Mrs. ――――’s unwillingness to remain at Abra after Signora L.’s
death――Beyrout fixed on as a residence――Lady H.’s account of her
debts――Necessities to which she was reduced――Another version of her
debts――Her extensive charities――Anecdote of Shaykh Omar-ed-dyn――
Usurious discount on Lady H.’s bills of exchange――Loss from the
fluctuating value of money in the East――Estates supposed to have been
bequeathed to Lady H.――Letters from Lady H. to M. Guys――She employs
Sir Francis Burdett to inquire into the nature of the supposed
bequests――Her opinion of Sir Francis――Letter to him――Lady H.’s
diatribes on women――Mr. C.――Letter to Miss ―――― ――Letter to the
Author.
Again the necessity occurs of introducing my personal affairs, in order
to keep up the thread of our story. Madame L.’s melancholy disorder,
and its fatal termination, had left such awful impressions on the
females of my family, that they expressed an earnest wish to remove
from a scene where every object excited some melancholy reflection.
It was in vain they were told there was no other house in the country
in which they could live so comfortably. Their answer was, that day
and night they were haunted with the cries and frantic laugh of poor
Madame L., and that they would prefer even the most wretched peasant’s
cottage to remaining where they were. They represented also the
forlorn state in which they were left during my absence at Lady Hester
Stanhope’s for a week and a fortnight together, having nobody near them
for a protector but General Loustaunau, a man now eighty-two years of
age, impaired in intellect, and sinking into imbecility.
But Lady Hester had no consideration for all these womanish weaknesses.
Her former animosity against Mrs. ―――― had not abated one jot. She held
to our agreement, that my family was to be considered as strangers,
with whom she had nothing to do; for, as I had brought them contrary to
her wishes, I must look to them myself, without expecting any sympathy
from her. I observed to her how much more convenient it would be for
all parties if she would only lend me one of the cottages she had
empty in the village of Jôon, which I could fit up for our temporary
dwelling, and which, from its proximity, would save me so many journeys
to and fro: but, as Cabôor had foretold, there was no reconciling these
conflicting interests. At last she proposed an arrangement, to which
I acceded much against my will, as I knew it would put her to great
inconvenience. No news having yet arrived from England respecting the
property supposed to have been bequeathed to her, she suggested that
I should set off with my family to Beyrout or Cyprus, and live there
until she had certain advice that money was forthcoming sufficient to
pay her debts; when I could easily return and execute those services
for her which she required of me. This plan was settled, as it
appeared, finally.
In the mean time, Lady Hester had taken advantage of a leisure day
to enter into the full particulars of her debts. I will therefore
give some account of their origin, and show how it was that she who,
during her residence in England after Mr. Pitt’s death, and during the
many years I was with her in Turkey, was one of the most punctual and
over-generous payers I ever knew, could have fallen into the opposite
extreme, and have thus exposed herself to the degradation of having
duns at her gate, and her name in the mouths of the moneyed men at
Beyrout as a defaulter.
What I could recollect sufficiently well to write down the same night
in Lady Hester’s own words was as follows:――“After the death of Mâalem
Haym,” said she, “the celebrated Jewish seràf or banker to Abdallah
Pasha of Acre, by whom he was strangled, all the Jews of the pashalik
were amerced. Some of these came to me, and entreated me, for the love
of God, to lend them money to satisfy the Pasha’s extortions, and save
them from being bastinadoed, and perhaps worse. I was at that time low
in purse myself, and could only give them 3,000 piasters, which was all
I had. I subsequently lent them more, for which they gave me in payment
damaged pieces of cloth, sixpenny pocket-handkerchiefs, and other
goods, which of course I could not dispose of except at a ruinous loss.
I knew I was cheated by them, but I was too proud to complain.
“Not long after this, Abdallah Pasha himself having been declared
_firmanlee_ (or outlawed) by the Porte, six pashas, with their combined
forces, were sent to besiege him in Acre. Provisions and animals
became so scarce, that I was obliged to send people to buy camels in
the desert, and then despatch them under the care of a Jew, of whom
I had scarcely any knowledge, to buy corn for myself and the house.
When at last, and partly by my means, Abdallah Pasha had obtained his
pardon from the Porte, but upon condition of paying an immense fine,
he pretended to sell his pipes, shawls, carpets, and jewels, to raise
the money; for he was, or affected to be, so low in his treasury,
that the _delàls_, or auctioneers, were to be seen hawking even his
wearing-apparel in the bazar. Among other ways of meeting the demands
of the Sultan, he applied to me to lend him as much money as I could
possibly raise; and I, not doubting that he would repay me honourably,
after drawing for what money I had at my disposal in England, applied
to a usurious Christian of Beyrout, who, at an exorbitant rate of
interest, furnished me with what I required. No sooner was the
rate known which I was to pay for what I had borrowed, than Turks,
Christians, and Jews, presented themselves with offers of loans to
whatever extent I wished, all professing that their purses were at my
disposal; that it was beneath a lady of my rank to discuss matters so
paltry as money concerns; and that all they required was merely my
signature to a scrap of paper, just acknowledging the debt. In this way
I signed small bits of paper, it is true, but well and legally worded
in Arabic, or Armenian, or Hebrew, which I could not read, and by which
I bound myself to pay enormous interest, varying from 25 to 50 per cent.
“This was the real beginning of my debts and difficulties; for Abdallah
Pasha gave me bills at thirty-one days’ sight on Constantinople,
payment of which was deferred under one pretence or another for a year,
whilst I, in the interim, was in such want of money, that I was reduced
to a single _adlee_.[70] The worst of all was that, I don’t think the
Pasha wanted it, but only pretended poverty to deceive the Porte.
However, in consequence of his failing to repay me at the time agreed
on, which repayment would have placed me immediately in a state of
solvency, I found myself reduced absolutely to destitution. On one
occasion, as I said, I was left without a farthing, and M. Loustaunau
went off to M. Beaudin, who was at Damascus, and told him that, as he
owed his advancement in life in part to me, he was bound to assist me
in my extremity. M. Beaudin at first hesitated; M. Loustaunau
insisted; and B. lent me 4,000 Spanish dollars, which I afterwards
paid him.
“But this is not all. I was even obliged to send my best pelisse to
be sold or pawned in the bazar at Sayda, and to sell to an Albanian
soldier forty English guineas, which my brother had given me on parting
at Gibraltar, and which I had saved in the shipwreck.
“Oh! doctor, about six months before Miss Williams’s death, I was
reduced so low, that, had she died then, I should not have had money
enough to bury her. Môosa, one of the best servants I ever had, and
who died of the same fever that carried off Miss Williams, out of his
own pocket bought oil for two or three months’ consumption, without my
knowledge; telling Miss W., who afterwards told me, that it was not
proper mylady should send for oil by pints and quarts like poor people,
which, just then, I was compelled to do. Oh, Lord! when I think of it!
One day, when I was walking up and down, not knowing how or where to
turn, thinking I must shoot my horses from having nothing to feed them
with, I heard the jingling of camels’ bells, and presently a servant
came to say that there were some camels at the gate laden with barley.
This seasonable supply for the horses was sent by some strangers, who
had heard the condition I was in; and the last adlee that I had I gave
to the camel-driver.”
