Modern History Sourcebook:
William MacMichael:
The Court at Bucharest, 1819
The inhabitants of Bucharest are as much addicted to the vice of gambling, and the love
of dissipation in general, as those of the capital of Moldavia. There was, however, no
theatre open, and their chief public amusement consisted in the jolting promenade along
the streets, similar to that described at Jassy. But as we were here during the carnival,
there were public balls two or three times a week at one of the principal inns, and we
were present one evening at a sort of theatrical exhibition resembling the feats of
horsemanship at Astley's; the entertainment, which was given by some itinerant Germans, in
a public building called "The Club," began with a dance executed on stilts, and
concluded with a ludicrous scene in imitation of our popular farce of the "Tailor
riding to Brentford." The dialogue was in German, a language much spoken here; and it
gave a laughable air of dignity to the representation, to listen to the calpaked courtiers
of the Hospodar, translating into modern Greek parts of the ridiculous conversation of the
players. When, for instance, the inexperienced rider asks the innkeeper in the farce, if
he has any steady horse he can recommend to him, the Wallachian gentry thought it a very
good joke to surround the officer of the Prince, who is at the head of the department of
the post at Buchorest, and tease him with the question, "Have you good horses."
Many of the tricks of the performers were of the coarsest description; but the Princess
and her daughters who were present at the entertainment, seated on sofas at the upper end
of the room, and dressed with a profusion of jewels, seemed highly delighted, and laughed
immoderately at jests, not much distinguished by good breeding.
As a proof of the state of morals in the capital, the son of the Hospodar (dressed like
a Turk, and wearing a turban, in which he would not have dared to be seen at
Constantinople) entered the club, where sat his mother and sisters, having on his arm his
mistress, a beautiful Wallachian lady, who had lately deserted her husband and six
children; there appeared to be nothing extraordinary, or that was considered indelicate,
in his conduct. The Prince himself was not at the club, but most of the officers of his
court, and many of the principal nobles of Wallachia were assembled in the room; they were
uniformly dressed in huge kalpaks, with long flowing robes, and many were smoking Turkish
pipes; in short, every thing was Eastern in the appearance of the men, though in the
costume of the ladies, who were sitting cross-legged on sofas, there was an evident
admixture of French and Oriental attire; their coiffures were richly ornamented with
jewels, and they wore French silk dresses, probably miade at Vienna, together with the
Greek zone and Turkish slippers. Under the jealous eye of the suspicious government of
Turkey, the article of dress is a matter of no small importance; and the use of the
costume of civilized Europe would be considered as dangerous an innovation, as the
adoption of the most enlightened views of modern policy.
During the occupation of the country by the Russians, the boyars eagerly laid aside
this loose attire, and wore the French dress; but on their return to Turkish authority,
they were obliged to resume the robe and the kalplak. It was with reluctance they saw
themselves revert to their former masters; and, it is said, they envy the lot of the
inhabitants of that part of Moldavia, who are so happy as to enjoy the protection of the
autocrat of all the Russias. When the imperial head-quarters were at Bucharest, the army
spent considerable sums of money in the town, a circumstance which makes the inhabitants
regret still more their absence. It would seem, therefore, that the lapse of a century has
made a great change in the political feelings of the natives of these countries, as may be
inferred from their conduct in 1711, at the most critical period of the war carried on by
Peter the Great against the Turks. Cantemir, the Prince of Moldavia, who, in addition to
his boasted descent from the great Tamerlane, was distinguished by talents worthy of the
ancient Greeks, possessing alike a knowledge of letters and arms, had thrown off his
allegiance to the Porte and joined the army of the Czar, which was encamped on the north
bank of the Pruth. The tents of the Grand Vizier were on the opposite side of the river;
and the fate of the campaign might depend, in a great measure, on the decision of the
people, in the centre of whose territory the hostile troops were assembled. But neither
the example, nor the entreaties, of the accomplished Prince of Moldavia were able to shake
the former attachment of his subjects; and they, as well as their neighbours, the
inhabitants of Wallachia, espoused the party of the Grand Vizier, and abundantly supplied
the Turkish camp with provisions. "Tant," says Voltaire, "l'ancienne idée
de la barbarie Muscovite avoit aliéné tous "les esprits." . . .
Source:
From: William MacMichael, A Journey From Moscow to Constantinople, (London: John
Murray, 1819), pp. 117-119, reprinted in Alfred J. Bannan & Achilles Edelenyi, eds., Documentary History of Eastern Europe, (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1970), pp.
120-122.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
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