time, you will probably have discovered that I Loved Lilias Lovell very
dearly. 'Twas no Ramping, Rantipoling, Fiery-Furnace kind of Calf Love
on my part, but a matured and sensible admixture of Gratitude and
Sincere Affection. I scorn to conceal that although I knew myself to be
by Lineage worthy the hand of a Gentleman's Daughter,[D] I was aware
that, by the Meanness of the condition under which I was first known to
the Lovell Family, a Gulf yawned between their Estate and mine; and
that, warm and devoted as was my Love for the Pretty Little Creature I
had saved from the Flames, I could but deem that she reckoned the Humane
Dog Cerberus of the Opera Ballet as of no greater account than a real
Doggish Mastiff. But, to my extreme Amazement and Felicity, this was not
so. I was beloved by this amiable Young Person, to whom Ambassadors were
proud to go on their knees, and whom Gentlemen of the Chamber would have
covered with Diamonds. With a charming frankness, blushing and
stammering, yet with Virginal Pride, she confessed that she was
enamoured of me, and, if Fortune were propitious, would gladly be my
Wife. I could at first scarcely realize the possibility of such great
and unmerited Happiness; for well did I know the disparity in Age that
existed between us--how Rough and Weather-beaten was I; and she, how
Tender, Delicate, and Good! "But does not the Ivy twine round the Oak?"
quoth the Physician, as he smote me cheerfully on the Shoulder. And
behold, now, gnarled and battered old Jack Dangerous, with this
delicious little Parasite creeping toward and Nestling Round him.
FOOTNOTES:
[C] 2 Kings, ix. 30.
[D] I preserve a fragment of what His Eminence was pleased once upon a
time to write to me, in his curious Italian way of spelling the French
tongue:
"_Si cieu che vous m'avez dict sur vostre Naissance e vray, vos esteo
digne di monter dedans le carozze du Roy._"
CHAPTER THE NINTH AND LAST.
OF MY SERVICE UNDER THE GREAT TURK AS A BASHAW; OF MY ADVENTURES IN
RUSSIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES; AND OF MY COMING HOME AT LAST AND BUYING MY
GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE (WHICH IS NOW MINE) IN HANOVER SQUARE.
'TWAS the advice of the Good Physician, that, to prevent Accidents, we
should be Married without delay; for in these hot countries you are here
to-day and gone to-morrow, and no one can tell what may happen.
Difficulties almost insurmountable, 'tis true, seemed to stand in the
way of our Union; but Hamet Abdoollah was able to act almost a
Magician's part to bring about our Happiness. I was for the time being
bestowed in his House, and the next morning the Physician hies him to
the Dey, who was in a Fury about me, and was threatening all kinds of
Bowstrings and Bastinadoes. But his Highness happening likewise to be
suffering from Toothache, and as a Man with a Raging Tooth would give
all the Treasures of Potosi to be quit of his Agony, the Physician
promised to Relieve him forthwith if he would grant his Suit. The Dey
promised him any thing he could wish for, and so Hamet Abdoollah cures
him with a little Phial full of nothing but Tar Balsam. 'Tis but just to
the Mussulmans to say, that when they have once given their Word of
Honour, they keep it with Extreme Rigour; so that when the Physician
begged pardon for me, and License to purchase me out of the Dey's
service and take me into his own, the Suit was very cheerfully granted.
Joyfully Hamet Abdoollah repairs to us again, with a Firman under the
Dey's own Signet granting me my Liberty; and that very forenoon my
silver Collar, Anklets, and Manacles were stricken off,--the Physician
returning them to the Dey's Treasury,--and I was no longer a Slave.
Although there is no Man alive who mislikes Popery and its Superstitious
Practices more than does J. D., there is one order of Nuns and one of
Monks for whose members I entertain a profound Love and Reverence. Of
She-Religious, I mean those Blessed Sisters of Charity who go about the
World doing good, braving Sickness, succouring Misery, assuaging Hunger,
drying up Tears, and smiling in the Face of Death: God bless those Holy
Women, say I, wheresoever they are to be found! and in our own
Protestant country of England, why should we not have similar
Sisterhoods of Women of Mercy, or Deaconesses, bound by no rigid vows,
and suffering no ridiculous Penances of Stripes and Macerations, but
obeying only the call of Religious Charity, and going Quietly and
Trustfully about their Master's Business? Of He-Monks, I mean the
Fathers of the Work of Redemption, or Redemptorists, whose sole business
it is to travel about Begging and Praying of the Rich for money to
Ransom poor Christian bodies out of Slavery; which is a better work, I
think, than praying for the deliverance of their Souls out of Purgatory.