Another time, Lady Hester gave me, in writing, a little memorandum
of the state of her finances to read, which varies somewhat from her
account by word of mouth, although agreeing in the main. It was as
follows:
“My debts began in 1822――from 1822 to 1823; and, in a couple of years,
I owed £3,000, not that I had actually borrowed that sum. I was obliged
to take up money, owing to the revolutions in the country; I speak
of the time in which there were three pachas, with an army, encamped
before the gates of Acre, and when the Emir Beshýr, the governor of the
mountain, had fled to Egypt; and such a number of persecuted people
took refuge under my roof, that this caused me great expense. Expecting
remittances from England at that time, which I never received, I placed
the date of the bonds for the money which I borrowed, for only four
and six months, at twenty-five per cent. This, with their interest and
compound interest, and the loss upon the money which I was obliged to
take at the price they chose to give it, amounted in three years to
£3,000. Now, God knows what it is! My income would now only simply
suffice, after paying the interest of these bonds, to pay my servants
and tradespeople, and put a little provision in my house. You must
understand that, when I drew for my pension upon Constantinople, I paid
the dollars at 6 piasters or 6½; I received them at Beyrout at 10½, and
repaid them again in the Metouali country and at Sayda, where I got
my provisions, at 8½: therefore, I often lost 100 per cent. The house
of Coutts and Co., since old Coutts’s death, desired me only to draw
my drafts upon them through a merchant’s house at Constantinople, and
there was a serious loss and inconvenience to me in doing so.
“It is the custom of this country, when persons cannot pay their
debts, to place them under arrest by quartering soldiers upon them,
who help themselves to everything that comes in their way until the
debt is paid. I was resolved to submit myself to the custom of the
country, rather than allow the interference of the English consul at
that time, whom I detested. I thought it would save me the trouble of
telling my story, and cast the reflection on the English name which
it deserved. As things seemed as if they must come to a crisis, if I
had no means afforded me to avoid it, I thought the more unequivocal
it was the better: for my peace of mind then would not be harassed by
the misfortunes of others, when I was a beggar myself. The means by
which I should become so carried no reproach with them; therefore, I
prepared my mind to submit myself to my fate with them. The only thing
that stopped me was, I was waiting for an answer respecting the sale of
a reversion; and then, if my application did not succeed, I determined
to shoot my mares, that they might never fall into other hands, to
part with Miss Williams and the rest of my establishment as soon as
possible, and to leave this part of the world to be never more heard
of, first putting into the hands of my creditors documents to enable
them to get all I possessed into their power, and my pension, if they
could: but this counted for nothing, as English justice and liberality
would of course have deprived me of that.
“Such were my intentions, founded upon a determination not to make any
explanation to my family, or receive any more reproaches; as I had
already received enough. Whatever I had to say was to be said to the
Americans, among whom I thought of going, that they, at least, might
feel convinced that I inherited my grandfather’s spirit and high sense
of honour; for I never have been in the habit of taking half measures.
“The number of my servants had been much talked of; but as these
people often set off, four and five together, in the night, and as
several were constantly absent upon leave to look after their families,
whilst others were always upon the sick list, giving themselves fevers
by over-eating, I could not possibly get on with fewer than I had: for
five men here cannot do the work of one in Europe. What are called
dragomans and secretaries are a description of persons even worse than
the lower class――the idlest and most inefficient of human beings.
“As for the persecuted people who took refuge at my house, you must
have heard, of course, of the revolution in the mountain about 1822.
For half a day’s journey around me, all the inhabitants abandoned their
houses to Turkish and Druze soldiers. I remained alone, tormented to
death with miserable fugitives. Terrible storms and an unusual fall
of snow destroyed a vast number of houses, and I had only two rooms
remaining in mine which were at all habitable. Buildings and walls
fell, and all the rest were deluged with water. My health, which was
very bad, was rendered worse by the uncommon inclemency of the season,
as snow has not been known to have fallen in the lower part of the
mountain for thirty years. The cattle died of want, and the next
harvest could not be got in for want of beasts of burthen.
“This was enough, and the rest you may imagine; and if you never heard
half of this whilst you were in France, you must always recollect that
what passes in the interior is but little known upon the coast; and a
consul or a merchant, by his fireside, is little better acquainted with
the state of affairs than they are at Marseilles.
“An old Druse had his head chained to his feet, and was thrown into a
dungeon. Several villages, like little towns, were burnt, many women
killed, and the property of most of my friends totally destroyed;
whilst the unfortunate wives of considerable men were hiding themselves
in the snow-mountains in disguise, trembling for their infant sons,
whose fate, if got hold of, was pretty certain. The two lads, Hanah and
Bootroos, and one of whom I had then the greatest confidence in, were
constantly wandering about in search of these unhappy fugitives. I will
not say any more; you may judge of my feelings and situation.”
* * * * *
Such was the rough statement Lady Hester gave me. She alludes in it to
the persecuted people who took refuge under her roof: but, in her oral
communication, she never said a word of having afforded an asylum to
almost all the Franks in Sayda, who fled to her residence in a panic
after the battle of Navarino, and many of whom she lodged and boarded
until they could go back in safety: nor of the two hundred wretched
beings whom she fed and clothed, housed, and protected, for nearly two
years, after the sacking of Acre. She never said a word of her numerous
acts of beneficence, nor of the indulgent forbearance she showed even
to those who had wronged her. Here is an authentic case, among twenty
similar ones which might be cited.
Shaykh Omar ed Dyn, a puritanical Mussulman, who kept a grocer’s
shop in Sayda, was for many years her purveyor and bailiff; and
when, for want of money, she had let her account run up to something
considerable, he took her note of hand for the amount, and, at the
end of the year, dunned her for payment. To quiet him, she gave him a
fresh note of hand, which he required should be for double the amount.
Then he begged of her a quarter of wheat, then another; then an entire
piece of broad cloth; then this thing, then that, until he ultimately
paid himself twice over. I well recollect, in 1831, when, one day, I
was going down to Sayda, Lady Hester’s saying to me, “Don’t ride the
chestnut horse,” (rather a valuable one) “for, if you do, as you must
pass Shaykh Omar’s shop, he will beg it of me for his son, and I dare
not refuse him.”
This man, on his death-bed――for he died some time during my
absence――called his wife and children to his bedside, and said to
them――“The Syt Mylady owes me a sum of money; you will find her note of
hand among my papers: burn it. She has ever been a benefactress to me,
and, if I die with a little property, it is from her generosity. You
will here promise me never to urge the claim against her; for I have
received double and treble its amount at her hands.” They made solemn
asseverations, and, after his death, the eldest son went to Dar Jôon,
and informed Lady Hester Stanhope of their father’s dying injunctions:
often did the widow, too, repeat to her how sacred she held them. But
it had come to Lady Hester’s certain knowledge that, notwithstanding
all these professions, the duplicity and ingratitude which mark the
natives of the country were exemplified in this instance, as well as
in all others; for the widow had preserved the paper, and had twice
attempted to sell it, once to an Englishman, and once to a townsman.
