Journey to Beyrout--Death of Mrs. K---- --Mr. George Robinson and M.
Guys--The River Damoor--Khaldy--Letter from Lady Hester to Mr.
K.--Lord Prudhoe--Mrs. Moore--Lady Hester’s dislike to be the subject
of occasional poetry--Striking a Turk--Lady Hester’s opinion of Lord
Byron--Arrival of Maximilian Duke of Bavaria--Letter to the Baron de
Busech--Letter to H.R.H. the Duke Maximilian--Adventures of the
Duke--Illness of the Duke’s negro, Wellington--Vexation of His Royal
Highness--Letter to Mr. K., merchant at Beyrout--Letter to Lord
Brougham--Professional visit to Sulyman Pasha’s child--League between
the maids and receivers of stolen goods--Black doses for the Prince’s
suite--Letter from Lady Hester to the Duke of Bavaria on his intended
visit--The Duke leaves Syria.
Tuesday, May 15.--I had been to Sayda to-day, and was within a mile of
Jôon, on my return, when I saw a servant making towards me in
breathless haste. A letter had arrived for me from Beyrout, which Lady
Hester had immediately forwarded to me on the road by this man,
charging him to deliver it with all possible speed, so that it should
reach me before the close of daylight. The reason of all this
extraordinary haste was that I might be enabled to communicate at once
with her, if necessary, concerning its contents; as the vigil of
Wednesday commenced at sunset on Tuesday, from which hour till the
following sunset she could neither see me, nor admit of any message
from me. The reader will remember that on every Wednesday, from sunset
to sunset, her ladyship was invisible.
There was indeed occasion, as it happened, for all this haste. The
letter was from Mr. K., an English merchant at Beyrout, informing me
of the alarming illness of his wife, and begging, in the most pressing
terms, that I would use all expedition to come (as he was pleased to
express himself) and save her.
As the sun was now setting, I desired the servant to tell Lady Hester
that there would not be time in the interval for me to see her, and
that I should be obliged to set off that night to Beyrout. I made my
arrangements accordingly, and started at three o’clock in the morning,
about two hours before daylight, accompanied by a servant. The horses
were all at grass some miles from the house, so that I was compelled
to perform the journey on an ass. It took me eleven hours; and, on my
arrival, I found that Mrs. K. had died in the morning.
There was a very decent inn at Beyrout, kept by one Guiseppe
Paraschivà, a Greek, who gave the most copious repasts that a hungry
traveller can desire to find. Having ordered my dinner, I went to the
French consul’s house, thinking there to meet with the physician who
attended Mrs. K. In the quadrangle of his residence I saw a number of
persons assembled, and an auction going on. I had not made three steps
towards the circle, when a gentleman who knew me advanced in a hurried
manner towards me. “Touch nobody,” said he; “the plague is in the
town: it has taken us by surprise; three persons have died to-day in
the blacksmiths’ street.”[24] I thanked my friend, and, having seen
Monsieur Guys, who confirmed the bad news of the plague and of Mrs.
K.’s death, I hastened away, and went to the English consul’s, Mr.
Moore. He was already in quarantine, and received me at the doorway of
his house, where it happened Lord Prudhoe was then sitting, in the
same predicament.
The funeral of Mrs. K. took place in the evening. Her case had been a
melancholy one: her sufferings must have been excruciating; and the
affection of the husband, anxious to save the life of a wife he loved
to distraction, induced him to allow of certain unskilful efforts for
her relief, no doubt well intended, but assuredly baneful to the
patient. The lady was a German, a model of domestic purity and
affection, and idolized by her husband.
I saw Mr. K. the following day, and condoled with him on his loss. He
was like a distracted man, and lay prostrate on his sofa, vowing
vengeance against the French doctor, whom he denounced as his wife’s
murderer.
Saturday, May 19.--As the Franks had now begun to shut up their
houses, and the report of fresh cases of plague had created some
consternation, I returned to Jôon. The preceding evening, whilst
paying a visit to Monsieur and Madame Guys, he put into my hands a
file of newspapers, a packet of letters, and a parcel, just arrived by
a French merchant-vessel from Marseilles. The parcel contained Mr.
George Robinson’s “Three Years’ Residence in the East,” which the
author himself had kindly forwarded to me from Paris. I had the
pleasure of opening it at the thirty-sixth page of his volume on
Syria, and of reading to my friends, Monsieur and Madame Guys, the
well-deserved tribute paid to their hospitality and distinguished
merits, which excited in them a lively emotion. “We do our best,” said
Monsieur Guys, “to make Beyrout agreeable to such travellers as we are
fortunate enough to become acquainted with; but it is not always that
we meet with such grateful acknowledgments.” Mr. Robinson, in his Arab
dress, was the exact similitude of Burckhardt, alias Shaykh Ibrahim.
He also spoke Arabic with a degree of fluency that made it probable,
had he spent as many years in the East as Mr. Burckhardt, he would
have been able, like him, almost to have passed for a native.
Being long familiar with the road from Beyrout to Sayda, it would be
difficult for me to conjure up such a picture of its rocky and
solitary horrors as that which has been drawn by M. Lamartine.
Features so romantic could have been portrayed only under the sudden
inspiration of novelty and surprise. First impressions are strongly
contrasted with the hackneyed indifference of one who has traversed
the same ground over and over again, and is become familiar with its
peculiarities. Instead, therefore, of describing what would strike the
eye of the new-comer, let us substitute a sketch or two of the actual
manners of the people in the khans or on the high road, as they are
presented to the habitual observer.
I left Beyrout on my return as soon as the city gates were open, which
was before sunrise. The mulberry grounds and olive groves through
which the road lies extend in this direction for four or five miles.
Then the sandy soil ceases, the spurs of Mount Lebanon come down to
within a few hundred yards of the seashore, and sometimes meet the
waves. I was overtaken hereabout by three horsemen, all Christians--
for Christians and Turks are seldom seen riding in company--and one of
this goodly trio was, thus early in the morning, singing with all the
force of his lungs. Osman Chaôosh, who was with me, said, “That man,
who is so merry, is reputed to have the best voice in all Sayda; he
goes very often into the Mountain to the different Emirs’ palaces,
where he remains a fortnight together, and diverts them by his songs.
They say the princes are so fond of him that he sometimes brings away
bags full of money. Then he is invited to weddings, and to merchants’
and agas’ parties, and wherever gaiety or amusement of any kind is
going forward.” By this time they had come up with us, and were
questioning Osman, in a low voice, where I had been, &c. They then
kissed their hands, touched their turbans, and, passing a-head, being
well mounted on good mares, they soon outstripped us, and left us
behind. Osman resumed the conversation--“Did you observe that rider,
with a full face, on the chestnut mare, with a saddle covered with
brocade? well, that is one of the best penmen we have in all the
pashalik. He was a government secretary at Acre, and vast sums of
money passed through his hands; but some stuck to his fingers, and,
being found out, he was bastinadoed and sent by the Pasha to the
_Lemàn_,” (place for convicts) “where he remained some months. He was
not badly off, however, as he did nothing except smoking his pipe all
day. He has now been out a good bit, but is employed again.”--“And is
he well received in society after such an exposure?” I asked.--“Why
not?” replied Osman; “he was not quite clever enough, and he suffered
for it--that’s all.”
We soon after came to a khan, called El Khaldy, where we found the
three horsemen dismounted, and seated under the shed, drinking arrack
and smoking. I made a halt likewise to get something for breakfast.
