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Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land/Volume 2/Chapter 1

DIARY.

CHAPTER I.

Pilgrimage to Bethlehem—An Arab funeral—The Wilderness—The grotto—David's tomb—Prince Pückler Muskau—Jewish masonry—Pool of Bethesda—Armenian convent—Bazaar of Jerusalem —A disagreeable mistake.

DECEMBER 4TH.

—We were nearly deterred from our pilgrimage to Bethlehem, by the account of the dust and wind; but fearing that at this season the weather was not likely to improve, we set off in a perfect whirlwind, and the fine dust so blinded us, that Minney and I resigned ourselves, tête

2

baissée, to a little black slave's guidance. After an hour and a half's actually painful ride through a black valley, and over a cold mountain, we arrived at a monument distinguished as Rachel's tomb.

The spot is, I believe, correctly chosen as the place of her interment, but the building itself does not appear of an ancient construction. An Arab funeral was taking place close to it, attended by about fifty wild and starved-looking Arabs. The only ceremonial appeared to consist in each individual contributing a stone towards raising a mound, which had gained considerable elevation when we passed it a few hours afterwards, on our return from Bethlehem.

There was a wild, ferocious expression of countenance prevailing among these Arabs, that we had never before been so much struck by; the very whiteness of their teeth and shape of their mouths gave them a false and savage appearance. One would 3

most unwillingly have met them in a less frequented path.

We left Bethlehem on our left, for the purpose of visiting the Pools of Solomon, and passed a fountain which our attendants pointed out as the spot where the shepherds first heard “the tidings of great joy.” There was everything in the position and the neighbouring pasturage to favour the impression, and I look back to it with much more conviction than any I received subsequently, on being shewn the spot where the Saviour was born, and the magi adored.

The pools are situated in a valley, surrounded on all sides by a desolate rocky country. They are only three in number and of immense size, in perfect repair, and are undoubtedly the work of Solomon, for the conduit still exists, which to this day supplies the mosque of Omar with water. The pools are fed by considerable springs a few hundred yards from the upper one. 4

Commanding the pass is a Turkish castle, flanked by four towers for their protection. This precaution was necessary in a country which, besides the innumerable wars it has had to encounter with its foreign enemies, has been at all times torn by civil discord and petty warfare.

Within ten years Bethlehem has been at war with Jerusalem; hostilities, jealousies, and hatred lasted six years, and impeded all communications to such a degree that travellers were compelled to be protected by the Arabs of one town during their progress to the other, and were thus handed on in their journey through hostile bands. “The abomination of desolation” is depicted at every step.

On leaving these wells or pools for Bethlehem, the aqueduct runs along the path you ride on, and here and there the ruins of villages are perceived, and a few green patches, produced by the water escaping 5

from the reservoir and acting refreshingly upon the thirsty land. Bethlehem looks as you approach it on this side much more like a fortress than a convent. It is surrounded by a good deal of cultivation, and much remains of the planted terraces of olives and vineyards; the latter have in almost all instances a large round tower, from which there is a watch to protect them, and these at a distance look like Martello towers.

Bethlehem is on an acclivity, and the road very difficult and unsafe to surmount. Had the wind been less cutting, we should have made a still further détour to what is called the Desert of St. John; which I imagined must be the Wilderness, till reminded that it was beyond Jordan. It is by tradition the birth-place of St. John the Baptist; but this is not corroborated by the mention or remains of any considerable town in that always desert tract of country; and as all the great dignitaries of the Jewish 6

church were at that period priests of a city, Zachariah must have dwelt in one, and that of Hebron is the locality that more distinctly points itself out; and there a tree is shewn as that under which Abraham leant when he entertained the strangers (angels.)

The general desertion from this neighbourhood is very decided, and within a few years the increase of jackals, wild boars, &c. &c., so great, that they venture to the very precincts of Jerusalem. A Jew with whom Mr. Young lodged at Hebron, shewed him papers, from which he could trace his forefathers for six hundred years, and their property in Hebron; and he told Mr. Y. that in his grandfather's time between sixty and seventy villages had appertained to this district, and at this moment not more than fifty could be pointed out. But to return to our visiting Bethlehem.

The effect of approaching a fortification so little corresponded with the idea one had formed of the lowly state of Bethlehem, that 7

it required the very long time we were kept waiting for admittance to re-settle our impressions. We had passed through a fine court, supported by twenty-four pillars of (apparently) stained red lime-stone, which in this country is of so fine a grain as almost to approach the quality of marble. At a very low door a lay-brother knocked without the slightest result, the wind being so high that our tapping did not reach the Franciscan's ears. At last, some stones thrown at a small window produced more effect, and we were shewn into the refectory, and hospitably received by a Spanish monk, who seemed much disappointed at finding we neither intended dining nor lodging at the convent. Our progress in riding had been so tedious, that we hardly ventured to drink the excellent coffee brought us, for fear our time would be too short to visit the Grotto of the Nativity, and enable us to get back to Jerusalem before the gates were closed. 8

The grotto, like the holy sepulchre, is spoiled by a profusion of ornament; and the Latins, Greeks, and Armenians, here, as elsewhere, share in the possession of the sacred places: the Latins here, however, have the advantage in having possession of the place of nativity—the stable and the manger; the Greeks that of the manifestation; and a painted representation of the magi distinguishes the spot, with a star above. Silver lamps adorn the altars in great profusion and richness, and many are late presents of the Queen of the French and the Emperor of Russia.

The tombs of St. Jerome, St. Eusebius, and two female Roman saints, of the family of Spina Gracchi, occupy niches in this part of the building. Above the spot which the manger was supposed to occupy, the natural form of the rocks is seen, and encourages one to rely on the identity of ground selected by the piety of the Empress 9

Helena, whose memory must be revered, as she was the instrument of commemorating and preserving the sites of all the most sacred and interesting Christian associations; for if she were misled occasionally in her pious researches, yet she formed the most important and earliest link to the chain of local evidence, and her works throughout the Holy Land remain in a very general state of preservation.

The name of Bethlehem, or Ephrata, signifying House of Bread, was said to have been given first by Abraham; it is next distinguished as the birth-place of David, and where he tended the flocks of Jesse. Great tracts of pasturage can be traced in the immediate neighbourhood of Bethlehem; the valley adjoining is believed to be the scene of the story of Ruth.

After making extensive purchases in rosaries and carved mother-of-pearl, on which the great industry of the community 10

of Bethlehem is employed, we returned by a shorter road, skirting the hill that conducted to the Pool of Siloam; and the wind having abated, our ride was much less of a penance than that we had experienced from Jerusalem.

DECEMBER 5TH.

—Mr. and Mrs. Nicholaison and their little daughter paid us a visit. The latter, an intelligent girl of nine, gave Minney an excellent Arabic lesson of familiar phrases, which she has offered to follow up. We called on Mr. Young to look at a Tartahuan or Sad-hakief, a sort of double palanquin, or cages, to be placed on each side of a camel, for our approaching journey. I am already compassionating the poor animal that is to have Minney and myself inclosed in these wooden residences.

We then proceeded with Mr. Y. and his intelligent old Jewish dragoman, Joseph, to visit David's tomb, situated near the gate of the same name, and inclosed by a mosque. 11

With a permission from the governor, Christians were allowed to descend into the vaulted portion of the building; but now we were only permitted to look down from the middle of the flight of steps.

Prince Pückler Muskau, we were told, has been the cause of this exclusion, (as also in the instance of visiting the Mosque of Omar,) by making a forcible entrance without permission beyond where the general firman entitled him to go. The custode's opposition continuing, Prince Pückler drew his sword, and threatened to cut down any one who obstructed his passage. The great object of enforcing the privileges of the firman was to avoid paying the smallest fee; at Jaffa, when he had taken a bath, he presented the said firman as an excuse for not liquidating his debt of three piastres (1s. 3d. of our money). This seems to have incurred the wrath of the Jews, Christians, and Infidels. Consuls, governors, and guides, 12

have all some cause of complaint. I am curious to see his own version of his journeying and succès en Orient.

The strictest order has, since this esclandre, been given against any but Mussulmen being admitted into the tomb. Sir Moses Montefiore, the only exception, (whom the governor and Mr. Nicholaison accompanied,) remained for some time in prayer, reading some of the Psalms in Hebrew with his interpreter, Mr. Levi, who afterwards translated them into English for the benefit of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore. After the tomb of the Prophet, that of David is the highest in veneration with the Mahometans.

After a very long and wet walk round the walls, which, from rain and the accumulation of rubbish, made our progress very difficult, we arrived at a most interesting spot, which I think has not been particularly remarked by travellers, and was 13

first pointed out by Mr. Y. to Sir Andrew Bernard. It is evidently the spring of a magnificent arch, which must have afforded the communication between the Mount Zion and Moriah, thus connecting the Temple with Mount Zion, and crossing the Valley commonly called that of the Cheesemongers.

The span of the arch must have been at least sixty feet, and have rivalled in beauty and magnificence the still existing and adjoining wall from which it springs. It was nearly one hundred feet high, above, perhaps, an equal depth of rubbish collected at its base: the first layer of stone consists of magnificent masses, hewn out with great care, and George thought as large as any Cyclopean remains he had seen at Mycene and the Grecian colonies in Italy, only that instead of rude blocks these were beautifully hewn and channelled in the form which is supposed to distinguish the 14

works of Solomon; over this again the wall is built in an equally regular manner, but with less solidity and grandeur, and resembling the construction of the Colosseum. This again is crowned by what reminds me of the rustic architecture to be seen in the substructure of some of the palaces at Florence.

The superior character of the Jewish masonry is very striking: some of the blocks were thirty feet by seven, perfectly unornamented but by a sharp indented line, looking as freshly cut as if they had just been laid, and this after nearly 3000 years! So striking is the fulfilment of the prophecies, “that the worst of heathen should possess the land; that the holy places should be defiled.” “I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley; and I will discover the foundations thereof.”

