[Illustration:
Day & Haghe, Lith^{rs} to the Queen
SHIPWRECK NEAR THE ISLAND OF RHODES
London, Henry Colburn, G^t. Marlborough S^t., 1846.]
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE;
FORMING THE COMPLETION
OF
HER MEMOIRS.
NARRATED BY
HER PHYSICIAN.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1846.
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.
TO
JOHN SCOTT, ESQ., M.D.
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, AND FELLOW OF THE ROYAL
COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON,
A GENTLEMAN AT ONCE EMINENT FOR HIS EXTENSIVE
ACQUAINTANCE WITH ORIENTAL LANGUAGES,
AND FOR HIS CLASSICAL KNOWLEDGE,
THESE VOLUMES ARE INSCRIBED,
BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The TRAVELS now presented to the public are intended to complete
the MEMOIRS of Lady Hester Stanhope; and the author trusts that
the interest excited by his former work--shown by the rapid sale
of an extensive first edition, and the demand for a second--will
be manifested equally for this. Indeed, he cannot doubt that the
reader will be anxious to learn by what steps an unprotected woman
progressively gained so marked an ascendency in a strange land, the
language and the usages of which were altogether contrary to her own,
whereby the attempt became so much the more difficult. As, then, the
MEMOIRS embraced a period of about fifteen years, in which the author
endeavoured to trace the causes that led to the “decline and fall” of
her ladyship’s somewhat visionary empire in the East, the TRAVELS will
now take up her history from the time she quitted England, and, by a
faithful narrative of her extraordinary adventures, show the rise and
growth of her Oriental greatness.
A distinct line may at once be drawn between this and other books of
peregrinations in the East. The reader will here find no antiquarian
research, no new views of the political relations of sects and parties:
but these Travels exhibit what others do not--a heroine who marches at
the head of Arab tribes through the Syrian desert; who calls governors
of cities to her aid, whilst she excavates the earth in search of
hidden treasures; who sends generals with their troops to carry fire
and sword into the fearful passes of a mountainous country, to avenge
the death of a murdered traveller; and who then goes, defenceless and
unprotected, a sojourner amidst the people on whom these chastisements
had fallen.
This work embraces a period reaching from the thirty-sixth to the
forty-third year of Lady Hester’s life. It fills up an interval so
far important, as connecting her residence with Mr. Pitt and the
occurrences which marked the last fifteen years of her existence; and
enables those, who may be disposed to blame or applaud her conduct, to
speak at least upon certain grounds: and, though her enemies may find
eccentricities enough to satisfy their inclination to ridicule her, her
friends will dwell with pleasure on such of her actions as must, in the
eyes of unbiassed persons, excite praise; whilst the undoubted marks
of a superior mind, which, every now and then, show themselves, will
bring into evidence the talents and energy which she inherited from her
ancestor, the great Lord Chatham.
Some apology may seem necessary for the paucity of incidents in the
first six or eight chapters. Twice had the author to lament the loss
of what is most precious to a traveller, supposing him to have noted
down from day to day the occurrences of his route. Up to the early
part of the year 1812 the narrative is compiled from letters, written
to friends in England, and from notes fortunately preserved. All that
is subsequent to May, 1812, is copied from a journal kept unbroken
for four or five years, during an intercourse which afforded the same
facilities for observation as he enjoyed in preparing his former work.
On the criticisms which were passed on that work, the “Memoirs of Lady
Hester Stanhope,” he feels bound, in justification of himself, to make
a few observations. Unacquainted with the motives which actuated the
writers of them, the public will, perhaps, when these are explained,
entertain a different opinion from what, otherwise, it might be led to
do.
Mr. Pitt, during his long administration, was surrounded by many
coadjutors, who were raised by his patronage and favour to high places
in the government. His generous nature led him to tolerate in some of
them a line of conduct based on principles and motives less pure than
his own. These men, in becoming the channel of advancement to others
of an inferior class, created a host of followers, who thought it,
and, where they survive, may think it still, a party duty to support
the reputation of those persons to whom they owed their advancement.
Mr. Pitt’s niece and companion, Lady Hester, endowed with a finer
discrimination of character than her uncle, and enabled from her
position as a bystander to take a just measure of the abilities and
motives of those who seemed to be acting with him, could scarcely bear
with the stupidity of some, the duplicity of others, and the baseness
of almost all. Gifted by nature with a most retentive memory, so as to
be able to compare men’s actions and assertions from time to time, just
in her appreciation of their designs, fearless of their anger and a
match for their ridicule, disclaiming all compromise with insincerity
and vice, she aimed with an unerring hand the shafts of her disdain at
all those whose vices and perfidy called forth her execration.
What then must have been the rage of these persons, who, finding their
patrons unmasked in conversations related with strict fidelity, had
no resource left them, but, where the narration was unimpeachable, to
malign the narrator! All this is well understood by the higher classes
of society in England: they may read the critic’s vituperation, but
they know why he is enraged, and they leave out his observations in the
estimate which they form of the author’s claim to their attention: but
the mass of the public, who are less in the secret, pity the author, or
perhaps even join in the ridicule against him.