The khankeeper spread a clean mat on the floor of the estrade, and on
this I sat down. A brown earthenware dish of _leben_, or curdled milk,
was served up with a wooden spoon, and about half a dozen bread-cakes,
in size and substance like pancakes, were placed before me. When I had
eaten this, a pipe and a finjàn of coffee, with a lump of sugar out of
a little provision which Osman had in his saddle-bags (a precaution
necessary in these public-houses, where no such luxury is found),
finished my temperate meal. The ex-convict and the singer were treated
as great gentry, which I could easily observe by the attention the
master paid them. Whilst I was smoking my pipe, another horseman
arrived with a groom on foot. The groom tied up the horse in front of
the khan, took off the saddle-bags, and, from a napkin, which he
spread on the mat where his master had been littered down like myself,
he pulled out bread, cheese, and a paper of _halâwy_ or _nougat_, as
the French call it. Then, having unstrapped the nosebag of corn, he
tied it over the horse’s head, and came and seated himself opposite
his master, and both began to eat with sharp appetites, master and
servant without any distinction. The landlord brought a small bottle
with a spout to it, full of arrack, and a tumbler, which were set down
without a word being spoken, showing he was well acquainted with his
guests’ taste. The gentleman--as persons always do in the
East--invited me to join him; and, on my thanking him, he did the same
to a poor peasant who was seated near us. Good breeding among them
requires that, when they eat, they should ask those present to do the
same; but nobody ever thinks of accepting the invitation, unless
pressed upon him in a manner which is understood to preclude a
refusal. I however accepted a bit of halâwy, not to appear uncivil,
upon which the traveller asked me if we had any such sweetmeat in my
country. I declared we had none more to my taste, although our
confectioners’ shops possessed a great variety. He remarked that it
was an excellent thing on the road wherewith to stay the appetite, and
assured me that Haroun el Raschid himself, if I had ever heard of that
caliph, did not disdain it. “Oh!” replied I, “we have many stories of
the Caliph Haroun.”--“Have you?” cried he: “then, if you will give me
leave, I will add one more to your store.[25]
“Hakem was one of the familiar friends of the Commander of the
Faithful, Haroun el Raschid. The caliph said to him one day, ‘Hakem, I
mean to hunt to-morrow, thou must go with me.’--‘Most willingly,’
answered Hakem. He went home and said to his wife, ‘The caliph has
ordered me to go a hunting with him to-morrow, but really I cannot; I
am accustomed to dine early, and the caliph never takes his dinner
before noon: I shall die of hunger. Faith, I will not go.’--‘God
forbid!’ said the wife: ‘you do not mean to say you will disobey the
caliph’s order?’--‘But what am I to do?’ said Hakem; ‘must I die of
hunger?’--‘No,’ quoth the wife; ‘you have nothing to do but to buy a
paper of halâwy, which you can put in the folds of your turban, and so
eat a bit every now and then whilst you are waiting for the caliph’s
dinner time, and then you will dine with him.’--‘Upon my word,’ said
Hakem, ‘that’s an excellent idea.’ The next day Hakem bought a paper
of halâwy, stuck it into his turban, and went to join the caliph. As
they were riding along, Haroun turned round, and looking at Hakem,
spied out in the folds of his turban, rolled round his head, the paper
in which the halâwy was wrapped. He called to his Vizir Giaffer. ‘What
is your pleasure, Commander of the Faithful?’ said the Vizir.--‘Do you
see,’ said the caliph, ‘the paper of halâwy that Hakem has stuck in
his turban? By the Prophet, I’ll have some fun with him: he shall not
eat a bit of it.’ They went on for a while talking, until the caliph,
pretending that he saw some game, spurred on his mule as if to pursue
it. Hakem raised his hand up to his turban, took a bit of halâwy out
of it, and put it into his mouth. The same moment, the caliph, turning
back to him, cried out, ‘Hakem!’ Hakem spit out the halâwy, and
replied:--‘Please your Highness!’--‘The mule,’ said Haroun, ‘goes very
badly; I can’t think what is the matter with her.’--‘I dare say the
groom has fed her too much,’ replied Hakem submissively; ‘her guts are
grumbling.’ They went on again, and the caliph again took the lead.
Hakem thought the opportunity favourable, took out another bit of
halâwy, and whipped it slily into his mouth, when Haroun suddenly
turned round, crying ‘Hakem! Hakem!’--‘What is your Highness’s will?’
said Hakem, again dropping the halâwy. ‘I tell you,’ rejoined the
caliph, ‘that this mule is a vile beast: I wonder what the devil it is
that troubles her!’--‘Commander of the Faithful,’ said Hakem,
‘to-morrow the farrier shall look at her, and see what ails her. I
dare say it is nothing.’ A few moments elapsed, and Hakem said to
himself, ‘Am I a farrier, that that fool should bore me with his
questions every moment? mule! mule! I wish to God the mule’s four feet
were in the master’s belly!’
“Shortly after, the caliph pushed forward again. Hakem cautiously
carried his hand to the halâwy, and made another trial; but, before he
had time to put it into his mouth, the caliph rode up to him, crying
out, ‘Hakem! Hakem! Hakem!’--‘Oh Lord,’ said Hakem, ‘what a wretched
day for me! nothing but Hakem, Hakem! What folly is this!’--‘I think
the farrier must have pricked the mule’s foot,’ said Haroun: ‘don’t
you see that she is lame?’--‘My lord,’ said Hakem, ‘to-morrow we will
take her shoe off; the farrier shall give her another shoe, and,
please God, we shall cure her.’
“Just then a caravan came along the road on its way from Persia. One
of the merchants approached the caliph, prostrated himself before him,
and presented him with several objects of value, as also with a young
slave of incomparable beauty and of a lovely figure, remarkable for
the charms of her person, with taper waist and swelling hips, eyes
like an antelope’s, and a mouth like Solomon’s seal. She had cost the
merchant a hundred thousand denàrs. When Haroun saw her, he was
charmed at her aspect, and became at once passionately enamoured of
her. He immediately gave orders to turn back to Bagdad, and said to
Hakem, ‘Take that young creature with you, and make haste with her to
the city. Get down at the palace--go up to the Pavilion--put it in
order--uncover the furniture, set out the table--fill the bottles--and
look that nothing is wanting.’ Hakem hastened on, and executed his
commission. The caliph soon after arrived, surrounded by his _cortège_
of vizirs, emirs, and courtiers. He entered the Pavilion, and
dismissed his suite. Going into the saloon, where the young slave
awaited him, he said to Hakem, ‘Remain outside the door of the saloon;
stir not a single step from it; and see that the Princess Zobëide does
not surprise us.’--‘I understand,’ said Hakem. ‘A thousand times
obedience to the orders of God and to the Commander of the Faithful.’
“The caliph sat down to table with the young slave: they ate, and then
went into another room, where wines and dessert were prepared. Haroun
had just taken a seat, had filled his glass, and had got it to his
mouth, when there was a knock at the door. ‘As sure as fate,’ said the
caliph, ‘here is the Princess Zobëide.’ He rose in a hurry, put away
the wine and everything that was on the table, hid the young lady in a
closet, and opened the door of the pavilion, where he finds Hakem. ‘Is
the Princess Zobëide coming?’ said he to him. ‘No, my lord,’ said
Hakem: ‘but I fancied you might be uneasy about your mule. I have
questioned the groom, and, true enough, he had overfed her: the
beast’s stomach was crammed. To-morrow we will have her bled, and all
will be right again.’--‘Don’t trouble thyself about the mule,’ said
the caliph; ‘I want none of thy impertinent stories now. Remain at thy
post, and, if thou hearest the Princess Zobëide coming, let me
know.’--‘Your highness shall be obeyed,’ replied Hakem.
“Haroun re-entered the apartment, fetched the beautiful slave out of
the closet, and placed everything on the table as before. He had
hardly done, when another knock was heard. ‘A curse on it! there is
Zobëide,’ cries the caliph. He hides the slave in the closet, shuffles
off the wine and dessert, and runs to the door. There he sees Hakem.