It is at this, the S. E. and most perfectly preserved angle of the foundations of the 15

Temple, that some of the most devout of the Jews assemble on Fridays after midday, when their Sabbath begins. They are to be seen kneeling on the original stone, with tears of penitence rolling down their cheeks, and in the posture of humiliation, and deprecating in scriptural language the wrath of the Almighty, and praying for their restoration, and a renewal of his mercies.

We then proceeded through rubbish and dirt of every kind, having unluckily chosen our road through the receptacle for dead horses, &c., for the purpose of seeing the Pool of Bethesda: it is close to St. Stephen's gate, (and spot of Lapidation), and is a large reservoir, but now without water. There is great doubt entertained of its identity; its vicinity to the Temple, and what is considered to have been the Sheep Market, affords the only ground of probability.

We next visited an Armenian convent, 16

built on the site of the house of Caiphas; a deserted Christian church is in this vicinity, built near the site of the house alleged to have been that of the birth-place of the Virgin. It is in such good preservation that one felt inclined to wish that the edifice had been obtained and converted into the Protestant church, as the spot of ground obtained for that purpose has little chance of answering the intention, owing to the absence of labourers; the foundation itself, begun to be dug a year ago, is not yet completed.

Our way home lay through the Via Dolorosa, and the alternate changes of the weather from rain to sunshine gave a very picturesque effect of shadow to the old vaulted passages and flights of steps in which Jerusalem abounds; the streets are dirty, dull, and ill-paved. Sometimes the archways would furnish beautiful studies for an artist. 17

The bazaars are narrow, bad, and ill-furnished: we could obtain neither cup, plate, nor dish of any kind to add to our canteen; and for knives, were obliged to substitute the common dagger of the country. No meat of any kind but mutton and goat's flesh, can be had; beef seems to be unknown, and vegetables so scarce that a cauliflower made quite an epoch in our kitchen, and for potatoes we substituted rice, which is the grand and indeed chief sustenance of the people. Although at only thirty miles from the sea-coast, fish is never brought to Jerusalem, and consequently indifferent poultry and mutton are the only food for European consumption, eggs being scarce, and butter nil. No pudding or pastry of any kind is to be thought of, and one is quite surprised how soon one becomes reconciled to so limited a bill of fare.

The clay vessels for drawing water are the 18

only ones used for drinking, and for eating purposes, a platter for the rice pillau, of which all the family partake. Coarse and ill-baked bread forms the sole nourishment of the majority of the Syrian and Arab population; and I believe a cup, glass, or plate, would not be met with in any Mahometan residence throughout the country, unless in that of some Turkish employé.

The town is full of beggars, cripples, and lepers, but the stirring population is vastly mixed, and interesting to behold: Arabs, Bedouins, armed to the teeth, and admirably mounted, are frequently met, and in the governor's yard we saw more than a hundred wild-looking men, who, we were told, served as a sort of irregular cavalry to the Pacha.

Sometimes the general stillness of the town is interrupted by a cavalier rushing by you at full speed, waving his djereed with great dexterity and grace, and answering 19

the description of the mode of attack of the infidels at the time of the Paladins.

Over St. Stephen's gate are some coarse ornaments, resembling lions and rosaces: as any resemblance of living things is forbidden to the Mahometans, may not these almost effaced ornaments be of the time of the crusades? We persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Young to come home with us, and try our convent fare, which really, under Denino's auspices, was improving daily; and Mrs. Y. having sent for some soup plates, afforded us a perfect fête.

The accessories of our convent furniture consisted of mattresses, six chairs, and two tables; but with our Smyrna purchases of carpets and counterpanes, and our dear Dover chairs, our rooms were, for Jerusalem, sumptuously furnished. Our canteen, containing only two tea-cups, obliges us to breakfast à trois reprises, and we cannot often change our plates; but constant exercise 20

and excitement make us overlook every deficiency, and we very much appreciate our portable comforts, although on this occasion we ran great risk of an original quality in our portable soup, as, among our medical provisions, we had brought a large lump of a preparation for blisters, and this was inclosed in tin, without a label.

Christine, in her anxiety to have soup at hand, for which she mistook this, transferred the stock from the panier de médecine, to that of the provision de bouche. I wish truth would allow me to go a little further into the detail of Denino seasoning our dreadful potage, but it was found out in time. Our doctor shuddered at the notion of the probable distressing results which would have attended our swallowing a spoonful of such a mixture, and took this opportunity of renewing his warnings, “Madame devoit éviter des condimens trop héroiques.” 21


text: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Warren, Minton

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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742 cub of a Carpenter Opie," as Polwhele calls him, "who was seen now ludicrously exhibited by his keeper, Wolcot,—a wild animal of St. Agnes, caught among the tin works. Not to pick his teeth with a fork at dinner-time, nor at breakfast to 'clap his vingers' into the sugar-basin, etc., were instructions of Wolcot at a subsequent stage of Opie's life when breakfast-rooms and saloons and drawing-rooms were thrown open to his excellence.

"At his first setting out at Falmouth, where it was Wolcot's pride to exhibit him, he collected upwards of thirty guineas; and Wolcot was one day surprised to see him rolling about on the floor, where a quantity of money lay scattered. 'See here (says Opie), here be I, rolling in gold.'"

Wolcot had never cared for his profession of medicine, and he was glad to shake it off. And now young Opie was ready for making his way in Town. Wolcot had first become acquainted with the young painter at the house of Mr. Zankwell, at Mithian, in 1775; he took him to his own house at Truro, provided the necessary material, gave him instructions and advice, for Wolcot himself handled the brush and palette, and when fully satisfied with the developing genius of Opie, persuaded him to move with him to London in 1781. An agreement was entered into between him and his protégé, by which both were to share equally in the profits made by the artist by the sale of his pictures. This was not an arrangement likely to last. Wolcot very highly estimated, and justly so, the advantage he had been to Opie, not only in providing for his artistic training, but also by getting him orders in Town; but Opie, as his fame grew, and his prices rose, was reluctant to continue the bargain and halve his profits with Wolcot. The origin of the quarrel is sometimes attributed to


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Rh Opie's having passed disparaging criticism on some of Wolcot's paintings; but this was, if it took place, only one element in the contention that caused a final breach. Wolcot had indeed laid the foundation of Opie's success, by introducing him to Mrs. Boscawen, and extolling his merits in verse.

In 1782 appeared "Lyric Odes to the Royal Academy, by Peter Pindar, Esq., a distant relative of the Poet of Thebes, and Laureat of the Academy." They were clever and discriminating. Wolcot recognized the splendid genius of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and the merits of Gainsborough and Wilson. He made merry over a picture by Gainsborough in the Academy that year; but it was good-humouredly done.

The success of these lyrics was immediate, and induced Wolcot to continue the publication in 1783, 1785, and 1786. Having hit out at the Academicians and finding that this paid, he now struck at higher game. He knew that any miserable back-stairs gossip about the King and the Court would be greedily devoured. There was in London and in the country a sentiment of Jacobitism. The cause of the Stuarts was dead as Herod, but the prejudice against the House of Hanover continued strong. The German proclivities of George I and George II, who never liked England and the English, had alienated


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Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land/Volume 2/Chapter 2

CHAPTER II.

Village of Bethany—Tomb of Lazarus—View of the Dead Sea—Accounts of Acre—Termination of the Rhamazan—Our Doctor in great request— Want of medical attendance—The Burying Ground—Visit to Mount Calvary—Glorious sunset —Laziness of the Jews—Leave Jerusalem.

DECEMBER 6TH.

—Owing to its being the Mahometan sabbath, we could not set off on our ride to Bethany till after one, when the gates would be open. We crossed the Valley of Jehosaphat, and proceeded to Bethany, leaving Siloam on our right. In Scripture, the distance is said to be a sabbath's journey, (not quite two miles,) but 22

the road is so steep and rugged, our ride must have occupied one hour and a half.

This village, like all in the vicinity of Jerusalem, is in the most ruined and miserable state; groups of ill-clothed, or rather, hardly clothed, peasants, were lying in idleness among the ruins, and appearing indifferent to the spots they chose, as some, who might have selected a less bleak and exposed situation, were sitting on the roofs of their stone habitations, or holes cut in the rocks. In the centre of the village you are shewn the tomb of Lazarus, and you descend a flight of eighteen steps, to the place of his interment, which is capacious enough to allow your creeping in. This narrow descent does not answer to one's impression of the place from whence our Saviour called to Lazarus to come forth.

About a hundred yards further, a cavern in a rock presented itself, which answered much more to our preconceived ideas, as 23

one large stone might have closed it, and “have been rolled away,” and a space surrounds it, where “the much people who followed” might have stood spectators to the miracle. Our convent guide advised our going a little further, to shew us the stone upon which our Saviour was said to have been sitting when Mary conveyed to him the news of her brother's death.

The ruins of Bethphage are discernible, and we were surprised at our cicerone furnishing us with no tradition of the house of Martha and Mary, or that of Simon the leper, where our Saviour was anointed with spikenard.

In returning, by the Mount of Olives, we had again a favourable evening for the view of the Dead Sea, and the spot to which Israel was led by Joshua, and the general view was more distinct from this point than from the higher position. We could not pass the Chapel of the Ascension without again visiting it, as well as the Garden of 24

Gethsemane. Nothing appears to me so certain as the identity of this sacred spot, and of a portion of rock, now of a perfectly smooth, though not level, surface, upon which our Saviour is said to have knelt and fell; every portion of this garden (as it is called) so describes the awful and touching features of the scene. We succeeded in sawing off a large piece of wood from the oldest olive-tree; and I hope we escaped observation, in setting so bad an example for pious thefts.

It is only by repeatedly visiting the immediate country about Jerusalem that one becomes aware of the magnificent scale of its hills and valleys: however desolate, arid, and uncultivated, there is an air of majesty about them to which no description can do justice. The Valley of Judgment cannot bear its name, without inspiring almost thrilling feelings at its depth and vastness; the stony barrenness of the soil at this season meets with no relief, but we are told, 25

that the luxuriance and beauty of the spring flowers cause all this to disappear, and that the neighbourhood of Jerusalem becomes, in April and May, one vast and fragrant flower-garden.