Let those, therefore, who are open to conviction, correct their
judgment and be undeceived. Let them be persuaded that, although the
adherents of a Heliogabalus, of a versatile, or an insincere minister,
a pompous Lord, or an intriguing Duchess, may for a time be successful
in their abuse, truth at length will prevail, and the indignation of a
noble-minded, upright, and virtuous woman, become matter of history.
Among a host of critics, the Memoirs have been pronounced by some of
another class as devoid of artistic excellence. The author’s total
abnegation of self, and his steady adherence to the rule he had laid
down of shadowing the background on which he stood, in order to throw
greater light on the more prominent figure in front, seems to have
availed him nothing! Surely these critics might have had the sense to
perceive that the author, if he had been so disposed, could have given
to himself a much more flattering costume, and have arrayed himself
in a garb of Eastern glitter as imposing as the most vivid fancy
could desire. What was to prevent him from describing his familiar
visits to the great people of the country, and the intercourse which
he enjoyed with many of them--from recounting his pleasant adventures
with lords and princes--from enumerating the ambassadorial gaieties of
Constantinople, the frivolities of Smyrna, Cairo, and other cities,
in which he bore his share--or from colouring incidents calculated to
impose on the reader, too far removed from the scene of action to be
able to decide what degree of credit was to be given to them? But it
was not the author’s purpose to divert attention from the heroine of
his story; and in all the adventures which the reader may peruse in the
following pages, he wishes his own share in them to be lost sight of,
excepting where his presence is necessary for making the description
complete.
One word more remains to be added as to the credit which is to be
attached to what Lady Hester Stanhope says of herself and others. The
author of this narrative can conscientiously affirm that, after an
intimate knowledge of her ladyship’s character for upwards of thirty
years, he was always impressed with the highest respect for her
veracity. Indeed, her courage was of too lofty a nature ever to allow
her to condescend to utter a falsehood.
May 1, 1846.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. I.
Shipwreck near the Island of Rhodes (see p. 99) _Frontispiece_.
Giorgio Dallegio, page to Lady Hester (see p. 131) xx
A Drùze Aakel 334
Drûze Women 345
VOL. II
Lady Hester Stanhope’s Arrival at Palmyra
(see p. 130) _Frontispiece_.
Village of Yabrud 42
Bridge over the Orontes 47
Calat El Medyk 236
Convent of Mar Elias 309
Interior of a Syrian Cottage 313
A Greek Monk 333
Interior of a Greek Sepulchre 340
Various Sarcophagi hewn out of rocks 346
Meshmushy 375
Costume of the Drûzes 377
Geser Behannyn 381
VOL. III.
Portrait of the Author in his Bedouin Dress _Frontispiece_.
Ras el Ayn, Bâlbec 21
Statue found at Gebayl, and presented to Lady Hester
Stanhope by the Prince of the Drûzes, now in the
possession of the Earl of Lonsdale 73
Princess of Wales’s Tent 127
Statue found at Ascalon 162
Palace of the Shayhh Beshýr at Muktara 319
English Consul’s House, at Larnaka 363
CONTENTS
OF THE
THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
Departure from England--Danger of
Shipwreck--Gibraltar--Malta--City of La Valetta--Public
Edifices--General aspect of the Island--Commerce--Character
of the Inhabitants--Island of Goza--Mansion of the Governor
at San Antonio occupied by Lady Hester Stanhope--English
Visitors--Lady Hester resolves on an Eastern Tour 1
CHAPTER II.
Zante--Earthquakes--Patras--The Marquis of Sligo joins Lady
Hester’s party--Corinth--Visit of the Bey’s harým to Lady
Hester--Indiscreet curiosity--Women of the East--Isthmus of
Corinth--Kencri--The Piræus 22
CHAPTER III.
Athens--Residence there--Accommodations--Researches of Lord
Sligo--Embarkation for Constantinople--Sunium--Temple of
Minerva--Zea--The Hellespont--Greek Sailors in a gale of
wind--Erakli--Constantinople 38
CHAPTER IV.
Procession of the Sultan to the Mosque--A Dinner
party--Therapia--Visiters there--Lady Hester seeks
permission to reside in France--Turbulence of the
Janissaries--Pera--Visit to Hafez Aly--Captain
Pasha--Mahometan patients attended by the Author--Princess
Morousi--Disagreeable climate of Constantinople--Return
Lord Sligo to Malta 50
CHAPTER V.
The Author goes to Brusa--Situation of the
city--Baths--Surrounding country--Residence at Brusa--Lady
Hester mistaken for a youth--Women of Brusa--Return of the
Author to Constantinople--Sudden death of Mr. Alexander,
Lady Hester’s banker--Departure from Brusa--Residence
at Bebec--Provisions--Excursion to the village of
Belgrade--Throwing the Girýd--Fast of Ramadàn--Lady Hester
resolves to winter in Egypt--Presents to the Author for
professional attentions 73
CHAPTER VI.