‘Well,’ says he, ‘what did you knock for?’--‘Indeed, Commander of the
Faithful,’ replied Hakem, ‘I can’t help thinking about that mule. I
have again interrogated the farrier, and he pretends there is nothing
the matter with her, but that she has stood too long without work in
the stable, and that’s the reason why she was a little lazy when you
rode her to-day: otherwise she is very well?--‘To the devil with ye
both--thee and the mule!’ said Haroun; ‘didn’t I tell thee I would
have none of thy impertinence? Stand where I told thee to remain, and
take care that Zobëide does not catch us; for, if she did, this day
would be a bad one for thee.’--‘May my head answer for my vigilance,’
said Hakem.
“Again the caliph goes in, and a third time lets out the young slave,
replenishes the table, fills a goblet with wine, and carries it to his
lips. Suddenly he hears a clatter on the terrace: ‘This time,’ said
he, ‘there is Zobëide, sure enough.’ He pushes the slave into her
hiding-place, removes the fruit and the wine, and burns some pastils
to drive away the smell. He hastens up to the terrace of the pavilion,
finds nobody but Hakem there, and says to him ‘Was that Zobëide?--where
is she?--is she coming?’--‘No, no, Commander of the Faithful,’ said
Hakem; ‘the princess is not here; but I saw the mule making a clatter
with her feet, just as I did myself, and I am really quite
uncomfortable about her; I was afraid she had the colic, and I feel
quite alarmed.’--‘I wish to God thou may’st have the colic all thy
life, cursed fool that thou art! Out with thee, and let me never see
thy face again! If thou ever presumest to come into my presence again,
I will have thee hanged.’ Hakem went home and told his wife that the
caliph had dismissed him, and had forbidden him ever to show his face
at court again. He remained some time in his house, until he thought
that the caliph’s anger had subsided. He then said to his wife, ‘Go to
the palace, kiss Zobëide’s hand; tell her that the caliph is angry
with me, and beg her to intercede with him for me.’ The wife fulfilled
his commission. The Princess Zobëide interceded for Hakem, and the
caliph pardoned him.”
My narrator, after receiving my thanks for his entertaining story,
took his leave, mounted his horse, and rode off. The conversation now
became general, and turned on the river Damôor, which empties itself
into the sea midway between Beyrout and Sayda, and often swells, from
the rains and the melting of the snows in the mountain, so as to
become exceedingly dangerous to ford, as there is no bridge over it.
“What a fool the Jew was,” cried one, “to lose his life for a few
piasters! The guides offered to take him across for a _khyréah_--four
of them, two at the head and two at the flanks of his mule; but he
must needs haggle, and would give no more than ten piasters; and,
seeing one of the Pasha’s estafettes get across safe, he fancied he
could do the same: but they know the ford as well as the guides; for
they traverse it daily. So the Jew was carried off, and neither he nor
his mule were ever seen afterwards.”--“It was just the same,” said a
second speaker, “with the peasant from Medjdeloony who was going to
buy wheat at Beyrout: for you know, gentlemen, a Greek vessel had
arrived from Tarsûs with very good corn, at four and a half piasters
the _roop_. Well, he too was rash enough to suppose he could get
across alone, and they only asked him five piasters--only a fourth of
what they wanted of the Jew. But the waters were up to his armpits;
and, his foot slipping just in the deepest part, he fell, and, after a
few struggles, was carried out to sea. All the peasants of the
village, which, you know, is close by where the English queen lives,
came down to watch if the body was cast ashore: for they say he had
above a thousand piasters in his girdle from different poor families
who had commissioned him to buy for them: and the poor creatures were
naturally anxious to recover it.”
Having smoked my pipe, I mounted my ass, crossed the Damôor in safety,
and halted again at _Nebby Yuness_, a santon’s, where there are two
comfortable rooms for travellers, attached to the shrine. Here I
smoked another pipe, heard a long string of compliments and grateful
expressions from the _imàm_ (who lived there to show the shrine to
pilgrims), in return for the donations which Lady Hester sent
occasionally to the shrine, and which he pocketed. I remounted,
struck off at _Rumelly_ from the high road into the mountain by a
cross country path, and at about five o’clock reached Jôon.
_Khaldy_, of which mention was made above, is a spot which has been
too much neglected by travellers; and it would be well if some one,
who had leisure and ability for such researches, would pass a day or
two there, to make an accurate examination, and to take drawings of
the numberless sarcophagi which lie about on the ground, or are hewn
in the solid rock. Many of them have bas-reliefs on them; and, as such
a mass of tombs must necessarily imply the former vicinity of some
ancient city, diligent research might lead to the discovery of
historical antiquities in the neighbourhood.
There is a day in the year, in the month of June or July, I now forget
which, when hundreds of Christians resort to this spot from Beyrout,
Sayda, and the villages of Mount Lebanon, for the celebration of a
saint’s festival; and a part of the holiday consists in washing
themselves in the sea. The craniologist might have a fine field for
study in beholding a hundred bare heads at the same time around him. I
happened once to ride through Khaldy on that very saint’s day, and
never was I so struck with anything as with the sight of countless
shaved heads, almost all having a conical shape, quite unlike European
heads. But, besides this, a stranger would see much merry-making,
dancing, drinking, and many mountain female dresses united here, which
he would have to seek for through twenty districts at any other time.
Monsieur Las Cases has a painting of this spot, which may, or might
once, be seen at the _Gobelins_ manufactory at Paris, of which
establishment he was director some years ago, or else in Monsieur
Denon’s collection. It is one of those exaggerated fancy paintings
which artists are never pardonable for making, when they are intended
to be shown as faithful copies; because, like certain historical
novels, they lend a false colouring to facts and realities. There are
other untruths besides those which are spoken or written; and these
undoubtedly may be classed amongst the most reprehensible. I often
regretted that my numerous occupations prevented me from wandering
over this interesting field of inquiry.
Sunday, May 20.--I gave Lady Hester an account of the tragical end of
poor Mrs. K., which induced her to write a letter of consolation to
the afflicted widower, of whom, though she had never seen him, she was
a sincere well-wisher. This is a copy of it:--
_To Mr. K., merchant at Beyrout._
Jôon, May 20, 1838.
Sir,
Nearly a year ago I had commissioned _Mohadýn_--Mr.
Lancaster’s idle and talkative _ci-devant_ young servant--to
felicitate you upon your marriage: but now the task of
administering consolation for the late sad event devolves
upon me. Mrs. K.’s conduct, from the first, had made a
strong impression upon my mind. Young and handsome, as she
was, to have left her country to follow you, argued her to
be of no common mould. Avoiding to be detrimental to your
interests, and giving up the empty homage, which vanity
would have demanded with most women, that you should have
left your affairs to accompany her--above considering what
scandal might set afloat in the world--she followed the
dictates of her own heart, and relied upon your honour: a
circumstance, which, in the annals of your life, ought not
to be forgotten.
That you should be in despair at the loss of such a woman is
but too natural: but you should consider, at the same time,
that you have enjoyed perhaps in this one year more
happiness than falls to the share of many, even during the
course of their lives. Thank God for it! and do not, by
despondency, displease the Omnipotent who has thus favoured
you, or allow that amiable creature in other regions, from
which she is perhaps still watching over you, to witness
your despair. I have heard from one who knows you that you
are of a manly character. Without making any sacrifice of
those feelings which belong to energetic people only, make
use of that energy and good sense to palliate your griefs;
and bow with resignation to the will of the Almighty. I am
quite against persons endeavouring to drive away sorrow by
hurry or dissipation: cool reflection can alone bring some
balm to the soul.
I remain, sir, &c.
