REINE CANZIANI. CHAPTER I. "For she was timid as the wintry flower,' TRAVELLERS who have visited Constantinople, have frequently described to us the manner in which the various religious festivals are celebrated in that capital and its environs. The Turks, notwithstanding the bigotry of their own exclusive creed, do not disdain, on these occasions, to mingle in the rejoicings of their fellow-citizens of the christian persuasion; and the valley of Sweet Waters, and the picturesque villages on the Bosphorus, Belgrade, Therapia, and Buyukderè, thronged with persons differing in nation, in faith, and in costume, present to the eye a motley and highly interesting spectacle. Groups of Turkish, Grecian, and Armenian females loiter about the walks, or seat themselves in their showy and elegant tents; their raven tresses, redundant in beauty, escaping from the confinement of the graceful turban; their veils partly removed, displaying the pure white and rich carnation of their complexions, heightened by the brilliant glow of the tent's crimson drapery. There, voluptuously reclining on their costly carpets and cushions, sipping sherbets, and partaking of a profusionof fruits and ices, they behold, with an eye of complacent gratification, their children and their slaves, who dance before them to the sound of the Grecian lyre. The superb dresses of the Turkish officers, both civil and military, their beautiful horses magnificently caparisoned, harmonize well with the bold yet rich outline of oriental scenery; and the clearness of the atmosphere gives to the hues, both of earth and heaven, a splendor of colouring of which the resident of colder climates can form no adequate idea. It was on a lovely evening in spring, the close of one of the festivals of the Greek church, that the family of George Canziani, a wealthy merchant of Belgrade, quitted their dwelling to enjoy the cool breezes which blow fresh from the Black Sea; they bent their steps towards those verdant meadows of Belgrade, encircled with forests, and intersected with streams of the purest water. It is there that the gay groups assemble; and the youths, panting to obtain the approving glance of a favourite mistress, engage in the doubtful wrestling-match, and emulate, though at an humble distance, the glory of the renowned athletæ. Canziani regarded the youthful antagonists with a smile of unfeigned pleasure, entering fully into the spirit of the exercise, forgetful that his own limbs had now lost their suppleness, and his frame that vigour, which had in the spring of life won the laurel from many a skilful rival, and entitled him to a still dearer reward, a rose from the chaplet of his blushing Eudora. Years had rolled on since those days of their youth; time had given a manly sedateness to his figure, and time had also matured the charms of Eudora, and the once graceful and sylph-like girl might now be classed amongst the most dignified of Grecian matrons. If her features had lost the vivacity of youth, they had acquired a noble serenity; the tender expression of the madonna had succeeded the lively blush and wandering glance of girlish beauty. She cast on her husband a look of unutterable love, as she sat by his side in the shade of a spreading mulberry-tree; and, gently pressing his hand in hers, she poured forth the innocent joy of her heart. And wert thou less gratified, thou all-perfect and beneficent Creator, thou, whose benignant eye we are taught to believe, looks down on thy vast family of the whole human race, rejoicing in the happiness of the most insignificant! Were the grateful overflowings of these full hearts, blessing thee in every word and action for the good thou hadst bestowed on them: was the face of animated nature, thus smiling on thee, less |