As we clomb the hill, we passed beside the Imperial kiosk, a delicate little edifice with walls of pale green, and snow-white jalousies; and then, descending a slight acclivity, we found ourselves opposite the magnificent barrack, which forms so fine a feature from the sea. There is probably no country in the world where the barracks are so elegantly built as in Turkey; they have all the appearance of palaces; and that of Scutari being appropriated to the Imperial Guard is the handsomest in the neighbourhood of the capital; being a quadrangle, flanked with square towers, built in three sections, gradually diminishing in size, and crowned by a slight spire. Immediately opposite to the principal gate of the barrack stands the magnificent mosque of Selim III.; but Scutari, among the numerous temples whose slender minarets are relieved by the dark back ground of her funereal cypresses, possesses one of which I must not forget to make mention. Small in size, and not particularly elegant in its appearance, the mosque of the Sultana Validè must not be passed over in silence, built as it was from the proceeds of one of her diamond-sprinkled slippers! I have mentioned that this barrack is occupied by the Imperial Guard: and I never shall forget their appearance, as groups of them passed us on the road. Dirty, slouching, and awkward, many among them without either shirts or stockings, they certainly looked as unlike Household Troops as can well be imagined; and might have traversed three quarters of Europe without being mistaken for soldiers at all, either by their gait or their garb. When on duty, and not examined too closely, they make a fair figure as a body, but on ordinary occasions they are as unmilitary in their appearance and bearing as the rest of the Turkish army; and the majority of them are such mere boys that they induce a feeling of pity rather than fear. On one occasion, when I paid a visit to the Sultan’s sister, while waiting to be admitted, I amused myself by looking attentively at the palace-guard, who had all collected outside the guard-house to see the Franks; including the two sentinels on duty, they amounted to ten individuals; and certainly eight of the number were not more than fourteen years of age; nor do I believe that any of them had washed their faces, or brushed their garments for a week previously. A Pasha, while speaking with me one day of the Turkish army, assured me that it was composed of “excellent materials.”—It may be so; I cannot, nor do I desire, to confute his opinion; but it is certain that, like other raw materials, it will require a great deal of working before it can be rendered serviceable; and that, at present, there are few things more laughable than to see a Turkish regiment at drill or exercise; there is an independence of feeling and action about each individual which is quite _impayable_.