On our return to the convent we found Joseph, the Consul's dragoman, who brought us very unfavourable accounts of the neighbourhood of Acre, and proved to us the impracticability of our going by Damascus; some English travellers, to whom the Governor of Acre did not feel justified in affording protection by land to Beyrout, having been obliged to hire a native vessel and proceed by sea; and we fear we must now turn our minds and our caravans in the direction of Gaza, on our way to Cairo. This change of plan disappoints us much as to our Balbec prospects; perhaps our arriving earlier in Egypt may enable us to realize our wish of visiting Thebes.

The old Jew had brought his wife, Sarah, 26

and his pretty little girl, Rachel, to see us: they only spoke Spanish, and were magnificently dressed; and the mother, in age and costume, might have afforded the model for the Rebecca of Ivanhoe. She is Joseph's fourth wife, and might be his great-granddaughter; but the family group would have been a beautiful one to draw, their dresses and cast of features were so exactly those chosen by the old masters in their representations of patriarchs and their families.

DECEMBER 7TH.

— We were disturbed from our sleep by a regular cannonade, and my first idea was, that Jerusalem was in a state of siege; but it turned out the very common-place event of some guns firing on the ushering in of the Beiram, and the rejoicing attending the termination of the Rhamazan. I partook of it, as it is quite distressing to have one's horse led by attenuated Arabs, and feel that all they are watching is the setting sun, at the very 27

moment we wish the light prolonged, so as not to be shut out of the gates.

We had been trying to engage an Arab, much recommended by Sir A. Bernard, whom Mr. Y. could not succeed in finding, as he was always from home; this morning, our pilgrim, or rather seller of rosaries, offered himself as a guide, which offer met with no encouragement. M. Chacaton hinted to us that he was a tailor by trade, who had undertaken to put his wardrobe in repair; our turbaned friend, however, insisted, in bad Italian, on his qualifications for a travelling servant, and at last we discovered that the same individual pursued these various avocations, and that the very man with whom we had for days been endeavouring to obtain an interview, was the same whom George and always been trying to eject from our convent quarters.

Just as I was setting off with our doctor, to see the fête of Beiram outside the walls, 28

he was summoned to the governor's, to attend one of the officers. He has visited at least forty patients a day since our arrival, and been consulted daily by more than double that number, and we are followed from our convent by the poor, asking to see our hakim. We do not cease being grateful that we took the resolution of bringing him with us, so great a comfort and relief has he proved in this wretched place, where, in a population of fifteen thousand, there has only been one medical attendant, a German convert, whom we found at the point of death, without any assistant to compound or to dispense the scanty stock of medicine he possessed.

The doctor says he has seen two people who have recovered from the plague; one an old man who is left paralytic, another a youth who is left dumb. He supposes that the virus of the disease entered the system, and thus left behind the proofs of its venom. 29

Many Jews have consulted him; and it is sad to know the vast proportion of sickness solely caused by famine and cold,—the general disease being low fever, which can only be relieved by better living. We made up small packets of quinine to distribute, which were eagerly accepted; and the doctor dispensed occasionally soup, bread, and biscuit, and some article of warm coarse clothing among his patients; these were more gratefully received than money, which forms a great contrast to our English poor.

One cannot help wishing to suggest that some of the funds subscribed for the Jewish Society, should be applied to establishing a physician, and a regular supply of medical assistance. Might it not be feasible, under proper and judicious management, to afford the poor of Jerusalem, on the plan practised in England, some relief by soup tickets, or rather bread tickets, in a country where the 30

grain is abundant, and the climate allows such food to be of sufficient nourishment to its inhabitants, many of whom I have actually seen during our rides eat grass and clover? The attention to their physical sufferings might lead to higher results, and put our missionaries, and those desirous of conveying religious instruction, in more direct and intimate communication with Jew and Gentile.

Have we not the Divine example in more than one instance, of the sick being cured, the lepers cleansed, and the hungry fed, before religious instruction was imparted? I feel convinced that greater charity could not be exercised at Jerusalem than by the appointment of medical attendance; the selection should fall on some one whose zeal would induce him to bear the sacrifice of settling in such a country. Devotion to the cause is more required than great skill, as the prevailing maladies are obviously low 31

fever and ophthalmia, for both of which the remedies are well understood.

Minney and her father during this time rode to see the Prophets' Tombs, into which they could not effect an entrance. They described the monument as having little claim to its appellation, as its architecture is comparatively of a recent period, and evidently not Jewish. The doors are of solid stone, and it is supposed could not have been hung after the building was terminated, but at the time of its construction; the ornamental part of the frieze was in very delicate and beautiful work, and in a degree of preservation very superior to its general state.

We then proceeded outside the walls to the burying-grounds, which presented a very pretty scene, as the Turkish women were celebrating the first day of the Beiram, in visiting the tombs of their friends, and ornamenting them with fresh flowers. Some 32

had placed tents, where they were eating and amusing themselves; several groups made signs to us to go and join them.

Our European dresses seemed to cause them more interest and amusement than the Turkish women had shewn at Constantinople. I tried to attract some very pretty little children, employing my little stock of Arabic in calling out Imshi, which did not produce the desired effect, and even disturbed the gravity of our Cavasse Hassan. It seems that I had substituted the va via, for vienni qui.

A poor little Arab girl was among a group of well-dressed children, with nothing on but a sort of blouse of coarse canvas, but was a complete miniature of the Arabian style of countenance—such a clear olive complexion, long cut eye, a beautifully-formed mouth, and rather dilated nostrils. I gave her a little piece of money, which was received with much pleasure and surprise. 33

On walking on, I soon heard a great wrangle raised by the Turkish children, imitating their elders, in despoiling this poor little Arab. My Frank interference however speedily settled the matter, and the little Turks looked so crest-fallen, that I hope this may be de bonne augure for the future settlement of the question.

I finished my day by paying Mrs. Young a visit, where I acted as newspaper, in telling them what was, in fact, rather old political gossip, which their long failure of Galignanis had made them miss. We went home very heavy at heart at finding no letters from Alexandria.

DECEMBER 8TH.

—We went to church at the Consul's, and our congregation amounted to only ten, including an American missionary and two German converts. The consciousness that we were attending Divine worship at Jerusalem made the service particularly impressive; and the text, taken 34

from the lesson of the day, Luke xxi., “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the whole earth distress of nations with perplexity,” was very ably treated by Mr. Nicholaison, and appeared a most forcible anticipation of what every day becomes more apparent here, some great and general change.

Just as we got back to our convent door, Mr. Young overtook us, to tell us of a fresh revolt at Mount Hebron; four hundred men having been sent for by the governor, to reinforce the eleven hundred who had gone two days before to put down a less serious disturbance. As fast as one rebellion is quelled here, another springs up; and the soldiers are so little to be relied on that the governor's son, though willing to give us an escort to conduct us beyond Mount Hebron, strongly advised our making the détour of Ramla and Gaza, where the country is (for Syria) in a secure state. 35

In the afternoon we again visited Mount Calvary; the organ was playing, but anything less impressive it is difficult to conceive: the overture to Lodoaiska was one of the pieces selected. The sacred spots we wished once more to see, were pointed out in so irreverent a manner that it caused an almost painful impression; the closeness and the accumulation of bad smells at that part of the church which adjoins the Holy Sepulchre was something dreadful. We saw the Pillar of the Flagellation, which we had missed on our first visit, and which has all the appearance of an ancient column.

It is satisfactory, with regard to the site of Mount Calvary, to observe, as was pointed out to us by Mr. Young, that the stones composing the walls of the town in this direction have all the character of Roman construction, and a complete absence of the larger blocks that distinguished the Jewish substructures in other directions of the 36

walls, so that it encourages one to believe the original walls were within those of this quarter, and would at once establish the fact of Mount Calvary being outside the city at our Saviour's crucifixion. That the site of Pilate's house is correctly fixed, there appears no doubt; at present it is occupied by a Turkish barrack. We then walked out by St. Stephen's gate, and looked up at the spot allotted to Mahomet at the day of doom; we had intended to reach the Garden of Gethsemane, but the day closed too suddenly to allow our doing so, though the distance was only computed at a Sabbathday's journey (six furlongs).

I never saw so glorious a sunset; the clouds of purple were of the most vivid and beautiful tints; any attempt to represent them in painting would have appeared exaggerated: it must have been such a sky as this which our Saviour pointed out as the one from which the Pharisee could deduce 37

an opinion of the future weather: “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times.” George went with Mr. Y. to the house of the Governor, whose son received them with great civility, but confirmed the bad news we had heard from Hebron.

We met two very beautifully accoutred officers coming to our convent, in search of the hakim, to afford military assistance, their colonel having been taken suddenly ill. Our mild-looking Christian servant, Youssoff, came to ask us for a horse and a new set of clothes, preparatory to our journey into the desert; he also signified that his services were to be confined to leading my horse or dromedary when the occasion required, and attending only on me. These demands and conditions not suiting our arrangements, I was grieved to see Youssoff's steps turned towards Jaffa.

DECEMBER 9TH.

—We were again disappointed 38

about our letters, and the Consul did not seem surprised, as it is supposed that the Egyptian and Turkish Governments frequently detain letters of any bulk directed to foreigners, lest they should transmit some political information; perhaps we are spared some bad news, which might make our journey through the Desert one of tedious anxiety. We employed all the morning in writing to England, and only went out to dine at Mr. Young's, where the appareil of an English dinner afforded a great contrast to our convent scramble.

DECEMBER 10TH.

—The wrangling of our horse purveyors made our departure appear impracticable; but after George had shewn great determination of resisting Jewish and Mussulman extortion, we succeeded in getting the Tartahuan out of the maker's hands, and proceeded to pay Mrs. Nicholaison a farewell visit.

