The Thistle and the Cedar of Lebanon Part 5

In Damascus, at the period I am writing of, there dwelt an extraordinary man, well known to the English who visited the place as the proprietor of a large hotel, by the name of Sayed Ali; he also filled the office of chancellor to the English consulate. This extraordinary character could speak and write several languages with the utmost fluency, and no one could fathom out what countryman he was, or what creed he professed.

With the English he was an Englishman, and none could doubt his p.r.o.nunciation. This was the case with the French; whilst the Turks, listening in admiration to his high flow of Stamboline Turkish, and his profound knowledge of the Koran, ranked him amongst the most devout and most learned of their citizens. One thing only was positive with regard to Sayed Ali, and that was, that his wife was a Moslem, the daughter of some fanatical Sheikh. Sayed's wife had an extremely handsome sister; who having been seen but once, had captivated the heart of an old English official, who at that time resided at Damascus; and this gentleman, notwithstanding the great disparity between them in every respect, in age, rank and creed, determined, cost what it might, to marry the girl.

Female friends were employed as go-betweens, and these so effectually wrought upon the imagination of the fair lady, that she actually resolved to embrace Christianity, and fly for succour to the arms of her lover.

Things had arrived at this pitch, when Sayed Ali accidentally got scent of what was going on; he subsequently declared to me, that had it not been for the high official position of the gentleman in question, he certainly would have shot him; as it was, he contented himself with calling at his sister-in-law's house, and knocking at the door drew his sword; the girl responding to the knock, opened the door, when the infuriated Sayed Ali made a murderous attack upon her, and inflicted a wound on her shoulder, a repet.i.tion of which must have proved fatal. As this happened during the day, the noise attracted a crowd around the house, and the girl was rescued. Rendered desperate by this, Sayed Ali made a plunge at himself, and inflicted a wound in his abdomen of nearly an inch deep; not, however, relis.h.i.+ng the sensation, the monster drew out his sword, and calling l.u.s.tily for aid was forthwith carried away to his own house. Here he was attended by the English medical officers then at Damascus. I shortly after called to see him, and to inquire into the cause of this murderous onslaught. In reply, he told me that his motives were what I have already stated; he was determined that his name should not be defamed, or his wife's family put to shame by the act of a thoughtless, capricious child, winding up, however, with-

"I'm glad I have not killed her, and for my part I'll never be such a fool again as to stab myself to please any one in Damascus."

The doctor dressed the wounds, and both shortly afterwards recovered, whilst the greatest delinquent in the affair suffered neither pain or inconvenience from his gross misconduct. He is now in high office under the government at Constantinople. This is a fair sample of the abuses practised by many of those in authority, who in lieu of holding out a pattern for imitation, both by example and precept, are unfortunately too p.r.o.ne to indulge their own vicious propensities, setting all propriety, honour, and justice at defiance. I do not mean to say that all incline in the same way-that all are addicted to falling desperately in love with every girl they meet; but this I a.s.sert, with very few exceptions, they have their peculiar fancies, for the gratification of which they stoop to many acts of meanness. In ill.u.s.tration of what I say, I may be permitted to quote one more instance,-a case widely different from the foregoing, and yet equally offensive to honourable minds.

"One man, a sycophant, partly to curry favour with a great man whom he wished to oblige, partly to satisfy his avaricious propensities, delayed a steam packet twenty-four hours beyond its fixed time of departure, because the vessel chanced to sail upon a Sat.u.r.day, and the great man in question was a Jew; he detained the steamer till Sunday morning to accommodate the fastidious Hebrew, and to profit by his commission on the lordly pa.s.sage money.

"Now this man is professedly a Christian, but he prefers breaking the Christian's sabbath to inconveniencing his friend or his pocket; but apart from all this, we have still to calculate the losses arising from the expenses incurred by such a vessel lying unnecessarily idle-the risk of insurance, and the loss of time to money, cargo, and letters." {107}

But let us turn to a more pleasing subject. In these latter days of progression and civilisation, Damascus happily has kept pace with the other towns in Syria; there has been a large influx of European merchants. The Greek patriarch has, in the true spirit of civilization, and after great exertions, established a school which will be productive of much good.