Notwithstanding this, every year, at the Byràm, Lady Hester gave the
widow, whom her son’s extravagance and inactivity in business had again
reduced to narrow circumstances, a handsome sum of money.[71]
Lady Hester’s exceeding generous and charitable disposition was well
known; and she was consequently besieged with tales of distress, with
projects of important discoveries, which wanted nothing in the world to
put them in motion but money, with secrets that could be entrusted only
to her, with presents that were always sure to be paid for at treble
their value. Her creditors assailed her with letters, messages, visits;
and these she was obliged to silence by payments in part, and increase
of interest.
But this was not all. During the Greek revolution, the Mediterranean
was so infested by pirates, that it was dangerous for merchants in the
Levant to make their remittances to Europe in specie, a state of things
which so considerably increased the value of bills of exchange, that
they were often bought up at a great premium. Yet, in the face of these
notorious facts, Signor ――――, a merchant at Beyrout, used to cash many
of Lady Hester’s bills on Messrs. Coutts and Co., of London, or on
Messrs. Webb and Co., of Leghorn, at 35, 25, and 20 per cent. discount,
when such paper was actually at a premium in the market. Mr. ―――― took
15, then 10, then 5 per cent. discount. At various periods, likewise,
Lady Hester had had severe illnesses. There was no person about her,
in whom she could put confidence, but Miss Williams, who was totally
unacquainted with pecuniary affairs, and, of course, incapable of
remedying the mischief, even if her innocent mind and artless character
had not prevented her from suspecting it. At one time, Lady Hester had
an Armenian steward, who kept his accounts in his own language: at
another time, she had a Piedmontese, who went to Beyrout to negociate
the bills, and must have known the nature of such transactions. Who
can wonder, therefore, if all her concerns proved ruinous to her,
surrounded as she was by adventurers and intriguers? Add to this, that
various sorts of money are current in Turkey, as many, perhaps, as
thirty, all fluctuating in value, and contributing still more to the
complication of her distresses. It would hardly have been a matter
of wonder, even under ordinary circumstances, that she should have
been plunged into embarrassments; but, in the peculiarly perplexing
situation in which she was placed, it was unavoidable.
I was witness to her signing a list of her creditors’ names, with the
amount of her various responsibilities, at her request, in case, as
she said, anything should befall her, that her creditors might know
she never had the smallest intention of defrauding them, even of their
usurious and unlawful gains. “When I get the money,” she added, “I
shall pay them all just double what they lent me, and I think nobody
can say that is unjust.”
All her creditors took 25 per cent. for the money they lent. Supposing
Lady Hester had not made any difficulty on that head, and was willing
to receive pecuniary assistance even at that loss, why nothing could
be said about the matter. Gold was the commodity these merchants had
to sell, and they made as much of it as they could; but she did not
always get what she had bargained for: some of the lenders sent a part
of the loan in coffee, rice, and in other merchandize. In most cases,
the gold was not of full weight; for never was there a country in which
money-clipping is carried on to a greater extent than in Turkey. And
it is not fair to say that Jews are the only usurers: Mussulmans and
Christians are just as bad, when the law, or other considerations, do
not coerce them into honesty. Let us take, as an example, a Christian
merchant of Beyrout.
Lady Hester Stanhope wanted to borrow £600; and she applied to Mr.
――――, in September, 1826, when the exchange was at 20 piasters the
Spanish dollar: £200, consequently, are about equal to 1000 Spanish
dollars; and £600 to 3000 or 60,000 Turkish piasters. Her ladyship
drew on Messrs. Coutts and Co. for £600, at one year’s date. The
merchant gives her for her bill, instead of 60,000 piasters, only
52,500, that is 17½ for the dollar instead of 20, which was the real
exchange: he gains at once on the transaction, 7500 piasters, or £75.
But the bill has a year to run: he, therefore, demands a bonus for his
risk, and modestly requires 1000 dollars, or £200; and Lady Hester at
last receives £325 for her £600. This sum is paid in _adlees_ of 16
piastres, _ghazis_ of 20, _roobeyas_ of 9, and sundry other current
moneys; but, a week or two afterwards, the pasha issues a tariff,
fixing a lower value than the current one on all the coinage of the
empire, a step customary every year just before the taxes are gathered,
by which the government gains a considerable increase of revenue.
This is known to the merchant beforehand, who, having on his books a
memorandum of the customary rates at which the money is annually set,
or, which is more likely, having, for a consideration, obtained private
information from the government secretaries what money will be rated
lowest, takes care to make his rouleaus consist of what he is most
desirous of ridding himself of: and Lady Hester finds that what she
has received at 20 will only pass at 17¾, those at 9 only at 8¼, and
so on; by which another serious loss is added to all the rest. But in
August, 1837, her bill is delayed payment because Messrs. Coutts and
Co. have not the certificate of her life for Michaelmas of that year,
(delayed, probably, in consequence of Lord Palmerston’s measures) and
she is compelled to ask time for six months more, which is granted on
her signing a promissory note for an additional number of dollars in
the same usurious proportion.
After this statement of her debts, Lady Hester next proceeded to
explain how it was she had written to me in such haste to come over
to Syria. It has already been mentioned that, in 1836, she had been
informed, by one of her friends in England, that a considerable estate
had been bequeathed to her, the knowledge of which was concealed from
her by those privy to the bequest.
The beginning of this erroneous belief seems to date from the spring of
1836. In some letters which passed about that time between her ladyship
and the Chevalier Henry Guys, French consul at Beyrout, which that
gentleman kindly allows me to make use of, and which will best explain
her feelings on the subject, it will be seen that she entertained no
doubt on the subject, and was firmly persuaded that her friends, for
the purpose of forcing her to come to England, kept her in ignorance of
her good fortune, thinking that distress must eventually drive her back
to her native country. These letters were transmitted to me at Nice,
after my manuscript had been sent to England; but the narrative will
suffer no interruption by their introduction here, and they serve to
corroborate many portions of it.
_Lady H. Stanhope to the Chevalier Henry Guys, French
Consul at Beyrout._
Translated from the French.
[No date.]
Monsieur,
A thousand and a thousand pardons for having delayed so
long sending you the bills of exchange; but Logmagi has put
off his journey to Beyrout from day to day, and I too have
been in such a bad humour that I could not write.
After I had given Yuness the letters, I received one from
Sayda, from my Lord H******** written in such an agitated
manner, that it cost me two days to make it out. The date
of it is the 1st of September; then this date is scratched
out, and the month of December is put. He tells me that “he
went directly to get correct information about my money
matters, and that they excused themselves by saying, that
sometimes they did not know whether I was alive, which
was the reason of their being behind in their payments,”
&c., and such _bêtises_. About the other affair, he writes
nothing at all, only that he gives me to understand, if
I wish everything to go on well and as I desire, I must
return to England, and then there will be such fine doings,
&c. &c.
All this does not make me change my mind, but it delays
everything. If they won’t do me justice, they shall be
made to do it by force――by the law. Have the goodness to
put the enclosed letter to my Lord H********, under cover
to Coutts and Co., with a life certificate, for fear the
bills of exchange should not be presented soon enough.
Now that I enjoy a little quiet, I shall settle all these
matters, and all will do well, I hope, in the end; but the
excessive folly and blindness of those people astonish me,
and make me angry, because they place me in a very awkward
situation, where I must either be deprived of what is due
to me, or hurt their reputations. If this business becomes
known in England, it will make a great noise.
