“The Emperor said that he renewed at Turin, in the person of Madame de Lascaris, the gracious gallantry exercised at Troyes; and that, in both instances, he had reason to be gratified with the fruits of his liberality. The two families gave every proof of attachment and gratitude.”
[22] For farther information respecting this extraordinary man, the reader is referred to the “Souvenirs de l’Orient,” of M. de Lamartine. What Lady Hester first thought of him may be gathered from an extract of a letter she wrote to a friend.
“I have met with an extraordinary character here, Monsieur Lascaris de Vintimille. He is certainly flighty, but has considerable talents, and a perfect knowledge of the Arabic language; he is extremely poor, and very active. Should he fall into the hands of the French, we might in future have reason to repent it; at present he is quite English, and it might be worth while to keep him so. In the Chancellerie de l’ordre de Malte, and likewise in the hands of l’avocat Torrigiani, are all the papers which refer to his family and to his humble claims, which are merely a little pension that he may have bread to eat—he does not look to more. Now you are settling the affairs of this kind, it might be worth while to consider and represent this subject to government, as it would ensure them an agent in parts where few persons could live—I mean upon the borders of the desert; and I can assure you, this in future would be of great importance; for the Arabs are now so strong, as hardly to be managed by the pashas; besides, it would be a great act of humanity to a once great man. The French are sending agents in all directions (at an immense expense) into the desert, and why do not we do the same?”
[23] A mustaby is a piece of solid masonry, about as high as, and twice the breadth of, a bench, built generally at the street-doors of houses for men to sit on and smoke, or wait, or sleep.
[24] So the tribes of the Bedouins are collectively called which range the desert in the rear of the midland part of Syria, leading to Palmyra.
[25] It may be worth mentioning that a servant, whom I employed for a few days at Damascus, was a poet, and had written many verses, some of which Shaykh Ibrahim (Mr. Burckhardt) bought as specimens of modern Arabic poetry. There are no Mecænases at Damascus, or it may be he was no Horace, for he was in great poverty.
[26] This tribe is spoken of in Niebuhr’s travels, as pasturing in his time on the shores of the Persian Gulph at Sehat el Arab; unless there are more tribes than one of the same name.
[27] It is to be observed that this journal is given as written from day to day, with recent impressions upon me; but, as I became acquainted, with the country and the people, many of these impressions on maturer reflection were considered as erroneous. I ought likewise to observe, that I have considerable doubt of the accuracy of the names of places in this journey to Palmyra, because I wrote them down by the sound, and had no one to give them to me in writing, a method I always pursued, for the sake of correctness, wherever it was possible.
[28] M. Lascaris thought they had been Roman camps; but that these tels had once fortresses upon them may be collected from a passage in Abulfeda, (Tab. Syr. p. 24) who, speaking of Tel Basher near Aleppo, styles it “The fortress Tel Basher.”
[29] I extract a description of Nasar and his father from the Travels (I think, for I have lost the reference,) of Captains Mangles and Irby. “Mahannah, his father, was a short, crooked-backed, mean-looking, old man, between 70 and 80 years of age, dressed in a common sort of robe: his son, Narsah, (Nasar) to whom he had in consequence of his age resigned the reins of government, was a good-looking man about 30 years of age, with very dignified and engaging manners.”—P. 261.