From Damascus we went down to Sidon, visiting, _en route_, the residence of the late Lady Hester Stanhope, at Djouni, which was even then fast falling to decay. Lady Hester I had known personally, and although clever and eccentric, with a head full of strange fancies, yet she had a heart not devoid of good feeling and kind intentions. For my part, I can always recollect, with grateful pleasure, the kind reception I met with at her house, and if there is any thing which I consider base, it is the conduct of her biographer (who was also her physician), and who has abused a sacred trust to pander to the inquisitiveness of the European world; or else to contribute to the depth and weight of his own purse, has raked up the ashes of one, who at least towards himself, was the best of friends and patronesses; and whether the book contains much of truth or much of imagination, it is either a breach of confidence of the very worst order, or a libel on the dead which there is none to controvert or dispute.

At Sidon there, at that time, resided General Loustannau, whose life abounded more in romantic incidents than all the novels of our most celebrated writers. In India he had served under a native Prince with such courage and distinction, and through so long a period of years that he had ama.s.sed an immense fortune. He was at the time of my visit a half-witted mendicant, one of the many objects of the late Lady Hester Stanhope's benevolence, and one who, like herself, was subject to many extravagant eccentricities. The story of Loustannau is so remarkable that I cannot refrain from quoting part of it from Mr. Kelly's work on Syria:

"General Loustannau was a native of Aidens, in the department of Ba.s.ses Pyrenees; his family was not wealthy, and his youthful ardour impelled him to seek his fortune in foreign lands. Arriving at Bordeaux for the purpose of embarking for America, he found a vessel about to sail for India with M. de Saint Lubin, who was commissioned by Louis XVI. to propose to the Mahrattas a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, against the English. Loustannau took advantage of the opportunity, gave up his American project, and in due time found himself amongst the Mahrattas. This was in the year 1778, when he was twenty years of age.

War had for some time existed between the Mahrattas and the English, and Loustannau, who wished to take service with the former, obtained a letter of recommendation to M. Norogue, a Portuguese officer, who commanded their forces. That General received him very courteously, but thought him too young to be entrusted with any command. Loustannau, however, accompanied the army in its movements, and was witness to the continual advantages afforded the English by the unskilfulness of General Norogue.

The Mahrattas, though thrice outnumbering their enemies, were constantly forced to yield their ground; at last the prince succeeded in bringing the English to an engagement in a position unfavourable to the latter, inasmuch as it allowed of their being out-flanked by the superior number of their adversaries. But this did not avail them; the English entrenched themselves on an eminence from which their batteries committed great havoc among the Mahrattas. Loustannau observing a height which commanded the English position, immediately mentioned the fact to Norogue, who received this communication with supercilious indifference.

Stung to the quick by this contemptuous treatment, Loustannau addressed himself to a Mahratta chief through an interpreter, and with the reckless enthusiasm of youth, pledged his head that he would be successful if he were given the command of a few pieces of cannon. Three thousand horse and ten guns were placed under his orders; the result surpa.s.sed his hopes, and the English were driven from their position with great loss.

In spite of Norogue's jealousy, a choncadar with a gold stick was soon sent in quest of the young Frenchman, who had rendered such essential service to the national cause. Loustannau was presented to the chiefs who exercised the regency, and received a magnificent present. He remained in the service of the Mahrattas, and soon had a corps of 2000 men under his exclusive command. He took part in all the subsequent operations against the English, and was mainly instrumental in inflicting upon them those losses which for a while seemed to place our Indian empire in such imminent jeopardy.