Some interesting conversation was interrupted 39

by the entrance of a German Jew, whom Mrs. N. described as one of their few converts, and one whom they had prevailed upon to exercise himself in the shoe-making trade, as extreme and hopeless idleness was the great evil they had to contend against. In this instance their good intentions had sadly failed; for the good Isaac, with many apologies, produced a child's shoe from his pocket he had been for some months manufacturing for Mrs. N.'s little girl, and expressed great regret at the utter impossibility of making its fellow till the mildness of the weather allowed him to work; for he said that at present his fingers and faculties were equally benumbed. This declaration was as seriously made as it was absurdly delivered. The complaints of being unemployed were very general, but every attempt to encourage industry had failed, even with regard to those in the greatest state of destitution. 40

One of the Spanish Jews had shewn some talent for sculpture, in making a pretty candlestick from the sandstone of the country. Mr. Y. bespoke its pendant and a vase for the centre ornament; but on being sent home, the vase proved quite crooked, and the candlestick out of all proportion with the original: in short, the stimulus of gain is not yet sufficient to arouse their moral or physical energies, though “to beg they are not ashamed.”

We actually left Jerusalem at half-past two; our last view of Mount Olivet was from the leads of the convent, and we left our artist to take the view of that unpicturesque but most interesting spot, the Garden of Gethsemane. Mr. and Mrs. Young accompanied us on our road as far as the village, or rather to the site of the ancient Emmaus.

We reached our gîte at Aber-Gosh about sunset, expecting to find the sheik's house 41

“swept and garnished” for our reception; but great was our dismay when Denino met us with a chicken half-plucked in his hand, and told us that the sheik's house was shut up, and that there was only one room for our whole party, à la maison d'un individu, and that the sheik was himself absent; of this fact we were well aware, as he was the famous robber whom the government had so long failed in capturing, and who had for many years levied a tax on passing travellers, but his son was allowed the privilege of exercising hospitality; and after some démélé, we succeeded in getting possession of a room without a single article of furniture.

Unluckily for us, the horse loaded with our folding chairs had fallen, and so ingeniously as to render all unfit for use, so that we had to sit on our saddles round our table, which was composed of a packing-case. But all these contrivances added to 42

our amusement and appetite; and how our good dinner was produced was incomprehensible, unless by a coup de baguette.

On leaving Jerusalem, one was impressed with a feeling of awe, in passing by the valley of Jehoshaphat, associated as it appears with the denunciations contained in the prophecies of Joel; and it made one ask oneself, under what awful circumstances we might next contemplate this spot?

The only exception to the generally melancholy expression of countenance of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, was that of one of our guides, who was deaf and dumb; he was always bursting with good humour and wild animal spirits, and his pantomimic manner was quite successful in expressing to us whatever he wished: in short, it served us much better than Arabic. 43


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744 even those who sympathized with the claims of the House of Hanover. The simple life of George III, without state, with little dignity, and so homely as not to appeal to the imagination of the people, served as an admirable field for ridicule. There is not any evidence that Peter Pindar personally hated the King, and that his politics were anti-Hanoverian or anti-royal. He attacked the King and Court because he knew it would pay—that was his main inducement, another was equally unworthy. He hoped that the Government would give him some sinecure office, or some bribe in money to silence his slanderous tongue.

He began his assault on the private life of the King in the Lousiad, a poem in five cantos, the first four published in 1785, and the last in 1795. The subject was disgusting. It turned upon the King having discovered a specially nasty parasitical insect on his plate, and on thereupon ordering the shaving of the heads of his cooks and scullions, grooms of the kitchen, servants of the pantry, etc., to the number of fifty-one. A young man in the kitchen, John Bear, refusing to submit to this indignity, was dismissed his place.

The subject was inexhaustible, and these attacks on Royalty sold and brought in much money. Accordingly he worked indefatigably at it. He was supplied with plenty of information by the favourites of the Prince of Wales, who himself relished these attacks upon his father.

Peter Pindar jeered at the King's little note-book in which he dotted down his observations.


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 Amsterdam in 1769. An English translation of this life is added to an edition of the work published at Cincinnati in 1868, and forming vol. i. of the Ohio Historical Series. The letters and documents formerly belonging to Bouquet, and relating to military events in America, 1757-1765, occupy thirty volumes of manuscripts in the British Museum, Add. MSS. 21631-21660. In Add. MS. 21660 there is a copy of the inventory of his property and of his will.]  BOUQUETT, PHILIP, D.D. (1669–1748), Hebrew professor, was educated at Westminster School, whence he was elected in 1689 to a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge. He became B.A. 1692, M.A. 1696, B.D. 1706, D.D. 1711. When a vacancy occurred in the professorship of Hebrew in 1704, which it was thought desirable to confer on Sike, Bouquett was temporarily appointed to it in the absence of Sike, the famous oriental scholar, for whom the post was reserved. Sike was definitely elected in August 1705, but on the professorship falling vacant again seven years later, Bouquett was elected to fill it permanently. He died senior fellow of Trinity on 12 Feb. 1747-8, aged 79. Cole describes him as 'born in France, an old miserly refugee, who died rich in college, and left his money among the French refugees. He was a meagre, thin man, bent partly double, and for his oddities and way of living was much ridiculed.' He refused to sign the petition against Dr. Bentley. Bouquett contributed a copy of elegiacs to the university collection of poems on the death of George I and accession of George II in 1727.

 BOURCHIER, GEORGE. [See ]  BOURCHIER, HENRY, (d. 1483), was the son of Sir William Bourchier, earl of Ewe or Eu, and of Anne, daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, and widow of Edmund, earl of Stafford. He was therefore great-grandson of [q. v.], chancellor to Edward III, brother of [q.v.], archbishop of Canterbury, and of Anne, wife of John, duke of Norfolk, and half-brother of Humfrey, duke of Buckingham. Early in the reign of Henry VI he served in the French war, going to Calais in 1430 with the king and the Duke of York. He succeeded his father as earl of Ewe, and was once summoned to parliament by that title. In 1435 he succeeded to the barony of Bourchier. He served in France under the Duke of York, was appointed lieutenant-general in 1440, and in 1443 was captain of Crotoy in Picardy. He was summoned to parliament as Viscount Bourchier in 1446. He married Isabel, daughter of Richard, earl of Cambridge, and aunt of Edward IV. In 1451 he served on the commission of oyer and terminer for Kent and Sussex. The battle of St. Albans made the Duke of York and his party the masters of the king, and on 29 May 1455 Henry appointed Bourchier, the duke's brother-in-law, treasurer of the kingdom. Bourchier held office until 5 Oct. 1456, and was then succeeded by the Earl of Shrewsbury—a change that 'perhaps indicates that the mediating policy of the Duke of Buckingham was exchanged for a more determined one' (, Const. Hist. iii. 176); for up to this time the Bourchiers, in spite of their close connection with the house of York, held a kind of middle place between the two parties, and, though the queen's party came into power in February, continued to hold office in what may be called the Lancastrian government. His and his brother's sudden discharge from office was put down to the queen's influence (Paston Letters, i. 408). In 1460 Bourchier was with the Earls of March and Warwick at the battle of Northampton, and was therefore by that time a declared partisan of the duke. On the accession of his nephew, Edward IV, he was created earl of Essex (30 June 1461); he was made treasurer for the second time, and held office for a year. He received from the king the castle of Werk and the honour of Tindall, in Northumberland, together with many other estates in different counties. In 1471 the earl was again made treasurer, and retained his office during the rest of his life. When, on 28 May 1473, John de Vere, earl of Oxford, landed at St. Osyth's, Essex and others rode against him and compelled him to re-embark (Paston Letters, iii. 92). In this year also he was for about a month keeper of the great seal during the vacancy of the chancellorship. Essex died 4 April 1483, and was buried at Bylegh. He had a large family. His eldest son, William, who married Anne Woodville, died during his lifetime, and he was therefore succeeded by his grandson, [q. v.] His second son, Sir Henry Bourchier, married the daughter and heiress of Lord Scales; the third son, Humfrey, Lord Cromwell, died in the battle of Barnet; the fourth son, Sir John, married the niece and heiress of Lord Ferrers of Groby. He had four other children.


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Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land/Volume 2/Chapter 3

CHAPTER III. Our deaf and dumb guide—The country about Jerusalem —Ramla—Arrival at the Latin convent— Illness of the superior—A sociable monk—Delightful garden—Esdoud—One of Mehemet Ali's messengers—Uncomfortable quarters, and troublesome visitors—Dummy's good qualities—Splendid appearance of the sky—Our lodgings at Gaza— The inspector of quarantine, and his adventures.

DECEMBER 11TH.

—We reposed in great safety in the robber's house, and we might have been aux reprèsailles with him, as all the goods and wearing apparel were left scattered and unprotected. In the confusion of departure, I was quite afraid lest we should carry off our neighbour's goods. 44

Dummy constituted himself my chevalier, pointing out the resort of wild boar and gazelle in the most ingenious manner, assuming by turns the allure of these animals, and making his ungainly person almost graceful in personating the latter animal. There was soon an opportunity of judging of the merit of his pantomime, in the shape of three pretty gazelles close to our path; I was very glad that our padrone cacciatore was too far beyond us to try his gun.

The agreeable but threatening weather at last declared itself in a heavy shower; and poor Minney, on unfurling her umbrella, so frightened her horse that he started, and threw her upon her face. She fortunately escaped with a scratched nose and chin, and very bravely called out she was not hurt.

Our poor Dummy touched me much as soon as he saw she was not hurt: he looked 45

earnestly at me, and then pointed towards Heaven, as if to direct my gratitude thither. As Syria is not likely to have produced an Abbé de l'Epée, this poor man's sense of religion must have been innate, and its impression was the more pure and remarkable; no Christian of our party would have thus immediately referred to a superintending Providence. I had observed it on another occasion: on dividing some bread with him, he first kissed it, and looked upwards most devoutly. Minney's little accident made the rest of our journey less lively.