After having well examined my account, I find I have got
left about 400 and odd pounds sterling. Out of the £700,
you have £400, or thereabouts, in hand. Make up a bag
of 1000 dollars clear; keep 200 gazi for things I shall
want――(Yusef Boutàl, of Alexandria, will have a bill of
about 2000 piasters, which I will thank you, in due time,
to pay)――give the rest to Logmagi for commissions, and
send me by him some fresh bills of exchange for the £400
sterling.
* * * * *
God grant that the time may come, when I shall have it in
my power to return you, in some shape, a small measure
only of the politeness and attention I have received from
you.
Be assured, Monsieur, of my esteem and friendship.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
Djoun, Sunday.
* * * * *
_The same to the same._
May 29, King Charles’s day.
Two words more, Monsieur, for Dr. ――――, and a letter for
Messrs. Coutts, which be good enough to forward. According
to the report of a Greek captain, it appears that a cousin
of mine, my lord N***** after having stopped a day or
two at Cyprus, is gone to the Carimanian coast, with the
intention of coming here afterwards. I hope he will not
come to disturb me in all I have got to say to you. He is
brother of the D―――― of B――――, that man who always thwarts
me in all my concerns, in the hope of making me quit this
country by compulsion. The father of this D―――― of B――――
spent for the Bourbons, all the time they were in England,
£25,000 a-year.
Logmagi has brought me the 6,000 piasters, which you have
had the goodness to advance me. We will settle all that on
your arrival here. In the mean time, monsieur, accept a
thousand thanks, and the assurance of my friendship.
H. L. STANHOPE.
_The same to the same._
[No date, but supposed to be June, 1836.]
Monsieur,
I am disposed always to put full confidence in you: here
is Coutts’s account, such as it is. The letter says
nothing――only that so much money has been paid in by such
a one, probably an agent of my brother’s son; but of that
I am not sure. Send me back the account when you have any
one coming here. No doubt I owe the payment of this sum to
Lord Hardwicke, who does not write until he has finished it
all. He is a man who has rendered me a thousand services,
without ever having made them known to me: but chance has
brought them to my knowledge. Wait――have a little patience:
God is great, and I have right on my side.
Tell me if there are any opportunities for Leghorn or
France: I wish to write to the Doctor.
Monday se’nnight.
Mansoor is going to Beyrout to do some commissions; but
he has such a bad memory, that I shall be no gainer by
his going in what I have to say to you. I am in want of a
drawing for two ceilings (one for my divàn-room,) after
your taste and ideas, composed of a circle in the centre
and a cornucopia at each corner; the remainder a trellis.
There must be also small arcades. These I should like
to be ornamented with _felák_[72] flowers (I don’t know
the French name); the circular centre may have ears of
corn, roses, pomegranates――I mean chiefly. My idea of a
cornucopia you will see in the annexed sketch.
I have just this moment received a very long letter from
Madame de Fériat, who is delighted with the permission
I have given her to come to me. She is making her
preparations, is selling her property, &c. I fancy she must
be a woman quite _unique._
I will write again on Sunday; but, before you let me hear
from you, will you make some inquiries about the character
of a Florentine who has written to me. Let me know what
kind of a man he is; what he is good for. I can never get
through all my business with Mansoor alone; still those
Franks are generally detestable. His name is Renecucci, or
something like it. Forgive me for troubling you so much,
and accept, monsieur, the sentiments of my regard and
respect.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
Friday, 3 o’clock.
My express goes off now.
For the divàn-room of Madame F., I should like ornaments of
a musical character, flowers, &c.; for she seems to be very
fond of music and the fine arts.
Let me know whether the Spanish carpenter is out of employ
just at present.
* * * * *
_The same to the same._
Djoun, June 18, 1836.
Monsieur,
Your letter came to hand the 17th, in the evening, and
it is with pleasure that I see the extent of the interest
you are good enough to take in my affairs. Therefore, you
will be pleased to learn that what I intended to do will,
probably, be no longer necessary.
Very extraordinary circumstances have come to my knowledge,
which I cannot communicate to you by letter.
I am neither afraid of plague nor of anything else; so if
you believe, as I do, that everything is destiny, I should
like to have an opportunity of profiting by your counsel
touching certain things somewhat incredible, which have
been twice repeated to me by persons much attached to me,
but who are desirous of not being known.
Now I must speak to you about my money concerns. In the
course of fifteen or twenty days, I should like to have
three letters of exchange for 1000 dollars. If you have
not the money by you, you can give the bills to some of
the English merchants, with whom I will not have anything
to do, because they wish to have all my bills or none
at all; and, as I see that my affairs are likely to be
bettered, I shall have nobody but you. You served me well
in my misfortunes, and I wish you to see the end of them.
As I fear my letters may be stopped,[73] if my handwriting
were known, I will thank you to direct one of them to Mr.
A. Kinglake, adding the name of your banker at Paris or
Marseilles. I have left that one open: you will be good
enough to seal it, and put it, as well as the other to
My lord Hardwicke, under cover, directed to one of your
friends in England.
Adieu, monsieur, and pray accept the assurance of my esteem
and friendship.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
PS. I have kept back my letter a day longer, having had
an express from Beyrout, to inform me that a medallion,
belonging to me, has been found at Cyprus――another proof of
the robberies committed in my house. However, for the
present, say nothing about it, until they have caught the
man who sold it.
* * * * *
The original letter is annexed, as a specimen of her ladyship’s French.
Djoun, le 18 Juin, 1836.
Monsieur,
Votre lettre m’a été remise le 17 au soir; et c’est
avec plaisir que je vois l’étendue de l’intérêt que vous
avez la bonté de prendre dans mes affaires. Vous serez ainsi
content d’apprendre que ce que je voulois faire ne sera
peut-être plus nécessaire. J’ai appris des circonstances
très extraordinaires, dont je ne pourrais vous faire part
par lettre. Je ne crains ni peste ni rien autre: ainsi, si
vous croyez, comme moi, que _tout est écrit_, je voudrois
bien avoir l’occasion de profiter de vos lumières touchant
des choses un peu incroyables, mais qui m’out été deux fois
répétées par des personnes qui me sont fort attachées, mais
qui désirent de ne pas se faire connôitré.
A-présent, il faut vous parler de mes affaires d’intérêt.
Dans le courant de 15 à 20 jours, je voudrois trois lettres
de change pour 1000 talaris. Si vous n’avez pas l’argent
chez vous, vous pouvez donner des lettres à quelqu’un
de ces Anglois, avec lesquels je n’aime pas me mêler,
parcequ’ils veulent avoir toutes mes lettres de change ou
point: mais comme je vois que mes affaires vont se bien
rétablir, je ne veux que _vous_. Vous m’avez bien servi
dans le malheur, et j’aime que vous voyez la fin.
Comme je crains que l’on arrête peut-être mes lettres, si
mon écriture est connue, je vous prie d’en adresser une à
Monsieur A. Kinglake, en ajoutant le nom de votre banquier
à Paris ou à Marseille. Je l’ai laissé ouverte. Vous la
cacheterez et vous la mettrez, ainsi que l’autre à Mylord
Hardwicke, sous enveloppe, adressée à un de vos amis en
Angleterre.
