At the end of his four years with the Dominicans of Rome, Vansleb
went to France, where he was presented by Bosquet, the learned
Bishop of Montpellier, to the minister Colbert, as a man of superior
merits and of great erudition in the oriental languages. Succeeding
Mazarin and Fouquet in the councils of Louis XIV., Colbert aimed to
distinguish his administration by fostering letters, sciences, and
the arts.
The Royal Library, of sixteen thousand volumes at the accession of
the king, contained seventy thousand at the end of his reign--an
increase mainly due to Colbert. At once recognizing the merit of
Vansleb, Colbert charged him with an important Scientific mission. He
was instructed to travel through oriental countries, and especially
to visit Mount Athos, the island of Chio, Aleppo, Mount Sinai,
Nitria, Constantinople, Turkey, Persia, and Baalbec; everywhere
seeking and purchasing Arabian, Turkish, Persian, and Greek books
and manuscripts. He was to make his way to the most remarkable
monasteries for the purpose of obtaining certain ecclesiastical
works; to collect rare medals, statues, and _bas-reliefs_, besides
preparations in botany, natural history, and mineralogy; to give
descriptions of machinery, utensils, costumes, and vestments of
the different nations he saw; to copy inscriptions on monuments,
pillars, obelisks, and tombstones. He will keep aloof--continued his
directions--from political complications, wear such costumes as he
may think proper, and select the route which to him seems best.
The original of these instructions was found only a few years since
among the papers of Vansleb. They bear this singular indorsement
in the handwriting of Colbert himself: "I do not understand these
instructions, more particularly as you proposed Vansleb for a mission
to Ethiopia, which country is not even mentioned. The instructions,
as they stand, might just as well have been given by the French
ambassador at Constantinople."
In point of fact, the instructions had been drawn up by Carcavy, the
royal librarian, a man of great merit. He saw almost insurmountable
obstacles to the success of an Ethiopian mission, and thought it
better to confine its authorization to merely verbal instructions,
leaving it to Vansleb to attempt it or not, as he might find most
advisable.
The dissatisfaction of Colbert was not at first fully appreciated,
but it was doubtless the germ of the neglect with which Vansleb
was afterward treated, and of the coolness and injustice of his
reception when he returned.
Vansleb departed on this, his second journey to the East, in the
spring of 1671, and visited Malta, Cyprus, Aleppo, Damascus, and
a part of Phoenicia. He reached Damietta in March, 1672, after a
journey marked by delays, dangers, storms, and sickness; for oriental
travel was not the comparatively easy and comfortable journeying
of to-day, nor had the brutality and tyranny of eastern officials
toward Christians been rebuked and corrected as they since have
been. Establishing his headquarters at Cairo, Vansleb made numerous
excursions to the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and the various monuments
then so novel, but now so familiar to Europeans, and indeed to
Americans. After renewing his acquaintance with the Patriarch Matthew
de Mir, who had unconsciously been the instrument of his conversion
to Catholicity, Vansleb embarked for Rosetta in May, 1672.
But we do not propose to follow our traveller through all his
wanderings. They were full of novelty for him and for those who,
at that period, read his descriptions of them. In 1673, he visited
Upper Egypt and explored the antiquities of Esneh and Denderah, and
the remains of ancient Thebes at Luxor and Karnak. At Lycopolis,
the Bishop Amba Joannes introduced to him one Muallim Athanarius,
the only man in all Egypt, he said, who spoke the Coptic language.
Vansleben did not converse with him, but flattered himself on having
seen the man with whom the Coptic language was to expire. After
exploring the Thebaide and its grottos, and visiting the ruins of
Enseneh, the column of Marcus Aurelius and the Triumphal Arch, he
returned to Cairo. Of course he had not lost sight of one of the
main objects of his mission, the purchase of rare and valuable works
for the Royal Library. He neglected no opportunity to obtain them,
and up to this period of his journey he had purchased and forwarded
to Paris three hundred and thirty-four volumes, Turkish, Persian, and
Arabic. Compelled to deal with people of all classes, some of them
had spoken of his purchases, and by the time he returned to Cairo it
was reported that the Frank stranger was gathering all the sacred
books in the country for the purpose of sending them away to the
infidels. The Mohammedan laws made it a capital crime for a stranger
to buy, sell, or even have in his possession any of their books,
whether treating of religion or any other subject. To exemplify the
feeling with which they regard the possession of their books by
infidels, (Christians,) M. Champollion Figeac relates that during the
reign of Louis Philippe a number of young Arabs were sent to France
by Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, and among them two sons of the
viceroy. While visiting the Royal Library, M. Champollion took pains
to show one of the young princes the magnificent copy of the Koran
taken from a mosque in Cairo during the French expedition to Egypt.