Departure from Constantinople--Prince’s
Islands--Scio--Drunken Turk--Rhodes--Storm--The ship
springs a leak--Servants dismayed--Land seen--The ship
founders--Escape of the passengers to a rock--The sailors
proceed to the Island of Rhodes--They return--The crew
mutiny--The passengers gain the Island; and reach a
hamlet--Our distressed situation--The Author departs for
the town of Rhodes--Hassan Bey refuses assistance--The
houses--Lady Hester ill of a fever--Lindo--Its port--The
Archon Petraki--Reports that the party were lost--Lady
Hester arrives at Rhodes--Town--Why Lady Hester chose the
Turkish dress--Posting in Turkey--Mustafa 95
CHAPTER VII.
The Author sets out for Smyrna--Etienne--Port of
Marmora--Arabkui--Oolah--Moolah--Aharkui--Ancient
temple--Capu Rash--Sarcophagi--Chinny Su--River
Meander--Ferry--Guzel Issar--Frank doctor--Ruins of
Magnesia--Chapan Oglu’s officers--Baynder--Civility
of the governor--Pressing a horse--Smyrna--Visit to
the consul--Purchases--Renegado Welchman--Mustafa
lays a plan to rob the Author--Departure for
Rhodes--Eleusis--Scio--Stancho--Cavo Crio, the ancient
Cidus--Ruins--Wall--Temple--Theatre--Stadium--Rhodes--New
dresses--Servants cabal--Georgio Dallegio--Town of
Rhodes--Embarkation in the Salsette frigate--Harbour of
Marmora--Arrival at Alexandria 112
CHAPTER VIII.
Reception at
Alexandria--Inhabitants--Commerce--Fortifications--Battle
of Abukír--Administration of
Justice--Servants--Climate--Asses--Ruins of Old
Alexandria--Lake Madiah--Passage boats--The boat with
the Author and his party pursued and the passengers
made prisoners--Their liberation--Bay of Abukír--Lake
Edko--Porters--Rosetta--House of Signor Petrucci--Fleas and
musquitoes--The town of Rosetta and environs--Sedentary
habits of the Turks--Abu Mandur--Exportation of
corn--Mashes, a kind of barge--Voyage up the Nile--Banks
of the river--Rich soil--Villages--First sight of the
Pyramids--Bulák--Cairo--Pasha and his suite--Lodgings--Lady
Hester’s attire--Her visit to the Pasha--Mameluke
riding--Horse-market--Opening of a mummy--French
Mamelukes--Mr. Wynne--Dancing Women--The Pyramids--Narrow
escape from drowning 135
CHAPTER IX.
The Author returns to Alexandria, in company with Mr.
Wynne and Mr. McNamara--Proceeds to Rosetta--Coast of
the Delta--Deserted hamlet--Brackish water--Misery
of the Peasantry--Mouth of Lake Brulos--Dews
of Egypt pernicious--Brulos--Melons--Egyptian
encampment--Quail-snares--Arrival at Damietta--Honours
paid by the Pasha at Cairo to Lady Hester--Description
of Damietta--Rice mills--Large oxen--Salt
tanks--Papyrus--Literary Society--Abûna Saba--Lady Hester
arrives at Damietta--Tents and baggage--Servants--Fleas,
&c.--Departure from Damietta--El Usby--Sameness of
scenery in Egypt--Naked children--Increase of the Delta
denied--Martello towers--Iachimo hired--We sail for
Syria--List of the party--French Mamelukes--Wages of
servants in the Levant--Arrival at Jaffa--Customs in
seaports--Costume of Egyptian women 167
CHAPTER X.
Loss of journals--Difficulties in learning
Eastern languages--Signor Damiani; his
simplicity--Porters--Residence at the Franciscan
convent--Lady Hester’s dress--Not distinguishable from
a Turk--Description of Jaffa--Buildings--Environs
of Jaffa--Orchards--Mohammed Aga: his revenues: his
expenditure--Pilgrims: their sufferings--Object of
their pilgrimage--Departure for Jerusalem--Mr. Pearce
leaves the party--Peasants reaping--Ramlah--Its
monastery--Locusts--Lyd--Departure from Ramlah--Sober
exhortation of a drunken priest--Mountains
of Judæa--Abu Ghosh--Supper--Guards--Selim’s
apprehensions--Cold--Brothers’s prophecy--Jerusalem--Lady
Hester’s lodgings--Dragomans--Visit to the
governor--Kengi Ahmed--Emir Bey; his history--Holy
Sepulchre--Mount Calvary--Visit to the Jews’
quarter--Bethlehem--Monastery--Bethlehemites reputed
to be robbers--Horses--Accident to Mr. B.--Mufti’s
dinner--Memorable places 188
CHAPTER XI.