Adieu, monsieur, je vous ai beaucoup fatigué; mais
pardonnez moi, et agreez l’assurance de mon estime et de
mon amitié.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
PS. J’ai gardé ma lettre un jour, ayant reçu un messager de
Beyrout, qui me parle d’une médaille trouvée à Chypre qui
m’appartient, autre preuve des voleurs dans ma maison. Mais
à present, il ne faut rien dire jusqu’à ce que l’on ait
attrapé celui qui l’a vendue.
J’ai fait une bêtise. J’ai adressé la lettre. Mes idées
sont toutes sur la médaille.
* * * * *
_The same to the same._
Djoun, July 3, 1836.
Monsieur,
I intended to have written to you yesterday, when your
letter reached me, to have told you that I have found out
still more robberies, and such intrigues!――but say nothing
for the present: only, I foresee, I shall be put to great
expense every way; and, if it does not inconvenience you to
wait for the amount of the bill that was protested, until
the £2,000 are paid into your bankers’ hands, it would
considerably advance my business.
I have had farther accounts about the money concealed from
me. Very good! When I get it, I shall give you plenty of
commissions for France.
How kind you are to think about my eyesight, which sickness
and trouble have so injured! Nevertheless, it is better
than it was last year.
I will send you back the book by the express who will go
for the money. What day would you like he should be with
you? Half of what the writer says is incorrect.[74] Before
I went to Palmyra, I made an excursion into the Desert with
Lascaris alone, keeping the doctor and the married servants,
under one pretext or another, from accompanying me. Lascaris
and I were pursued by the Fedâan Bedouins, who were hostile
to Mohammed el Fadi; and, although our horses never drank
for two days, we rode from ten in the morning until after
midnight, without eating or drinking, to get out of their
district. Then, again, the dispute between Lascaris and me
was about a groom, who, not knowing who he was, would not
let him enter my stables at Hamah. His pride would not stop
to listen to reason, and he ran away (_et il s’est enfuit_).
I met him several years afterwards at Tripoli, and he made
me cry for an hour by the excess of his grief, and the
excuses which he made me: so much so, that I, who hardly
ever shed tears, was astonished at myself. Poor man! There,
indeed, was a true courtier, with the most elegant manners,
and an inconceivable fund of knowledge, without pedantry. It
was not Napoleon that he was so much attached to; it was to
him who had the _portefeuille_. You know very well what he
did for him.
Accept, monsieur, the expression of my esteem and regard.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
_The same to the same._
Djoun, August 14, 1836.
Monsieur,
I have succeeded, at last, in finding out the extent of
the intrigues against me. The intriguers thought to do me
a great deal of harm, but, thank God! they have done me a
great deal of good, as you will see hereafter. When the
hot days are over, you must pay me another visit, in order
for me to make you perfectly acquainted with everything,
and also to settle our accounts. Be not uneasy if you do
not receive any letters from your correspondent by the
packet-boat. At this season, all the great folks in England
are dispersed at their country-houses, and your friend,
perhaps, will defer writing to you until he gets your last
letters.
I have as yet no answer from the doctor since I last wrote
to him, but I understand his circumstances are not very
flourishing. Poor man, let him take courage: he shall be
better, ay, shall be well off, when I have put down those
――――.
In eight days, with your leave, I will send you the bill
of exchange for the £100, and you can send me the 200
_gazi_.[75] I sha’n’t torment you any more afterwards,
until I make you my principal banker and attorney, to
liquidate my debts, &c.
Accept, &c.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
PS. The negro affair has not annoyed me much, but the
infamous conduct of those two maids torments me daily. One
of them has driven her father-in-law from his home, and
the other has been turned out of doors by the man’s wife
where she lived. I have always found that giving too much
education was only painting a character over, and that,
needs must, whatever is born in man will, sooner or later,
show itself. Too much education is what has spoiled France,
and has made the French monkey-philosophers, and the
English wicked brutes (_qui a rendu les François des singes
philosophes et les Anglois des méchantes bêtes_).
* * * * *
_The same to the same._
October, 1836.
Monsieur,
I cannot but think how kind you are to me, not even
to forget my business, when the presence of such a distinguished
personage[76] requires all your attention: but you are equal
to it all. Would to Heaven that the Prince was aware how
much France owes you! Indeed, he cannot fail of knowing it
during his cruise in the Levant, where everybody esteems you
so much: but I must hold my tongue, else you may be angry
with me.
Have the goodness to deliver the money sealed up to Yuness.
Enclosed are the bills of exchange, and the letter which
you allowed me to read.
* * * * *
_The same to the same._
Djoun, October 30, 1836.
Monsieur,
Hardly was I recovered from my migraine and inflammation
in my eyes, when, lo! all my people fall ill――the little
black girl and all――and I have been tormented and tired to
death: but, thank God, they are now all well again!
I have delayed writing to you, expecting always to have
letters by the steamer; but, when I reflect on it, I doubt
if I shall receive any until Parliament meets――at least,
that will be the excuse, and they will say that everybody
is just now out of town.
It will be curious to see how they will prove their
right to conceal from me that money had been left me. I
understand clearly that there are two legacies (one I
have been informed of by an indirect, but a very certain
channel, since I saw you); a considerable one and a small
one. If I were spiteful, I could make them repent of their
doings in a court of justice: but, even as it is, the
matter cannot be passed over without creating some noise in
the world.
I have twice advised Mr. Coutts that I should draw on him,
after the 10th of October, both for my pension and the
£950 which fell due in September; and, after the repeated
assurances which they have made, that, in future, they will
be punctual in their payments, I can’t think they will
play me any more tricks, especially when they will have so
much to do for me since the discovery which I have made.
Therefore, will you let me know if you have money enough by
you to cash a bill of £300, before the money from England
comes to hand. Of that amount, I wish you to keep 200 gazi
for expenses.
* * * * *
Lady Hester now told me that, having written ineffectually to a
nobleman on the subject, she had turned over in her thoughts where she
could find a fit person, in whom she could confide, to ascertain the
truth of these matters, and to whom she could write, with the request
that he would make the necessary inquiries. She had deliberated a long
while whether it should be a lawyer, a man of business, or one of her
old friends. Among the latter, from first to last, she added, “I have
thought Sir Francis Burdett would be the one I could most assuredly
confide in.” In speaking of him, she said, “He is a man of feeling,
doctor, and he and I were always the best of friends. I recollect,
when I told him how basely two or three people had behaved on Mr.
Pitt’s death, he was ready to go beside himself: his hand went into the
breast of his waistcoat and out again, as if he could not contain his
indignation. What do you think?――would not he be the proper person?
I always said Sir Francis was no democrat. He threw himself into the
hands of the people merely that he might have an excuse of business to
be out, or by himself. All the democrats that I have known were nothing
but aristocrats at heart――ay, and worse than others. Even Horne Tooke
was not a democrat――that I am sure of, by the court he always paid me,
and by his constantly making so many civil speeches to me and of me. I
have never known a man yet, if he was not to be bought, that was not a
democrat from personal motives.”
