Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1808 edition. Excerpt: ... observation lxix. jeunuchs attendant on the Great. The possession of black eunuchs is not very common in the Levant, and they are hardly any where to be found except in the palaces of the sovereign, or of the branches of the royal family. In some points, in this in particular, the ancient Jewish kings carried their magnificence as high as.the modern princes of Asia: for we find Ebed-melech, who appears to have been a black eunuch," served in the court of Zcdekiah/ the last of the kings of Judah, preceding the captivity of that people in Babylon. The similarity of taste in being attended by eunuchs, in setting a peculiar estimation on those of a black complexion, and the supposed magnificence of having such attendants, is ra ther remarkable. When the Baron de Tott's wife and motherin-law were admitted to make a visit to Asma Sultana, daughter of the emperor Achmet, and sister of the then reigning prince, he tells us, that at the opening of the third gate of her palace, several black eunuchs presented themselves, who, with each a white staff in his hand, preceded the visitors, leading them to a spacious apartment, called the chamber of strangers. Jep. xiii. 23. Jer. xxxviii. 7, 10, 12. ch. xxxix. 16. At the close of the account of this visit, he informs us, that "these beings are in Turkey only an article of luxury, and scarcely met with, but in the seraglio of the Grand Seignior, and those of the Sultanas. The pride of some grandees has indeed gone so far as to make use of them, but with moderation, and the richest among them have not more than one or two black eunuchs at most The manners of these are always harsh and brutal, and offended nature seems continually to express her anger at the injury she has received."" The very humane...