"At the battle of Cha.s.sepachrer, he routed our seapoys with great slaughter; the battle was ended, the English artillery alone continued to fire a few volleys in its retreat, in order to protect the fugitives, when a grape-shot struck Loustannau in the left hand and carried off the four fingers and half the thumb. It was long before he recovered from the effects of this wound. When the stump was healed, he had a silver hand of very ingenious workmans.h.i.+p fitted to it. The first day he appeared at the head of his troops with this new kind of hand, a priest threw himself prostrate before his horse's feet, crying out, that the 'prophecy was fulfilled, since it was written in the temple of the G.o.d Siva, that the Mahrattas were to reach the summit of their glory under a man from the far west, who should have a silver hand, and prove invincible.'

"Loustannau was thenceforth looked upon as something almost superhuman.

Diamonds, precious stones, the richest presents of every kind, were lavished on him from all sides. He was a.s.signed a magnificent palace, with all the appurtenances of royal luxury. His stables contained thirty elephants sumptuously caparisoned, and a hundred and fifty horses, the best that India could produce. His body-guard consisted of 2000 men, with four pieces of cannon; and the princ.i.p.al chief had two colossal silver hands planted before the entrance of the palace that all men might know, by that token, that the man of destiny was the leader of the national forces.

"Another campaign took place, in which Loustannau was again successful, and which terminated greatly to the satisfaction of the Mahrattas. On his return to Azra, he was received with honours such as were used to be conferred only on princes and sultans; and the ruling prince solemnly declared him 'The Lion of the State and the Tiger in War.'

"Loustannau married the daughter of a French officer in India; he had now been eighteen years among the Mahrattas; he had several children, and his wife urged him to return to Europe to enjoy the fruits of his toils.

"Notwithstanding his excessive generosity, the wealth he had acc.u.mulated was enormous; but, from the moment he quitted the territory of the Mahrattas, fortune, which till then had been so lavish to him of her favours, forsook him all at once, and the rest of his life was but one series of disasters and sorrows. He converted his whole fortune into paper, for he had not yet made up his mind where he would settle, and he did not wish to purchase any estates before his arrival. His homeward voyage was long and difficult; and he was several times in danger of s.h.i.+pwreck. When, at last, after a seven-month's pa.s.sage, he reached France, the a.s.signats had fallen into such utter depreciation, that he found the 8,000,000 of francs he had remitted home dwindled down to 220,000. This first blow made a terrible impression on a temper so violent as his, and so spoiled by prosperity; but he still possessed a considerable amount in diamonds, some of which he sold, and with the proceeds he settled in Tarbes with his family, consisting of two sons and three daughters. Shortly afterwards, he lost his favourite son, and his grief was such as to occasion him an attack of insanity, from which he did not completely recover for two years. When he was restored to his senses, he set about constructing extensive iron works on the frontiers of Spain, in order to afford his restless energies an object on which to employ themselves. For three years, his sole pleasure consisted in superintending his engineers and workmen, and watching the progress of the great constructions he planned.

"Things were in this state when fresh misfortunes befell him. He was on the point of realising the profits of his enterprise, when war broke out between France and Spain. Immediately upon the first disasters of the French arms, his buildings were burned, his furnaces destroyed, and his hopes annihilated. The ruin of his fortune was almost complete, and he only supported himself by selling, one by one, the costly jewels he had brought from India. All these misfortunes impaired his reason; he had continued fits of overwrought devotion, amounting at times to insanity.

His family lived on in this way until 1815, in a state of mediocrity very hard to endure after their brilliant condition and their opulence in past years.

"In 1815, Loustannau's only surviving son, who was a captain in the imperial guards, was dangerously wounded at Waterloo. His father saw himself on the point of losing him, and this shock seemed to restore to him the possession of his faculties. When he recovered, all the revived energies of his character were concentrated on the thought, how dest.i.tute would be the state of his family after his death; he determined, therefore to return to India, though many years had elapsed since he left it. His son wished to go in his stead, but he would not hear of this; and in 1816 he embarked for Egypt, having raised the necessary funds for his journey by pledging a ruby of rare value, the last gift of his Mahratta patron. Not finding in Egypt an opportunity of pursuing his way by the Red Sea, he crossed over to Syria, with the intention of joining the caravan from Damascus to Ba.s.sorah; but he fell dangerously ill at Acre, his brain being again affected; he squandered away all his money in his delirium, and destroyed bills of exchange and other valuable papers.