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
PS.--In the present state of your mind, I will not allow
you to give me any answer. But I shall keep my eye upon
you; and, if you are unheeding of my advice, I shall put
myself into one of my great passions, which even exceed
those which I understand you sometimes fall into, but
which enhance your character in my estimation. For the
cold-heartedness of men of the present generation is nearly
death to me.
* * * * *
After this letter was written, Lady Hester talked about Lord Prudhoe
and Colonel Davidson, who was also staying at the inn at Beyrout, and
whose father, Lady Hester said, was a man of some note in her time.
“Did you make acquaintance with them?” she asked: I replied, “No; for
according to English custom, Englishmen, even in lands so remote from
home, maintain their strange reserve, and carry their looks of
distrust with them wherever they go. The ‘Who are you, I wonder?--
‘shall I degrade myself in speaking to you?’ seems to be ever
uppermost in their thoughts.” She then spoke of Mrs. Moore, the lady
of the British consul, whom she eulogized greatly. “That is one of the
few women I must like,” said Lady Hester; “indeed it is my duty to do
so, and, when next you go to Beyrout, you must tell her so: but you
don’t know the reason, nor does she. What do you think of her,
doctor?” I answered, “It appears to me that M. Lamartine, had he known
her, would have felt the inspiration which he caught so readily in the
poetic land of the East:--he has celebrated beauty less remarkable
than hers.”
“And so I dare say you have supplied the omission,” observed Lady
Hester. “I have attempted to do so in a very bungling way,” replied I.
“Well,” said she, “never mind; let me hear what you have written.” So
I drew out a few verses, which I had pencilled at the inn at Beyrout
immediately after I had the honour of seeing that lady, and read them.
“They are not so bad,” observed Lady Hester; “but that was not what
you went to Beyrout for.”
The subject carried her back to past times, and she said--“I have made
it a rule all my life, from the moment I came into the great world,
never to suffer verses to be written about me by anybody. If I had
liked the thing, I might have had thousands of poets to celebrate my
praises in all manner of ways; but there is nothing I think so
ridiculous. Look at the Duchess of Devonshire, with every day ‘A copy
of verses on her taking a walk’--‘An impromptu on her having a
headache’--and all such nonsense: I detest it.”
This brought to my mind a circumstance which occurred in the early
part of our travels. I had written a small poem, in which a few lines,
eulogistic of herself, were introduced; and one day I read it to her.
After I had finished, she said, “You know, doctor, this will only do
to show people in private; and, if ever you dare to put my name to any
published poetry, I’ll take measures to make you heartily repent of
it.”
Lady Hester, however, was not insensible to that species of praise
which rests on the application of a passage of some classic author, to
illustrate one character by its resemblance to that of another already
stamped with celebrity. Thus she was greatly pleased when Mr. Pitt, in
reading Gray’s fragment of the tragedy of Agrippina aloud, and in
coming to some lines in which he recognized a great similarity to her
language, cried out--“Why, Hester, that’s you; here you are--just like
you!” then, reading on a little farther--“Here you are again scolding
him!” meaning, as Lady Hester told me at the time, that it was just
like her, scolding Lord Mahon.
Tuesday, May 22.--I had struck a Turk, one of the servants, with a
stick over his shoulders; but, in so doing, I forgot the penalty
attached to striking a Mussulman. Formerly such an act, done by a
Christian hand, was punished with death, or the alternative of
becoming a renegado of one’s faith. Even now the old Mussulman
servants muttered threats against me, as I was told, and I really
think would have done me harm, if they could. For all Lady Hester’s
power hardly went farther than to have her people punished by the
instrumentality of another Turk; but the moment I thought proper to
chastise a fellow’s insolence with my own hand, she did not hesitate
to tell me that I must be wary how I repeated it again; assuring me
that a blow from a Christian never could be pardoned by them.
Thursday, May 24.--In reading the newspapers, Lord Byron’s name
occurred. “I think,” said Lady Hester, “he was a strange character:
his generosity was for a motive, his avarice for a motive: one time he
was mopish, and nobody was to speak to him; another, he was for being
jocular with everybody. Then he was a sort of Don Quixote fighting
with the police for a woman of the town; and then he wanted to make
himself something great. But when he allowed himself to be bullied by
the Albanians, it was all over with him; you must not show any fear
with them. At Athens, I saw nothing in him but a well-bred man, like
many others: for, as for poetry, it is easy enough to write verses;
and as for the thoughts, who knows where he got them? Many a one picks
up some old book that nobody knows anything about, and gets his ideas
out of it. He had a great deal of vice in his looks--his eyes set
close together, and a contracted brow, so”--(imitating it). “Oh, Lord!
I am sure he was not a liberal man, whatever else he might be. The
only good thing about his looks was this part,” (drawing her hand
under the cheek down the front of her neck), “and the curl on his
forehead.”
Saturday, May 26.--About eleven at night, Lady Hester went into the
bath, previous to which I passed two or three hours with her. The
conversation ran on the arrival of some Europeans at Sayda, who, by
the report of a servant returning from the town, had lost two of their
number by the plague, and, in consequence, had been put into
quarantine at Sheemaôony, the Turkish mausoleum spoken of in a former
page, about a quarter of a mile from the city gate. Lady Hester had
heard of their distressed situation about four o’clock in the
afternoon, it being said they were pilgrims who had applied for
permission to be lodged at Dayr el Mkhallas, the monastery at Jôon,
which had been acceded to by the monks but forbidden by the health
officers, owing to a foul bill of health they brought with them.
Subsequently it was given out that they were poor Germans; and she,
with her accustomed humanity, thinking they might be in want of some
little comforts, had made up a couple of baskets of violet and rose
syrups, capillaire, lemons, &c., and despatched a man with a note, in
these words:--“The humble offering of Lady Hester Stanhope to the sick
Germans, with her request that they will make known their wants to
her, whether for medicines, or for whatever they may need.”
The servant had hardly set off, when an express arrived with a letter
to her ladyship from one of the strangers, to the effect that, one of
the party being ill, the writer requested she would be kind enough to
send down her doctor. It was signed Charles Baron de Busech, Knight of
Malta. On asking me whether I was afraid of the plague, I answered,
“Yes; and as it appeared they were men of rank, and could not fail of
obtaining medical advice from Sayda, where there were four or five
army surgeons, and two or three physicians, I thought it best not to
go until more clear information had been obtained respecting them.”
Lady Hester approved of this, and wrote the following reply:--
_To the Baron Charles de Busech, Knight of Malta, in
quarantine on the seashore, Sayda._
Jôon, May 26, 1838.
Sir Baron,
Although I myself have no fear of the plague, or of persons
infected with it, almost all the Franks have. The physician
who is with me happens to be of the number; therefore, it
does not depend on me to cure people of what I consider
prejudices. Our days are numbered, and everything is in the
hands of God.
Your letter is without a date, and comes from I know not
where. At the moment that I received it I had sent a servant
with a few cooling syrups to some sick Germans, guarded by a
ring of soldiers outside of the town, of whose names and
class in life I am ignorant, although the peasants give out
that there are some of very high quality among them: for I
feared that, in a strange country, and thus surrounded by
fever or perhaps plague, they would not be able to procure
the drinks necessary in such maladies. I hope not to have
offended any one, although I have made a blundering
business, not knowing who I addressed myself to. But, having
understood that they had yesterday demanded an asylum at
Dayr Mkhallas, which had been refused them, I was uneasy on
their account.
I have ordered my purveyor at Sayda, Captain Hassan Logmagi,
to come up to-morrow, that I may get a right understanding
in this confused affair, and may see if it is in my power,
by any trifling service, to be useful to them. Allow me to
remark that, if, in any case, symptoms of plague, or even of
the ardent fevers of the country, manifest themselves, the
Frank doctors understand but little about it. The barbers of
the country are those who have the most knowledge on the
subject.