Departure from Jerusalem--Arabian characters of horses
not to be trusted--Ramlah--Demand of the governor to
inspect Lady Hester’s firmâns--Alarm of Selim, the
Mameluke--Illness of Mr. Pearce at Jaffa--Janissary
dismissed--Departure from Ramlah--Politic conduct
of Dragomans--River Awgy--Harým--Inhabitants
of Galilee--Scorpions, and other venomous
reptiles--Um Khaled--Marble columns--Illness of
Yusef the guide--Mountaineers of Gebel Khalýl and
Nablûs--Cæsarea--Remains of the ancient city--Obstacles
to exploring them--Ma el Zerky--Tontûra--Women
carrying water--Beauty of the road--Aatlyt--Mount
Carmel--Häifa--Carmelite convent--River Mkutta, the Kishon
of Scripture--Arrival at Acre 221
CHAPTER XII.
Increased illness of Yusef--Servants leave--Visit to Mâlem
Haym, minister of the pasha--His history--Description
of Acre--Visit to the pasha--Hospitality of
M. Catafago--Disposal of time--Excursion to
Nazareth--Franciscan convent--Residence and family of
M. Catafago--Villages and lands farmed out by him--The
Convent library--Arrival of Shaykh Ibrahim (Burckhardt),
the celebrated traveller--Visit to the plain of
Esdraëlon--Fûly--Battle of Fûly--Departure of Shaykh
Ibrahim for Egypt--Excursion to Segery--Visit to the
Shaykh--Bargain for a horse--Accident to Lady Hester 251
[Illustration: GIORGIO DALLEGIO, PAGE TO LADY HESTER STANHOPE.]
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE.
CHAPTER I.
Departure from England--Danger of
Shipwreck--Gibraltar--Malta--City of La Valetta--Public
Edifices--General aspect of the Island--Commerce--Character of
the Inhabitants--Island of Goza--Mansion of the Governor at San
Antonio occupied by Lady Hester Stanhope--English Visitors--Lady
Hester resolves on an Eastern Tour.
The writer of this narrative had just completed his studies in
medicine, when he was engaged, through the recommendation of an eminent
anatomist and surgeon, to attend Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope, in the
capacity of her physician, on a voyage to Sicily; in which island it
was her intention to reside two or three years, for the benefit of her
health, that had suffered greatly from family afflictions.[1] Her
ladyship was accompanied by her half-brother, the Honourable James
Hamilton Stanhope, and his friend, Mr. Nassau Sutton.
On the 10th of February, 1810, we embarked at Portsmouth, on board the
Jason frigate, commanded by the Hon. James King, having under convoy
a fleet of transports and merchant vessels bound for Gibraltar. Our
voyage was an alternation of calms and gales. We were seven days in
reaching the Land’s End; then, having passed Cape Finisterre and Cape
St. Vincent, we were overtaken, on the 6th of March, by a violent gale
of wind, which dispersed the convoy, and drove us so far to leeward
that we found ourselves on the shoals of Trafalgar.
It was for some hours uncertain whether we should not have to encounter
the horrors of shipwreck, on that very shore where so many brave
sailors perished after the battle which derives its name from these
shoals: but, on the following morning, by dint of beating to windward,
under a pressure of sail, in a most tremendous sea, we weathered the
land, and gained the Straits of Gibraltar, through which we ran.
We anchored in the Bay of Tetuan, at the back of the promontory of
Ceuta, facing Gibraltar, on the African coast. Mount Atlas, the scene
of so many of the fables of antiquity, was visible from this point;
but its form was far from corresponding with the shape pictured by my
imagination, presenting rather the appearance of a chain of mountains
than of one single mount.
The wind abated the next day, when we weighed anchor, and entered the
Bay of Gibraltar. As we approached the rock, we were struck with the
grandeur and singularity of its appearance. Lady Hester and her brother
were received at the Convent, the residence of the lieutenant-governor,
Lieut. Gen. Campbell. Mr. Sutton and myself had apartments assigned to
us in a house adjoining the Convent, where we occasionally partook of
the hospitality of Colonel M’Coomb, of the Corsican Rangers, although
we dined and lived principally at the Governor’s palace.
I visited the fortifications in company with the Lieutenant-Governor
and Captain Stanhope.
As I had never before sailed to a latitude so southern as Gibraltar, I
was much struck with the difference of temperature into which we were
now transported. There were flowers in bloom, shrubs in leaf, and other
appearances of an early spring; and I hastened, the morning after our
arrival, to enjoy the luxury of bathing in the sea. These feelings of
pleasure at the change of climate were, however, greatly abated by the
attacks to which we were daily and nightly exposed from the musquitoes,
which entirely destroyed our rest. How impartial has Nature been in
all her dealings! Go where you will, if you sum up the amount of good
and evil, every country will be found to have about an equal portion
of both; and, in many cases, where Providence has seemed to be more
beneficent than was equitable, a little fly will strike the balance.
The French, about this time, had overrun almost the whole of Spain,
and parties of their cavalry had approached within three miles of the
fortifications of Gibraltar. Our excursions, therefore, beyond the
isthmus were exceedingly limited, and the only neighbouring places I
saw were St. Roque and Algeziras. Numbers of Spanish fugitives flocked
in every day. Those who bore arms were sent to Cadiz, and the rest
remained in security at Ceuta, a possession of the Spanish on the
African side of the Straits, ceded about this time to the English.
