The Delphic priestess――Abdallah Pasha’s ingratitude――His cowardice――
Lady Hester’s spies――Her emaciation――History of General Loustaunau.
December 8.――A most violent storm of rain, thunder, and lightning,
kept me prisoner. The courtyards were flooded. When all the house was
in confusion from the wet, and clogs were heard clattering on all
sides, I entered Lady Hester’s room, and remained for about an hour,
talking on indifferent subjects, without hearing from her one word in
allusion to the state of the weather. At last she said, “Doctor, I
find myself better from the thunder!” And when I replied that there
were many persons who felt oppressed from an electric condition of the
atmosphere and were relieved by its explosion, she observed, with some
sharpness, “that I must be a great booby to make such a remark to her,
as there was not a servant in the house who did not know that she
could always tell, three days beforehand, when a thunder-storm was
coming on.”
In the evening I sat with her about four hours. She was up, and had
placed herself in a corner of her bed-room on a low ottoman (as it is
called in England), which the Syrians name _terâahah_. The candle was
put far back in the window recess, the light being thrown on my
features, whilst it left hers in obscurity. This was her custom on
almost all occasions, even when she had strangers visiting her, under
pretence that she could not bear the light in her eyes, but, in fact,
as I have reason to believe, to watch the play of people’s
countenances.
She resumed the subject of the preceding evening. I was too weary when
I left her, and too busy next morning, to be able to write down her
conversation, but, could I have done it, it must have left a profound
impression on the reader’s mind, an idea of sublimity, whether he held
her visionary opinions to be the mere rhapsodies of a disordered
intellect, or the deductions of great reasoning powers, aided by
remarkable foresight. Her language was so forcible and sublime, that I
sometimes suspended my breath, and from time to time tried to assure
myself that I was not hearkening to a superhuman voice. The smoke from
our pipes by degrees filled the room, closely shut up as it was, and
cast a deep gloom around us. The wind howled without, with now and
then occasional echoes of the thunder among the mountains: and it
required no great stretch of imagination to believe one’s self
listening to the inspired oracles of the Delphic priestess, as she
poured forth the warnings of what seemed a preternatural insight into
futurity.
December 9.――The morning was employed in writing letters, and in the
evening I remained until half-past one with Lady Hester. She spoke of
the alarm created in Mahomet Ali’s cabinet, by her affording
protection to Abdallah Pasha’s people after the surrender of St. Jean
d’Acre. “That impudent fellow C********,” said she, “sent me a packet
of letters from Colonel Campbell, and told me I was to prepare a list
of all the people in my house, giving their names, nation, a
description of their persons, &c. I returned him the packet, and
desired him to forward it to the quarter whence it came, adding,
‘These are all the commands that Lady Hester Stanhope has at present
to give to Mr. C********.’ To Colonel C. I wrote ‘that it was not
customary for consuls to give orders to their superiors; that, as for
the English name, about which he talked so much, I made over to him
all the advantage he might derive from it.’ And my letter to Boghoz
was to the effect that, ‘in confessing, as he did, that I rendered the
state of this country unsettled by my measures, he acknowledged the
weakness of his master’s cause; that I disdained all partnership in
it; and that the column on which Mahomet Ali’s exaltation rested
would, before long, sink beneath him, and his greatness melt like snow
before the fire.’ I added, ‘there could be little honour for Mahomet
Ali to make himself a gladiator before a woman;’ and here I meant
that, as a gladiator was some criminal who descended into the arena to
fight, so he was a malefactor too.
“As for Abdallah Pasha, he was not worth the pains I took about him;
but I did it for my master, the Sultan. I kept and maintained for two
years two hundred of his people, wounded, sick, and proscribed; and
when I wrote to him to know what I should do with them, as the expense
was too great for me, the answer of this ungrateful wretch was to ask
me for a loan of twenty-five purses, and not even to send his
remembrance to one of those who had bled and suffered in his cause.
His ingratitude, however, has partly met with its reward: for the
Sultan himself has heard of his cold-hearted conduct, and has taken
away half what he allowed him. This is the man whose head I saved by
my intercession with a person in power.
