STATUE FOUND AT ASCALON.
On the fifth day the outline of the foundations of the entire building was made out. It was amusing at this time to find how many wise men, some calling themselves astrologers, and some fortune-tellers, started up on all sides to foretel Lady Hester’s success. This was fortunate: for the workmen had begun to relax in their labours, and their overseers sneered at the business. Mohammed Aga found his own purposes answered in the number of marble slabs that were discovered. These he shipped, in a coasting boat, for Jaffa. On the outside of the West foundation, three subterraneous places were opened, which at first, it was thought, would lead to the object we were in search of. But they proved to be cisterns or reservoirs for rain water, with no appearance of antiquity about them; and, both in the round mouth upwards, and in the conduit which led the water into them, resembled those in use throughout Syria at the present day.
In the mean time, Signor Catafago and myself were much amused by the exceeding apprehension of Signor Damiani, lest he should be poisoned. The governor generally dined with us: but Damiani would neither eat nor drink in our tent. He affected an air of mystery in every thing, and soberly advised her ladyship, if she wished to succeed, to sacrifice a cock of a particular colour, and at a particular hour of the day, to ensure success. Derwish Mustafa was too phlegmatic to be acted upon by any hopes or fears. He expected the issue (in appearance at least) with as much indifference, or, I might say with more, than he did the uncovering of a dish at dinner: for here his philosophy sometimes forsook him, and he occasionally showed undue joy. News of Ali Pasha’s death reached us this day; but the Turks did not mourn outwardly; yet, where they were not called upon to do so, there were sometimes touches of feeling to be observed, rare in more formal exhibitions of sorrow.
This and the following day produced nothing new. In riding over to Megdel, to visit Signor Damiani, who lived in a dirty cottage there, I observed that the place had a market which was well attended.
On the following day, which was the eighth from the commencement of our labours, the cisterns were emptied. Digging in the line of the West wall, two stone troughs of considerable length were discovered about four feet under the surface, and upon them lay, cross-wise, four gray granite columns, closely packed to each other, as if done methodically. This discovery revived the people’s hopes; for it was supposed that huge masses of granite could not have fallen in such a position accidentally, and would not be laboriously placed so, unless to conceal something. The removing was deferred until the morrow, the men requiring ropes to do it, because horses are never put into harness in Syria. Near the North East angle was also found a marble pavement, and by it seemed to have been another door. Under the pavement ran a continuation of the same canal which conducted water to the cisterns.
I had by this time made a pen sketch of the statue, and had represented to Lady Hester that her labours, if productive of no golden treasures, had brought to light one more valuable in the eyes of the lovers of the fine arts, and that future travellers would come to visit the ruins of Ascalon, rendered memorable by the enterprise of a woman, who, though digging for gold, yet rescued the remains of antiquity from oblivion. What was my astonishment, when she answered—“This may be all true; but it is my intention to break the statue, and have it thrown into the sea, precisely in order that such a report may not get abroad, and I lose with the Porte all the merit of my disinterestedness.”
When I heard what her intentions were, I made use of every argument in my power to dissuade her from it; telling her that the apparent vandalism of such an act could never be wiped away in the eyes of virtuosi, and would be the less excusable, as I was not aware that the Turks had either claimed the statue or had forbidden its preservation. It was true, that, whilst sketching it, the people had expressed their surmises at what I could find to admire in a broken image; and I heard some of them conjecture that it might be a deity of the Franks, as it had been of the Romans and Greeks. But no idle notions, I insisted, ought to have weight on her mind; and I begged hard that, if she could not with decency carry it away, she would at least leave it for others to look at. She replied, “Malicious people may say I came to search for antiquities for my country, and not for treasures for the Porte: so, go this instant; take with you half a dozen stout fellows, and break it in a thousand pieces!” Her resolution was not a thing of the moment: she had reflected on it two days; and knowing her unalterable determination on such occasions, I went and did as she desired. When Mohammed Aga saw what had been done, he could not conceal his vexation: for it is probable that Lady Hester had read what was passing in his mind, and had thus prevented many an insinuation against her. Indeed, reports were afterwards circulated that the chest of the statue was found full of gold—half of which was given to the pasha, and the other half kept by Lady Hester. In England, where her motives were unknown, people naturally have decried her conduct, although it is plain that her strict integrity ought to prove her justification.
On the 9th, when the granite pillars were removed, a work of no trifling magnitude, considering the means by which it was effected,[58] the troughs were found empty. The disappointment was very great: and, the more so, as the excavation of the four following days produced nothing but two granite columns at the North West angle, six or eight feet below the surface, a white marble pedestal, some bones of animals, and two earthenware lamps. A small excavation was likewise made in one of the towers of the East wall of the city. With respect to the area of the mosque, almost all of it had been turned up. The North foundation wall had been traced throughout its whole length; and, in that direction, the shafts of two small marble pillars, about six feet in length, and with rude capitals, had been the only reward. Other masses had been broken up, to see if they had concealed anything. But, when every research was fruitless, the closing hand was, by Lady Hester’s consent, put to our labours on the 14th of April, being a fortnight from the commencement. The conclusion that her ladyship came to was, that when Gezzàr Pasha embellished the city of Acre, by digging for marble and other materials in the ruins of Ascalon, he was fortunate enough to discover the treasure. That Gezzàr enriched his coffers by wealth so got was generally affirmed: and it is probable that his pretended mania for building was no more than a cloak to conceal this real motive for excavating. Thus ended this most interesting experiment; which failed in its primary object, but had the desirable effect of establishing Lady Hester’s popularity throughout Syria, and of confirming the belief, already grown up, that she was a person of some consideration, even in the eyes of the Sublime Porte.
I am enabled to subjoin Lady Hester’s own account of these excavations, which she sent to Lord Bathurst, then Secretary of State.
Lady Hester Stanhope to the Right Hon. the Earl Bathurst, &c.