We found Denino installed at the Latin convent, to which our Jerusalem community had begged us to go, instead of to our former quarters at the Greek convent. We had been told by some monks, who had passed us on the road coming from Cairo, that we had been expected at Ramla the night before. We had hardly got off our 46

horses before our doctor was summoned to visit the superior, and our, or rather the hakim's arrival, was of most fortunate occurrence, as he found the reverend Padre suffering under a violent attack of brain fever, of the character of which the monks were so entirely ignorant, that they were sitting round his bed laughing at the incoherencies and ravings of his delirium: luckily, our provision for blisters had not been all converted into soup, but there were no means of making a plaster, till I devoted a glove for the purpose; no stock of medicine of any kind was to be found in the convent.

The approach to Ramla, from Jerusalem, is much more favourable to its appearance than from Jaffa; the mixture of olive, cactus, pomegranate, and fig-trees, occasionally dotted by palm trees, had such a pretty effect among ruined mosques, illuminated by the setting sun. All nature seemed 47

refreshed by the late rain, and the brightness of the vegetation formed a striking contrast to the aridity of the country about Jerusalem, which, at this season, is without a blade of grass, and the soil is as closely overlaid with flints as the environs of Brighton; however, all this is said to disappear in the early spring, and the green corn, and abundance of flowers, are described as making the country appear a perfect garden; there is a fearful report of a cordon sanitaire making Al Arish, one of our next points, impassable; and we are now in all the anxiety of trying to ascertain the safest direction for our journey.

We of womankind are entirely separated from the rest of the convent, and not even allowed to cross the court. I suppose we ought to be flattered at being considered so dangerous; a fat, merry old Spaniard, however, trusts himself with us in an unflattering manner, very anxious to restore our 48

energies with Rosoglio, particularly those of La poveretta stracciata, as Minney is described with her scratched face.

The doctor's remedies have already proved efficacious for the superior, as, after six days and nights insomnie, the poor sufferer has had an hour's sleep, to-morrow being the seventh day, and the crisis, we have determined to remain at Ramla, and we shall be rewarded by George riding over to Jaffa, to gain all possible intelligence with regard to our missing letters and future movements.

Our social monk is the perfect representation of a lazy friar, whose only occupation is teaching Flora, a young hound, her exercise. He is from Saragossa, where, he says, the national proverb is, “La notte per dormire, il giorno per riposare.”

DECEMBER 12TH.

—We passed a very good night, and the morning's light revealed all the cobwebs and dust, of which we were last night unconscious. I was rather disturbed 49

by, what I thought, the noise of camels, but I found it proceeded from a dove-cot close to my window; and certainly Asiatic turtledoves coo much more mournfully than those of Europe: it is a sort of wail and moan, like a discontented, peevish wife. I think the monks must have added this establishment to the monastery, to put them out of conceit with domestic life.

Our gloomy apartment led to a tiny garden, full of lemon-trees in full bearing; the air was quite perfumed by the cedrate, and Minney and the Doctor went through the German lesson without hat or cloak, out of doors, in the middle of December.

George rode off to Jaffa, and we found a very pretty walk through an avenue of ficus indicus, which brought us to a grassy hillock, where we took up our quarters, and sent for our work and books; a good many of the female inhabitants of Ramla had made the same choice, and appeared to have sufficient 50

occupation in watching our movements. Some little Arabs were playing at soldiers, with sugar-canes for muskets; and some little girls were made quite happy by my presents of needlefuls of red worsted. We had hoped to have our broken chairs repaired, but all the workmen of Ramla had been sent off to assist at the restoration of the fortifications of St. Jean d'Acre.

We anxiously expected the result of George's visit to Jaffa, and he found that the obliging Mons. Cuisinier, who, unasked, had proffered his services to forward our letters, had sent a large packet by a common muleteer conducting some pilgrims to the Greek convent, without a more specific direction; so we are now more tantalized than ever, from knowing that the letters are arrived, but having no means of communicating with the Greek convent.

We cannot ascertain what will be our fate about the Al Arish quarantine, but we 51

shall set off to-morrow for Esdoud (the ancient Ashdod.) I felt struck at this convent, with the reflection, how the monks have the power of supporting privations, or rather the monotony of a monastic life, without a spark of religious enthusiasm, or at least without any deep respect and reverence for its truth. Indeed there is no sign of either among such of the monks as we have seen; they only appear like secluded and retired Bourgeois, without any intellectual or actual pursuit.

DECEMBER 13TH.

—We left Ramla about twelve, after the monks had afforded us every possible hospitality; the now convalescent superior sent for George, to express his gratitude for the attentions of his doctor; to the latter he gave a pretty Bethlehem snuff-box.

The weather was charming on our first setting off; the Viaggiatore Piccola, as the monks named Minney, was a little shy of the 52

umbrellas, which we were soon obliged to déployer, as the rain descended in torrents; and although our impenetrable cloaks proved worthy of their names, we saw our beds getting a sad soaking. The afternoon again proved fine, and a variety of game appeared so inviting, that our padrone thought himself justified in disregarding our nerves for the sake of savoury meat for our evening's repast. We found Esdoud two miles further distance than had been reported, and we hoped so much might be gained on our journey of the next day.

The night had just closed in before we reached Esdoud; we could hardly see our way, when, on, approaching the village, we were all startled, by a person coming up on horseback at full gallop. The darkness added to the surprise we all felt, when we perceived that it was an Arab soldier, who flew by, calling out loudly, and apparently regardless whom he rode over; he proved 53

to be one of Mehemet Ali's messengers, conveying despatches to his son.

He passed us like lightning; we could only discern his large white teeth under the capuchin of his bernouss, which covered him in a most picturesque manner. The sudden manner in which he just appeared and then vanished, caused, I believe, an impression on all our minds, which I can no otherwise describe, but as of a phantom that whirled by us, or, as what one may conceive, to illustrate the idea of Death on the Pale Horse.

We were received by Denino with an unfavourable account of our quarters, which impression was indeed fully justified; the little room was so full of smoke, sheep and lamb skins, that we were some time before we could effect an entrance: anything so close as the atmosphere I never felt, from the combined smells of wool, oil, and tobacco. My first step was into a puddle. 54

When the smoke was a little dispersed, by the pan of ashes being removed, we discovered that the upper end of the room was raised, so that our beds could be placed out of the mud, but how, and where our baggage was to be disposed of, was a fresh puzzle; at last, another room was offered, in the village, for the gentlemen, smaller, and even less ventilated, but the ground was too damp to allow the alternative of encamping; so we determined to look on the amusing side of the question—viz., the dismay of Christine, and the surprise of the Arabian women, who had evidently never before seen a Christian woman.

No sooner was our supper concluded, and Minney and I had been left alone, than the whole female population of the neighbourhood poured in upon us, and they were more difficult to eject than either the sheep or the poultry. The shiek's wife had a very agreeable countenance, and inquired, by 55

signs, the number of my children, which question I returned, and admired her pretty little girl, who then disappeared, as I hoped, for the night, and I trusted that the mother would quickly follow.

I was disappointed in both expectations; the little daughter returned, with a baby in her arms, whom I was obliged to admire, and I felt they intended to pass the night in my room, or rather in hers, as she was the proprietor of this wretched cabin; at last we were obliged to summon Denino, and make him interpret our wish of going to bed, with a civil hope of seeing them the next day.

Although at the risk of suffocation, we then fastened our door, which there was a constant attempt to open for a long time. At last Christine, being fairly awakened, got up to remonstrate; but the interloper turned out to be a remarkably fat sheep, that had evidently been accustomed to the 56

shelter of our apartment. Our musquito nets, I fancy, saved us from being perfectly devoured.

DECEMBER 14TH.

—After a very much better night than we could have hoped for, we rose with unusual alacrity to get out of our den. George arrived with an indifferent account of his night's rest, and we heard a sad narrative on the part of the poor doctor, who, in addition to the winged enemies, had (in fancy, as we thought) seen a rat running over his coverlid, and the conviction (as he said) of the presence of many others “qui soupiroient à mes oreilles.”

He was soon assailed by all the sick and fanciful of the village for consultation; his principal patient was a handsome Arab, who had nearly lost the sight of one eye, and who had hitherto been satisfied that a talisman, in the shape of a fine-sized pearl, hanging from his turban above the eye in question, would effect his cure. The doctor 57

recommended as a substitute the constant use of cold water, with some little accessory, as there is no doubt that the want of cleanliness is the great aggravation of this species of ophthalmia.

After superintending for three hours the loading of our mules, the arrangements of which would by a European have been accomplished in as many quarters, we were fairly off, and passed in less than two hours a much better village than Esdoud, which last, remarkable in ancient history for resisting for months the invasion of Alexander, retains now no distinction but that of harbouring scorpions of a most venomous species.

We fortunately were in advance of the black and threatening clouds of rain which we saw bursting over the mountains of Judea; and our day's journey lay through a pretty country, richly cultivated. A good deal of ploughing was going forward, and in 58

one instance a camel was engaged, that looked quite out of character, in agricultural pursuit: the labour of turning the camel every two minutes must have been much greater than the mere manual labour of turning up the ground where the rich yet light soil offers such facility.

Dummy was more active than ever in running up trees to gather switches to punish our lazy mules, and then crouching to make his back a firm support for mounting on our awkward Turkish saddles; he was the perfect illustration of the dumb slave in the Arabian Nights, and his quickness of perception perfectly astonishing. In coming into our room in the morning, he had caught sight of himself in the little looking-glass belonging to my dressing-case, and looked perfectly bewildered; but at last ascertaining the cause of reflection, shrugged up his shoulders with a mixed expression of pity and dismay at his appearance. 59

During the day's journey he acted as pointer to our chasseur, who found plenty of sport in a country abounding in partridges, plovers, and rock and wood pigeons. We passed through forests of olives, not thickly planted, but affording very desirable shade and contrast to the country we had lately passed.

