BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS. 147
PLATE: COFFEE KIOSQUE, ON THE PORT.
A COFFEE-KIOSQUE.
"Tis the resort of public men; the haunt
Of wealthy idlers; and the trysting-place
Of such as have no home to indicate.
A place where each may come and go at will,
Think his own thoughts, pursue his won affairs,
O fling his ore of feeling and of sense
Into the common crucible. MS.
EVEN as the English have their tavern, the French their restaurant, and the Portuguese their estralagem, so have the Turks their Coffee-Kiosque - the rendezvous alike of the idle and the exhausted - of the man of pleasure who lives only for self-indulgence, and the man of business who reluctantly snatches an hour of relaxation from the all-absorbing toils of commerce. What the public baths are to the women of Turkey, the public coffee-houses are to their lords - the head-quarters of gossipry, and news, and enjoyment - where every passing event is canvassed, and weighed, and judged; and time is suffered to slide by as carelessly as though it might one day be redeemed.
In the villages, the Coffee-Kiosques are erected in pleasant shady nooks, where the maples shed a glory and a grace over the hamlet, (for these are never wanting in a village on the Bosphorus;) and where, with the leaves above their heads, canopied by the bright blue sky which peeps in among them as if to lend them an added beauty, and the "ocean-stream" flowing at their feet, the placid and nature-loving Moslems inhale the fragrance of the chibouque, and drain their tiny cups of scented mocha. But in the city, few are the coffee-kiosques which can boast better shadow than that of the deeply projecting roof of the building,which, flung boldly forward several feet from the walls of the house itself, serves to shelter the open terrace that stretches along each side of the edifice; and this terrace, furnished with wide seats, on which the visitor can lounge at ease, forms the nearest approach to out-of-door enjoyment compatible with their situation.
The Coffee-Kiosque chosen by the artist for his sketch, is that of Pieri Pasha, near the Arsenal, and overlooking the harbour - a position eminently calculated to render it popular. The moving panorama which it commands, is a perpetual source of interest; and the breeze comes softly from the sea of Marmora, with freshness and perfume on its wing.