In fine, it was resolved to write to Sir Francis, and a rough copy
of a letter was drawn up by Lady Hester’s dictation, which, after
some verbal alterations, she thought would do. Several remarks, quite
foreign to the subject, were introduced, announcing the researches
she had made as to the Eastern origin of the Irish and Scotch; and, as
Lady Hester kept constantly saying to me, “Will this letter do? do you
see anything that wants altering?” a question very usual with her when
dictating letters, I forgot Gil Blas’s warning, and very distinctly
expressed my apprehensions lest the introduction of the opinions about
the affinity of the Irish and the Koreýsh should make Sir F. think her
cracked. For, I observed, his studies, most probably, have never led
him to investigate these subjects, which, thus introduced into a letter
on business, might be made a handle for the ill-natured comments of
people who disliked her. She thanked me, but retained them all, and
only requested me to write them out fair. I did so, and inadvertently
skipped a page, which, when the sheet was full, created some confusion
in reading it. So, resolving to rewrite it, I merely submitted it to
Lady Hester’s perusal, whilst I rode down to see my family. But I was
there seized with a phlegmonous inflammation of my leg, which, in one
night, from the irritation of the stirrup-leather (rudely made, as it
always is in Turkey), assumed so alarming a character,[77] and was so
painful, that I took to my bed and kept it eleven days. I wrote a note
to Lady Hester, describing my situation, requesting her to send
me the letter to Sir F. in order that I might write it over
again: but, hearing that I suffered a great deal, she said it was
not necessary; and, sealing the copy she had got, she despatched
it by a foot-messenger to Beyrout to go by the steamboat.
September 12.――We were thus occupied until this day, with the exception
of the many hours passed by Lady Hester in diatribes on women and their
husbands; she endeavouring to prove that, in almost all possible cases,
women should be simple automatons, moved by the will and guidance of
their masters. Her fertile memory brought a vast number of cases to
bear on her argument; cases which she had seen in high life during her
time, where gentlemen, otherwise of estimable character, became the
ridicule of society from suffering themselves to be ruled by their
wives. But Lord F. was the one whose example she dwelt upon most
strenuously.
“Women,” she would say, “must be one of three things. Either they are
politicians and literary characters; or they must devote their time to
dress, pleasure, and love; or, lastly, they must be fond of domestic
affairs. I do not mean by domestic affairs a woman who sits working at
her needle, scolding a couple of children, and sending her maid next
door to the shop for all she wants: there is no trouble in that. What
I mean is a yeoman’s wife, who takes care of the butter and cheese,
sees the poultry-yard attended to, and looks to her husband’s comfort
and interest. As for the advantage of passing your evenings with your
family, which you urge as a reason for having them near you,” she
remarked, “all sensible men that I have ever heard of take their meals
with their wives, and then retire to their own room to read, write,
or do what they have to do, or what best pleases them. If a man is a
fox-hunter, he goes and talks with his huntsmen or the grooms, and very
good company they are; if he is a tradesman, he goes into his shop; if
a doctor, to his patients; but nobody is such a fool as to moider away
his time in the slip-slop conversation of a pack of women.”[78]
I happened to observe that many clever men had not only passed their
hours with their families, but even studied and wrote surrounded by
them; and I named four or five that occurred to my recollection, one
of whom was C――――. “Did you ever hear me say there were not more fools
than one in the world?”――She rejoined, “As for Mr. C――――, I knew him;
so you need not talk to me about him. Mrs. C――――! there was a
woman!――Charles C. was one of the greatest _roués_ in London――always
drunk. He was in the Blues, and took it into his head to fall in love
with a Rt. Hble.――very ugly――but her relations would not let her marry
him. Perhaps he wanted her money; he was very agreeable. Mr. C. lived
in a very hugger-mugger sort of a way, with a maid of all work and a
boy, and it was his daughter who did most things for him. Perhaps he
was not rich enough to have another room to study in.”
In this sort of way would Lady Hester Stanhope argue on most subjects,
running from one thing to another, and then, when you thought she had
lost sight of her text, returning to it with some pithy observation,
which generally settled the point to her own satisfaction.
September 29.――I remained at Mar Elias, confined with my bad leg,
from the 13th until this day, when I returned to Jôon. Letters and
messengers had, in the interim, been passing between M. Guys and Lady
Hester Stanhope respecting a house which he was employed to hire for
me and my family; but I had reason to think afterwards that she had no
wish to get rid of us, as the house was reserved for the Baroness de
Fériat, and the correspondence could tend to no other purpose than to
throw odium upon Mrs. ―――― as a discontented and capricious woman.
During my confinement, Lady Hester Stanhope wrote the following letter
to my daughter, then hardly out of her childhood.
_To Miss ――――_
Tuesday, before sunset, Sept. 19th, 1837.
I was pleased to find, my dear little Eugenia, that you
inherit your father’s good-will towards me. I must thank
you and Mademoiselle Longchamp for your kind offers of
assistance, but I must decline them, having taken a
determination not to have anything more to do with the
doctor’s family than if it did not exist in the country.
I should forget my situation and rank in life were I to
condescend to dispute and make daily explanations to my
inferiors. To avoid this, I must give up all thoughts of
making your acquaintance, although you are an object of
interest to me, as would be all the children of the doctor,
even if he had a hundred. Request him not to think about
my letters or anything else that relates to me; only let
him take care of his health. If I can be useful to a sick
person, nothing is unpleasant to me; but, when I cannot, or
rather am not, permitted to be, the history of the progress
of sores is not very agreeable. I do not wish to hear of
him till he is recovered. Writing must fatigue him, and I
would rather be without letters from you or him.
I have had a letter from M. Guys to-day, in which he tells
me he was thinking of taking a ride to see some houses to
hire for your family. I shall send to Beyrout on Thursday
before daylight, and the doctor’s letters will go by that
messenger. He had better write a few lines more to M. Guys,
to explain what situation and what sort of a house he would
like, as it would appear that I am grown a fool in my old
age, and neither know my right hand from my left.
The doctor is aware that he may command anything my house
contains which may be useful to him; but I shall neither
send him anything, nor inquire after him, as my messenger
was thus ill received:[79] and I do not think I can be
called upon to put my eyes out by writing, when I more than
want the sight I have left for my own affairs.
Believe me, dear little girl, yours sincerely,
H. L. S.
The frame of Lady Hester’s mind at this period may be further
understood from the following letter, which was sent to me, with a
secret injunction to read it to my wife.
_To Dr. ――――, at Mar Elias._
Djôon, Sept. 23, 1837.
Whilst waiting for M. Guys’ answer, I have some remarks to
make, worthy of your attention. I do not speak in wrath,
my dear doctor, but I do not see how, at this period, you
are to help yourself; and it is plain to perceive that you
will not be able in any way to accomplish the objects you
came for. Therefore, I should deem it as an act of folly
to stick you up as a sort of _maskara_[80] in the public
eye at Beyrout, merely to write a few letters. The whole of
my business M. Guys offered to undertake before I sent for
you, and to come here and write for me; but I had reasons
for wishing you to come, which no longer exist; for under
no circumstances do I see that you would be comfortable
near me, nor should I wish for it, either at present or
in future. Therefore, if you like to pass the winter at
Cyprus, where, perhaps, you would be more comfortable than
at Beyrout, you are at full liberty to do so. When my
affairs are settled, you might then, if Cyprus pleases you,
purchase a little _terre_ there, or return to Europe, as you
like best.
