fupper, which a rich Venetian merchant gave the receiver-general of the finances of Egypt. The Almai fung various airs during the banquet, and afterwards the praises of the principal guefts. I was most pleafed by an ingenious allegory, in which Cupid was the fuppofed interlocutor. There was play after fupper, and I perceived handfuls of fequins were occafionally fent to the fingers. This festival brought them fifty guineas at leaft; they are not, however, always fo well paid. The common people have their Almai alfo, who are a fecond order of these women, imitators of the firft; but have neither their elegance, grace, nor knowledge. They are feen every where; the public fquares and walks round Grand *St. Mark, chap, . ver. 21. How different in Egypt, where they are bowed down by the fetters of flavery, condemned to fervitude, and have no influence in public affairs! Their empire is confined within the walls of the harem. There are their graces and charms entombed: the circle of their life extends not beyond their own family and domeftic duties +. Their first care is to educate their children, and a numerous pofterity is their most fervent with; public respect and the love of their husband are annexed to fruitfulness. This is even the prayer of the poor, who earns his bread by the fweat of his brow; and, did not adoption alleviate grief when nature is unkind, a barren woman would be inconher child, whofe infant fmiles, adfolable. The mother daily fuckles ded to frequent pregnancy, recompences all the cares and pains they incurred. Milk diseases, and those maladies which dry up the juices of the youthful wife, who fends her offspring to be nurtured by a ftranger, are here unknown. That mothers fhould fuckle their young is a law as ancient as the world; it is exprefsly commanded by Mahomet. "Let mothers fuckle their children full two years, if the child does not quit the breaft; but she shall be *The Egyptians never mention their wives in converfation; or, if obliged to speak of them, they fay, the mother of fuch a perfon, the mistress of the house, &c. Good manners will not permit the visitor to afk, How does your wife do, Sir? But in imitation of their reserve, it is necessary to say, How does the mother of fuch a perfon do? And this they think an infult unless afked by a kinfman or an intimate friend. This I relate as perfectly characteristic of Eastern jealoufy. †The compiler Pomponius Mela pretends women do the out-door business in Egypt, and men that of the household. Every writer who has been in this country difproves the opinion. permitted permitted to wean it with the confent of her husband *." Ulyffes, in the Elyfian fields, beholds his mother, his tender mother there, who had fed him with her milk, and nurtured him in infancy +. When obliged by circumftances to take a nurse, they do not treat her as a stranger; the becomes one of the family, and paffes her days amidft the children fhe has fuckled, by whom he is cherished and honoured as a fecond mother. Racine, who poffeffed not only genius but all the knowledge neceffary to render genius confpicuous, ftored with the learning of the fineft works of Greece, and well acquainted with Oriental manners, gives Phædra her nurfe as her fole confidante. The wretched queen, infected by a guilty paffion fhe could not conquer, while the fatal fecret oppreffed a heart that durft not unload itself, could not refolve to speak her thoughts to the tender none, till the latter had faid, Cruelle, quand ma foi vous a-t-elle déçue? Songez-vous, qu'en naiffant, mes bras vous ont réçue ! When, cruel queen, by me were you deceiv'd? Did I not first receive you in these arms? The harem is the cradle and school of infancy. The new-born feeble being is not there fwaddled and filleted up in a fwathe, the fource of a thoufand difeafes. Laid naked on a mat, exposed in a vaft chamber to the pure air, he breathes * Coran. + Odyffey, Book XXIII. freely, and with his delicate limbs fprawls at pleasure. The new element in which he is to live is not entered with pain and tears. Daily bathed beneath his mother's eye, he grows apace; free to act, he tries his coming powers, rolls, crawls, rifes, and, fhould he fall, cannot much hurt himself, on the carpet or mat which covers the floor ‡. He is not banifhed his father's houfe when feven years old, and fent to college with the lofs of health and innocence; he does not, 'tis true, acquire much learning; he perhaps can only read and write; but he is healthy, robuft, fears God, refpects old age, has filial piety, and delights in hofpitality; which virtues, continually practifed in his family, remain deeply engraven on his heart. The daughter's education is the fame. Whalebone and busks, which martyr European girls, they know not; they run naked, or only covered with a fhift, till fix years old, and the drefs they afterwards wear confines none of their limbs, but fuffers the body to take its true form, and nothing is more uncommon than rickety children and crooked people. Man rifes in all his majefty, and woman difplays every charm of perfon, in the east. In Georgia and Greece thofe fine marking outlines, thofe admirable forms, which the Creator gave the chief of his works, are beft preferved. Apelles would ftill find models worthy of his pencil there. The care of their children does The rooms are paved with large flag-ftones, washed once a week, and covered in fummer with a reed mat, of artful workmanship, and a carpet in winter. not Subject to the immutable laws by which cuftom governs the Eaft, the women do not affociate with men, not even at table †, where the union of fexes produces mirth, and wit, and makes food more fweet. When the great incline to dine with one of their wives, fhe is informed, prepares the apartment, perfumes it with precious effences, procures the moft delicate viands, and receives her lord with the utmost attention and respect. Among the common people, the women ufually ftand, or it in a corner of the room while the hufband dines, often hold the bafon for him to wash, and ferve him at table. Cuftoms like thefe, which the Europeans rightly call * Pope's Odyffey, Book XV. barbarous, and exclaim against with juftice, appear fo natural here, that they do not fufpect it can be otherwife elsewhere. Such is the power of habit over man: what for ages has been, he supposes a law of na ture. Though thus employed, the Egyptian women have much leisure, which they fpend among their flaves, embroidering fafhes, making veils, tracing defigns to decorate their fofas, and in fpinning." "Labour has its relaxations; pleasure is not banifhed the harem. The nurse recounts the hiftory of paft times with a feeling which her hearers participate; cheerful and paffionate fongs are accompanied by the flaves with the tambour de Sometimes bafque and caftanets. the Almai come, to enliven the fcene with their dances and affecting recitals, and by relating amorous romances; and, at the close of the day, there is a repast, in which exquifite fruits and perfumes are ferved with profufion. Thus do they endeavour to charm away the dulnefs of captivity. Not that they are wholly prifoners; once or twice a week they are permitted to go to the bath, and vifit female relations and friends. To bewail the dead is likewife a duty they are allowed to perform. I have often feen distracted mothers round Grand Cairo, reciting funeral hymns over the tombs they had ftrewed with odoriferous plants." "The Egyptian women receive Sarah, who prepared the dinner for Abraham and his guests, fat not at table, but remained in her tent. I lately dined with an Italian who had married an Egyptian woman, and affumed their manners, having lived here long. His wife and fifter-in-law ftood: in my prefence, and it was with difficulty I prevailed on them to fit at table with us, where they were extremely timid and disconcerted. each |