When he saw what the book was, the young Arab turned away his head,
covering his face with both hands.
Under the circumstances, Vansleb of course understood at once that
he could not remain in Egypt. For two years he had been dealing
in books, and, if arrested, there was evidence enough to take his
life a hundred times. Without losing a day, he at once set out for
Constantinople. Touching at Rhodes and the island of Chio, he went
to Smyrna, where, to his great astonishment, and contrary to his
uniform experience in the East, his letters of introduction and his
credentials were made light of by the resident French consul, who
more than insinuated that he suspected him of being an impostor.
Personally wounded, and annoyed at a circumstance that endangered
his mission and deprived him of the only legal protector to whom he
could have recourse in case of difficulty, Vansleben sought advice
and assistance of the English consul, Paul Ricault. Notwithstanding
his decidedly French name, Ricault was a veritable Englishman, born
in London within the sound of Bow bells. He had been secretary of
the Earl of Winchelsea, and ambassador extraordinary of Charles II.
to Mohammed IV. After serving eleven years as consul of England at
Smyrna, Clarendon appointed him, in 1685, his first secretary for
the provinces of Connaught and Leinster. He was afterward privy
councillor and judge of the Admiralty, and under William III. was
minister resident for the Hanseatic towns. He is the author of a
_History of the Present Condition of the Ottoman Empire_, and other
works of merit. The two scholars Ricault and Vansleb immediately
sympathized, and through Ricault Vansleb renewed the acquaintance of
the ambassador Finch, whom he had met in Florence, and who was then
on his way to Constantinople. Unfortunately for Vansleb, a serious
difficulty just then arose between the two consuls, English and
French, on account of some incivility offered by the latter to the
ambassador on his arrival. Already prepossessed against Vansleben,
through some underhand manoeuvre, Chambon, the French consul, from
that moment became his bitter enemy, alleging as one of the principal
accusations against him his personal intimacy with the enemies
of France. In those days there were no lines of Mediterranean
packetboats, and Vansleb was glad to accept the invitation of the
ambassador to take passage on the man-of-war which was to transport
him and his suite to Constantinople. This added fuel to the flame
of Chambon's resentment, and he thereafter left nothing undone to
injure Vansleb in the East and in France. Vansleb's destination was
perfectly well known, and he had hardly set foot in Constantinople
when he perceived that Smyrna had been heard from. The Marquis de
Nointel was temporarily absent when Vansleb arrived; but the manner
of his reception by those in charge of the ambassador's residence,
and by the merchants of the Company of the Levant, for whom he had
letters, made it plain to him that these people to whom he was a
stranger had already been set against him.
He found lodgings (by no means gratuitous) at the house of a
French apothecary named Chaber, who discoursed eloquently on the
shortcomings of the French embassy, criticising its extravagance, and
its want of consideration for the French merchants of the Levant, who
were heavily taxed to maintain its expensive display.
Vansleb, unfortunately, joined in the conversation, although saying
but little. He afterward discovered that his few words were wrested
to his prejudice. With his experience he should have been more on his
guard, but he could not entirely overcome his native simplicity of
character. _Innocens credit omni verbo._ To add to his annoyances, he
was arrested by a Turkish patrol for wearing his beard and a turban,
thrust into prison, subjected to personal indignities, and barely
escaped the bastinado. Meantime, his salary was in arrears; and as
it was his intention to strike from this point for Ethiopia, it was
necessary that he should start with a full purse. He bridged over the
unavoidable delay by excursions to Broussa and the environs, and a
trip to Chio, in order to witness the celebrated _mastic_ harvest,
which was at that time made the occasion of a religious festival. At
Chio he had made several friends, on his former visit--Dom Georgio,
the curate of the cathedral, Dom Matthew, the vicar-general, and a
Dr. Pepano, who was acquainted with Vansleb's _History of the Church
of Alexandria_. The doctor was enthusiastic as to the rewards he felt
certain must await Vansleb on his return to France, and composed an
acrostic in his honor, which ran thus:
"V irtuti
A lemannicæ
N imiæ
S acer
L udovicus
E xhibebit
B ona
I mmensa
O ptimaque."[106]
"He had not the gift of prophecy," calmly writes Vansleb years
afterward, when in poverty and disgrace. Returning to Constantinople,
Vansleb visited Mitylene and Tenedos.