After this, he suffered for awhile all the horrors of penury, and the renowned Loustannau-'The Lion of the State and the Tiger in War'-was reduced to earn his bread as a day-labourer. In this deplorable condition he was found by M. Cataf.a.go, a wealthy Levantine merchant, who relieved his wants and took him into his house.

"Loustannau had occasionally lucid intervals, in which he talked of his past greatness, and related the history of his life and his afflictions; but he had the mortification of seeing that everything he uttered seemed to his hearers but an additional proof of his insanity. To make all sure, however, letters were written to France, requesting information respecting this extraordinary man; and at last his son, who had heard nothing of him for two years, made all haste to Syria, and found his unfortunate father almost wholly deprived of reason. His journey to India was henceforth clearly impossible. The Captain had gathered together the last remnants of his fortune; and he remained for some time in Syria, doing everything that affection could suggest, in the hope of restoring his father to himself.

"It was at this period that the old man's melancholy story reached the ears of Lady Hester Stanhope. She was then in the hey-day of her fame, and she offered Loustannau and his son an asylum in her house. At the first sight of the latter, she was struck with the resemblance that he bore to the gallant lover she had lost. From the lines of his hand, the form of his foot, and the aspect of the stars, she gathered that the life of Captain Loustannau was destined to be inseparably connected with her own. The Captain, however, had not lost sight of his Indian project, for he still hoped to recover some remains of the vast property his father must have left in that country. Lady Hester dissuaded him from going to India, and undertook to employ every possible means of recovering what remained of the old General's property or fortune; but great changes had occurred since the old man had left the country. Wellesley's (Wellington) victories had put the English in possession of a great portion of the Mahratta territory; Loustannau's princely protectors were no more, and his property had pa.s.sed into other hands.

"It was a singular chance that brought together in a corner of Syria two beings so remarkable as General Loustannau and Lady Hester Stanhope; they had long, mystical conversations together, and Lady Hester looked on Loustannau as a prophet who was come to prepare the way for her, and to be the forerunner of her triumph. The Captain sought to beguile the tedium of his existence by managing the household and the pecuniary affairs of Lady Hester. She treated him with the most a.s.siduous kindness until his death, which happened, I believe, in 1825. Her feelings towards him were those of pure friends.h.i.+p, tinged by the memory of her youthful affections and stimulated by the fantastic notion that a secret bond irrevocably united his destiny with her own. After his death, she had him buried in her garden, and twice every day she visited his grave, decorated it with flowers, and remained by it absorbed in long reveries.

"General Loustannau's insanity became more intense after his son's death, his delusions being greatly augmented by his intercourse with Lady Hester Stanhope. Celestial music floated round him; for a while he believed himself called to give battle to Bonaparte, who, he said, had returned to the earth under the form of Antichrist; and in 1831 he declared it his destiny to become king of Jerusalem when the fulness of time should have been accomplished. He had now warm altercations with Lady Hester; for he a.s.serted his right to the bay mare with the natural saddle, whilst her ladys.h.i.+p was to have the white mare, and to ride with him into the Holy City as his wife, her place being at his left-hand and a little behind him.

"Her ladys.h.i.+p very soon saw it written in the stars that Loustannau and herself were to part. Accordingly she had a house fitted up for his reception at Abra, a village within five miles of her own residence, on the road to Sidon. But she continued her benevolent protection towards him, and did not let him want for anything requisite for his comfort.

"Lady Hester died in June, 1839, a few days before the battle of Neizeb, which she had foretold with rather surprising accuracy. Her wealth was all gone. She even left considerable debts, and her property was instantly seized by her creditors. Loustannau being thus once more reduced to entire dest.i.tution, the French consul of Sidon took charge of him, and gave him a humble lodging in the French khan. Thus this venerable old man, who had once possessed immense wealth, commanded great armies, and enriched mult.i.tudes of Europeans, now subsisted on charity.