These Redemptorist Fathers have a permanent Station and Correspondence
at all the Piratical Ports of the Barbary Coast; and at stated times,
when they have gathered enough Money to redeem a certain number of
Christians, a body of the Fraternity visit the Station, take away their
Sanctified Merchandise, and by their Humble and Devout Carriage, and
exemplary Poverty of Life, extort admiration even from the Bloodthirsty
Heathens.
Now at Algiers, about this time, there was suffered to dwell an old
Religious of this Order, Le Pere Lefanu,--who for his Virtues and Piety
was esteemed even by the Mussulman Ulemas, and was thought a good deal
more of than any of their Marabutts or Santons, which is a name they
give to a kind of wandering Idiots, who, the Crazier they are, are
thought the more deserving of Superstitious Veneration. Pere Lefanu was
nearly ninety years of age, and had dwelt among these Barbarians for
full sixty years of his Life, passing his time in Meditation, Prayer,
and the Visitation of the Sick and Needy, both among the Unbelievers and
the Christian Slaves, and at the same time transacting all necessary
business with the Dey's Head-men for periodically redeeming those that
were in Bondage. Our good Physician had a profound esteem for this
Reverend Person, and often visited him; and now it was through his
Ministry that Lilias and I were to be made One. I had forgotten to say,
that my departed Saint was of the Communion opposite to mine; but in a
land of Pagans 'tis as well to forget all differences between Papists
and Protestants, and to remember only that we are Christians. Pere
Lefanu had been ordained a Secular Priest before he had become a Regular
Monk, and, he told me that if I had any Conscientious Scruples as to the
Husband being a Protestant and the Wife of another way of Thinking, I
could have the marriage done over again in whatever way I thought proper
on our return to Europe. But I was in far too great a Hurry to be
Married to look too narrowly which way the Cat jumped; and a Romish
Wedding is surely better than jumping over a Broomstick, which, unless
we had adopted the uncouth Moresque custom, would have been all the
Ceremony of Matrimony we could have had. So Pere Lefanu came privately,
to avoid Gossip, to the Physician's House, and Lilias Lovell and John
Dangerous were made One in the French Language, the contracting parties
being English, the Bridegroom's best man a tawny Mahometan Moor, and the
only Bridesmaid a Black Negress.
Our Honeymoon (we continuing to dwell in the House of the good Hamet
Abdoollah) was one of unmixed Joy and Gladness; but 'twas too complete
to last long, and soon came a black Storm to lash into fury the calm
surface of our Life's Lake. Seized with a Malignant Distemper, and after
but three days' Sickness, the good Hamet Abdoollah died. His Pillow was
smoothed by our reverent hands, and with his dying breath he blessed us.
I know not if there be any Saints in the Mussulman Church; but if ever
a man deserved Canonization from whatsoever Communion he belonged to, I
am sure it was Hamet Abdoollah, the Moorish Physician.
His Skill in Medicine had brought him great Wealth, of which, although
he was always distributing Alms to the Poor, he left a considerable
Portion behind him. In his last moments he sent for the Cadi and Ulema
of his Quarter, for his will to be made, or at least to assure them by
word of mouth of his Testamentary Intentions, which among this People
would have been as religiously carried out as though he had written
them. But, alas! when the Cadi and Ulema arrived, he was speechless, and
died without word or sign of his Wishes.
His Relations came forthwith to administer to his Effects, and (if truth
be not unpalatable to English Heirs, that often do the same thing) to
fight and squabble over the administration thereof. A pretty Noise and
Riot they made: now weeping and howling over the Corse; now bursting
open Trunks, wrenching Trinkets from each other, striving to convey
away Garments and Furniture, and even tearing down the hangings of Rich
Stuff. Only the Harem, where my one True Wife was, remained inviolate
from these Harpies; but me they overwhelmed with the most injurious
Invectives and accosted by the foulest epithets, calling me Infidel,
Pig, Giaour Dog, Frankish Thief, and the like, telling me that I had
fattened long enough on the Substance of a True Believer, with the like
opprobrious speeches. I let them have their way, only giving them to
understand that the first Man who should attempt to cross the Threshold
of my Harem, it were better for him that he never had been Born.