This letter goes by the servant, who has in charge the
basket of syrups, and whom I had called back when about ten
minutes on his road.
H. L. STANHOPE.
* * * * *
The servant was despatched, and many conjectures were formed as to who
the Baron de Busech could be. The reader will say that it mattered
little who he was, and that humanity dictated, when a sick person
demanded assistance, to go without delay and afford it. This, in
common cases, no doubt was what I or any other medical practitioner
should feel it his duty to do; but, where Lady Hester was concerned,
the ordinary rules of life would not hold good. I at once considered
what a warfare would ensue between her ladyship and myself on the
treatment to be followed (she always assuming the right of
dictation); and I thought it best to say I was afraid of the plague:
for, although I felt little difficulty in giving way to Lady Hester’s
opinion on other matters in discussion between us of every possible
kind, it was different where the treatment of the sick was concerned;
for there the case became serious, and life and death were in the
balance.
Lady Hester made this, my refusal, a pretext for a long lecture, which
she delivered in a mild tone, but mixed with the self-boasting common
to her. Her reasoning was indisputably sound, but she did not know the
motive that guided me.
Sunday, May 27.--Her ladyship’s letter to the baron was taken to
Logmagi at Sayda, who went immediately and delivered it to that
gentleman, and, according to the orders sent to him, offered his
services and those of her ladyship to all the party. He then came up
to the Dar, and informed her that the strangers were several in
number, Germans of distinction, and delivered a letter to her from one
of them. It was couched in courtly language, to thank her for her
attention to them. It repeated the request that she would let her
doctor come down, and was signed Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria.
As Beyrout was closed, owing to the plague, and the Sayda bakers never
make any bread but flat cakes, flaky and unpalateable, Lady Hester
ordered, as a first step for their comfort, a baking of forty or fifty
loaves, about the size of twopenny loaves: and this supply was
continued to the duke and his suite during the whole time they
remained. She sent tea and a teapot, rum, brandy, and such little
things as she knew could not be procured in the town. These articles
were accompanied by a letter, as follows:--
_To H.R.H. Duke Maximilian of Bavaria._
Jôon, May 27, 1838.
Highness,
I have been but too much flattered by the goodness with
which you were pleased to look on the liberty I have already
taken: it is a proof of your greatness as well as of your
condescension. Dr. M. has made up his mind to present
himself to your highness; but perhaps, on a first visit, he
will not say what I will presume to do.
In the first place, the air of the spot where chance has put
you is bad. There is danger of getting a fever, unless you
wrap yourself up well as the evening closes in, and take, in
going to bed, a little brandy and water, with sugar in it,
instead of cooling things: but what is best of all is a
little rum, to prevent the circulation from becoming languid
from the damp, and to keep up perspiration. Medical books
say nothing of this, nor, generally speaking, have doctors
much knowledge about it: but I have acquired my information
from people who have never been attacked with fever,
although often exposed, from their occupations, to sun and
fatigue. The Germans (who, according to the traditions of
the ancient Arabians, are of exceeding high race), like the
kings, their ancestors, are not brought up idlers:
therefore, it seems much more reasonable to infer that, if
they follow the practice of the laborious, it will suit them
better than the system pursued by indolent beings, who lead
a kind of false existence, and whose complaints are often
imaginary or the consequence of their own prejudices. In
fevers of the country one cannot drink too much of cooling
things, or of cold water: for if, during one or two days
previous to trying any remedies intended to excite the
circulation, refreshing beverages are not given, internal
inflammation comes on, which carries off a man in a few
hours. Bleeding is almost never to be feared in this
country.
Pardon me for having thus made myself a doctor; but it is
necessary that your highness should have some insight into
what is most necessary to observe in a climate which is a
very wholesome one, if a person knows how to accustom
himself to it.
H. L. STANHOPE.
* * * * *
The letter being sent off, I mounted, and rode down with the view of
presenting myself to the prince. I have already described the
Shemaôony, where he was encamped, as a vaulted building covering the
tombs of some pashas of former days, and having an arcade of about
thirty feet square, where devout pilgrims, who visited the tombs,
might pray, eat, and sleep. The sand of the seashore reaches to its
base, and behind is a lane running through gardens, overshadowed with
sycamores, eastern lilac trees, vines, banana plants, orange-trees,
&c. The prince’s tents were fixed some in front and some in rear of
the building, and the platform of the arcade was given up to the
servants. The quarantine guards had their tents in the foreground, at
a convenient distance, and sentries at the four angles prescribed the
bounds out of which the travellers were not to stir, and within which
nobody from without was to intrude.
As soon as I alighted from my horse, Baron de Busech made his
appearance, and, advancing to the boundary, told me the prince was
gone with Khosrô Effendi, the government secretary, and a file of
soldiers, to look at a villa not far off, where, if possible, he might
be somewhat better accommodated than in the broiling spot they were
then occupying. The baron took the opportunity of the duke’s absence
to inform me of the state of his own health. He was suffering from an
indisposition, light, indeed, but alarming in his present situation.
The history of the party was as follows:--
The Duke of Bavaria, prince of the blood royal, and brother-in-law to
the reigning monarch, a young man, in size and appearance something
like the Duke of Orleans, had left Europe for Egypt, had crossed the
desert to Syria, and had visited Jerusalem. The plague was in the holy
city; and on quitting it for Nazareth, the duke’s physician, a German
of six and twenty, fell ill and died in two or three days, whilst at
the same time a negro, the duke’s Mameluke, was attacked with symptoms
similar to those that had carried off the doctor. The duke and his
suite quitted Nazareth precipitately, and the monks of the monastery
there caused the effects of the deceased to be burnt, considering his
case one of plague. On reaching Sayda, the party, having a foul bill
of health, were stopped, and put under quarantine. It consisted of his
Royal Highness Duke Maximilian; of Charles Baron de Busech, and his
brother, Baron Frederick; of the Count Wilsensheim, one of his
Imperial Majesty’s chamberlains, and consul-general from his Holiness
the Pope at Ancona; of the Chevalier Heusler; Captain Heugler of the
Bavarian guards; Mr. Meyer, painter; Mr. Petzmeyer, an accomplished
musician; with servants, to the number of fifteen or sixteen persons.
In about half an hour the duke arrived, and with great condescension
conversed with me for some time. He was much annoyed at the awkward
situation in which he found himself, expressed great obligations to
Lady Hester, and begged me to do what I could for the baron’s
complaint. The interview over, I remounted my horse, and returned to
Jôon, to send down medicines, and to give Lady Hester an account of my
visit.
Tuesday, May 29.--I went down again. This time I was called upon to
decide whether the duke’s black Mameluke had the plague or not. It may
be conceived what agitation the duke himself was in; for, if the case
was one of plague, in addition to the danger he ran of being himself
infected, he would be subjected, perhaps, to a month’s quarantine. I
had not been able to see the black on my previous visit; for he was in
a tent behind the building; and, being too weak to walk to where I
was, none of the servants were willing to lead him. A Turk, therefore,
was hired for a pecuniary compensation to attend on him,[26] and he
now led him, tottering and debilitated by sickness, to the exterior of
the tents, under some trees, where a tent was fixed for him. There the
poor fellow could lie and inhale the breezes of that blue sea, over
which he never was to sail again; there he might have the view of
travellers passing and repassing, and, if his thoughts were not
disturbed by delirium, might find some solace from the novelty of the
scene.