The Marquis of Sligo and Mr. Bruce,[2] both of whom afterwards joined
Lady Hester’s party, were also at Gibraltar. These gentlemen, with
several other Englishmen and many Spanish noblemen and officers, who,
with their families, had taken refuge here, constituted the society at
the Lieutenant-Governor’s house.
Gibraltar seemed to me to be a place where no one would live but
from necessity. Provisions and the necessaries of life of all kinds
were exceedingly dear. The meat was poor and lean; vegetables were
scarce; and servants, from the plenty of bad wine, were always drunk.
Out-door amusements on a rock, where half the accessible places are
to be reached by steps only, or where a start of a horse would plunge
his rider over a precipice, must be, of course, but few; although, to
horsemen, the neutral ground, which is an isthmus of sand joining the
rock to Spain, affords an agreeable level for equestrian exercise.
Soon after our arrival at Gibraltar, Captain Stanhope, Lady Hester’s
brother, received an order to join his regiment, the 1st Foot Guards,
at Cadiz; and Mr. Sutton departed for Minorca, whither his affairs led
him. Her ladyship, for whom a garrison town had no charms, was anxious
to pursue her voyage. Her state of health rendered the civilities, with
which she was overwhelmed, irksome to her; so that she readily availed
herself of an offer made by Captain Whitby,[3] of the Cerberus frigate,
to take her passage with him to Malta: and, on the 7th of April, we
sailed out of the bay, after a double risk, first of the boat’s being
swamped in getting on board, and then of the frigate’s falling on a
rock, by missing stays, in going out. We put into Port Mahon on our
way, and arrived at Malta on the 21st of April, after a passage of
fifteen days.
Few cities are more striking at first sight than La Valetta, the
capital of Malta. It happened to be Easter day; and the ringing of
bells and firing of crackers and guns, as we entered the harbour, about
ten in the morning, together with the varied appearance of English,
Moorish, and Greek ships, with their different flags mingled in a most
agreeable confusion, and reflected from a green water, transparent
to the bottom, at the foot of stupendous fortifications, altogether
rendered it one of the most cheerful and animating sights we had ever
beheld.
Lady Hester was expected at Malta, and the Governor and some other
persons of note invited her to take up her residence at their
houses. She accepted the invitation of Mr. Fernandez, the Deputy
Commissary-General. We landed in the afternoon. In walking through
the streets, I found myself surrounded by buildings, different in
style from any that I had yet seen, and jostled by a race of people,
sufficiently strange to attract my attention strongly. I now felt that
I was fairly out of England; which, while in Gibraltar, where the
population is so largely made up of English, and where the English
language is so generally spoken, I never could persuade myself to be
the case.
The residence of Mr. Fernandez was a large house, formerly the inn[4]
or hotel of the French knights: each nation, as it would appear,
having had a separate palace to lodge in. The sleeping rooms were
old-fashioned and gloomy, with windows like embrasures, almost twenty
feet apart.
Malta contains two principal cities and twenty-two villages, or
_casals_, as they are called. The old city, Civita Vecchia, was
the only one at the time the knights took possession of the island.
It is still called by the natives El Medina (the Arabic word for the
_city_.). It has no edifices worthy of notice but the palace of
the grand-master and the cathedral, in which are some paintings by
Matthias Preti. Its greatest curiosity is the catacombs. They are
very extensive, and contain what may be called excavated streets in
all directions. From these branch off corridors, wherein are formed
apartments containing tombs or sepulchres without number. These
catacombs have likewise served as asylums for individuals who fled from
religious persecution, and for the inhabitants generally, whenever
piratical descents were made on the island.
The modern city, Valetta, was founded in 1566; and, by the enthusiasm
of the islanders, who voluntarily aided in the works, it was finished
in 1571. It is entirely built of the calcareous stone of the rock on
which it stands. A piece of ground was given to each of the nations (or
_languages_, as it was usual to style them) for their respective
habitations or inns. The streets are built at right angles, and paved
with flat square stones, and the houses are spacious, lofty, and
with regular fronts, most of them having a balcony projecting over
the street. The object of the architect seems to have been, besides
beauty and strength, to gain shade and coolness. Hence the walls of
the houses are generally from six to twelve feet thick, and the floors
always of stone:[5] the doors are folding, and the windows down to the
ground. In every house of the principal inhabitants, in the summer,
there is a suite of rooms thrown open. Thus, by having five or six
rooms in a line, great coolness, and, if required, a current of air is
obtained, the value of which can be sufficiently appreciated by those
only who live in very hot countries. In most of the dwellings, the
ground floor is used for warehouses and shops; and the family resides
on the first floor, the bed-rooms and sitting-rooms being all on the
same level. Every house has a cistern, into which rain-water runs
from the roof. These roofs, formed of an excellent cement, are flat.
