Lady Hester Stanhope to ——.
Therapia, upon the Bosphorus,
December 21, 1810.
My dear ——,
Since the fire at Pera good houses are so scarce that I have taken up my abode at this place, where I have a fine view of the coast of Asia, and mouth of the Black Sea. Lord S—— and B—— are about to set off upon a tour; the latter returns here in a few weeks, but my lord means to take his passage to Malta by the first opportunity, and to return to us in the early spring. I flatter myself that you will take my word for his having the best of hearts, and being a most friendly creature, till you can judge yourself of his good qualities. B—— desires to be most kindly remembered to you.
Canning[13] has behaved to me in the civilest, kindest manner possible, but has never once mentioned his cousin’s name.
Our circle at Therapia was often enlivened by visitors, who came to dinner from Constantinople. Mr. Stratford Canning, at that time his Majesty’s Minister to the Sublime Porte, was not unfrequent in his visits. Among our most distinguished travellers, were Mr. Gally Knight, Mr. Henry Pearce, Mr. Fazakerly, and Mr. Taylor, who had recently traversed Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. Mr. Pearce, being the particular friend of Mr. B., afterwards joined Lady Hester’s party, and accompanied us to Egypt and Syria. Lord Plymouth, whom we had seen at Athens, was at this time at Constantinople, and did me the honour of presenting me with a handsome Damascus sabre, in a silver scabbard, in consequence of some professional assistance which I had rendered him.
Lady Hester always showed a strong partiality for the French nation, and it was long a favourite scheme with her to endeavour to obtain permission from the Emperor Napoleon to reside in France, thinking that the climate in the southern parts would be more beneficial to her than any other: an opinion in which I entirely agreed. Party spirit was at this time carried to a height unknown in former wars, so that individuals of belligerent nations were strictly forbidden to hold any intercourse. This prohibition, however, held good only with those who were immediately under the eye of the ambassadors and ministers: for, as well at Athens as at Brusa, we made no sort of difficulty, and found none, in visiting French families. But Lady Hester was a long time at Constantinople before she could contrive to communicate with M. de Maubourg, chargé d’affaires of France, who, however, no sooner learned what she desired from his court, than he offered to endeavour to obtain passports for her.
On the 21st December, the Marquis of Sligo and Mr. B. set off on their excursion to Smyrna: they bought fourteen horses for the journey.
We were constantly hearing of tumults among the janissaries, who seemed to be a very turbulent set of men. They feared that measures were planning for their suppression, and subsequent events have proved that their apprehensions were well founded.