Soon, however, came a greater Heir at Law than any of these, to take
possession of the Dead Man's heritage. The news of Hamet Abdoollah's
decease had come to the ears of the Dey; and straightway he sends down a
strong guard of Coglolies to Seize all in his Name, specially enjoining
the Bullock Bashee in command to put the big Christian Slave (meaning
myself) in Fetters, and equally secure, although with lighter bonds,
the fair Frankish Woman, meaning my dear Wife Lilias. All this was no
sooner said than done. The Rough Soldiers burst into the House, and, to
prevent any misunderstanding about me, a Cloth (for which I was quite
unprepared) was thrown over my head from Behind; and while I was yet
struggling to free myself from this blinding Incumbrance, the Gyves were
passed over my Wrists and Ankles. And then they removed the Cloth, and,
laden with heavy Chains, I had to behold in Despair their Invading the
Sanctity of my Harem, and tearing therefrom my Lilias. In vain did I
Shout, Threaten, Grind my Teeth, Implore, Promise, and strive to Tear my
Hair. They only Laughed; and one Brutish Coglolie made as though to
strike me with the flat of his Sabre, when I out with my foot, all
fettered as it was, and gave the Ruffian a blow on the Jaw, the which,
by the momentum given by the Iron, I thought had stove it in. This much
infuriated his Savage Companions; and I doubt not but they would have
finished me, but the Bullock Bashee, who had orders to the contrary,
constrained them to stay their hand.
What became of my dear Lilias, I was not allowed to know. She was borne
away, shrieking and calling on me, with Streaming Eyes, for help; and I
saw her no more. Myself they dragged downstairs; and when we were come
into the street, flung me, fettered as I was, over the back of an
Artillery Horse, where I lay, face downwards, and in a kind of stupor,
as listless as a Miller's Sack; and so, my Gyves jingling and
clattering, I was conveyed away.
The cruel and remorseless Dey of Algiers I saw no more. Some spark of
shame there might perchance be in the Ruffian's Breast that forbade him
to gaze upon the man he had pardoned and enfranchised, and had now
traitorously Kidnapped. I suppose that in the Thieves' philosophy of
this Fellow he reasoned that, if promises are to be kept to Live Men,
there is no need to keep them unto Dead ones; that he was released from
all his obligations by the demise of Hamet Abdoollah; and that, as the
Physician could not cure him of the Toothache again, if he chanced to
get it, 'twas idle to continue bestowing Favours where no Benefits could
be derived.
Into a wretched Dungeon of the Arsenal was poor J. Dangerous thrust,
with naught for victuals but Musty Beans and Stinking Water. When I had
been here, groaning and gnashing my teeth, for seven days,--which seemed
to me thrice seven years,--a Rascally Fellow that I knew to be a Scribe
belonging to the Divan of the Dey comes into my Dungeon to tell me that
the Packet-ship has come in from Marseilles, and that in answer to my
letter to Monsieur Foscue, that Merchant sends word that he knows
nothing at all about me; to which the Rascally Scribe adds, in the
Lingua Franca, that I was no doubt an Impostor who had trumped up a
convenient Fable of my being a Gentleman, and having Correspondents who
would be Answerable for my Ransom in Europe, in order to get better food
and treatment until the real truth could be known. Whereupon he tells
me that his Highness the Dey had not yet quite made up his mind as to
whether he shall have me Impaled, or merely Flayed Alive, and so slams
the door in my Face.
In this Horrible Dungeon did I continue for seven days more, mostly
grovelling on the ground, my face downwards, and praying for Deliverance
or Death. I had a mind to dash my Brains out against the slimy walls of
the Cell, but was only stayed by the thought of my Lilias. 'Twas always
night in the abominable Hole, which was lighted only by a hole in the
roof, about four inches square, and which gave not into the open air,
but into a Corridor above. But on the fifteenth night of my Captivity,
for I judged it so by the utter darkness, the door of the Dungeon
opened, and the Blessed Old Man that was a Redemptorist Father appeared,
bearing a Lantern.
"You have that about you, my son," says he, "which should be a sign that
you are a trusted Agent of Holy Mother Church. Can you show it?"
I pointed with one of my fettered hands to my Breast, and made signs for
him to search for that he was in quest of. The which he did, and after
reverently kissing the Parchment I had between the Glasses, restored it
to me.
"You have been most basely entreated," he continued. "Monsieur Foscue
sent ample funds for your Ransom, and his Eminence is most anxious for
your safety; but the cruel Moorish Prince who governs this unhappy city,
after taking the money, feigned that you had made your Escape from the
Arsenal, designing to keep you here in Chains and Hunger until you
should Perish."