In January, 1675, he wrote to Colbert that he was in absolute want
on account of the non-payment of his salary. In April, he received
a small remittance of one hundred and fifty francs. A letter from
Carcavy, of April, 1674, received July 20th, announced orders soon
to be issued for the continuance of his mission. But the orders were
as slow in arriving as his salary. Again, on the 20th of March, he
wrote to Colbert, expressing his impatient anxiety to be again at
work, and suggesting various journeys, all of them important, which
he was ready to make--to Trebizond, the Chersonesus, to Persia,
Syria, Mount Lebanon, Baalbec; or he would even return to Egypt,
where he would have the advantage of former experience, and his late
acquisition of the Greek and Turkish languages, which he now spoke
fluently, and where he could now be protected against annoyance by
a passport from the sultan. Meantime, Carcavy had assured Vansleben
that his labors were fully appreciated and praised by Colbert.
Finally, on the 22d of October, our traveller received two letters
from the minister, dated July 4th and August 17th; but the money
orders they contained were not cashed by the Company of the Levant
until the following December.
Writing to Colbert in November, Vansleben says, "And what greater
satisfaction could I have than to start immediately for the country
to which your excellency sends me?" So that some new country was
designated by Colbert in his letter. What was it? It could only
be Ethiopia, according to the original design, and Vansleben's
preparations at the time appear to have been for that direction. In
December, having received two thousand francs, he writes to Colbert
on the 18th that, but for the delay of waiting for a caravan and
the passport of the sultan, he should already have started; that
he expects to depart in January; to pass a month at Aleppo, in
order to see Antioch and the Euphrates; thence to Damascus and the
country of the Druses; thence to Jerusalem; from which he would take
a fresh departure for Egypt, no longer as a Frank traveller but as
an oriental, and there await a favorable occasion to penetrate into
Ethiopia.
And now, just at the moment when a fresh horizon of useful enterprise
was opening before him, when the thick clouds of envy, malevolence,
and misfortune were apparently dispersed, the bolt fell that for ever
shattered his career, forced him back in disgrace, and sent him bowed
down with sorrows and persecution to a premature grave.
What had in the mean time taken place--what reports, complaints,
or insinuations had been brought to Colbert's ear, has never been
clearly ascertained; but a dispatch from him of the thirtieth
September, addressed to Nointel, advised the ambassador that Vansleb
was recalled to Paris. Docile and respectful, he immediately prepared
to obey. Nointel advises Colbert in reply, January 5th, 1676, that
Vansleb was just ready to start on his eastern journey, and had
already expended some money in its preparation.
"Unhesitatingly though, and with apparent satisfaction, he sails
to-morrow for France, _viâ_ Malta."
Forced by storms to stop in the island of Candia, (ancient Crete,)
and also at Milo, Vansleb continued his labors of observation and
research as though his mission had just begun. His return by sea was
slow and tedious, and being moreover detained by illness at Lyons,
he did not reach Paris until the end of April, 1676. It was a long
time before he could obtain audience of the minister, whose reception
of him was freezing and curt. The year wore away in expectation, and
winter had come again before he could obtain a second interview with
Colbert, which was more discouraging than the first.
Meantime, the arrearages due him, as well for his salary as for
expenditures, were not paid, and he was obliged to sell his own
Ethiopian MSS. in order to live.
Finally, a vigorous _placet_ dispatched to Colbert July 15th, 1677,
obtained a third and last interview with the minister.
In this, Colbert, without making any accusation against Vansleb,
intrenched himself in a refusal pure and simple, either to allow him
any indemnity or to pay the amount claimed by him for his advances.
Meantime, the poor monk's brother Dominicans who, on his arrival,
had received him kindly, had evidently been affected by the disgrace
to which an all-powerful minister had consigned the unfortunate
traveller, and Vansleb's relations with them soon ceased.
Discouraged and broken-hearted, he left Paris, and after passing
a few months with Counsellor Langeois at Atys, accepted the
hospitality of M. Texier, the curé of Bourron, a small village near
Fontainebleau. This kind priest's sympathy and affection alone, of
earthly things, softened his rapid descent to the grave; for he only
survived by nine months his arrival at Bourron, where he died June
12th, 1679, at the age of forty-four years.
