FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE, the smiling Eastern clime, the festal sunshine, or the beaming moonlight, are alike powerless to dispel. The Turks view the spot with great veneration as the consecrated ground of Asia, whence the founder of the Ottoman Empire sprung and spread his power in Europe. " In that wide solitude at Scutari a feeling of deep, solemn awe creeps over you, as you gaze around, while the strong aroma from the cypress and tur- pentine trees fills the air, and sometimes nearly overpowers the senses with its aromatic odour. But though the scene is one to strike the mind with a reverential feeling at all times and seasons, it is during the brightest moments of gay summer sun- shine that you are the most impressed with it. The soft beams of the moon and the bright stars that look down from above, seem to belong to those cold marble columns, and to shine gently through the branches of the cypresses, as though fearful of awaking the dead that sleep beneath. You feel comforted by their mild influence, and you wander around, tracing, perhaps, fanciful legends of those who once lived to walk there, and who are now departed. It is in the brilliant summer sunshine that you are overpowered by the deep solemn gloom of this cemetery. As you step under the dark cypresses you feel as though you left light and life behind you ; the joyous song of the birds, the merry hum of insects, the distant echo of the surging sea, all seem swallowed up in death; while the strong 36
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