I am very glad that you wrote to M. Guys yourself; for I
had described a country-house near some village, and you
have described a sort of coffee-house near the gate of
the town. You talked to me of Mrs. ――――’s great love of
retirement (which I laughed at, at the time,) and therefore
she chooses a house upon the high road. But leave all that
childish vulgar stuff; I do not wish for a hasty answer,
as this subject requires reflection. Try and make yourself
comfortable, and I shall find means of settling my business
to my satisfaction; only I must have a clear and distinct
answer, that I may make arrangements accordingly.
Your sincerely,
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
PS. Should my messenger retard, it is for M. Guys to be
able to answer your letter about the house. I enclosed
your two letters to be forwarded to England. Do not fidget
yourself about me. I have made many awful sacrifices in my
life; surely I can make a small one, when I know what it
is. This is what distinguishes the truly great from the low
and vulgar.
* * * * *
On returning to the Dar, I remained there eight days. Our conversations
turned principally, during this period, on her father’s seat at
Chevening, the people in that neighbourhood, and the happiness of
her early days there. She recollected the names of all the gentry
thereabouts, of the farmers, as also of her father’s servants, and
could tell anecdotes respecting them with such a minuteness of
particulars, that the individuals, to their surprise, after the lapse
of so many years, would have found she remembered more of them than
they did of themselves.
FOOTNOTES:
[70] A piece of money worth 16 piasters.
[71] Shaykh Omar ed Dyn was a Turk of the old school; that
is, a man rigid in his religious observances, one
who knew not the taste of wines or spirits, and of
inconceivable cleanliness, in which points the modern
Syrians are somewhat remiss.
[72] The sunflower.
[73] Her ladyship appears, from having lived a long time
in Downing Street, to have acquired some knowledge
on a subject which has lately created such lively
discussions in the House of Commons.
[74] The book here meant is M. Lamartine’s “Souvenirs
de l’Orient.” What Lady Hester here refers to as
incorrect relates to her journey into the Desert with
Mr. Lascaris; about which, and about the dispute with
Mr. L. it is not likely that M. Lamartine could know
the particulars; nor does this in the least deprive M.
Lamartine of the just merit accorded to him, of having
been the first traveller to give Europe some accurate
notions about Lady Hester in her retirement.
[75] A coin of alloyed gold, of the size of a shilling.
[76] The Prince de Joinville, son of Louis Philippe.
[77] During the autumnal months in Syria, the bite of
a horsefly, a simple excoriation, even a musquito
bite, if scratched, will readily inflame, fester, and
sometimes become a wound.
[78] A great philosopher reasoned on this point like Lady
Hester. According to him: “La femme et le mari sont
bien destinés à vivre ensemble, mais non pas de la
même manière; ils doivent agir de concert, sans
faire les mêmes choses. La vie qui charmeroit l’un
seroit insupportable à l’autre; les inclinations que
leur donne la nature sont aussi diverses que les
fonctions qu’elle leur impose: leurs amusemens ne
différent pas moins que leurs devoirs; en un mot, tous
deux concourent au bonheur commun par des chemins
differens, et ce partage de travaux et de soins est le
plus fort lien de leur union.”――Let. xiv. 3_me_ partie
_Nouv. Hel._
[79] I had declined rather pettishly some articles of dress
which Lady Hester had sent me, and to this she alludes.
[80] Maskara means a sort of show. This Arabic word is
either derived from European languages, or they have
borrowed a corresponding expression from it.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
Page 78-87――The Emir Beshýr.
In relating these conversations, which place the character of the Emir
Beshýr in so disadvantageous a light, it would be unfair not to call
the attention of the reader to a work recently published (Memoirs of a
Babylonian Princess), in which the Emir is held up as a model of all
Christian virtues, and his reign as a reign of peace.
As a romance, the Memoirs of the Princess may challenge a comparison
with many works of our best novelists. The authoress seems to have
a most unbounded indulgence for the errors of others; but the Emir
Beshýr, notwithstanding, must still be left with all his stains upon
him, as a wily, sanguinary, and perfidious, but successful prince.
It is not pretended that Lady Hester Stanhope did not personally
dislike the Emir Beshýr; and, as her hatreds were as cordial as her
friendships, she never spared him when she spoke of him to others,
whilst her language, no doubt, was at all times highly coloured: but,
unhappily, there are too many notorious facts to justify the abuse
she lavishes on him, as regards his cruelties; only, if it is any
palliation of his conduct that he had to deal with chieftains who were
as great adepts in machiavelism as himself, this excuse is conceded to
him.
In vol. ii., p. 160, the Amira Asmar informs her readers that the Emir
Beshýr had put his two nephews to death to punish their treason in
attempting his downfall. Now everybody in Mount Lebanon knows that the
nephews had their eyes put out, and, as it was affirmed, were subjected
to the loss of organs equally dear to Oriental husbands with sight
itself, but were not put to death, and possibly are living now.
In vol. ii., p. 158, we read, “The Emir had been in power forty years,
and, by the firmness and liberality of his policy, had continued,
during the long period, to consolidate the jarring and heterogeneous
elements committed to his sway into something like a united body;
insomuch that peace reigned in the mountain, and the Moslem thirsted
not for the blood of his Christian fellow-subject. In short, Maronite,
Motowli, Mahometan, and Druze, looked upon each other as brethren.” A
little before this (vol. ii., p. 140), she tells us, “I was at length
under the protection of a prince whose vigorous arm upheld the dignity
of Christianity in the East, and bid its followers confess their God
without fear.”
In another place (vol. ii., p. 187), we read, “Soon afterwards Lady
Hester Stanhope rose, and, bidding us farewell, took her departure,
attended by a large retinue. A spirited charger stood at the gate,
champing the bit with fiery impatience. She put her foot in the
stirrup, and, vaulting nimbly into the saddle, which she, after the
Oriental fashion, bestrode like a man, started off at a rapid pace,
galloping over rock and mountain.”
Vol. ii., page 203, will afford us one quotation more; and, whilst it
must be a matter of regret to raise a doubt of the correctness of the
Amira’s recollections, it still will be necessary to vindicate the
present publication from being the vehicle of falsehoods. It is there
said, “The Queen of Tadmor, as Lady Hester Stanhope was commonly called
by all the Bedouin tribes, was on the most friendly terms with the Emir
Beshýr and his family, and a constant visitant to the garden.”
It will be in our power to answer all these somewhat erroneous
assertions, by relating the substance of a conversation with Lady
Hester, not embodied in the text. The conversation was as follows:――
“What would you say, Doctor, if a monster should send his executioner
to tear your little girl, Eugenia, from you, and put her to death? what
would be your horror? Yet the Emir Beshýr was capable of this; for when
the wretched and unfortunate wife of the Sheykh Beshýr was flying from
the terrors that surrounded her, he issued an order that her boy should
be torn asunder wherever found. I was by no means intimate or attached
to that woman; but her misfortunes required that I should assist her,
and humanity justified it, as she was, at the time, without a parra,
and flying through the snow. She had four or five children, two of
which were in prison at Acre with the father, (who was afterwards
strangled there, as you know,) and one was suckling at her breast.