As I had declared my inability, from the distance at which I lived, to
undertake the black’s cure, the duke had engaged one of the regimental
surgeons from Sayda. The poor patient was conducted out, and with a
glistening eye, furred lips, and a total inattention to objects around
him, was half led and half supported to the spot destined for him. He
fell on his mattress, and, after he had lain a minute or two, I spoke
to him in English. At the sound of his mother tongue, he raised his
head. It must be mentioned that his situation had something peculiarly
distressing in it. Born in New York, a free black, he had at the age
of fifteen accompanied a Dutch merchant to Havre, Paris, Antwerp, and
Frankfort. There the duke, who one day caught sight of him and was
taken with his fine countenance and person, offered him advantageous
terms to come and live with him; which, with the consent of his first
master, he did. The duke dressed him as a Mameluke, and (from being as
handsome a black as could be seen, even now in sickness) his good
disposition, coupled with his appearance, made him a favourite. He
accompanied his royal highness in his travels. Having picked up a
little German, all went on very well so long as his health was good;
but when sickness overtook him, and his supposed malady made him an
object of terror to everybody, he had much difficulty in explaining
his wants. Judge, then, of the electrical effect that the sound of
English must have had on him. He was called Wellington.
“Wellington,” said I, “how do you do? Take courage, my good fellow; I
am come to see if I can be of any use to you.” He stared for some time
before he could recover himself, but at last he answered, “Blessings
on you then, sir, for I am much in want of somebody to speak to. I am
very ill, and nobody can understand me. I want a clean shirt, and they
say I can’t have one washed: now, that I won’t believe; and I wish you
would tell somebody to send a washerwoman to me.” I assured him that
nobody was to blame. I endeavoured to make him understand how he was
situated; and, after comforting him awhile, told him I was desirous of
examining his swellings. I had never seen a plague-swelling but once,
and that twenty years before: so that my evidence could only be
negative proof of the nonexistence of that disease. His attendant
placed him in a favourable position, and, at the distance of five
feet from him, I inspected it as well I could: it was as big, taking
its outer border, as the back of a small hand, and seemingly angular.
There was much stupor, into which he fell the moment I ceased to speak
to him. His skin was dry, his tongue black, his head ran round if he
raised it from the pillow; he had great thirst, great debility, and no
appetite. These concomitant circumstances made it probable that the
swelling was pestilential; and the surgeon of the regiment, who was
with me, and who had seen many cases of plague, was of that opinion.
When I returned to the duke, who was waiting for me with the
government secretary, and M. Lapi, the Austrian referendary, I told
them I must decline saying it was not the plague. The duke was vexed;
for I believe at that moment he would have given half his dukedom, and
me a ribbon to my button-hole, to be out of his unpleasant situation;
but I composed his mind as much as possible, by assuring him that,
even if it were plague, neither he nor his suite now ran any risk of
taking it: since, at such an advanced period of the spring, experience
had shown that the contagion, under common precaution, was rarely
propagated. Still the duke betrayed great anxiety, by his eagerness to
obtain a positive denial from me of its being the plague. “It is
nothing but a syphilitic case--I am sure you think so--do tell the
quarantine inspector so”--and many expressions of that sort fell from
his mouth; but I could not conscientiously speak otherwise than I had
done, as too much responsibility for the safety of the community
rested upon it.
I requested that a cabin of branches might be made over Wellington’s
tent, to keep the burning sun out; and recommended such little
comforts as his case seemed to require. It was agreed that the medical
treatment should be the same as in malignant fever, and I then
returned to Jôon.
Wednesday, May 30.--I did not see Lady Hester until after sunset. Poor
Wellington’s situation excited in her much sympathy, and the duke’s
still more. She treated my opinion lightly, and considered his
highness hardly dealt with. She wrote a letter to that effect, and
gave her own view of the subject, which was certainly entitled to much
consideration, from her having the conviction that she had had the
plague herself many years before. Plague is generally sporadic the
first year of its appearance, little contagious, and passes almost
unobserved, under the denomination of _humma_, or malignant fever: it
is in the second year that its ravages become terrible.[27]
Thursday, May 3.--Provisions were sent down to the duke and his party,
and Lady Hester was quite busy in providing for, and anticipating
their wants. M. Lapi came up at her request, to give her some
information respecting the duke and his suite.
Friday, June 1.--This day a messenger came from Beyrout with a file of
newspapers up to April 15th. In one of them (April 12th), appeared a
paragraph regarding Lady Hester’s affairs. M. Guys wrote me word that
he was still prevented from setting off to Aleppo, owing to the
plague. He informed me also that Mr. K. was about to commence an
action against the French doctor, for unprofessional treatment in his
wife’s illness, which Mr. K. styled assassination. This line of
conduct did not accord with Lady Hester’s notions of humanity and
forbearance towards a practitioner to whom less blame attached than if
the case had been left solely to his guidance. She accordingly wrote
to him the following letter, which, however, did not go until the
3rd:--
_To Mr. K., merchant, at Beyrout._
June 3rd, 1838.
Sir,
If the interest I feel in your unhappiness gives me any
claims upon your attention, you must allow me to make a few
remarks on what I am sorry to hear is about to take
place--the bringing Monsieur G. to a sort of trial
respecting his unsuccessful treatment of your poor wife. I
shall speak of it under two heads: first, that of your being
wanting in humanity and generosity towards a young man
coming into the world, and, secondly, that of the great
probability of your being nonsuited, which will make you
appear very ridiculous, as well as be the means of bringing
forward many unpleasant and unusual circumstances, which
would excessively shock the delicacy of the English.
1. In Mr. Pitts last illness I expressed, as my opinion,
that Sir Walter Farquhar did not understand the nature of
his complaint, and begged him to call in other physicians.
He replied, “Perhaps you are right, and such may be likewise
my own opinion; but, if it is the will of God, I shall
recover; and, if not, I shall be sorry that one of the last
actions of my life should be that of injuring the character
of a man who has acted to the best of his knowledge, and
hitherto manifested the greatest interest about my health
upon all occasions;”--therefore, nothing could be done with
him: but Farquhar was himself persuaded to call in Doctor
Bailey. Would it not be better to follow the example of that
noble-minded man, than cast a slur upon the character of one
who, unprepared for so difficult an accouchement, had
neither sufficient self-confidence nor judgment to extricate
himself in such a predicament? And all this will not recall
Mrs. K---- again to the world.
2. I enclose a paragraph from the papers last come to hand,
which, in addition to my knowledge of law, strengthens my
opinion that you may very likely prove unsuccessful.[28] You
will then have to reproach yourself for not having acted--I
will not say with the missionaries--with _Christian_
charity, but with that feeling which ought to belong, and
does belong, to many individuals, of whatever religion they
may profess.
Do not understand by this that I am making you any
reproaches; for the state of irritation you are in proceeds
from the frame of mind which this unfortunate circumstance
has caused, and which it is the duty of all those who call
themselves your friends or your well-wishers to point out to
you, that you may avoid future remorse when you see things
more calmly.
H. L. STANHOPE.
* * * * *
Saturday, June 2.--I rode down to the duke’s tents, to see him. The
army surgeon in attendance on the black had reconsidered the case, and
given in an opinion to the government secretary that it was one of
typhus fever, supervening on a syphilitic taint, and, in consequence,
his highness’s quarantine had been shortened to a fortnight. One must
have lived in Turkey to know how such things are conducted there. The
conversation with the duke and his suite turned for a while on Prince
Pückler Muskau.
Sunday, June 3.--A letter was written by Lady Hester to Lord Brougham.
Whilst considering what she should say, previous to dictating it, she
observed that she was sorry she did not write to him before; “for,”
added she, “he loves to have something to talk about that will make a
noise, and he will take it ill, when he was so civil to me formerly,
if I seem to forget him. An Englishman, who was here, and who knew
him, one day said to me--‘What do you think of Lord Brougham’s
principles?’--‘Why,’ answered I, ‘I think they are like mine--none at
all.’ How he stared, doctor, until I added, ‘He has peculiar ones made
for himself, as I have.’”