We reached the walls of Gaza about sunset; I never saw such a sky. On the left were masses of fleecy clouds, not of the dense character of our northern climates, but reminding us of the white smoke emitted by Mount Vesuvius at the eruption we had seen some months before. Behind a grove of beautiful palm-trees the sky appeared like a bright fire; one felt that it might have scorched the upper branches.

What a contrast between this burning climate and the country we had just left! No vegetation beyond that of palms and the ficus indicus, and everything denoting a tropical country. 60

George had remained at a little distance from the approach of Gaza, intent on adding to our pigeon pie, and on our arriving at the gates we found no Cavasse, or any one to shew us where Denino had made our quarters, and our Arabs conducted us to the khan, a regular warehouse built round a court, where we recognised our baggage, but no Denino, no Demetrius, no anybody that could tell us where to go. We all became very hungry and impatient, even to our poor horses, that tried to shake us off our saddles, for they were too tired to kick us off.

At last a figure advanced towards us, half Oriental, half European, offering his services, with a volubility truly Neapolitan, who informed us that he was the Deputatore della Sanità of Gaza, and that he was directed by the governor to express his regrets at his inability of lodging us d'una maniera convenevole al rango, but that already a warehouse was emptied for our reception, 61

and that our kitchen was most conveniently situated in the open court, where a tent was also pitched.

This description did not quite realize our sanguine expectations of better lodging at Gaza; but the sheltered though unglazed windows, and a whitewashed wall, made our quarters appear luxurious after Esdoud.

The room was large enough to allow our fixing a rope across it, which enabled us to hang shawls and cloaks upon it, to afford George and ourselves independent ménages and boudoirs. Our medico and artiste were condemned to encamp in the court, and we were soon comfortably settled round a dining-table furnished by our obliging inspector of quarantine, whom we detained to supper, and a most amusing convive he proved, giving us an account of his past life and adventures, with all his Neapolitan vivacity.

His father had been a trader between Naples and Alicant, and his son, our guest, 62

had succeeded to his father's profession, and for years with success. A storm, however, wrecked both his ships and his fortunes, and at forty he had to begin the world again. He next found himself at Algiers, where he had some commercial relations; and at the moment when the French took possession of it, owing to his having some slight knowledge of Arabic, he became dragoman and a sort of fournisseur to Maréchal Bourmont, and in his employment made four thousand dollars. He then was accused by some of the native residents of diminishing their commercial interests, thrown into prison, and condemned to twelve years' galères, but was released by Maréchal Bourmont's interference, who had then left the country, but the four thousand dollars were gone, “non c'è.”

He got transported with his family to Naples; again on the pavé, with nothing but la divina clima to console him, as the 63

relations he found alive were as poor as himself. At last an old acquaintance at the Douane obtained a situation for him at Aleppo, whence he was again transferred to Beyrout, then to Damascus, where his pitiable condition, that of having a wife and three children to support on five piastres (ls. 3d.) a day, gained for him the sympathy of an employé of Ibrahim Pacha, and obtained for him the post of inspector of health in this miserable and unwholesome spot, with an ill-paid salary of three hundred piastres a month. All this he told us without any apparent complaint or attempt to work upon our compassion.

The thing he seemed most to lament was the impossibility of having his baby christened, out of reach as he was of any Catholic ecclesiastic, and having no feeling of community with the Greek church. “Poveretta Marietta, che ha il nome ma non é Cristiana.”

He had an equally anxious feeling to contend 64

with, in the baneful effect of the climate on the eyes of his children, whom our doctor found in all the different stages of ophthalmia; his boy, whom he is endeavouring to get educated for a dragoman at an Arabic school, was the greatest sufferer; and upon the doctor betraying his apprehension for the sight of one of the poor boy's eyes, the poor father's feelings quite overcame him.

Had we given him a fortune he could not have appeared more grateful than for the ointment my little pharmacie enabled the doctor to compose. He assured us of the everlasting gratitude of la mia Moglia, la mia Sposa, la mia Metà, la mia femmina, and at last la mia Vecchia, by which variety of appellations he designated Signora Spada. 65


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Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land/Volume 2/Appendix 2

THE TALMUD.

(See vol. i. p. 317.)

IT has been very generally believed among the Jews, that when God gave to Moses the written law, He gave him also another, not written; and that this was preserved by tradition among the doctors of the synagogue, until rabbi Judah, surnamed the Holy, collected these traditions together, and (150 B. C.) reduced them to writing. The collection thus formed received the name of Mishna, or Second Law. After a while, commentaries were written on the Mishna, and amongst these, that of rabbi 290

Johanas, composed about 230 A. D., and bearing the name of Gemara, or Completion, was the most celebrated. The Mishna and the Gemara together, form what is called the Jerusalem Talmud, or Doctrine; for, after the Jews had removed in great numbers to Babylon, the rabbis there composed new commentaries on the Mishna, and those, which were completed about 500 A. D., received the name of the Babylonian Talmud.

Fordington Vicarage,

April 20, 1841

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(Twisting.) Another!

(Screams.) O, it’s hell itself! Every nerve in my body aches like mad!

(Shouts.) Good, by the rumping jumping general! That’s the best bit of news I heard these six weeks. Here, don’t keep me waiting, damn you. (He slaps her face.)

(Whimpers.) You’re after hitting me. I’ll tell…

Hold him down, girls, till I squat on him.

Yes. Walk on him! I will.

I will. Don’t be greedy.

No, me. Lend him to me.

(Ferociously.) Can I help? (They hold and pinion Bloom.)

(Squats, with a grunt, on Bloom’s upturned face, puffing cigarsmoke, nursing a fat leg.) I see Keating Clay is elected chairman of the Richmond Asylum and bytheby Guinness’s preference shares are at sixteen three quarters. Curse me for a fool that I didn’t buy that lot Craig and Gardner told me about. Just my infernal luck, curse it. And that Goddamned outsider Throwaway at twenty

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Rh to one. (He quenches his cigar angrily on Bloom’s ear.) Where’s that Goddamned cursed ashtray?

(Goaded, buttocksmothered.) O! O! Monsters! Cruel one!

Ask for that every ten minutes. Beg, pray for it as you never prayed before. (He thrusts out a figged fist and foul cigar.) Here, kiss that. Both. Kiss. (He throws a leg astride and, pressing with horseman’s knees, calls in a hard voice.) Gee up! A cockhorse to Banbury cross. I’ll ride him for the Eclipse stakes. (He bends sideways and squeezes his mount’s testicles roughly, shouting.) Ho! off we pop! I’ll nurse you in proper fashion. (He horserides cockhorse, leaping in the, in the saddle.) The lady goes a pace a pace and the coachman goes a trot a trot and the gentleman goes a gallop a gallop a gallop a gallop.

(Pulls at Bello.) Let me on him now. You had enough. I asked before you.

(Pulling at Florry.) Me. Me. Are you not finished with him yet, suckeress?

(Stifling.) Can’t.

Well, I’m not. Wait. (He holds in his breath.) Curse it. Here. This bung’s about burst. (He uncorks himself behind: then, contorting his features, farts loudly.) Take that! (He recorks himself.) Yes, by Jingo, sixteen three quarters.

(A sweat breaking out over him.) Not man. (He sniffs.) Woman.

(Stands up.) No more blow hot and cold. What you longed for has come to pass. Henceforth you are unmanned and mine in earnest, a thing under the yoke. Now for your punishment frock. You will shed your male garments, you understand, Ruby Cohen? and don the shot silk luxuriously rustling over head and shoulders and quickly too.

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(Shrinks.) Silk, mistress said! O crinkly! scrapy! Must I tiptouch it with my nails?

(Points to his whores.) As they are now, so will you be, wigged, singed, perfumesprayed, ricepowdered, with smoothshaven armpits. Tape measurements will be taken next your skin. You will be laced with cruel force into vicelike corsets of soft dove coutille, with whalebone busk, to the diamond trimmed pelvis, the absolute outside edge, while your figure, plumper than when at large, will be restrained in nettight frocks, pretty two ounce petticoats and fringes and things stamped, of course, with my houseflag, creations of lovely lingerie for Alice and nice scent for Alice. Alice will feel the pullpull. Martha and Mary will be a little chilly at first in such delicate thighcasing but the frilly flimsiness of lace round your bare knees will remind you…

(A charming soubrette with dauby cheeks, mustard hair and lace male hands and nose, leering mouth.) I tried her things on only once, a small prank, in Holles street. When we were hardup I washed them to save the laundry bill. My own shirts I turned. It was the purest thrift.

(Jeers.) Little jobs that make mother pleased, eh! and showed off coquettishly in your domino at the mirror behind closedrawn blinds your unskirted thighs and hegoat’s udders, in various poses of surrender, eh? Ho! Ho! I have to laugh! That secondhand black operatop shift and short trunk leg naughties all split up the stitches at her last rape that Mrs Miriam Dandrade sold you from the Shelbourne Hotel, eh?

Miriam. Black. Demimondaine.

(Guffaws.) Christ Almighty, it’s too tickling, this! You were a nicelooking Miriam when you clipped off your backgate hairs and lay swooning in the thing across the bed as Mrs Dandrade, about to be violated by Lieutenant

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 EO 13173 the Valley. Economic development efforts shall include consideration of the preservation or enhancement of the natural environment and natural resources of the Valley. Specifically, the Task Force shall:

(1) analyze programs and policies of Task Force member agencies that relate to the Valley to determine what changes, modifications, and innovations should be considered, if any;

(2) consider statistical and data analysis, research, and policy studies related to the Valley;

(3) develop, recommend, and implement short-term and long-term options for promoting sustainable economic development;

(4) consult and coordinate activities with State, tribal, and local governments, community leaders, Members of Congress, the private sector, and other interested parties, paying particular attention to maintaining existing authorities of the States, tribes, and local governments, and preserving their existing working relationships with other agencies, organizations, or individuals;

(5) coordinate and collaborate on research and demonstration priorities of Task Force member agencies related to the Valley;

(6) integrate Federal initiatives and programs into the design of sustainable economic development actions for the Valley; and

(7) focus initial efforts on pilot communities for implementing a coordinated and expedited Federal response to local economic development and other needs.

