Lady Hester Stanhope to ——.
Rhodes, Dec. 1811.
My dear ——,
I write one line by a ship which came in here for a few hours, just to tell you we are all safe and well. Starving thirty hours on a bare rock, even without fresh water, being half-naked and drenched with wet, having traversed an almost trackless country, over dreadful rocks and mountains, partly on foot and partly on a mule for eight hours, laid me up at a village for a few days: but I have since crossed the island on an ass, going for six hours a day, which proves I am pretty well now at least.
The Consul here is a dear old fellow of seventy-five, who thinks he cannot do too much for us; but the bey pretends to be so poor, that he cannot give us more than thirty pounds, which will neither clothe nor feed eleven naked people for long; so we must send an express to Smyrna to get what we want. My locket, and the valuable snuff-box Lord Sligo gave me, and two pelisses, are all I have saved;—all the travelling equipage for Syria, &c., all gone;—the servants naked and unarmed: but the great loss of all is the medicine-chest, which saved the lives of so many travellers in Greece. How to repair it, I know not. I expected more medicine out by Mr. Liston; but whether he has forwarded it, or kept it, I know not: if you could assist me in this once more, I should thank you much. I may be able to get a little at Smyrna, but I am told all the medicine-shops were burnt by the late fire. The moment I can get a few necessaries from Smyrna, I shall depart to Tripoli, in Syria; therefore if you can assist me about medicine, pray forward it to Mr. Werry, and he will send it by the first opportunity.
B——, Mr. Pearce, and the doctor, are quite well. They have saved nothing; but do not fancy us dull, for we (myself included) danced the Pyrrhic dance with the peasants in the villages in our way hither.
We have lost a poor dog, which was quite a treasure; it was so frighted and so sick, we could not get it into the boat. I lament this every day, and little else, except the most beautiful collection of conserves for you and two other people, violets, roses, orange-flowers, and almost every sort of fruit.
Wynne is here, and is very kind to me. You will receive a longer letter through Mr. Werry. I enclose a line to Coutts and to my brother, whom I heard from at Scio. By accident, the young man you intrusted with my letters came there for a day. Remember me most kindly to Mr. Taylor: tell him I make conquests of Turks everywhere. Here they are ten times more strict than in Constantinople; yet a Turk has lent me a house and bath in the middle of an orange-grove, where I go to-morrow. The houses on the outsides of the walls where Franks live are only fit for poultry.
Adieu, my dear General,
Believe me, ever yours, most sincerely,