Confused and amazed as I was with the noise and bustle around me in so vast a place as London, I was sufficiently alive to my own interests to have my eyes open, so that I should not be cheated. This led to a ludicrous altercation between myself and a toll-collector at a turnpike. The man insisted on his money being paid; I, on the other hand, as obstinately refused, assuring him that, though a foreigner, I was well
acquainted with the tricks practised upon travellers; in short, I thought the man was asking for what, in my own country, is termed a bakhsheesh, which means nothing more or less than a present. Some gentlemen, however, came up and explained how matters stood, and then I paid the trifle and bade the driver proceed.
Nothing could exceed the Christian brotherly reception I met with at the excellent Mr. Noel’s house. He actually busied himself with helping to carry in my baggage; and I was lost in admiration to observe how, in the bosom of his own family, he would play and sport with his own children, doing anything for their amusement and to make them happy. His early rising and great taste for gardening quite astonished me. Pleasant indeed were the days that I spent under his hospitable roof; and if any in this world have a claim upon my esteem and gratitude, it surely must be Mr. Noel and his amiable lady.
Leaving my kind host’s house, which I did with unfeigned regret, I lived some time in London with Mr. W. Brown, in order to make myself familiar with the many sights so well worthy of visiting; and I then proceeded to Wimbledon, in order that, under the care and tuition of the Rev. William Edelman, the clergyman of the place, I might improve myself in English, and be prepared for a college education. I was placed there by the kindness of the Rev. W. Neven and the Hon. Capt. Maude, belonging to the committee of the society raised to promote education in Syria, by Assaod Y. Kayet’s exertions, and also noted for their civility to all my countrymen that have ever visited England. In Mr. Edelman’s house, I found a happy home, for I was considered and treated in every respect as one of the family. Mrs. Edelman was a very accomplished lady;
she kindly undertook to teach me drawing, and she was well versed in Latin and classics. Of the many kind friends I met with during my stay at Wimbledon, I may particularise and thank the kind-hearted Mrs. Marryatt, mother of the celebrated novelist, who, at the advanced age of eighty, looks as blooming as though she were in the prime of life. The venerable lady is a great botanist and very fond of gardening. Mrs. Russell and her two daughters shewed me great civility, as did the gifted Mrs. Hudson, who is unfortunately blind. I am also much indebted to the attention and civility of Major Oliphant, one of the East India directors and to Mr. Mallison, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Peach, and their kind families; in short, without enumerating their names, I thank all my good friends at Wimbledon, and in the neighbourhood.
One day at church I was surprised and gratified at recognising in the person of a very tall gentleman sitting in a pew some distance from me, the late Captain Murray of the Rifles, an old friend who had been a visitor at our house in Syria; he was as pleased as myself at the recognition, and having introduced me to his mother and sisters, insisted on my going home with him to lunch. Such acts of attention and kind civility were of daily occurrence during my stay at Wimbledon; but I must not forget to thank Miss C---, who was so good as to be at the trouble of taking my portrait.
I witnessed a cavalry review before His Royal Highness Prince Albert; the dazzling splendour of the accoutrements surprised me very much. Here also I was once nearly being made eye-witness to a detestable duel. The circumstances of this adventure were as follows, viz.:—I was one day walking with Mr. Walmsley, now of the Foreign-office, and Captain John
Nunn, a military officer from Ireland, when passing near Wimbledon-common, we saw some people busily occupied in measuring the ground. Imagining them to be engineers occupied in a survey, I was glad of the opportunity likely to be afforded me of improving myself in this science by closely watching their proceedings. With this intention I asked my friends to approach nearer to them; judge then of my horror when informed by them, that these preliminaries were evidently being arranged for a duel about to take place between two gentlemen, who had probably quarrelled about some trifle, or possibly un affaire de cœur, and who were going to settle their difference in this disgraceful manner. One of my friends ran and fetched a constable, who speedily terminated the proceeding by virtue of his staff of office.
I cannot say how detestable and absurd this crime appeared in my eyes—such bloodshed to occur in civilised England appeared to me marvellous—in a country professedly Christian. I really began to wish myself back in Syria again; for if this was to be the result of civilization and education, ignorance were bliss indeed.
On my first arrival in England, and for many months afterwards, I was greatly at a loss to comprehend the many idioms of the language; and the result was that I was perpetually the victim of some ludicrous error in either speaking or misunderstanding the English. Previous to my departure from Syria, I had become acquainted with Captain Charles Shadwell, in Her Majesty’s navy, the son of the late respected vice-Chancellor, Sir Launcelot Shadwell. On our parting he had desired me, should I ever visit England, to call upon his father, from whom I could readily obtain his