“The Emir will never forget or forgive what I did on that occasion;
for with Hanah” (this was a poor blind peasant, about whom I had
been speaking, and the mention of whom led to the conversation) “and
another, who were but lads then, I thwarted all his detestable plans,
although he had his myrmidons in all directions out in search of her.
Hanah was nearly lost in the snow, and the effect of the glare on his
sight he never recovered. Most people called me a fool for my pains,
and trembled at the consequences for me in opposing a powerful prince;
but I am not one of your quiet sort, who sit in a corner, and grunt
and lament, because they are afraid to act. Humanity raised her voice,
that I should endeavour to rescue these wretched orphans, and I did
it. With the intrigues of these two rivals, the Emir and the Sheykh, I
never meddled: I have never seen the one or the other since the death
of Sulymàn Pasha.” Now Sulymàn Pasha died before 1822, consequently
Lady Hester Stanhope could not have been intimate with the Emir, nor
have mounted her horse at his gate subsequent to 1825, which, if my
recollection serves me (for I copied the quotations and returned the
book), is the date of the Amira’s anecdotes.
Page 106.――“The room bore no resemblance.”
In perusing these pages, the reader is requested to bear constantly
in mind the distinction there is between the usages of the East and
those of England. Reflections and observations, if made on some of
the incidents in this work, which would apply with irresistible truth
in our own country and would necessarily have much weight attached
to them, fall still-born from the pen in relation to Orientals. This
reservation is called for more particularly in reference to the scenes
which pass in Lady Hester Stanhope’s bed-chamber.
At the word _bed-chamber_ we naturally figure to ourselves a four-post
bedstead with tester and curtains, with paillasse, mattress, and
feather bed, with marseilles quilt, and perhaps an eider-down one
upon that, with a marble dressing-table and _lavabou_, and an endless
display of rouge-pots, combs, hair-brushes, and the paraphernalia of
a fashionable toilet-table. With one breath all this must be blown to
the winds; Turkish ladies never know even the existence of such things.
Some cupboard in a corner, or some brass-nailed box, contains whatever
they want for cosmetical purposes, and a visit to the bath supplies all
the rest.
In Eastern countries there is no room bearing even the name of
bed-room; for there are no fixed bedsteads, no fixed washing-stands, no
fixed dressing-tables. Every room is a saloon; and, when night comes,
from a recess or niche in the thick walls of their houses, covered by a
curtain, is drawn forth a wool mattress with a sheet, which are spread
on the floor-matting. Upon this ready couch the lovely daughters of
those favoured regions throw themselves dressed (let not this be lost
sight of――dressed) very much in the same clothes as in the day-time,
even to the turban, and draw over their persons a wadded quilt, to
which is sewed the upper sheet, as a certain way of preventing it from
shifting its position with reference to the quilt. Nothing else appears
in the room, and ingress and egress is as free when ladies are in bed
as at any other hour: hence the reason why the peasant spoken of at p.
62 of this volume so unceremoniously enters where Lady Hester is lying.
In some houses, where the sofas are of sufficient breadth, even the
mattress is dispensed with, and the quilt alone is all that is required
for the night’s repose.
Lady Hester had adopted the same mode of sleeping. Her bed-room
differed in nothing from the one described, excepting that, from an
invincible repugnance to sleep on the floor, yet unable to procure a
European bedstead, she had substituted in its place deal planks laid
on trestles, which were stationary; and this was a constant source
of difficulty and ridicule with the maids, whose prejudices against
an immoveable bed never were entirely eradicated. On this she slept,
attired as completely as when up, and the most scrupulous prudery could
find no difference between her couch and her drawing-room sofa, unless
it was that on one she lay, on the other she sat. Most often, however,
when in conversation, she sat up in her bed, with a short pelisse over
her shoulders, such as Polish ladies often wear. Her bath-room was her
dressing-room.
In the early part of my life I was acquainted with the Prince C――――,
Hospodar of Wallachia, who had fled from his principality to Geneva.
I never shall forget the impression which an introduction to his
daughter, a young princess, made on me, when (not for a medical visit,
but for one of friendship) I was ushered into a bed-room and shook
hands with her, seated in her bed, dressed in the way represented above
as usual with the Turks. Guests went and came as if she had been in
the drawing-room, and, no doubt, some two or three Europeans among the
number were as much astonished as myself. But how frivolous and empty
are the distinctions which men create between right and wrong, when
weighed in the balance of reason! I have dined with a French countess
(who had taken a temporary lodging in Paris) in her bed-room; yet she
never dreamed of impropriety; but I have been told, had I inadvertently
put my hat down on her bed instead of a chair, her _femme-de-chambre_
and she herself would have been scandalized at the imputation such an
act conveyed.
Page 125.――“To see an angel.”
Say, were an angel near,
Should we not shrink with fear?
Burdened with sinfulness, death must ensue.
How can our passions brook,
Seraph! thy searching look:
Glances celestial, that pierce the soul through?
_From “The Mirror.”_
Page 162.――Lady Hamilton.
“Lady Hamilton was a woman **** **** whom Sir William H. fell in with
here when he began to doat, and married when his doatage was confirmed:
she is clever and artful, but a sad **.”――_Diaries and Correspondence
of the Earl of Malmesbury_, v. iv. p. 214.
Page 270.――“P―――― of W――――, who was a sloven.”
“Argument with the Princess about her toilette; she piques herself
on dressing quick; I disapprove this. She maintains her point; I,
however, desire Madame Busche to explain to her that the Prince is very
delicate, and that he expects a long and very careful ‘_toilette de
propreté_,’ of which she has no idea. On the contrary, she neglects it
sadly, and is _offensive_ from this neglect.”
In this extract from Lord Malmesbury’s Diary, it will be seen how
accurate his observations were, and how well they tally with Lady
Hester Stanhope’s, who must have had opportunities of knowing all this
even better than his Lordship could.
His Lordship in his diary again returns to the subject. “I
endeavoured,” (says he) “as far as was possible for a _man_, to
inculcate the necessity of great and nice attention to every part of
dress, as well as to what was hid as to what was seen. I knew she wore
coarse petticoats, coarse shifts, and thread stockings, and these never
well washed, or changed often enough.... It is remarkable how amazingly
her education has been neglected, and how much her mother, although an
English woman, was inattentive to it.”――_Diaries and Correspondence of
the Earl of Malmesbury_, v. iii. pp. 207, 211.
END OF VOL. I.
FREDERICK SHOBERL, JUNIOR,
PRINTER TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT,
51, RUPERT STREET, HAYMARKET, LONDON.
Transcriber’s Note:
Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
this_. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the
end of the chapter. Words may have multiple spelling variations or
inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged
unless indicated below. Obsolete and alternative spellings were left
unchanged.
Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside down, or partially
printed letters and punctuation, were corrected. Final stops missing at
the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. Letters missing at
line endings were added.
The following items were changed:
aad to and, footnote [26], line 2226
paralellogram to parallelogram, line 2389
unsustained to unstained, line 3822
inpressive to impressive, line 4294
steambout to steamboat, line 8237