_To the Right Honourable Lord Brougham and Vaux._
Jôon, June 4th, 1838.
My Lord,
It is possible that, at times, your lordship may bear in
mind the kindness with which you treated me, for the sake of
those whom we mutually loved and admired, and the assistance
you afforded me in my private concerns, about seventeen
years ago: you will then, perhaps, not feel a little
surprised that, having got myself into a strange
predicament, I have been totally silent. It arose, my lord,
from supposing you in ill health. Receiving no newspapers
from England, and news from France being oftentimes much
retarded, I often owe the chief of my political information
to travellers; among whom was the Prince Pückler Muskau,
who, having heard of my affair before he saw me, advised me
immediately to write to your lordship. I gave him my reasons
for not having done so, and from him I received the
assurance that you were quite recovered, and again had
resumed your public duties. I have since read your most
beautiful speech on the slave-trade, and I congratulate the
country on your reappearance in the House.
Before this letter reaches you--for I have missed the last
packet--your lordship will have probably heard of the manner
in which her Majesty’s ministers have thought proper to
treat me, with her sanction. I have always been the greatest
of aristocrats; I was born so; yet no one is more tenacious
of the rights of men in every class of life. I have written
a very severe letter to the Queen, in which I have made her
Majesty understand I am no longer an English subject: for I
had sooner be the subject of a Hottentot chief than one to
be commanded by a woman * * * * * * * * * guided by a man
who possesses none of the qualities of his great patron, Mr.
Fox, except his _talens pour la débauche_:--if he had, he
would recollect that nobleman’s conduct to me after Mr.
Pitt’s death.
Although of a character violent to desperation, few persons,
I believe, have given more examples of forbearance than I
have done, both to those calling themselves my friends and
to those who rank among my enemies, from these simple
motives--either from my personal contempt of them or their
opinion, or from the knowledge that they were acting upon a
principle which they thought a meritorious one. But when a
crowned head, or a minister, ventures to cast a slur upon my
integrity (which I hope may vie with that which has ever
distinguished my ancestors) without any inquiries into
either facts or motives, and pretends to invest low venal
people with any authority over me or my concerns, I shall
repel the aggression with the energy it requires, and make
every sacrifice which circumstances may call for: and,
should starvation stare me in the face, it will not appal
me. These are my fixed determinations, and this is the
sovereign contempt I feel for * * * * * * and * * * * * *.
As things must have already taken some turn, I will not
request your lordship’s assistance: for I should not forgive
myself for either causing you trouble or anxiety. I shall
boldly follow my fate, as I always hitherto have done.
These few lines, therefore, are only to be considered as a
mark of personal respect towards your lordship, and as
affording me an opportunity of expressing my congratulations
for the restoration of your health; which, however, I hope
you will continue to _ménager_, as you will want a great
store of it in the bad times that are coming, and when the
value of men of your extraordinary talents and exertions
will be properly estimated.--I have the honour, my lord, to
be, with great truth and esteem, yours,
HESTER LUCY STANHOPE.
* * * * *
Monday, June 4.--A letter from the Pasha’s wife to Lady Hester took me
down to Sayda to see the Pasha’s little daughter, an angelic child of
about seven years of age, ill of a fever. The mother did not show
herself; Madame Lapi, the lady of the Austrian referendary, and Madame
Bertrand, a French lady, receiving me. The Pasha was absent at the
camp in the Horàn. Sulyman Pasha, when appointed to the pashalik of
Sayda, had found no house fit for a residence, and had caused a small,
low palace to be built, which, if placed in the midst of a paddock,
might have passed for a gentleman’s house of a thousand a year in
England. In the three rooms I went through, to the one wherein the
little girl was lying, there was, as is usual in Turkish houses, the
utmost simplicity: but one thing struck me as indicative of the
nationality of the master of the house[29]--a large French
looking-glass; for I believe a person would with difficulty have found
another mirror on the walls of a saloon all through Syria, excepting
in a Frank house. The child was but slightly indisposed, and it is
possible that mere feminine curiosity had induced her mother to send
for me, that she might get a look through some peep-hole to see
whether she should like to consult me for some complaint of her own:
for such are the indirect ways of proceeding common in harýms, and
such things had happened to me before. The Pasha’s wife was originally
a Greek slave, bought during the horrors of the Greek revolution, when
Turkish soldiers sold their prisoners into bondage. She had pleased
him, and he eventually made her his wife. Report spoke highly of her
beauty and her conduct.
Tuesday, June 5.--Logmagi had been sent for to rate the maids, who had
been caught scaling the garden-wall before sunrise and going down to
the spring, where they were seen with some one. As they never were
permitted to leave the house, or the inner court, this violation of
her ladyship’s orders, so contrary to Eastern propriety, which allows
not of a woman’s being out of doors in the company of men, called for
some chastisement, more especially when coupled with suspicious
circumstances. One of these very maids had introduced herself the
preceding night into a room, where she was forbidden to enter, and had
been detected untying bundles of things and pieces of stuffs; so that
it was apprehended there was a league with persons without to carry
off stolen goods. Zezefôon was locked up, and sentenced to remain in
durance until she learned to behave better.
Thursday, June 7.--A servant was despatched over-night with a letter
and seven black doses, and directions how to take them, for the baron
and six others of the suite, with a promise of eight more doses the
next day for the duke and the rest.
This general drenching of fifteen travellers, which will make many
persons laugh, was treated with the utmost seriousness by Lady Hester
Stanhope. It was a rule with her, as has been said above, never to let
any one pass through her hands without some potion or another; and
truly it may be asserted that she has saved many from the fevers of
the country by her sage foresight and precautions; but it was too
comical when seven or eight at a time were to be physicked. To have
heard Lady Hester and myself in conference, weighing the probabilities
of under or over dosing the tall captain of the guards, the mild and
delicately framed baron, and the royal stomach of his highness, would
have been quite a comedy.
The servant had been ordered to arrive at midnight; the doses were to
be administered at two in the morning; whilst I was to be down at the
tents by noon to see if all had gone on properly. Accordingly, I
mounted my horse after breakfast; but, being rather late, I did not
get there until half-past two. What was my surprise, when the baron,
advancing towards me, seized my hand. “Be not afraid,” said he; “we
are out of quarantine, and have now no contagion about us. Upon the
representation made, that our black Mameluke was lying ill of typhus
fever only, the board of health at Beyrout has set us free. Let me
take you to his royal highness, who now can receive you a little
better than he has done.” I accordingly went with him behind the
tombs, where we found the duke seated on a sofa in the open air, with
his suite around him, and the place rolled and watered for coolness.
He received me with great kindness and condescension, spoke in
repeated terms of gratitude for Lady Hester’s attention to him, and
said his first duty was to wait on her and thank her: he therefore
charged me to let him know when she would permit him to pay his
respects. Pipes and coffee were served; and, when I had time to look
about me, I observed the manner in which they had bivouacked for some
days past. Under the hedge, a few yards off, was an immense pile of
burning live coals, on which the saucepans and boilers were placed,
gipsy-fashion: in this differing from the manner of the country,
where, when cooking in the open air is going on, temporary stoves are
constructed with three or four square stones, which confine the ashes
and make a draught. In the background I was surprised to see about
half a dozen Italian tumblers, who were preparing for an exhibition of
feats of leaping, &c. These were a troop, who had that very day
arrived from Beyrout, and whom the prince had engaged to divert him.
Soon after arrived the government secretary, the colonels of the
different regiments in garrison, the Austrian referendary and his
family, &c., to congratulate the duke on the termination of his
confinement. The exhibition being over, I rose to take leave. The duke
pressed me to stop and dine with him; but I pleaded my three hours’
ride back in the dark, and returned home.