He paused for a moment, for his Great Age made him very feeble, and then
continued:
"I can deliver you from this Abode of Misery; but it is not in my power,
my son, to give you entire Deliverance. Would that I could! You have but
to follow me to the Quayside, where you will find a boat to convey you
on board a Turkish Merchant-ship, that to-morrow morning weighs anchor
for Constantinople. You will still be a Slave to the Captain, but to
your own ingenuity I leave it to obtain complete Freedom."
"And my Wife--my dear, dear Lilias?" I asked.
The Ancient Man shook his head.
"I can do nothing to bring you together again. She cannot follow you to
Stamboul; but by Perseverance, and in Time, you may be restored to her."
"Time!" I cried out in bitter desperation. "Time! O Father! I am growing
an old man. She is the stay and prop of my Life; she is the one ray of
sunshine cast on a Black and Wicked Career! And she is taken from me by
these Butchers! and I am to see her no more? What care I for Hunger and
Chains, and a Dungeon-floor for a Pallet? They have been familiar to me
from my earliest youth. If I am not to have my Lilias's sweet
companionship again, I will remain here, in this Hole, and die like a
Dog, as I am."
"Take comfort, my son," said the Redemptorist Monk. "Time and
Perseverance may, I repeat, enable you to attain your heart's desire.
Meanwhile, console yourself with the assurance that the Fair and Good
Woman, who is your Wife, is out of peril from lawless men. By the same
Packet-ship that brought the Letters from Monsieur Foscue came a Sum
sufficient Doubly to Ransom the Young Woman. The benignant protection of
his Eminence has been extended to her, and she will in a few days return
to France, and to her Father."
"But can I not see her?--cannot I touch her Hand?--can I not press her
Lip?--for one brief moment, and for the last time?"
"It is impossible," answered the Monk. "She is watched, both by Day and
Night, by zealous agents of the Dey, and I have no means of access to
her. 'Twould be death both to you and to myself were I to seek to bring
about a meeting between you. Even now the precious moments are wasting
away. In another hour the Guard will be changed, and your Escape
impossible."
"And how is it possible now?" I asked. "And will no one come to Hurt
through my evasion?"
"It _is_ possible," he repeated. "You have to walk but from hence to the
Outer Gate and the Quayside. Immediately you have departed, the Body of
a poor Christian Slave, of your age and stature, who died this morning
at the Arsenal, will be conveyed here, and garnished with your Chains.
The Dey will be told that you have died in Prison. He loves not to look
upon the faces of those he has murdered, and will take the word of the
Aga, who is in our pay. Come! there is not an instant to be lost. Here
is the key to your Fetters. Unlock them, and follow me."
With a heart that was now elated with the prospect of Deliverance, and
now sunk at the thought that I was still to be separated from my Lilias,
I did as the good Redemptorist bade me, and, casting my accursed
Shackles from me in a heap, limped slowly forth--for the Iron had
wofully galled me. Outside the Dungeon-door stood a couple of Coglolies,
with their Turban-cloths let down over their faces to serve as Masks,
who swiftly unlocked what Doors remained between us and the Sea Rampart.
The Monk pressed my Hand, gave me his Blessing, bidding me hope for
Better Times, and disappeared. Guided by the Coglolies, and, indeed,
half supported by them, I was put into a Boat waiting at the Quayside,
as the Monk had told me, and ten minutes' hard pulling brought us
alongside a large craft, on board which, I being so weak, they were fain
to hoist me with Ropes. By this time I had sunk into a kind of Lethargy,
and, being conveyed below and put into a cot in the Master's Cabin, fell
into a slumber, which lasted for very many hours.
The Captain of this ship was an English Renegado, named Sparkenhoe. He
had served as Midshipman and Master's Mate in a King's ship; but having
been, as he conceived, unjustly Broken for hot words that passed
between him and the Captain,--this took place at Gibraltar,--had
deserted, and hid himself on board a Merchant Brig bound for Tangier. At
last, being fond of a Roving Life (and having the misfortune to kill the
Captain of the Merchant Brig in a dispute concerning some Bullocks they
were shipping), he had turned Mussulman; and after living some time
among the Buccaneers of the Riff, had come to Algiers, and been made
Captain of a Merchantman trading to the Dardanelles, and doing a bit of
Piracy when opportunity served. 'Twas full five-and-twenty years since
he had Run from the King of Great Britain's service; and although his
Blue Eyes and enormous Red Whiskers still gave him somewhat of a Saxon
appearance, he had very nearly forgotten his Mother Tongue, and only
retained English enough to enable him to mingle a few Billingsgate Oaths
with his barbarous Levantine Lingo.