Besides the private cisterns, there are public reservoirs, and also a
fountain, the source of which is at the village of Diar Chandal, twelve
or thirteen miles from La Valetta whither the water is conveyed by a
subterranean aqueduct.
The public edifices most worthy of notice are the Palace of the
Grand Master, the Hotels or Inns of the different _languages_,
the Conservatory, the Treasury, the University, the Town Hall, the
Palace of Justice, the Hospital, and the Barracks, all built with
great simplicity. Indeed, La Valetta is much more striking from the
arrangement of the general mass of buildings than from the details of
any particular one.
The palace, once the residence of the Grand Master of the Knights of
St. John, is a magnificent edifice, in its general appearance somewhat
like Somerset House. It contains many splendid rooms and saloons, hung
with tapestry and damask; and there is a spacious hall, the walls of
which are curiously painted in commemoration of the naval victories
of the Christian knights over the Moslems. The grand staircase is of
remarkably easy ascent. In one part of the Conservatory is the Library:
in 1790, it had 60,000 volumes, although founded so lately as 1760:
its rapid increase was owing to a law, whereby the books of every
knight, at his decease, wherever he might be, were to be sent to Malta.
Adjoining to the library is a museum, which contains many interesting
objects.
The Hospital is a spacious edifice, open for the sick and wounded
of all countries. The knights were formerly bound to attend them,
and the utensils employed were almost all of silver, but of quite
plain workmanship; so that it might be seen that cleanliness, not
ostentation, was the purpose for which they were made.
The Church of St. John is a building, the imposing grandeur of which,
when I first saw it, made a strong impression upon me. It consists
of an immense nave, from which branch off, right and left, small
chapels, each adorned with richly sculptured altars, beautified with
everything that superstition can collect. The roof is arched, and
painted in fresco by Matthias Preti, the Calabrian. The walls are also
decorated with paintings by him and other masters: and the pavement
is one uninterrupted piece of mosaic of coloured marbles. Some idea
of its effect may be formed by imagining the pictures in the gallery
of the Louvre at Paris to be taken from their frames, sewed together,
and the spectator to be walking on them. The subjects are less lively,
certainly; because, in St. John’s church, each mosaic picture covers
the tomb of some Maltese knight, and consequently death and his emblems
form the principal features in it; but they are not the less beautiful.
The church of St. John was built by the Grand-Master, La Cassière: its
riches were, before their spoliation by the French, immense, from the
donations made every five years by the master and priors of the order,
and by the piety of individuals. The carved ornaments were all gilt
with sequin gold by the liberality of the Grand-Master, Coloner.
There is a pleasure garden, called the Boschetto, nearly south-west
of La Valetta, which is the only place in the island that has trees
of any size: they are arranged in symmetrical forms; and there are
several avenues and arbours of orange-trees, interspersed with cedars.
This garden is situate in a deep valley, where springs communicate a
refreshing coolness to the atmosphere.
The general appearance of the island of Malta is the most unpromising
for agriculture that can be conceived. Nowhere is the face of nature
so uninviting. A surface of stone has, however, by the effect of
industry, been powdered over with a soil, the general depth of which
is said to be from six inches to a foot: yet, on this scanty bed, grow
lemon, orange, pomegranate, fig, and other fruit-trees, besides corn,
cotton, lichen, kali, &c., in the greatest luxuriance. The vines spread
wherever they are trained, and the oranges acquire the richest flavour.
Cotton is much cultivated in Malta. That which I saw most frequently
was of a cinnamon colour when raw, and not like the white common
cotton. Corn is said to yield from 16 to 60 for 1. The fruits are of
exquisite flavour. Flowers are very fine, and I could not help fancying
the roses more fragrant than in my own country. Malta honey is highly
esteemed; but always remains in a liquid state.
The commerce of Malta consists in the exportation of oranges and
lemons, potash, lichen, orange-flower water, preserved apricots,
pomegranates, honey, seeds of vegetables, and Maltese stone. The
Maltese likewise export fillagree-work, in which the native artists
excel; also clocks and boilers. They import corn, cloth, fuel,
wine, brandy, &c. Ice brought from Sicily is likewise an article of
great consumption. The profits of their exports would not have been
sufficient to defray even the cost of the quantity of corn imported:
but, to meet this, they had, during the existence of the Order, the
prizes made at sea, whereas now they have the consumption of provisions
for victualling ships and a flourishing commerce.
The Maltese are very expert and daring seamen. In their speronaras,
which are boats without a deck, about thirty feet long, they are to be
seen in all parts of the Mediterranean; and, like the sailors of the
Kentish and Sussex coast, as their principal occupation is smuggling,
they cannot always wait to choose their weather to put to sea in.
Since the English had been in possession of the island, commerce had
flourished to a prodigious extent, as was demonstrated by the fleets of
merchantmen constantly floating in the spacious harbours, and by the
splendid equipages and sumptuous entertainments of the merchants, who
were living in a style of luxury suitable to princes.