It has long been generally supposed that he was dead, as a.s.serted by M.

Jouay. He is dead, it is true, to all purposes of active life, but he has still a few lucid intervals in the midst of his harmless religious insanity. Happily for him, he has almost wholly lost his memory, and of all his past greatness he recollects nothing distinctly except the t.i.tle he bore in India. Often does he proudly repeat that they called him formerly 'The Lion of the State and the Tiger in War;' and then, sadly reverting to his present condition, he subjoins, 'And now I am nothing but an unfortunate beggar.'"

Such is the admirable account given by Mr. Kelly of this singular individual, who pa.s.sed through all the stages from happiness and affluence to misery and dest.i.tution. Loustannau is now dead, not only to purposes of active life, but dead in the literal sense of the word, and his bones repose in the European cemetery at Sidon; the life of this man and the site of his troubles affording a fresh incentive for strangers to visit Sidon, in addition to its ancient fame as a city of the days of Solomon.

Sidon is perhaps the most delightfully situated town in all Palestine.

Abounding with pleasant gardens, and rides and walks; the climate is healthy, and the commerce of the place is rising into importance, and the harbour capable of great improvement. In May, 1851, the families of two American missionaries established themselves in this neighbourhood, and already the schools and the works of the mission are prospering.

From Sidon we visited Tyre!-poor, solitary, desolate Tyre-in whose meagre forsaken town and bare rugged rocks, we had manifest proof of the never-failing veracity of Scripture prophecy. How else would the once greatest city of the earth, whose s.h.i.+ps visited all parts, whose merchants had a world-wide reputation, be now an utter desolation, inhabited only by a few traders and wretched fishermen and their families, whose daily occupation of spreading out the nets to dry are so many consecutive proofs of the fulfilment of the words of the prophet.

But so many modern travellers have described these parts, that it would be useless for me to dwell upon the subject in this work: so we quitted Sur, the modern Tyre; and a night's pleasant sail in a small shaktoor brought us to Acre. St. Jean d'Acre was at this period still suffering much from the explosion of the powder magazine, which so much a.s.sisted Admiral Napier in his siege; the houses were all tottering ruins, the mosques minus their minarets, and the stench from the acc.u.mulated ma.s.s of decomposed matter, the carcases of camels, sheep and oxen, and in some places the sun-bleached bones of unhappy beings, in the twinkling of an eye as it were hurried into eternity; these were a loathsome and melancholy spectacle.

I may here state, that I was present at the bombardment of Acre, and from a favourable situation witnessed the terrific result of the "Geyser"

bombsh.e.l.ls, which were thrown with such unerring certainty, that, knowing the position of the powder-magazine, they fired upon it with so nice an aim, that each succeeding sh.e.l.l struck upon the last in such a manner that the first thrown was thus forced through the wall, and occasioned the explosion; but I may further state what is yet a hidden mystery to the British public, and which in a great measure accounts for the facility with which this almost impregnable fortress was captured, and that is, that the Imams and the Cadi of Acre secretly warned the soldiery not to resist the arms of the British force there a.s.sembled, _because_ they were fighting for the Sultan, whom it was their duty, as Mahomedans, to obey; and, moreover, that in the sight of G.o.d and the prophet, there was no other lawful Moslem king; none to be acknowledged, save the Sultan of the Sublime Porte, Abdul Medjid; and that if they acted against his interests, then the Prophet would utterly forsake them, and such as fell in battle might fully make up their minds to be hurled into eternal perdition, and that such as fought in his favour would a.s.suredly go to heaven. Such an exhortation and threat, at such a peculiar time, was sure to have the desired effect. {119}

Not only did the soldiers fight without spirit, but many of the artillery actually spiked their guns. Of this latter fact I myself had ocular demonstration when the engagement was over, and the allied forces landed at Acre. After this fact, it becomes not the English admiral to boast too much and compare his success with the failure of Napoleon.