(d) The Task Force shall issue an interim report to the President by January 15, 2001. The Task Force shall issue its first annual report to the President by September 15, 2001, with subsequent reports to follow annually for a period of 5 years. The reports shall describe the actions taken by, and progress of, each member of the Task Force in carrying out this order.

. Specific Activities by Task Force Members and Other Agencies. The agencies represented on the Task Force shall work together and report their actions and progress in carrying out this order to the Task Force Chair one month before the reports are due to the President under section 1(d) of this order.

. Cooperation. All efforts taken by agencies under sections 1 and 2 of this order shall, as appropriate, further partnerships and cooperation with organizations that represent the Valley and with State, tribal, and local governments.

. Definitions. (a) "Agency" means an executive agency as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105.

(b) The Central San Joaquin Valley or "Valley" means the counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Stanislaus, and Tulare in the State of California.


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Rh Smythe-Smythe, Mr Philip Augustus Blockwell, M. P., Signor Laci Daremo, the robust tenor, blueeyed Bert, the liftboy, Henry Fleury of Gordon Bennett fame, Sheridan, the quadroon Crœsus, the varsity wetbob eight from old Trinity, Ponto, her splendid Newfoundland and Bobs, dowager duchess of Manorhamilton. (He guffaws again.) Christ, wouldn’t it make a Siamese cat laugh?

(Her hands and features working.) It was Gerald converted me to be a true corsetlover when I was female impersonator in the High School play Vice Versa. It was dear Gerald. He got that kink, fascinated by sister’s stays. Now dearest Gerald uses pinky greasepaint and gilds his eyelids. Cult of the beautiful.

(With wicked glee.) Beautiful! Give us a breather! When you took your seat with womanish care, lifting your billowy flounces, on the smoothworn throne.

Science. To compare the various joys we each enjoy. (Earnestly.) And really it’s better the position… because often I used to wet…

(Sternly.) No insubordination. The sawdust is there in the corner for you. I gave you strict instructions, didn’t I? Do it standing, sir! I’ll teach you to behave like a jinkleman! If I catch a trace on your swaddles. Aha! By the ass of the Dorans’ you’ll find I’m a martinet. The sins of your past are rising against you. Many. Hundreds.

(In a medley of voices.) He went through a form of clandestine marriage with at least one woman in the shadow of the Black Church. Unspeakable messages he telephoned mentally to Miss Dunn at an address in d’Olier Street while he presented himself indecently to the instrument in the callbox. By word and deed he encouraged a nocturnal strumpet to deposit fecal and other matter in an unsanitary outhouse attached to empty premises. In five public conveniences he wrote pencilled messages offering his nuptial partner to all strongmembered males. And by the offensively smelling vitriol works did he not pass night after night by loving courting couples to see if and what and

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504 how much he could see? Did he not lie in bed, the gross boar, gloating over a nauseous fragment of wellused toilet paper presented to him by a nasty harlot, stimulated by gingerbread and a postal order?

(Whistles loudly.) Say! What was the most revolting piece of obscenity in all your career of crime? Go the whole hog. Puke it out. Be candid for once.

Don’t ask me: Our mutual faith. Pleasants street. I only thought the half of the… I swear on my sacred oath…

(Peremptorily.) Answer. Repugnant wretch! I insist on knowing. Tell me something to amuse me, smut or a bloody good ghoststory or a line of poetry, quick, quick, quick! Where? How? What time? With how many? I give you just three seconds. One! Two! Thr…!

(Docile, gurgles.) I rererepugnosed in rerererepugnant…

(Imperiously.) O get out, you skunk! Hold your tongue! Speak when you’re spoken to.

(Bows.) Master! Mistress! Mantamer!

(Satirically.) By day you will souse and bat our smelling underclothes, also when we ladies are unwell, and swab out our latrines with dress pinned up and a dishclout tied to your tail. Won’t that be nice? (He places a ruby ring on her finger.) And there now! With this ring I thee own. Say, thank you, mistress.

Thank you, mistress.

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Rh guns and over a hundred men, on 24 October, and were taken to St. Malo as prisoners, where they were detained and treated with gross inhumanity, during seventeen days. Lyde says: "If we had been taken by Turks, we could not have been used worse. For bread we had 6 lbs. and one cheek of a Bullock for every 25 men for a day; and it fell out that he that had half a Bullock's eye for his lot, had the greatest share." After seventeen days they were all removed to Dinan, where were many other English prisoners confined in the cramped tower of the fortification that is still standing, with its small cells. Here they were herded together in a place not fit to contain one quarter of the number, and there they were retained for three months and ten days. "Our allowance was 3 lb. of old Cow-Beef without any Salt to flavour it, for seven men a day; but I think we had 2 lbs. of Bread for each Man, but it was so bad that Dogs would not eat it, neither could we eat but very little, and that that we did eat did us more hurt than good, for 'twas more Orts than Bread, so we gave some of it to the Hogs, and made Pillows of the rest to lay our Heads on, for they allowed us fresh Straw but once every five weeks, so that we bred such swarms of lice in our Rags that one Man had a great Hole eaten through his Throat by them, which was not perceived till after his Death, and I myself was so weak that it was 14 weeks after my releasement before I recovered any tolerable strength in me.

"They plundered us of our Clothes when we were taken, and some of us that had Money purchased Rugs to cover our Rags by day, and keep us warm by night; but upon our return home from France, the Deputy Governor of Dinan was so cruel as to order our said Rugs to be taken from us, and


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Rh

You will make the beds, get my tub ready, empty the pisspots in the different rooms, including old Mrs Keogh’s the cook’s, a sandy one. Ay, and rinse the seven of them well, mind, or lap it up like champagne. Drink me piping hot. Hop! you will dance attendance or I’ll lecture you on your misdeeds, Miss Ruby, and spank your bare bot right well, miss, with the hairbrush. You’ll be taught the error of your ways. At night your wellcreamed braceletted hands will wear fortythreebutton gloves newpowdered with talc and having delicately scented fingertips. For such favours knights of old laid down their lives. (He chuckles.) My boys will be no end charmed to see you so ladylike, the colonel, above all. When they come here the night before the wedding to fondle my new attraction in gilded heels. First, I’ll have a go at you myself. A man I know on the turf named Charles Alberta Marsh (I was in bed with him just now and another gentleman out of the Hanaper and Petty Bag office) is on the lookout for a maid of all work at a short knock. Swell the bust. Smile. Droop shoulders. What offers? (He points.) For that lot trained by owner to fetch and carry, basket in mouth. (He bares his arm and plunges it elbowdeep in Bloom’s vulva.) There’s fine depth for you! What, boys? That give you a hardon? (He shoves his arm in a bidder’s face.) Here, wet the deck and wipe it round!

A florin!

One and eightpence too much.

Barang!

Must be virgin. Good breath. Clean.

(Gives a rap with his gavel.) Two bar. Rockbottom figure and cheap at the price. Fourteen hands high. Touch and examine shis points. Handle hrim. This downy skin, these soft muscles, this tender flesh. If I had only my gold piercer here! And quite easy to milk. Three newlaid gallons a day. A pure

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138 staid himself and saw it performed; and when some of our fellow Prisoners lay a dying they inhumanly stript off some of their Cloaths, three or four days before they were quite dead. These and other Barbarities made so great an Impression upon me, as that I did then resolve never to go a Prisoner there again, and this Resolution I did ever after continue in and by the Assistance of God always will."

Lyde returned to his home at Topsham, an exchange of prisoners having been effected, but not till four hundred out of the six hundred English prisoners crowded into the dungeons at Dinan had perished of disease and starvation.

In his Preface, Lyde says: "I here present you with a Token of God Almighty's Goodness in relieving me from the Barbarity, Inhumanity and most cruel Slavery of the Most Christian Turk of France, whose Delight it was to make his own Subjects Slaves, and his chief Study to put Prisoners of War to the most tedious and cruel lingering Death of Hunger and Cold, as I have been experimentally (to my own Damage both felt and seen), by a five Months' Confinement in this Country."

Shortly after his return to Topsham Lyde shipped as mate of a vessel, the Friend's Adventure, eighty tons, bound for Oporto, and sailed on 30 September, 1691. Oporto was reached in safety, but on the way back, off Cape Finisterre, the vessel was taken by a French privateer. Resistance had been impossible, at all events must have been unavailing, but before surrendering Lyde concealed a blunderbuss and ammunition between decks among the pipes of wine. When the Friend's Adventure was boarded the lieutenant ordered Lyde and a boy to remain on her, and the master, four men, and another boy were conveyed on


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506 stockgetter, due to lay within the hour. His sire’s milk record was a thousand gallons of whole milk in forty weeks. Whoa, my jewel! Beg up! Whoa! (He' brands his initial C on Bloom’s croup.) So! Warranted Cohen! What advance on two bob, gentlemen?

(In disguised accent.) Hoondert punt sterlink.

(Subdued.) For the Caliph Haroun Al Raschid.

(Gaily.) Right. Let them all come. The scanty, daringly short skirt, riding up at the knee to show a peep of white pantalette, is a potent weapon and transparent stockings, emeraldgartered, with the long straight seam trailing up beyond the knee, appeal to the better instincts of the blasé man about town. Learn the smooth mincing walk on four inch Louis XV heels, the Grecian bend with provoking croup, the thighs fluescent, knees modestly kissing. Bring all your power of fascination to bear on them. Pander to their Gomorrahan vices.

(Bends his blushing face into his armpit and simpers with forefinger in mouth.) O, I know what you’re hinting at now.