This fellow, whom I heartily despised, for he had kept all the Vices of
his former Religion, and had acquired none of the Virtues of his new
one, was civil enough to me, and informed me that all he could do for
me, in return for the Bribe he had received from his Employers, would be
to deliver me to a Slave Merchant at Constantinople, who would place me
out in Domestic Service where I should not be ill-treated. But he very
strongly advised me to turn Turk or Renegado, as he himself was, saying,
that in such a case he would land me perfectly free at the Porte, where
I should doubtless find some profitable Employment. This I scornfully
refused; whereupon he shrugged his Shoulders, and said that I was a
Fool, but might possibly think Better of it in Time.
After three weeks' coasting among the Isles of the Grecian Archipelago,
and so into the Sea of Marmora, we steered into the Dardanelles 'twixt
the Castles of Europe and Asia; and the same night the Slave-Dealer
comes off in a private Caique--as the Turks call their Canoes,--and the
Renegado delivered me up to him. I was taken to his House at Galata,
where I was kept very close for two or three weeks, and was then sold
to a Merchant of Damascus in Asia, that had come to Constantinople with
the Autumn Caravans, to dispose of his cargo of Silk and Attar of
Roses--a very fine and subtle Perfume, one drop of which is sufficient
to scent an entire House.
* * * * *
'Twas in the autumn of the year 1759 that I so came to Damascus, and for
ten years did I remain in that city,--all the time without hearing one
word from my dear Wife. Had I been in the Capital, where Foreign
Ambassadors reside, I could not, as a Christian, be detained in Slavery;
that being guarded against by Treaties between the Crown of Great
Britain and the Sublime Porte. But in this remote part of the Empire,
these and many other worse enormities were possible; and I remained as
one Dead and Buried. To a few English and French Travellers passing
through Damascus did I tell my piteous Tale, and entreat their help; but
the account that I gave of myself was so rambling and confused, and
contained, I could but confess it, many Incredible Particulars, that I
could plainly see no one believed my Tale, or accounted me as aught but
a half-mad Fellow that had run away for some misdeed from a Ship in port
on the Coast of Syria, and was now trying to cadge Sympathy for a
Pretended Grievance. At last I gave up complaining. Slowly, but surely,
my memory of my former life began to Decay, and even the knowledge of
mine own Language faded away, and became weaker and weaker every day. I
dressed, I ate, I drank, I slept in the Eastern Fashion, and in all but
religion I was a Turk.
Meanwhile I had gained in the favour of my Master. He was about mine own
age when he purchased me, and we grew old Together. At first I was
employed as a mere Menial, in carrying of Bales and Packages, and
tending of Camels; but by degrees I was promoted to be his Warehouseman,
Clerk, Cashkeeper, and at last his Partner. In that capacity he sent me
to manage a large silk-plantation of his in the Lebanon; and after two
years of that work I left him with a fortune of no less than five
hundred Purses of Gold (about 20,000_l._ of our Money), to set up on my
own account in the City of Broussa. He made no attempt (nor had he at
any time done so) to combat my Religious Scruples, but counselled me to
behave in all things outwardly as a Turk; and if anything was said of my
being in countenance a Frank (though I was swarthy enough from my Long
Journeyings), to account for it by saying that I was an Affghan born,
out of India. He died very soon after I settled at Broussa, and the
secret of my being a Christian died with him. It is true that, for mere
Policy's sake, I did go through the Mummeries of outward Mahometans, and
had my Rosary and my Prayer-carpet like other Merchants of Broussa; but
I scornfully deny that I was initiated, or submitted to, any Heathenish
Rites; and I am ready to maintain now, Cut, Thrust, or Backsword, that I
was then as stanch and leal a Protestant as I am now.
Under the name of Gholab Hassan, of Affghanistan, and a True Believer, I
prospered exceedingly, almost entirely forgetting my own country. 'Tis
true I always preserved an affectionate remembrance of my dear Wife
Lilias; but she seemed to me in the guise of some Departed Angel, whom I
had been privileged to behold but for a Short and Transient Period.
Among these Pagans, as is well known, Polygamy is permitted; but that is
neither here nor there; and I was now an Old, Old Man.