Friday, June 8.--When I told Lady Hester that the duke was coming up,
she sent the following letter to him:--
_To His Royal Highness Maximilian Duke of Bavaria._
Jôon, June 8, 1838.
Highness,
I cannot sufficiently appreciate the honour you intend me in
wishing to visit my hermitage: but permit me to impose these
conditions on you--that you say not a word more, neither you
nor the noblemen in your suite, of those trifling services
which you have so graciously and benevolently accepted.
Allow me also to acquaint your highness that, although I was
in my time a woman of the world, for these last twenty years
I have been nothing but a philosopher, who turns out of her
road for nobody. When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes,
he neither changed his dress nor moved his tub for him:
pardon me, prince, if I imitate his example.
There was a time when my house was passable: but now there
are many rooms in ruins for want of repairs--especially a
large pavilion in the garden, tumbling down from an
earthquake; so that I could not lodge more than three or
four persons at a time. What lodging I have for you is,
first of all, a little garden on the east side of my
residence, with a small saloon, and outside of the door two
mustabys,[30] where two persons might sleep. Adjoining the
saloon is a bed-room, and at the back of it a sleeping-room
for two valets, with mattresses on the floor, according to
the custom of the country. The saloon has a trellis in
front. Just out of the garden-gate is a little place to make
coffee, or boil water for shaving; and opposite to it is
another room for ordinary strangers, where two persons can
sleep, and where Count Tattenbach was lodged. For the other
servants there is room in one of the courtyards. As for my
own divàn, it has been in a ruinous state for some years,
and I inhabit at present a badly furnished little room.
I beg your highness will consider the little garden, and the
pavilion in it, which I have just mentioned, as your own,
until the ship which you expect arrives. You can make your
excursions in the mountain when you like. With you you can
bring two or three of the gentlemen of your suite, and these
can make room for others in their turn. Only, I hope that
the baron and Count Gaiety, as I call him (for, according to
what the doctor tells me, during all your misfortunes he has
always preserved his cheerfulness), will not come both
together, because I have got a great deal to say to each.
Thus, then, I shall expect your royal highness on Saturday
evening.
I have the honour to salute you, prince, with the most
perfect esteem and highest consideration, begging you to
accept, with your known nobleness, the welcome of the
dervise,
H. L. STANHOPE.
Saturday, June 9.--The morning came. Preparations for the reception of
the duke had been going on all the day before. A lamb had been killed;
beef had been sent for from Dayr el Kamar, the only place where it was
sold; fruit and vegetables had come up from Sayda gardens, and Logmagi
had sent fish; bills of fare had been made out for each meal by Lady
Hester, as a guide to the cook; the silver spoons and forks had been
given out; the servants had put on their best clothes, and all was
bustle for the reception; for the duke’s liberality to all those who
served him in any shape was very generally talked of, and this was an
infallible spur to all the menials, who anticipated large vails.
Mercenary wretches! whose God was a _bakshýsh_, and whose torpor, as
Lady Hester often said, only two things could overcome--money, and a
good flogging.
I waited on Lady Hester early. She told me she had passed a very bad
night, that she was in a burning fever, and felt so ill it would be
impossible to receive the duke. Her looks were pale, her skin parched
and dry, her breathing short, and she complained of an increased pain
in her side, which had entirely deprived her of rest. I felt her
pulse, and encouraged her to hope that it was not so bad. “Doctor,”
replied she, “it is nothing: it is when the thunder is in the air that
you should feel it; my pulse beats then like two bullets, and if, at
that moment, I were to meet a thousand men opposed to me, I should
brave them all: but, when the storm is over, my pulse falls into its
natural state, and all is quiet again. Anybody but you would say now I
must be bled; and, whether you approve it or not, bled I shall be: so
be so good as to raise no difficulties, and you must set off
immediately to Dayr Mkhallas, with an apology to his highness; for I
have neither breath nor strength enough to undergo the exertion of
conversation, and put him off you must.”
I set off to the monastery, and found the duke surrounded by a
numerous company. Nothing could equal his regret at Lady Hester’s
indisposition. Lady Hester’s state requiring my immediate return, I
hastened back. The bleeding did her good. About five in the afternoon,
the duke and his party were seen passing on the high-road on their way
back to Sayda. His object in leaving the seaside had been to see Lady
Hester, and, disappointed in that, he returned immediately.
Eventually, this contrariety proved fortunate for him. He had hardly
reached his tents, when the English steamboat arrived; his passage had
been agreed for, and the duke and his suite, but too happy to quit a
country where he had met with so many vexations, and had been exposed
to so much danger, were on board in half an hour after her arrival.
The sick negro and four slaves, who had been purchased in Egypt, were
left behind, under the care of Signor Lapi, with orders likewise to
that gentleman that no expense or care should be spared to forward
Wellington’s recovery.
FOOTNOTES:
[24] In all cities in Turkey, trades of the same kind are
always in the same street in a cluster. Thus, the
saddlers are in one street, the druggists or grocers in
another, the shoemakers in another: and it is customary
to say, when directing to a place in a town--“Close to
the goldsmiths’ bazar, beyond the corn market, before
you come to the Blacksmiths’ Street,” &c.
[25] What the traveller related to me had almost slipped
my memory; but having since met with it in an Arabic
book, I here translate it.
[26] The Mahometans, imbued with the persuasion that
whatever is the will of the Almighty must come to pass,
and that resignation to his decrees is their duty,
never refuse assistance to persons afflicted with
contagious maladies. Hence may be seen that marked
difference in their conduct and that of Christians
during the prevalence of the plague; the former
attending on the sick bed of their relatives, the
latter flying from them and leaving them to die through
neglect.
[27] Thus, while writing out these memorandums in August,
1839, I learn that the plague has re-appeared at
Jerusalem, Jaffa, and at other places, where, in 1838,
a few cases announced its presence. We shall see
whether a quarantine establishment will save Syria: I
think it will not. The Turkish authorities, when left
to themselves, invariably resist the introduction of
all quarantine regulations; or, at least, they did so
in the beginning of this century: it is only when the
preponderance of European influence, backed by orders
from their own government, compels submission, that
they unwillingly adopt them. But Mahomet Ali and
Ibrahim Pasha, when spoken of, are not to be considered
as Mahometans. Imbued with Machiavelian principles,
gathered from their intercourse with Europeans, they
were not slow to see that, in fit hands, a quarantine
establishment has little more to do with health than it
has with the growth of the sugar-cane, or any
extraneous employment. A Lazaretto, as conducted in
Piedmont or France, is no more nor less than a fiscal
measure and a legalized panoptikon. It is, first of
all, subsidiary to the Customs, and next, a most
efficient mode for staying travellers, crews of ships,
and all manner of moving things entering on a
territory, then and there to be enabled in cool
despotism to examine letters, pry into men’s business,
learn their opinions, destination, &c., and, finally,
to tax them in their money and substance, in the most
undisguised and complete manner yet invented by
designing rulers. Quarantine ought never to exist in a
free country, neither ought passports. A town properly
built, ventilated, and cleansed, will not foster
contagion, and passports do not facilitate the
detection of offenders. The plague still visits the
Levant, and Pichegru remained undiscovered in France
for two years, in spite of all the passports and all
the police of Buonaparte, his mortal enemy.
[28] This was the report of a suit in one of the county
courts of assize, wherein, under somewhat similar
circumstances, a surgeon was acquitted.
[29] It will be recollected that Sulyman Pasha was
originally a French corporal in Buonaparte’s army.
[30] A mustaby is an estrade, or raised stone bench, in
shape what a shop-counter would be against a wall, made
at the doors of houses in the East for people to sit
cross-legged on to enjoy the fresh air, or sometimes at
the doors of rooms for servants to sleep on as sentries
to those within.