Nor can I refrain from saying a few words on the almost regal
entertainments which the governor at this time gave. His palace,
well fitted for the display of a court, with its spacious halls and
vast saloons, was often the scene of banquets and festivities, which
I scarcely can hope to see again. The English, shut out from the
continent, resorted principally to the Mediterranean. Malta, when
we arrived there, was full of English and Neapolitan nobility, and
the officers of the fleet and of the garrison, vying in their showy
dresses with the foreign costumes intermixed with them, formed a
striking picture. Dinners of fifty or sixty covers were of every day’s
occurrence at the Governor’s palace, and the singular usage of a high
table, as in college-halls at the Universities, was not uncommon at
suppers after balls. On one occasion, it fell to my lot to hand a lady
of rank into the supper-room, and, taking a seat by her side, I found
myself directly opposite to the governor, separated by the breadth and
not the length of the table, with the Duchess of Pienne on his right
hand, Lady Hester on his left, and a string of Lords and Ladies and
Counts and Countesses on either hand. But Lady Hester had then recently
quitted England, and she had not yet begun her tirades against “doctors
and tutors,” nor possibly would have dared openly to intimate the
aristocratic superiority of rank over professional claims, as she did
afterwards: so she was delighted to see me enjoy myself, and pleased at
the attentions which the General showed me, in common with his other
guests.
The Maltese have never mixed with the nations which have held them in
subjection. Their original character, therefore, remains unchanged, and
their physiognomy indicates an African origin. Their hair is curly;
they have flattish noses, and turned-up lips, and their colour and
language are nearly the same as those of the people of the Barbary
States. It is a lingo of Italian grafted on Arabic. They are said to be
active, faithful, economical, courageous, and good sailors; but they
are Africans for passion, jealousy, vindictiveness, and thieving, being
likewise very mercenary. Their superstition in religious matters is
proverbial. By many English, however, who had resided among them for
some time, the Maltese were pronounced to be ferocious, ignorant, lazy,
passionate, revengeful, and, if married, jealous beyond conception.
Of their superstition an example occurred just before our arrival, in
the brutal manner in which they treated a British officer of the 14th
regiment of foot, who, whether purposely or unintentionally, offended
them by passing through the line of a procession on horseback, for
which supposed insult to their religion they dragged him from his
horse, and nearly tore him in pieces. I cannot, however, forbear to
observe that the lower orders did not appear to deserve the charge
of laziness; for the men were slim in their persons, quick in their
intellects, and of inconceivable activity. They are remarkably sober
in their diet: an onion or an anchovy, with dry bread, will serve
them for a meal. No people are more attached to their country than the
Maltese to their barren rock.
The upper classes of the inhabitants dress like the French: but the
common people wear a dress resembling that which is given to Figaro in
the opera, with this difference, that they have trousers instead of
tight breeches.
The women are small, and have beautiful hands and feet. When they go
out, they wear a black silk shawl, which covers their head and half the
face, and is very gracefully wrapped about their bodies; beneath this
is a coloured upper petticoat, and a corset or stomacher. They are fond
to excess of gold ornaments, which they estimate by value more than
taste: and their ears, necks, and arms are set off with rings, chains,
and bracelets. They wear shoe-buckles of gold or silver. Although very
brown, they are often handsome--I think generally so: and when I say
that they are in figure like English maid-servants, I do not mean to
disparage them by such a comparison, but rather to mark the plumpness
of their flesh and the roundness of their limbs. Children, until they
are six or seven years old, are seen rolling naked in the filth of the
streets.
The repasts of the Maltese are plentiful: they dine at twelve and
sup in the evening. When an entertainment is given, it is common to
have three complete courses, and from five to ten different sorts of
wine. They rise from table after dinner, taking coffee and liqueurs,
like the French. Both rich and poor indulge themselves with a siesta
after dinner, generally until half-past two or three o’clock. During
this time, the shops are shut; and, to judge by the stillness which
reigns in town and country from twelve to three o’clock, one would
suppose that the island was deserted. About half-past two the shops are
re-opened; as evening comes on, the population appears out of doors,
and all is gaiety and life.
There are some antient remains on the island, as the ruins of
Ghorghenti; of Hagior Khan; of a Greek house at Casal Zorrick; and of a
supposed temple of Hercules.
Goza, a smaller island, separated by a channel, four miles broad, from
Malta, has some tracts of pasture land on it, and supplies Malta with
cattle and fruit. There are some Cyclopean remains on this island
worthy of inspection. It has also an alabaster quarry near the village
of Zeberg, and a convent of Capuchin friars, about half a mile from
which is a grotto of neat workmanship hollowed out of the rock.
I was told that, in sailing round this small island, several remarkable
appearances are presented by its cliffs, which have some curious caves
in their sides. For two or three miles, they rise quite perpendicular
to the height of from 130 to 160 feet: yet so daring are the
inhabitants, that, for the sake of birds’ eggs or of fishing, they will
venture down their sides, stepping from crag to crag, where, to an
inexperienced eye, it would appear utterly impossible to find footing.
