I have no title to aspire:
Yet, if you sink, I seem the higher!
It will be remembered that Marco Polo met with very nearly the same fate with Bruce, being not only disbelieved during his lifetime, but having to endure, even on his death-bed, the monstrous incredulity of his nearest relations, who, pressing around him, conjured him for the love of Christ, and the salvation of his soul, to retract the fictions which they imagined he had advanced in his writings. With the noble intrepidity which Bruce, I doubt not, would have shown under similar circumstances, he refused to abate a jot of his assertions, which, he solemnly averred, fell far short of the truth. The persecution of Marco Polo, however, arose wholly from the ignorance of his contemporaries; but Bruce had a foible, abundantly visible in his writings, from which the great Italian traveller was altogether exempt—I mean an arrogant and intolerable vanity. Even the most charitable of readers must frequently, in perusing Bruce’s writings, be angered, if not disgusted, at its perpetual recurrence in the coarsest and most undisguised forms; but when we reflect, that notwithstanding this foible, or partly, perhaps, in consequence of it, he was one of the most enterprising, adventurous, and indefatigable of travellers, we readily consent to overlook this defect in consideration of the many excellences which accompany it. As a writer he is slovenly and immethodical, and destitute to a remarkable degree of the graces of style; but, on the other hand, he is always so much in earnest, and so natural, in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, that it would argue nothing short of actual stupidity to doubt of the truth of what he relates.
JONAS HANWAY.
Born 1712.—Died 1786.
Jonas Hanway, equally celebrated as a traveller and a philanthropist, was born on the 12th of August, 1712, at Portsmouth, in Hampshire. His father dying while he was yet a child, he was removed with the other members of the family to London, where he received an education suited to the course of life he was intended to pursue, and at the age of seventeen was placed as an apprentice in a mercantile house at Lisbon. Here Hanway conceived a passion for a lady then renowned for her beauty and accomplishments; but being unsuccessful in his love, he for ever renounced all idea of marriage, though he continued to the latest hour of his life an ardent advocate and admirer of womankind. Shortly after the expiration of his apprenticeship he returned to London.
Nothing remarkable occurred in the life of Hanway until the year 1743, when he entered as a partner into the house of Mr. Dingley, a merchant at Petersburg, for which city he embarked in the month of June of the same year. His character for integrity and perseverance was soon established in Russia. In the September of 1743, a few months after his arrival, he was appointed agent of the Russia Company in Persia, and intrusted with the management of the whole Caspian trade. He very quickly set out on his mission. His suite consisted of an interpreter, a clerk, a Russian servant, a Tartar boy, and a guard; and he was intrusted with twenty carriage-loads of English cloth. With this train he proceeded through Moscow to the banks of the Volga, where he embarked in a vessel for Astrakhan, from whence, after a short stay, he sailed down to Yerkie. Here he procured a passage to Persia, and traversing the whole length of the Caspian from north to south, arrived on the 3d of December at Lanjaron, in Persia. Here he was well received by Mr. Elton, a captain in the service of Nadir Shah, and formerly agent of the Russia merchants. With this gentleman he remained seven days, and then continued his voyage. As they steered towards the east the sky grew brighter, and the air, which had hitherto been raw and cold, became gradually warmer. The lofty peak of Mount Demawund, thirty leagues inland, was visible during four days. They reached Astrabad on the 18th of December, and their vessel, which resembled those of the Russian pirates, who usually committed great depredations on that coast, caused so much terror in the inhabitants, that they for some time refused to hold any communication with them.
While they were lying on the shore awaiting the reply of the governor of Astrabad to Hanway’s application for protection, they beheld the forests on the neighbouring mountains on fire, and the wind blowing with violence prodigiously increased the force of the flames, which, blazing aloft in the darkness of the night, exhibited a magnificent but terrific appearance. Permission being obtained, our traveller proceeded to Astrabad, where he immediately waited on the governor, Nazir Aga, who, in the oriental style of compliment, assured him that the city of Astrabad was his to do what he pleased with it. Hanway, however, though unused to Persian politeness, was satisfied at a much cheaper rate, and merely requested the Aga’s protection as far as Meshed, which was readily granted. He now despatched the greater portion of his merchandise on camels towards Meshed, and was patiently waiting for the escort promised by the Aga, when news was brought to the city that the people of the neighbouring districts had broken out into rebellion, and being commanded by a powerful leader, who had taken a body of Turcomans into his pay, designed to sack the city, for the purpose of seizing on the royal treasury then deposited there, as well as on the European merchandise.
Hanway was now in a position of extreme danger. The inhabitants, who considered his presence in the city with so much wealth as one of the principal incitements to the present insurrection, were by no means disposed to incur any peril on his account, and cursed him openly. On the other hand, the rebels looked upon his property as a desirable prey; and as men when in the act of sacking a city are in an ill mood for hearing remonstrance, it was probable that, should the least opposition be shown, they would silence it by striking off his head. He was therefore advised to make his escape, disguised in a Persian dress. But he wisely repelled the idea, knowing well that if there was danger within the city, there was far more danger without. The governor, however, whose case was exceedingly different, had already fled, disguised as a peasant; and the terrible moment was most anxiously expected when the assault should be given and the place carried by storm. On the approach of night Hanway made the necessary preparations for receiving the invaders, whom it would have been impossible to resist, and retired to his chamber, where, having performed his devotions, he delivered himself up to sleep. A smart but irregular fire of musketry awakened him at four o’clock in the morning. This was followed by a short silence; and a few minutes after, shouts, wild merriment, and the loud beating of drums announced the triumph of the insurgents, and the fall of the city.