Before our departure from Palmyra I observed its latitude with a Hadley’s quadrant from reflection. The instrument had probably warped in carriage, as the index went unpleasantly, and as it were by starts, so that I will not pretend to give this for an exact observation; yet, after all the care I could take, I only apprehended that 33° 58´ for the latitude of Palmyra, would be nearer the truth than any other. Again, that the distance from the coast in a straight line being 160 miles, and that remarkable mountainous cape on the coast of Syria, between Byblus and Tripoli, known by the name of Theoprosopon, being nearly due west, or under the same parallel with Palmyra, I conceive the longitude of that city to be nearly 37° 9´ from the observatory of Greenwich.
From Palmyra I proceeded to Baalbec, distant about 130 miles, and arrived the same day that Emir Yousef had reduced the town and settled the government, and was decamping from it on his return home. This was the luckiest moment possible for me, as I was the Emir’s friend, and I obtained liberty to do there what I pleased, and to this indulgence was added the great convenience of the Emir’s absence, so that I was not troubled by the observance of any court-ceremony or attendance, or teazed with impertinent questions.
Baalbec is pleasantly situated in a plain on the west of Anti Libanus, is finely watered, and abounds in gardens. It is about fifty miles from Hassia, and about thirty from the nearest sea-coast, which is the situation of the ancient Byblus. The interior of the great temple of Baalbec, supposed to be that of the sun, surpasses any thing at Palmyra, indeed any sculpture I ever remember to have seen in stone. All these views of Palmyra and Baalbec are now in the King’s collection. They are the most magnificent offering in their line that ever was made by one subject to his sovereign.
Passing by Tyre, from curiosity only, I came to be a mournful witness of the truth of that prophecy, That Tyre, the queen of nations, should be a rock for fishers to dry their nets on[47]. Two wretched fishermen, with miserable nets, having just given over their occupation with very little success, I engaged them, at the expence of their nets, to drag in those places where they said shell-fish might be caught, in hopes to have brought out one of the famous purple-fish. I did not succeed, but in this I was, I believe, as lucky as the old fishers had ever been. The purple fish at Tyre seems to have been only a concealment of their knowledge of cochineal, as, had they depended upon the fish for their dye, if the whole city of Tyre applied to nothing else but fishing, they would not have coloured twenty yards of cloth in a year. Much fatigued, but satisfied beyond measure with what I had seen, I arrived in perfect health, and in the gayest humour possible, at the hospitable mansion of M. Clerambaut at Sidon.
I found there letters from Europe, which were in a very different style from the last. From London, my friend Mr Russel acquainted me, that he had sent me an excellent reflecting telescope of two feet focal length, moved by rack-work, and the last Mr Short ever made, which proved a very excellent instrument; also an achromatic telescope by Dolland, nearly equal to a three-feet reflector, with a foot, or stand, very artificially composed of rulers fixed together by screws. I think this instrument might be improved by shortening the three principal legs of it. If the legs of its stand were about six inches shorter, this, without inconvenience, would take away the little shake it has when used in the outer air. Perhaps this defect is not in all telescopes of this construction. It is a pleasant instrument, and for its size takes very little packing, and is very manageable.
I have brought home both these instruments after performing the whole journey, and they are now standing in my library, in the most perfect order; which is rather to be wondered at from the accounts in which most travellers seem to agree, that metal speculums, within the tropics, spot and rust so much as to be useless after a few observations made at or near the zenith. The fear of this, and the fragility of glass of achromatic telescopes, were the occasion of a considerable expence to me; but from experience I found, that, if a little care be taken, one reflector would be sufficient for a very long voyage.
From Paris I received a time-piece and a stop-watch made by M. Lepeaute, dearer than Ellicot’s, and resembling his in nothing else but the price. The clock was a very neat, portable instrument, made upon very ingenious, simple principles, but some of the parts were so grossly neglected in the execution, and so unequally finished, that it was not difficult for the meanest novice in the trade to point out the cause of its irregularity. It remains with me in statu quo. It has been of very little use to me, and never will be of much more to any person else. The price is, I am sure, ten times more than it ought to be in any light I can consider it.
All these letters still left me in absolute despair about obtaining a quadrant, and consequently gave me very little satisfaction, but in some measure confirmed me in my resolution already taken, to go from Sidon to Egypt; as I had then seen the greatest part of the good architecture in the world, in all its degrees of perfection down to its decline, I wished now only to see it in its origin, and for this it was necessary to go to Egypt.
Norden, Pococke, and many others, had given very ingenious accounts of Egyptian architecture in general, of the disposition and size of their temples, magnificence of their materials, their hieroglyphics, and the various kinds of them, of their gilding, of their painting, and their present state of preservation. I thought something more might be learnt as to the first proportions of their columns, and the construction of their plans. Dendera, the ancient Tentyra, seemed by their accounts to offer a fair field for this.
I had already collected together a great many observations on the progress of Greek and Roman architecture in different ages, drawn not from books or connected with system, but from the models themselves, which I myself had measured. I had been long of the opinion, in which I am still further confirmed, that taste for ancient architecture, founded upon the examples that Italy alone can furnish, was not giving ancient architects fair play. What was to be learned from the first proportions of their plans and elevations seemed to have remained untouched in Egypt; after having considered these, I proposed to live in retirement on my native patrimony, with a fair stock of unexceptionable materials upon this subject, to serve for a pleasant and useful amusement in my old age. I hope still these will not be lost to the public, unless the encouragement be in proportion to what my labours have already had.