From Acre, still journeying southward, we pa.s.sed the famous brook Kedron, so often alluded to in Holy Writ, and pa.s.sing through the miserable village of Kaipha, ascended Mount Carmel, and sojourned a couple of days in the hospitable convent of the Carmelite monks. Leaving Carmel, we pa.s.sed through Caesarea, now an utter desolation, and visited Jaffa and Gaza, and from the latter place, striking inland, took in succession Hebron, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea and the Jordan, besides visiting all the other towns of any note or importance, all of which have been often described by European travellers, so that the best thing I can do is to avoid repet.i.tion, and content myself with observing, that the reality far exceeded my expectations as regards the beauty of the scenery and the wild picturesque position of almost every town of note in Palestine. At the same time I deem it most essential to warn the English travellers to be very careful in the choice of a guide-book, as many, even up to a very late date, have been published with apparently no other aim than to puff up the author's vanity, containing mostly a tissue of unaccountable misrepresentations from first to last. If the traveller, in a spirit of knight-errantry, goes forth to visit the holy sh.o.r.es of Palestine and Syria, hoping there to bask under the bright light of large sunny-loving eyes-if he thinks to lead the Arab maid captive by the heart-to win over the smiles of the Grecian, or scampering over desolate mountains-to fall in with untutored Syrian maids, who sally forth and carry him from his horse, fatigued and fever-smitten, to be watched over and cared for by female philanthropists,-if, I say, the traveller quits England with any such notions, he will return to these sh.o.r.es grievously disappointed.

Although myself a native of the country, dressed in the costume, and speaking the language, still, with all these advantages, the maidens always fled at our approach, not even if they mastered their coyness, would they ever exchange a syllable with us strangers. Possibly, my friend and myself were not possessed of that charm which a recent gallant author, according to his own account, seems to have carried about with him wherever he went; for he says, that in many parts fathers of families rushed out and endeavoured to force him into a marriage with their daughters, or else the maidens themselves, in _villages he had never before visited_, came forth, having heard of his notoriety (this in parts where there is no post, and where news travels at the rate of a mile a week), to meet him with timbrel and dance, and other welcomings. The only note that ever welcomed us to such villages, was the angry tongue of a scolding harridan, or else the hooting of the owls, or the cry of the jackal.

CHAPTER VIII.

FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND.

It sometimes happened that the naval officers belonging to the s.h.i.+p-of-war stationed at Beyrout, took up their temporary residence with some friend on sh.o.r.e, being always welcome guests at the houses of the inhabitants. It was in this way that I first came to cultivate an acquaintance with the captain of Her Majesty's steamer, "Hecate," so that we were much thrown together. On one occasion, whilst he was a guest at our house, he proposed that I should accompany him on a pleasure cruise as far as Malta; a proposition I gladly acceded to, more particularly as the Emir Beschir, with his family and a relation of my own, were at that time residing on the island. I had long had a desire to see Malta, for many had described it to me as a species of little world, where one might sit down in a _cafe_ and study the characters of every European nation.

The alarm and grief of my relations on learning my determination was only to be equalled by the envious jeerings of my companions, who, whilst they pretended to pity my infatuation, would, I feel persuaded, have parted with every para in their possession for a portion of my good luck.

The steamer was to sail at the end of the week; and I was so busy making preparations, packing and taking leave, that I really had not a moment's leisure for calm meditation,-and I am very glad I had not, for the chances are, that this, in conjunction with some of the melancholy forebodings of my friends, would have unnerved me for the trip. Seeing, however, that I was determined on starting, my neighbours changed their annoying prognostications into good acts, which acts consisted in inundating me with as many presents of sweetmeats, biscuits, etc., as would have kept me during a twelvemonths' pa.s.sage round the world. I selected some of the best of them for the officers' mess, and at last the word ready being given, got my luggage together and embarked; the dispatches being received on board, and the "Hecate" soon after getting up her steam, we proceeded on our voyage to Malta accompanied by the prayers and blessings of a mult.i.tude of friends and relations a.s.sembled at Ras-Beyrout to witness our departure.