About five miles from La Valetta there was a country residence of the
Governor’s, called the palace of St. Antonio, in a village of the same
name. On our first arrival in the island, it was occupied by Lord and
Lady Bute: but, on their departure for England, on the 28th of May,
General Oakes,[6] who showed on all occasions great attention to Lady
Hester, politely offered it for her residence; we therefore quitted the
hospitable roof of Mr. Fernandez, and betook ourselves thither on the
1st of June.
This palace is a large irregular edifice, with a beggarly exterior,
rendered more ugly by a quadrangular steeple, which looks like a
belfry. It is constructed of the soft stone of the island, with stone
floors, and with ceilings and walls painted in fresco. The walls were
hung with some tolerable pictures. The entrance to it is by an avenue
of orange trees, the appearance of which, though richer, is much less
imposing than the lofty oaks and elms forming the avenues of our own
country. About half way down the avenue, which is two hundred and fifty
yards long, the road turns abruptly on the left into the courtyard of
the palace: this is spacious, and covered with vines to the right and
left. At the end of it two doors lead, one into the house and the other
into the garden.
The house contains some handsome and spacious rooms, but the absence of
carpeting and matting, rendered necessary by the heat of the climate,
gave an air of nakedness displeasing to the eye of an Englishman. I
always felt as if sitting in a stone kitchen. It was in the garden that
a proper estimate might be formed of the magnificence of the mansion,
which might vie, in horticultural beauties, with many of the first
gardens in Europe. In its plan it was not unlike the _orangerie_
at Versailles; but at Versailles, no care could ever give to the
orange, pomegranate, and lemon trees, half the vigour they showed here.
The walks were lined with myrtle hedges, ten feet high; and there was
a terrace with a colonnade, where the vines twined their branches in
wonderful profusion in every direction in which they were trained.
There were five hedges also of double oleander; and, as a proof of the
luxuriance of the growth of plants, the marshmallow, if left in the
soil, grew to the height of a filbert-tree.
The Governor, General Oakes, strove, in every way in his power, to
render Lady Hester’s stay at Malta agreeable to her. He visited her
daily at the palace of St. Antonio, and we were his constant guests at
the dinners and parties at his own residence.
At the beginning of July, in this year, an earthquake was felt by
several inhabitants of Malta. I should presume that habit renders
persons quicker at feeling these slight shocks; for, during many years
that I was up the Mediterranean, I was present when shocks were felt,
but never perceived them myself.
On the 29th of July, Mr. Adair and Mr. Hobhouse, returning from
Constantinople, landed at Malta, and, after performing a short
quarantine, were entertained at the Governor’s. Many British travellers
had visited Malta in the course of this year: for, besides those of
whom mention has already been made, there were several noblemen,
as also Mr. Thomas Sheridan, whose brilliant vivacity was not yet
diminished by the incipient malady under which he finally sunk, Mr.
Drummond, Mr. Fiott,[7] and Mr. B.; the last of whom, when he learned
that Lady Hester’s brother had been called away by his duties as a
soldier, undertook to escort her in the perilous journey which she had
resolved to make through European and Asiatic Turkey.
Lady H. Stanhope had begun to grow tired of Malta. The thermometer
generally stood as high as 85° Fahrenheit in the afternoon, and
the excessive heat had produced some disagreeable effects on her
constitution, so that she often complained of sickness of stomach,
feverish thirst, and loss of appetite; and was tormented with many
other painful sensations which the summer months commonly produce in
those, who, for the first time, visit hot countries.
Sicily was at that time threatened with a descent from the coast of
Calabria; where Murat, the new King of Naples, was in person urging on
the necessary preparations. Several English and Sicilian families had
hastily quitted the island to take refuge in Malta, and many fears were
entertained as to the probable issue of the enterprise. At all events,
the impending storm presented no temptations to Lady Hester to go
thither, and she accordingly changed her destination for the only part
of Europe which was now open to the English, namely, Turkey.
I have said that Mr. B. had undertaken to escort Lady Hester into
Greece. Her ladyship had brought out with her an English maid, named
Ann Fry, and a valet, named François, a native of Coblentz.
Lady Hester had been fortunate enough, on two former occasions, to
obtain a king’s ship to convey her from place to place: but it was vain
to hope that one could now be spared, when every vessel on the station
was so much needed to scour the Straits of Messina, and to prevent the
threatened landing in Sicily. Accordingly, she resolved on hiring a
merchant-vessel; and an American brig, bound for Smyrna, was almost
engaged, when it happened that the Belle Poule frigate of 38 guns,
commanded by Captain C. Brisbane, came into Malta from Corfu, to which
island she was to return; and the captain very politely offered to
convey her ladyship and her party to one of the Ionian Islands.
On the second of August, we embarked in the Belle Poule, and arrived
at the cruizing station, off Corfu, on the third day. We passed Corfu,
Little and Great Cephalonia, and Fano, and on the 8th anchored in the
bay of Zante.