What else are you good for, an impotent thing like you? (He stoops and, peering, pokes with his fan rudely under the fat suet folds of Bloom’s haunches.) Up! Up! Manx cat! What have we here? Where’s your curly teapot gone to or who docked it on you, cockyolly? Sing, birdy, sing. It’s as limp as a boy of six’s doing his pooly behind a cart. Buy a bucket or sell your pump. (Loudly.) Can you do a man’s job?

Eccles Street…

(Sarcastically.) I wouldn’t hurt your feelings for the world but there’s a man of brawn in possession there. The tables are turned, my gay young fellow! He is something like a fullgrown outdoor man. Well for you, you muff, if you had that weapon with knobs and lumps and warts all over it. He shot his

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Rh bolt, I can tell you! Foot to foot, knee to knee, belly to belly, bubs to breast! He’s no eunuch. A shock of red hair he has sticking out of him behind like a furzebush! Wait for nine months, my lad! Holy ginger, it’s kicking and coughing up and down in her guts already! That makes you wild, don’t it? Touches the spot? (He spits in contempt.) Spittoon!

I was indecently treated, I… inform the police. Hundred pounds. Unmentionable. I…

Would if you could, lame duck. A downpour we want not your drizzle.

To drive me mad! Moll! I forgot! Forgive! Moll!… We… Still…

(Ruthlessly.) No, Leopold Bloom, all is changed by woman’s will since you slept horizontal in Sleepy Hollow your night of twenty years. Return and see.

Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!

(In tattered mocassins with a rusty fowlingpiece, tiptoing, fingertipping, his haggard bony bearded face peering through the diamond panes, cries out.) I see her! It’s she! The first night at Mat Dillon’s! But that dress, the green! And her hair is dyed gold and he…

(Laughs mockingly.) That’s your daughter, you owl, with a Mullingar student.

My! It’s Papli! But, O Papli, how old you’ve grown!

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Rh board the privateer. Seven Frenchmen were left on the Friend's Adventure to navigate her and take her to St. Malo. This done, the privateer departed. Lyde was determined not to go through his former experiences as a prisoner in France, and he endeavoured to induce the boy to assist him against the French crew, but the lad was timorous, thought such an attempt as Lyde promised must fail, and repeatedly refused to take any part in it. The boat was not very seaworthy, and needed much bailing. As the boy represented to the mate, even if they did overmaster the French crew, how could they navigate the vessel and keep the pumps going till they reached England?

After a few days they approached St. Malo, and the repugnance in Lyde's mind against renewing his experiences there and at Dinan became overmastering.

"At 8 in the morning all the Frenchmen sat round the Cabbin's Table at Breakfast, and they call'd me to eat with them, and accordingly I accepted, but the Sight of the Frenchmen did immediately take away my Stomach, and made me sweat as if I had been in a Stove, and was ready to faint with eagerness to encounter them. Which the Master perceiving, and seeing me in that condition, asked me (in French) if I were sick, and I answered Yes! But could stay no longer in sight of them, and so went immediately down between Decks to the Boy and did earnestly intreat him to go presently with me into the Cabbin, and to stand behind me, and I would kill and command all the rest presently. For now I told him was the best Time for me to attack them, while they were round the Table, and knock down but one man in case Two laid hold upon me, and it may be never the like opportunity again. After many importunities, the Boy asked me after what manner I intended to


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Changed, eh? Our whatnot, our writing table where we never wrote, Aunt Hegarty’s armchair, our classic reprints of old masters. A man and his menfriends are living there in clover. The Cuckoos’ Rest! Why not? How many women had you, say? Following them up dark streets, flatfoot, exciting them by your smothered grunts. What, you male prostitute? Blameless dames with parcels of groceries. Turn about. Sauce for the goose, my gander, O.

They… I…

(Cuttingly.) Their heelmarks will stamp the Brusselette carpet you bought at Wren’s auction. In their horseplay with Moll the romp to find the buck flea in her breeches they will deface the little statue you carried home in the rain for art for art’ sake. They will violate the secrets of your bottom drawer. Pages will be torn from your handbook of astronomy to make them pipespills. And they will spit in your ten shilling brass fender from Hampton Leedom’s.

Ten and six. The act of low scoundrels. Let me go. I will return. I will prove…

Swear!

As a paying guest or a kept man? Too late. You have made your secondbest bed and others must lie in it. Your epitaph is written. You are down and out and don’t you forget it, old bean.

Justice! All Ireland versus one! Has nobody…?

Die and be damned to you if you have any sense of decency or grace

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140 encounter them; I told him I would take the Crow of Iron and hold it in the Middle with both Hands, and I would go into the Cabbin and knock down him that stood at the end of the Table on my right Hand, and stick the point of the Crow into him that sat at the end of the Table, on my left Hand, and then for the other five that sat behind the Table. But still he not consenting, I had second thoughts of undertaking it without him, but the Cabbin was so low that I could not stand upright in it by a foot, which made me at that time desist.

"By this time they had eat their Breakfast, and went out upon Deck; then I told the boy with much trouble, We had lost a grave opportunity, for by this time I had had the ship under my command. Nay, says the Boy, I rather believe that by this time you and I should have both been killed."

Lyde then, to stimulate the slack fellow to action, recounted to him the miseries to which he would be subjected in prison in France.

"In a little time after they had been upon Deck, they separated from each other, viz. the Master lay down in his Cabbin and two of the Men lay down in the Great Cabbin and one in a Cabbin between Decks, and another sat down upon a low Stool by the Helm, to look after the Glass, to call the Pumps, and the other two men walked upon the Decks. Then, hoping I should prevail with the Boy to stand by me, I immediately applied myself to Prayer, desiring God to pardon my Sins, and I prayed also for my Enemies who should happen to dye by my Hands. And then I endeavoured again to persuade the Boy but could not prevail with him to Consent.

"Then the Glass was out, it being half after eight, and the two men that were upon Deck went to pump


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Rh about you. I can give you a rare old wine that’ll send you skipping to hell and back. Sign a will and leave us any coin you have. If you have none see you damn well get it, steal it, rob it! We’ll bury you in our shrubbery jakes where you’ll be dead and dirty with old Cuck Cohen, my stepnephew I married, the bloody old gouty procurator and sodomite with a crick in his neck, and my other ten or eleven husbands, whatever the buggers’ names were, suffocated in the one cesspool. (He explodes in a loud phlegmy laugh.) We’ll manure you, Mr Flower! (He pipes scoffingly.) Byby, Poldy! Byby, Papli!

(Clasps his head.) My will power! Memory! I have sinned! I have suff…

(Sneers.) Crybabby! Crocodile tears!

(In a dark guttural chant as they cast dead sea fruit upon him, no flowers.) Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad.

(Sighing.) So he’s gone. Ah, yes. Yes, indeed. Bloom? Never heard of him. No? Queer kind of chap. There’s the widow. That so? Ah, yes.

(Their leaves whispering.) Sister. Our sister. Ssh.

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Rh out the Water. Then I also went upon Deck again, to see whether the Wind and Weather were like to favour my Enterprize, and casting my Eyes to Windward, I liked the Weather, and hop'd the Wind would stand. And then immediately went down to the Boy, and beg'd of him again to stand by me, while two of the men were at the Pumps (for they pumpt on the starboard side, and the Steeridge Door open on the starboard side, so that they could not see me going aft to them in the Cabbin). But I could by no Persuasions prevail with the Boy, so that by this Time the Men had done Pumping; whereupon losing this opportunity caused me again to be a little angry with the Boy."

Again Lyde warned the lad of the horrors before him if taken a prisoner to S. Malo. The boy replied that rather than endure such distresses he would turn Papist, and volunteer on board a French privateer. This roused Lyde's wrath, and he said some very strong things. He told him that this would not help him; some of the English prisoners of war with himself had turned Papists, but had already become so attenuated by disease and suffering that they had died.

"The Boy asked What I would have him do? I told him to knock down that Man at the Helm, and I will kill and command all the rest. Saith the Boy, If you be sure to overcome them, how many do you count to kill? I answered that I intended to kill three of them. Then the Boy replied, Why three and no more? I answered that I would kill three for three of our men that died in Prison when I was there. And if it should please God that I should get home safe I would if I could go in a Man-of-War or Fireship, and endeavour to revenge on the Enemy for the Death of those 400 Men that died in the same Prison of Dinan. But the Boy said Four alive would be too many for us.


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Rh with a band, who had fortunately escaped the royal troops, rushed from a narrow defile. They halted upon the summit and the prisoners were brought forward. The court martial, which was quickly held, sentenced them all to death, and scarcely were the words pronounced, when the ready Ravanel shot the foremost dead with his pistol, so that the gushing blood sprinkled Edmond, who was standing close by. The fallen man expired instantly after a few struggles. Edmond drew back pale and horrified.

"Thou hast surely not seen much blood yet, young man?" cried Ravanel mockingly; "Thou oughtst to celebrate thy consecration to-day, and massacre some of those wretches thyself."

"Not now, brother Ravanel," said Catinat, "the royal troops are stationed so near and we do not know their number, therefore we must not attract them hither by our firing. It would be difficult enough to disengage ourselves from them afterwards."


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Rh "But the villains must not be suffered to live!" exclaimed Ravanel, his anger aroused anew, drawing his sword he struck the next prisoner to him, who also fell instantly weltering in his blood.

"Ought a brother to be blood thirsty?" asked Edmond.

"He ought well be so," cried Ravanel turning angrily towards him: "Oh my friend, he, who has once tasted the pleasure of stretching an enemy at his feet, becomes like a lion after the palatable sweetness, scarcely able to spare his keeper. I am feeble and weak when I am long without seeing blood; it ascends like the smoke of a lamp in the mournful twilight, as the rosy dawn after the darkness of night."

Cavalier reprimanded the enthusiast for his cruelty, and Catinat led the remaining prisoners to the brink of a precipice, when they fell under the swords of the Camisards. Their leader, the fiercest among them all, only remained alive. He now called out in a powerful voice: "Stay! far be it from me to