The day after we had sailed, I awoke at early dawn and crept up upon deck as best I could. The motion of the vessel was so strange and violent, that I reeled and staggered like a tipsy man, and felt confused, miserable, weak and sick. The horrible sensations I experienced on first awaking that morning cannot be easily erased from my mind. I was awoke by a singular and deafening noise, which seemed to proceed from directly overhead, which, as I afterwards discovered, was occasioned by the daily process of holy-stoning the decks. I managed to reach the main-deck just in time to be handed to the larboard gangway by the officer of the watch, who there left me alone in my misery with my head hanging over the bulwarks-a wretched victim to sea-sickness.

Bitterly, during that moment, did I lament having ever quitted Beyrout.

My sufferings were so intense that I thought I must have died during the day. This was the first time I had ever found myself so far out at sea.

There was no land in sight. The morning was gloomy and boisterous; and altogether my spirits felt so depressed that I resigned myself to Allah, and wrapping the loose folds of my large Cyprus cloak carefully around me, I sat down cross-legged in a corner behind the man at the helm, and vainly endeavoured to fall off to sleep. A nice cup of coffee which the captain's steward kindly brought, in a great measure revived me; this relief, however, was only temporary, the dreadful odour of the victuals cooking for breakfast, fried fish, ham and eggs, etc., these made me feel so ill that I was compelled to retire to my berth, and there I lay more dead than alive during the whole pa.s.sage, utterly callous as to what became of me, and as to whether the vessel was steadily pursuing her voyage in safety or was in imminent danger of going to the bottom.

Some Capuchin friars were on board, returning from Jerusalem to Malta, accompanied by two young Syrian females who were going to Rome to be educated in the principles of the Roman Catholic religion, and they not only enjoyed the pa.s.sage amazingly, being possessed of capital appet.i.tes, but they very uncharitably, though not very unlike human nature, mocked at my calamities and tried to heighten my alarm and sufferings by frightening me with false reports as to the vessel's danger, and as to my own weak state of health.

After intense sufferings and encountering much really rough weather, we had at length the satisfaction of finding ourselves safe at anchor in the harbour of Valetta. I doubt whether any of the pa.s.sengers that accompanied St. Paul on his disastrous voyage and s.h.i.+pwreck, suffered greater fear or pain than I had undergone; certainly they could not have rejoiced more than I did at its happy termination. Blessed be G.o.d, who is not forgetful of His children, even in the vast unruly deep!

On arriving at Malta, we had eleven days' quarantine to perform; but the tediousness of this imprisonment was much alleviated by the kindness and attention of the good Mr. Schlicnz, whom I had known in Syria, and who now daily visited me at the Lazaretto, supplying me with books to fill up the tedium of dull hours. On the eleventh day, being admitted to pratique, I accepted the hospitable invitation of that gentleman to take up my quarters at his house. I was, through his politeness, introduced into the society of several of the leading families at Malta. On leaving Beyrout, I had been furnished with letters of introduction to Sir Frederick Bouverie, the then governor. His excellency received me with the utmost urbanity and kindness, and, indeed, I shall ever have cause gratefully to remember Sir Frederick's polite attention, as it was mainly through his instrumentality that I first visited the sh.o.r.es of Great Britain.

One of my first visits was, of course, to the Emir Beschir of Lebanon, who, with his family, were then residing there as political exiles. I had several long conversations with this once-powerful prince; and the Emir suggested that his wife and son should accompany me to London, there to exert their influence in endeavouring to prevail upon Her Majesty the Queen to interpose her influence on their behalf. They communicated with the British Government, both at home and in the island on this subject; but no encouragement was held out by the authorities there or in England for the furtherance of this scheme; and the subject, after a long correspondence, was, therefore, reluctantly dropped. The Emir, being hurt and displeased at this apparent neglect, sent his son to Constantinople, who, being well received by the Ottoman Government, wrote, at its suggestion, to invite his father to the Porte, an invitation he readily accepted; upon which the governor of Malta placed at his disposal a British war-steamer, and the Emir and his family immediately quitted the island.