DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0327
A COFFEE-KIOSQUE.
147
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 own affairs,
Or fling his ore of feeling and of sense
Into the common crucible. AS.
Even an 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 shade 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 witli 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
147
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 own affairs,
Or fling his ore of feeling and of sense
Into the common crucible. AS.
Even an 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 shade 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 witli 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