Impelled by his vigorous arm

Impelled by his vigorous arm, the geritex flew with unerring precision and double velocity. He uses his pistols and sabre with superior skill: but his pre-eminence was most conspicuous at the public spectacles of the Grand Signior in the circus, where the young men opposed themselves in fierce combat to the lion, or other ferocious animals and where the meed of victory constantly adorned Hassan’s brow.

Courageous, generous, benevolent and, except when under the immediate influence of passion, most humane; impartial in his official distribution of rewards and punishments; warm and sincere in his attachments ; affable and courteous to his inferiors; ever ready to alleviate distress ; but implacable in his enmity to oppressor; it is only to be lamented that a character rendered brilliant by so many excellent qualities was not destined to shine under the more happy influence of a Christian Government, where the prejudices inseparable from a Turkish education, which have been productive of the only blemish that tarnishes so bright a character, could never have existed.

In the high post he enjoys as Lord High Admiral, his privileges are very nearly as great as those of the most despotic prince, and the lives of all his inferiors are at his disposal.

At all the conflagrations in the city or suburbs or Constantinople, which are pretty frequent, the Grand Signior, Grand Vizier, and Capitan Pasha are obliged to assist, in order to animate by their presence and persuasion those [who] are employed in putting out the flames. The last of these great personages who arrives forfeits a certain sum of money, one thousand Venetian sequins, in favour of the first. The Capitan Pasha is constantly the first, though he is by many years the eldest of the three.

Capitan Pasha

On the night of the twenty-first, when a fire broke out in the palace of the Grand Vizier, who was with the army, the Capitan Pasha was at his beautiful villa, situated about four miles from Constantinople. He was immediately informed of it, and in a moment set off on horseback, with forty attendants, and reached town in less than twenty minutes, though the road was scarcely passable, being covered with snow some feet deep, and the night unusually dark ; so that out of his forty attendants, one only was able to keep up with him, all the rest having been thrown from their horses, and unable or unwilling to follow him.