In the distance, a wreath of lamps defined the outline of the Military College; while lower in the valley gleamed out the costly chandeliers which lit up the tents of the Pashas. The hills were sprinkled over with lights; the terrace at the extremity of the palace was a wall of fire; and the scene was all life and gladness. Crowds thronged the narrow road; but not a sound of discord, not a word uttered in menace or in defiance, escaped from the lips of a single individual; all were tranquil, orderly, and well conducted; the sole aim of each was amusement; and this great eastern mob, amounting to between forty and fifty thousand persons, collected together from all the surrounding country, from the heart of a great city, and from the shores of two different quarters of the earth, appeared to act from one common impulse, and to have one common interest. It is questionable whether such a fact as this could be recorded of any other country. CHAPTER XXVI. Repetition—The Esplanade—The Kiosk and the Pavilion—A Short Cut—Dense Crowd—A Friend at Court—Curious _Coup d’Œil_—The Arena—The Orchestra—First Act of the Comedy—Disgusting Exhibition—The Birth of the Ballet—Dancing Boys—Second Act of the Drama—Insult to the Turkish Women—The Provost Marshal—Yusuf Pasha, the Traitor—Clemency of the Sultan—Forbearance of an Oriental Mob—Renewal of the Ballet—Last Act of the Drama—Theatrical Decorations—Watch-dogs and Chinese—Procession of the Trades—Frank Merchants—Thieves and Judges—Bedouin Tumblers—Fondness of the Pashas for Dancing—The Wise Men of the East. It were worse than idle to follow the daily progress of the Fêtes. It were but to weary the reader with repetitions, or to delude him with fictions; for the same actors being engaged during the whole of the festival, only varied their exhibitions sufficiently to emancipate themselves from the reproach of actual repetition. So monotonous, indeed, did I find the second representation I was induced to witness, that I never ventured upon a third. I have already mentioned that the Esplanade of the Grand Armoury had been selected as one of the spots upon which the sports were to take place; but I learnt from an individual who had possessed himself of the important secret, that the principal performers were to exhibit on a piece of land situated between the palace walls, and the kiosk in which the Pashas did the honours to the dinner-guests of the Sultan, after the termination of their repast; while a garden Pavilion, whose windows opened upon this space, was to be tenanted by his Sublime Highness, his Imperial daughters, the Sultana, their mother, and half a dozen of the most favoured ladies of the harem, who, from the painted lattices, could look forth upon the scene.