“He was a coward, after all. The last day of the siege of Acre he lost
his senses quite. As Ibrahim Pasha had effected a breach, some of
Abdallah Pasha’s officers forced him to come upon the ramparts to
encourage the soldiers; for he had remained during the whole time shut
up in a vault under-ground with his women and boys, and had never once
appeared. Well, the first thing he did was to sit down amidst the
fire, quite bewildered. He then asked for an umbrella: then he called
for some water; and, when they presented to him an _ibryk_[16] as
being the only thing they had near at hand, not supposing that at such
a moment he would mind what it was he drank from, he would not drink
out of it?”
They fetched him a goblet, and he made them take it back, because it
was a glass he drank sherbet out of, and not water. The very man who
handed it to him told me the story. At last they placed him in one
corner of the battery, and covered him with a cloak. All this time the
bullets were flying about.[17]
Lady Hester continued:――“Of all those to whom I gave an asylum and
bread, after the siege, I can’t say there were many who showed the
least gratitude――four perhaps: the rest robbed me, and abused my
goodness in every possible manner. One family alone consisted of
seventeen persons. Will it be believed, that when I had new clothes
made for the women for the Byrám holyday, they had the baseness to
grumble at the stuff, the make, and everything, complaining they were
not good enough for them? But this did not hurt me half so much as the
little credit I get for everything I do among my relations and the
English in general. My motives are misconstrued, or not appreciated;
and, whilst a mighty fuss is made about some public subscription for
people in Jamaica, Newfoundland, or God knows where, I, who, by my own
individual exertions, have done the like for hundreds of wretched
beings, driven out of their homes by the sabre and bayonet, am reviled
and abused for every act of kindness or benevolence.
“I knew a pretty deal of what was going forward during the siege of
Acre by my own spies. Hanah, your old servant――Giovanni, as he used to
be called――was one of them. He carried on his trade of a barber, and
was married in Acre; and, when the bombarding began, he got out
somehow, and came to me. So I furnished him with a beggar’s dress. But
first I made him take leave of the other servants, and set off from
the door. Then, hiding himself under a rock, when he was at a
distance, he dressed himself as a _fakýr_, and, so perfect was his
disguise, that, when he came back to me, I did not know him. He was a
poor timid fellow, and that was the reason why I chose him as fit for
my purpose. In such a nice business as that, I wanted a man that would
follow my instructions exactly, and do nothing out of his own head:
and Giovanni was in such a fright, that I was sure of him in that
respect. Well, he succeeded perfectly well. There was a poor devil of
a _sacca_, or water-carrier, in the camp, who used to take water to
Derwish Pasha’s tents. Meanly dressed, and with his head held down,
like one in misery, nobody paid any attention to him; at night he
would frequently creep between the ropes of the Pasha’s tent, and seem
to sleep there like an unhappy being who had no hole to put his head
in. Through a slit in the tent, he could see and hear much that
passed, communicating whatever information he obtained to Giovanni,
who brought it at convenient opportunities to me. But when I wanted a
stout-hearted fellow to carry a letter through the entrenchments to
the foot of the walls, to be drawn up, then I chose a different sort
of a messenger; for I had them all ready.”
December 16.――The last three days Lady Hester had suffered greatly.
To-day she was in very low spirits, and sobbed aloud and wrung her
hands, while she bitterly deplored her deserted state. “I believe it
will do me good to cry,” she said, and she gave way freely to her
emotions; but her weeping was not woman-like: it had a wild howl about
it, that was painful to me to hear; she seemed not to be made of stuff
for tears: and, if Bellona could have ever wept, she must have wept in
this way. After she had given vent to her feelings, she gradually
recovered, and her natural fecundity of language returned.
December 17.――Christmas day was approaching, but the weather was of
extraordinary mildness. Some idea may be formed of the climate of
Syria from the circumstance that my house had no glass to the windows,
and that the family sat always with the doors open. It was only during
the heavy rains that the rooms felt chilly, and then a brazier, with
lighted coals, was agreeable and quite sufficient to obviate the cold.
Lady Hester made me observe how thin she had become. Her bones almost
protruded through her skin, and she could not lie comfortably in any
posture; so that it was difficult for her to get rest. Her fretfulness
had increased to such a degree as to be equally distressing to herself
and to those about her: yet the vigour of her mind never forsook her
for a moment when anything called for its exertion.
December 20.――was a rainy day, and, when I entered her ladyship’s
chamber, I saw it would be a melancholy one. She was seated in the
corner of the room, her features indicating great suffering. She burst
into tears the moment I approached her. She had not slept the whole
night, and had passed the hours, from the time I left her, in getting
up and walking about supported by her women, and then lying down
again, seeking relief from the feeling of suffocation and oppression
which so much distressed her. The floor of the bed-room was covered
with plates, pots, and pans, turnips, carrots, cabbages, knives and
forks, spoons, and all other appurtenances of the table and kitchen.
I must observe that, on the preceding day, at Lady Hester’s request, I
had ridden over to Mar Elias to see General Loustaunau, the decayed
French officer, who had now lived on her bounty for a period of more
than twenty years. And although, from being of a choleric and violent
temper, he had, on more than one occasion, embroiled himself with her,
yet the only difference it made in her treatment towards him was
merely to keep him at a distance from herself: but she had never, for
one day, ceased to occupy herself with his wants and to provide for
his comforts. He was now, as I was told, eighty years old, and his
mind was possessed with hallucinations, which he fell into from a
belief that he could interpret the prophecies in the Bible. He was
constantly poring over that book, and he went very generally by the
name of the Prophet: Lady Hester herself always called him so. He had
a maid-servant to take care of him, a barber, on fixed days, to shave
him. Lamb, mutton, or beef, flour for his bread, and wine, were sent
as his consumption required, money being liberally furnished him for
purchasing everything else from Sayda.
Finding that he was very much neglected by the woman who was appointed
to attend him, I mentioned the fact on my return to Lady Hester, and
to this communication was to be attributed the extraordinary display
on the floor of her bed-room; for, from her accustomed sensibility to
the sufferings of others, she had fancied that the poor man was in
want of everything. “See,” she said, “what I am reduced to: ever since
daylight this morning” (and it was then nearly noon) “have I been
handling pots and pans to make the Prophet comfortable. For on whom
can I depend?――on these cold people――a pack of stocks and stones, who
rest immoveable amidst their fellow-creatures’ sufferings? Why did not
you give that woman a dressing? I’ll have her turned out of the
village――an impudent hussy!”
Here, from having raised her voice, she was seized with a spasm in the
throat and chest, and, making a sudden start, “Some water, some water!
make haste!” she cried, and gasped for breath as if almost
suffocated. I handed her some immediately, which she greedily drank: I
then threw the window open, and she became better. “Don’t leave me,
doctor: ring the bell;――I can’t bear to be left alone a moment; for,
if one of these attacks were to come on, and I could not ring the
bell, what could I do? You must forgive me if I fall into these
violent passions; but such is my nature: I can’t help it. I am like
the horse that Mr. Pitt had. Mr. Pitt used to say, ‘You must guide him
with a hair; if I only move my leg, he goes on; and his pace is so
easy, it’s quite charming: but, if you thwart him or contradict him,
he is unmanageable;’――that’s me.”
But, to return to General Loustaunau, or the Prophet――as his name has
already appeared several times, it may not be amiss to give a short
outline of his life, the particulars of which he communicated to me
himself. From a village in the Pyrenees, near to Tarbes, one day, a
young man, about twenty-four years of age, sallied forth, he knew not
whither, to seek his fortune. Sprung from a family of peasants, he had
received little or no education, and had nothing to depend on but his
well-knitted frame, an intelligent and handsome countenance, robust
health, and activity. He directed his steps towards one of the great
sea-ports of France, resolved to work his passage to America. But,
when walking the quays and inquiring for a vessel bound across the
Atlantic, he was told there was none; there was, however, a large
merchant-ship freighting for the East Indies. Learning that the
country she was chartered for was still more distant than the western
colonies, he concluded, in his ardent and youthful mind, that it would
open to him a still greater chance of meeting with adventures and of
enriching himself. He accordingly got himself rated to work his
passage as a seaman, and arrived in safety at the ship’s destination.
It would be useless to occupy the reader’s time with the struggles
which every man, unknown and without recommendations, has to make on a
foreign shore, before he gets a footing in some shape congenial to his
talents or his inclination. Natural talents Loustaunau had; for, in
the space of a few months after his arrival on the Indian coast, he
was spoken of as an intelligent young man to the French ambassador,
Monsieur de Marigny, residing at Poonah, the Mahratta court, as far as
I could understand: since it is to be borne in mind that Mr.
Loustaunau, when he related all this, was eighty years old, had almost
lost his memory, and was relapsing into second childhood. He soon
after became an inmate of the embassy, on terms of some familiarity
with Monsieur de Marigny, who discovered, in the young adventurer’s
conversation, so much good sense and elevation of mind, that he used
to say to him, “It strikes me that you are no common man.”
It so happened that the war between the English and the Rajah of the
Mahrattas brought the hostile armies into the field at no great
distance from Poonah; and Mr. L. one day told the ambassador, that, as
he had never seen what war was, and had not far to go to do so, he
should be much obliged if he would permit him to absent himself for a
short time to be spectator of the action, which, report said, must
soon take place between the two armies. Monsieur de M. tried to
dissuade him from it, asking him of what use it would be to risk his
life for the satisfaction of an empty curiosity. Mr. L.’s reply was,
“If I am killed, why then _bon jour_, and there will be an end of me:”
M. de Marigny, therefore, complied with his wishes, and sent him with
some of his own people and an introductory letter, to General Norolli,
a Portuguese, who commanded the Rajah Scindeah’s artillery.
He had not to wait long for the gratification of his curiosity. An
action took place: the forces were warmly engaged, and Mr. L. walked
about within musket-shot distance to observe the manœuvres of the two
armies. The English had planted a battery on a rocky elevation, which
made much havoc among the Mahratta forces. Between this battery on its
flank and an opposite cliff there was a deep ravine, which rendered
all access from one height to the other impracticable: but a sloping
ground, by making a circuit in the rear of the Mahratta forces,
afforded a practicability of bringing field-pieces to the summit of
the cliff to bear on the English battery from the Mahratta side.
Mr. L. took an opportunity of addressing himself to General N., and
pointed out to him the probability of silencing, or, at least, of
annoying the English battery from the cliff in question; but the
general treated his remark in a slighting manner, and, riding to
another part of the field, took no farther notice of him. Mr. L. had
seated himself on a hillock, still making his reflections, when an old
Mahratta officer, who had heard the conversation between Mr. L. and
the general of the artillery, and had partly understood what Mr. L.
proposed should be done, approached him. “Well, sir,” said he, “what
do you think of our artillery?”――“If I were a flatterer,” replied Mr.
L., “I should say that it was well served; but, as I am not, you will
pardon me if I think it bad.” The officer went on――“You see the day is
likely to go against us――what would you do if you had the
command?”――“Oh! as for the command, I don’t know,” rejoined Mr. L.,
“but this one thing I do know, that, if I had but two pieces of
cannon, I would turn the day in your master’s favour.”――“How would
you do that?” asked the officer: “perhaps I could put two field-pieces
at your disposal.”――“If you could,” said Mr. L., “I would plant them
on yonder height” (pointing at the same time to it), “and let my head
answer for my presumption, if I do not effect what I promise.”
The bearing of the Frenchman and his energetic manner of speaking,
together with his evident coolness and self-possession on a field of
battle, made a great impression on the Mahratta officer. “Come with
me, young man,” said he, “I will conduct you to the rajah.”――“With all
my heart,” replied Mr. L. When brought into his presence, Scindeah
asked the officer what the stranger wanted, and the officer repeated
the conversation that had just passed. “Well,” says Scindeah, “he does
not ask for money, he only asks for guns: give them to him, and let
them be served by some of my best gunners. The idea may be good: only
be expeditious, or we may soon be where that infernal battery of the
English can annoy us no longer.”
Accordingly, without a moment’s delay, two field-pieces were dragged
up by the back of the cliff to the spot pointed out, Mr. L. entrusting
the command of one of them to another Frenchman, whose curiosity had
brought him on the field also. The very second shot that was fired at
the English battery blew up an artillery waggon (caisson) full of
powder. The explosion dismounted some of the cannon, killed several
men, and created so much confusion, that the English, in consequence
of it, eventually lost the battle, and were forced to retreat. Mr. L.
had two or three of his men killed. “There! you may take your cannon
back,” said he, as soon as the explosion took place; “I have nothing
farther to do;” and he and his brother Frenchman walked away to watch
the result of the mischief they had done.
When the day was over, an officer of the rajah’s conveyed to Mr.
Loustaunau his master’s request that he would attend on him at his
tent. Mr. L. presented himself, and Scindeah received him with marks
of great consideration. Addressing himself to Mr. L., “You have done
me, sir,” said he, “a most essential service to-day; and, as a small
recompense for your gallantry and the military talent you have shown,
I beg your acceptance of a few presents, together with the assurance
that, if you like to enter my service, you shall have the command of a
company immediately.” Mr. L. thanked him in proper language, and,
declining the presents offered, said, “Your highness will excuse me if
I refuse your gifts: I will, however, with pleasure accept the sword
which I see among them, but nothing else. The offer of a commission
in your army I must equally decline, as I am bound to return to our
ambassador, to whom I owe too many obligations to take any step
without his permission.” Scindeah could not but approve of this reply;
and Mr. L., making his bow, returned towards the place where he was
lodged.
When night came, and General Norolli, having made his dispositions,
had also returned to his quarters, whilst yet on horseback, and, as if
moved by jealousy to repress the exultation which he imagined Mr. L.
might have indulged in, he called out in a loud and angry tone, “Where
is Mr. Loustaunau, where is that gentleman?” Mr. L., who was standing
not far off, approached, and, as the general dismounted, said, “Here I
am, general, at your command.”――“I saw,” observed Mr. L. (interrupting
himself whilst relating this part of his story to me) “that the
general was in a rage, which appeared more plainly as he
continued.”――“Who, sir, authorized you to present yourself to the
rajah without my leave? don’t you know that all Europeans must be
introduced by me?”――“General,” replied Mr. L., “I was summoned by his
highness, and I went: if you are angry because I have done some little
service to your master, I cannot help it. You are not ignorant that I
pointed out to you first of all the commanding position which struck
me as fitted for planting a battery: you refused to listen to my
suggestion; and, if it was afterward adopted by others, that is your
fault, not mine.”――“Sir,” cried the general, irritated more and more
by this remark, “you deserve to have this whip across your
shoulders.”――“General,” retorted Mr. L., “you suffer your anger to get
the better of your reason: if you have any whippings to bestow, you
must keep them for your Portuguese――Frenchmen are not accustomed to
take them.” The general’s fury now knew no bounds; he put his hand on
one of the pistols in his girdle, intending to shoot Mr. L. “But I,”
said Mr. L., “was ready; and, with my eyes fixed on him, would have
seized the other, had he drawn it out, and I would have shot him; for,
you know, in self-defence, one will not stand still to have a bullet
through one’s body, without preventing it, if possible. However, some
officers held the general’s arm, and shortly after I retired, and,
remaining a day or two more in the camp, returned to the place where I
had left our ambassador.
“When I told him what had happened――‘Stay with me, Loustaunau,’ said
he; ‘it is my intention to raise a few troops here, and, since you
seem to like fighting, you shall be employed:’ but in a few weeks the
ambassador was recalled to France, and he offered to take me with him,
promising to get me employment at home. However, I considered that I
had better chances in remaining where I was, than in going to my
native country, where birth, patronage, and the usages of good
society, are necessary for a man’s advancement, all which I wanted.”
Mr. Loustaunau, left to his own exertions, recollected the rajah’s
offer; and on applying to him, received a commission in the Mahratta
army. Eminently qualified by nature for military command, his
advancement was rapid; and, after distinguishing himself in several
actions, and showing likewise a very superior judgment in political
affairs, he finally became general of Scindeah’s troops, although I
could not ascertain in how short a time. His reputation spread rapidly
through the territory, and his noble conduct and intrepidity must have
been very generally known, since, on one occasion, after having been
severely wounded in his left hand, two fingers of which he had lost,
the commander of the English forces sent a flag of truce and his own
surgeon with an offer of his professional assistance, fearing that Mr.
L. might not have a European surgeon to attend him. Scindeah, in his
despatches to him, styled him a lion in battle, and a lynx in council.
He consulted him in difficult negociations with the East India
Company’s servants; and, in acknowledgment of his services, he gave
him a village as an appanage to his rank. Mr. L. married the daughter
of a French officer, by whom he had four or five children, one of whom
is now living at Givet, in the department of the Ardennes.
Mr. L. was fearless at all times, and inimical to despotism even in
the centre of its worshippers. Scindeah had unjustly imprisoned an
Armenian merchant, whose wealth he intended to confiscate for his own
benefit. As the oppressive act was founded on no just grounds, and
application had been made to General Loustaunau for his interposition,
when he found that entreaties were of no avail, “one day,” said he, “I
took fifty of my men, fellows _de bonne volonté_, and, marching strait
to the rajah’s palace at a time when I knew he was in his divan, I
entered, walked up to him, and in a mild, but pretty determined tone,
said, ‘Your highness, be not alarmed, I am come to ask a favour of
you: you must release the Armenian merchant, as I have sworn to set
him free.’ Scindeah saw that I meant not to trifle, and, assuming a
friendly air, he complied with my request. The guards were astounded
at my audacity, but they dared not stir, for I and my men would have
sabred them instantly.”
After having covered himself with glory, as the French express it, he
obtained his congé; and, being resolved to return to France, he
visited some of the English settlements in his way to the place of his
embarkation, where he was most honourably and hospitably treated. He
always spoke of this period as the happiest of his life, and mentioned
the names of some English gentlemen with the highest encomiums and
most pleasing reminiscences.
Having converted what property he could into money, he obtained bills
on France, and set out for his native country. The revolution had
broken out; and, on his arrival, his bills were all paid, but in
assignats; so that in a few weeks he found himself almost penniless.
Of this calamitous part of his history I could gather but few details.
I have heard him say that some branch of the Orleans family assisted
him. Certain it is that he had either money or friends yet left; for,
with the wreck of his property, or by some other means, he established
an iron-foundry near the place of his nativity. He was so close,
however, to the frontiers of Spain, that, during the war with that
country and France, in an incursion of the enemy, all his property was
destroyed.
How he got to Mahon, or for what purpose, I am equally ignorant: but,
embarking from that port, he found his way to Syria, probably
intending to make his way overland to India, there to reclaim his
property. But his intellects must have been already somewhat
disordered: for, when we heard him first spoken of in Palestine, in
1812 or 1813, he was described as a man living almost on the alms of
the Europeans, and generally to be seen with a bible under his arm,
negligent of his person, housed in a hovel, and going, even then, by
the sobriquet of the Prophet.
At the time I am now speaking of, the bare mention of politics or
catastrophes was sure to set him wandering on the prophetic writings,
and then common sense was at an end. But I had known him for twenty
years, when his lucid intervals were only occasionally interrupted by
these hallucinations; and I had seldom met with a man who had such an
independent character, such naturally noble sentiments couched in such
appropriate language, and such an intuitive discernment of what was
suitable in unlooked-for emergencies. He was bold as a lion; and, when
in anger, had the physiognomy and expression of that noble animal. He
had never served in diplomatic situations before his elevation, had
never studied political economy, moral philosophy, literature, or
anything else, that I could find; and yet, in all these, the innate
dictates of his mind responded at once to the call, and he could see
the right and wrong, the _utile et decorum_, the expediency and the
evil, the loveliness and the ugliness of every subject presented to
him. He had a strong memory, and retained many of the passages of the
best French authors by heart. He was handsome in his person, rather
tall, and his demeanour was suitable to his station in life. In a
word, he was born to “achieve greatness.”
General L. had now lived five and twenty years on Lady Hester’s
bounty. His family, consisting of two or three sons and some
daughters, were left with not very bright prospects in France. Lady
Hester Stanhope had at different times employed persons to assist
them, and, to my knowledge, had sent 1000 francs through a merchant’s
hands at Marseilles, besides other sums, of which I have heard her
speak. She also paid for the education of one daughter some years. In
1825, one of the sons, who had by his military services obtained the
rank of captain in Napoleon’s Imperial Guard, being left, by the fall
of that Emperor, in inactivity, resolved to visit Syria, to see his
father.
General L.’s intellects were so far weakened, that nothing which
happened to him personally seemed to affect him, only as it verified
some of his favourite predictions, drawn from texts in the Bible. He
therefore beheld his son’s arrival with indifference, as far as
paternal affection went, but discovered in it other bearings, of
immense importance in the political changes that were at hand. Not so
Lady Hester Stanhope: she knew that the general had a right to the
revenue of a whole village in the Mahratta country, which had been
given to him by Scindeah; and she resolved to furnish Captain L. with
money to enable him to go and recover his father’s possessions.
The captain remained at Dar Jôon for some months: he had his horse,
was lodged in a pavilion in the garden, and treated with every mark of
respect. Restless, hasty in his temper, overbearing, and accustomed to
the blustering manners of a camp, he occasionally got into
difficulties with the natives, both Mahometans and Christians. Not
aware of the necessity of much precaution in shunning checks of
perspiration in hot climates, he one day caught a fever, which almost
brought him to his grave. He recovered, however, and was convalescent,
when his imprudence caused a relapse, and he died. He was buried in
Lady Hester’s garden, where his tomb, ornamented with flowering
shrubs, and entirely shaded by a beautiful arbour, still remains.[18]
The poor father never would believe in his death. “He is not
interred,” he used to say, “but is still alive and on the earth: do
not be grieved about him; in the year 1847 he will join me here. I and
my lady shall then be made young again, and your little daughter is
destined to be my future wife.” The poor old general, it was observed
by us, seemed to have no greater pleasure than watching our daughter
whilst she watered her flowers or fed her _bulbuls_.
The way in which Lady Hester herself sometimes sought to lighten the
weight of the obligations she conferred on the general will serve to
show the delicacy of her feelings. At different periods, several
places had been chosen for his residence, according as he grew tired
of one or the other: for he was a testy old man in some respects, and
seemed to forget how much it was his duty not to put her ladyship to
more trouble and expense than he could help. Once, when she had had a
comfortable cottage fitted up for him in a village called Aynâaty
(from taking in dudgeon something that happened to him), he suddenly
quitted it, and went off to Beyrout. “He went off,” said Lady Hester,
“with no less than five trunks full of clothes and other things, with
two watches bought with the money I had given him, and with a good bag
full of piasters: for he had little occasion to spend, as I sent him
every two days fresh meat of my own killing, flour for his bread when
it was wanting, sugar, tea, coffee――and everything, I may say, except
milk and vegetables. He went to Beyrout, and there lived and talked
away largely and foolishly, and gave out that he would sooner live
with the devil than with such a woman as I was. After a time, his
resources failed him, his friends grew cool, and he returned to
Sayda, where he fastened himself on Monsieur Reynaud, who soon grew
tired of keeping him, and little by little I heard he was reduced to
great straits.” The fact is, he found no friend, except for an
occasional invitation to dinner, and Lady Hester knew he must be in
want; but she knew also, in the state of mind he was in, he would
refuse assistance from her: she therefore made use of an expedient to
furnish him with money.
Sending for one of the Pasha’s Tartars, and putting a bag of gold into
his hand, she told him he was to ride into Sayda, and proceed strait
to the gate of the French khan (where Mr. Loustaunau was), dusty and
sweating, as if from a long journey. There he was to inquire if they
knew anything of a Frenchman, once a general in India; and, after
apparently well ascertaining it was the man he was in search of, the
Tartar was to desire to speak with him, and to say――“Sir, when on my
road from Damascus, a Hindu mussulman on his pilgrimage to Mecca, who
once served under you in India, but is now rich and advanced in years,
learning that you were in these countries, and anxious to testify the
respect which the natives of Scindeah’s territories still retain for
you, has commissioned me to put this into your hands.”――“Having done
so,” added Lady Hester Stanhope, “you are not to give him time to see
what it is, but to ride away.” The vile fellow promised faithfully to
execute his commission, received in advance a recompense for his
trouble, and then rode off with the money, and kept it. But Lady
Hester, who was careful to ascertain, by indirect means, whether a
Tartar had made his appearance at the khan, on learning his perfidy,
caused it to be spread among the Pasha’s and the government Tartars;
and they were so indignant at his little trustworthiness, a quality on
which, from the nature of their employ, they are obliged to value
themselves, that they turned him out of their corps, and he never
dared to show his face again.
To finish what remains to be said of this once shining character, but
now the pensioner of an English woman, he had resided for the last ten
years at a distance from Lady Hester Stanhope’s residence, and they
had not even seen each other for five or six years. “I have been
obliged to keep him at a distance,” said her ladyship, “for the last
ten years, in order that people might not think I had taken care of
him to make him trumpet my greatness: for you don’t know what harm
that man has done me. He used to go about preaching that all the
queens in Christendom were a pack of women of the town, and that I was
the only real queen. He told everybody he would not change situations
with the first prince in Europe; for the day would come when, through
me, he should be greater than any of them.”
FOOTNOTES:
[16] An _ibryk_ is a common earthenware jug with a spout to
it, the usual drinking-vessel of the lower classes.
[17] This Pasha was so afraid, in the midst of all his
power, of being poisoned, that he had the dishes
brought to his table under padlock. When he travelled,
a horseman in his suite had the office assigned him of
carrying the implement that makes such a distinguished
figure in the farce of Pourceaugnac. When he was shaved,
he always had some of his guards standing round the
barber with their pistols cocked, and he himself had a
drawn sabre lying across his lap. Fancy the situation
of a man who, in the midst of these formidable
preparations, is obliged to keep his hand steady.
[18] In this same tomb Lady Hester herself was afterwards
interred.