During his oriental journey, Vansleb had scarcely been free from
fever and ague, and he had contracted in Egypt an ophthalmic
affection that gave him trouble. But neither of these maladies, nor
both of them together, were sufficient to have caused his death. It
seemed a sudden sinking of the moral forces rather than the physical
that made him so sudden a prey to dissolution.
The man Vansleben's enemies represented him to be would not so easily
have succumbed. The liar, the cheat, the libertine they painted would
have had no heart to break.
Thus, in the obscurity of a small village, near the solitude of a
great forest, Vansleb silently descended into the tomb. The earthly
sounds that gathered around his existence had ceased, and the phantom
of his fame was buried with his earthly remains. As his death had
been obscure, so his last resting-place was hidden from the public
gaze. At the peril of his life, he endowed France with the scientific
riches that may still be seen in her royal collections; yet under the
most prodigal of her monarchs he did not receive the recompense of a
winding-sheet, or the poor commemoration of a gravestone.
Even England was more generous, at least in appreciation of his merit.
On Vansleb's return from Egypt, Dr. Bernard, of the University of
Oxford, composed in his honor the following lines:
"Deseris Ægyptum spoliis majoribus auctus,
Quam gens Hebræum sub duce Mose tulit!"[107]
Of Vansleb's merits as a _savant_ there could be no question. Before
he left London, his reputation was already established as an oriental
scholar, although his knowledge at that time was small compared with
what he afterward acquired. Latin, Greek, and Hebrew he knew well,
and he spoke and wrote correctly and fluently the German, French,
Italian, English, Arabic, modern Greek, Turkish, and Ethiopian
languages. His principal published works are,
1. _Conspectus operum Æthiopicorum quæ ad excudendum parata habebat
Wanslebius._ Paris, 1671, in 4to.
2. _Relazione Dello Stato Presente Dell' Egitto._ In Parigi, MDCLXXI.
3. _Nouvelle Relation d'un Voyage fait en Egypte par le P. Vansleb,
R.D., en 1672 et 1673._ Paris, 1677.[108]
4. _Voyage du Caire à Chio, et de Chio à Constantinople, fait de 1673
jusqu'à 1675._
5. _Histoire de l'Eglise d'Alexandrie, fondée par St. Marc, que nous
appelons celle des Jacobites Coptes d'Egypte, écrite au Caire même
en 1672 et 1673. Par le P. J. M. Vansleb, Dominicain du Convent de
la Minerve à Rome._ Paris, 1677.
The works on Egypt and on the Church of Alexandria, it will be
remarked, were published on his return from the east, precisely at
the period of his severest trials. There is quite an interesting
chapter in the history of criticism connected with Vansleb's work
on the Church of Alexandria, a work of great merit, which covered
nearly the same ground as that of a _History of Abyssinia_ written by
Ludolf. This, of course, was, in Ludolf's eyes, only another and a
greater crime added to those of which he had already accused Vansleb.
Although Moreri, Le Grand, Michaud, and Renaudot were all more
or less misled as to Vansleb's personal character, they testify
unanimously as to the positive merit of the work in question, and to
its superiority over that of Ludolf. It is remarkable that Father
Papebrock and his illustrious colleague Bollandus were led astray,
and indeed deceived, by Ludolf. They had confidence in him as a
brother _savant_, but leaned too much upon him. Their error was
naturally shared by the _Journal de Trevoux_, and thence extended to
other Jesuits.
Although Vansleb's works were at first freely used, they were not
freely quoted. Gradually they sank out of sight. Only rare catalogues
chronicled them, and his unpublished MSS. had totally disappeared.
Occasional echoes of his name might, at intervals, be heard in
the sanctuaries of science, and these, rarely repeated during two
centuries, became at last so feeble as no longer to be perceptible.
But sleep is not death, nor is night an eternal eclipse. The day of
reparation was at last about to dawn, and the memory of Vansleb to
arise vindicated from the tomb.
FOOTNOTES:
[106] To the learned German traveller Louis will be generous in
favors, riches, and most excellent gifts.
[107] You bring with you from Egypt richer treasures than the
Hebrews, led by Moses, took away.
[108] The Astor Library has a copy of this work.