In page 416, of the “Present State of Turkey,” Mr. Thornton says, “The Boyars of the most ancient families, indeed, assert that they are the descendants of the Slavi, and are of a distinct race from the people who have sprung from the alliances of the Romans with the original Dacians; but the chief distinction among the nobles is their wealth and possessions. The great majority of the Wallachian and Moldavian nobility owe their creation to the Sultan’s Voïvodes; for even these ephemeral beings, these fleeting shadows of royalty, are presumed to confer by their breath a permanency of dignity,” &c. I perfectly agree with Mr. Thornton as to the latter part of this observation; but at the same time I must beg leave to say, that although I am well acquainted with all the Boyars who are considered to belong to the most ancient families, I never could discover that their claims to antiquity went beyond the period of Raddo Negro’s and Bogdan’s establishment; nor indeed are there many sufficiently conversant with the history of their country, or with any other, to know that the Slaves ever came into it, or even that a nation of that name ever existed. Those who call themselves the oldest families merely date their origin from Voïvodes, who have reigned within the last five hundred years; and upon such origin alone they form their claims to ancient nobility. Footnote 21: £360,000. sterling. Footnote 22: The same who was Captain Pashah at Constantinople in 1810–11, and distinguished himself in that station by so many acts of cruelty. Footnote 23: In 1811, mineralogists were sent from St. Petersburgh to explore the Carpathian mines. They discovered some large veins of gold, silver, and quicksilver: time, however, was requisite to put the work into proper train; and when it offered the best prospect of success, peace was concluded, the Russian authorities withdrew, and the mines were filled up again, to remain in their former state. Footnote 24: A killow (Constantinople measurement) is equal to an English bushel. Footnote 25: One oke is equal to 2⅘ lbs. English. Footnote 26: The kintal weighs 44 okes. Footnote 27: 40 paras make a piaster. Footnote 28: The Fannar is a district of Constantinople, where all the Greeks who enter the career of the principalities reside. They are thus distinguished from the other Greeks of the capital. Footnote 29: See Appendix, No. 2. Footnote 30: Thornton’s Present State of Turkey, p. 434. Footnote 31: A declaration of war of the Sultan must receive the sanction of the Mufti, as chief of the religion, who makes his approbation known by a manifesto called _Fetvaa_. Footnote 32: He was first interpreter to the embassy; he has since the peace entered the Russian service, and is now attached to the Emperor’s embassy at Constantinople in the same capacity. Footnote 33: