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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tancred, by Benjamin Disraeli
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Tancred
+       Or, The New Crusade
+
+Author: Benjamin Disraeli
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2006 [EBook #20004]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TANCRED ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TANCRED
+
+OR
+
+THE NEW CRUSADE
+
+By Benjamin Disraeli
+
+[Illustration: cover]
+
+[Illustration: frontplate]
+
+[Illustration: tancred-frontis-p72]
+
+[Illustration: tancred-frontis-label]
+
+[Illustration: tancred-titlepage]
+
+[Illustration: page001]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+     _A Matter of Importance_
+
+IN THAT part of the celebrated parish of St. George which is bounded on
+one side by Piccadilly and on the other by Curzon Street, is a district
+of a peculiar character. 'Tis cluster of small streets of little houses,
+frequently intersected by mews, which here are numerous, and sometimes
+gradually, rather than abruptly, terminating in a ramification of those
+mysterious regions. Sometimes a group of courts develops itself, and
+you may even chance to find your way into a small market-place. Those,
+however, who are accustomed to connect these hidden residences of
+the humble with scenes of misery and characters of violence, need not
+apprehend in this district any appeal to their sympathies, or any shock
+to their tastes. All is extremely genteel; and there is almost as much
+repose as in the golden saloons of the contiguous palaces. At any rate,
+if there be as much vice, there is as little crime.
+
+No sight or sound can be seen or heard at any hour, which could pain the
+most precise or the most fastidious. Even if a chance oath may float on
+the air from the stable-yard to the lodging of a French cook, 'tis of
+the newest fashion, and, if responded to with less of novel charm, the
+repartee is at least conveyed in the language of the most polite of
+nations. They bet upon the Derby in these parts a little, are interested
+in Goodwood, which they frequent, have perhaps, in general, a weakness
+for play, live highly, and indulge those passions which luxury and
+refinement encourage; but that is all.
+
+A policeman would as soon think of reconnoitring these secluded streets
+as of walking into a house in Park Lane or Berkeley Square, to which,
+in fact, this population in a great measure belongs. For here reside the
+wives of house-stewards and of butlers, in tenements furnished by the
+honest savings of their husbands, and let in lodgings to increase their
+swelling incomes; here dwells the retired servant, who now devotes
+his practised energies to the occasional festival, which, with his
+accumulations in the three per cents., or in one of the public-houses of
+the quarter, secures him at the same time an easy living, and the casual
+enjoyment of that great world which lingers in his memory. Here may be
+found his grace's coachman, and here his lordship's groom, who keeps a
+book and bleeds periodically too speculative footmen, by betting odds
+on his master's horses. But, above all, it is in this district that
+the cooks have ever sought a favourite and elegant abode. An air of
+stillness and serenity, of exhausted passions and suppressed emotion,
+rather than of sluggishness and of dullness, distinguishes this quarter
+during the day.
+
+When you turn from the vitality and brightness of Piccadilly, the
+park, the palace, the terraced mansions, the sparkling equipages, the
+cavaliers cantering up the hill, the swarming multitude, and enter
+the region of which we are speaking, the effect is at first almost
+unearthly. Not a carriage, not a horseman, scarcely a passenger; there
+seems some great and sudden collapse in the metropolitan system, as if
+a pest had been announced, or an enemy were expected in alarm by a
+vanquished capital. The approach from Curzon Street has not this effect.
+Hyde Park has still about it something of Arcadia. There are woods and
+waters, and the occasional illusion of an illimitable distance of sylvan
+joyance. The spirit is allured to gentle thoughts as we wander in what
+is still really a lane, and, turning down Stanhope Street, behold that
+house which the great Lord Chesterfield tells us, in one of his letters,
+he was 'building among the fields.' The cawing of the rooks in his
+gardens sustains the tone of mind, and Curzon Street, after a long,
+straggling, sawney course, ceasing to be a thoroughfare, and losing
+itself in the gardens of another palace, is quite in keeping with all
+the accessories.
+
+In the night, however, the quarter of which we are speaking is alive.
+The manners of the population follow those of their masters. They keep
+late hours. The banquet and the ball dismiss them to their homes at a
+time when the trades of ordinary regions move in their last sleep, and
+dream of opening shutters and decking the windows of their shops.
+
+At night, the chariot whirls round the frequent corners of these little
+streets, and the opening valves of the mews vomit forth their legion
+of broughams. At night, too, the footman, taking advantage of a ball
+at Holdernesse, or a concert at Lansdowne House, and knowing that,
+in either instance, the link-boy will answer when necessary for his
+summoned name, ventures to look in at his club, reads the paper, talks
+of his master or his mistress, and perhaps throws a main. The shops of
+this district, depending almost entirely for their custom on the classes
+we have indicated, and kept often by their relations, follow the order
+of the place, and are most busy when other places of business are
+closed.
+
+A gusty March morning had subsided into a sunshiny afternoon, nearly two
+years ago, when a young man, slender, above the middle height, with a
+physiognomy thoughtful yet delicate, his brown hair worn long, slight
+whiskers, on his chin a tuft, knocked at the door of a house in
+Carrington Street, May Fair. His mien and his costume denoted a
+character of the class of artists. He wore a pair of green trousers,
+braided with a black stripe down their sides, puckered towards the
+waist, yet fitting with considerable precision to the boot of French
+leather that enclosed a well-formed foot. His waistcoat was of maroon
+velvet, displaying a steel watch-chain of refined manufacture, and a
+black satin cravat, with a coral brooch. His bright blue frockcoat was
+frogged and braided like his trousers. As the knocker fell from the
+primrose-coloured glove that screened his hand, he uncovered, and
+passing his fingers rapidly through his hair, resumed his new silk hat,
+which he placed rather on one side of his head.
+
+'Ah! Mr. Leander, is it you?' exclaimed a pretty girl, who opened the
+door and blushed.
+
+'And how is the good papa, Eugenie? Is he at home? For I want to see him
+much.'
+
+'I will show you up to him at once, Mr. Leander, for he will be very
+happy to see you. We have been thinking of hearing of you,' she added,
+talking as she ushered her guest up the narrow staircase. 'The good papa
+has a little cold: 'tis not much, I hope; caught at Sir Wallinger's, a
+large dinner; they would have the kitchen windows open, which spoilt all
+the entrees, and papa got a cold; but I think, perhaps, it is as much
+vexation as anything else, you know if anything goes wrong, especially
+with the entrees------'
+
+'He feels as a great artist must,' said Leander, finishing her sentence.
+'However, I am not sorry at this moment to find him a prisoner, for I
+am pressed to see him. It is only this morning that I have returned from
+Mr. Coningsby's at Hellingsley: the house full, forty covers every
+day, and some judges. One does not grudge one's labour if we are
+appreciated,' added Leander; 'but I have had my troubles. One of my
+marmitons has disappointed me: I thought I had a genius, but on the
+third day he lost his head; and had it not been---- Ah! good papa,'
+he exclaimed, as the door opened, and he came forward and warmly shook
+the hand of a portly man, advanced in middle life, sitting in an easy
+chair, with a glass of sugared water by his side, and reading a French
+newspaper in his chamber robe, and with a white cotton nightcap on his
+head.
+
+'Ah! my child,' said Papa Prevost, 'is it you? You see me a prisoner;
+Eugenie has told you; a dinner at a merchant's; dressed in a draught;
+everything spoiled, and I------' and sighing, Papa Prevost sipped his
+_eau sucree_.
+
+'We have all our troubles,' said Leander, in a consoling tone; 'but
+we will not speak now of vexations. I have just come from the country;
+Daubuz has written to me twice; he was at my house last night; I found
+him on my steps this morning. There is a grand affair on the tapis.
+The son of the Duke of Bellamont comes of age at Easter; it is to be a
+business of the thousand and one nights; the whole county to be feasted.
+Camacho's wedding will do for the peasantry; roasted oxen, and a
+capon in every platter, with some fountains of ale and good Porto. Our
+marmitons, too, can easily serve the provincial noblesse; but there is
+to be a party at the Castle, of double cream; princes of the blood,
+high relatives and grandees of the Golden Fleece. The duke's cook is not
+equal to the occasion. 'Tis an hereditary chef who gives dinners of the
+time of the continental blockade. They have written to Daubuz to send
+them the first artist of the age,' said Leander; 'and,' added he, with
+some hesitation, 'Daubuz has written to me.'
+
+'And he did quite right, my child,' said Prevost, 'for there is not a
+man in Europe that is your equal. What do they say? That Abreu rivals
+you in flavour, and that Gaillard has not less invention. But who can
+combine _gout_ with new combinations? 'Tis yourself, Leander; and there
+is no question, though you have only twenty-five years, that you are the
+chef of the age.'
+
+'You are always very good to me, sir,' said Leander, bending his head
+with great respect; 'and I will not deny that to be famous when you are
+young is the fortune of the gods. But we must never forget that I had an
+advantage which Abreu and Gaillard had not, and that I was your pupil.'
+
+'I hope that I have not injured you,' said Papa Prevost, with an air of
+proud self-content. 'What you learned from me came at least from a good
+school. It is something to have served under Napoleon,' added Prevost,
+with the grand air of the Imperial kitchen. 'Had it not been for
+Waterloo, I should have had the cross. But the Bourbons and the cooks
+of the Empire never could understand each other: They brought over an
+emigrant chef, who did not comprehend the taste of the age. He wished to
+bring everything back to the time of the _oeil de bouf_. When Monsieur
+passed my soup of Austerlitz untasted, I knew the old family was doomed.
+But we gossip. You wished to consult me?'
+
+'I want not only your advice but your assistance. This affair of the
+Duke of Bellamont requires all our energies. I hope you will accompany
+me; and, indeed, we must muster all our forces. It is not to be denied
+that there is a want, not only of genius, but of men, in our art. The
+cooks are like the civil engineers: since the middle class have taken to
+giving dinners, the demand exceeds the supply.'
+
+'There is Andrien,' said Papa Prevost; 'you had some hopes of him?'
+
+'He is too young; I took him to Hellingsley, and he lost his head on
+the third day. I entrusted the soufflees to him, and, but for the most
+desperate personal exertions, all would have been lost. It was an affair
+of the bridge of Areola.'
+
+'Ah! _mon Dieu!_ those are moments!' exclaimed Prevost. 'Gaillard and
+Abreu will not serve under you, eh? And if they would, they could not be
+trusted. They would betray you at the tenth hour.'
+
+'What I want are generals of division, not commanders-in-chief. Abreu is
+sufficiently _bon garcon_, but he has taken an engagement with Monsieur
+de Sidonia, and is not permitted to go out.'
+
+'With Monsieur de Sidonia! You once thought of that, my Leander. And
+what is his salary?'
+
+'Not too much; four hundred and some perquisites. It would not suit me;
+besides, I will take no engagement but with a crowned head. But Abreu
+likes travelling, and he has his own carriage, which pleases him.'
+
+'There are Philippon and Dumoreau,' said Prevost; 'they are very safe.'
+
+'I was thinking of them,' said Leander, 'they are safe, under you.
+And there is an Englishman, Smit, he is chef at Sir Stanley's, but his
+master is away at this moment. He has talent.'
+
+'Yourself, four chefs, with your marmitons; it would do,' said Prevost.
+
+'For the kitchen,' said Leander; 'but who is to dress the tables?'
+
+'A-h!' exclaimed Papa Prevost, shaking his head.
+
+'Daubuz' head man, Trenton, is the only one I could trust; and he wants
+fancy, though his style is broad and bold. He made a pyramid of pines
+relieved with grapes, without destroying the outline, very good, this
+last week, at Hellingsley. But Trenton has been upset on the railroad,
+and much injured. Even if he recover, his hand will tremble so for the
+next month that! could have no confidence in him.'
+
+'Perhaps you might find some one at the Duke's?'
+
+'Out of the question!' said Leander; 'I make it always a condition
+that the head of every department shall be appointed by myself. I take
+Pellerini with me for the confectionery. How often have I seen the
+effect of a first-rate dinner spoiled by a vulgar dessert! laid flat on
+the table, for example, or with ornaments that look as if they had been
+hired at a pastrycook's: triumphal arches, and Chinese pagodas, and
+solitary pines springing up out of ice-tubs surrounded with peaches, as
+if they were in the window of a fruiterer of Covent Garden.'
+
+'Ah! it is incredible what uneducated people will do,' said Prevost.
+'The dressing of the tables was a department of itself in the Imperial
+kitchen.'
+
+'It demands an artist of a high calibre,' said Leander. 'I know only
+one man who realises my idea, and he is at St. Petersburg. You do not
+know Anastase? There is a man! But the Emperor has him secure. He can
+scarcely complain, however, since he is decorated, and has the rank of
+full colonel.'
+
+'Ah!' said Prevost, mournfully, 'there is no recognition of genius in
+this country. What think you of Vanesse, my child? He has had a regular
+education.'
+
+'In a bad school: as a pis aller one might put up with him. But his
+eternal tiers of bonbons! As if they were ranged for a supper of the
+Carnival, and my guests were going to pelt each other! No, I could not
+stand Vanesse, papa.'
+
+'The dressing of the table: 'tis a rare talent,' said Prevost,
+mournfully, 'and always was. In the Imperial kitchen------'
+
+'Papa,' said Eugenie, opening the door, and putting in her head, 'here
+is Monsieur Vanillette just come from Brussels. He has brought you a
+basket of truffles from Ardennes. I told him you were on business, but
+to-night, if you be at home, he could come.'
+
+'Vanillette!' exclaimed Prevost, starting in his chair, 'our little
+Vanillette! There is your man, Le-ander. He was my first pupil, as you
+were my last, my child. Bring up our little Vanillette, Eugenie. He is
+in the household of King Leopold, and his forte is dressing the table!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+     _The House of Bellamont_
+
+THE Duke of Bellamont was a personage who, from his rank, his blood, and
+his wealth, might almost be placed at the head of the English nobility.
+Although the grandson of a mere country gentleman, his fortunate
+ancestor, in the decline of the last century, had captivated the heiress
+of the Montacutes, Dukes of Bellamont, a celebrated race of the times
+of the Plantagenets. The bridegroom, at the moment of his marriage,
+had adopted the illustrious name of his young and beautiful wife. Mr.
+Montacute was by nature a man of energy and of an enterprising spirit.
+His vast and early success rapidly developed his native powers. With the
+castles and domains and boroughs of the Bellamonts, he resolved also to
+acquire their ancient baronies and their modern coronets. The times were
+favourable to his projects, though they might require the devotion of
+a life. He married amid the disasters of the American war. The king and
+his minister appreciated the independent support afforded them by Mr.
+Montacute, who represented his county, and who commanded five votes
+in the House besides his own. He was one of the chief pillars of their
+cause; but he was not only independent, he was conscientious and had
+scruples. Saratoga staggered him. The defection of the Montacute votes,
+at this moment, would have at once terminated the struggle between
+England and her colonies. A fresh illustration of the advantages of
+our parliamentary constitution! The independent Mr. Montacute, however,
+stood by his sovereign; his five votes continued to cheer the noble lord
+in the blue ribbon, and their master took his seat and the oaths in the
+House of Lords, as Earl of Bellamont and Viscount Montacute. This might
+be considered sufficiently well for one generation; but the silver spoon
+which some fairy had placed in the cradle of the Earl of Bellamont was
+of colossal proportions. The French Revolution succeeded the American
+war, and was occasioned by it. It was but just, therefore, that it also
+should bring its huge quota to the elevation of the man whom a colonial
+revolt had made an earl. Amid the panic of Jacobinism, the declamations
+of the friends of the people, the sovereign having no longer Hanover for
+a refuge, and the prime minister examined as a witness in favour of the
+very persons whom he was trying for high treason, the Earl of Bellamont
+made a calm visit to Downing Street, and requested the revival of all
+the honours of the ancient Earls and Dukes of Bellamont in his own
+person. Mr. Pitt, who was far from favourable to the exclusive character
+which distinguished the English peerage in the last century, was
+himself not disinclined to accede to the gentle request of his powerful
+supporter; but the king was less flexible. His Majesty, indeed, was on
+principle not opposed to the revival of titles in families to whom the
+domains without the honours of the old nobility had descended; and he
+recognised the claim of the present Earls of Bellamont eventually to
+regain the strawberry leaf which had adorned the coronet of the father
+of the present countess. But the king was of opinion that this supreme
+distinction ought only to be conferred on the blood of the old house,
+and that a generation, therefore, must necessarily elapse before a
+Duke of Bellamont could again figure in the golden book of the English
+aristocracy.
+
+But George the Third, with all his firmness, was doomed to frequent
+discomfiture. His lot was cast in troubled waters, and he had often to
+deal with individuals as inflexible as himself. Benjamin Franklin was
+not more calmly contumacious than the individual whom his treason had
+made an English peer. In that age of violence, change and panic, power,
+directed by a clear brain and an obdurate spirit, could not fail of its
+aim; and so it turned out, that, in the very teeth of the royal will,
+the simple country gentleman, whose very name was forgotten, became,
+at the commencement of this century, Duke of Bellamont, Marquis of
+Montacute, Earl of Bellamont, Dacre, and Villeroy, with all the baronies
+of the Plantagenets in addition. The only revenge of the king was, that
+he never would give the Duke of Bellamont the garter. It was as well
+perhaps that there should be something for his son to desire.
+
+The Duke and Duchess of Bellamont were the handsomest couple in England,
+and devoted to each other, but they had only one child. Fortunately,
+that child was a son. Precious life! The Marquis of Montacute was
+married before he was of age. Not a moment was to be lost to find heirs
+for all these honours. Perhaps, had his parents been less precipitate,
+their object might have been more securely obtained. The union' was not
+a happy one. The first duke had, however, the gratification of dying a
+grandfather. His successor bore no resemblance to him, except in that
+beauty which became a characteristic of the race. He was born to enjoy,
+not to create. A man of pleasure, the chosen companion of the Regent in
+his age of riot, he was cut off in his prime; but he lived long enough
+to break his wife's heart and his son's spirit; like himself, too, an
+only child.
+
+The present Duke of Bellamont had inherited something of the clear
+intelligence of his grandsire, with the gentle disposition of his
+mother. His fair abilities, and his benevolent inclinations, had been
+cultivated. His mother had watched over the child, in whom she found
+alike the charm and consolation of her life. But, at a certain period of
+youth, the formation of character requires a masculine impulse, and that
+was wanting. The duke disliked his son; in time he became even jealous
+of him. The duke had found himself a father at too early a period of
+life. Himself in his lusty youth, he started with alarm at the form that
+recalled his earliest and most brilliant hour, and who might prove a
+rival. The son was of a gentle and affectionate nature, and sighed for
+the tenderness of his harsh and almost vindictive parent. But he had not
+that passionate soul which might have appealed, and perhaps not in vain,
+to the dormant sympathies of the being who had created him. The young
+Montacute was by nature of an extreme shyness, and the accidents of his
+life had not tended to dissipate his painful want of self-confidence.
+Physically courageous, his moral timidity was remarkable. He alternately
+blushed or grew pale in his rare interviews with his father, trembled
+in silence before the undeserved sarcasm, and often endured the unjust
+accusation without an attempt to vindicate himself. Alone, and in
+tears alike of woe and indignation, he cursed the want of resolution or
+ability which had again missed the opportunity that, both for his mother
+and himself, might have placed affairs in a happier position. Most
+persons, under these circumstances, would have become bitter, but
+Montacute was too tender for malice, and so he only turned melancholy.
+On the threshold of manhood, Montacute lost his mother, and this seemed
+the catastrophe of his unhappy life. His father neither shared his
+grief, nor attempted to alleviate it. On the contrary, he seemed to
+redouble his efforts to mortify his son. His great object was to prevent
+Lord Montacute from entering society, and he was so complete a master
+of the nervous temperament on which he was acting that there appeared
+a fair chance of his succeeding in his benevolent intentions. When his
+son's education was completed, the duke would not furnish him with the
+means of moving in the world in a becoming manner, or even sanction his
+travelling. His Grace was resolved to break his son's spirit by keeping
+him immured in the country. Other heirs apparent of a rich seignory
+would soon have removed these difficulties. By bill or by bond, by
+living usury, or by post-obit liquidation, by all the means that private
+friends or public offices could supply, the sinews of war would have
+been forthcoming. They would have beaten their fathers' horses at
+Newmarket, eclipsed them with their mistresses, and, sitting for their
+boroughs, voted against their party. But Montacute was not one of those
+young heroes who rendered so distinguished the earlier part of this
+century. He had passed his life so much among women and clergymen that
+he had never emancipated himself from the old law that enjoined him
+to honour a parent. Besides, with all his shyness and timidity, he was
+extremely proud. He never forgot that he was a Montacute, though he had
+forgotten, like the world in general, that his grandfather once bore a
+different and humbler name. All merged in the great fact, that he was
+the living representative of those Montacutes of Bellamont, whose wild
+and politic achievements, or the sustained splendour of whose stately
+life had for seven hundred years formed a stirring and superb portion
+of the history and manners of our country. Death was preferable, in
+his view, to having such a name soiled in the haunts of jockeys and
+courtesans and usurers; and, keen as was the anguish which the conduct
+of the duke to his mother or himself had often occasioned him, it
+was sometimes equalled in degree by the sorrow and the shame which he
+endured when he heard of the name of Bellamont only in connection with
+some stratagem of the turf or some frantic revel. Without a friend,
+almost without an acquaintance, Montacute sought refuge in love. She who
+shed over his mournful life the divine ray of feminine sympathy was
+his cousin, the daughter of his mother's brother, an English peer, but
+resident in the north of Ireland, where he had vast possessions. It was
+a family otherwise little calculated to dissipate the reserve and gloom
+of a depressed and melancholy youth; puritanical, severe and formal in
+their manners, their relaxations a Bible Society, or a meeting for the
+conversion of the Jews. But Lady Katherine was beautiful, and all were
+kind to one to whom kindness was strange, and the soft pathos of whose
+solitary spirit demanded affection.
+
+Montacute requested his father's permission to marry his cousin, and was
+immediately refused. The duke particularly disliked his wife's family;
+but the fact is, he had no wish that his son should ever marry. He meant
+to perpetuate his race himself, and was at this moment, in the midst of
+his orgies, meditating a second alliance, which should compensate him
+for his boyish blunder. In this state of affairs, Montacute, at length
+stung to resistance, inspired by the most powerful of passions, and
+acted upon by a stronger volition than his own, was planning a marriage
+in spite of his father (love, a cottage by an Irish lake, and seven
+hundred a-year) when intelligence arrived that his father, whose
+powerful frame and vigorous health seemed to menace a patriarchal term,
+was dead.
+
+The new Duke of Bellamont had no experience of the world; but, though
+long cowed by his father, he had a strong character. Though the circle
+of his ideas was necessarily contracted, they were all clear and firm.
+In his moody youth he had imbibed certain impressions and arrived at
+certain conclusions, and they never quitted him. His mother was his
+model of feminine perfection, and he had loved his cousin because she
+bore a remarkable resemblance to her aunt. Again, he was of opinion
+that the tie between the father and the son ought to be one of intimate
+confidence and refined tenderness, and he resolved that, if Providence
+favoured him with offspring, his child should ever find in him absolute
+devotion of thought and feeling.
+
+A variety of causes and circumstances had impressed him with a
+conviction that what is called fashionable life was a compound of
+frivolity and fraud, of folly and vice; and he resolved never to enter
+it. To this he was, perhaps, in some degree unconsciously prompted by
+his reserved disposition, and by his painful sense of inexperience, for
+he looked forward to this world with almost as much of apprehension
+as of dislike. To politics, in the vulgar sense of the word, he had an
+equal repugnance. He had a lofty idea of his duty to his sovereign and
+his country, and felt within him the energies that would respond to a
+conjuncture. But he acceded to his title in a period of calmness, when
+nothing was called in question, and no danger was apprehended; and as
+for the fights of factions, the duke altogether held himself aloof from
+them; he wanted nothing, not even the blue ribbon which he was soon
+obliged to take. Next to his domestic hearth, all his being was
+concentrated in his duties as a great proprietor of the soil. On
+these he had long pondered, and these he attempted to fulfil. That
+performance, indeed, was as much a source of delight to him as of
+obligation. He loved the country and a country life. His reserve seemed
+to melt away the moment he was on his own soil. Courteous he ever
+was, but then he became gracious and hearty. He liked to assemble 'the
+county' around him; to keep 'the county' together; 'the county' seemed
+always his first thought; he was proud of 'the county,' where he reigned
+supreme, not more from his vast possessions than from the influence of
+his sweet yet stately character, which made those devoted to him who
+otherwise were independent of his sway.
+
+From straitened circumstances, and without having had a single fancy of
+youth gratified, the Duke of Bellamont had been suddenly summoned to
+the lordship of an estate scarcely inferior in size and revenue to
+some continental principalities; to dwell in palaces and castles, to
+be surrounded by a disciplined retinue, and to find every wish and want
+gratified before they could be expressed or anticipated. Yet he showed
+no elation, and acceded to his inheritance as serene as if he had never
+felt a pang or proved a necessity. She whom in the hour of trial he had
+selected for the future partner of his life, though a remarkable woman,
+by a singular coincidence of feeling, for it was as much from her
+original character as from sympathy with her husband, confirmed him in
+all his moods.
+
+Katherine, Duchess of Bellamont, was beautiful: small and delicate in
+structure, with a dazzling complexion, and a smile which, though rare,
+was of the most winning and brilliant character. Her rich brown hair
+and her deep blue eye might have become a dryad; but her brow denoted
+intellect of a high order, and her mouth spoke inexorable resolution.
+She was a woman of fixed opinions, and of firm and compact prejudices.
+Brought up in an austere circle, where on all matters irrevocable
+judgment had been passed, which enjoyed the advantages of knowing
+exactly what was true in dogma, what just in conduct, and what correct
+in manners, she had early acquired the convenient habit of decision,
+while her studious mind employed its considerable energies in mastering
+every writer who favoured those opinions which she had previously
+determined were the right ones.
+
+The duchess was deep in the divinity of the seventeenth century. In the
+controversies between the two churches, she could have perplexed St.
+Omers or Maynooth. Chillingworth might be found her boudoir. Not that
+her Grace's reading was confined to divinity; on the contrary, it was
+various and extensive. Puritan in religion, she was precisian in morals;
+but in both she was sincere. She was so in all things. Her nature was
+frank and simple; if she were inflexible, she at least wished to be
+just; and though very conscious of the greatness of her position, she
+was so sensible of its duties that there was scarcely any exertion which
+she would evade, or any humility from which she would shrink, if she
+believed she were doing her duty to her God or to her neighbour.
+
+It will be seen, therefore, that the Duke of Bellamont found no obstacle
+in his wife, who otherwise much influenced his conduct, to the plans
+which he had pre-conceived for the conduct of his life after marriage.
+The duchess shrank, with a feeling of haughty terror from that world of
+fashion which would have so willingly greeted her. During the greater
+part of the year, therefore, the Bellamonts resided in their magnificent
+castle, in their distant county, occupied with all the business and
+the pleasures of the provinces. While the duke, at the head of the
+magistracy, in the management of his estates, and in the sports of which
+he was fond, found ample occupation, his wife gave an impulse to the
+charity of the county, founded schools, endowed churches, received
+their neighbours, read her books, and amused herself in the creation of
+beautiful gardens, for which she had a passion.
+
+After Easter, Parliament requiring their presence, the courtyard of one
+of the few palaces in London opened, and the world learnt that the Duke
+and Duchess of Bellamont had arrived at Bellamont House, from Montacute
+Castle. During their stay in town, which they made as brief as they
+well could, and which never exceeded three months, they gave a series
+of great dinners, principally attended by noble relations and those
+families of the county who were so fortunate as to have also a residence
+in London. Regularly every year, also, there was a grand banquet
+given to some members of the royal family by the Duke and Duchess of
+Bellamont, and regularly every year the Duke and Duchess of Bellamont
+had the honour of dining at the palace. Except at a ball or concert
+under the royal roof, the duke and duchess were never seen anywhere
+in the evening. The great ladies indeed, the Lady St. Julians and the
+Marchionesses of Deloraine, always sent them invitations, though they
+were ever declined. But the Bellamonts maintained a sort of
+traditional acquaintance with a few great houses, either by the ties
+of relationship, which, among the aristocracy, are very ramified, or
+by occasionally receiving travelling magnificoes at their hospitable
+castle.
+
+To the great body, however, of what is called 'the world,' the world
+that lives in St. James' Street and Pall Mall, that looks out of a club
+window, and surveys mankind as Lucretius from his philosophic tower; the
+world of the Georges and the Jemmys; of Mr. Cassilis and Mr. Melton; of
+the Milfords and the Fitz-Herons, the Berners and the Egertons, the Mr.
+Ormsbys and the Alfred Mountchesneys, the Duke and Duchess of Bellamont
+were absolutely unknown.
+
+All that the world knew was, that there was a great peer who was called
+Duke of Bellamont; that there was a great house in London, with a
+courtyard, which bore his name; that he had a castle in the country,
+which was one of the boasts of England; and that this great duke had a
+duchess; but they never met them anywhere, nor did their wives and their
+sisters, and the ladies whom they admired, or who admired them,
+either at ball or at breakfast, either at morning dances or at evening
+dejeuners. It was clear, therefore, that the Bellamonts might be very
+great people, but they were not in 'society.'
+
+It must have been some organic law, or some fate which uses structure
+for its fulfilment, but again it seemed that the continuance of the
+great house of Montacute should depend upon the life of a single being.
+The duke, like his father and his grandfather, was favoured only with
+one child, but that child was again a son. From the moment of his birth,
+the very existence of his parents seemed identified with his welfare.
+The duke and his wife mutually assumed to each other a secondary
+position, in comparison with that occupied by their offspring. From the
+hour of his birth to the moment when this history opens, and when he was
+about to complete his majority, never had such solicitude been lavished
+on human being as had been continuously devoted to the life of the young
+Lord Montacute. During his earlier education he scarcely quitted
+home. He had, indeed, once been shown to Eton, surrounded by faithful
+domestics, and accompanied by a private tutor, whose vigilance would
+not have disgraced a superintendent of police; but the scarlet fever
+happened to break out during his first half, and Lord Montacute was
+instantly snatched away from the scene of danger, where he was never
+again to appear. At eighteen he went to Christ-church. His mother, who
+had nursed him herself, wrote to him every day; but this was not found
+sufficient, and the duke hired a residence in the neighourhood of the
+university, in order that they might occasionally see their son during
+term.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+     _A Discussion about Money_
+
+'SAW Eskdale just now,' said Mr. Cassilis, at White's, 'going down to
+the Duke of Bellamont's. Great doings there: son comes of age at Easter.
+Wonder what sort of fellow he is? Anybody know anything about him?'
+
+'I wonder what his father's rent-roll is?' said Mr. Ormsby.
+
+'They say it is quite clear,' said Lord Fitz-Heron. 'Safe for that,'
+said Lord Milford; 'and plenty of ready money, too, I should think, for
+one never heard of the present duke doing anything.'
+
+'He does a good deal in his county,' said Lord Valentine.
+
+'I don't call that anything,' said Lord Milford; 'but I mean to say he
+never played, was never seen at Newmarket, or did anything which anybody
+can remember. In fact, he is a person whose name you never by any chance
+hear mentioned.'
+
+'He is a sort of cousin of mine,' said Lord Valentine; 'and we are all
+going down to the coming of age: that is, we are asked.' 'Then you can
+tell us what sort of fellow the son is.'
+
+'I never saw him,' said Lord Valentine; 'but I know the duchess told
+my mother last year, that Montacute, throughout his life, had never
+occasioned her a single moment's pain.'
+
+Here there was a general laugh.
+
+'Well, I have no doubt he will make up for lost time,' said Mr. Ormsby,
+demurely.
+
+'Nothing like mamma's darling for upsetting a coach,' said Lord Milford.
+'You ought to bring your cousin here, Valentine; we would assist the
+development of his unsophisticated intelligence.'
+
+'If I go down, I will propose it to him.'
+
+'Why if?' said Mr. Cassilis; 'sort of thing I should like to see once
+uncommonly: oxen roasted alive, old armour, and the girls of the village
+all running about as if they were behind the scenes.'
+
+'Is that the way you did it at your majority, George?' said Lord
+Fitz-Heron.
+
+'Egad! I kept my arrival at years of discretion at Brighton. I believe
+it was the last fun there ever was at the Pavilion. The poor dear king,
+God bless him! proposed my health, and made the devil's own speech; we
+all began to pipe. He was Regent then. Your father was there, Valentine;
+ask him if he remembers it. That was a scene! I won't say how it ended;
+but the best joke is, I got a letter from my governor a few days after,
+with an account of what they had all been doing at Brandingham, and
+rowing me for not coming down, and I found out I had kept my coming of
+age the wrong day.'
+
+'Did you tell them?'
+
+'Not a word: I was afraid we might have had to go through it over
+again.'
+
+'I suppose old Bellamont is the devil's own screw,' said Lord Milford.
+'Rich governors, who have never been hard up, always are.'
+
+'No: I believe he is a very good sort of fellow,' said Lord Valentine;
+'at least my people always say so. I do not know much about him, for
+they never go anywhere.'
+
+'They have got Leander down at Montacute,'said Mr. Cassilis. 'Had
+not such a thing as a cook in the whole county. They say Lord Eskdale
+arranged the cuisine for them; so you will feed well, Valentine.'
+
+'That is something: and one can eat before Easter; but when the balls
+begin----'
+
+'Oh! as for that, you will have dancing enough at Montacute; it is
+expected on these occasions: Sir Roger de Coverley, tenants' daughters,
+and all that sort of thing. Deuced funny, but I must say, if I am to
+have a lark, I like Vauxhall.'
+
+'I never met the Bellamonts,' said Lord Milford, musingly. 'Are there
+any daughters?'
+
+'None.'
+
+'That is a bore. A single daughter, even if there be a son, may be made
+something of; because, in nine cases out of ten, there is a round sum in
+the settlements for the younger children, and she takes it all.'
+
+'That is the case of Lady Blanche Bickerstaffe,' said Lord Fitz-Heron.
+'She will have a hundred thousand pounds.'
+
+'You don't mean that!' said Lord Valentine; 'and she is a very nice
+girl, too.'
+
+'You are quite wrong about the hundred thousand, Fitz,' said Lord
+Milford; 'for I made it my business to inquire most particularly into
+the affair: it is only fifty.'
+
+'In these cases, the best rule is only to believe half,' said Mr.
+Ormsby.
+
+'Then you have only got twenty thousand a-year, Ormsby,' said Lord
+Milford, laughing, 'because the world gives you forty.'
+
+'Well, we must do the best we can in these hard times,' said Mr. Ormsby,
+with an air of mock resignation. 'With your Dukes of Bellamont and all
+these grandees on the stage, we little men shall be scarcely able to
+hold up our heads.'
+
+'Come, Ormsby,' said Lord Milford; 'tell us the amount of your income
+tax.'
+
+'They say Sir Robert quite blushed when he saw the figure at which you
+were sacked, and declared it was downright spoliation.'
+
+'You young men are always talking about money,' said Mr. Ormsby, shaking
+his head; 'you should think of higher things.'
+
+'I wonder what young Montacute will be thinking of this time next year,'
+said Lord Fitz-Heron.
+
+'There will be plenty of people thinking of him,' said Mr. Cassilis.
+'Egad! you gentlemen must stir yourselves, if you mean to be turned off.
+You will have rivals.'
+
+'He will be no rival to me,' said Lord Milford; 'for I am an avowed
+fortune-hunter, and that you say he does not care for, at least, at
+present.'
+
+'And I marry only for love,' said Lord Valentine, laughing; 'and so we
+shall not clash.'
+
+'Ay, ay; but if he will not go to the heiresses, the heiresses will go
+to him,' said Mr. Ormsby. 'I have seen a good deal of these things, and
+I generally observe the eldest son of a duke takes a fortune out of the
+market. Why, there is Beaumanoir, he is like Valentine; I suppose
+he intends to marry for love, as he is always in that way; but the
+heiresses never leave him alone, and in the long run you cannot
+withstand it; it is like a bribe; a man is indignant at the bare
+thought, refuses the first offer, and pockets the second.'
+
+'It is very immoral, and very unfair,' said Lord Milford, 'that any man
+should marry for tin who does not want it.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+     _Montacute  Castle_
+
+THE forest of Montacute, in the north of England, is the name given to
+an extensive district, which in many parts offers no evidence of the
+propriety of its title. The land, especially during the last century,
+has been effectively cleared, and presents, in general, a champaign
+view; rich and rural, but far from picturesque. Over a wide expanse, the
+eye ranges on cornfields and rich hedgerows, many a sparkling spire, and
+many a merry windmill. In the extreme distance, on a clear day, may
+be discerned the blue hills of the Border, and towards the north the
+cultivated country ceases, and the dark form of the old forest spreads
+into the landscape. The traveller, however, who may be tempted to
+penetrate these sylvan recesses, will find much that is beautiful, and
+little that is savage. He will be struck by the capital road that winds
+among the groves of ancient oak, and the turfy and ferny wilderness
+which extends on each side, whence the deer gaze on him with haughty
+composure, as if conscious that he was an intruder into their kingdom of
+whom they need have no fear. As he advances, he observes the number of
+cross routes which branch off from the main road, and which, though of
+less dimensions, are equally remarkable for their masterly structure and
+compact condition.
+
+Sometimes the land is cleared, and he finds himself by the homestead
+of a forest farm, and remarks the buildings, distinguished not only by
+their neatness, but the propriety of their rustic architecture. Still
+advancing, the deer become rarer, and the road is formed by an avenue
+of chestnuts; the forest, on each side, being now transformed into
+vegetable gardens. The stir of the population is soon evident. Persons
+are moving to and fro on the side path of the road. Horsemen and carts
+seem returning from market; women with empty baskets, and then the rare
+vision of a stage-coach. The postilion spurs his horses, cracks his
+whip, and dashes at full gallop into the town of Montacute, the capital
+of the forest.
+
+It is the prettiest little town in the world, built entirely of hewn
+stone, the well-paved and well-lighted streets as neat as a Dutch
+village. There are two churches: one of great antiquity, the other
+raised by the present duke, but in the best style of Christian
+architecture. The bridge that spans the little but rapid river Belle,
+is perhaps a trifle too vast and Roman for its site; but it was built
+by the first duke of the second dynasty, who was always afraid of
+underbuilding his position. The town was also indebted to him for their
+hall, a Palladian palace. Montacute is a corporate town, and, under
+the old system, returned two members to Parliament. The amount of
+its population, according to the rule generally observed, might have
+preserved it from disfranchisement, but, as every house belonged to
+the duke, and as he was what, in the confused phraseology of the
+revolutionary war, was called a Tory, the Whigs took care to put
+Montacute in Schedule A.
+
+The town-hall, the market-place, a literary institution, and the new
+church, form, with some good houses of recent erection, a handsome
+square, in which there is a fountain, a gift to the town from the
+present duchess.
+
+At the extremity of the town, the ground rises, and on a woody steep,
+which is in fact the termination of a long range of tableland, may be
+seen the towers of the outer court of Montacute Castle. The principal
+building, which is vast and of various ages, from the Plantagenets to
+the Guelphs, rises on a terrace, from which, on the side opposite to the
+town, you descend into a well-timbered inclosure, called the Home Park.
+Further on, the forest again appears; the deer again crouch in their
+fern, or glance along the vistas; nor does this green domain terminate
+till it touches the vast and purple moors that divide the kingdoms of
+Great Britain.
+
+It was on an early day of April that the duke was sitting in his private
+room, a pen in one hand, and looking up with a face of pleasurable
+emotion at his wife, who stood by his side, her right arm sometimes on
+the back of his chair, and sometimes on his shoulder, while with her
+other hand, between the intervals of speech, she pressed a handkerchief
+to her eyes, bedewed with the expression of an affectionate excitement.
+
+'It is too much,' said her Grace.
+
+'And done in such a handsome manner!' said the duke.
+
+'I would not tell our dear child of it at this moment,' said the
+duchess; 'he has so much to go through!'
+
+'You are right, Kate. It will keep till the celebration is over. How
+delighted he will be!'
+
+'My dear George, I sometimes think we are too happy.'
+
+'You are not half as happy as you deserve to be,' replied her husband,
+looking up with a smile of affection; and then he finished his reply to
+the letter of Mr. Hungerford, one of the county members, informing
+the duke, that now Lord Montacute was of age, he intended at once to
+withdraw from Parliament, having for a long time fixed on the majority
+of the heir of the house of Bellamont as the signal for that event. 'I
+accepted the post,' said Mr. Hungerford, 'much against my will. Your
+Grace behaved to me at the time in the handsomest manner, and, indeed,
+ever since, with respect to this subject. But a Marquis of Montacute is,
+in my opinion, and, I believe I may add, in that of the whole county,
+our proper representative; besides, we want young blood in the House.'
+
+'It certainly is done in the handsomest manner,' said the duke.
+
+'But then you know, George, you behaved to him in the handsomest manner;
+he says so, as you do indeed to everybody; and this is your reward.'
+
+'I should be very sorry, indeed, if Hungerford did not withdraw with
+perfect satisfaction to himself, and his family too,' urged the duke;
+'they are most respectable people, one of the most respectable families
+in the county; I should be quite grieved if this step were taken without
+their entire and hearty concurrence.'
+
+'Of course it is,' said the duchess, 'with the entire and hearty
+concurrence of every one. Mr. Hungerford says so. And I must say that,
+though few things could have gratified me more, I quite agree with Mr.
+Hungerford that a Lord Montacute is the natural member for the county;
+and I have no doubt that if Mr. Hungerford, or any one else in his
+position, had not resigned, they never could have met our child without
+feeling the greatest embarrassment.'
+
+'A man though, and a man of Hungerford's position, an old family in
+the county, does not like to figure as a warming-pan,' said the duke,
+thoughtfully. 'I think it has been done in a very handsome manner.'
+
+'And we will show our sense of it,' said the duchess. 'The Hungerfords
+shall feel, when they come here on Thursday, that they are among our
+best friends.'
+
+'That is my own Kate! Here is a letter from your brother. They will be
+here to-morrow. Eskdale cannot come over till Wednesday. He is at home,
+but detained by a meeting about his new harbour.'
+
+'I am delighted that they will be here to-morrow,' said the duchess. 'I
+am so anxious that he should see Kate before the castle is full, when he
+will have a thousand calls upon his time! I feel persuaded that he will
+love her at first sight. And as for their being cousins, why, we were
+cousins, and that did not hinder us from loving each other.'
+
+'If she resemble you as much as you resembled your aunt ----' said the
+duke, looking up.
+
+'She is my perfect image, my very self, Harriet says, in disposition, as
+well as face and form.'
+
+'Then our son has a good chance of being a very happy man,' said the
+duke.
+
+'That he should come of age, enter Parliament, and marry in the same
+year! We ought to be very thankful. What a happy year!'
+
+'But not one of these events has yet occurred,' said the duke, smiling.
+
+'But they all will,' said the duchess, 'under Providence.'
+
+'I would not precipitate marriage.'
+
+'Certainly not; nor should I wish him to think of it before the autumn.
+I should like him to be married on our wedding-day.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+     _The Heir Comes of Age_
+
+THE sun shone brightly, there was a triumphal arch at every road;
+the market-place and the town-hall were caparisoned like steeds for a
+tournament, every house had its garland; the flags were flying on every
+tower and steeple. There was such a peal of bells you could scarcely
+hear your neighbour's voice; then came discharges of artillery, and then
+bursts of music from various bands, all playing different tunes. The
+country people came trooping in, some on horseback, some in carts, some
+in procession. The Temperance band made an immense noise, and the
+Odd Fellows were loudly cheered. Every now and then one of the duke's
+yeomanry galloped through the town in his regimentals of green and
+silver, with his dark flowing plume and clattering sabre, and with an
+air of business-like desperation, as if he were carrying a message from
+the commander-in-chief in the thickest of the fight.
+
+Before the eventful day of which this, merry morn was the harbinger, the
+arrivals of guests at the castle had been numerous and important. First
+came the brother of the duchess, with his countess, and their fair
+daughter the Lady Katherine, whose fate, unconsciously to herself, had
+already been sealed by her noble relatives. She was destined to be the
+third Katherine of Bellamont that her fortunate house had furnished to
+these illustrious walls. Nor, if unaware of her high lot, did she seem
+unworthy of it. Her mien was prophetic of the state assigned to her.
+This was her first visit to Montacute since her early childhood, and she
+had not encountered her cousin since their nursery days. The day after
+them, Lord Eskdale came over from his principal seat in the contiguous
+county, of which he was lord-lieutenant. He was the first cousin of the
+duke, his father and the second Duke of Bellamont having married two
+sisters, and of course intimately related to the duchess and her family.
+Lord Eskdale exercised a great influence over the house of Montacute,
+though quite unsought for by him. He was the only man of the world
+whom they knew, and they never decided upon anything out of the limited
+circle of their immediate experience without consulting him. Lord
+Eskdale had been the cause of their son going to Eton; Lord Eskdale had
+recommended them to send him to Christ-church. The duke had begged his
+cousin to be his trustee when he married; he had made him his executor,
+and had intended him as the guardian of his son. Although, from the
+difference of their habits, little thrown together in their earlier
+youth, Lord Eskdale had shown, even then, kind consideration for his
+relative; he had even proposed that they should travel together, but
+the old duke would not consent to this. After his death, however, being
+neighbours as well as relatives, Lord Eskdale had become the natural
+friend and counsellor of his Grace.
+
+The duke deservedly reposed in him implicit confidence, and entertained
+an almost unbounded admiration of his cousin's knowledge of mankind. He
+was scarcely less a favourite or less an oracle with the duchess, though
+there were subjects on which she feared Lord Eskdale did not entertain
+views as serious as her own; but Lord Eskdale, with an extreme
+carelessness of manner, and an apparent negligence of the minor arts
+of pleasing, was a consummate master of the feminine idiosyncrasy, and,
+from a French actress to an English duchess, was skilled in guiding
+women without ever letting the curb be felt. Scarcely a week elapsed,
+when Lord Eskdale was in the country, that a long letter of difficulties
+was not received by him from Montacute, with an earnest request for his
+immediate advice. His lordship, singularly averse to letter writing, and
+especially to long letter writing, used generally in reply to say that,
+in the course of a day or two, he should be in their part of the world,
+and would talk the matter over with them.
+
+And, indeed, nothing was more amusing than to see Lord Eskdale,
+imperturbable, yet not heedless, with his peculiar calmness, something
+between that of a Turkish pasha and an English jockey, standing up
+with his back to the fire and his hands in his pockets, and hearing the
+united statement of a case by the Duke and Duchess of Bellamont;
+the serious yet quiet and unexaggerated narrative of his Grace, the
+impassioned interruptions, decided opinions, and lively expressions
+of his wife, when she felt the duke was not doing justice to the
+circumstances, or her view of them, and the Spartan brevity with which,
+when both his clients were exhausted, their counsel summed up the whole
+affair, and said three words which seemed suddenly to remove all
+doubts, and to solve all difficulties. In all the business of life, Lord
+Eskdale, though he appreciated their native ability, and respected
+their considerable acquirements, which he did not share, looked upon his
+cousins as two children, and managed them as children; but he was really
+attached to them, and the sincere attachment of such a character is
+often worth more than the most passionate devotion. The last great
+domestic embarrassment at Montacute had been the affair of the cooks.
+Lord Eskdale had taken this upon his own shoulders, and, writing to
+Daubuz, had sent down Leander and his friends to open the minds and
+charm the palates of the north.
+
+Lord Valentine and his noble parents, and their daughter, Lady
+Florentina, who was a great horsewoman, also arrived. The countess, who
+had once been a beauty with the reputation of a wit, and now set up for
+being a wit on the reputation of having been a beauty, was the lady of
+fashion of the party, and scarcely knew anybody present, though there
+were many who were her equals and some her superiors in rank. Her way
+was to be a little fine, always smiling and condescendingly amiable;
+when alone with her husband shrugging her shoulders somewhat, and vowing
+that she was delighted that Lord Eskdale was there, as she had somebody
+to speak to. It was what she called 'quite a relief.' A relief, perhaps,
+from Lord and Lady Mountjoy, whom she had been avoiding all her life;
+unfortunate people, who, with a large fortune, lived in a wrong square,
+and asked to their house everybody who was nobody; besides, Lord
+Mountjoy was vulgar, and laughed too loud, and Lady Mountjoy called you
+'my dear,' and showed her teeth. A relief, perhaps, too, from the Hon.
+and Rev. Montacute Mountjoy, who, with Lady Eleanor, four daughters
+and two sons, had been invited to celebrate the majority of the future
+chieftain of their house. The countess had what is called 'a horror of
+those Mountjoys, and those Montacute Mountjoys,' and what added to her
+annoyance was, that Lord Valentine was always flirting with the Misses
+Montacute Mountjoy.
+
+The countess could find no companions in the Duke and Duchess of
+Clanronald, because, as she told her husband, as they could not speak
+English and she could not speak Scotch, it was impossible to exchange
+ideas. The bishop of the diocese was there, toothless and tolerant,
+and wishing to be on good terms with all sects, provided they pay
+church-rates, and another bishop far more vigorous and of greater fame.
+By his administration the heir of Bellamont had entered the Christian
+Church, and by the imposition of his hands had been confirmed in it. His
+lordship, a great authority with the duchess, was specially invited to
+be present on the interesting occasion, when the babe that he had held
+at the font, and the child that he had blessed at the altar, was about
+thus publicly to adopt and acknowledge the duties and responsibility of
+a man. But the countess, though she liked bishops, liked them, as she
+told her husband, 'in their place.' What that exactly was, she did not
+define; but probably their palaces or the House of Lords.
+
+It was hardly to be expected that her ladyship would find any relief
+in the society of the Marquis and Marchioness of Hampshire; for his
+lordship passed his life in being the President of scientific and
+literary societies, and was ready for anything from the Royal, if his
+turn ever arrived, to opening a Mechanics' Institute in his neighbouring
+town. Lady Hampshire was an invalid; but her ailment was one of those
+mysteries which still remained insoluble, although, in the most liberal
+manner, she delighted to afford her friends all the information in her
+power. Never was a votary endowed with a faith at once so lively and
+so capricious. Each year she believed in some new remedy, and announced
+herself on the eve of some miraculous cure. But the saint was scarcely
+canonised before his claims to beatitude were impugned. One year Lady
+Hampshire never quitted Leamington; another, she contrived to combine
+the infinitesimal doses of Hahnemann with the colossal distractions
+of the metropolis. Now her sole conversation was the water cure. Lady
+Hampshire was to begin immediately after her visit to Montacute, and she
+spoke in her sawney voice of factitious enthusiasm, as if she pitied the
+lot of all those who were not about to sleep in wet sheets.
+
+The members for the county, with their wives and daughters, the
+Hungerfords and the Ildertons, Sir Russell Malpas, or even Lord Hull,
+an Irish peer with an English estate, and who represented one of the
+divisions, were scarcely a relief. Lord Hull was a bachelor, and had
+twenty thousand a year, and would not have been too old for Florentina,
+if Lord Hull had only lived in 'society,' learnt how to dress and how
+to behave, and had avoided that peculiar coarseness of manners and
+complexion which seem the inevitable results of a provincial life. What
+are forty-five or even forty-eight years, if a man do not get up too
+early or go to bed too soon, if he be dressed by the right persons, and,
+early accustomed to the society of women, he possesses that flexibility
+of manner and that readiness of gentle repartee which a feminine
+apprenticeship can alone confer? But Lord Hull was a man with a red face
+and a grey head on whom coarse indulgence and the selfish negligence of
+a country life had already conferred a shapeless form; and who,
+dressed something like a groom, sat at dinner in stolid silence by Lady
+Hampshire, who, whatever were her complaints, had certainly the art,
+if only from her questions, of making her neighbours communicative. The
+countess examined Lord Hull through her eye-glass with curious pity at
+so fine a fortune and so good a family being so entirely thrown away.
+Had he been brought up in a civilised manner, lived six months in May
+Fair, passed his carnival at Paris, never sported except in Scotland,
+and occasionally visited a German bath, even Lord Hull might have 'fined
+down.' His hair need not have been grey if it had been attended to; his
+complexion would not have been so glaring; his hands never could have
+grown to so huge a shape.
+
+What a party, where the countess was absolutely driven to speculate on
+the possible destinies of a Lord Hull! But in this party there was not a
+single young man, at least not a single young man one had ever heard
+of, except her son, and he was of no use. The Duke of Bellamont knew
+no young men; the duke did not even belong to a club; the Duchess of
+Bellamont knew no young men; she never gave and she never attended an
+evening party. As for the county youth, the young Hungerfords and the
+young Ildertons, the best of them formed part of the London crowd.
+
+Some of them, by complicated manouvres, might even have made their way
+into the countess's crowded saloons on a miscellaneous night. She knew
+the length of their tether. They ranged, as the Price Current says, from
+eight to three thousand a year. Not the figure that purchases a Lady
+Florentina!
+
+There were many other guests, and some of them notable, though not
+of the class and character to interest the fastidious mother of Lord
+Valentine; but whoever and whatever they might be, of the sixty
+or seventy persons who were seated each day in the magnificent
+banqueting-room of Montacute Castle, feasting, amid pyramids of gold
+plate, on the masterpieces of Leander, there was not a single individual
+who did not possess one of the two great qualifications: they were all
+of them cousins of the Duke of Bellamont, or proprietors in his county.
+
+But we must not anticipate, the great day of the festival having hardly
+yet commenced.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+     _A Festal Day_
+
+IN THE Home Park was a colossal pavilion, which held more than two
+thousand persons, and in which the townsfolk of Montacute were to dine;
+at equal distances were several smaller tents, each of different colours
+and patterns, and each bearing on a standard the name of one of the
+surrounding parishes which belonged to the Duke of Bellamont, and to
+the convenience and gratification of whose inhabitants these tents were
+to-day dedicated. There was not a man of Buddleton or Fuddleton; not a
+yeoman or peasant of Montacute super Mare or Montacute Abbotts, nor
+of Percy Bellamont nor Friar's Bellamont, nor Winch nor Finch, nor of
+Mandeville Stokes nor Mandeville Bois; not a goodman true of Carleton
+and Ingleton and Kirkby and Dent, and Gillamoor and Padmore and Hutton
+le Hale; not a stout forester from the glades of Thorp, or the sylvan
+homes of Hurst Lydgate and Bishopstowe, that knew not where foamed and
+flowed the duke's ale, that was to quench the longings of his thirsty
+village. And their wives and daughters were equally welcome. At the
+entrance of each tent, the duke's servants invited all to enter,
+supplied them with required refreshments, or indicated their appointed
+places at the approaching banquet. In general, though there were many
+miscellaneous parties, each village entered the park in procession, with
+its flag and its band.
+
+At noon the scene presented the appearance of an immense but
+well-ordered fair. In the background, men and boys climbed poles or
+raced in sacks, while the exploits of the ginglers, their mischievous
+manoeuvres and subtle combinations, elicited frequent bursts of
+laughter. Further on, two long-menaced cricket matches called forth all
+the skill and energy of Fuddleton and Buddleton, and Winch and Finch.
+The great throng of the population, however, was in the precincts of the
+terrace, where, in the course of the morning, it was known that the duke
+and duchess, with the hero of the day and all their friends, were to
+appear, to witness the sports of the people, and especially the feats
+of the morrice-dancers, who were at this moment practising before a
+very numerous and delighted audience. In the meantime, bells, drums, and
+trumpets, an occasional volley, and the frequent cheers and laughter
+of the multitude, combined with the brilliancy of the sun and the
+brightness of the ale to make a right gladsome scene.
+
+'It's nothing to what it will be at night,' said one of the duke's
+footmen to his family, his father and mother, two sisters and a young
+brother, listening to him with open mouths, and staring at his state
+livery with mingled feelings of awe and affection. They had come over
+from Bellamont Friars, and their son had asked the steward to give him
+the care of the pavilion of that village, in order that he might
+look after his friends. Never was a family who esteemed themselves so
+fortunate or felt so happy. This was having a friend at court, indeed.
+
+'It's nothing to what it will be at night,' said Thomas. 'You will have
+"Hail, star of Bellamont!" and "God save the Queen!" a crown, three
+stars,' four flags, and two coronets, all in coloured lamps, letters six
+feet high, on the castle. There will be one hundred beacons lit over
+the space of fifty miles the moment a rocket is shot off from the
+Round Tower; and as for fireworks, Bob, you'll see them at last. Bengal
+lights, and the largest wheels will be as common as squibs and crackers;
+and I have heard say, though it is not to be mentioned----' And he
+paused.
+
+''We'll not open our mouths,' said his father, earnestly.
+
+'You had better not tell us,' said his mother, in a nervous paroxysm;
+'for I am in such a fluster, I am sure I cannot answer for myself, and
+then Thomas may lose his place for breach of conference.'
+
+'Nonsense, mother,' said his sisters, who snubbed their mother almost as
+readily as is the gracious habit of their betters. 'Pray tell us, Tom.'
+
+'Ay, ay, Tom,' said his younger brother.
+
+'Well,' said Tom, in a confidential whisper, 'won't there be a
+transparency! I have heard say the Queen never had anything like it. You
+won't be able to see it for the first quarter of an hour, there will be
+such a blaze of fire and rockets; but when it does come, they say it's
+like heaven opening; the young markiss on a cloud, with his hand on his
+heart, in his new uniform.'
+
+'Dear me!' said the mother. 'I knew him before he was weaned. The
+duchess suckled him herself, which shows her heart is very true; for
+they may say what they like, but if another's milk is in your child's
+veins, he seems, in a sort of way, as much her bairn as your own.'
+
+'Mother's milk makes a true born Englishman,' said the father; 'and I
+make no doubt our young markiss will prove the same.'
+
+'How I long to see him!' exclaimed one of the daughters.
+
+'And so do I!' said her sister; 'and in his uniform! How beautiful it
+must be!'
+
+'Well, I don't know,' said the mother; 'and perhaps you will laugh at me
+for saying so, but after seeing my Thomas in his state livery, I don't
+care much for seeing anything else.'
+
+'Mother, how can you say such things? I am afraid the crowd will be very
+great at the fireworks. We must try to get a good place.'
+
+'I have arranged all that,' said Thomas, with a triumphant look. 'There
+will be an inner circle for the steward's friends, and you will be let
+in.'
+
+'Oh!' exclaimed his sisters.
+
+'Well, I hope I shall get through the day,' said his mother; 'but it's
+rather a trial, after our quiet life.'
+
+'And when will they come on the terrace, Thomas?'
+
+'You see, they are waiting for the corporation, that's the mayor and
+town council of Montacute; they are coming up with an address. There! Do
+you hear that? That's the signal gun. They are leaving the town-hall at
+this same moment. Now, in three-quarters of an hour's time or so, the
+duke and duchess, and the young markiss, and all of them, will come on
+the terrace. So you be alive, and draw near, and get a good place. I
+must look after these people.'
+
+About the same time that the cannon announced that the corporation
+had quitted the town-hall, some one tapped at the chamber-door of Lord
+Eskdale, who was sealing a letter in his private room.
+
+'Well, Harris?' said Lord Eskdale, looking up, and recognising his
+valet.
+
+'His Grace has been inquiring for your lordship several times,' replied
+Mr. Harris, with a perplexed air.
+
+'I shall be with him in good time,' replied his lordship, again looking
+down.
+
+'If you could manage to come down at once, my lord,' said Mr. Harris.
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Mr. Leander wishes to see your lordship very much.'
+
+'Ah! Leander!' said Lord Eskdale, in a more interested tone. 'What does
+he want?'
+
+'I have not seen him,' said Mr. Harris; 'but Mr. Prevost tells me that
+his feelings are hurt.'
+
+'I hope he has not struck,' said Lord Eskdale, with a comical glance.
+
+'Something of that sort,' said Mr. Harris, very seriously.
+
+Lord Eskdale had a great sympathy with artists; he was well acquainted
+with that irritability which is said to be the characteristic of the
+creative power; genius always found in him an indulgent arbiter. He was
+convinced that if the feelings of a rare spirit like Leander were hurt,
+they were not to be trifled with. He felt responsible for the presence
+of one so eminent in a country where, perhaps, he was not properly
+appreciated; and Lord Eskdale descended to the steward's room with the
+consciousness of an important, probably a difficult, mission.
+
+The kitchen of Montacute Castle was of the old style, fitted for
+baronial feasts. It covered a great space, and was very lofty. Now
+they build them in great houses on a different system; even more
+distinguished by height, but far more condensed in area, as it is
+thought that a dish often suffers from the distances which the cook
+has to move over in collecting its various component parts. The new
+principle seems sound; the old practice, however, was more picturesque.
+The kitchen at Montacute was like the preparation for the famous wedding
+feast of Prince Riquet with the Tuft, when the kind earth opened, and
+revealed that genial spectacle of white-capped cooks, and endless stoves
+and stewpans. The steady blaze of two colossal fires was shrouded by
+vast screens. Everywhere, rich materials and silent artists; business
+without bustle, and the all-pervading magic of method. Philippon was
+preparing a sauce; Dumoreau, in another quarter of the spacious chamber,
+was arranging some truffles; the Englishman, Smit, was fashioning
+a cutlet. Between these three generals of division aides-de-camp
+perpetually passed, in the form of active and observant marmitons, more
+than one of whom, as he looked on the great masters around him, and
+with the prophetic faculty of genius surveyed the future, exclaimed to
+himself, like Cor-reggio, 'And I also will be a cook.'
+
+In this animated and interesting scene was only one unoccupied
+individual, or rather occupied only with his own sad thoughts. This was
+Papa Prevost, leaning against rather than sitting on a dresser, with his
+arms folded, his idle knife stuck in his girdle, and the tassel of his
+cap awry with vexation. His gloomy brow, however, lit up as Mr. Harris,
+for whom he was waiting with anxious expectation, entered, and summoned
+him to the presence of Lord Eskdale, who, with a shrewd yet lounging
+air, which concealed his own foreboding perplexity, said, 'Well,
+Prevost, what is the matter? The people here been impertinent?'
+
+Prevost shook his head. 'We never were in a house, my lord, where they
+were more obliging. It is something much worse.'
+
+'Nothing wrong about your fish, I hope? Well, what is it?'
+
+'Leander, my lord, has been dressing dinners for a week: dinners, I will
+be bound to say, which were never equalled in the Imperial kitchen,
+and the duke has never made a single observation, or sent him a single
+message. Yesterday, determined to outdo even himself, he sent up some
+_escalopes de laitances de carpes a la Bellamont_. In my time I have
+seen nothing like it, my lord. Ask Philippon, ask Dumoreau, what they
+thought of it! Even the Englishman, Smit, who never says anything,
+opened his mouth and exclaimed; as for the marmitons, they were
+breathless, and I thought Achille, the youth of whom I spoke to you, my
+lord, and who appears to me to be born with the true feeling, would have
+been overcome with emotion. When it was finished, Leander retired to
+his room--I attended him--and covered his face with his hands. Would you
+believe it, my lord! Not a word; not even a message. All this morning
+Leander has waited in the last hope. Nothing, absolutely nothing! How
+can he compose when he is not appreciated? Had he been appreciated, he
+would to-day not only have repeated the _escalopes a la Bellamont_, but
+perhaps even invented what might have outdone it. It is unheard of,
+my lord. The late lord Monmouth would have sent for Leander the very
+evening, or have written to him a beautiful letter, which would have
+been preserved in his family; M. de Sidonia would have sent him a
+tankard from his table. These things in themselves are nothing; but they
+prove to a man of genius that he is understood. Had Leander been in the
+Imperial kitchen, or even with the Emperor of Russia, he would have been
+decorated!'
+
+'Where is he?' said Lord Eskdale.
+
+'He is alone in the cook's room.'
+
+'I will go and say a word to him.'
+
+Alone, in the cook's room, gazing in listless vacancy on the fire,
+that fire which, under his influence, had often achieved so many
+master-works, was the great artist who was not appreciated. No longer
+suffering under mortification, but overwhelmed by that exhaustion which
+follows acute sensibility and the over-tension of the creative faculty,
+he looked round as Lord Eskdale entered, and when he perceived who was
+his visitor, he rose immediately, bowed very low, and then sighed.
+
+'Prevost thinks we are not exactly appreciated here,' said Lord Eskdale.
+
+Leander bowed again, and still sighed.
+
+'Prevost does not understand the affair,' continued Lord Eskdale. 'Why
+I wished you to come down here, Leander, was not to receive the applause
+of my cousin and his guests, but to form their taste.'
+
+Here was a great idea; exciting and ennobling. It threw quite a new
+light upon the position of Leander. He started; his brow seemed to
+clear. Leander, then, like other eminent men, had duties to perform as
+well as rights to enjoy; he had a right to fame, but it was also his
+duty to form and direct public taste. That then was the reason he
+was brought down to Bellamont Castle; because some of the greatest
+personages in England, who never had eaten a proper dinner in their
+lives, would have an opportunity, for the first time, of witnessing art.
+What could the praise of the Duke of Clanronald, or Lord Hampshire,
+or Lord Hull, signify to one who had shared the confidence of a Lord
+Monmouth, and whom Sir Alexander Grant, the first judge in Europe,
+had declared the only man of genius of the age? Leander erred too
+in supposing that his achievements had been lost upon the guests at
+Bellamont. Insensibly his feats had set them a-thinking. They had been
+like Cossacks in a picture-gallery; but the Clanronalds, the Hampshires,
+the Hulls, would return to their homes impressed with a great truth,
+that there is a difference between eating and dining. Was this nothing
+for Leander to have effected? Was it nothing, by this development of
+taste, to assist in supporting that aristocratic influence which he
+wished to cherish, and which can alone encourage art? If anything can
+save the aristocracy in this levelling age, it is an appreciation of men
+of genius. Certainly it would have been very gratifying to Leander
+if his Grace had only sent him a message, or if Lord Montacute had
+expressed a wish to see him. He had been long musing over some dish
+_a la Montacute_ for this very day. The young lord was reputed to have
+talent; this dish might touch his fancy; the homage of a great artist
+flatters youth; this offering of genius might colour his destiny. But
+what, after all, did this signify? Leander had a mission to perform.
+
+'If I were you, I would exert myself, Leander,' said Lord Eskdale.
+
+'Ah! my lord, if all men were like you! If artists were only sure of
+being appreciated; if we were but understood, a dinner would become a
+sacrifice to the gods, and a kitchen would be Paradise.'
+
+In the meantime, the mayor and town-councillors of Montacute, in their
+robes of office, and preceded by their bedels and their mace-bearer,
+have entered the gates of the castle. They pass into the great hall,
+the most ancient part of the building, with its open roof of Spanish
+chestnut, its screen and gallery and dais, its painted windows and
+marble floor. Ascending the dais, they are ushered into an antechamber,
+the first of that suite of state apartments that opens on the terrace.
+Leaving on one side the principal dining-room and the library, they
+proceeded through the green drawing-room, so called from its silken
+hangings, the red drawing-room, covered with ruby velvet, and both
+adorned, but not encumbered, with pictures of the choicest art, into the
+principal or duchesses' drawing-room, thus entitled from its complete
+collection of portraits of Duchesses of Bellamont. It was a spacious and
+beautifully proportioned chamber, hung with amber satin, its ceiling by
+Zucchero, whose rich colours were relieved by the burnished gilding.
+The corporation trod tremblingly over the gorgeous carpet of Axminster,
+which displayed, in vivid colours and colossal proportions, the shield
+and supporters of Bellamont, and threw a hasty glance at the vases of
+porphyry and malachite, and mosaic tables covered with precious toys,
+which were grouped about.
+
+Thence they were ushered into the Montacute room, adorned, among many
+interesting pictures, by perhaps the finest performance of Lawrence,
+a portrait of the present duke, just after his marriage. Tall and
+graceful, with a clear dark complexion, regular features, eyes of liquid
+tenderness, a frank brow, and rich clustering hair, the accomplished
+artist had seized and conveyed the character of a high-spirited but
+gentle-hearted cavalier. From the Montacute chamber they entered
+the ball-room; very spacious, white and gold, a coved ceiling, large
+Venetian lustres, and the walls of looking-glass, enclosing friezes of
+festive sculpture. Then followed another antechamber, in the centre
+of which was one of the masterpieces of Canova. This room, lined with
+footmen in state liveries, completed the suite that opened on the
+terrace. The northern side of this chamber consisted of a large door,
+divided, and decorated in its panels with emblazoned shields of arms.
+
+The valves being thrown open, the mayor and town-council of Montacute
+were ushered into a gallery one hundred feet long, and which occupied
+a great portion of the northern side of the castle. The panels of this
+gallery enclosed a series of pictures in tapestry, which represented the
+principal achievements of the third crusade. A Montacute had been one
+of the most distinguished knights in that great adventure, and had saved
+the life of Cour de Lion at the siege of Ascalon. In after-ages a Duke
+of Bellamont, who was our ambassador at Paris, had given orders to
+the Gobelins factory for the execution of this series of pictures from
+cartoons by the most celebrated artists of the time. The subjects of the
+tapestry had obtained for the magnificent chamber, which they adorned
+and rendered so interesting, the title of 'The Crusaders' Gallery.'
+
+At the end of this gallery, surrounded by their guests, their relatives,
+and their neighbours; by high nobility, by reverend prelates, by the
+members and notables of the county, and by some of the chief tenants of
+the duke, a portion of whom were never absent from any great carousing
+or high ceremony that occurred within his walls, the Duke and Duchess
+of Bellamont and their son, a little in advance of the company, stood
+to receive the congratulatory addresses of the mayor and corporation
+of their ancient and faithful town of Montacute; the town which their
+fathers had built and adorned, which they had often represented in
+Parliament in the good old days, and which they took care should then
+enjoy its fair proportion of the good old things; a town, every house in
+which belonged to them, and of which there was not an inhabitant who, in
+his own person or in that of his ancestry, had not felt the advantages
+of the noble connection.
+
+The duke bowed to the corporation, with the duchess on his left hand;
+and on his right there stood a youth, above the middle height and of a
+frame completely and gracefully formed. His dark brown hair, in those
+hyacinthine curls which Grecian poets have celebrated, and which Grecian
+sculptors have immortalised, clustered over his brow, which,
+however, they only partially concealed. It was pale, as was his whole
+countenance, but the liquid richness of the dark brown eye, and the
+colour of the lip, denoted anything but a languid circulation. The
+features were regular, and inclined rather to a refinement which might
+have imparted to the countenance a character of too much delicacy, had
+it not been for the deep meditation of the brow, and for the lower part
+of the visage, which intimated indomitable will and an iron resolution.
+
+Placed for the first time in his life in a public position, and under
+circumstances which might have occasioned some degree of embarrassment
+even to those initiated in the world, nothing was more remarkable in the
+demeanour of Lord Montacute than his self-possession; nor was there
+in his carriage anything studied, or which had the character of being
+preconceived. Every movement or gesture was distinguished by what may be
+called a graceful gravity. With a total absence of that excitement which
+seemed so natural to his age and situation, there was nothing in his
+manner which approached to nonchalance or indifference. It would
+appear that he duly estimated the importance of the event they were
+commemorating, yet was not of a habit of mind that overestimated
+anything.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+     _A Strange Proposal_
+
+THE week of celebration was over: some few guests remained, near
+relatives, and not very rich, the Montacute Mountjoys, for example.
+They came from a considerable distance, and the duke insisted that they
+should remain until the duchess went to London, an event, by-the-bye,
+which was to occur very speedily. Lady Eleanor was rather agreeable, and
+the duchess a little liked her; there were four daughters, to be sure,
+and not very lively, but they sang in the evening.
+
+It was a bright morning, and the duchess, with a heart prophetic of
+happiness, wished to disburthen it to her son; she meant to propose to
+him, therefore, to be her companion in her walk, and she had sent to his
+rooms in vain, and was inquiring after him, when she was informed that
+'Lord Montacute was with his Grace.'
+
+A smile of satisfaction flitted over her face, as she recalled the
+pleasant cause of the conference that was now taking place between the
+father and the son.
+
+Let us see how it advanced.
+
+The duke is in his private library, consisting chiefly of the statutes
+at large, Hansard, the Annual Register, Parliamentary Reports, and legal
+treatises on the powers and duties of justices of the peace. A portrait
+of his mother is over the mantel-piece: opposite it a huge map of the
+county. His correspondence on public business with the secretary of
+state, and the various authorities of the shire, is admirably arranged:
+for the duke was what is called an excellent man of business, that is
+to say, methodical, and an adept in all the small arts of routine. These
+papers were deposited, after having been ticketed with a date and a
+summary of their contents, and tied with much tape, in a large cabinet,
+which occupied nearly one side of the room, and on the top of which were
+busts in marble of Mr. Pitt, George III., and the Duke of Wellington.
+
+The duke was leaning back in his chair, which it seemed, from his air
+and position, he had pushed back somewhat suddenly from his writing
+table, and an expression of painful surprise, it cannot be denied, dwelt
+on his countenance. Lord Montacute was on his legs, leaning with his
+left arm on the chimney-piece, very serious, and, if possible, paler
+than usual.
+
+'You take me quite by surprise,' said the duke; 'I thought it was an
+arrangement that would have deeply gratified you.'
+
+Lord Montacute slightly bowed his head, but said nothing. His father
+continued.
+
+'Not wish to enter Parliament at present! Why, that is all very well,
+and if, as was once the case, we could enter Parliament when we liked,
+and how we liked, the wish might be very reasonable. If I could ring my
+bell, and return you member for Montacute with as much ease as I could
+send over to Bellamont to engage a special train to take us to town, you
+might be justified in indulging a fancy. But how and when, I should like
+to know, are you to enter Parliament now? This Parliament will last:
+it will go on to the lees. Lord Eskdale told me so not a week ago. Well
+then, at any rate, you lose three years: for three years you are an
+idler. I never thought that was your character. I have always had an
+impression you would turn your mind to public business, that the county
+might look up to you. If you have what are called higher views, you
+should not forget there is a great opening now in public life, which
+may not offer again. The Duke is resolved to give the preference, in
+carrying on the business of the country, to the aristocracy. He believes
+this is our only means of preservation. He told me so himself. If it be
+so, I fear we are doomed. I hope we may be of some use to our country
+without being ministers of state. But let that pass. As long as the
+Duke lives, he is omnipotent, and will have his way. If you come into
+Parliament now, and show any disposition for office, you may rely upon
+it you will not long be unemployed. I have no doubt I could arrange that
+you should move the address of next session. I dare say Lord Eskdale
+could manage this, and, if he could not, though I abhor asking a
+minister for anything, I should, under the circumstances, feel perfectly
+justified in speaking to the Duke on the subject myself, and,' added his
+Grace, in a lowered tone, but with an expression of great earnestness
+and determination, 'I flatter myself that if the Duke of Bellamont
+chooses to express a wish, it would not be disregarded.'
+
+Lord Montacute cast his dark, intelligent eyes upon the floor, and
+seemed plunged in thought.
+
+'Besides,' added the duke, after a moment's pause, and inferring, from
+the silence of his son, that he was making an impression, 'suppose
+Hungerford is not in the same humour this time three years which he is
+in now. Probably he may be; possibly he may not. Men do not like to
+be baulked when they think they are doing a very kind and generous and
+magnanimous thing. Hungerford is not a warming-pan; we must remember
+that; he never was originally, and if he had been, he has been member
+for the county too long to be so considered now. I should be placed in
+a most painful position, if, this time three years, I had to withdraw my
+support from Hungerford, in order to secure your return.'
+
+'There would be no necessity, under any circumstances, for that, my dear
+father,' said Lord Montacute, looking up, and speaking in a voice which,
+though somewhat low, was of that organ that at once arrests attention; a
+voice that comes alike from the brain and from the heart, and seems made
+to convey both profound thought and deep emotion. There is no index of
+character so sure as the voice. There are tones, tones brilliant and
+gushing, which impart a quick and pathetic sensibility: there are others
+that, deep and yet calm, seem the just interpreters of a serene and
+exalted intellect. But the rarest and the most precious of all voices
+is that which combines passion and repose; and whose rich and restrained
+tones exercise, perhaps, on the human frame a stronger spell than even
+the fascination of the eye, or that bewitching influence of the hand,
+which is the privilege of the higher races of Asia.
+
+'There would be no necessity, under any circumstances, for that, my dear
+father,' said Lord Montacute, 'for, to be frank, I believe I should feel
+as little disposed to enter Parliament three years hence as now.'
+
+The duke looked still more surprised. 'Mr. Fox was not of age when he
+took his seat,' said his Grace. 'You know how old Mr. Pitt was when
+he was a minister. Sir Robert, too, was in harness very early. I have
+always heard the good judges say, Lord Esk-dale, for example, that a man
+might speak in Parliament too soon, but it was impossible to go in too
+soon.'
+
+'If he wished to succeed in that assembly,' replied Lord Montacute,
+'I can easily believe it. In all things an early initiation must be of
+advantage. But I have not that wish.'
+
+'I don't like to see a man take his seat in the House of Lords who has
+not been in the House of Commons. He seems to me always, in a manner,
+unfledged.'
+
+'It will be a long time, I hope, my dear father, before I take my seat
+in the House of Lords,' said Lord Montacute, 'if, indeed, I ever do.'
+
+'In the course of nature 'tis a certainty.'
+
+'Suppose the Duke's plan for perpetuating an aristocracy do not
+succeed,' said Lord Montacute, 'and our house ceases to exist?'
+
+His father shrugged his shoulders. 'It is not our business to suppose
+that. I hope it never will be the business of any one, at least
+seriously. This is a great country, and it has become great by its
+aristocracy.'
+
+'You think, then, our sovereigns did nothing for our greatness,--Queen
+Elizabeth, for example, of whose visit to Montacute you are so proud?'
+
+'They performed their part.'
+
+'And have ceased to exist. We may have performed our part, and may meet
+the same fate.'
+
+'Why, you are talking liberalism!'
+
+'Hardly that, my dear father, for I have not expressed an opinion.'
+
+'I wish I knew what your opinions were, my dear boy, or even your
+wishes.'
+
+'Well, then, to do my duty.'
+
+'Exactly; you are a pillar of the State; support the State.'
+
+'Ah! if any one would but tell me what the State is,' said Lord
+Montacute, sighing. 'It seems to me your pillars remain, but they
+support nothing; in that case, though the shafts may be perpendicular,
+and the capitals very ornate, they are no longer props, they are a
+ruin.'
+
+'You would hand us over, then, to the ten-pounders?'
+
+'They do not even pretend to be a State,' said Lord Montacute; 'they do
+not even profess to support anything; on the contrary, the essence of
+their philosophy is, that nothing is to be established, and everything
+is to be left to itself.'
+
+'The common sense of this country and the fifty pound clause will carry
+us through,' said the duke.
+
+'Through what?' inquired his son.
+
+'This--this state of transition,' replied his father.
+
+'A passage to what?'
+
+'Ah! that is a question the wisest cannot answer.'
+
+'But into which the weakest, among whom I class myself, have surely a
+right to inquire.'
+
+'Unquestionably; and I know nothing that will tend more to assist you in
+your researches than acting with practical men.'
+
+'And practising all their blunders,' said Lord Montacute. 'I can
+conceive an individual who has once been entrapped into their haphazard
+courses, continuing in the fatal confusion to which he has contributed
+his quota; but I am at least free, and I wish to continue so.'
+
+'And do nothing?'
+
+'But does it follow that a man is infirm of action because he declines
+fighting in the dark?'
+
+'And how would you act, then? What are your plans? Have you any?'
+
+'I have.'
+
+'Well, that is satisfactory,' said the duke, with animation. 'Whatever
+they are, you know you may count upon my doing everything that is
+possible to forward your wishes. I know they cannot be unworthy ones,
+for I believe, my child, you are incapable of a thought that is not good
+or great.'
+
+'I wish I knew what was good and great,' said Lord Montacute; 'I would
+struggle to accomplish it.'
+
+'But you have formed some views; you have some plans. Speak to me of
+them, and without reserve; as to a friend, the most affectionate, the
+most devoted.'
+
+'My father,' said Lord Montacute, and moving, he drew a chair to the
+table, and seated himself by the duke, 'you possess and have a right to
+my confidence. I ought not to have said that I doubted about what was
+good; for I know you.'
+
+'Sons like you make good fathers.'
+
+'It is not always so,' said Lord Montacute; 'you have been to me more
+than a father, and I bear to you and to my mother a profound and fervent
+affection; an affection,' he added, in a faltering tone, 'that is rarer,
+I believe, in this age than it was in old days. I feel it at this moment
+more deeply,' he continued, in a firmer tone, 'because I am about to
+propose that we should for a time separate.'
+
+The duke turned pale, and leant forward in his chair, but did not speak.
+
+'You have proposed to me to-day,' continued Lord Montacute, after a
+momentary pause, 'to enter public life. I do not shrink from its duties.
+On the contrary, from the position in which I am born, still more from
+the impulse of my nature, I am desirous to fulfil them. I have meditated
+on them, I may say, even for years. But I cannot find that it is part of
+my duty to maintain the order of things, for I will not call it system,
+which at present prevails in our country. It seems to me that it cannot
+last, as nothing can endure, or ought to endure, that is not founded
+upon principle; and its principle I have not discovered. In nothing,
+whether it be religion, or government, or manners, sacred or political
+or social life, do I find faith; and if there be no faith, how can there
+be duty? Is there such a thing as religious truth? Is there such a thing
+as political right? Is there such a thing as social propriety? Are these
+facts, or are they mere phrases? And if they be facts, where are they
+likely to be found in England? Is truth in our Church? Why, then, do
+you support dissent? Who has the right to govern? The monarch? You have
+robbed him of his prerogative. The aristocracy? You confess to me that
+we exist by sufferance. The people? They themselves tell you that they
+are nullities. Every session of that Parliament in which you wish to
+introduce me, the method by which power is distributed is called in
+question, altered, patched up, and again impugned. As for our morals,
+tell me, is charity the supreme virtue, or the greatest of errors? Our
+social system ought to depend on a clear conception of this point. Our
+morals differ in different counties, in different towns, in different
+streets, even in different Acts of Parliament. What is moral in London
+is immoral in Montacute; what is crime among the multitude is only vice
+among the few.'
+
+'You are going into first principles,' said the duke, much surprised.
+
+'Give me then second principles,' replied his son; 'give me any.'
+
+'We must take a general view of things to form an opinion,' said his
+father, mildly. 'The general condition of England is superior to that of
+any other country; it cannot be denied that, on the whole, there is more
+political freedom, more social happiness, more sound religion, and more
+material prosperity among us, than in any nation in the world.'
+
+'I might question all that,' said his son; 'but they are considerations
+that do not affect my views. If other States are worse than we are, and
+I hope they are not, our condition is not mended, but the contrary, for
+we then need the salutary stimulus of example.'
+
+'There is no sort of doubt,' said the duke, 'that the state of England
+at this moment is the most flourishing that has ever existed, certainly
+in modern times. What with these railroads, even the condition of the
+poor, which I admit was lately far from satisfactory, is infinitely
+improved. Every man has work who needs it, and wages are even high.'
+
+'The railroads may have improved, in a certain sense, the condition of
+the working classes almost as much as that of members of Parliament.
+They have been a good thing for both of them. And if you think that more
+labour is all that is wanted by the people of England, we may be
+easy for a time. I see nothing in this fresh development of material
+industry, but fresh causes of moral deterioration. You have announced to
+the millions that there welfare is to be tested by the amount of their
+wages. Money is to be the cupel of their worth, as it is of all other
+classes. You propose for their conduct the least ennobling of all
+impulses. If you have seen an aristocracy invariably become degraded
+under such influence; if all the vices of a middle class may be traced
+to such an absorbing motive; why are we to believe that the people
+should be more pure, or that they should escape the catastrophe of the
+policy that confounds the happiness with the wealth of nations?'
+
+The duke shook his head and then said, 'You should not forget we live in
+an artificial state.'
+
+'So I often hear, sir,' replied his son; 'but where is the art? It seems
+to me the very quality wanting to our present condition. Art is order,
+method, harmonious results obtained by fine and powerful principles. I
+see no art in our condition. The people of this country have ceased to
+be a nation. They are a crowd, and only kept in some rude provisional
+discipline by the remains of that old system which they are daily
+destroying.'
+
+'But what would you do, my dear boy?' said his Grace, looking up
+very distressed. 'Can you remedy the state of things in which we find
+ourselves?'
+
+'I am not a teacher,' said Lord Montacute, mournfully; 'I only ask you,
+I supplicate you, my dear father, to save me from contributing to this
+quick corruption that surrounds us.'
+
+'You shall be master of your own actions. I offer you counsel, I give no
+commands; and, as for the rest, Providence will guard us.'
+
+'If an angel would but visit our house as he visited the house of Lot!'
+said Montacute, in a tone almost of anguish.
+
+'Angels have performed their part,' said the duke. 'We have received
+instructions from one higher than angels. It is enough for all of us.'
+
+'It is not enough for me,' said Lord Montacute, with a glowing cheek,
+and rising abruptly. 'It was not enough for the Apostles; for though
+they listened to the sermon on the mount, and partook of the first
+communion, it was still necessary that He should appear to them
+again, and promise them a Comforter. I require one,' he added, after
+a momentary pause, but in an agitated voice. 'I must seek one. Yes! my
+dear father, it is of this that I would speak to you; it is this which
+for a long time has oppressed my spirit, and filled me often with
+intolerable gloom. We must separate. I must leave you, I must leave
+that dear mother, those beloved parents, in whom are concentred all
+my earthly affections; but I obey an impulse that I believe comes
+from above. Dearest and best of men, you will not thwart me; you will
+forgive, you will aid me!' And he advanced and threw himself into the
+arms of his father.
+
+The duke pressed Lord Montacute to his heart, and endeavoured, though
+himself agitated and much distressed, to penetrate the mystery of this
+ebullition. 'He says we must separate,' thought the duke to himself.
+'Ah! he has lived too much at home, too much alone; he has read and
+pondered too much; he has moped. Eskdale was right two years ago. I wish
+I had sent him to Paris, but his mother was so alarmed; and, indeed,
+'tis a precious life! The House of Commons would have been just the
+thing for him. He would have worked on committees and grown practical.
+But something must be done for him, dear child! He says we must
+separate; he wants to travel. And perhaps he ought to travel. But a life
+on which so much depends! And what will Katherine say? It will kill her.
+I could screw myself up to it. I would send him well attended. Brace
+should go with him; he understands the Continent; he was in the
+Peninsular war; and he should have a skilful physician. I see how it is;
+I must act with decision, and break it to his mother.'
+
+These ideas passed through the duke's mind during the few seconds
+that he embraced his son, and endeavoured at the same time to convey
+consolation by the expression of his affection, and his anxiety at all
+times to contribute to his child's happiness.
+
+'My dear son,' said the duke, when Lord Montacute had resumed his seat,
+'I see how it is; you wish to travel?'
+
+Lord Montacute bent his head, as if in assent.
+
+'It will be a terrible blow to your mother; I say nothing of myself.
+You know what I feel for you. But neither your mother nor myself have a
+right to place our feelings in competition with any arrangement for your
+welfare. It would be in the highest degree selfish and unreasonable;
+and perhaps it will be well for you to travel awhile; and, as for
+Parliament, I am to see Hungerford this morning at Bellamont. I will try
+and arrange with him to postpone his resignation until the autumn,
+or, if possible, for some little time longer. You will then have
+accomplished your purpose. It will do you a great deal of good. You will
+have seen the world, and you can take your seat next year.'
+
+The duke paused. Lord Montacute looked perplexed and distressed; he
+seemed about to reply, and then, leaning on the table, with his face
+concealed from his father, he maintained his silence. The duke rose,
+looked at his watch, said he must be at Bellamont by two o'clock,
+hoped that Brace would dine at the castle to-day, thought it not at
+all impossible Brace might, would send on to Montacute for him, perhaps
+might meet him at Bellamont. Brace understood the Continent, spoke
+several languages, Spanish among them, though it was not probable his
+son would have any need of that, the present state of Spain not being
+very inviting to the traveller.
+
+'As for France,' said the duke, 'France is Paris, and I suppose that
+will be your first step; it generally is. We must see if your cousin,
+Henry Howard, is there. If so, he will put you in the way of everything.
+With the embassy and Brace, you would manage very well at Paris. Then, I
+suppose, you would like to go to Italy; that, I apprehend, is your great
+point. Your mother will not like your going to Rome. Still, at the same
+time, a man, they say, should see Rome before he dies. I never did. I
+have never crossed the sea except to go to Ireland. Your grandfather
+would never let me travel; I wanted to, but he never would. Not,
+however, for the same reasons which have kept you at home. Suppose you
+even winter at Rome, which I believe is the right thing, why, you might
+very well be back by the spring. However, we must manage your mother a
+little about remaining over the winter, and, on second thoughts, we will
+get Bernard to go with you, as well as Brace and a physician, and then
+she will be much more easy. I think, with Brace, Bernard, and a medical
+man whom we can really trust, Harry Howard at Paris, and the best
+letters for every other place, which we will consult Lord Eskdale about,
+I think the danger will not be extreme.'
+
+'I have no wish to see Paris,' said Lord Montacute, evidently
+embarrassed, and making a great effort to relieve his mind of some
+burthen. 'I have no wish to see Paris.'
+
+'I am very glad to hear that,' said his father, eagerly.
+
+'Nor do I wish either to go to Rome,' continued his son.
+
+'Well, well, you have taken a load off my mind, my dear boy. I would not
+confess it, because I wish to save you pain; but really, I believe
+the idea of your going to Rome would have been a serious shock to your
+mother. It is not so much the distance, though that is great, nor the
+climate, which has its dangers, but, you understand, with her peculiar
+views, her very strict----' The duke did not care to finish his
+sentence.
+
+'Nor, my dear father,' continued Lord Montacute, 'though I did not like
+to interrupt you when you were speaking with so much solicitude and
+consideration for me, is it exactly travel, in the common acceptation of
+the term, that I feel the need of. I wish, indeed, to leave England; I
+wish to make an expedition; a progress to a particular point; without
+wandering, without any intervening residence. In a word, it is the Holy
+Land that occupies my thought, and I propose to make a pilgrimage to the
+sepulchre of my Saviour.'
+
+The duke started, and sank again into his chair. 'The Holy Land! The
+Holy Sepulchre!' he exclaimed, and repeated to himself, staring at his
+son.
+
+'Yes, sir, the Holy Sepulchre,' repeated Lord Mon-tacute, and now
+speaking with his accustomed repose. 'When I remember that the Creator,
+since light sprang out of darkness, has deigned to reveal Himself to His
+creature only in one land, that in that land He assumed a manly form,
+and met a human death, I feel persuaded that the country sanctified by
+such intercourse and such events must be endowed with marvellous and
+peculiar qualities, which man may not in all ages be competent
+to penetrate, but which, nevertheless, at all times exercise an
+irresistible influence upon his destiny. It is these qualities that many
+times drew Europe to Asia during the middle centuries. Our castle has
+before this sent forth a De Montacute to Palestine. For three days and
+three nights he knelt at the tomb of his Redeemer. Six centuries and
+more have elapsed since that great enterprise. It is time to restore and
+renovate our communications with the Most High. I, too, would kneel at
+that tomb; I, too, surrounded by the holy hills and sacred groves of
+Jerusalem, would relieve my spirit from the bale that bows it down;
+would lift up my voice to heaven, and ask, What is duty, and what is
+faith? What ought I to do, and what ought I to believe?'
+
+The Duke of Bellamont rose from his seat, and walked up and down the
+room for some minutes, in silence and in deep thought. At length,
+stopping and leaning against the cabinet, he said, 'What has occurred
+to-day between us, my beloved child, is, you may easily believe, as
+strange to me as it is agitating. I will think of all you have said;
+I will try to comprehend all you mean and wish. I will endeavour to do
+that which is best and wisest; placing above all things your happiness,
+and not our own. At this moment I am not competent to the task: I need
+quiet, and to be alone. Your mother, I know, wishes to walk with you
+this morning. She may be speaking to you of many things. Be silent upon
+this subject, until I have communicated with her. At present I will ride
+over to Bellamont. I must go; and, besides, it will do me good. I never
+can think very well except in the saddle. If Brace comes, make him dine
+here. God bless you.'
+
+The duke left the room; his son remained in meditation. The first step
+was taken. He had poured into the interview of an hour the results of
+three years of solitary thought. A sound roused him; it was his mother.
+She had only learnt casually that the duke was gone; she was surprised
+he had not come into her room before he went; it seemed the first time
+since their marriage that the duke had gone out without first coming to
+speak to her. So she went to seek her son, to congratulate him on being
+a member of Parliament, on representing the county of which they were
+so fond, and of breaking to him a proposition which she doubted not he
+would find not less interesting and charming. Happy mother, with her
+only son, on whom she doted and of whom she was so justly proud, about
+to enter public life in which he was sure to distinguish himself, and to
+marry a woman who was sure to make him happy! With a bounding heart the
+duchess opened the library door, where she had been informed she should
+find Lord Montacute. She had her bonnet on, ready for the walk of
+confidence, and, her face flushed with delight, she looked even
+beautiful. 'Ah!' she exclaimed, 'I have been looking for you, Tancred!'
+
+[Illustration: frontis-p72]
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+     _The Decision_
+
+THE duke returned rather late from Bellamont, and went immediately to
+his dressing-room. A few minutes before dinner the duchess knocked at
+his door and entered. She seemed disconcerted, and reminded him, though
+with great gentleness, that he had gone out to-day without first bidding
+her adieu; she really believed it was the only time he had done so since
+their marriage. The duke, who, when she entered, anticipated something
+about their son, was relieved by her remark, embraced her, and would
+have affected a gaiety which he did not really feel.
+
+'I am glad to hear that Brace dines here to-day, Kate, for I
+particularly wanted to see him.'
+
+The duchess did not reply, and seemed absent; the duke, to say
+something, tying his cravat, kept harping upon Brace.
+
+'Never mind Brace, George,' said the duchess; 'tell me what is this
+about Tancred? Why is his coming into Parliament put off?'
+
+The duke was perplexed; he wished to know how far at this moment his
+wife was informed upon the matter; the feminine frankness of the
+duchess put him out of suspense. 'I have been walking with Tancred,'
+she continued, 'and intimated, but with great caution, all our plans and
+hopes. I asked him what he thought of his cousin; he agrees with us
+she is by far the most charming girl he knows, and one of the
+most agreeable. I impressed upon him how good she was. I wished to
+precipitate nothing. I never dreamed of their marrying until late in the
+autumn. I wished him to become acquainted with his new life, which would
+not prevent him seeing a great deal of Katherine in London, and then to
+visit them in Ireland, as you visited us, George; and then, when I was
+settling everything in the most delightful manner, what he was to do
+when he was kept up very late at the House, which is the only part I
+don't like, and begging him to be very strict in making his servant
+always have coffee ready for him, very hot, and a cold fowl too, or
+something of the sort, he tells me, to my infinite astonishment, that
+the vacancy will not immediately occur, that he is not sorry for it, as
+he thinks it may be as well that he should go abroad. What can all this
+mean? Pray tell me; for Tancred has told me nothing, and, when I pressed
+him, waived the subject, and said we would all of us consult together.'
+
+'And so we will, Kate,' said the duke, 'but hardly at this moment, for
+dinner must be almost served. To be brief,' he added, speaking in a
+light tone, 'there are reasons which perhaps may make it expedient that
+Hungerford should not resign at the present moment; and as Tancred has a
+fancy to travel a little, it may be as well that we should take it into
+consideration whether he might not profitably occupy the interval in
+this manner.'
+
+'Profitably!' said the duchess. 'I never can understand how going
+to Paris and Rome, which young men always mean when they talk of
+travelling, can be profitable to him; it is the very thing which, all my
+life, I have been endeavouring to prevent. His body and his soul will be
+both imperilled; Paris will destroy his constitution, and Rome, perhaps,
+change his faith.'
+
+'I have more confidence in his physical power and his religious
+principle than you, Kate,' said the duke, smiling. 'But make yourself
+easy on these heads; Tancred told me this morning that he had no wish to
+visit either Rome or Paris.'
+
+'Well!' exclaimed the duchess, somewhat relieved, 'if he wants to make
+a little tour in Holland, I think I could bear it; it is a Protestant
+country, and there are no vermin. And then those dear Disbrowes, I am
+sure, would take care of him at The Hague.'
+
+'We will talk of all this to-night, my love,' said the duke; and
+offering his arm to his wife, who was more composed, if not more
+cheerful, they descended to their guests.
+
+Colonel Brace was there, to the duke's great satisfaction. The colonel
+had served as a cornet in a dragoon regiment in the last campaign of
+the Peninsular war, and had marched into Paris. Such an event makes an
+indelible impression on the memory of a handsome lad of seventeen, and
+the colonel had not yet finished recounting his strange and fortunate
+adventures.
+
+He was tall, robust, a little portly, but, well buckled, still presented
+a grand military figure. He was what you call a fine man; florid, with
+still a good head of hair though touched with grey, splendid moustaches,
+large fat hands, and a courtly demeanour not unmixed with a slight
+swagger. The colonel was a Montacute man, and had inherited a large
+house in the town and a small estate in the neighbourhood. Having
+sold out, he had retired to his native place, where he had become a
+considerable personage. The duke had put him in the commission, and
+he was the active magistrate of the district; he had reorganised the
+Bellamont regiment of yeomanry cavalry, which had fallen into sad
+decay during the late duke's time, but which now, with Brace for its
+lieutenant-colonel, was second to none in the kingdom. Colonel Brace was
+one of the best shots in the county; certainly the boldest rider among
+the heavy weights; and bore the palm from all with the rod, in a county
+famous for its feats in lake and river.
+
+The colonel was a man of great energy, of good temper, of ready
+resource, frank, a little coarse, but hearty and honest. He adored the
+Duke and Duchess of Bellamont. He was sincere; he was not a parasite;
+he really believed that they were the best people in the world, and I am
+not sure that he had not some foundation for his faith. On the whole,
+he might be esteemed the duke's right-hand man. His Grace generally
+consulted the colonel on county affairs; the command of the yeomanry
+alone gave him a considerable position; he was the chief also of the
+militia staff; could give his opinion whether a person was to be made a
+magistrate or not; and had even been called into council when there was
+a question of appointing a deputy-lieutenant. The colonel, who was a
+leading member of the corporation of Montacute, had taken care to be
+chosen mayor this year; he had been also chairman of the Committee of
+Management during the celebration of Tancred's majority; had had the
+entire ordering of the fireworks, and was generally supposed to have
+given the design, or at least the leading idea, for the transparency.
+
+We should notice also Mr. Bernard, a clergyman, and recently the private
+tutor of Lord Montacute, a good scholar; in ecclesiastical opinions,
+what is called high and dry. He was about five-and-thirty; well-looking,
+bashful. The duke intended to prefer him to a living when one was
+vacant; in the meantime he remained in the family, and at present
+discharged the duties of chaplain and librarian at Montacute, and
+occasionally assisted the duke as private secretary. Of his life, one
+third had been passed at a rural home, and the rest might be nearly
+divided between school and college.
+
+These gentlemen, the distinguished and numerous family of the Montacute
+Mountjoys, young Hunger-ford, whom the duke had good-naturedly brought
+over from Bellamont for the sake of the young ladies, the duke and
+duchess, and their son, formed the party, which presented rather a
+contrast, not only in its numbers, to the series of recent banquets.
+They dined in the Montacute chamber. The party, without intending
+it, was rather dull and silent. The duchess was brooding over the
+disappointment of the morning; the duke trembled for the disclosures
+of the morrow. The Misses Mountjoy sang better than they talked; their
+mother, who was more lively, was seated by the duke, and confined her
+powers of pleasing to him. The Honourable and Reverend Montacute himself
+was an epicure, and disliked conversation during dinner. Lord Montacute
+spoke to Mr. Hungerford across the table, but Mr. Hungerford was
+whispering despairing nothings in the ear of Arabella Mountjoy, and
+replied to his question without originating any in return, which of
+course terminates talk.
+
+When the second course had arrived, the duke, who wanted a little more
+noise and distraction, fired off in despair a shot at Colonel Brace,
+who was on the left hand of the duchess, and set him on his yeomanry
+charger. From this moment affairs improved. The colonel made continual
+charges, and carried all before him. Nothing could be more noisy in a
+genteel way. His voice sounded like the bray of a trumpet amid the din
+of arms; it seemed that the moment he began, everybody and everything
+became animated and inspired by his example. All talked; the duke set
+them the fashion of taking wine with each other; Lord Montacute managed
+to entrap Arminta Mountjoy into a narrative in detail of her morning's
+ride and adventures; and, affecting scepticism as to some of the
+incidents, and wonder at some of the feats, produced a considerable
+addition to the general hubbub, which he instinctively felt that his
+father wished to encourage.
+
+'I don't know whether it was the Great Western or the South Eastern,'
+continued Colonel Brace; 'but I know his leg is broken.'
+
+'God bless me!' said the duke; 'and only think of my not hearing of it
+at Bellamont to-day!'
+
+'I don't suppose they know anything about it,' replied the colonel. 'The
+way I know it is this: I was with Roby to-day, when the post came in,
+and he said to me, "Here is a letter from Lady Malpas; I hope nothing
+is the matter with Sir Russell or any of the children." And then it all
+came out. The train was blown up behind; Sir Russell was in a centre
+carriage, and was pitched right into a field. They took him into an inn,
+put him to bed, and sent for some of the top-sawyers from London, Sir
+Benjamin Brodie, and that sort of thing; and the moment Sir Russell came
+to himself, he said, "I must have Roby, send for Roby, Roby knows my
+constitution." And they sent for Roby. And I think he was right. The
+quantity of young officers I have seen sent rightabout in the Peninsula,
+because they were attended by a parcel of men who knew nothing of their
+constitution! Why, I might have lost my own leg once, if I had not been
+sharp. I got a scratch in a little affair at Almeidas, charging the
+enemy a little too briskly; but we really ought not to speak of these
+things before the ladies----'
+
+'My dear colonel,' said Lord Montacute, 'on the contrary, there
+is nothing more interesting to them. Miss Mountjoy was saying only
+yesterday, that there was nothing she found so difficult to understand
+as the account of a battle, and how much she wished to comprehend it.'
+
+'That is because, in general, they are not written by soldiers,' said
+the colonel; 'but Napier's battles are very clear. I could fight every
+one of them on this table. That's a great book, that history of Napier;
+it has faults, but they are rather omissions than mistakes. Now that
+affair of Almeidas of which I was just speaking, and which nearly cost
+me my leg, it is very odd, but he has omitted mentioning it altogether.'
+
+'But you saved your leg, colonel,' said the duke.
+
+'Yes, I had the honour of marching into Paris, and that is an event
+not very easy to be forgotten, let me tell your Grace. I saved my leg
+because I knew my constitution. For the very same reason by which I hope
+Sir Russell Malpas will save his leg. Because he will be attended by
+a person who knows his constitution. He never did a wiser thing than
+sending for Roby. For my part, if I were in garrison at Gibraltar
+to-morrow, and laid up, I would do the same; I would send for Roby. In
+all these things, depend upon it, knowing the constitution is half the
+battle.'
+
+All this time, while Colonel Brace was indulging in his garrulous
+comments, the Duke of Bellamont was drawing his moral. He had a great
+opinion of Mr. Roby, who was the medical attendant of the castle, and an
+able man. Mr. Roby was perfectly acquainted with the constitution of
+his son; Mr. Roby must go to the Holy Sepulchre. Cost what it might, Mr.
+Roby must be sent to Jerusalem. The duke was calculating all this time
+the income that Mr. Roby made. He would not put it down at more than
+five hundred pounds per annum, and a third of that was certainly
+afforded by the castle. The duke determined to offer Roby a thousand and
+his expenses to attend Lord Montacute. He would not be more than a
+year absent, and his practice could hardly seriously suffer while away,
+backed as he would be, when he returned, by the castle. And if it did,
+the duke must guarantee Roby against loss; it was a necessity, absolute
+and of the first class, that Tancred should be attended by a medical man
+who knew his constitution. The duke agreed with Colonel Brace that it
+was half the battle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+     _Tancred, the New Crusader_
+
+'MISERABLE mother that I am!' exclaimed the duchess, and she clasped her
+hands in anguish.
+
+'My dearest Katherine!' said the duke, 'calm yourself.'
+
+'You ought to have prevented this, George; you ought never to have let
+things come to this pass.'
+
+'But, my dearest Katherine, the blow was as unlooked-for by me as by
+yourself. I had not, how could I have, a remote suspicion of what was
+passing through his mind?'
+
+'What, then, is the use of your boasted confidence with your child,
+which you tell me you have always cultivated? Had I been his father, I
+would have discovered his secret thoughts.'
+
+'Very possibly, my dear Katherine; but you are at least his mother,
+tenderly loving him, and tenderly loved by him. The intercourse between
+you has ever been of an extreme intimacy, and especially on the subjects
+connected with this fancy of his, and yet, you see, even you are
+completely taken by surprise.' 'I once had a suspicion he was inclined
+to the Puseyite heresy, and I spoke to Mr. Bernard on the subject, and
+afterwards to him, but I was convinced that I was in error. I am sure,'
+added the duchess, in a mournful tone, 'I have lost no opportunity of
+instilling into him the principles of religious truth. It was only
+last year, on his birthday, that I sent him a complete set of the
+publications of the Parker Society, my own copy of Jewel, full of
+notes, and my grandfather, the primate's, manuscript commentary on
+Chillingworth; a copy made purposely by myself.'
+
+'I well know,' said the duke, 'that you have done everything for his
+spiritual welfare which ability and affection combined could suggest.'
+
+'And it ends in this!' exclaimed the duchess. 'The Holy Land! Why, if he
+even reach it, the climate is certain death. The curse of the Almighty,
+for more than eighteen centuries, has been on that land. Every year
+it has become more sterile, more savage, more unwholesome, and more
+unearthly. It is the abomination of desolation. And now my son is to go
+there! Oh! he is lost to us for ever!'
+
+'But, my dear Katherine, let us consult a little.' 'Consult! Why should
+I consult? You have settled everything, you have agreed to everything.
+You do not come here to consult me; I understand all that; you come here
+to break a foregone conclusion to a weak and miserable woman.'
+
+'Do not say such things, Katherine!' 'What should I say? What can I
+say?' 'Anything but that. I hope that nothing will be ever done in this
+family without your full sanction.' I Rest assured, then, that I will
+never sanction the departure of Tancred on this crusade.'
+
+'Then he will never go, at least, with my consent,' said the duke; 'but
+Katherine, assist me, my dear wife. All shall be, shall ever be, as
+you wish; but I shrink from being placed, from our being placed, in
+collision with our child. The mere exercise of parental authority is a
+last resource; I would appeal first, rather to his reason, to his heart;
+your arguments, his affection for us, may yet influence him.' 'You tell
+me you have argued with him,' said the duchess in a melancholy tone.
+
+'Yes, but you know so much more on these subjects than I do, indeed,
+upon all subjects; you are so clever, that I do not despair, my dear
+Katherine, of your producing an impression on him.'
+
+'I would tell him at once,' said the duchess, firmly, 'that the
+proposition cannot be listened to.'
+
+The duke looked very distressed. After a momentary pause, he said, 'If,
+indeed, you think that the best; but let us consult before we take that
+step, because it would seem to terminate all discussion, and discussion
+may yet do good. Besides, I cannot conceal from myself that Tancred in
+this affair is acting under the influence of very powerful motives; his
+feelings are highly strung; you have no idea, you can have no idea from
+what we have seen of him hitherto, how excited he is. I had no idea of
+his being capable of such excitement. I always thought him so very calm,
+and of such a quiet turn. And so, in short, my dear Katherine, were we
+to be abrupt at this moment, peremptory, you understand, I--I should not
+be surprised, were Tancred to go without our permission.'
+
+'Impossible!' exclaimed the duchess, starting in her chair, but with
+as much consternation as confidence in her countenance. 'Throughout his
+life he has never disobeyed us.'
+
+'And that is an additional reason,' said the duke, quietly, but in his
+sweetest tone, 'why we should not treat as a light ebullition this
+first instance of his preferring his own will to that of his father and
+mother.'
+
+'He has been so much away from us these last three years,' said the
+duchess in a tone of great depression, 'and they are such important
+years in the formation of character! But Mr. Bernard, he ought to have
+been aware of all this; he ought to have known what was passing through
+his pupil's mind; he ought to have warned us. Let us speak to him;
+let us speak to him at once. Ring, my dear George, and request the
+attendance of Mr. Bernard.'
+
+That gentleman, who was in the library, kept them waiting but a few
+minutes. As he entered the room, he perceived, by the countenances
+of his noble patrons, that something remarkable, and probably not
+agreeable, had occurred. The duke opened the case to Mr. Bernard with
+calmness; he gave an outline of the great catastrophe; the duchess
+filled up the parts, and invested the whole with a rich and even
+terrible colouring.
+
+Nothing could exceed the astonishment of the late private tutor of
+Lord Montacute. He was fairly overcome; the communication itself was
+startling, the accessories overwhelmed him. The unspoken reproaches
+that beamed from the duke's mild eye; the withering glance of maternal
+desolation that met him from the duchess; the rapidity of her anxious
+and agitated questions; all were too much for the simple, though
+correct, mind of one unused to those passionate developments which are
+commonly called scenes. All that Mr. Bernard for some time could do
+was to sit with his eyes staring and mouth open, and repeat, with a
+bewildered air, 'The Holy Land, the Holy Sepulchre!' No, most certainly
+not; most assuredly; never in any way, by any word or deed, had Lord
+Montacute ever given him reason to suppose or imagine that his lordship
+intended to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, or that he was
+influenced by any of those views and opinions which he had so strangely
+and so uncompromisingly expressed to his father.
+
+'But, Mr. Bernard, you have been his companion, his instructor, for many
+years,' continued the duchess, 'for the last three years especially,
+years so important in the formation of character. You have seen much
+more of Montacute than we have. Surely you must have had some idea of
+what was passing in his mind; you could not help knowing it; you ought
+to have known it; you ought to have warned, to have prepared us.'
+
+'Madam,' at length said Mr. Bernard, more collected, and feeling the
+necessity and excitement of self-vindication, 'Madam, your noble son,
+under my poor tuition, has taken the highest honours of his university;
+his moral behaviour during that period has been immaculate; and as for
+his religious sentiments, even this strange scheme proves that they are,
+at any rate, of no light and equivocal character.'
+
+'To lose such a son!' exclaimed the duchess, in a tone of anguish, and
+with streaming eyes.
+
+The duke took her hand, and would have soothed her; and then, turning to
+Mr. Bernard, he said, in a lowered tone, 'We are very sensible how much
+we owe you; the duchess equally with myself. All we regret is, that some
+of us had not obtained a more intimate acquaintance with the character
+of my son than it appears we have acquired.'
+
+'My lord duke,' said Mr. Bernard, 'had yourself or her Grace ever spoken
+to me on this subject, I would have taken the liberty of expressing what
+I say now. I have ever found Lord Montacute inscrutable. He has formed
+himself in solitude, and has ever repelled any advance to intimacy,
+either from those who were his inferiors or his equals in station. He
+has never had a companion. As for myself, during the ten years that I
+have had the honour of being connected with him, I cannot recall a
+word or a deed on his part which towards me has not been courteous and
+considerate; but as a child he was shy and silent, and as a man, for I
+have looked upon him as a man in mind for these four or even five years,
+he has employed me as his machine to obtain knowledge. It is not very
+flattering to oneself to make these confessions, but at Oxford he had
+the opportunity of communicating with some of the most eminent men
+of our time, and I have always learnt from them the same result. Lord
+Montacute never disburthened. His passion for study has been ardent; his
+power of application is very great; his attention unwearied as long
+as there is anything to acquire; but he never seeks your opinions, and
+never offers his own. The interview of yesterday with your Grace is the
+only exception with which I am acquainted, and at length throws some
+light on the mysteries of his mind.'
+
+The duke looked sad; his wife seemed plunged in profound thought; there
+was a silence of many moments. At length the duchess looked up, and
+said, in a calmer tone, and with an air of great seriousness, 'It seems
+that we have mistaken the character of our son. Thank you very much for
+coming to us so quickly in our trouble, Mr. Bernard. It was very kind,
+as you always are.' Mr. Bernard took the hint, rose, bowed, and retired.
+
+The moment that he had quitted the room, the eyes of the Duke and
+Duchess of Bellamont met. Who was to speak first? The duke had nothing
+to say, and therefore he had the advantage: the duchess wished her
+husband to break the silence, but, having something to say herself, she
+could not refrain from interrupting it. So she said, with a tearful eye,
+'Well, George, what do you think we ought to do?' The duke had a great
+mind to propose his plan of sending Tancred to Jerusalem, with Colonel
+Brace, Mr. Bernard, and Mr. Roby, to take care of him, but he hardly
+thought the occasion was ripe enough for that; and so he suggested that
+the duchess should speak to Tancred herself.
+
+'No,' said her Grace, shaking her head, 'I think it better for me to
+be silent; at least at present. It is necessary, however, that the most
+energetic means should be adopted to save him, nor is there a moment to
+be lost. We must shrink from nothing for such an object. I have a plan.
+We will put the whole matter in the hands of our friend, the bishop.
+We will get him to speak to Tancred. I entertain not a doubt that the
+bishop will put his mind all right; clear all his doubts; remove all his
+scruples. The bishop is the only person, because, you see, it is a case
+political as well as theological, and the bishop is a great statesman as
+well as the first theologian of the age. Depend upon it, my dear George,
+that this is the wisest course, and, with the blessing of Providence,
+will effect our purpose. It is, perhaps, asking a good deal of the
+bishop, considering his important and multifarious duties, to undertake
+this office, but we must not be delicate when everything is at stake;
+and, considering he christened and confirmed Tancred, and our long
+friendship, it is quite out of the question that he can refuse. However,
+there is no time to be lost. We must get to town as soon as possible;
+tomorrow, if we can. I shall advance affairs by writing to the bishop
+on the subject, and giving him an outline of the case, so that he may be
+prepared to see Tancred at once on our arrival. What think you, George,
+of my plan?'
+
+'I think it quite admirable,' replied his Grace, only too happy that
+there was at least the prospect of a lull of a few days in this great
+embarrassment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+     _A Visionary_
+
+ABOUT the time of the marriage of the Duchess of Bellamont, her noble
+family, and a few of their friends, some of whom also believed in the
+millennium, were persuaded that the conversion of the Roman Catholic
+population of Ireland to the true faith, which was their own, was at
+hand. They had subscribed very liberally for the purpose, and formed an
+amazing number of sub-committees. As long as their funds lasted, their
+missionaries found proselytes. It was the last desperate effort of a
+Church that had from the first betrayed its trust. Twenty years ago,
+statistics not being so much in vogue, and the people of England being
+in the full efflorescence of that public ignorance which permitted them
+to believe themselves the most enlightened nation in the world, the
+Irish 'difficulty' was not quite so well understood as at the present
+day. It was then an established doctrine, and all that was necessary
+for Ireland was more Protestantism, and it was supposed to be not more
+difficult to supply the Irish with Protestantism than it had proved, in
+the instance of a recent famine, 1822, to furnish them with potatoes.
+What was principally wanted in both cases were subscriptions.
+
+When the English public, therefore, were assured by their
+co-religionists on the other side of St. George's Channel, that at last
+the good work was doing; that the flame spread, even rapidly; that
+not only parishes but provinces were all agog, and that both town and
+country were quite in a heat of proselytism, they began to believe that
+at last the scarlet lady was about to be dethroned; they loosened
+their purse-strings; fathers of families contributed their zealous five
+pounds, followed by every other member of the household, to the babe
+in arms, who subscribed its fanatical five shillings. The affair
+looked well. The journals teemed with lists of proselytes and cases of
+conversion; and even orderly, orthodox people, who were firm in their
+own faith, but wished others to be permitted to pursue their errors in
+peace, began to congratulate each other on the prospect of our at last
+becoming a united Protestant people.
+
+In the blaze and thick of the affair, Irish Protestants jubilant, Irish
+Papists denouncing the whole movement as fraud and trumpery, John Bull
+perplexed, but excited, and still subscribing, a young bishop rose in
+his place in the House of Lords, and, with a vehemence there unusual,
+declared that he saw 'the finger of God in this second Reformation,'
+and, pursuing the prophetic vein and manner, denounced 'woe to those who
+should presume to lift up their hands and voices in vain and impotent
+attempts to stem the flood of light that was bursting over Ireland.'
+
+In him, who thus plainly discerned 'the finger of God' in transactions
+in which her family and feelings were so deeply interested, the young
+and enthusiastic Duchess of Bellamont instantly recognised the 'man of
+God;' and from that moment the right reverend prelate became, in all
+spiritual affairs, her infallible instructor, although the impending
+second Reformation did chance to take the untoward form of the
+emancipation of the Roman Catholics, followed in due season by the
+destruction of Protestant bishoprics, the sequestration of Protestant
+tithes, and the endowment of Maynooth.
+
+In speculating on the fate of public institutions and the course of
+public affairs, it is important that we should not permit our attention
+to be engrossed by the principles on which they are founded and the
+circumstances which they present, but that we should also remember
+how much depends upon the character of the individuals who are in the
+position to superintend or to direct them.
+
+The Church of England, mainly from its deficiency of oriental knowledge,
+and from a misconception of the priestly character which has been the
+consequence of that want, has fallen of late years into great straits;
+nor has there ever been a season when it has more needed for its guides
+men possessing the higher qualities both of intellect and disposition.
+About five-and-twenty years ago, it began to be discerned that the time
+had gone by, at least in England, for bishoprics to serve as appanages
+for the younger sons of great families. The Arch-Mediocrity who
+then governed this country, and the mean tenor of whose prolonged
+administration we have delineated in another work, was impressed with
+the necessity of reconstructing the episcopal bench on principles of
+personal distinction and ability. But his notion of clerical capacity
+did not soar higher than a private tutor who had suckled a young noble
+into university honours; and his test of priestly celebrity was the
+decent editorship of a Greek play. He sought for the successors of the
+apostles, for the stewards of the mysteries of Sinai and of Calvary,
+among third-rate hunters after syllables.
+
+These men, notwithstanding their elevation, with one exception, subsided
+into their native insignificance; and during our agitated age, when the
+principles of all institutions, sacred and secular, have been called
+in question; when, alike in the senate and the market-place, both the
+doctrine and the discipline of the Church have been impugned, its power
+assailed, its authority denied, the amount of its revenues investigated,
+their disposition criticised, and both attacked; not a voice has been
+raised by these mitred nullities, either to warn or to vindicate; not a
+phrase has escaped their lips or their pens, that ever influenced public
+opinion, touched the heart of nations, or guided the conscience of a
+perplexed people. If they were ever heard of it was that they had been
+pelted in a riot.
+
+The exception which we have mentioned to their sorry careers was that
+of the too adventurous prophet of the second Reformation; the _ductor
+dubitantium_ appealed to by the Duchess of Bellamont, to convince her
+son that the principles of religious truth, as well as of political
+justice, required no further investigation; at least by young
+marquesses.
+
+The ready audacity with which this right reverend prelate had stood
+sponsor for the second Reformation is a key to his character. He
+combined a great talent for action with very limited powers of thought.
+
+Bustling, energetic, versatile, gifted with an indomitable perseverance,
+and stimulated by an ambition that knew no repose, with a capacity for
+mastering details and an inordinate passion for affairs, he could
+permit nothing to be done without his interference, and consequently
+was perpetually involved in transactions which were either failures or
+blunders. He was one of those leaders who are not guides. Having little
+real knowledge, and not endowed with those high qualities of intellect
+which permit their possessor to generalise the details afforded by study
+and experience, and so deduce rules of conduct, his lordship, when he
+received those frequent appeals which were the necessary consequence
+of his officious life, became obscure, confused, contradictory,
+inconsistent, illogical. The oracle was always dark.
+
+Placed in a high post in an age of political analysis, the bustling
+intermeddler was unable to supply society with a single solution.
+Enunciating secondhand, with characteristic precipitation, some big
+principle in vogue, as if he were a discoverer, he invariably shrank
+from its subsequent application the moment that he found it might be
+unpopular and inconvenient. All his quandaries terminated in the same
+catastrophe; a compromise. Abstract principles with him ever ended
+in concrete expediency. The aggregate of circumstances outweighed the
+isolated cause. The primordial tenet, which had been advocated with
+uncompromising arrogance, gently subsided into some second-rate measure
+recommended with all the artifice of an impenetrable ambiguity.
+
+Beginning with the second Reformation, which was a little rash but
+dashing, the bishop, always ready, had in the course of his episcopal
+career placed himself at the head of every movement in the Church which
+others had originated, and had as regularly withdrawn at the right
+moment, when the heat was over, or had become, on the contrary,
+excessive. Furiously evangelical, soberly high and dry, and fervently
+Puseyite, each phasis of his faith concludes with what the Spaniards
+term a 'transaction.' The saints are to have their new churches, but
+they are also to have their rubrics and their canons; the universities
+may supply successors to the apostles, but they are also presented
+with a church commission; even the Puseyites may have candles on their
+altars, but they must not be lighted.
+
+It will be seen, therefore, that his lordship was one of those
+characters not ill-adapted to an eminent station in an age like the
+present, and in a country like our own; an age of movement, but of
+confused ideas; a country of progress, but too rich to risk much change.
+Under these circumstances, the spirit of a period and a people seeks a
+safety-valve in bustle. They do something, lest it be said that they
+do nothing. At such a time, ministers recommend their measures as
+experiments, and parliaments are ever ready to rescind their votes.
+Find a man who, totally destitute of genius, possesses nevertheless
+considerable talents; who has official aptitude, a volubility of routine
+rhetoric, great perseverance, a love of affairs; who, embarrassed
+neither by the principles of the philosopher nor by the prejudices of
+the bigot, can assume, with a cautious facility, the prevalent tone, and
+disembarrass himself of it, with a dexterous ambiguity, the moment it
+ceases to be predominant; recommending himself to the innovator by his
+approbation of change 'in the abstract,' and to the conservative by his
+prudential and practical respect for that which is established; such
+a man, though he be one of an essentially small mind, though his
+intellectual qualities be less than moderate, with feeble powers of
+thought, no imagination, contracted sympathies, and a most loose public
+morality; such a man is the individual whom kings and parliaments
+would select to govern the State or rule the Church. Change, 'in the
+abstract,' is what is wanted by a people who are at the same time
+inquiring and wealthy. Instead of statesmen they desire shufflers; and
+compromise in conduct and ambiguity in speech are, though nobody will
+confess it, the public qualities now most in vogue.
+
+Not exactly, however, those calculated to meet the case of Tancred.
+The interview was long, for Tan-cred listened with apparent respect
+and deference to the individual under whose auspices he had entered the
+Church of Christ; but the replies to his inquiries, though more adroit
+than the duke's, were in reality not more satisfactory, and could not,
+in any way, meet the inexorable logic of Lord Montacute. The bishop
+was as little able as the duke to indicate the principle on which the
+present order of things in England was founded; neither faith nor
+its consequence, duty, was at all illustrated or invigorated by his
+handling. He utterly failed in reconciling a belief in ecclesiastical
+truth with the support of religious dissent. When he tried to define
+in whom the power of government should repose, he was lost in a maze of
+phrases, and afforded his pupil not a single fact.
+
+'It cannot be denied,' at length said Tancred, with great calmness,
+'that society was once regulated by God, and that now it is regulated by
+man. For my part, I prefer divine to self-government, and I wish to know
+how it is to be attained.'
+
+'The Church represents God upon earth,' said the bishop.
+
+'But the Church no longer governs man,' replied Tancred.
+
+'There is a great spirit rising in the Church,' observed the bishop,
+with thoughtful solemnity; 'a great and excellent spirit. The Church of
+1845 is not the Church of 1745. We must remember that; we know not what
+may happen. We shall soon see a bishop at Manchester.'
+
+'But I want to see an angel at Manchester.'
+
+'An angel!'
+
+'Why not? Why should there not be heavenly messengers, when heavenly
+messages are most wanted?'
+
+'We have received a heavenly message by one greater than the angels,'
+said the bishop. 'Their visits to man ceased with the mightier advent.'
+
+'Then why did angels appear to Mary and her companions at the holy
+tomb?' inquired Tancred.
+
+The interview from which so much was anticipated was not satisfactory.
+The eminent prelate did not realise Tancred's ideal of a bishop, while
+his lordship did not hesitate to declare that Lord Montacute was a
+visionary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+     _Advice from a Man of the World_
+
+WHEN the duchess found that the interview with the bishop had been
+fruitless of the anticipated results, she was staggered, disheartened;
+but she was a woman of too high a spirit to succumb under a first
+defeat. She was of opinion that his lordship had misunderstood the case,
+or had mismanaged it; her confidence in him, too, was not so illimitable
+since he had permitted the Puseyites to have candles on their altars,
+although he had forbidden their being lighted, as when he had declared,
+twenty years before, that the finger of God was about to protestantise
+Ireland. His lordship had said and had done many things since that
+time which had occasioned the duchess many misgivings, although she had
+chosen that they should not occur to her recollection until he failed in
+convincing her son that religious truth was to be found in the parish
+of St. James, and political justice in the happy haunts of Montacute
+Forest.
+
+The Bishop had voted for the Church Temporalities' Bill in 1833, which
+at one swoop had suppressed ten Irish episcopates. This was a queer
+suffrage for the apostle of the second Reformation. True it is that
+Whiggism was then in the ascendant, and two years afterwards, when
+Whiggism had received a heavy blow and great discouragement; when we had
+been blessed in the interval with a decided though feeble Conservative
+administration, and were blessed at the moment with a strong though
+undecided Conservative opposition; his lordship, with characteristic
+activity, had galloped across country into the right line again,
+denounced the Appropriation Clause in a spirit worthy of his earlier
+days, and, quite forgetting the ten Irish bishoprics, that only
+four-and-twenty months before he had doomed to destruction, was all for
+proselytising Ireland again by the efficacious means of Irish Protestant
+bishops.
+
+'The bishop says that Tancred is a visionary,' said the duchess to her
+husband, with an air of great displeasure. 'Why, it is because he is
+a visionary that we sent him to the bishop. I want to have his false
+imaginings removed by one who has the competent powers of learning and
+argument, and the authority of a high and holy office. A visionary,
+indeed! Why, so are the Puseyites; they are visionaries, and his
+lordship has been obliged to deal with them; though, to be sure, if he
+spoke to Tancred in a similar fashion, I am not surprised that my son
+has returned unchanged! This is the most vexatious business that ever
+occurred to us. Something must be done; but what to fix on? What do
+you think, George? Since speaking to the bishop, of which you so much
+approved, has failed, what do you recommend?'
+
+While the duchess was speaking, she was seated in her boudoir, looking
+into the Green Park; the duke's horses were in the courtyard, and he was
+about to ride down to the House of Lords; he had just looked in, as was
+his custom, to say farewell till they met again.
+
+'I am sorry that the interview with the bishop has failed,' said the
+duke, in a hesitating tone, and playing with his riding-stick; and then
+walking up to the window and looking into the Park, he said, apparently
+after reflection, 'I always think the best person to deal with a
+visionary is a man of the world.'
+
+'But what can men of the world know of such questions?' said the
+duchess, mournfully.
+
+'Very little,' said her husband, 'and therefore they are never betrayed
+into arguments, which I fancy always make people more obstinate, even if
+they are confuted. Men of the world have a knack of settling everything
+without discussion; they do it by tact. It is astonishing how many
+difficulties I have seen removed--by Eskdale, for example--which it
+seemed that no power on earth could change, and about which we had been
+arguing for months. There was the Cheadle churches case, for example; it
+broke up some of the oldest friendships in the county; even Hungerford
+and Ilderton did not speak. I never had a more anxious time of it; and,
+as far as I was personally concerned, I would have made any sacrifice
+to keep a good understanding in the county. At last I got the business
+referred to Eskdale, and the affair was ultimately arranged to
+everybody's satisfaction. I don't know how he managed: it was quite
+impossible that he could have offered any new arguments, but he did it
+by tact. Tact does not remove difficulties, but difficulties melt away
+under tact.'
+
+'Heigho!' sighed the duchess. 'I cannot understand how tact can tell
+us what is religious truth, or prevent my son from going to the Holy
+Sepulchre.'
+
+'Try,' said the duke.
+
+'Shall you see our cousin to-day, George?'
+
+'He is sure to be at the House,' replied the duke, eagerly. 'I tell you
+what I propose, Kate: Tancred is gone to the House of Commons to hear
+the debate on Maynooth; I will try and get our cousin to come home and
+dine with us, and then we can talk over the whole affair at once. What
+say you?'
+
+'Very well.'
+
+'We have failed with a bishop; we will now try a man of the world; and
+if we are to have a man of the world, we had better have a firstrate
+one, and everybody agrees that our cousin----'
+
+'Yes, yes, George,' said the duchess, 'ask him to come; tell him it is
+very urgent, that we must consult him immediately; and then, if he be
+engaged, I dare say he will manage to come all the same.'
+
+Accordingly, about half-past eight o'clock, the two peers arrived at
+Bellamont House together. They were unexpectedly late; they had been
+detained at the House. The duke was excited; even Lord Esk-dale looked
+as if something had happened. Something had happened; there had been a
+division in the House of Lords. Rare and startling event! It seemed
+as if the peers were about to resume their functions. Divisions in
+the House of Lords are now-a-days so thinly scattered, that, when one
+occurs, the peers cackle as if they had laid an egg. They are quite
+proud of the proof of their still procreative powers. The division
+to-night had not been on a subject of any public interest or importance;
+but still it was a division, and, what was more, the Government had been
+left in a minority. True, the catastrophe was occasioned by a mistake.
+The dictator had been asleep during the debate, woke suddenly from a
+dyspeptic dream, would make a speech, and spoke on the wrong side.
+A lively colleague, not yet sufficiently broken in to the frigid
+discipline of the High Court of Registry, had pulled the great man once
+by his coat-tails, a House of Commons practice, permitted to the Cabinet
+when their chief is blundering, very necessary sometimes for a lively
+leader, but of which Sir Robert highly disapproves, as the arrangement
+of his coat-tails, next to beating the red box, forms the most important
+part of his rhetorical accessories. The dictator, when he at length
+comprehended that he had made a mistake, persisted in adhering to it;
+the division was called, some of the officials escaped, the rest were
+obliged to vote with their ruthless master; but his other friends, glad
+of an opportunity of asserting their independence and administering to
+the dictator a slight check in a quiet inoffensive way, put him in a
+minority; and the Duke of Bellamont and Lord Eskdale had contributed to
+this catastrophe.
+
+Dinner was served in the library; the conversation during it was chiefly
+the event of the morning. The duchess, who, though not a partisan, was
+something of a politician, thought it was a pity that the dictator had
+ever stepped out of his military sphere; her husband, who had never
+before seen a man's coat-tails pulled when he was speaking, dilated much
+upon the singular circumstance of Lord Spur so disporting himself on the
+present occasion; while Lord Eskdale, who had sat for a long time in
+the House of Commons, and who was used to everything, assured his cousin
+that the custom, though odd, was by no means irregular. 'I remember,'
+said his lordship, 'seeing Ripon, when he was Robinson, and Huskisson,
+each pulling one of Canning's coat-tails at the same time.'
+
+Throughout dinner not a word about Tancred. Lord Eskdale neither asked
+where he was nor how he was. At length, to the great relief of the
+duchess, dinner was finished; the servants had disappeared. The duke
+pushed away the table; they drew their chairs round the hearth; Lord
+Eskdale took half a glass of Madeira, then stretched his legs a little,
+then rose, stirred the fire, and then, standing with his back to it
+and his hands in his pockets, said, in a careless tone approaching to a
+drawl, 'And so, duchess, Tancred wants to go to Jerusalem?'
+
+'George has told you, then, all our troubles?' 'Only that; he left the
+rest to you, and I came to hear it.'
+
+Whereupon the duchess went off, and spoke for a considerable time
+with great animation and ability, the duke hanging on every word with
+vigilant interest, Lord Eskdale never interrupting her for an instant;
+while she stated the case not only with the impassioned feeling of
+a devoted mother, but occasionally with all the profundity of a
+theologian. She did not conceal from him the interview between Tancred
+and the bishop; it was her last effort, and had failed; and so, 'after
+all our plans,' she ended, 'as far as I can form an opinion, he is
+absolutely more resolved than ever to go to Jerusalem.'
+
+'Well,' said his lordship, 'it is at least better than going to the
+Jews, which most men do at his time of life.'
+
+'I cannot agree even to that,' said the duchess; 'for I would rather
+that he should be ruined than die.'
+
+'Men do not die as they used,' said his lordship. 'Ask the annuity
+offices; they have all raised their rates.'
+
+'I know nothing about annuity offices, but I know that almost everybody
+dies who goes to those countries; look at young Fernborough, he was just
+Tancred's age; the fevers alone must kill him.'
+
+'He must take some quinine in his dressing-case,' said Lord Eskdale.
+
+'You jest, Henry,' said the duchess, disappointed, 'when I am in
+despair.'
+
+'No,' said Lord Eskdale, looking up to the ceiling, 'I am thinking how
+you may prevent Tancred from going to Jerusalem, without, at the same
+time, opposing his wishes.'
+
+'Ay, ay,' said the duke, 'that is it.' And he looked triumphantly to
+his wife, as much as to say, 'Now you see what it is to be a man of the
+world.'
+
+'A man cannot go to Jerusalem as he would to Birmingham, by the next
+train,' continued his lordship; 'he must get something to take him; and
+if you make the sacrifice of consenting to his departure, you have a
+right to stipulate as to the manner in which he should depart. Your son
+ought to travel with a suite; he ought to make the voyage in his own
+yacht. Yachts are not to be found like hack cabs, though there are
+several for sale now; but then they are not of the admeasurement of
+which you approve for such a voyage and such a sea. People talk very
+lightly of the Mediterranean, but there are such things as white
+squalls. Anxious parents, and parents so fond of a son as you are, and a
+son whose life for so many reasons is so precious, have a right to make
+it a condition of their consent to his departure, that he should embark
+in a vessel of considerable tonnage. He will find difficulty in buying
+one second-hand; if he finds one it will not please him. He will get
+interested in yacht-building, as he is interested now about Jerusalem:
+both boyish fancies. He will stay another year in England to build a
+yacht to take him to the Holy Land; the yacht will be finished this time
+twelvemonths; and, instead of going to Palestine, he will go to Cowes.'
+
+'That is quite my view of the case,' said the duke.
+
+'It never occurred to me,' said the duchess.
+
+Lord Eskdale resumed his seat, and took another half-glass of Madeira.
+
+'Well, I think it is very satisfactory, Katherine,' said the duke, after
+a short pause.
+
+'And what do you recommend us to do first?' said the duchess to Lord
+Eskdale.
+
+'Let Tancred go into society: the best way for him to forget Jerusalem
+is to let him see London.'
+
+'But how can I manage it?' said the duchess. 'I never go anywhere;
+nobody knows him, and he does not wish to know anybody.'
+
+'I will manage it, with your permission; 'tis not difficult; a young
+marquess has only to evince an inclination, and in a week's time he will
+be everywhere. I will tell Lady St. Julians and the great ladies to send
+him invitations; they will fall like a snow-storm. All that remains is
+for you to prevail upon him to accept them.'
+
+'And how shall I contrive it?' said the duchess.
+
+'Easily,' said Lord Eskdale. 'Make his going into society, while his
+yacht is preparing, one of the conditions of the great sacrifice you are
+making. He cannot refuse you: 'tis but the first step. A youth feels a
+little repugnance to launching into the great world: 'tis shyness; but
+after the plunge, the great difficulty is to restrain rather than to
+incite. Let him but once enter the world, and be tranquil, he will soon
+find something to engage him.'
+
+'As long as he does not take to play,' said the duke, 'I do not much
+care what he does.'
+
+'My dear George!' said the duchess, 'how can you say such things! I was
+in hopes,' she added, in a mournful tone, 'that we might have settled
+him, without his entering what you call the world, Henry. Dearest child!
+I fancy him surrounded by pitfalls.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+     _The Dreamer Enters Society_
+
+AFTER this consultation with Lord Eskdale, the duchess became easier in
+her mind. She was of a sanguine temper, and with facility believed what
+she wished. Affairs stood thus: it was agreed by all that Tancred should
+go to the Holy Land, but he was to go in his own yacht; which yacht
+was to be of a firstrate burthen, and to be commanded by an officer in
+H.M.S.; and he was to be accompanied by Colonel Brace, Mr. Bernard, and
+Mr. Roby; and the servants were to be placed entirely under the control
+of some trusty foreigner accustomed to the East, and who was to be
+chosen by Lord Eskdale. In the meantime, Tancred had acceded to the wish
+of his parents, that until his departure he should mix much in society.
+The duchess calculated that, under any circumstances, three months
+must elapse before all the arrangements were concluded; and she felt
+persuaded that, during that period, Tancred must become enamoured of his
+cousin Katherine, and that the only use of the yacht would be to take
+them all to Ireland. The duke was resolved only on two points: that his
+son should do exactly as his son liked, and that he himself would never
+take the advice, on any subject, of any other person than Lord Eskdale.
+
+In the meantime Tancred was launched, almost unconsciously, into the
+great world. The name of the Marquess of Montacute was foremost in those
+delicate lists by which an eager and admiring public is apprised who,
+among their aristocracy, eat, drink, dance, and sometimes pray. From the
+saloons of Bel-grave and Grosvenor Square to the sacred recesses of
+the Chapel Royal, the movements of Lord Montacute were tracked and
+registered, and were devoured every morning, oftener with a keener
+relish than the matin meal of which they formed a regular portion.
+England is the only country which enjoys the unspeakable advantage of
+being thus regularly, promptly, and accurately furnished with catalogues
+of those favoured beings who are deemed qualified to enter the houses of
+the great. What condescension in those who impart the information! What
+indubitable evidence of true nobility! What superiority to all petty
+vanity! And in those who receive it, what freedom from all little
+feelings! No arrogance on one side; on the other, no envy. It is only
+countries blessed with a free press that can be thus favoured. Even a
+free press is not alone sufficient. Besides a free press, you must have
+a servile public.
+
+After all, let us be just. The uninitiated world is apt to believe that
+there is sometimes, in the outskirts of fashion, an eagerness, scarcely
+consistent with self-respect, to enter the mansions of the great. Not at
+all: few people really want to go to their grand parties. It is not the
+charms of conversation, the flash of wit or the blaze of beauty, the
+influential presence of the powerful and celebrated, all the splendour
+and refinement, which, combined, offer in a polished saloon so much
+to charm the taste and satisfy the intellect, that the mass of social
+partisans care anything about. What they want is, not so much to be
+in her ladyship's house as in her ladyship's list. After the party at
+Coningsby Castle, our friend, Mrs. Guy Flouncey, at length succeeded
+in being asked to one of Lady St. Julians' assemblies. It was a great
+triumph, and Mrs. Guy Flouncey determined to make the most of it. She
+was worthy of the occasion. But alas! next morning, though admitted to
+the rout, Mrs. Guy Flouncey was left out of the list! It was a severe
+blow! But Mrs. Guy Flouncey is in every list now, and even strikes
+out names herself. But there never was a woman who advanced with such
+dexterity.
+
+Lord Montacute was much shocked, when, one morning, taking up a journal,
+he first saw his name in print. He was alone, and he blushed; felt,
+indeed, extremely distressed, when he found that the English people were
+formally made acquainted with the fact that he had dined on the previous
+Saturday with the Earl and Countess of St. Julians; 'a grand banquet,'
+of which he was quite unconscious until he read it; and that he was
+afterwards 'observed' at the Opera.
+
+He found that he had become a public character, and he was not by any
+means conscious of meriting celebrity. To be pointed at as he walked
+the streets, were he a hero, or had done, said, or written anything that
+anybody remembered, though at first painful and embarrassing, for he was
+shy, he could conceive ultimately becoming endurable, and not without a
+degree of excitement, for he was ambitious; but to be looked at because
+he was a young lord, and that this should be the only reason why the
+public should be informed where he dined, or where he amused himself,
+seemed to him not only vexatious but degrading. When he arrived,
+however, at a bulletin of his devotions, he posted off immediately to
+the Surrey Canal to look at a yacht there, and resolved not to lose
+unnecessarily one moment in setting off for Jerusalem.
+
+He had from the first busied himself about the preparations for his
+voyage with all the ardour of youth; that is, with all the energy of
+inexperience, and all the vigour of simplicity. As everything seemed
+to depend upon his obtaining a suitable vessel, he trusted to no third
+person; had visited Cowes several times; advertised in every paper;
+and had already met with more than one yacht which at least deserved
+consideration. The duchess was quite frightened at his progress. 'I
+am afraid he has found one,' she said to Lord Eskdale; 'he will be off
+directly.'
+
+Lord Eskdale shook his head. 'There are always things of this sort in
+the market. He will inquire before he purchases, and he will find that
+he has got hold of a slow coach.'
+
+'A slow coach!' said the duchess, looking inquiringly. 'What is that?'
+
+'A tub that sails like a collier, and which, instead of taking him to
+Jerusalem, will hardly take him to Newcastle.'
+
+Lord Eskdale was right. Notwithstanding all his ardour, all his
+inquiries, visits to Cowes and the Surrey Canal, advertisements and
+answers to advertisements, time flew on, and Tancred was still without a
+yacht.
+
+In this unsettled state, Tancred found himself one evening at Deloraine
+House. It was not a ball, it was only a dance, brilliant and select;
+but, all the same, it seemed to Tancred that the rooms could not be
+much more crowded. The name of the Marquess of Montacute, as it was sent
+along by the servants, attracted attention. Tancred had scarcely entered
+the world, his appearance had made a sensation, everybody talked of him,
+many had not yet seen him.
+
+'Oh! that is Lord Montacute,' said a great lady, looking through her
+glass; 'very distinguished!'
+
+'I tell you what,' whispered Mr. Ormsby to Lord Valentine, 'you young
+men had better look sharp; Lord Montacute will cut you all out!'
+
+'Oh! he is going to Jerusalem,' said Lord Valentine.
+
+'Jerusalem!' said Mr. Ormsby, shrugging his shoulders. 'What can he find
+to do at Jerusalem?'
+
+'What, indeed,' said Lord Milford. 'My brother was there in '39; he got
+leave after the bombardment of Acre, and he says there is absolutely no
+sport of any kind.'
+
+'There used to be partridges in the time of Jeremiah,' said Mr. Ormsby;
+'at least they told us so at the Chapel Royal last Sunday, where,
+by-the-bye, I saw Lord Montacute for the first time; and a deuced
+good-looking fellow he is,' he added, musingly.
+
+'Well, there is not a bird in the whole country now,' said Lord Milford.
+
+'Montacute does not care for sport,' said Lord Valentine.
+
+'What does he care for?' asked Lord Milford. 'Because, if he wants any
+horses, I can let him have some.'
+
+'He wants to buy a yacht,' said Lord Valentine; 'and that reminds me
+that I heard to-day Exmouth wanted to get rid of "The Flower of Yarrow,"
+and I think it would suit my cousin. I'll tell him of it.' And he
+followed Tancred.
+
+'You and Valentine must rub up your harness, Milford,'said Mr.
+Ormsby; 'there is a new champion in the field. We are talking of Lord
+Montacute,' continued Mr. Ormsby, addressing himself to Mr. Melton, who
+joined them; 'I tell Milford he will cut you all out.'
+
+'Well,' said Mr. Melton, 'for my part I have had so much success, that I
+have no objection, by way of change, to be for once eclipsed.'
+
+'Well done, Jemmy,' said Lord Milford.
+
+'I see, Melton,' said Mr. Ormsby, 'you are reconciled to your fate like
+a philosopher.'
+
+'Well, Montacute,' said Lord St. Patrick, a good-tempered, witty
+Milesian, with a laughing eye, 'when are you going to Jericho?'
+
+'Tell me,' said Tancred, in reply, and rather earnestly, 'who is that?'
+And he directed the attention of Lord St. Patrick to a young lady,
+rather tall, a brilliant complexion, classic features, a profusion of
+light brown hair, a face of intelligence, and a figure rich and yet
+graceful.
+
+'That is Lady Constance Rawleigh; if you like, I will introduce you to
+her. She is my cousin, and deuced clever. Come along!'
+
+In the meantime, in the room leading to the sculpture gallery where they
+are dancing, the throng is even excessive. As the two great divisions,
+those who would enter the gallery and those who are quitting it,
+encounter each other, they exchange flying phrases as they pass.
+
+'They told me you had gone to Paris! I have just returned. Dear me,
+how time flies! Pretty dance, is it not? Very. Do you know whether the
+Madlethorpes mean to come up this year? I hardly know; their little girl
+is very ill. Ah! so I hear; what a pity, and such a fortune! Such a pity
+with such a fortune! How d'ye do? Mr. Coningsby here? No; he's at the
+House. They say he is a very close attendant. It interests him. Well,
+Lady Florentina, you never sent me the dances. Pardon, but you will find
+them when you return. I lent them to Augusta, and she would copy them.
+Is it true that I am to congratulate you? Why? Lady Blanche? Oh! that is
+a romance of Easter week. Well, I am really delighted; I think such an
+excellent match for both; exactly suited to each other. They think so.
+Well, that is one point. How well Lady Everingham is looking! She is
+quite herself again. Quite. Tell me, have you seen M. de Talleyrand
+here? I spoke to him but this moment. Shall you be at Lady Blair's
+to-morrow? No; I have promised to go to Mrs. Guy Flouncey's. She has
+taken Craven Cottage, and is to be at home every Saturday. Well, if you
+are going, I think I shall. I would; everybody will be there.'
+
+Lord Montacute had conversed some time with Lady Constance; then he had
+danced with her; he had hovered about her during the evening. It was
+observed, particularly by some of the most experienced mothers. Lady
+Constance was a distinguished beauty of two seasons; fresh, but adroit.
+It was understood that she had refused offers of a high calibre; but
+the rejected still sighed about her, and it was therefore supposed that,
+though decided, she had the art of not rendering them desperate. One
+at least of them was of a rank equal to that of Tancred. She had the
+reputation of being very clever, and of being able, if it pleased her,
+to breathe scorpions as well as brilliants and roses. It had got about
+that she admired intellect, and, though she claimed the highest social
+position, that a booby would not content her, even if his ears were
+covered with strawberry leaves.
+
+In the cloak-room, Tancred was still at her side, and was presented to
+her mother, Lady Charmouth.
+
+'I am sorry to separate,' said Tancred.
+
+'And so am I,' said Lady Constance, smiling; 'but one advantage of this
+life is, we meet our friends every day.'
+
+'I am not going anywhere to-morrow, where I shall meet you,' said
+Tancred, 'unless you chance to dine at the Archbishop of York's.'
+
+'I am not going to dine with the Archbishop of York,' said Lady
+Constance, 'but I am going, where everybody else is going, to breakfast
+with Mrs. Guy Flouncey, at Craven Cottage. Why, will not you be there?'
+
+'I have not the honour of knowing her,' said Tancred.
+
+'That is not of the slightest consequence; she will be very happy to
+have the honour of knowing you. I saw her in the dancing-room, but it
+is not worth while waiting to speak to her now. You shall receive an
+invitation the moment you are awake.'
+
+'But to-morrow I have an engagement. I have to look at a yacht.'
+
+'But that you can look at on Monday; besides, if you wish to know
+anything about yachts, you had better speak to my brother, Fitz-Heron,
+who has built more than any man alive.'
+
+'Perhaps he has one that he wishes to part with?' said Tancred.
+
+'I have no doubt of it. You can ask him tomorrow at Mrs. Guy
+Flouncey's.'
+
+'I will. Lady Charmouth's carriage is called. May I have the honour?'
+said Tancred, offering his arm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+     _A Feminine Diplomatist_
+
+THERE is nothing so remarkable as feminine influence. Although the
+character of Tancred was not completely formed--for that result depends,
+in some degree, upon the effect of circumstances at a certain time of
+life, as well as on the impulse of a natural bent--still the temper of
+his being was profound and steadfast. He had arrived, in solitude and
+by the working of his own thought, at a certain resolution, which had
+assumed to his strong and fervent imagination a sacred character, and
+which he was determined to accomplish at all costs. He had brought
+himself to the point that he would not conceive an obstacle that should
+baulk him. He had acceded to the conditions which had been made by his
+parents, for he was by nature dutiful, and wished to fulfil his-purpose,
+if possible, with their sanction.
+
+Yet he had entered society with repugnance, and found nothing in its
+general tone with which his spirit harmonised. He was alone in the
+crowd; silent, observing, and not charmed. There seemed to him generally
+a want of simplicity and repose; too much flutter, not a little
+affectation. People met in the thronged chambers, and interchanged brief
+words, as if they were always in a hurry. 'Have you been here long?
+Where are you going next?' These were the questions which seemed to form
+the staple of the small talk of a fashionable multitude. Why, too,
+was there a smile on every countenance, which often also assumed the
+character of a grin? No error so common or so grievous as to suppose
+that a smile is a necessary ingredient of the pleasing. There are few
+faces that can afford to smile. A smile is sometimes bewitching, in
+general vapid, often a contortion. But the bewitching smile usually
+beams from the grave face. It is then irresistible. Tancred, though he
+was unaware of it, was gifted with this rare spell. He had inherited
+it from his mother; a woman naturally earnest and serious, and of a
+singular simplicity, but whose heart when pleased spoke in the dimpling
+sunshine of her cheek with exquisite beauty. The smiles of the Duchess
+of Bellamont, however, were like her diamonds, brilliant, but rarely
+worn.
+
+Tancred had not mounted the staircase of Deloraine House with any
+anticipation of pleasure. His thoughts were far away amid cities of the
+desert, and by the palmy banks of ancient rivers. He often took refuge
+in these exciting and ennobling visions, to maintain himself when he
+underwent the ceremony of entering a great house. He was so shy in
+little things, that to hear his name sounded from servant to servant,
+echoing from landing-place to landing-place, was almost overwhelming.
+Nothing but his pride, which was just equal to his reserve, prevented
+him from often turning back on the stairs and precipitately retreating.
+And yet he had not been ten minutes in Deloraine House, before he had
+absolutely requested to be introduced to a lady. It was the first time
+he had ever made such a request.
+
+He returned home, softly musing. A tone lingered in his ear; he recalled
+the countenance of one absent. In his dressing-room he lingered
+before he retired, with his arm on the mantel-piece, and gazing with
+abstraction on the fire.
+
+When his servant called him, late in the morning, he delivered to him a
+card from Mrs. Guy Flouncey, inviting him on that day to Craven Cottage,
+at three o'clock: 'dejeuner at four o'clock precisely.' Tancred took the
+card, looked at it, and the letters seemed to cluster together and form
+the countenance of Lady Constance. 'It will be a good thing to go,' he
+said, 'because I want to know Lord Fitz-Heron; he will be of great use
+to me about my yacht.' So he ordered his carriage at three o'clock.
+
+The reader must not for a moment suppose that Mrs. Guy Flouncey, though
+she was quite as well dressed, and almost as pretty, as she was when at
+Coningsby Castle in 1837, was by any means the same lady who then strove
+to amuse and struggled to be noticed. By no means. In 1837, Mrs. Guy
+Flouncey was nobody; in 1845, Mrs. Guy Flouncey was somebody, and
+somebody of very great importance. Mrs. Guy Flouncey had invaded
+society, and had conquered it, gradually, but completely, like the
+English in India. Social invasions are not rare, but they are seldom
+fortunate, or success, if achieved, is partial, and then only sustained
+at immense cost, like the French in Algiers.
+
+The Guy Flounceys were not people of great fortune. They had a good
+fortune; seven or eight thousand a year. But then, with an air of great
+expenditure, even profusion, there was a basis of good management. And a
+good fortune with good management, and without that equivocal luxury, a
+great country-house, is almost equal to the great fortune of a peer.
+But they not only had no country-house, they had no children. And a good
+fortune, with good management, no country-house, and no children, is
+Aladdin's lamp.
+
+Mr. Guy Flouncey was a sporting character. His wife had impressed upon
+him that it was the only way in which he could become fashionable and
+acquainted with 'the best men.' He knew just enough of the affair not
+to be ridiculous; and, for the rest, with a great deal of rattle and
+apparent heedlessness of speech and deed, he was really an extremely
+selfish and sufficiently shrewd person, who never compromised himself.
+It is astonishing with what dexterity Guy Flouncey could extricate
+himself from the jaws of a friend, who, captivated by his thoughtless
+candour and ostentatiously good heart, might be induced to request Mr.
+Flouncey to lend him a few hundreds, only for a few months, or, more
+diplomatically, might beg his friend to become his security for a few
+thousands, for a few years.
+
+Mr. Guy Flouncey never refused these applications; they were exactly
+those to which it delighted his heart to respond, because nothing
+pleased him more than serving a friend. But then he always had to write
+a preliminary letter of preparation to his banker, or his steward, or
+his confidential solicitor; and, by some contrivance or other,
+without offending any one, rather with the appearance of conferring an
+obligation, it ended always by Mr. Guy Flouncey neither advancing the
+hundreds, nor guaranteeing the thousands. He had, indeed, managed,
+like many others, to get the reputation of being what is called 'a good
+fellow;' though it would have puzzled his panegyrists to allege a single
+act of his that evinced a good heart. This sort of pseudo reputation,
+whether for good or for evil, is not uncommon in the world. Man is
+mimetic; judges of character are rare; we repeat without thought the
+opinions of some third person, who has adopted them without inquiry;
+and thus it often happens that a proud, generous man obtains in time the
+reputation of being 'a screw,' because he has refused to lend money
+to some impudent spendthrift, who from that moment abuses him; and a
+cold-hearted, civil-spoken personage, profuse in costless services, with
+a spice of the parasite in him, or perhaps hospitable out of vanity,
+is invested with all the thoughtless sympathies of society, and passes
+current as that most popular of characters, 'a good fellow.'
+
+Guy Flouncey's dinners began to be talked of among men: it became a
+sort of fashion, especially among sporting men, to dine with Mr. Guy
+Flouncey, and there they met Mrs. Guy Flouncey. Not an opening ever
+escaped her. If a man had a wife, and that wife was a personage, sooner
+or later, much as she might toss her head at first, she was sure to
+visit Mrs. Guy Flouncey, and, when she knew her, she was sure to like
+her. The Guy Flounceys never lost a moment; the instant the season was
+over, they were at Cowes, then at a German bath, then at Paris, then at
+an English country-house, then in London.
+
+Seven years, to such people, was half a century of social experience.
+They had half a dozen seasons in every year. Still, it was hard work,
+and not rapid. At a certain point they stuck, as all do. Most people,
+then, give it up; but patience, Buffon tells us, is genius, and Mrs.
+Guy Flouncey was, in her way, a woman of genius. Their dinners were, in
+a certain sense, established: these in return brought them to a certain
+degree into the dinner world; but balls, at least balls of a high
+calibre, were few, and as for giving a ball herself, Mrs. Guy Flouncey
+could no more presume to think of that than of attempting to prorogue
+Parliament. The house, however, got really celebrated for 'the best
+men.' Mrs. Guy Flouncey invited all the young dancing lords to dinner.
+Mothers will bring their daughters where there are young lords. Mrs. Guy
+Flouncey had an opera-box in the best tier, which she took only to lend
+to her friends; and a box at the French play, which she took only to
+bribe her foes. They were both at everybody's service, like Mr. Guy
+Flouncey's yacht, provided the persons who required them were members
+of that great world in which Mrs. Guy Flouncey had resolved to plant
+herself.
+
+Mrs. Guy Flouncey was pretty; she was a flirt on principle; thus she had
+caught the Marquess of Beaumanoir, who, if they chanced to meet,
+always spoke to her, which gave Mrs. Guy Flouncey fashion. But Mrs. Guy
+Flouncey was nothing more than a flirt. She never made a mistake; she
+was born with strong social instincts. She knew that the fine ladies
+among whom, from the first, she had determined to place herself, were
+moral martinets with respect to any one not born among themselves.
+That which is not observed, or, if noticed, playfully alluded to in
+the conduct of a patrician dame, is visited with scorn and contumely if
+committed by some 'shocking woman,' who has deprived perhaps a countess
+of the affections of a husband who has not spoken to her for years.
+But if the countess is to lose her husband, she ought to lose him to a
+viscountess, at least. In this way the earl is not lost to 'society.'
+
+A great nobleman met Mrs. Guy Flouncey at a country-house, and was
+fairly captivated by her. Her pretty looks, her coquettish manner, her
+vivacity, her charming costume, above all, perhaps, her imperturbable
+good temper, pierced him to the heart. The great nobleman's wife had the
+weakness to be annoyed. Mrs. Guy Flouncey saw her opportunity. She threw
+over the earl, and became the friend of the countess, who could never
+sufficiently evince her gratitude to the woman who would not make love
+to her husband. This friendship was the incident for which Mrs. Guy
+Flouncey had been cruising for years. Men she had vanquished; they had
+given her a sort of _ton_ which she had prudently managed. She had not
+destroyed herself by any fatal preference. Still, her fashion among men
+necessarily made her unfashionable among women, who, if they did not
+absolutely hate her, which they would have done had she had a noble
+lover, were determined not to help her up the social ladder. Now she had
+a great friend, and one of the greatest of ladies. The moment she had
+pondered over for years had arrived. Mrs. Guy Flouncey determined at
+once to test her position. Mrs. Guy Flouncey resolved on giving a ball.
+
+But some of our friends in the country will say, 'Is that all? Surely
+it required no very great resolution, no very protracted pondering, to
+determine on giving a ball! Where is the difficulty? The lady has but to
+light up her house, hire the fiddlers, line her staircase with American
+plants, perhaps enclose her balcony, order Mr. Gunter to provide plenty
+of the best refreshments, and at one o'clock a superb supper, and, with
+the company of your friends, you have as good a ball as can be desired
+by the young, or endured by the old.'
+
+Innocent friends in the country! You might have all these things. Your
+house might be decorated like a Russian palace, blazing with the most
+brilliant lights and breathing the richest odours; you might have
+Jullien presiding over your orchestra, and a banquet worthy of the
+Romans. As for your friends, they might dance until daybreak, and agree
+that there never was an entertainment more tasteful, more sumptuous,
+and, what would seem of the first importance, more merry. But, having
+all these things, suppose you have not a list? You have given a ball,
+you have not a list. The reason is obvious: you are ashamed of your
+guests. You are not in 'society.'
+
+But even a list is not sufficient for success. You must also get a
+day: the most difficult thing in the world. After inquiring among your
+friends, and studying the columns of the _Morning Post_, you discover
+that, five weeks hence, a day is disengaged. You send out your cards;
+your house is dismantled; your lights are arranged; the American plants
+have arrived; the band, perhaps two bands, are engaged. Mr. Gunter has
+half dressed your supper, and made all your ice, when suddenly, within
+eight-and-forty hours of the festival which you have been five weeks
+preparing, the Marchioness of Deloraine sends out cards for a ball in
+honour of some European sovereign who has just alighted on our isle, and
+means to stay only a week, and at whose court, twenty years ago, Lord
+Deloraine was ambassador. Instead of receiving your list, you are
+obliged to send messengers in all directions to announce that your
+ball is postponed, although you are perfectly aware that not a single
+individual would have been present whom you would have cared to welcome.
+
+The ball is postponed; and next day the _Morning Post_ informs us it is
+postponed to that day week; and the day after you have circulated this
+interesting intelligence, you yourself, perhaps, have the gratification
+of receiving an invitation, for the same day, to Lady St. Julians': with
+'dancing' neatly engraved in the corner. You yield in despair; and
+there are some ladies who, with every qualification for an excellent
+ball-guests, Gunter, American plants, pretty daughters have been
+watching and waiting for years for an opportunity of giving it; and at
+last, quite hopeless, at the end of the season, expend their funds in
+a series of Greenwich banquets, which sometimes fortunately produce the
+results expected from the more imposing festivity.
+
+You see, therefore, that giving a ball is not that matter-of-course
+affair you imagined; and that for Mrs. Guy Flouncey to give a ball and
+succeed, completely, triumphantly to succeed, was a feat worthy of that
+fine social general. Yet she did it. The means, like everything that is
+great, were simple. She induced her noble friend to ask her guests. Her
+noble friend canvassed for her as if it were a county election of the
+good old days, when the representation of a shire was the certain
+avenue to a peerage, instead of being, as it is now, the high road to a
+poor-law commissionership.
+
+Many were very glad to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Guy Flouncey; many
+only wanted an excuse to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Guy Flouncey;
+they went to her party because they were asked by their dear friend,
+Lady Kingcastle. As for the potentates, there is no disguise on these
+subjects among them. They went to Mrs. Guy Flouncey's ball because one
+who was their equal, not only in rank, but in social influence, had
+requested it as a personal favour, she herself, when the occasion
+offered, being equally ready to advance their wishes. The fact was, that
+affairs were ripe for the recognition of Mrs. Guy Flouncey as a member
+of the social body. Circumstances had been long maturing. The Guy
+Flounceys, who, in the course of their preparatory career, had hopped
+from Park Crescent to Portman Square, had now perched upon their
+'splendid mansion' in Belgrave Square. Their dinners were renowned. Mrs.
+Guy Flouncey was seen at all the 'best balls,' and was always surrounded
+by the 'best men.' Though a flirt and a pretty woman, she was a discreet
+parvenue, who did not entrap the affections of noble husbands. Above
+all, she was the friend of Lady Kingcastle, who called her and her
+husband 'those good Guy Flounceys.'
+
+The ball was given; you could not pass through Belgrave Square that
+night. The list was published; it formed two columns of the Morning
+Post. Lady Kingcastle was honoured by the friendship of a royal duchess.
+She put the friendship to the proof, and her royal highness was seen at
+Mrs. Guy Flouncey's ball. Imagine the reception, the canopy, the scarlet
+cloth, the 'God save the King' from the band of the first guards,
+bivouacked in the hall, Mrs. Guy Flouncey herself performing her part
+as if she had received princesses of the blood all her life; so reverent
+and yet so dignified, so very calm and yet with a sort of winning,
+sunny innocence. Her royal highness was quite charmed with her hostess,
+praised her much to Lady Kingcastle, told her that she was glad that she
+had come, and even stayed half an hour longer than Mrs. Guy Flouncey
+had dared to hope. As for the other guests, the peerage was gutted.
+The Dictator himself was there, and, the moment her royal highness had
+retired, Mrs. Guy Flouncey devoted herself to the hero. All the great
+ladies, all the ambassadors, all the beauties, a full chapter of the
+Garter, a chorus among the 'best men' that it was without doubt the
+'best ball' of the year, happy Mrs. Guy Flouncey! She threw a glance at
+her swing-glass while Mr. Guy Flouncey, who 'had not had time to get
+anything the whole evening,' was eating some supper on a tray in her
+dressing-room at five o'clock in the morning, and said, 'We have done it
+at last, my love!'
+
+She was right; and from that moment Mrs. Guy Flouncey was asked to all
+the great houses, and became a lady of the most unexceptionable _ton_.
+
+But all this time we are forgetting her _dejeuner_, and that Tancred
+is winding his way through the garden lanes of Fulham to reach Craven
+Cottage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+     _The Coningsbys_
+
+THE day was brilliant: music, sunshine, ravishing bonnets, little
+parasols that looked like large butterflies. The new phaetons glided
+up, then carriages-and-four swept by; in general the bachelors were
+ensconced in their comfortable broughams, with their glasses down and
+their blinds drawn, to receive the air and to exclude the dust; some
+less provident were cavaliers, but, notwithstanding the well-watered
+roads, seemed a little dashed as they cast an anxious glance at the
+rose which adorned their button-hole, or fancied that they felt a flying
+black from a London chimney light upon the tip of their nose.
+
+Within, the winding walks dimly echoed whispering words; the lawn was
+studded with dazzling groups; on the terrace by the river a dainty
+multitude beheld those celebrated waters which furnish flounders to
+Richmond and whitebait to Blackwall.
+
+'Mrs. Coningsby shall decide,' said Lord Beaumanoir.
+
+Edith and Lady Theresa Lyle stood by a statue that glittered in the sun,
+surrounded by a group of cavaliers; among them Lord Beaumanoir, Lord
+Mil-ford, Lord Eugene de Vere. Her figure was not less lithe and
+graceful since her marriage, a little more voluptuous; her rich
+complexion, her radiant and abounding hair, and her long grey eye, now
+melting with pathos, and now twinkling with mockery, presented one of
+those faces of witchery which are beyond beauty.
+
+'Mrs. Coningsby shall decide.'
+
+'It is the very thing,' said Edith, 'that Mrs. Coningsby will never do.
+Decision destroys suspense, and suspense is the charm of existence.'
+
+'But suspense may be agony,' said Lord Eugene de Vere, casting a glance
+that would read the innermost heart of Edith.
+
+'And decision may be despair,' said Mrs. Coningsby.
+
+'But we agreed the other night that you were to decide everything for
+us,' said Lord Beaumanoir; 'and you consented.'
+
+'I consented the other night, and I retract my consent to-day; and I am
+consistent, for that is indecision.'
+
+'You are consistent in being charming,' said Lord Eugene.
+
+'Pleasing and original!' said Edith. 'By-the-bye, when I consented that
+the melancholy Jaques should be one of my aides-de-camp I expected him
+to maintain his reputation, not only for gloom but wit. I think you had
+better go back to the forest, Lord Eugene, and see if you cannot
+stumble upon a fool who may drill you in repartee. How do you do, Lady
+Riddlesworth?' and she bowed to two ladies who seemed inclined to stop,
+but Edith added, 'I heard great applications for you this moment on the
+terrace.'
+
+'Indeed!' exclaimed the ladies; and they moved on.
+
+'When Lady Riddlesworth joins the conversation it is like a stoppage in
+the streets. I invented a piece of intelligence to clear the way, as
+you would call out Fire! or The queen is coming! There used to be things
+called _vers de societe_, which were not poetry; and I do not see why
+there should not be social illusions which are not fibs.'
+
+'I entirely agree with you,' said Lord Milford; 'and I move that we
+practise them on a large scale.'
+
+'Like the verses, they might make life more light,' said Lady Theresa.
+
+'We are surrounded by illusions,' said Lord Eugene, in a melancholy
+tone.
+
+'And shams of all descriptions,' said Edith; 'the greatest, a man who
+pretends he has a broken heart when all the time he is full of fun.'
+
+'There are a great many men who have broken hearts,' said Lord
+Beaumanoir, smiling sorrowfully.
+
+'Cracked heads are much commoner,' said Edith, 'you may rely upon it.
+The only man I really know with a broken heart is Lord Fitz-Booby. I do
+think that paying Mount-Dullard's debts has broken his heart. He takes
+on so; 'tis piteous. "My dear Mrs. Coningsby," he said to me last night,
+"only think what that young man might have been; he might have been a
+lord of the treasury in '35; why, if he had had nothing more in '41,
+why, there's a loss of between four and five thousand pounds; but with
+my claims--Sir Robert, having thrown the father over, was bound on
+his own principle to provide for the son--he might have got something
+better; and now he comes to me with his debts, and his reason for paying
+his debts, too, Mrs. Coningsby, because he is going to be married; to
+be married to a woman who has not a shilling. Why, if he had been in
+office, and only got 1,500L. a year, and married a woman with only
+another 1,500L., he would have had 3,000L. a year, Mrs. Coningsby; and
+now he has nothing of his own except some debts, which he wants me to
+pay, and settle 3,000L. a year on him besides."'
+
+They all laughed.
+
+'Ah!' said Mrs. Coningsby, with a resemblance which made all start, 'you
+should have heard it with the Fitz-Booby voice.'
+
+The character of a woman rapidly develops after marriage, and sometimes
+seems to change, when in fact it is only complete. Hitherto we have
+known Edith only in her girlhood, bred up in a life of great simplicity,
+and under the influence of a sweet fancy, or an absorbing passion.
+Coningsby had been a hero to her before they met, the hero of nursery
+hours and nursery tales. Experience had not disturbed those dreams.
+From the moment they encountered each other at Millbank, he assumed that
+place in her heart which he had long occupied in her imagination; and,
+after their second meeting at Paris, her existence was merged in love.
+All the crosses and vexations of their early affection only rendered
+this state of being on her part more profound and engrossing.
+
+But though Edith was a most happy wife, and blessed with two children
+worthy of their parents, love exercises quite a different influence
+upon a woman when she has married, and especially when she has assumed
+a social position which deprives life of all its real cares. Under any
+circumstances, that suspense, which, with all its occasional agony, is
+the great spring of excitement, is over; but, generally speaking, it
+will be found, notwithstanding the proverb, that with persons of a noble
+nature, the straitened fortunes which they share together, and
+manage, and mitigate by mutual forbearance, are more conducive to the
+sustainment of a high-toned and romantic passion, than a luxurious
+prosperity.
+
+The wife of a man of limited fortune, who, by contrivance, by the
+concealed sacrifice of some necessity of her own, supplies him with some
+slight enjoyment which he has never asked, but which she fancies he may
+have sighed for, experiences, without doubt, a degree of pleasure far
+more ravishing than the patrician dame who stops her barouche at Storr
+and Mortimer's, and out of her pin-money buys a trinket for the husband
+whom she loves, and which he finds, perhaps, on his dressing-table, on
+the anniversary of their wedding-day. That's pretty too and touching,
+and should be encouraged; but the other thrills, and ends in an embrace
+that is still poetry.
+
+The Coningsbys shortly after their marriage had been called to the
+possession of a great fortune, for which, in every sense, they were well
+adapted. But a great fortune necessarily brings with it a great change
+of habits. The claims of society proportionately increase with your
+income. You live less for yourselves. For a selfish man, merely looking
+to his luxurious ease, Lord Eskdale's idea of having ten thousand a
+year, while the world suppose you have only five, is the right thing.
+Coningsby, however, looked to a great fortune as one of the means,
+rightly employed, of obtaining great power. He looked also to his wife
+to assist him in this enterprise.
+
+Edith, from a native impulse, as well as from love for him, responded
+to his wish. When they were in the country, Hellingsley was a perpetual
+stream and scene of splendid hospitality; there the flower of London
+society mingled with all the aristocracy of the county. Leander was
+often retained specially, like a Wilde or a Kelly, to renovate the
+genius of the habitual chief: not of the circuit, but the kitchen.
+A noble mansion in Park Lane received them the moment Parliament
+assembled. Coningsby was then immersed in affairs, and counted entirely
+on Edith to cherish those social influences which in a public career
+are not less important than political ones. The whole weight of the
+management of society rested on her. She had to cultivate his alliances,
+keep together his friends, arrange his dinner-parties, regulate his
+engagements. What time for romantic love? They were never an hour alone.
+Yet they loved not less; but love had taken the character of enjoyment
+instead of a wild bewitchment; and life had become an airy bustle,
+instead of a storm, an agony, a hurricane of the heart.
+
+In this change in the disposition, not in the degree, of their
+affection, for there was the same amount of sweet solicitude, only it
+was duly apportioned to everything that interested them, instead of
+being exclusively devoted to each other, the character of Edith, which
+had been swallowed up by the absorbing passion, rapidly developed itself
+amid the social circumstances. She was endued with great vivacity, a
+sanguine and rather saucy spirit, with considerable talents, and a large
+share of feminine vanity: that divine gift which makes woman charming.
+Entirely sympathising with her husband, labouring with zeal to advance
+his views, and living perpetually in the world, all these qualities
+came to light. During her first season she had been very quiet, not less
+observant, making herself mistress of the ground. It was prepared
+for her next campaign. When she evinced a disposition to take a lead,
+although found faultless the first year, it was suddenly remembered that
+she was a manufacturer's daughter; and she was once described by a great
+lady as 'that person whom Mr. Coningsby had married, when Lord Monmouth
+cut him off with a shilling.'
+
+But Edith had anticipated these difficulties, and was not to be daunted.
+Proud of her husband, confident in herself, supported by a great
+establishment, and having many friends, she determined to exchange
+salutes with these social sharp-shooters, who are scarcely as courageous
+as they are arrogant. It was discovered that Mrs. Coningsby could be
+as malicious as her assailants, and far more epigrammatic. She could
+describe in a sentence and personify in a phrase. The _mot_ was
+circulated, the _nom de nique_ repeated. Surrounded by a brilliant
+band of youth and wit, even her powers of mimickry were revealed to the
+initiated. More than one social tyrant, whom all disliked, but whom
+none had ventured to resist, was made ridiculous. Flushed by success and
+stimulated by admiration, Edith flattered herself that she was assisting
+her husband while she was gratifying her vanity. Her adversaries soon
+vanished, but the powers that had vanquished them were too choice to
+be forgotten or neglected. The tone of raillery she had assumed for
+the moment, and extended, in self-defence, to persons, was adopted as a
+habit, and infused itself over affairs in general.
+
+Mrs. Coningsby was the fashion; she was a wit as well as a beauty; a
+fascinating droll; dazzling and bewitching, the idol of every youth.
+Eugene de Vere was roused from his premature exhaustion, and at last
+found excitement again. He threw himself at her feet; she laughed at
+him. He asked leave to follow her footsteps; she consented. He was
+only one of a band of slaves. Lord Beaumanoir, still a bachelor, always
+hovered about her, feeding on her laughing words with a mild melancholy,
+and sometimes bandying repartee with a kind of tender and stately
+despair. His sister, Lady Theresa Lyle, was Edith's great friend. Their
+dispositions had some resemblance. Marriage had developed in both
+of them a frolic grace. They hunted in couple; and their sport was
+brilliant. Many things may be said by a strong female alliance, that
+would assume quite a different character were they even to fall from the
+lips of an Aspasia to a circle of male votaries; so much depends upon
+the scene and the characters, the mode and the manner.
+
+The good-natured world would sometimes pause in its amusement, and,
+after dwelling with statistical accuracy on the number of times Mrs.
+Coningsby had danced the polka, on the extraordinary things she said to
+Lord Eugene de Vere, and the odd things she and Lady Theresa Lyle were
+perpetually doing, would wonder, with a face and voice of innocence,
+'how Mr. Coningsby liked all this?' There is no doubt what was the
+anticipation by the good-natured world of Mr. Coningsby's feelings. But
+they were quite mistaken. There was nothing that Mr. Coningsby liked
+more. He wished his wife to become a social power; and he wished his
+wife to be amused. He saw that, with the surface of a life of levity,
+she already exercised considerable influence, especially over the young;
+and independently of such circumstances and considerations, he was
+delighted to have a wife who was not afraid of going into society by
+herself; not one whom he was sure to find at home when he returned
+from the House of Commons, not reproaching him exactly for her social
+sacrifices, but looking a victim, and thinking that she retained her
+husband's heart by being a mope. Instead of that Con-ingsby wanted to be
+amused when he came home, and more than that, he wanted to be instructed
+in the finest learning in the world.
+
+As some men keep up their Greek by reading every day a chapter in the
+New Testament, so Con-ingsby kept up his knowledge of the world, by
+always, once at least in the four-and-twenty hours, having a delightful
+conversation with his wife. The processes were equally orthodox.
+Exempted from the tax of entering general society, free to follow his
+own pursuits, and to live in that political world which alone interested
+him, there was not an anecdote, a trait, a good thing said, or a bad
+thing done, which did not reach him by a fine critic and a lively
+narrator. He was always behind those social scenes which, after all,
+regulate the political performers, knew the springs of the whole
+machinery, the chang-ings and the shiftings, the fiery cars and golden
+chariots which men might mount, and the trap-doors down which men might
+fall.
+
+But the Marquess of Montacute is making his reverence to Mrs. Guy
+Flouncey.
+
+There was not at this moment a human being whom that lady was more glad
+to see at her _dejeuner_; but she did not show it in the least. Her
+self-possession, indeed, was the finest work of art of the day, and
+ought to be exhibited at the Adelaide Gallery. Like all mechanical
+inventions of a high class, it had been brought to perfection very
+gradually, and after many experiments. A variety of combinations, and
+an almost infinite number of trials, must have been expended before the
+too-startling laugh of Con-ingsby Castle could have subsided into the
+haughty suavity of that sunny glance, which was not familiar enough for
+a smile, nor foolish enough for a simper. As for the rattling vein which
+distinguished her in the days of our first acquaintance, that had long
+ceased. Mrs. Guy Flouncey now seemed to share the prevalent passion for
+genuine Saxon, and used only monosyllables; while Fine-ear himself would
+have been sometimes at fault had he attempted to give a name to her
+delicate breathings. In short, Mrs. Guy Flouncey never did or said
+anything but in 'the best taste.' It may, however, be a question,
+whether she ever would have captivated Lord Monmouth, and those who
+like a little nature and fun, if she had made her first advances in this
+style. But that showed the greatness of the woman. Then she was ready
+for anything for promotion. That was the age of forlorn hopes; but now
+she was a general of division, and had assumed a becoming carriage.
+
+This was the first _dejeuner_ at which Tancred had been present. He
+rather liked it. The scene, lawns and groves and a glancing river, the
+air, the music, our beautiful countrywomen, who, with their brilliant
+complexions and bright bonnets, do not shrink from the daylight, these
+are circumstances which, combined with youth and health, make a morning
+festival, say what they like, particularly for the first time, very
+agreeable, even if one be dreaming of Jerusalem. Strange power of the
+world, that the moment we enter it, our great conceptions dwarf! In
+youth it is quick sympathy that degrades them; more advanced, it is the
+sense of the ridiculous. But perhaps these reveries of solitude may not
+be really great conceptions; perhaps they are only exaggerations;
+vague, indefinite, shadowy, formed on no sound principles, founded on no
+assured basis.
+
+Why should Tancred go to Jerusalem? What does it signify to him whether
+there be religious truth or political justice? He has youth, beauty,
+rank, wealth, power, and all in excess. He has a mind that can
+comprehend their importance and appreciate their advantages. What more
+does he require? Unreasonable boy! And if he reach Jerusalem, why should
+he find religious truth and political justice there? He can read of
+it in the travelling books, written by young gentlemen, with the best
+letters of introduction to all the consuls. They tell us what it is, a
+third-rate city in a stony wilderness. Will the Providence of fashion
+prevent this great folly about to be perpetrated by one born to be
+fashion's most brilliant subject? A folly, too, which may end in a
+catastrophe? His parents, indeed, have appealed in vain; but the
+sneer of the world will do more than the supplication of the father. A
+mother's tear may be disregarded, but the sigh of a mistress has changed
+the most obdurate. We shall see. At present Lady Constance Rawleigh
+expresses her pleasure at Tancred's arrival, and his heart beats a
+little.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+     _Disenchantment_
+
+THEY are talking about it,' said Lord Eskdale to the duchess, as she
+looked up to him with an expression of the deepest interest. 'He asked
+St. Patrick to introduce him to her at Deloraine House, danced with her,
+was with her the whole evening, went to the breakfast on Saturday to
+meet her, instead of going to Blackwall to see a yacht he was after.'
+
+'If it were only Katherine,' said the duchess, 'I should be quite
+happy.'
+
+'Don't be uneasy,' said Lord Eskdale; 'there will be plenty of
+Katherines and Constances, too, before he finishes. The affair is not
+much, but it shows, as I foretold, that, the moment he found something
+more amusing, his taste for yachting would pass off.' 'You are right,
+you always are.' What really was this affair, which Lord Eskdale held
+lightly? With a character like Tancred, everything may become important.
+Profound and yet simple, deep in self-knowledge yet inexperienced, his
+reserve, which would screen him from a thousand dangers, was just the
+quality which would insure his thraldom by the individual who could once
+effectually melt the icy barrier and reach the central heat. At this
+moment of his life, with all the repose, and sometimes even the high
+ceremony, on the surface, he was a being formed for high-reaching
+exploits, ready to dare everything and reckless of all consequences, if
+he proposed to himself an object which he believed to be just and great.
+This temper of mind would, in all things, have made him act with that
+rapidity, which is rashness with the weak, and decision with the strong.
+The influence of woman on him was novel. It was a disturbing influence,
+on which he had never counted in those dreams and visions in which there
+had figured more heroes than heroines. In the imaginary interviews in
+which he had disciplined his solitary mind, his antagonists had been
+statesmen, prelates, sages, and senators, with whom he struggled and
+whom he vanquished.
+
+He was not unequal in practice to his dreams. His shyness would have
+vanished in an instant before a great occasion; he could have addressed
+a public assembly; he was capable of transacting important affairs.
+These were all situations and contingencies which he had foreseen, and
+which for him were not strange, for he had become acquainted with them
+in his reveries. But suddenly he was arrested by an influence for which
+he was unprepared; a precious stone made him stumble who was to have
+scaled the Alps. Why should the voice, the glance, of another agitate
+his heart? The cherubim of his heroic thoughts not only deserted him,
+but he was left without the guardian angel of his shyness. He melted,
+and the iceberg might degenerate into a puddle.
+
+Lord Eskdale drew his conclusions like a clever man of the world, and in
+general he would have been right; but a person like Tancred was in much
+greater danger of being captured than a common-place youth entering
+life with second-hand experience, and living among those who ruled his
+opinions by their sneers and sarcasms. A malicious tale by a spiteful
+woman, the chance ribaldry of a club-room window, have often been the
+impure agencies which have saved many a youth from committing a great
+folly; but Tancred was beyond all these influences. If they had
+been brought to bear on him, they would rather have precipitated the
+catastrophe. His imagination would have immediately been summoned to the
+rescue of his offended pride; he would have invested the object of
+his regard with supernatural qualities, and consoled her for the
+impertinence of society by his devotion.
+
+Lady Constance was clever; she talked like a married woman, was
+critical, yet easy; and having guanoed her mind by reading French
+novels, had a variety of conclusions on all social topics, which she
+threw forth with unfaltering promptness, and with the well-arranged air
+of an impromptu. These were all new to Tancred, and startling. He was
+attracted by the brilliancy, though he often regretted the tone, which
+he ascribed to the surrounding corruption from which he intended to
+escape, and almost wished to save her at the same time. Sometimes
+Tancred looked unusually serious; but at last his rare and brilliant
+smile beamed upon one who really admired him, was captivated by his
+intellect, his freshness, his difference from all around, his
+pensive beauty and his grave innocence. Lady Constance was free from
+affectation; she was frank and natural; she did not conceal the pleasure
+she had in his society; she conducted herself with that dignified
+facility, becoming a young lady who had already refused the hands of two
+future earls, and of the heir of the Clan-Alpins.
+
+A short time after the _dejeuner_ at Craven Cottage, Lord Montacute
+called on Lady Charmouth. She was at home, and received him with great
+cordiality, looking up from her frame of worsted work with a benign
+maternal expression; while Lady Constance, who was writing an urgent
+reply to a note that had just arrived, said rapidly some agreeable
+words of welcome, and continued her task. Tancred seated himself by the
+mother, made an essay in that small talk in which he was by no means
+practised, but Lady Charmouth helped him on without seeming to do so.
+The note was at length dispatched, Tancred of course still remaining at
+the mother's side, and Lady Constance too distant for his wishes. He had
+nothing to say to Lady Charmouth; he began to feel that the pleasure of
+feminine society consisted in talking alone to her daughter.
+
+While he was meditating a retreat, and yet had hardly courage to rise
+and walk alone down a large long room, a new guest was announced.
+Tancred rose, and murmured good-morning; and yet, somehow or other,
+instead of quitting the apartment, he went and seated himself by Lady
+Constance. It really was as much the impulse of shyness, which sought
+a nook of refuge, as any other feeling that actuated him; but Lady
+Constance seemed pleased, and said in a low voice and in a careless
+tone, ''Tis Lady Bran-cepeth; do you know her? Mamma's great friend;'
+which meant, you need give yourself no trouble to talk to any one but
+myself.
+
+After making herself very agreeable, Lady Constance took up a book
+which was at hand, and said, 'Do you know this?' And Tancred, opening a
+volume which he had never seen, and then turning to its titlepage, found
+it was 'The Revelations of Chaos,' a startling work just published, and
+of which a rumour had reached him.
+
+'No,' he replied; 'I have not seen it.'
+
+'I will lend it you if you like: it is one of those books one must read.
+It explains everything, and is written in a very agreeable style.'
+
+'It explains everything!' said Tancred; 'it must, indeed, be a very
+remarkable book!'
+
+'I think it will just suit you,' said Lady Constance. 'Do you know, I
+thought so several times while I was reading it.'
+
+'To judge from the title, the subject is rather obscure,' said Tancred.
+
+'No longer so,' said Lady Constance. 'It is treated scientifically;
+everything is explained by geology and astronomy, and in that way. It
+shows you exactly how a star is formed; nothing can be so pretty! A
+cluster of vapour, the cream of the Milky Way, a sort of celestial
+cheese, churned into light, you must read it, 'tis charming.'
+
+'Nobody ever saw a star formed,' said Tancred.
+
+'Perhaps not. You must read the "Revelations;" it is all explained. But
+what is most interesting, is the way in which man has been developed.
+You know, all is development. The principle is perpetually going on.
+First, there was nothing, then there was something; then, I forget the
+next, I think there were shells, then fishes; then we came, let me see,
+did we come next? Never mind that; we came at last. And the next change
+there will be something very superior to us, something with wings. Ah!
+that's it: we were fishes, and I believe we shall be crows. But you must
+read it.'
+
+'I do not believe I ever was a fish,' said Tancred. 'Oh! but it is all
+proved; you must not argue on my rapid sketch; read the book. It is
+impossible to contradict anything in it. You understand, it is all
+science; it is not like those books in which one says one thing and
+another the contrary, and both may be wrong. Everything is proved: by
+geology, you know. You see exactly how everything is made; how many
+worlds there have been; how long they lasted; what went before, what
+comes next. We are a link in the chain, as inferior animals were that
+preceded us: we in turn shall be inferior; all that will remain of us
+will be some relics in a new red sandstone. This is development. We had
+fins; we may have wings.'
+
+Tancred grew silent and thoughtful; Lady Bran-cepeth moved, and he
+rose at the same time. Lady Charmouth looked as if it were by no means
+necessary for him to depart, but he bowed very low, and then bade
+farewell to Lady Constance, who said, 'We shall meet to-night.'
+
+'I was a fish, and I shall be a crow,' said Tancred to himself, when the
+hall door closed on him. 'What a spiritual mistress! And yesterday, for
+a moment, I almost dreamed of kneeling with her at the Holy Sepulchre! I
+must get out of this city as quickly as possible; I cannot cope with
+its corruption. The acquaintance, however, has been of use to me, for
+I think I have got a yacht by it. I believe it was providential, and a
+trial. I will go home and write instantly to Fitz-Heron, and accept his
+offer. One hundred and eighty tons: it will do; it must.'
+
+At this moment he met Lord Eskdale, who had observed Tancred from the
+end of Grosvenor Square, on the steps of Lord Charmouth's door. This
+circumstance ill prepared Lord Eskdale for Tancred's salutation.
+
+'My dear lord, you are just the person I wanted to meet. You promised to
+recommend me a servant who had travelled in the East.'
+
+'Well, are you in a hurry?' said Lord Eskdale, gaining time, and
+pumping.
+
+'I should like to get off as soon as practicable.' 'Humph!' said Lord
+Eskdale. 'Have you got a yacht?' 'I have.'
+
+'Oh! So you want a servant?' he added, after a moment's pause.
+
+'I mentioned that, because you were so kind as to say you could help me
+in that respect.'
+
+'Ah! I did,' said Lord Eskdale, thoughtfully. 'But I want a great many
+things,' continued Tancred. 'I must make arrangements about money; I
+suppose I must get some letters; in fact, I want generally your advice.'
+
+'What are you going to do about the colonel and the rest?'
+
+'I have promised my father to take them,' said Tancred, 'though I feel
+they will only embarrass me. They have engaged to be ready at a week's
+notice; I shall write to them immediately. If they do not fulfil their
+engagement, I am absolved from mine.'
+
+'So you have got a yacht, eh?' said Lord Eskdale. 'I suppose you have
+bought the Basilisk?'
+
+'Exactly.'
+
+'She wants a good deal doing to her.'
+
+'Something, but chiefly for show, which I do not care about; but I mean
+to get away, and refit, if necessary, at Gibraltar. I must go.'
+
+'Well, if you must go,' said his lordship, and then he added, 'and in
+such a hurry; let me see. You want a firstrate managing man, used to the
+East, and letters, and money, and advice. Hem! You don't know Sidonia?'
+
+'Not at all.'
+
+'He is the man to get hold of, but that is so difficult now. He never
+goes anywhere. Let me see, this is Monday; to-morrow is post-day, and
+I dine with him alone in the City. Well, you shall hear from me on
+Wednesday morning early, about everything; but I would not write to the
+colonel and his friends just yet.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+     _Tancred Rescues a Lady in Distress_
+
+THAT is most striking in London is its vastness. It is the illimitable
+feeling that gives it a special character. London is not grand. It
+possesses only one of the qualifications of a grand city, size; but it
+wants the equally important one, beauty. It is the union of these two
+qualities that produced the grand cities, the Romes, the Babylons,
+the hundred portals of the Pharaohs; multitudes and magnificence; the
+millions influenced by art. Grand cities are unknown since the beautiful
+has ceased to be the principle of invention. Paris, of modern capitals,
+has aspired to this character; but if Paris be a beautiful city, it
+certainly is not a grand one; its population is too limited, and, from
+the nature of their dwellings, they cover a comparatively small space.
+Constantinople is picturesque; nature has furnished a sublime site, but
+it has little architectural splendour, and you reach the environs with a
+fatal facility. London overpowers us with its vastness.
+
+Place a Forum or an Acropolis in its centre, and the effect of the
+metropolitan mass, which now has neither head nor heart, instead of
+being stupefying, would be ennobling. Nothing more completely represents
+a nation than a public building. A member of Parliament only represents,
+at the most, the united constituencies: but the Palace of the Sovereign,
+a National Gallery, or a Museum baptised with the name of the country,
+these are monuments to which all should be able to look up with pride,
+and which should exercise an elevating influence upon the spirit of the
+humblest. What is their influence in London? Let us not criticise what
+all condemn. But how remedy the evil? What is wanted in architecture,
+as in so many things, is a man. Shall we find a refuge in a Committee of
+Taste? Escape from the mediocrity of one to the mediocrity of many? We
+only multiply our feebleness, and aggravate our deficiencies. But one
+suggestion might be made. No profession in England has done its duty
+until it has furnished its victim. The pure administration of justice
+dates from the deposition of Macclesfield. Even our boasted navy never
+achieved a great victory until we shot an admiral. Suppose an architect
+were hanged? Terror has its inspiration as well as competition.
+
+Though London is vast, it is very monotonous. All those new districts
+that have sprung up within the last half-century, the creatures of our
+commercial and colonial wealth, it is impossible to conceive anything
+more tame, more insipid, more uniform. Pancras is like Mary-le-bone,
+Mary-le-bone is like Paddington; all the streets resemble each other,
+you must read the names of the squares before you venture to knock at
+a door. This amount of building capital ought to have produced a great
+city. What an opportunity for architecture suddenly summoned to furnish
+habitations for a population equal to that of the city of Bruxelles,
+and a population, too, of great wealth. Mary-le-bone alone ought to have
+produced a revolution in our domestic architecture. It did nothing. It
+was built by Act of Parliament. Parliament prescribed even a facade. It
+is Parliament to whom we are indebted for your Gloucester Places, and
+Baker Streets, and Harley Streets, and Wimpole Streets, and all those
+flat, dull, spiritless streets, resembling each other like a large
+family of plain children, with Portland Place and Portman Square for
+their respectable parents. The influence of our Parliamentary Government
+upon the fine arts is a subject worth pursuing. The power that produced
+Baker Street as a model for street architecture in its celebrated
+Building Act, is the power that prevented Whitehall from being
+completed, and which sold to foreigners all the pictures which the King
+of England had collected to civilise his people.
+
+In our own days we have witnessed the rapid creation of a new
+metropolitan quarter, built solely for the aristocracy by an aristocrat.
+The Belgrave district is as monotonous as Mary-le-bone; and is so
+contrived as to be at the same time insipid and tawdry.
+
+Where London becomes more interesting is Charing Cross. Looking to
+Northumberland House, and turning your back upon Trafalgar Square, the
+Strand is perhaps the finest street in Europe, blending the architecture
+of many periods; and its river ways are a peculiar feature and rich with
+associations. Fleet Street, with its Temple, is not unworthy of being
+contiguous to the Strand. The fire of London has deprived us of the
+delight of a real old quarter of the city; but some bits remain, and
+everywhere there is a stirring multitude, and a great crush and crash of
+carts and wains. The Inns of Court, and the quarters in the vicinity of
+the port, Thames Street, Tower Hill, Billingsgate, Wapping, Rotherhithe,
+are the best parts of London; they are full of character: the buildings
+bear a nearer relation to what the people are doing than in the more
+polished quarters.
+
+The old merchants of the times of the first Georges were a fine race.
+They knew their position, and built up to it. While the territorial
+aristocracy, pulling down their family hotels, were raising vulgar
+streets and squares upon their site, and occupying themselves one of
+the new tenements, the old merchants filled the straggling lanes, which
+connected the Royal Exchange with the port of London, with mansions
+which, if not exactly equal to the palaces of stately Venice, might at
+least vie with many of the hotels of old Paris. Some of these,
+though the great majority have been broken up into chambers and
+counting-houses, still remain intact.
+
+In a long, dark, narrow, crooked street, which is still called a lane,
+and which runs from the south side of the street of the Lombards towards
+the river, there is one of these old houses of a century past, and
+which, both in its original design and present condition, is a noble
+specimen of its order. A pair of massy iron gates, of elaborate
+workmanship, separate the street from its spacious and airy court-yard,
+which is formed on either side by a wing of the mansion, itself a
+building of deep red brick, with a pediment, and pilasters, and copings
+of stone. A flight of steps leads to the lofty and central doorway; in
+the middle of the court there is a garden plot, inclosing a fountain,
+and a fine plane tree.
+
+The stillness, doubly effective after the tumult just quitted, the
+lulling voice of the water, the soothing aspect of the quivering
+foliage, the noble building, and the cool and capacious quadrangle, the
+aspect even of those who enter, and frequently enter, the precinct, and
+who are generally young men, gliding in and out, earnest and full
+of thought, all contribute to give to this locality something of the
+classic repose of a college, instead of a place agitated with the
+most urgent interests of the current hour; a place that deals with the
+fortunes of kings and empires, and regulates the most important affairs
+of nations, for it is the counting-house in the greatest of modern
+cities of the most celebrated of modern financiers.
+
+It was the visit of Tancred to the City, on the Wednesday morning after
+he had met Lord Eskdale, that occasions me to touch on some of the
+characteristics of our capital. It was the first time that Tancred had
+ever been in the City proper, and it greatly interested him. His visit
+was prompted by receiving, early on Wednesday morning, the following
+letter:
+
+
+'Dear Tancred: I saw Sidonia yesterday, and spoke to him of what you
+want. He is much occupied just now, as his uncle, who attended to
+affairs here, is dead, and, until he can import another uncle or cousin,
+he must steer the ship, as times are critical. But he bade me say you
+might call upon him in the City to-day, at two o'clock. He lives in
+Sequin Court, near the Bank. You will have no difficulty in finding
+it. I recommend you to go, as he is the sort of man who will really
+understand what you mean, which neither your father nor myself do
+exactly; and, besides, he is a person to know.
+
+'I enclose a line which you will send in, that there may be no mistake.
+I should tell you, as you are very fresh, that he is of the Hebrew race;
+so don't go on too much about the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+'Yours faithfully,
+
+'ESKDALE.
+
+'Spring Gardens, Wednesday morning.'
+
+
+It is just where the street is most crowded, where it narrows, and
+losing the name of Cheapside, takes that of the Poultry, that the last
+of a series of stoppages occurred; a stoppage which, at the end of ten
+minutes, lost its inert character of mere obstruction, and
+developed into the livelier qualities of the row. There were oaths,
+contradictions, menaces: 'No, you sha'n't; Yes, I will; No, I didn't;
+Yes, you did; No, you haven't; Yes, I have;' the lashing of a whip, the
+interference of a policeman, a crash, a scream. Tan-cred looked out of
+the window of his brougham. He saw a chariot in distress, a chariot such
+as would have become an Ondine by the waters of the Serpentine, and the
+very last sort of equipage that you could expect to see smashed in the
+Poultry. It was really breaking a butterfly upon a wheel to crush its
+delicate springs, and crack its dark brown panels, soil its dainty
+hammer-cloth, and endanger the lives of its young coachman in a flaxen
+wig, and its two tall footmen in short coats, worthy of Cinderella.
+
+The scream, too, came from a fair owner, who was surrounded by clamorous
+carmen and city marshals, and who, in an unknown land, was afraid she
+might be put in a city compter, because the people in the city had
+destroyed her beautiful chariot. Tan-cred let himself out of his
+brougham, and not without difficulty contrived, through the narrow and
+crowded passage formed by the two lines, to reach the chariot, which was
+coming the contrary way to him. Some ruthless officials were persuading
+a beautiful woman to leave her carriage, the wheel of which was broken.
+'But where am I to go?' she exclaimed. 'Icannot walk. I will not leave
+my carriage until you bring me some conveyance. You ought to punish
+these people, who have quite ruined my chariot.'
+
+'They say it was your coachman's fault; we have nothing to do with that;
+besides, you know who they are. Their employers' name is on the cart,
+Brown, Bugsby, and Co., Limehouse. You can have your redress against
+Brown, Bugsby, and Co., Lime-house, if your coachman is not in fault;
+but you cannot stop up the way, and you had better get out, and let the
+carriage be removed to the Steel-yard.'
+
+'What am I to do?' exclaimed the lady with a tearful eye and agitated
+face.
+
+'I have a carriage at hand,' said Tancred, who at this moment reached
+her, 'and it is quite at your service.'
+
+The lady cast her beautiful eyes, with an expression of astonishment she
+could not conceal, at the distinguished youth who thus suddenly appeared
+in the midst of insolent carmen, brutal policemen, and all the cynical
+amateurs of a mob. Public opinion in the Poultry was against her; her
+coachman's wig had excited derision; the footmen had given themselves
+airs; there was a strong feeling against the shortcoats. As for the
+lady, though at first awed by her beauty and magnificence, they rebelled
+against the authority of her manner. Besides, she was not alone. There
+was a gentleman with her, who wore moustaches, and had taken a part in
+the proceedings at first, by addressing the carmen in French. This was
+too much, and the mob declared he was Don Carlos.
+
+'You are too good,' said the lady, with a sweet expression.
+
+[Illustration: page152]
+
+Tancred opened the door of the chariot, the policemen pulled down the
+steps, the servants were told to do the best they could with the wrecked
+equipage; in a second the lady and her companion were in Tancred's
+brougham, who, desiring his servants to obey all their orders,
+disappeared, for the stoppage at this moment began to move, and there
+was no time for bandying compliments.
+
+He had gained the pavement, and had made his way as far as the Mansion
+House, when, finding a group of public buildings, he thought it prudent
+to inquire which was the Bank.
+
+'That is the Bank,' said a good-natured man, in a bustle, but taken by
+Tancred's unusual appearance. 'What do you want? I am going there.'
+
+'I do not want exactly the Bank,' replied Tancred, 'but a place
+somewhere near it. Do you happen to know, sir, a place called Sequin
+Court?'
+
+'I should think I did,' said the man, smiling. 'So you are going to
+Sidonia's?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+     _The Wizard of Fortune_
+
+TANCRED entered Sequin Court; a chariot with a foreign coronet was at
+the foot of the great steps which he ascended. He was received by a fat
+hall porter, who would not have disgraced his father's establishment,
+and who, rising with lazy insolence from his hooded chair, when he
+observed that Tancred did not advance, asked the new comer what
+he wanted. 'I want Monsieur de Sidonia.' 'Can't see him now; he is
+engaged.' 'I have a note for him.'
+
+'Very well, give it me; it will be sent in. You can sit here.' And the
+porter opened the door of a waiting-room, which Tancred declined to
+enter. 'I will wait here, thank you,' said Tancred, and he looked round
+at the old oak hall, on the walls of which were hung several portraits,
+and from which ascended one of those noble staircases never found in a
+modern London mansion. At the end of the hall, on a slab of porphyry,
+was a marble bust, with this inscription on it, '_Fundator_.' It was the
+first Sidonia, by Chantrey.
+
+'I will wait here, thank you,' said Tancred, looking round; and then,
+with some hesitation, he added, 'I have an appointment here at two
+o'clock.'
+
+As he spoke, that hour sounded from the belfry of an old city church
+that was at hand, and then was taken up by the chimes of a large German
+clock in the hall.
+
+'It may be,' said the porter, 'but I can't disturb master now; the
+Spanish ambassador is with him, and others are waiting. When he is gone,
+a clerk will take in your letter with some others that are here.'
+
+At this moment, and while Tancred remained in the hall, various persons
+entered, and, without noticing the porter, pursued their way across the
+apartment.
+
+'And where are those persons going?' inquired Tancred.
+
+The porter looked at the enquirer with a blended gaze of curiosity and
+contempt, and then negligently answered him without looking in Tancred's
+face, and while he was brushing up the hearth, 'Some are going to the
+counting-house, and some are going to the Bank, I should think.'
+
+'I wonder if our hall porter is such an infernal bully as Monsieur de
+Sidonia's!' thought Tancred.
+
+There was a stir. 'The ambassador is coming out,' said the hall porter;
+'you must not stand in the way.'
+
+The well-trained ear of this guardian of the gate was conversant with
+every combination of sound which the apartments of Sequin Court could
+produce. Close as the doors might be shut, you could not rise from your
+chair without his being aware of it; and in the present instance he was
+correct. A door at the end of the hall opened, and the Spanish minister
+came forth.
+
+'Stand aside,' said the hall porter to Tancred; and, summoning the
+servants without, he ushered his excellency with some reverence to his
+carriage.
+
+'Now your letter will go in with the others,' he said to Tancred, whom
+for a few moments he left alone, and then returned, taking no notice of
+our young friend, but, depositing his bulky form in his hooded chair, he
+resumed the city article of the _Times_.
+
+The letter ran thus:
+
+
+'Dear Sidonia: This will be given you by my cousin Montacute, of whom
+I spoke to you yesterday. He wants to go to Jerusalem, which very much
+perplexes his family, for he is an only child. I don't suppose the
+danger is what they imagine. But still there is nothing like experience,
+and there is no one who knows so much of these things as yourself. I
+have promised his father and mother, very innocent people, whom of all
+my relatives, I most affect, to do what I can for him. If, therefore,
+you can aid Montacute, you will really serve me. He seems to have
+character, though I can't well make him out. I fear I indulged in the
+hock yesterday, for I feel a twinge. Yours faithfully,
+
+'ESKDALE.
+
+'Wednesday morning.'
+
+
+The hall clock had commenced the quarter chimes, when a young man,
+fair and intelligent, and wearing spectacles, came into the hall, and,
+opening the door of the waiting-room, looked as if he expected to find
+some one there; then, turning to the porter, he said, 'Where is Lord
+Montacute?'
+
+The porter rose from his hooded chair, and put down the newspaper, but
+Tancred had advanced when he heard his name, and bowed, and followed the
+young man in spectacles, who invited Tancred to accompany him.
+
+Tancred was ushered into a spacious and rather long apartment, panelled
+with old oak up to the white coved ceiling, which was richly ornamented.
+Four windows looked upon the fountain and the plane tree. A portrait by
+Lawrence, evidently of the same individual who had furnished the model
+to Chantrey, was over the high, old-fashioned, but very handsome marble
+mantel-piece. A Turkey carpet, curtains of crimson damask, some large
+tables covered with papers, several easy chairs, against the walls some
+iron cabinets, these were the furniture of the room, at one corner of
+which was a glass door, which led to a vista of apartments fitted up as
+counting-houses, filled with clerks, and which, if expedient, might be
+covered by a baize screen, which was now unclosed.
+
+A gentleman writing at a table rose as he came in, and extending his
+hand said, as he pointed to a seat, 'I am afraid I have made you come
+out at an unusual hour.'
+
+The young man in spectacles in the meanwhile retired; Tancred had bowed
+and murmured his compliments: and his host, drawing his chair a little
+from the table, continued: 'Lord Eskdale tells me that you have some
+thoughts of going to Jerusalem.'
+
+'I have for some time had that intention.'
+
+'It is a pity that you did not set out earlier in the year, and then you
+might have been there during the Easter pilgrimage. It is a fine sight.'
+
+'It is a pity,' said Tancred; 'but to reach Jerusalem is with me an
+object of so much moment, that I shall be content to find myself there
+at any time, and under any circumstances.'
+
+'It is no longer difficult to reach Jerusalem; the real difficulty is
+the one experienced by the crusaders, to know what to do when you have
+arrived there.'
+
+'It is the land of inspiration,' said Tancred, slightly blushing; 'and
+when I am there, I would humbly pray that my course may be indicated to
+me.'
+
+'And you think that no prayers, however humble, would obtain for you
+that indication before your departure?'
+
+'This is not the land of inspiration,' replied Tancred, timidly.
+
+'But you have your Church,' said Sidonia.
+
+'Which I hold of divine institution, and which should be under the
+immediate influence of the Holy Spirit,' said Tancred, dropping his
+eyes, and colouring still more as he found himself already trespassing
+on that delicate province of theology which always fascinated him, but
+which it had been intimated to him by Lord Eskdale that he should avoid.
+
+'Is it wanting to you, then, in this conjuncture?' inquired his
+companion.
+
+'I find its opinions conflicting, its decrees contradictory, its conduct
+inconsistent,' replied Tancred. 'I have conferred with one who is
+esteemed its most eminent prelate, and I have left him with a conviction
+of what I had for some time suspected, that inspiration is not only a
+divine but a local quality.'
+
+'You and I have some reason to believe so,' said Sidonia. 'I believe
+that God spoke to Moses on Mount Horeb, and you believe that he was
+crucified, in the person of Jesus, on Mount Calvary. Both were, at least
+carnally, children of Israel: they spoke Hebrew to the Hebrews. The
+prophets were only Hebrews; the apostles were only Hebrews. The churches
+of Asia, which have vanished, were founded by a native Hebrew; and the
+church of Rome, which says it shall last for ever, and which converted
+this island to the faith of Moses and of Christ, vanquishing the Druids,
+Jupiter Olympius, and Woden, who had successively invaded it, was also
+founded by a native Hebrew. Therefore, I say, your suspicion or your
+conviction is, at least, not a fantastic one.'
+
+Tancred listened to Sidonia as he spoke with great interest, and with an
+earnest and now quite unembarrassed manner. The height of the argument
+had immediately surmounted all his social reserve. His intelligence
+responded to the great theme that had so long occupied his musing
+hours; and the unexpected character of a conversation which, as he
+had supposed, would have mainly treated of letters of credit, the more
+excited him.
+
+'Then,' said Tancred, with animation, 'seeing how things are, that I am
+born in an age and in a country divided between infidelity on one side
+and an anarchy of creeds on the other; with none competent to guide
+me, yet feeling that I must believe, for I hold that duty cannot exist
+without faith; is it so wild as some would think it, I would say is it
+unreasonable, that I should wish to do that which, six centuries ago,
+was done by my ancestor whose name I bear, and that I should cross the
+seas, and----?' He hesitated.
+
+'And visit the Holy Sepulchre,' said Sidonia.
+
+'And visit the Holy Sepulchre,' said Tancred, solemnly; 'for that, I
+confess, is my sovereign thought.'
+
+'Well, the crusades were of vast advantage to Europe,' said Sidonia,
+'and renovated the spiritual hold which Asia has always had upon the
+North. It seems to wane at present, but it is only the decrease that
+precedes the new development.'
+
+'It must be so,' said Tancred; 'for who can believe that a country
+once sanctified by the Divine Presence can ever be as other lands? Some
+celestial quality, distinguishing it from all other climes, must for
+ever linger about it. I would ask those mountains, that were reached by
+angels, why they no longer receive heavenly visitants. I would appeal
+to that Comforter promised to man, on the sacred spot on which the
+assurance of solace was made. I require a Comforter. I have appealed
+to the holy influence in vain in England. It has not visited me; I know
+none here on whom it has descended. I am induced, therefore, to believe
+that it is part of the divine scheme that its influence should be local;
+that it should be approached with reverence, not thoughtlessly and
+hurriedly, but with such difficulties and such an interval of time as a
+pilgrimage to a spot sanctified can alone secure.'
+
+Sidonia listened to Tancred with deep attention. Lord Montacute was
+seated opposite the windows, so that there was a full light upon the
+play of the countenance, the expression of which Sidonia watched, while
+his keen and far-reaching vision traced at the same time the formation
+and development of the head of his visitor. He recognised in this youth
+not a vain and vague visionary, but a being in whom the faculties of
+reason and imagination were both of the highest class, and both
+equally developed. He observed that he was of a nature passionately
+affectionate, and that he was of a singular audacity. He perceived that
+though, at this moment, Tancred was as ignorant of the world as a
+young monk, he possessed all the latent qualities which in future would
+qualify him to control society. When Tancred had finished speaking,
+there was a pause of a few seconds, during which Sidonia seemed lost in
+thought; then, looking up, he said, 'It appears to me, Lord Montacute,
+that what you want is to penetrate the great Asian mystery.'
+
+'You have touched my inmost thought,' said Tancred, eagerly.
+
+At this moment there entered the room, from the glass door, the same
+young man who had ushered Tancred into the apartment. He brought a
+letter to Sidonia. Lord Montacute felt confused; his shyness returned to
+him; he deplored the unfortunate interruption, but he felt he was in
+the way. He rose, and began to say good-morning, when Sidonia, without
+taking his eyes off the letter, saw him, and waving his hand, stopped
+him, saying, 'I settled with Lord Eskdale that you were not to go away
+if anything occurred which required my momentary attention. So pray sit
+down, unless you have engagements.' And Tancred again seated himself.
+
+'Write,' continued Sidonia to the clerk, 'that my letters are twelve
+hours later than the despatches, and that the City continued quite
+tranquil. Let the extract from the Berlin letter be left at the same
+time at the Treasury. The last bulletin?'
+
+'Consols drooping at half-past two; all the foreign funds lower; shares
+very active.'
+
+They were once more alone. 'When do you propose going?' 'I hope in a
+week.' 'Alone?'
+
+'I fear I shall have many attendants.' 'That is a pity. Well, when
+you arrive at Jerusalem, you will naturally go to the convent of Terra
+Santa. You will make there the acquaintance of the Spanish prior, Alonzo
+Lara. He calls me cousin; he is a Nuevo of the fourteenth century. Very
+orthodox; but the love of the old land and the old language have come
+out in him, as they will, though his blood is no longer clear, but has
+been modified by many Gothic intermarriages, which was never our case.
+We are pure Sephardim. Lara thoroughly comprehends Palestine and all
+that pertains to it. He has been there a quarter of a century, and might
+have been Archbishop of Seville. You see, he is master of the old as
+well as the new learning; this is very important; they often explain
+each other. Your bishops here know nothing about these things. How
+can they? A few centuries back they were tattooed savages. This is the
+advantage which Rome has over you, and which you never can understand.
+That Church was founded by a Hebrew, and the magnetic influence
+lingers. But you will go to the fountain head. Theology requires an
+apprenticeship of some thousand years at least; to say nothing of clime
+and race. You cannot get on with theology as you do with chemistry and
+mechanics. Trust me, there is something deeper in it. I shall give you
+a note to Lara; cultivate him, he is the man you want. You will want
+others; they will come; but Lara has the first key.'
+
+'I am sorry to trouble you about such things,' said Tancred, in a
+hesitating voice, 'but perhaps I may not have the great pleasure to see
+you again, and Lord Eskdale said that I was to speak to you about some
+letters of credit.'
+
+'Oh! we shall meet before you go. But what you say reminds me of
+something. As for money, there is only one banker in Syria; he is
+everywhere, at Aleppo, Damascus, Beiroot, Jerusalem. It is Besso. Before
+the expulsion of the Egyptians, he really ruled Syria, but he is still
+powerful, though they have endeavoured to crush him at Constantinople. I
+applied to Metternich about him, and, besides that, he is mine.
+
+I shall give you a letter to him, but not merely for your money affairs.
+I wish you to know him. He lives in splendour at Damascus, moderately
+at Jerusalem, where there is little to do, but which he loves as a
+residence, being a Hebrew. I wish you to know him. You will, I am sure,
+agree with me, that he is, without exception, the most splendid specimen
+of the animal man you ever became acquainted with. His name is Adam, and
+verily he looks as if he were in the garden of Eden before the fall. But
+his soul is as grand and as fine as his body. You will lean upon this
+man as you would on a faithful charger. His divan is charming; you will
+always find there the most intelligent people. You must learn to smoke.
+There is nothing that Besso cannot do; make him do everything you want;
+have no scruples; he will be gratified. Besides, he is one of those who
+kiss my signet. These two letters will open Syria to you, and any other
+land, if you care to proceed. Give yourself no trouble about any other
+preparations.'
+
+'And how am I to thank you?' said Tancred, rising; 'and how am I to
+express to you all my gratitude?'
+
+'What are you going to do with yourself to-morrow?' said Sidonia. 'I
+never go anywhere; but I have a few friends who are so kind as to
+come sometimes to me. There are two or three persons dining with me
+to-morrow, whom you might like to meet. Will you do so?'
+
+'I shall be most proud and pleased.'
+
+'That's well. It is not here; it is in Carlton Gardens; at sunset.' And
+Sidonia continued the letter which he was writing when Tancred entered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+     _An Interesting Rencontre_
+
+WHEN Tancred returned home, musing, from a visit to Sidonia, he found
+the following note:
+
+
+'Lady Bertie and Bellair returns Lord Montacute his carriage with a
+thousand compliments and thanks. She fears she greatly incommoded
+Lord Montacute, but begs to assure him how very sensible she is of his
+considerate courtesy.
+
+'Upper Brook Street, Wednesday.'
+
+
+The handwriting was of that form of scripture which attracts; refined
+yet energetic; full of character. Tancred recognised the titles of
+Bertie and Bellair as those of two not inconsiderable earldoms, now
+centred in the same individual. Lady Bertie and Bellair was herself
+a lady of the high nobility; a daughter of the present Duke of
+Fitz-Aquitaine; the son of that duke who was the father-in-law of Lord
+de Mowbray, and whom Lady Firebrace, the present Lady Bardolf, and
+Tadpole, had dexterously converted to conservatism by persuading him
+that he was to be Sir Robert's Irish viceroy. Lady Bertie and Bellair,
+therefore, was first-cousin to Lady Joan Mountchesney, and her sister,
+who is still Lady Maud Fitz-Warene. Tancred was surprised that he never
+recollected to have met before one so distinguished and so beautiful.
+His conversation with Sidonia, however, had driven the little adventure
+of the morning from his memory, and now that it was thus recalled to
+him, he did not dwell upon it. His being was absorbed in his paramount
+purpose. The sympathy of Sidonia, so complete, and as instructive as it
+was animating, was a sustaining power which we often need when we are
+meditating great deeds. How often, when all seems dark, and hopeless,
+and spiritless, and tame, when slight obstacles figure in the cloudy
+landscape as Alps, and the rushing cataracts of our invention have
+subsided into drizzle, a single phrase of a great man instantaneously
+flings sunshine on the intellectual landscape, and the habitual
+features of power and beauty, over which we have so long mused in secret
+confidence and love, resume all their energy and lustre.
+
+The haunting thought that occasionally, notwithstanding his strong will,
+would perplex the soul and agitate the heart of Tancred; the haunting
+thought that, all this time, he was perhaps the dupe of boyish
+fantasies, was laid to-day. Sometimes he had felt, Why does no one
+sympathise with my views; why, though they treat them with conventional
+respect, is it clear that all I have addressed hold them to be absurd?
+My parents are pious and instructed; they are predisposed to view
+everything I say, or do, or think, with an even excessive favour.
+They think me moonstruck. Lord Eskdale is a perfect man of the world;
+proverbially shrewd, and celebrated for his judgment; he looks upon me
+as a raw boy, and believes that, if my father had kept me at Eton and
+sent me to Paris, I should by this time have exhausted my crudities. The
+bishop is what the world calls a great scholar; he is a statesman
+who, aloof from faction, ought to be accustomed to take just and
+comprehensive views; and a priest who ought to be under the immediate
+influence of the Holy Spirit. He says I am a visionary. All this might
+well be disheartening; but now comes one whom no circumstances impel to
+judge my project with indulgence; who would, at the first glance, appear
+to have many prejudices arrayed against it, who knows more of the world
+than Lord Eskdale, and who appears to me to be more learned than
+the whole bench of bishops, and he welcomes my ideas, approves my
+conclusions, sympathises with my suggestions; develops, illustrates,
+enforces them; plainly intimates that I am only on the threshold of
+initiation, and would aid me to advance to the innermost mysteries.
+
+There was this night a great ball at Lady Bardolfs, in Belgrave Square.
+One should generally mention localities, because very often they
+indicate character. Lady Bardolf lived next door to Mrs. Guy Flouncey.
+Both had risen in the world, though it requires some esoteric knowledge
+to recognise the patrician par-venue; and both had finally settled
+themselves down in the only quarter which Lady Bardolf thought worthy of
+her new coronet, and Mrs. Guy Flouncey of her new visiting list.
+
+Lady Bardolf had given up the old family mansion of the Firebraces in
+Hanover Square, at the same time that she had resigned their old title.
+Politics being dead, in consequence of the majority of 1841, who, after
+a little kicking for the million, satisfactorily assured the minister
+that there was no vice in them.
+
+Lady Bardolf had chalked out a new career, and one of a still more
+eminent and exciting character than her previous pursuit. Lady Bardolf
+was one of those ladies--there are several--who entertain the curious
+idea that they need only to be known in certain high quarters to be
+immediately selected as the principal objects of court favour. Lady
+Bardolf was always putting herself in the way of it; she never lost an
+opportunity; she never missed a drawing-room, contrived to be at all the
+court balls, plotted to be invited to a costume fete, and expended the
+tactics of a campaign to get asked to some grand chateau honoured by
+august presence. Still Her Majesty had not yet sent for Lady Bardolf.
+She was still very good friends with Lord Masque, for he had social
+influence, and could assist her; but as for poor Tadpole, she had sadly
+neglected him, his sphere being merely political, and that being no
+longer interesting. The honest gentleman still occasionally buzzed about
+her, slavering portentous stories about malcontent country gentlemen,
+mumbling Maynooth, and shaking his head at Young England. Tadpole was
+wont to say in confidence, that for his part he wished Sir Robert had
+left alone religion and commerce, and confined himself to finance, which
+was his forte as long as he had a majority to carry the projects which
+he found in the pigeon-holes of the Treasury, and which are always at
+the service of every minister.
+
+Well, it was at Lady Bardolfs ball, close upon midnight, that Tancred,
+who had not long entered, and had not very far advanced in the crowded
+saloons, turning his head, recognised his heroine of the morning,
+his still more recent correspondent, Lady Bertie and Bellair. She was
+speaking to Lord Valentine. It was impossible to mistake her; rapid as
+had been his former observation of her face, it was too remarkable to
+be forgotten, though the captivating details were only the result of his
+present more advantageous inspection. A small head and large dark eyes,
+dark as her rich hair which was quite unadorned, a pale but delicate
+complexion, small pearly teeth, were charms that crowned a figure rather
+too much above the middle height, yet undulating and not without grace.
+Her countenance was calm without being grave; she smiled with her eyes.
+
+She was for a moment alone; she looked round, and recognised Tancred;
+she bowed to him with a beaming glance. Instantly he was at her side.
+
+'Our second meeting to-day,' she said, in a low, sweet voice.
+
+'How came it that we never met before?' he replied.
+
+'I have just returned from Paris; the first time I have been out;
+and, had it not been for you,' she added, 'I should not have been here
+to-night. I think they would have put me in prison.'
+
+'Lady Bardolf ought to be very much obliged to me, and so ought the
+world.'
+
+'I am,' said Lady Bertie and Bellair.
+
+'That is worth everything else,' said Tancred.
+
+'What a pretty carriage you have! I do not think I shall ever get into
+mine again. I am almost glad they have destroyed my chariot. I am sure I
+shall never be able to drive in anything else now except a brougham.'
+
+'Why did you not keep mine?'
+
+'You are magnificent; too gorgeous and oriental for these cold climes.
+You shower your presents as if you were in the East, which Lord
+Valentine tells me you are about to visit. When do you leave us?'
+
+'I think of going immediately.'
+
+'Indeed!' said Lady Bertie and Bellair, and her countenance changed.
+There was a pause, and then she continued playfully, yet as it were half
+in sadness, 'I almost wish you had not come to my rescue this morning.'
+
+'And why?' 'Because I do not like to make agreeable acquaintances only
+to lose them.'
+
+'I think that I am most to be pitied,' said Tancred.
+
+'You are wearied of the world very soon. Before you can know us, you
+leave us.'
+
+'I am not wearied of the world, for indeed, as you say, I know nothing
+of it. I am here by accident, as you were in the stoppage to-day. It
+will disperse, and then I shall get on.'
+
+'Lord Valentine tells me that you are going to realise my dream of
+dreams, that you are going to Jerusalem.'
+
+'Ah!' said Tancred, kindling, 'you too have felt that want?'
+
+'But I never can pardon myself for not having satisfied it,' said Lady
+Bertie and Bellair in a mournful tone, and looking in his face with her
+beautiful dark eyes. 'It is the mistake of my life, and now can never be
+remedied. But I have no energy. I ought, as a girl, when they opposed
+my purpose, to have taken up my palmer's staff, and never have rested
+content till I had gathered my shell on the strand of Joppa.'
+
+'It is the right feeling' said Tancred. 'I am persuaded we ought all to
+go.'
+
+'But we remain here,' said the lady, in a tone of suppressed and elegant
+anguish; 'here, where we all complain of our hopeless lives; with not
+a thought beyond the passing hour, yet all bewailing its wearisome and
+insipid moments.'
+
+'Our lot is cast in a material age,' said Tancred.
+
+'The spiritual can alone satisfy me,' said Lady Bertie and Bellair.
+
+'Because you have a soul,' continued Tancred, with animation, 'still
+of a celestial hue. They are rare in the nineteenth century. Nobody now
+thinks about heaven. They never dream of angels. All their existence is
+concentrated in steamboats and railways.'
+
+'You are right,' said the lady, earnestly; 'and you fly from it.'
+
+'I go for other purposes; I would say even higher ones,' said Tancred.
+
+'I can understand you; your feelings are my own. Jerusalem has been
+the dream of my life. I have always been endeavouring to reach it, but
+somehow or other I never got further than Paris.'
+
+'And yet it is very easy now to get to Jerusalem,' said Tancred; 'the
+great difficulty, as a very remarkable man said to me this morning, is
+to know what to do when you are there.'
+
+'Who said that to you?' inquired Lady Bertie and Bellair, bending her
+head.
+
+'It was the person I was going to call upon when I met you; Monsieur de
+Sidonia.'
+
+'Monsieur de Sidonia!' said the lady, with animation. 'Ah! you know
+him?'
+
+'Not as much as I could wish. I saw him to-day for the first time. My
+cousin, Lord Eskdale, gave me a letter of introduction to him, for
+his advice and assistance about my journey. Sidonia has been a great
+traveller.'
+
+'There is no person I wish to know so much as M. de Sidonia,' said Lady
+Bertie and Bellair. 'He is a great friend of Lord Eskdale, I think?
+I must get Lord Eskdale,' she added, musingly, 'to give me a little
+dinner, and ask M. de Sidonia to meet me.'
+
+'He never goes anywhere; at least I have heard so,' said Tancred.
+
+'He once used to do, and to give us great fetes. I remember hearing of
+them before I was out. We must make him resume them. He is immensely
+rich.'
+
+'I dare say he may be,' said Tancred. 'I wonder how a man with his
+intellect and ideas can think of the accumulation of wealth.'
+
+''Tis his destiny,' said Lady Bertie and Bellair. 'He can no more
+disembarrass himself of his hereditary millions than a dynasty of the
+cares of empire. I wonder if he will get the Great Northern. They talked
+of nothing else at Paris.'
+
+'Of what?' said Tancred.
+
+'Oh! let us talk of Jerusalem!' said Lady Bertie and Bellair. 'Ah, here
+is Augustus! Let me make you and my husband acquainted.'
+
+Tancred almost expected to see the moustached companion of the
+morning, but it was not so. Lord Bertie and Bellair was a tall, thin,
+distinguished, withered-looking young man, who thanked Tancred for his
+courtesy of the morning with a sort of gracious negligence, and, after
+some easy talk, asked Tancred to dine with them on the morrow. He was
+engaged, but he promised to call on Lady Bertie and Bellair immediately,
+and see some drawings of the Holy Land.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+     _Lord Henry Sympathises_
+
+PASSING through a marble antechamber, Tancred was ushered into an
+apartment half saloon and half-library; the choicely-bound volumes,
+which were not too numerous, were ranged on shelves inlaid in the walls,
+so that they ornamented, without diminishing, the apartment. These walls
+were painted in encaustic, corresponding with the coved ceiling, which
+was richly adorned in the same fashion. A curtain of violet velvet,
+covering if necessary the large window, which looked upon a balcony full
+of flowers, and the umbrageous Park; an Axminster carpet, manufactured
+to harmonise both in colour and design with the rest of the chamber; a
+profusion of luxurious seats; a large table of ivory marquetry, bearing
+a carved silver bell which once belonged to a pope; a Naiad, whose
+golden urn served as an inkstand; some daggers that acted as paper
+cutters, and some French books just arrived; a group of beautiful
+vases recently released from an Egyptian tomb and ranged on a tripod of
+malachite: the portrait of a statesman, and the bust of an emperor,
+and a sparkling fire, were all circumstances which made the room both
+interesting and comfortable in which Sidonia welcomed Tancred and
+introduced him to a guest who had preceded him, Lord Henry Sydney.
+
+It was a name that touched Tancred, as it has all the youth of England,
+significant of a career that would rescue public life from that strange
+union of lax principles and contracted sympathies which now form the
+special and degrading features of British politics. It was borne by one
+whose boyhood we have painted amid the fields and schools of Eton, and
+the springtime of whose earliest youth we traced by the sedgy waters
+of the Cam. We left him on the threshold of public life; and, in four
+years, Lord Henry had created that reputation which now made him a
+source of hope and solace to millions of his countrymen. But they were
+four years of labour which outweighed the usual exertions of public men
+in double that space. His regular attendance in the House of Commons
+alone had given him as much Parliamentary experience as fell to the
+lot of many of those who had been first returned in 1837, and had been,
+therefore, twice as long in the House. He was not only a vigilant member
+of public and private committees, but had succeeded in appointing and
+conducting several on topics which he esteemed of high importance. Add
+to this, that he took an habitual part in debate, and was a frequent
+and effective public writer; and we are furnished with an additional
+testimony, if that indeed were wanting, that there is no incentive
+to exertion like the passion for a noble renown. Nor should it be
+forgotten, that, in all he accomplished, he had but one final purpose,
+and that the highest. The debate, the committee, the article in the
+Journal or the Review, the public meeting, the private research, these
+were all means to advance that which he had proposed as the object of
+his public life, namely, to elevate the condition of the people.
+
+Although there was no public man whose powers had more rapidly ripened,
+still it was interesting to observe that their maturity had been
+faithful to the healthy sympathies of his earlier years. The boy, whom
+we have traced intent upon the revival of the pastimes of the people,
+had expanded into the statesman, who, in a profound and comprehensive
+investigation of the elements of public wealth, had shown that a jaded
+population is not a source of national prosperity. What had been a
+picturesque emotion had now become a statistical argument. The material
+system that proposes the supply of constant toil to a people as the
+perfection of polity, had received a staggering blow from the exertions
+of a young patrician, who announced his belief that labour had its
+rights as well as its duties. What was excellent about Lord Henry
+was, that he was not a mere philanthropist, satisfied to rouse public
+attention to a great social evil, or instantly to suggest for it some
+crude remedy.
+
+A scholar and a man of the world, learned in history and not
+inexperienced in human nature, he was sensible that we must look to the
+constituent principles of society for the causes and the cures of great
+national disorders. He therefore went deeply into the question, nor
+shrank from investigating how far those disorders were produced by the
+operation or the desuetude of ancient institutions, and how far it might
+be necessary to call new influences into political existence for
+their remedy. Richly informed, still studious, fond of labour and
+indefatigable, of a gentle disposition though of an ardent mind, calm
+yet energetic, very open to conviction, but possessing an inflexibility
+amounting even to obstinacy when his course was once taken, a ready and
+improving speaker, an apt and attractive writer, affable and sincere,
+and with the undesigning faculty of making friends, Lord Henry seemed
+to possess all the qualities of a popular leader, if we add to them
+the golden ones: high lineage, an engaging appearance, youth, and a
+temperament in which the reason had not been developed to the prejudice
+of the heart.
+
+'And when do you start for the Holy Land?' said Lord Henry to Tancred,
+in a tone and with a countenance which proved his sympathy.
+
+'I have clutched my staff, but the caravan lingers.'
+
+'I envy you!'
+
+'Why do you not go?'
+
+Lord Henry slightly shrugged his shoulders, and said, 'It is too late. I
+have begun my work and I cannot leave it.'
+
+'If a Parliamentary career could save this country,' said Tancred, 'I
+am sure you would be a public benefactor. I have observed what you and
+Mr. Con-ingsby and some of your friends have done and said, with great
+interest. But Parliament seems to me to be the very place which a man
+of action should avoid. A Parliamentary career, that old superstition of
+the eighteenth century, was important when there were no other sources
+of power and fame. An aristocracy at the head of a people whom they had
+plundered of their means of education, required some cultivated tribunal
+whose sympathy might stimulate their intelligence and satisfy their
+vanity. Parliament was never so great as when they debated with closed
+doors. The public opinion, of which they never dreamed, has superseded
+the rhetorical club of our great-grandfathers. They know this well
+enough, and try to maintain their unnecessary position by affecting
+the character of men of business, but amateur men of business are very
+costly conveniences. In this age it is not Parliament that does the real
+work. It does not govern Ireland, for example. If the manufacturers want
+to change a tariff, they form a commercial league, and they effect their
+purpose. It is the same with the abolition of slavery, and all our great
+revolutions. Parliament has become as really insignificant as for two
+centuries it has kept the monarch. O'Connell has taken a good share of
+its power; Cobden has taken another; and I am inclined to believe,'
+said Tancred, 'though I care little about it, that, if our order had
+any spirit or prescience, they would put themselves at the head of the
+people, and take the rest.'
+
+'Coningsby dines here to-day,' said Sidonia, who, unobserved, had
+watched Tancred as he spoke, with a searching glance.
+
+'Notwithstanding what you say,' said Lord Henry, smiling, 'I wish I
+could induce you to remain and help us. You would be a great ally.'
+
+'I go to a land,' said Tancred, 'that has never been blessed by that
+fatal drollery called a representative government, though Omniscience
+once deigned to trace out the polity which should rule it.'
+
+At this moment the servant announced Lord and Lady Marney.
+
+Political sympathy had created a close intimacy between Lord Marney
+and Coningsby. They were necessary to each other. They were both men
+entirely devoted to public affairs, and sitting in different Houses,
+both young, and both masters of fortunes of the first class, they were
+indicated as individuals who hereafter might take a lead, and, far
+from clashing, would co-operate with each other. Through Coningsby
+the Marneys had become acquainted with Sidonia, who liked them both,
+particularly Sybil. Although received by society with open arms,
+especially by the high nobility, who affected to look upon Sybil quite
+as one of themselves, Lady Marney, notwithstanding the homage that
+everywhere awaited her, had already shown a disposition to retire as
+much as possible within the precinct of a chosen circle.
+
+This was her second season, and Sybil ventured to think that she had
+made, in the general gaieties of her first, a sufficient oblation to
+the genius of fashion, and the immediate requirements of her social
+position. Her life was faithful to its first impulse. Devoted to the
+improvement of the condition of the people, she was the moving spring
+of the charitable development of this great city. Her house, without any
+pedantic effort, had become the focus of a refined society, who, though
+obliged to show themselves for the moment in the great carnival,
+wear their masks, blow their trumpets, and pelt the multitude with
+sugarplums, were glad to find a place where they could at all times
+divest themselves of their mummery, and return to their accustomed garb
+of propriety and good taste.
+
+Sybil, too, felt alone in the world. Without a relation, without an
+acquaintance of early and other days, she clung to her husband with a
+devotion which was peculiar as well as profound. Egremont was to her
+more than a husband and a lover; he was her only friend; it seemed to
+Sybil that he could be her only friend. The disposition of Lord Marney
+was not opposed to the habits of his wife. Men, when they are married,
+often shrink from the glare and bustle of those social multitudes which
+are entered by bachelors with the excitement of knights-errant in a
+fairy wilderness, because they are supposed to be rife with adventures,
+and, perhaps, fruitful of a heroine. The adventure sometimes turns out
+to be a catastrophe, and the heroine a copy instead of an original; but
+let that pass.
+
+Lord Marney liked to be surrounded by those who sympathised with his
+pursuit; and his pursuit was politics, and politics on a great scale.
+The commonplace career of official distinction was at his command. A
+great peer, with abilities and ambition, a good speaker, supposed to be
+a Conservative, he might soon have found his way into the cabinet,
+and, like the rest, have assisted in registering the decrees of one
+too powerful individual. But Lord Marney had been taught to think at
+a period of life when he little dreamed of the responsibility which
+fortune had in store for him.
+
+The change in his position had not altered the conclusions at which
+he had previously arrived. He held that the state of England,
+notwithstanding the superficies of a material prosperity, was one of
+impending doom, unless it were timely arrested by those who were in high
+places. A man of fine mind rather than of brilliant talents, Lord Marney
+found, in the more vivid and impassioned intelligence of Coningsby, the
+directing sympathy which he required. Tadpole looked upon his lordship
+as little short of insane. 'Do you see that man?' he would say as Lord
+Marney rode by. 'He might be Privy Seal, and he throws it all away for
+the nonsense of Young England!'
+
+Mrs. Coningsby entered the room almost on the footsteps of the Marneys.
+
+'I am in despair about Harry,' she said, as she gave a finger to
+Sidonia, 'but he told me not to wait for him later than eight. I suppose
+he is kept at the House. Do you know anything of him, Lord Henry?'
+
+'You may make yourself quite easy about him,' said Lord Henry. 'He
+promised Vavasour to support a motion which he has to-day, and perhaps
+speak on it. I ought to be there too, but Charles Buller told me there
+would certainly be no division and so I ventured to pair off with him.'
+
+'He will come with Vavasour,' said Sidonia, 'who makes up our party.
+They will be here before we have seated ourselves.'
+
+The gentlemen had exchanged the usual inquiry, whether there was
+anything new to-day, without waiting for the answer. Sidonia introduced
+Tancred and Lord Marney.
+
+'And what have you been doing to-day?' said Edith to Sybil, by whose
+side she had seated herself. 'Lady Bardolf did nothing last night but
+gronder me, because you never go to her parties. In vain I said that you
+looked upon her as the most odious of her sex, and her balls the pest of
+society. She was not in the least satisfied. And how is Gerard?'
+
+'Why, we really have been very uneasy about him,' said Lady Marney, 'but
+the last bulletin,' she added, with a smile, 'announces a tooth.'
+
+'Next year you must give him a pony, and let him ride with my Harry;
+I mean my little Harry, Harry of Monmouth I call him; he is so like a
+portrait Mr. Coningsby has of his grandfather, the same debauched look.'
+
+'Your dinner is served, sir!'
+
+Sidonia offered his hand to Lady Marney; Edith was attended by Tancred.
+A door at the end of the room opened into a marble corridor, which led
+to the dining-room, decorated in the same style as the library. It was
+a suite of apartments which Sidonia used for an intimate circle like the
+present.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+     _A Modern Troubadour_
+
+THEY seated themselves at a round table, on which everything seemed
+brilliant and sparkling; nothing heavy, nothing oppressive. There
+was scarcely anything that Sidonia disliked so much as a small table,
+groaning, as it is aptly termed, with plate. He shrunk from great masses
+of gold and silver; gigantic groups, colossal shields, and mobs of
+tankards and flagons; and never used them except on great occasions,
+when the banquet assumes an Egyptian character, and becomes too vast
+for refinement. At present, the dinner was served on Sevres porcelain of
+Rose du Barri, raised on airy golden stands of arabesque workmanship;
+a mule bore your panniers of salt, or a sea-nymph proffered it you on
+a shell just fresh from the ocean, or you found it in a bird's nest; by
+every guest a different pattern. In the centre of the table, mounted on
+a pedestal, was a group of pages in Dresden china. Nothing could be
+more gay than their bright cloaks and flowing plumes, more elaborately
+exquisite than their laced shirts and rosettes, or more fantastically
+saucy than their pretty affected faces, as each, with extended arm, held
+a light to a guest. The room was otherwise illumined from the sides.
+
+The guests had scarcely seated themselves when the two absent ones
+arrived.
+
+'Well, you did not divide, Vavasour,' said Lord Henry.
+
+'Did I not?' said Vavasour; 'and nearly beat the Government. You are a
+pretty fellow!'
+
+'I was paired.'
+
+'With some one who could not stay. Your brother, Mrs. Coningsby, behaved
+like a man, sacrificed his dinner, and made a capital speech.'
+
+'Oh! Oswald, did he speak? Did you speak, Harry?'
+
+'No; I voted. There was too much speaking as it was; if Vavasour had not
+replied, I believe we should have won.'
+
+'But then, my dear fellow, think of my points; think how they laid
+themselves open!'
+
+'A majority is always the best repartee,' said Coningsby.
+
+'I have been talking with Montacute,' whispered Lord Henry to Coningsby,
+who was seated next to him. 'Wonderful fellow! You can conceive nothing
+richer! Very wild, but all the right ideas; exaggerated of course. You
+must get hold of him after dinner.'
+
+'But they say he is going to Jerusalem.'
+
+'But he will return.'
+
+'I do not know that; even Napoleon regretted that he had ever re-crossed
+the Mediterranean. The East is a career.'
+
+Mr. Vavasour was a social favourite; a poet and a real poet, and
+a troubadour, as well as a member of Parliament; travelled,
+sweet-tempered, and good-hearted; amusing and clever. With catholic
+sympathies and an eclectic turn of mind, Mr. Vavasour saw something good
+in everybody and everything, which is certainly amiable, and perhaps
+just, but disqualifies a man in some degree for the business of life,
+which requires for its conduct a certain degree of prejudice. Mr.
+Vavasour's breakfasts were renowned. Whatever your creed, class, or
+country, one might almost add your character, you were a welcome guest
+at his matutinal meal, provided you were celebrated. That qualification,
+however, was rigidly enforced.
+
+It not rarely happened that never were men more incongruously grouped.
+Individuals met at his hospitable house who had never met before, but
+who for years had been cherishing in solitude mutual detestation, with
+all the irritable exaggeration of the literary character. Vavasour liked
+to be the Amphitryon of a cluster of personal enemies. He prided himself
+on figuring as the social medium by which rival reputations became
+acquainted, and paid each other in his presence the compliments which
+veiled their ineffable disgust. All this was very well at his rooms in
+the Albany, and only funny; but when he collected his menageries at his
+ancestral hall in a distant county, the sport sometimes became tragic.
+
+A real philosopher, alike from his genial disposition and from the
+influence of his rich and various information, Vavasour moved amid
+the strife, sympathising with every one; and perhaps, after all, the
+philanthropy which was his boast was not untinged by a dash of humour,
+of which rare and charming quality he possessed no inconsiderable
+portion. Vavasour liked to know everybody who was known, and to see
+everything which ought to be seen. He also was of opinion that everybody
+who was known ought to know him; and that the spectacle, however
+splendid or exciting, was not quite perfect without his presence.
+
+His life was a gyration of energetic curiosity; an insatiable whirl of
+social celebrity. There was not a congregation of sages and philosophers
+in any part of Europe which he did not attend as a brother. He was
+present at the camp of Kalisch in his yeomanry uniform, and assisted at
+the festivals of Barcelona in an Andalusian jacket. He was everywhere,
+and at everything; he had gone down in a diving-bell and gone up in a
+balloon. As for his acquaintances, he was welcomed in every land; his
+universal sympathies seemed omnipotent. Emperor and king, jacobin and
+carbonaro, alike cherished him. He was the steward of Polish balls and
+the vindicator of Russian humanity; he dined with Louis Philippe, and
+gave dinners to Louis Blanc.
+
+This was a dinner of which the guests came to partake. Though they
+delighted in each other's society, their meetings were not so rare that
+they need sacrifice the elegant pleasures of a refined meal for the
+opportunity of conversation. They let that take its chance, and ate
+and drank without affectation. Nothing so rare as a female dinner where
+people eat, and few things more delightful. On the present occasion some
+time elapsed, while the admirable performances of Sidonia's cook were
+discussed, with little interruption; a burst now and then from the
+ringing voice of Mrs. Coningsby crossing a lance with her habitual
+opponent, Mr. Vavasour, who, however, generally withdrew from the
+skirmish when a fresh dish was handed to him.
+
+At length, the second course being served, Mrs. Coningsby said, 'I think
+you have all eaten enough: I have a piece of information for you. There
+is going to be a costume ball at the Palace.'
+
+This announcement produced a number of simultaneous remarks and
+exclamations. 'When was it to be? What was it to be? An age, or a
+country; or an olio of all ages and all countries?'
+
+'An age is a masquerade,' said Sidonia. 'The more contracted the circle,
+the more perfect the illusion.'
+
+'Oh, no!' said Vavasour, shaking his head. 'An age is the thing; it is a
+much higher thing. What can be finer than to represent the spirit of an
+age?'
+
+'And Mr. Vavasour to perform the principal part,' said Mrs. Coningsby.
+'I know exactly what he means. He wants to dance the polka as Petrarch,
+and find a Laura in every partner.'
+
+'You have no poetical feeling,' said Mr. Vavasour, waving his hand. 'I
+have often told you so.'
+
+'You will easily find Lauras, Mr. Vavasour, if you often write such
+beautiful verses as I have been reading to-day,' said Lady Marney.
+
+'You, on the contrary,' said Mr. Vavasour, bowing, 'have a great deal of
+poetic feeling, Lady Marney; I have always said so.'
+
+'But give us your news, Edith,' said Coningsby. 'Imagine our suspense,
+when it is a question, whether we are all to look picturesque or
+quizzical.'
+
+'Ah, you want to know whether you can go as Cardinal Mazarin, or the
+Duke of Ripperda, Harry. I know exactly what you all are now thinking
+of; whether you will draw the prize in the forthcoming lottery, and get
+exactly the epoch and the character which suit you. Is it not so, Lord
+Montacute? Would not you like to practise a little with your crusados at
+the Queen's ball before you go to the Holy Sepulchre?'
+
+'I would rather hear your description of it,' said Tancred.
+
+'Lord Henry, I see, is half inclined to be your companion as a Red-cross
+Knight,' continued Edith. 'As for Lady Marney, she is the successor
+of Mrs. Fry, and would wish, I am sure, to go to the ball as her
+representative.'
+
+'And pray what are you thinking of being?' said Mr. Vavasour. 'We
+should like very much to be favoured with Mrs. Coningsby's ideal of
+herself.'
+
+'Mrs. Coningsby leaves the ideal to poets. She is quite satisfied to
+remain what she is, and it is her intention to do so, though she means
+to go to Her Majesty's ball.'
+
+'I see that you are in the secret,' said Lord Marney.
+
+'If I could only keep secrets, I might turn out something.' said Mrs.
+Coningsby. 'I am the depositary of so much that is occult-joys, sorrows,
+plots, and scrapes; but I always tell Harry, and he always betrays me.
+Well, you must guess a little. Lady Marney begins.'
+
+'Well, we were at one at Turin,' said Lady Marney, 'and it was oriental,
+Lalla Rookh. Are you to be a sultana?'
+
+Mrs. Coningsby shook her head.
+
+'Come, Edith,' said her husband; 'if you know, which I doubt----'
+
+'Oh! you doubt----'
+
+'Valentine told me yesterday,' said Mr. Vavasour, in a mock peremptory
+tone, 'that there would not be a ball.'
+
+'And Lord Valentine told me yesterday that there would be a ball, and
+what the ball would be; and what is more, I have fixed on my dress,'
+said Mrs. Coningsby.
+
+'Such a rapid decision proves that much antiquarian research is not
+necessary,' said Sidonia. 'Your period is modern.'
+
+'Ah!' said Edith, looking at Sidonia, 'he always finds me out. Well, Mr.
+Vavasour, you will not be able to crown yourself with a laurel wreath,
+for the gentlemen will wear wigs.'
+
+'Louis Quatorze?' said her husband. 'Peel as Louvois.'
+
+'No, Sir Robert would be content with nothing less than _Le
+Grand Colbert, rue Richelieu, No. 75, grand magasin de nouveautes
+tres-anciennes: prix fixe, avec quelques rabais._'
+
+'A description of Conservatism,' said Coningsby.
+
+The secret was soon revealed: every one had a conjecture and a
+commentary: gentlemen in wigs, and ladies powdered, patched, and sacked.
+Vavasour pondered somewhat dolefully on the anti-poetic spirit of the
+age; Coningsby hailed him as the author of Leonidas.
+
+'And you, I suppose, will figure as one of the "boys" arrayed against
+the great Sir Robert?' said Mr. Vavasour, with a countenance of mock
+veneration for that eminent personage.
+
+'The "boys" beat him at last,' said Coningsby; and then, with a rapid
+precision and a richness of colouring which were peculiar to him, he
+threw out a sketch which placed the period before them; and they
+began to tear it to tatters, select the incidents, and apportion the
+characters.
+
+Two things which are necessary to a perfect dinner are noiseless
+attendants, and a precision in serving the various dishes of each
+course, so that they may all be placed upon the table at the same
+moment. A deficiency in these respects produces that bustle and delay
+which distract many an agreeable conversation and spoil many a pleasant
+dish. These two excellent characteristics were never wanting at the
+dinners of Sidonia. At no house was there less parade. The appearance
+of the table changed as if by the waving of a wand, and silently as a
+dream. And at this moment, the dessert being arranged, fruits and their
+beautiful companions, flowers, reposed in alabaster baskets raised on
+silver stands of filigree work.
+
+There was half an hour of merry talk, graceful and gay: a good story,
+a _bon-mot_ fresh from the mint, some raillery like summer lightning,
+vivid but not scorching.
+
+'And now,' said Edith, as the ladies rose to return to the library,
+'and now we leave you to Maynooth.'
+
+'By-the-bye, what do they say to it in your House, Lord Marney?'
+inquired Henry Sydney, filling his glass.
+
+'It will go down,' said Lord Marney. 'A strong dose for some, but they
+are used to potent potions.'
+
+'The bishops, they say, have not made up their minds.'
+
+'Fancy bishops not having made up their minds,' exclaimed Tancred: 'the
+only persons who ought never to doubt.'
+
+'Except when they are offered a bishopric,' said Lord Marney.
+
+'Why I like this Maynooth project,' said Tancred, 'though otherwise it
+little interests me, is, that all the shopkeepers are against it.'
+
+'Don't tell that to the minister,' said Coningsby, 'or he will give up
+the measure.'
+
+'Well, that is the very reason,' said Vavasour, 'why, though otherwise
+inclined to the grant, I hesitate as to my vote. I have the highest
+opinion of the shopkeepers; I sympathise even with their prejudices.
+They are the class of the age; they represent its order, its decency,
+its industry.'
+
+'And you represent them,' said Coningsby. 'Vavasour is the quintessence
+of order, decency, and industry.'
+
+'You may jest,' said Vavasour, shaking his head with a spice of solemn
+drollery; 'but public opinion must and ought to be respected, right or
+wrong.'
+
+'What do you mean by public opinion?' said Tancred.
+
+'The opinion of the reflecting majority,' said Vavasour.
+
+'Those who don't read your poems,' said Coningsby.
+
+'Boy, boy!' said Vavasour, who could endure raillery from one he
+had been at college with, but who was not over-pleased at Coningsby
+selecting the present occasion to claim his franchise, when a new man
+was present like Lord Montacute, on whom Vavasour naturally wished to
+produce an impression. It must be owned that it was not, as they say,
+very good taste in the husband of Edith, but prosperity had developed in
+Coningsby a native vein of sauciness which it required all the solemnity
+of the senate to repress. Indeed, even there, upon the benches, with
+a grave face, he often indulged in quips and cranks that convulsed
+his neighbouring audience, who often, amid the long dreary nights of
+statistical imposture, sought refuge in his gay sarcasms, his airy
+personalities, and happy quotations.
+
+'I do not see how there can be opinion without thought,' said Tancred;
+'and I do not believe the public ever think. How can they? They have no
+time. Certainly we live at present under the empire of general ideas,
+which are extremely powerful. But the public have not invented those
+ideas. They have adopted them from convenience. No one has confidence in
+himself; on the contrary, every one has a mean idea of his own strength
+and has no reliance on his own judgment. Men obey a general impulse,
+they bow before an external necessity, whether for resistance or action.
+Individuality is dead; there is a want of inward and personal energy
+in man; and that is what people feel and mean when they go about
+complaining there is no faith.'
+
+'You would hold, then,' said Henry Sydney, 'that the progress of public
+liberty marches with the decay of personal greatness?'
+
+'It would seem so.'
+
+'But the majority will always prefer public liberty to personal
+greatness,' said Lord Marney.
+
+'But, without personal greatness, you never would have had public
+liberty,' said Coningsby.
+
+'After all, it is civilisation that you are kicking against,' said
+Vavasour.
+
+'I do not understand what you mean by civilisation,' said Tancred.
+
+'The progressive development of the faculties of man,' said Vavasour.
+
+'Yes, but what is progressive development?' said Sidonia; 'and what are
+the faculties of man? If development be progressive, how do you
+account for the state of Italy? One will tell you it is superstition,
+indulgences, and the Lady of Loretto; yet three centuries ago, when all
+these influences were much more powerful, Italy was the soul of Europe.
+The less prejudiced, a Puseyite for example, like our friend Vavasour,
+will assure us that the state of Italy has nothing to do with the
+spirit of its religion, but that it is entirely an affair of commerce; a
+revolution of commerce has convulsed its destinies. I cannot forget that
+the world was once conquered by Italians who had no commerce. Has the
+development of Western Asia been progressive? It is a land of tombs and
+ruins. Is China progressive, the most ancient and numerous of existing
+societies? Is Europe itself progressive? Is Spain a tithe as great as
+she was? Is Germany as great as when she invented printing; as she was
+under the rule of Charles the Fifth? France herself laments her relative
+inferiority to the past. But England flourishes. Is it what you
+call civilisation that makes England flourish? Is it the universal
+development of the faculties of man that has rendered an island, almost
+unknown to the ancients, the arbiter of the world? Clearly not. It is
+her inhabitants that have done this; it is an affair of race. A Saxon
+race, protected by an insular position, has stamped its diligent and
+methodic character on the century. And when a superior race, with
+a superior idea to work and order, advances, its state will be
+progressive, and we shall, perhaps, follow the example of the desolate
+countries. All is race; there is no other truth.'
+
+'Because it includes all others?' said Lord Henry.
+
+'You have said it.'
+
+'As for Vavasour's definition of civilisation,' said Coningsby,
+'civilisation was more advanced in ancient than modern times; then what
+becomes of the progressive principle? Look at the great centuries of the
+Roman Empire! You had two hundred millions of human beings governed by
+a jurisprudence so philosophical that we have been obliged to adopt
+its laws, and living in perpetual peace. The means of communication,
+of which we now make such a boast, were far more vast and extensive in
+those days. What were the Great Western and the London and Birmingham to
+the Appian and Flaminian roads? After two thousand five hundred years,
+parts of these are still used. A man under the Antonines might travel
+from Paris to Antioch with as much ease and security as we go from
+London to York. As for free trade, there never was a really unshackled
+commerce except in the days when the whole of the Mediterranean coasts
+belonged to one power. What a chatter there is now about the towns, and
+how their development is cited as the peculiarity of the age, and the
+great security for public improvement. Why, the Roman Empire was the
+empire of great cities. Man was then essentially municipal.'
+
+'What an empire!' said Sidonia. 'All the superior races in all the
+superior climes.'
+
+'But how does all this accord with your and Coningsby's favourite theory
+of the influence of individual character?' said Vavasour to Sidonia;
+'which I hold, by-the-bye,' he added rather pompously, 'to be entirely
+futile.'
+
+'What is individual character but the personification of race,' said
+Sidonia, 'its perfection and choice exemplar? Instead of being an
+inconsistency, the belief in the influence of the individual is a
+corollary of the original proposition.'
+
+'I look upon a belief in the influence of individual character as a
+barbarous superstition,' said Vavasour.
+
+'Vavasour believes that there would be no heroes if there were a
+police,' said Coningsby; 'but I believe that civilisation is only fatal
+to minstrels, and that is the reason now we have no poets.'
+
+'How do you account for the Polish failure in 1831?' said Lord Marney.
+'They had a capital army, they were backed by the population, but they
+failed. They had everything but a man.'
+
+'Why were the Whigs smashed in 1834,' said Coningsby, 'but because they
+had not a man?'
+
+'What is the real explanation of the state of Mexico?' said Sidonia. 'It
+has not a man.'
+
+'So much for progress since the days of Charles the Fifth,' said Henry
+Sydney. 'The Spaniards then conquered Mexico, and now they cannot
+govern it.'
+
+'So much for race,' said Vavasour. 'The race is the same; why are not
+the results the same?'
+
+'Because it is worn out,' said Sidonia. 'Why do not the Ethiopians build
+another Thebes, or excavate the colossal temples of the cataracts? The
+decay of a race is an inevitable necessity, unless it lives in deserts
+and never mixes its blood.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+     _Sweet Sympathy_
+
+I AM sorry, my dear mother, that I cannot accompany you; but I must go
+down to my yacht this morning, and on my return from Greenwich I have an
+engagement.'
+
+This was said about a week after the dinner at Sidonia's, by Lord
+Montacute to the duchess. 'That terrible yacht!' thought the duchess.
+Her Grace, a year ago, had she been aware of it, would have deemed
+Tancred's engagement as fearful an affair. The idea that her son should
+have called every day for a week on a married lady, beautiful and
+attractive, would have filled her with alarm amounting almost to horror.
+Yet such was the innocent case. It might at the first glance seem
+difficult to reconcile the rival charms of the Basilisk and Lady Bertie
+and Bellair, and to understand how Tancred could be so interested in the
+preparations for a voyage which was to bear him from the individual in
+whose society he found a daily gratification. But the truth is, that
+Lady Bertie and Bellair was the only person who sympathised with his
+adventure.
+
+She listened with the liveliest concern to his account of all his
+progress; she even made many admirable suggestions, for Lady Bertie and
+Bellair had been a frequent visitor at Cowes, and was quite initiated
+in the mysteries of the dilettante service of the Yacht Club. She was
+a capital sailor; at least she always told Tancred so. But this was not
+the chief source of sympathy, or the principal bond of union, between
+them. It was not the voyage, so much as the object of the voyage, that
+touched all the passion of Lady Bertie and Bellair. Her heart was at
+Jerusalem. The sacred city was the dream of her life; and, amid the
+dissipations of May Fair and the distractions of Belgravia, she had in
+fact all this time only been thinking of Jehoshaphat and Sion. Strange
+coincidence of sentiment--strange and sweet!
+
+The enamoured Montacute hung over her with pious rapture, as they
+examined together Mr. Roberts's Syrian drawings, and she alike charmed
+and astonished him by her familiarity with every locality and each
+detail. She looked like a beautiful prophetess as she dilated with
+solemn enthusiasm on the sacred scene. Tancred called on her every day,
+because when he called the first time he had announced his immediate
+departure, and so had been authorised to promise that he would pay his
+respects to her every day till he went. It was calculated that by these
+means, that is to say three or four visits, they might perhaps travel
+through Mr. Roberts's views together before he left England, which would
+facilitate their correspondence, for Tancred had engaged to write to the
+only person in the world worthy of receiving his letters. But, though
+separated, Lady Bertie and Bellair would be with him in spirit; and
+once she sighed and seemed to murmur that if his voyage could only be
+postponed awhile, she might in a manner become his fellow-pilgrim, for
+Lord Bertie, a great sportsman, had a desire to kill antelopes, and,
+wearied with the monotonous slaughter of English preserves, tired even
+of the eternal moors, had vague thoughts of seeking new sources of
+excitement amid the snipes of the Grecian marshes, and the deer and wild
+boars of the desert and the Syrian hills.
+
+While his captain was repeating his inquiries for instructions on the
+deck of the Basilisk at Greenwich, moored off the Trafalgar Hotel,
+Tancred fell into reveries of female pilgrims kneeling at the Holy
+Sepulchre by his side; then started, gave a hurried reply, and drove
+back quickly to town, to pass the remainder of the morning in Brook
+Street.
+
+The two or three days had expanded into two or three weeks, and Tancred
+continued to call daily on Lady Bertie and Bellair, to say farewell. It
+was not wonderful: she was the only person in London who understood him;
+so she delicately intimated, so he profoundly felt. They had the same
+ideas; they must have the same idiosyncrasy. The lady asked with a sigh
+why they had not met before; Tancred found some solace in the thought
+that they had at least become acquainted. There was something about this
+lady very interesting besides her beauty, her bright intelligence, and
+her seraphic thoughts. She was evidently the creature of impulse; to
+a certain degree perhaps the victim of her imagination. She seemed
+misplaced in life. The tone of the century hardly suited her refined and
+romantic spirit. Her ethereal nature seemed to shrink from the coarse
+reality which invades in our days even the boudoirs of May Fair.
+
+There was something in her appearance and the temper of her being which
+rebuked the material, sordid, calculating genius of our reign of Mammon.
+
+Her presence in this world was a triumphant vindication of the claims
+of beauty and of sentiment. It was evident that she was not happy;
+for, though her fair brow always lighted up when she met the glance
+of Tancred, it was impossible not to observe that she was sometimes
+strangely depressed, often anxious and excited, frequently absorbed in
+reverie. Yet her vivid intelligence, the clearness and precision of her
+thought and fancy, never faltered. In the unknown yet painful contest,
+the intellectual always triumphed. It was impossible to deny that she
+was a woman of great ability.
+
+Nor could it for a moment be imagined that these fitful moods were
+merely the routine intimations that her domestic hearth was not as happy
+as it deserved to be. On the contrary, Lord and Lady Bertie and Bellair
+were the very best friends; she always spoke of her husband with
+interest and kindness; they were much together, and there evidently
+existed between them mutual confidence. His lordship's heart, indeed,
+was not at Jerusalem; and perhaps this want of sympathy on a subject
+of such rare and absorbing interest might account for the occasional
+musings of his wife, taking refuge in her own solitary and devoutly
+passionate soul. But this deficiency on the part of his lordship could
+scarcely be alleged against him as a very heinous fault; it is far from
+usual to find a British noble who on such a topic entertains the notions
+and sentiments of Lord Montacute; almost as rare to find a British
+peeress who could respond to them with the same fervour and facility
+as the beautiful Lady Bertie and Bellair. The life of a British peer is
+mainly regulated by Arabian laws and Syrian customs at this moment;
+but, while he sabbatically abstains from the debate or the rubber,
+or regulates the quarterly performance of his judicial duties in his
+province by the advent of the sacred festivals, he thinks little of the
+land and the race who, under the immediate superintendence of the Deity,
+have by their sublime legislation established the principle of periodic
+rest to man, or by their deeds and their dogmas, commemorated by their
+holy anniversaries, have elevated the condition and softened the lot of
+every nation except their own.
+
+'And how does Tancred get on?' asked Lord Eskdale one morning of the
+Duchess of Bellamont, with a dry smile. 'I understand that, instead of
+going to Jerusalem, he is going to give us a fish dinner.'
+
+The Duchess of Bellamont had made the acquaintance of Lady Bertie and
+Bellair, and was delighted with her, although her Grace had been told
+that Lord Montacute called upon her every day. The proud, intensely
+proper, and highly prejudiced Duchess of Bellamont took the most
+charitable view of this sudden and fervent friendship. A female friend,
+who talked about Jerusalem, but kept her son in London, was in the
+present estimation of the duchess a real treasure, the most interesting
+and admirable of her sex. Their intimacy was satisfactorily accounted
+for by the invaluable information which she imparted to Tancred; what
+he was to see, do, eat, drink; how he was to avoid being poisoned and
+assassinated, escape fatal fevers, regularly attend the service of
+the Church of England in countries where there were no churches, and
+converse in languages of which he had no knowledge. He could not have a
+better counsellor than Lady Bertie, who had herself travelled, at least
+to the Faubourg St. Honore, and, as Horace Walpole says, after Calais
+nothing astonishes. Certainly Lady Bertie had not been herself to
+Jerusalem, but she had read about it, and every other place. The duchess
+was delighted that Tancred had a companion who interested him. With
+all the impulse of her sanguine temperament, she had already accustomed
+herself to look upon the long-dreaded yacht as a toy, and rather an
+amusing one, and was daily more convinced of the prescient shrewdness of
+her cousin, Lord Eskdale.
+
+Tancred was going to give them a fish dinner! A what? A sort of
+banquet which might have served for the marriage feast of Neptune and
+Amphitrite, and be commemorated by a constellation; and which ought
+to have been administered by the Nereids and the Naiads; terrines of
+turtle, pools of water _souchee_, flounders of every hue, and eels in
+every shape, cutlets of salmon, salmis of carp, ortolans represented by
+whitebait, and huge roasts carved out of the sturgeon. The appetite is
+distracted by the variety of objects, and tantalised by the restlessness
+of perpetual solicitation; not a moment of repose, no pause for
+enjoyment; eventually, a feeling of satiety, without satisfaction, and
+of repletion without sustenance; till, at night, gradually recovering
+from the whirl of the anomalous repast, famished yet incapable of
+flavour, the tortured memory can only recall with an effort, that it has
+dined off pink champagne and brown bread and butter!
+
+What a ceremony to be presided over by Tancred of Montacute; who, if
+he deigned to dine at all, ought to have dined at no less a round table
+than that of King Arthur. What a consummation of a sublime project!
+What a catastrophe of a spiritual career! A Greenwich party and a tavern
+bill!
+
+All the world now is philosophical, and therefore they can account for
+this disaster. Without doubt we are the creatures of circumstances; and,
+if circumstances take the shape of a charming woman, who insists upon
+sailing in your yacht, which happens to to be at Blackwall or Greenwich,
+it is not easy to discover how the inevitable consequences can be
+avoided. It would hardly do, off the Nore, to present your mistress
+with a sea-pie, or abruptly remind your farewell friends and sorrowing
+parents of their impending loss by suddenly serving up soup hermetically
+sealed, and roasting the embalmed joint, which ought only to have smoked
+amid the ruins of Thebes or by the cataracts of Nubia.
+
+There are, however, two sides of every picture; a party may be pleasant,
+and even a fish dinner not merely a whirl of dishes and a clash of
+plates. The guests may be not too numerous, and well assorted; the
+attendance not too devoted, yet regardful; the weather may be charming,
+which is a great thing, and the giver of the dinner may be charmed, and
+that is everything.
+
+The party to see the Basilisk was not only the most agreeable of the
+season, but the most agreeable ever known. They all said so when they
+came back. Mr. Vavasour, who was there, went to all his evening parties;
+to the assembly by the wife of a minister in Carlton Terrace; to a rout
+by the wife of the leader of opposition in Whitehall; to a literary
+soiree in Westminster, and a brace of balls in Portman and Belgrave
+Squares; and told them all that they were none of them to be compared
+to the party of the morning, to which, it must be owned, he had greatly
+contributed by his good humour and merry wit. Mrs. Coningsby declared to
+every one that, if Lord Monta-cute would take her, she was quite ready
+to go to Jerusalem; such a perfect vessel was the Basilisk, and such an
+admirable sailor was Mrs. Coningsby, which, considering that the river
+was like a mill-pond, according to Tancred's captain, or like a mirror,
+according to Lady Bertie and Bellair, was not surprising. The duke
+protested that he was quite glad that Mon-tacute had taken to yachting,
+it seemed to agree with him so well; and spoke of his son's future
+movements as if there were no such place as Palestine in the world. The
+sanguine duchess dreamed of Cowes regattas, and resolved to agree to
+any arrangement to meet her son's fancy, provided he would stay at home,
+which she convinced herself he had now resolved to do.
+
+'Our cousin is so wise,' she said to her husband, as they were
+returning. 'What could the bishop mean by saying that Tancred was a
+visionary? I agree with you, George, there is no counsellor like a man
+of the world.'
+
+'I wish M. de Sidonia had come,' said Lady Bertie and Bellair, gazing
+from the window of the Trafalgar on the moonlit river with an expression
+of abstraction, and speaking in a tone almost of melancholy.
+
+'I also wish it, since you do,' said Tancred. 'But they say he goes
+nowhere. It was almost presumptuous in me to ask him, yet I did so
+because you wished it.'
+
+'I never shall know him,' said Lady Bertie and Bellair, with some
+vexation.
+
+'He interests you,' said Tancred, a little piqued.
+
+'I had so many things to say to him,' said her ladyship.
+
+'Indeed!' said Tancred; and then he continued, 'I offered him every
+inducement to come, for I told him it was to meet you; but perhaps if
+he had known that you had so many things to say to him, he might have
+relented.'
+
+'So many things! Oh! yes. You know he has been a great traveller; he has
+been everywhere; he has been at Jerusalem.'
+
+'Fortunate man!' exclaimed Tancred, half to himself. 'Would I were
+there!'
+
+'Would we were there, you mean,' said Lady Bertie, in a tone of
+exquisite melody, and looking at Tancred with her rich, charged eyes.
+
+His heart trembled; he was about to give utterance to some wild words,
+but they died upon his lips. Two great convictions shared his being:
+the absolute necessity of at once commencing his pilgrimage, and the
+persuasion that life, without the constant presence of this sympathising
+companion, must be intolerable. What was to be done? In his long
+reveries, where he had brooded over so many thoughts, some only of which
+he had as yet expressed to mortal ear, Tancred had calculated, as he
+believed, every combination of obstacle which his projects might have
+to encounter; but one, it now seemed, he had entirely omitted, the
+influence of woman. Why was he here? Why was he not away? Why had he
+not departed? The reflection was intolerable; it seemed to him even
+disgraceful. The being who would be content with nothing less than
+communing with celestial powers in sacred climes, standing at a tavern
+window gazing on the moonlit mudbanks of the barbarous Thames, a river
+which neither angel nor prophet had ever visited! Before him, softened
+by the hour, was the Isle of Dogs! The Isle of Dogs! It should at least
+be Cyprus!
+
+The carriages were announced; Lady Bertie and Bellair placed her arm in
+his.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+     _The Crusader Receives a Shock_
+
+TANCRED passed a night of great disquiet. His mind was agitated, his
+purposes indefinite; his confidence in himself seemed to falter. Where
+was that strong will that had always sustained him? that faculty of
+instant decision which had given such vigour to his imaginary deeds?
+A shadowy haze had suffused his heroic idol, duty, and he could not
+clearly distinguish either its form or its proportions. Did he wish to
+go to the Holy Land or not? What a question? Had it come to that? Was
+it possible that he could whisper such an enquiry, even to his midnight
+soul? He did wish to go to the Holy Land; his purpose was not in the
+least faltering; he most decidedly wished to go to the Holy Land, but he
+wished also to go thither in the company of Lady Bertie and Bellair.
+
+Tancred could not bring himself to desert the only being perhaps in
+England, excepting himself, whose heart was at Jerusalem; and that
+being a woman! There seemed something about it unknightly, unkind and
+cowardly, almost base. Lady Bertie was a heroine worthy of ancient
+Christendom rather than of enlightened Europe. In the old days, truly
+the good old days, when the magnetic power of Western Asia on the Gothic
+races had been more puissant, her noble yet delicate spirit might have
+been found beneath the walls of Ascalon or by the purple waters of
+Tyre. When Tancred first met her, she was dreaming of Palestine amid her
+frequent sadness; he could not, utterly void of all self-conceit as
+he was, be insensible to the fact that his sympathy, founded on such
+a divine congeniality, had often chased the cloud from her brow and
+lightened the burthen of her drooping spirit. If she were sad before,
+what would she be now, deprived of the society of the only being to whom
+she could unfold the spiritual mysteries of her romantic soul? Was such
+a character to be left alone in this world of slang and scrip; of coarse
+motives and coarser words? Then, too, she was so intelligent and so
+gentle; the only person who understood him, and never grated for an
+instant on his high ideal. Her temper also was the sweetest in the
+world, eminent as her generous spirit. She spoke of others with so much
+kindness, and never indulged in that spirit of detraction or that love
+of personal gossip which Tancred had frankly told her he abhorred.
+Somehow or other it seemed that their tastes agreed on everything.
+
+The agitated Tancred rose from the bed where the hope of slumber was
+vain. The fire in his dressing-room was nearly extinguished; wrapped in
+his chamber robe, he threw himself into a chair, which he drew near the
+expiring embers, and sighed.
+
+Unhappy youth! For you commences that great hallucination, which all
+must prove, but which fortunately can never be repeated, and which,
+in mockery, we call first love. The physical frame has its infantile
+disorders; the cough which it must not escape, the burning skin which it
+must encounter. The heart has also its childish and cradle malady, which
+may be fatal, but which, if once surmounted, enables the patient to meet
+with becoming power all the real convulsions and fevers of passion that
+are the heirloom of our after-life. They, too, may bring destruction;
+but, in their case, the cause and the effect are more proportioned.
+The heroine is real, the sympathy is wild but at least genuine, the
+catastrophe is that of a ship at sea which sinks with a rich cargo in a
+noble venture.
+
+In our relations with the softer sex it cannot be maintained that
+ignorance is bliss. On the contrary, experience is the best security
+for enduring love. Love at first sight is often a genial and genuine
+sentiment, but first love at first sight is ever eventually branded as
+spurious. Still more so is that first love which suffuses less rapidly
+the spirit of the ecstatic votary, when he finds that by degrees his
+feelings, as the phrase runs, have become engaged. Fondness is so new
+to him that he has repaid it with exaggerated idolatry, and become
+intoxicated by the novel gratification of his vanity. Little does he
+suspect that all this time his seventh heaven is but the crapulence
+of self-love. In these cases, it is not merely that everything is
+exaggerated, but everything is factitious. Simultaneously, the imaginary
+attributes of the idol disappearing, and vanity being satiated, all ends
+in a crash of iconoclastic surfeit.
+
+The embers became black, the night air had cooled the turbulent blood of
+Lord Montacute, he shivered, returned to his couch, and found a deep and
+invigorating repose.
+
+The next morning, about two hours after noon, Tancred called on Lady
+Bertie. As he drove up to the door, there came forth from it the
+foreigner who was her companion in the city fray when Tancred first saw
+her and went to her rescue. He recognised Lord Montacute, and bowed with
+much ceremony, though with a certain grace and bearing. He was a man
+whose wrinkled visage strangely contrasted with his still gallant
+figure, scrupulously attired; a blue frock-coat with a ribboned
+button-hole, a well-turned boot, hat a little too hidalgoish, but
+quite new. There was something respectable and substantial about him,
+notwithstanding his moustaches, and a carriage a degree too debonair for
+his years. He did not look like a carbonaro or a refugee. Who could he
+be?
+
+Tancred had asked himself this question before. This was not the first
+time that he had encountered this distinguished foreigner since their
+first meeting. Tancred had seen him before this, quitting the door of
+Lord Bertie and Bellair; had stumbled over him before this, more than
+once, on the staircase; once, to his surprise, had met him as he entered
+the personal saloon of Lady Bertie. As it was evident, on that occasion,
+that his visit had been to the lady, it was thought necessary to say
+something, and he had been called the Baron, and described, though in a
+somewhat flurried and excited manner, as a particular friend, a person
+in whom they had the most entire confidence, who had been most kind to
+them at Paris, putting them in the way of buying the rarest china for
+nothing, and who was now over here on some private business of his own,
+of great importance. The Bertie and Bellairs felt immense interest in
+his exertions, and wished him every success; Lord Bertie particularly.
+It was not at all surprising, considering the innumerable kindnesses
+they had experienced at his hands, was it?
+
+'Nothing more natural,' replied Tancred; and he turned the conversation.
+
+Lady Bertie was much depressed this morning, so much so that it was
+impossible for Tancred not to notice her unequal demeanour. Her hand
+trembled as he touched it; her face, flushed when he entered, became
+deadly pale.
+
+'You are not well,' he said. 'I fear the open carriage last night has
+made you already repent our expedition.'
+
+She shook her head. It was not the open carriage, which was delightful,
+nor the expedition, which was enchanting, that had affected her. Would
+that life consisted only of such incidents, of barouches and whitebait
+banquets! Alas! no, it was not these. But she was nervous, her slumbers
+had been disquieted, she had encountered alarming dreams; she had a
+profound conviction that something terrible was impending over her.
+And Tancred took her hand, to prevent, if possible, what appeared to be
+inevitable hysterics. But Lady Bertie and Bellair was a strong-minded
+woman, and she commanded herself.
+
+'I can bear anything,' said Tancred, in a trembling voice, 'but to see
+you unhappy.' And he drew his chair nearer to hers.
+
+Her face was hid, her beautiful face in her beautiful hand. There was
+silence and then a sigh.
+
+'Dear lady,' said Lord Montacute.
+
+'What is it?' murmured Lady Bertie and Bellair.
+
+'Why do you sigh?'
+
+'Because I am miserable.'
+
+'No, no, no, don't use such words,' said the distracted Tancred. 'You
+must not be miserable; you shall not be.'
+
+'Can I help it? Are we not about to part?'
+
+'We need not part,' he said, in a low voice.
+
+'Then you will remain?' she said, looking up, and her dark brown eyes
+were fixed with all their fascination on the tortured Tancred.
+
+'Till we all go,' he said, in a soothing voice.
+
+'That can never be,' said Lady Bertie; 'Augustus will never hear of it;
+he never could be absent more than six weeks from London, he misses his
+clubs so. If Jerusalem were only a place one could get at, something
+might be done; if there were a railroad to it for example.'
+
+'A railroad!' exclaimed Tancred, with a look of horror. 'A railroad to
+Jerusalem!'
+
+'No, I suppose there never can be one,' continued Lady Bertie, in a
+musing tone. 'There is no traffic. And I am the victim,' she added, in
+a thrilling voice; I am left here among people who do not comprehend me,
+and among circumstances with which I can have no sympathy. But go, Lord
+Montacute, go, and be happy, alone. I ought to have been prepared for
+all this; you have not deceived me. You told me from the first you were
+a pilgrim, but I indulged in a dream. I believe that I should not only
+visit Palestine, but even visit it with you.' And she leant back in her
+chair and covered her face with her hands.
+
+Tancred rose from his seat, and paced the chamber. His heart seemed to
+burst.
+
+'What is all this?' he thought. 'How came all this to occur? How has
+arisen this singular combination of unforeseen causes and undreamed-of
+circumstances, which baffles all my plans and resolutions, and seems, as
+it were, without my sanction and my agency, to be taking possession of
+my destiny and life? I am bewildered, confounded, incapable of thought
+or deed.'
+
+His tumultuous reverie was broken by the sobs of Lady Bertie.
+
+'By heaven, I cannot endure this!' said Tancred, advancing. 'Death seems
+to me preferable to her un-happiness. Dearest of women!'
+
+'Do not call me that,' she murmured. 'I can bear anything from your lips
+but words of fondness. And pardon all this; I am not myself to-day.
+I had thought that I had steeled myself to all, to our inevitable
+separation; but I have mistaken myself, at least miscalculated my
+strength. It is weak; it is very weak and very foolish, but you must
+pardon it. I am too much interested in your career to wish you to delay
+your departure a moment for my sake. I can bear our separation, at least
+I think I can. I shall quit the world, for ever. I should have done so
+had we not met. I was on the point of doing so when we did meet, when,
+when my dream was at length realised. Go, go; do not stay. Bless you,
+and write to me, if I be alive to receive your letters.'
+
+'I cannot leave her,' thought the harrowed Tancred. 'It never shall be
+said of me that I could blight a woman's life, or break her heart.' But,
+just as he was advancing, the door opened, and a servant brought in a
+note, and, without looking at Tancred, who had turned to the window,
+disappeared. The desolation and despair which had been impressed on the
+countenance of Lady Bertie and Bellair vanished in an instant, as she
+recognised the handwriting of her correspondent. They were succeeded by
+an expression of singular excitement. She tore open the note; a stupor
+seemed to spread over her features, and, giving a faint shriek, she fell
+into a swoon.
+
+Tancred rushed to her side; she was quite insensible, and pale as
+alabaster. The note, which was only two lines, was open and extended
+in her hands. It was from no idle curiosity, but it was impossible for
+Tancred not to read it. He had one of those eagle visions that nothing
+could escape, and, himself extremely alarmed, it was the first object
+at which he unconsciously glanced in his agitation to discover the cause
+and the remedy for this crisis. The note ran thus:
+
+
+_'3 o'clock.' The Narrow Gauge has won. We are utterly done; and
+Snicks tells me you bought five hundred more yesterday, at ten. Is it
+possible?_
+
+'_f._'
+
+
+'Is it possible?' echoed Tancred, as, entrusting Lady Bertie to her
+maid, he rapidly descended the staircase of her mansion. He almost ran
+to Davies Street, where he jumped into a cab, not permitting the driver
+to descend to let him in.
+
+'Where to?' asked the driver.
+
+'The city.'
+
+'What part?'
+
+'Never mind; near the Bank.'
+
+Alighting from the cab, Tancred hurried to Sequin Court and sent in his
+card to Sidonia, who in a few moments received him. As he entered the
+great financier's room, there came out of it the man called in Brook
+Street the Baron.
+
+'Well, how did your dinner go off?' said Sidonia, looking with some
+surprise at the disturbed countenance of Tancred.
+
+'It seems very ridiculous, very impertinent I fear you will think it,'
+said Tancred, in a hesitating confused manner, 'but that person, that
+person who has just left the room; I have a particular reason, I have
+the greatest desire, to know who that person is.'
+
+'That is a French capitalist,' replied Sidonia, with a slight smile,
+'an eminent French capitalist, the Baron Villebecque de Chateau Neuf. He
+wants me to support him in a great railroad enterprise in his country:
+a new line to Strasbourg, and looks to a great traffic, I suppose, in
+pasties. But this cannot much interest you. What do you want really to
+know about him? I can tell you everything. I have been acquainted with
+him for years. He was the intendant of Lord Monmouth, who left
+him thirty thousand pounds, and he set up upon this at Paris as a
+millionaire. He is in the way of becoming one, has bought lands, is a
+deputy and a baron. He is rather a favourite of mine,' added Sidonia,
+'and I have been able, perhaps, to assist him, for I knew him long
+before Lord Monmouth did, in a very different position from that which
+he now fills, though not one for which I have less respect. He was a
+fine comic actor in the courtly parts, and the most celebrated manager
+in Europe; always a fearful speculator, but he is an honest fellow, and
+has a good heart.'
+
+'He is a great friend of Lady Bertie and Bellair,' said Tancred, rather
+hesitatingly.
+
+'Naturally,' said Sidonia.
+
+'She also,' said Tancred, with a becalmed countenance, but a palpitating
+heart, 'is, I believe, much interested in railroads?'
+
+'She is the most inveterate female gambler in Europe,' said Sidonia,
+'whatever shape her speculations take. Villebecque is a great ally
+of hers. He always had a weakness for the English aristocracy, and
+remembers that he owed his fortune to one of them. Lady Bertie was in
+great tribulation this year at Paris: that was the reason she did not
+come over before Easter; and Villebecque extricated her from a scrape.
+He would assist her now if he could. By-the-bye, the day that I had the
+pleasure of making your acquaintance, she was here with Villebecque, an
+hour at my door, but I could not see her; she pesters me, too, with her
+letters. But I do not like feminine finance. I hope the worthy baron
+will be discreet in his alliance with her, for her affairs, which I
+know, as I am obliged to know every one's, happen to be at this moment
+most critical.'
+
+'I am trespassing on you,' said Tancred, after a painful pause, 'but I
+am about to set sail.'
+
+'When?'
+
+'To-morrow; to-day, if I could; and you were so kind as to promise
+me----'
+
+'A letter of introduction and a letter of credit. I have not forgotten,
+and I will write them for you at once.' And Sidonia took up his pen and
+wrote:
+
+
+A Letter of Introduction.
+
+To Alonzo Lara, Spanish Prior, at the Convent of Terra Santa at
+Jerusalem.
+
+'Most holy Father: The youth who will deliver to you this is a pilgrim
+who aspires to penetrate the great Asian mystery. Be to him what you
+were to me; and may the God of Sinai, in whom we all believe, guard over
+you, and prosper his enterprise!
+
+'Sidonia. 'London, May, 1845.'
+
+
+'You can read Spanish,' said Sidonia, giving him the letter. 'The other
+I shall write in Hebrew, which you will soon read.'
+
+
+A Letter of Credit.
+
+To Adam Besso at Jerusalem.
+
+'London, May, 1845. 'My good Adam: If the youth who bears this require
+advances, let him have as much gold as would make the right-hand lion on
+the first step of the throne of Solomon the king; and if he want more,
+let him have as much as would form the lion that is on the left; and
+so on, through every stair of the royal seat. For all which will be
+responsible to you the child of Israel, who among the Gentiles is called
+
+'Sidonia.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+     _Jerusalem by Moonlight_
+
+THE broad moon lingers on the summit of Mount Olivet, but its beam has
+long left the garden of Gethsemane and the tomb of Absalom, the waters
+of Kedron and the dark abyss of Jehoshaphat. Full falls its splendour,
+however, on the opposite city, vivid and defined in its silver blaze. A
+lofty wall, with turrets and towers and frequent gates, undulates with
+the unequal ground which it covers, as it encircles the lost capital of
+Jehovah. It is a city of hills, far more famous than those of Rome:
+for all Europe has heard of Sion and of Calvary, while the Arab and
+the Assyrian, and the tribes and nations beyond, are as ignorant of
+the Capitolian and Aventine Mounts as they are of the Malvern or the
+Chiltern Hills.
+
+The broad steep of Sion crowned with the tower of David; nearer still,
+Mount Moriah, with the gorgeous temple of the God of Abraham, but built,
+alas! by the child of Hagar, and not by Sarah's chosen one; close to
+its cedars and its cypresses, its lofty spires and airy arches, the
+moonlight falls upon Bethesda's pool; further on, entered by the gate
+of St. Stephen, the eye, though 'tis the noon of night, traces with ease
+the Street of Grief, a long winding ascent to a vast cupolaed pile that
+now covers Calvary, called the Street of Grief because there the most
+illustrious of the human, as well as of the Hebrew, race, the descendant
+of King David, and the divine Son of the most favoured of women, twice
+sank under that burden of suffering and shame which is now throughout
+all Christendom the emblem of triumph and of honour; passing over groups
+and masses of houses built of stone, with terraced roofs, or surmounted
+with small domes, we reach the hill of Salem, where Melchisedek built
+his mystic citadel; and still remains the hill of Scopas, where Titus
+gazed upon Jerusalem on the eve of his final assault. Titus destroyed
+the temple. The religion of Judaea has in turn subverted the fanes which
+were raised to his father and to himself in their imperial capital;
+and the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is now worshipped before
+every altar in Rome.
+
+Jerusalem by moonlight! 'Tis a fine spectacle, apart from all its
+indissoluble associations of awe and beauty. The mitigating hour softens
+the austerity of a mountain landscape magnificent in outline, however
+harsh and severe in detail; and, while it retains all its sublimity,
+removes much of the savage sternness of the strange and unrivalled
+scene. A fortified city, almost surrounded by ravines, and rising in the
+centre of chains of far-spreading hills, occasionally offering, through
+their rocky glens, the gleams of a distant and richer land!
+
+The moon has sunk behind the Mount of Olives, and the stars in the
+darker sky shine doubly bright over the sacred city. The all-pervading
+stillness is broken by a breeze that seems to have travelled over the
+plain of Sharon from the sea. It wails among the tombs, and sighs among
+the cypress groves. The palm-tree trembles as it passes, as if it were
+a spirit of woe. Is it the breeze that has travelled over the plain of
+Sharon from the sea?
+
+Or is it the haunting voice of prophets mourning over the city that
+they could not save? Their spirits surely would linger on the land
+where their Creator had deigned to dwell, and over whose impending fate
+Omnipotence had shed human tears. From this Mount! Who can but believe
+that, at the midnight hour, from the summit of the Ascension, the great
+departed of Israel assemble to gaze upon the battlements of their mystic
+city? There might be counted heroes and sages, who need shrink from
+no rivalry with the brightest and the wisest of other lands; but the
+lawgiver of the time of the Pharaohs, whose laws are still obeyed; the
+monarch, whose reign has ceased for three thousand years, but whose
+wisdom is a proverb in all nations of the earth; the teacher, whose
+doctrines have modelled civilised Europe; the greatest of legislators,
+the greatest of administrators, and the greatest of reformers; what
+race, extinct or living, can produce three such men as these?
+
+The last light is extinguished in the village of Bethany. The wailing
+breeze has become a moaning wind; a white film spreads over the purple
+sky; the stars are veiled, the stars are hid; all becomes as dark as
+the waters of Kedron and the valley of Jehosha-phat. The tower of David
+merges into obscurity; no longer glitter the minarets of the mosque
+of Omar; Bethesda's angelic waters, the gate of Stephen, the street
+of sacred sorrow, the hill of Salem, and the heights of Scopas can no
+longer be discerned. Alone in the increasing darkness, while the very
+line of the walls gradually eludes the eye, the Church of the Holy
+Sepulchre is a beacon light.
+
+And why is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre a beacon light? Why, when
+is it already past the noon of darkness, when every soul slumbers in
+Jerusalem, and not a sound disturbs the deep repose, except the howl
+of the wild dog crying to the wilder wind; why is the cupola of the
+sanctuary illumined, though the hour has long since been numbered when
+pilgrims there kneel and monks pray?
+
+An armed Turkish guard are bivouacked in the court of the Church; within
+the Church itself, two brethren of the convent of Terra Santa keep holy
+watch and ward; while, at the tomb beneath, there kneels a solitary
+youth, who prostrated himself at sunset, and who will there pass unmoved
+the whole of the sacred night.
+
+Yet the pilgrim is not in communion with the Latin Church; neither is
+he of the Church Armenian, or the Church Greek; Maronite, Coptic, or
+Abyssinian; these also are Christian churches which cannot call him
+child.
+
+He comes from a distant and a northern isle to bow before the tomb of
+a descendant of the kings of Israel, because he, in common with all the
+people of that isle, recognises in that sublime Hebrew incarnation the
+presence of a Divine Redeemer. Then why does he come alone? It is not
+that he has availed himself of the inventions of modern science to
+repair first to a spot which all his countrymen may equally desire to
+visit, and thus anticipate their hurrying arrival. Before the inventions
+of modern science, all his countrymen used to flock hither. Then why do
+they not now? Is the Holy Land no longer hallowed? Is it not the land of
+sacred and mysterious truths? The land of heavenly messages and earthly
+miracles? The land of prophets and apostles? Is it not the land upon
+whose mountains the Creator of the Universe parleyed with man, and the
+flesh of whose anointed race He mystically assumed, when He struck the
+last blow at the powers of evil? Is it to be believed that there are no
+peculiar and eternal qualities in a land thus visited, which distinguish
+it from all others? That Palestine is like Normandy or Yorkshire, or
+even Attica or Rome.
+
+There may be some who maintain this; there have been some, and those,
+too, among the wisest and the wittiest of the northern and western
+races, who, touched by a presumptuous jealousy of the long predominance
+of that oriental intellect to which they owed their civilisation, would
+have persuaded themselves and the world that the traditions of Sinai
+and Calvary were fables. Half a century ago, Europe made a violent and
+apparently successful effort to disembarrass itself of its Asian faith.
+The most powerful and the most civilised of its kingdoms, about to
+conquer the rest, shut up its churches, desecrated its altars, massacred
+and persecuted their sacred servants, and announced that the Hebrew
+creeds which Simon Peter brought from Palestine, and which his
+successors revealed to Clovis, were a mockery and a fiction. What has
+been the result? In every city, town, village, and hamlet of that great
+kingdom, the divine image of the most illustrious of Hebrews has been
+again raised amid the homage of kneeling millions; while, in the
+heart of its bright and witty capital, the nation has erected the most
+gorgeous'' of modern temples, and consecrated its marble and golden
+walls to the name, and memory, and celestial efficacy of a Hebrew woman.
+
+The country of which the solitary pilgrim, kneeling at this moment
+at the Holy Sepulchre, was a native, had not actively shared in that
+insurrection against the first and second Testament which distinguished
+the end of the eighteenth century. But, more than six hundred years
+before, it had sent its king, and the flower of its peers and people,
+to rescue Jerusalem from those whom they considered infidels! and now,
+instead of the third crusade, they expend their superfluous energies in
+the construction of railroads.
+
+The failure of the European kingdom of Jerusalem, on which such vast
+treasure, such prodigies of valour, and such ardent belief had been
+wasted, has been one of those circumstances which have tended to disturb
+the faith of Europe, although it should have carried convictions of
+a very different character. The Crusaders looked upon the Saracens as
+infidels, whereas the children of the desert bore a much nearer affinity
+to the sacred corpse that had, for a brief space, consecrated the Holy
+Sepulchre, than any of the invading host of Europe. The same blood
+flowed in their veins, and they recognised the divine missions both
+of Moses and of his great successor. In an age so deficient in
+physiological learning as the twelfth century, the mysteries of race
+were unknown. Jerusalem, it cannot be doubted, will ever remain the
+appanage either of Israel or of Ishmael; and if, in the course of those
+great vicissitudes which are no doubt impending for the East, there be
+any attempt to place upon the throne of David a prince of the House of
+Coburg or Deuxponts, the same fate will doubtless await him as, with all
+their brilliant qualities and all the sympathy of Europe, was the final
+doom of the Godfreys, the Baldwins, and the Lusignans.
+
+Like them, the ancestor of the kneeling pilgrim had come to Jerusalem
+with his tall lance and his burnished armour; but his descendant, though
+not less daring and not less full of faith, could profit by the splendid
+but fruitless achievements of the first Tancred de Montacute. Our hero
+came on this new crusade with an humble and contrite spirit, to pour
+forth his perplexities and sorrows on the tomb of his Redeemer, and to
+ask counsel of the sacred scenes which the presence of that Redeemer and
+his great predecessors had consecrated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+     _A Gathering of Sages_
+
+NEAR the gate of Sion there is a small, still, hilly street, the houses
+of which, as is general in the East, present to the passenger, with the
+exception of an occasional portal, only blank walls, built, as they are
+at Jerusalem, of stone, and very lofty. These walls commonly enclose
+a court, and, though their exterior offers always a sombre and often
+squalid appearance, it by no means follows that within you may not be
+welcomed with cheerfulness and even luxury.
+
+At this moment a man in the Syrian dress, turban and flowing robe, is
+passing through one of the gateways of this street, and entering the
+large quadrangle to which it leads. It is surrounded by arcades; on one
+side indications of commerce, piles of chests, cases, and barrels; the
+other serving for such simple stables as are sufficient in the East.
+Crossing this quadrangle, the stranger passed by a corridor into a
+square garden of orange and lemon trees and fountains. This garden court
+was surrounded by inhabited chambers, and, at the end of it, passing
+through a low arch at the side, and then mounting a few steps, he was at
+once admitted into a spacious and stately chamber. Its lofty ceiling was
+vaulted and lightly painted in arabesque; its floor was of white marble,
+varied with mosaics of fruit and flowers; it was panelled with cedar,
+and in six of the principal panels were Arabic inscriptions emblazoned
+in blue and gold. At the top of this hall, and ranging down its two
+sides, was a divan or seat, raised about one foot from the ground, and
+covered with silken cushions; and the marble floor before this divan was
+spread at intervals with small bright Persian carpets.
+
+In this chamber some half dozen persons were seated in the Eastern
+fashion, and smoking either the choice tobaccoes of Syria through the
+cherry-wood or jasmine tube of a Turkish or Egyptian chibouque, or
+inhaling through rose-water the more artificial flavour of the nargileh,
+which is the hookah of the Levant. If a guest found his pipe exhausted,
+he clapped his hands, and immediately a negro page appeared, dressed
+in scarlet or in white, and, learning his pleasure, returned in a few
+moments, and bowing presented him with a fresh and illumined chibouque.
+At intervals, these attendants appeared without a summons, and offered
+cups of Mocha coffee or vases of sherbet.
+
+The lord of this divan, who was seated at the upper end of the room,
+reclining on embroidered cushions of various colours, and using a
+nargileh of fine workmanship, was a man much above the common height,
+being at least six feet two without his red cap of Fez, though so well
+proportioned, that you would not at the first glance give him credit for
+such a stature. He was extremely handsome, retaining ample remains of
+one of those countenances of blended regularity and lustre which are
+found only in the cradle of the human race. Though he was fifty years
+of age, time had scarcely brought a wrinkle to his still brilliant
+complexion, while his large, soft, dark eyes, his arched brow, his
+well-proportioned nose, his small mouth and oval cheek presented
+altogether one of those faces which, in spite of long centuries of
+physical suffering and moral degradation, still haunt the cities of Asia
+Minor, the isles of Greece, and the Syrian coasts. It is the archetype
+of manly beauty, the tradition of those races who have wandered the
+least from Paradise; and who, notwithstanding many vicissitudes and
+much misery, are still acted upon by the same elemental agencies as
+influenced the Patriarchs; are warmed by the same sun, freshened by the
+same air, and nourished by the same earth as cheered and invigorated
+and sustained the earlier generations. The costume of the East certainly
+does not exaggerate the fatal progress of time; if a figure becomes too
+portly, the flowing robe conceals the incumbrance which is aggravated
+by a western dress; he, too, who wears a turban has little dread of grey
+hairs; a grizzly beard indeed has few charms, but whether it were the
+lenity of time or the skill of his barber in those arts in which Asia
+is as experienced as Europe, the beard of the master of the divan became
+the rest of his appearance, and flowed to his waist in rich dark curls,
+lending additional dignity to a countenance of which the expression was
+at the same time grand and benignant.
+
+Upon the right of the master of the divan was, smoking a jasmine pipe,
+Scheriff Effendi, an Egyptian merchant, of Arab race, a dark face in a
+white turban, mild and imperturbable, and seated as erect on his crossed
+legs as if he were administering justice; a remarkable contrast to the
+individual who was on the left of the host, who might have been mistaken
+for a mass of brilliant garments huddled together, had not the gurgling
+sound of the nargileh occasionally assured the spectator that it was
+animated by human breath. This person was apparently lying on his back,
+his face hid, his form not to be traced, a wild confusion of shawls and
+cushions, out of which, like some wily and dangerous reptile, glided the
+spiral involutions of his pipe. Next to the invisible sat a little wiry
+man with a red nose, sparkling eyes, and a white beard. His black turban
+intimated that he was a Hebrew, and indeed he was well known as Barizy
+of the Tower, a description which he had obtained from his residence
+near the Tower of David, and which distinguished him from his cousin,
+who was called Barizy of the Gate. Further on an Armenian from Stamboul,
+in his dark robes and black protuberant head-dress, resembling a
+colossal truffle, solaced himself with a cherry stick which reminded him
+of the Bosphorus, and he found a companion in this fashion in the
+young officer of a French brig-of-war anchored at Beiroot, and who had
+obtained leave to visit the Holy Land, as he was anxious to see the
+women of Bethlehem, of whose beauty he had heard much.
+
+As the new comer entered the hall, he shuffled off his slippers at the
+threshold, and then advancing, and pressing a hand to his brow, his
+mouth and his heart, a salutation which signifies that in thought,
+speech, and feeling he was faithful to his host, and which salutation
+was immediately returned, he took his seat upon the divan, and the
+master of the house, letting the flexible tube of his nargileh fall on
+one of the cushions, and clapping his hands, a page immediately brought
+a pipe to the new guest. This was Signor Pasqualigo, one of those noble
+Venetian names that every now and then turn up in the Levant, and borne
+in the present case by a descendant of a family who for centuries had
+enjoyed a monopoly of some of the smaller consular offices of the
+Syrian coast. Signor Pasqualigo had installed his son as deputy in the
+ambiguous agency at Jaffa, which he described as a vice-consulate, and
+himself principally resided at Jerusalem, of which he was the prime
+gossip, or second only to his rival, Barizy of the Tower. He had only
+taken a preliminary puff of his chibouque, to be convinced that there
+was no fear of its being extinguished, before he said,
+
+'So there was a fine pilgrimage last night; the Church of the Holy
+Sepulchre lighted up from sunset to sunrise, an extra guard in the
+court, and only the Spanish prior and two brethren permitted to enter.
+It must be 10,000 piastres at least in the coffers of the Terra Santa.
+Well, they want something! It is a long time since we have had a Latin
+pilgrim in El Khuds.'
+
+'And they say, after all, that this was not a Latin pilgrim,' said
+Barizy of the Tower.
+
+'He could not have been one of my people,' said the Armenian, 'or he
+never would have gone to the Holy Sepulchre with the Spanish prior.'
+
+'Had he been one of your people,' said Pasqualigo, 'he could not have
+paid 10,000 piastres for a pilgrimage.'
+
+'I am sure a Greek never would,' said Barizy, 'unless he were a Russian
+prince.'
+
+'And a Russian does not care much for rosaries unless they are made of
+diamonds,' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'As far as I can make out this morning,' said Barizy of the Tower, 'it
+is a brother of the Queen of England.'
+
+'I was thinking it might be that,' said Pasqualigo, nettled at his
+rival's early information, 'the moment I heard he was an Englishman.'
+
+'The English do not believe in the Holy Sepulchre,' said the Armenian,
+calmly.
+
+'They do not believe in our blessed Saviour,' said Pasqualigo, 'but they
+do believe in the Holy Sepulchre.'
+
+Pasqualigo's strong point was theology, and there were few persons in
+Jerusalem who on this head ventured to maintain an argument with him.
+
+'How do you know that the pilgrim is an Englishman?' asked their host.
+
+'Because his servants told me so,' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'He has got an English general for the principal officer of his
+household,' said Barizy, 'which looks like blood royal; a very fine man,
+who passes the whole day at the English consulate.'
+
+'They have taken a house in the Via Dolorosa,' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'Of Hassan Nejed?' continued Barizy of the Tower, clutching the words
+out of his rival's grasp; 'Hassan asked five thousand piastres per
+month, and they gave it. What think you of that?'
+
+'He must indeed be an Englishman,' said Scheriff Effendi, taking his
+pipe slowly from his mouth. There was a dead silence when he spoke; he
+was much respected.
+
+'He is very young,' said Barizy of the Tower; 'younger than the Queen,
+which is one reason why he is not on the throne, for in England the
+eldest always succeeds, except in moveables, and those always go to the
+youngest.'
+
+Barizy of the Tower, though he gave up to Pasqualigo in theology, partly
+from delicacy, being a Jew, would yield to no man in Jerusalem in his
+knowledge of law.
+
+'If he goes on at this rate,' said the Armenian, 'he will soon spend all
+his money; this place is dearer than Stamboul.'
+
+'There is no fear of his spending all his money,' said their host, 'for
+the young man has brought me such a letter that if he were to tell me to
+rebuild the temple, I must do it.'
+
+'And who is this young man, Besso?' exclaimed the Invisible, starting
+up, and himself exhibiting a youthful countenance; fair, almost
+effeminate, no beard, a slight moustache, his features too delicate, but
+his brow finely arched, and his blue eye glittering with fire.
+
+'He is an English lord,' said Besso, 'and one of the greatest; that is
+all I know.'
+
+'And why does he come here?' inquired the youth. 'The English do not
+make pilgrimages.' 'Yet you have heard what he has done.' 'And why
+is this silent Frenchman smoking your Latakia,' he continued in a low
+voice. 'He comes to Jerusalem at the same time as this Englishman.
+There is more in this than meets our eye. You do not know the northern
+nations. They exist only in political combinations. You are not a
+politician, my Besso. Depend upon it, we shall hear more of this
+Englishman, and of his doing something else than praying at the Holy
+Sepulchre.'
+
+'It may be so, most noble Emir, but as you say, I am no politician.'
+
+'Would that you were, my Besso! It would be well for you and for all of
+us. See now,' he added in a whisper, 'that apparently inanimate mass,
+Scheriff Effendi--that man has a political head, he understands a
+combination, he is going to smuggle me five thousand English muskets
+into the desert, he will deliver them to a Bedouin tribe, who have
+engaged to convey them safely to the Mountain. There, what do you think
+of that, my Besso? Do you know now what are politics? Tell the Rose of
+Sharon of it. She will say it is beautiful. Ask the Rose what she thinks
+of it, my Besso.'
+
+'Well, I shall see her to-morrow.'
+
+'I have done well; have I not?'
+
+'You are satisfied; that is well.'
+
+'Not quite, my Besso; but I can be satisfied if you please. You see that
+Scheriff Effendi there, sitting like an Afrite; he will not give me the
+muskets unless I pay him for them; and the Bedouin chief, he will not
+carry the arms unless I give him 10,000 piastres. Now, if you will pay
+these people for me, my Besso, and deduct the expenses from my Lebanon
+loan when it is negotiated, that would be a great service. Now, now, my
+Besso, shall it be done?' he continued with the coaxing voice and with
+the wheedling manner of a girl. 'You shall have any terms you like, and
+I will always love you so, my Besso. Let it be done, let it be done! I
+will go down on my knees and kiss your hand before the Frenchman, which
+will spread your fame throughout Europe, and make Louis Philippe take
+you for the first man in Syria, if you will do it for me. Dear, dear
+Besso, you will pay that old camel Scheriff Ef-fendi for me, will you
+not? and please the Rose of Sharon as much as me!'
+
+'My prince,' said Besso, 'have a fresh pipe; I never can transact
+business after sunset.'
+
+The reader will remember that Sidonia had given Tancred a letter of
+credit on Besso. He is the same Besso who was the friend at Jerusalem of
+Contarini Fleming, and this is the same chamber in which Contarini, his
+host, and others who were present, inscribed one night, before their
+final separation, certain sentences in the panels of the walls. The
+original writing remains, but Besso, as we have already seen, has had
+the sentences emblazoned in a manner more permanent and more striking
+to the eye. They may, however, be both seen by all those who visit
+Jerusalem, and who enjoy the flowing hospitality and experience the
+boundless benevolence of this prince of Hebrew merchants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+     _Gethsemane_
+
+THE Christian convents form one of the most remarkable features of
+modern Jerusalem. There are three principal ones; the Latin Convent
+of Terra Santa, founded, it is believed, during the last crusade, and
+richly endowed by the kings of Christendom; the Armenian and the Greek
+convents, whose revenues are also considerable, but derived from the
+numerous pilgrims of their different churches, who annually visit the
+Holy Sepulchre, and generally during their sojourn reside within the
+walls of their respective religious houses. To be competent to supply
+such accommodation, it will easily be apprehended that they are of
+considerable size. They are in truth monastic establishments of the
+first class, as large as citadels, and almost as strong. Lofty stone
+walls enclose an area of acres, in the centre of which rises an
+irregular mass of buildings and enclosures; courts of all shapes,
+galleries of cells, roofs, terraces, gardens, corridors, churches,
+houses, and even streets. Sometimes as many as five thousand pilgrims
+have been lodged, fed, and tended during Easter in one of these
+convents.
+
+Not in that of Terra Santa, of which a Protestant traveller, passing for
+a pilgrim, is often the only annual guest; as Tancred at present. In a
+whitewashed cell, clean, and sufficiently airy and spacious, Tancred was
+lying on an iron bedstead, the only permanent furniture of the chamber,
+with the exception of a crucifix, but well suited to the fervent and
+procreative clime. He was smoking a Turkish pipe, which stretched nearly
+across the apartment, and his Italian attendant, Baroni, on one knee,
+was arranging the bowl. 'I begin rather to like it,' said Tancred. 'I am
+sure you would, my lord. In this country it is like mother's milk,
+nor is it possible to make way without it. 'Tis the finest tobacco of
+Latakia, the choicest in the world, and I have smoked all. I begged it
+myself from Signor Besso, whose divan is renowned, the day I called on
+him with your lordship's letter.'
+
+Saying this, Baroni quickly rose (a man from thirty-two to thirty-five);
+rather under the middle height, slender, lithe, and pliant; a long black
+beard, cleared off his chin when in Europe, and concealed under his
+cravat, but always ready for the Orient; whiskers closely shaved but
+strongly marked, sallow, an aquiline nose, white teeth, a sparkling
+black eye. His costume entirely white, fashion Mamlouk, that is to say,
+trousers of a prodigious width, and a light jacket; a white shawl wound
+round his waist, enclosing his dagger; another forming his spreading
+turban. Temperament, remarkable vivacity modified by extraordinary
+experience.
+
+Availing himself of the previous permission of his master, Baroni,
+having arranged the pipe, seated himself cross-legged on the floor.
+
+'And what are they doing about the house?' inquired Tancred.
+
+'They will be all stowed to-day,' replied Baroni. 'I shall not quit this
+place, 'said Tancred; 'I wish to be quite undisturbed.'
+
+'Be not alarmed, my lord; they are amused. The colonel never quits the
+consulate; dines there every day, and tells stories about the Peninsular
+war and the Bellamont cavalry, just as he did on board. Mr. Bernard is
+always with the English bishop, who is delighted to have an addition to
+his congregation, which is not too much, consisting of his own family,
+the English and Prussian consuls, and five Jews, whom they have
+converted at twenty piastres a-week; but I know they are going to
+strike for wages. As for the doctor, he has not a minute to himself. The
+governor's wife has already sent for him; he has been admitted to the
+harem; has felt all their pulses without seeing any of their faces, and
+his medicine chest is in danger of being exhausted before your lordship
+requires its aid.'
+
+'Take care that they are comfortable,' said Tancred. 'And what does your
+lordship wish to do today?'
+
+'I must go to Gethsemane.'
+
+''Tis the shot of an arrow; go out by the gate of Sion, pass through the
+Turkish cemetery, cross the Kedron, which is so dry this weather that
+you may do so in your slippers, and you will find the remnant of an
+olive grove at the base of the mount.'
+
+'You talk as if you were giving a direction in London.'
+
+'I wish I knew London as well as I know Jerusalem! This is not a very
+great place, and I think I have been here twenty times. Why, I made
+eight visits here in '40 and '41; twice from England, and six times from
+Egypt.'
+
+'Active work!'
+
+'Ah! those were times! If the Pasha had taken M. de Sidonia's advice, in
+'41, something would have happened in this city----' And here Baroni
+pulled up: 'Your lordship's pipe draws easy?'
+
+'Very well. And when was your first visit here, Baroni?'
+
+'When M. de Sidonia travelled. I came in his suite from Naples, eighteen
+years ago, the next Annunciation of our blessed Lady,' and he crossed
+himself.
+
+'You must have been very young then?'
+
+'Young enough; but it was thought, I suppose, that I could light a pipe.
+We were seven when we left Naples, all picked men; but I was the only
+one who was in Paraguay with M. de Sidonia, and that was nearly the end
+of our travels, which lasted five years.'
+
+'And what became of the rest?'
+
+'Got ill or got stupid; no mercy in either case with M. de Sidonia,
+packed off instantly, wherever you may be; whatever money you like,
+but go you must. If you were in the middle of the desert, and the least
+grumbling, you would be spliced on a camel, and a Bedouin tribe would
+be hired to take you to the nearest city, Damascus or Jerusalem, or
+anywhere, with an order on Signor Besso, or some other signor, to pay
+them.'
+
+'And you were never invalided?'
+
+'Never; I was young and used to tumble about as long as I can remember
+day; but it was sharp practice sometimes; five years of such work as few
+men have been through. It educated me and opened my mind amazingly.'
+
+'It seems to have done so,' said Tancred, quietly.
+
+Shortly after this, Tancred, attended by Baroni, passed the gate of
+Sion. Not a human being was visible, except the Turkish sentries. It was
+midsummer, but no words and no experience of other places can convey an
+idea of the canicular heat of Jerusalem. Bengal, Egypt, even Nubia, are
+nothing to it; in these countries there are rivers, trees, shade, and
+breezes; but Jerusalem at midday in midsummer is a city of stone in a
+land of iron with a sky of brass. The wild glare and savage lustre of
+the landscape are themselves awful. We have all read of the man who had
+lost his shadow; this is a shadowless world. Everything is so flaming
+and so clear, that it would remind one of a Chinese painting, but that
+the scene is one too bold and wild for the imagination of the Mongol
+race.
+
+'There,' said Baroni, pointing to a group of most ancient olive trees
+at the base of the opposite hill, and speaking as if he were showing the
+way to Kensington, 'there is Gethsemane; the path to the right leads to
+Bethany.'
+
+'Leave me now,' said Tancred.
+
+There are moments when we must be alone, and Tancred had fixed upon this
+hour for visiting Gethsemane, because he felt assured that no one would
+be stirring. Descending Mount Sion, and crossing Kedron, he entered the
+sacred grove.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+     _The Lady of Bethany_
+
+THE sun had been declining for some hours, the glare of the earth had
+subsided, the fervour of the air was allayed. A caravan came winding
+round the hills, with many camels and persons in rich, bright Syrian
+dresses; a congregation that had assembled at the Church of the
+Ascension on Mount Olivet had broken up, and the side of the hill was
+studded with brilliant and picturesque groups; the standard of the
+Crescent floated on the Tower of David; there was the clang of Turkish
+music, and the governor of the city, with a numerous cavalcade, might be
+discerned on Mount Moriah, caracoling without the walls; a procession
+of women bearing classic vases on their heads, who had been fetching
+the waters of Siloah from the well of Job, came up the valley of
+Jehosha-phat, to wind their way to the gate of Stephen and enter
+Jerusalem by the street of Calvary.
+
+Tancred came forth from the garden of Gethsemane, his face was flushed
+with the rapt stillness of pious ecstasy; hours had vanished during his
+passionate reverie, and he stared upon the declining sun.
+
+'The path to the right leads to Bethany.' The force of association
+brought back the last words that he had heard from a human voice.
+And can he sleep without seeing Bethany? He mounts the path. What a
+landscape surrounds him as he moves! What need for nature to be fair
+in a scene like this, where not a spot is visible that is not heroic
+or sacred, consecrated or memorable; not a rock that is not the cave of
+prophets; not a valley that is not the valley of heaven-anointed kings;
+not a mountain that is not the mountain of God!
+
+Before him is a living, a yet breathing and existing city, which
+Assyrian monarchs came down to besiege, which the chariots of Pharaohs
+encompassed, which Roman Emperors have personally assailed, for which
+Saladin and Coeur de Lion, the desert and Christendom, Asia and Europe,
+struggled in rival chivalry; a city which Mahomet sighed to rule, and
+over which the Creator alike of Assyrian kings and Egyptian Pharaohs and
+Roman Caesars, the Framer alike of the desert and of Christendom, poured
+forth the full effusion of His divinely human sorrow.
+
+What need of cascade and of cataract, the deep green turf, the foliage
+of the fairest trees, the impenetrable forest, the abounding river,
+mountains of glaciered crest, the voice of birds, the bounding forms of
+beauteous animals; all sights and sounds of material loveliness that
+might become the delicate ruins of some archaic theatre, or the
+lingering fanes of some forgotten faith? They would not be observed as
+the eye seized on Sion and Calvary; the gates of Bethlehem and Damascus;
+the hill of Titus; the Mosque of Mahomet and the tomb of Christ. The
+view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the
+history of earth and of heaven.
+
+The path winding round the southern side of the Mount of Olives at
+length brought Tancred in sight of a secluded village, situate among the
+hills on a sunny slope, and shut out from all objects excepting the
+wide landscape which immediately faced it; the first glimpse of Arabia
+through the ravines of the Judaean hills; the rapid Jordan quitting its
+green and happy valley for the bitter waters of Asphaltites, and, in the
+extreme distance, the blue mountains of Moab.
+
+Ere he turned his reluctant steps towards the city, he was attracted by
+a garden, which issued, as it were, from a gorge in the hills, so that
+its limit was not perceptible, and then spread over a considerable
+space, comparatively with the inclosures in its vicinity, until it
+reached the village. It was surrounded by high stone walls, which
+every now and then the dark spiral forms of a cypress or a cedar would
+overtop, and in the more distant and elevated part rose a tall palm
+tree, bending its graceful and languid head, on which the sunbeam
+glittered. It was the first palm that Tancred had ever seen, and his
+heart throbbed as he beheld that fair and sacred tree.
+
+As he approached the garden, Tancred observed that its portal was open:
+he stopped before it, and gazed upon its walks of lemon trees with
+delight and curiosity. Tancred had inherited from his mother a passion
+for gardens; and an eastern garden, a garden in the Holy Land, such
+as Gethsemane might have been in those days of political justice when
+Jerusalem belonged to the Jews; the occasion was irresistible; he could
+not withstand the temptation of beholding more nearly a palm tree; and
+he entered.
+
+Like a prince in a fairy tale, who has broken the mystic boundary of
+some enchanted pleasaunce, Tancred traversed the alleys which were
+formed by the lemon and pomegranate tree, and sometimes by the myrtle
+and the rose. His ear caught the sound of falling water, bubbling with
+a gentle noise; more distinct and more forcible every step that he
+advanced. The walk in which he now found himself ended in an open space
+covered with roses; beyond them a gentle acclivity, clothed so thickly
+with a small bright blue flower that it seemed a bank of turquoise, and
+on its top was a kiosk of white marble, gilt and painted; by its side,
+rising from a group of rich shrubs, was the palm, whose distant crest
+had charmed Tancred without the gate.
+
+In the centre of the kiosk was the fountain, whose alluring voice
+had tempted Tancred to proceed further than he had at first dared to
+project. He must not retire without visiting the waters which had been
+speaking to him so long. Following the path round the area of roses,
+he was conducted to the height of the acclivity, and entered the kiosk;
+some small beautiful mats were spread upon its floor, and, reposing upon
+one of them, Tancred watched the bright clear water as it danced and
+sparkled in its marble basin.
+
+The reader has perhaps experienced the effect of falling water. Its
+lulling influence is proverbial. In the present instance, we must
+remember that Tancred had been exposed to the meridian fervour of a
+Syrian sun, that he had been the whole day under the influence of that
+excitement which necessarily ends in exhaustion; and that, in addition
+to this, he had recently walked some distance; it will not, therefore,
+be looked upon as an incident improbable or astonishing, that Lord
+Montacute, after pursuing for some time that train of meditation which
+was his custom, should have fallen asleep.
+
+His hat had dropped from his head; his rich curls fell on his
+outstretched arm that served as a pillow for a countenance which in the
+sweet dignity of its blended beauty and stillness might have become an
+archangel; and, lying on one of the mats, in an attitude of unconscious
+gracefulness, which a painter might have transferred to his portfolio,
+Tancred sank into a deep and dreamless repose.
+
+[Illustration: frontis2-p26]
+
+He woke refreshed and renovated, but quite insensible of all that had
+recently occurred. He stretched his limbs; something seemed to embarrass
+him; he found himself covered with a rich robe. He was about to rise,
+resting on his arm, when turning his head he beheld the form of a woman.
+
+She was young, even for the East; her stature rather above the ordinary
+height, and clothed in the rich dress usual among the Syrian ladies.
+She wore an amber vest of gold-embroidered silk, fitting closely to her
+shape, and fastening with buttons of precious stones from the bosom to
+the waist, there opening like a tunic, so that her limbs were free to
+range in her huge Mamlouk trousers, made of that white Cashmere a shawl
+of which can be drawn through a ring. These, fastened round her ankles
+with clasps of rubies, fell again over her small slippered feet. Over
+her amber vest she had an embroidered pelisse of violet silk, with long
+hanging sleeves, which showed occasionally an arm rarer than the costly
+jewels which embraced it; a many-coloured Turkish scarf inclosed her
+waist; and then, worn loosely over all, was an outer pelisse of amber
+Cashmere, lined with the fur of the white fox. At the back of her
+head was a cap, quite unlike the Greek and Turkish caps which we are
+accustomed to see in England, but somewhat resembling the head-dress of
+a Mandarin; round, not flexible, almost flat; and so thickly in-crusted
+with pearls, that it was impossible to detect the colour of the velvet
+which covered it. Beneath it descended two broad braids of dark brown
+hair, which would have swept the ground had they not been turned
+half-way up, and there fastened with bunches of precious stones; these,
+too, restrained the hair which fell, in rich braids, on each side of her
+face.
+
+That face presented the perfection of oriental beauty; such as it
+existed in Eden, such as it may yet occasionally be found among the
+favoured races in the favoured climes, and such as it might have been
+found abundantly and for ever, had not the folly and malignity of man
+been equal to the wisdom and beneficence of Jehovah. The countenance was
+oval, yet the head was small. The complexion was neither fair nor dark,
+yet it possessed the brilliancy of the north without its dryness, and
+the softness peculiar to the children of the sun without its moisture.
+A rich, subdued and equable tint overspread this visage, though the skin
+was so transparent that you occasionally caught the streaky splendour of
+some vein like the dappled shades in the fine peel of beautiful fruit.
+
+But it was in the eye and its overspreading arch that all the Orient
+spake, and you read at once of the starry vaults of Araby and the
+splendour of Chaldean skies. Dark, brilliant, with pupil of great
+size and prominent from its socket, its expression and effect,
+notwithstanding the long eyelash of the desert, would have been those
+of a terrible fascination had not the depth of the curve in which it
+reposed softened the spell and modified irresistible power by ineffable
+tenderness. This supreme organisation is always accompanied, as in the
+present instance, by a noble forehead, and by an eyebrow of perfect
+form, spanning its space with undeviating beauty; very narrow, though
+its roots are invisible.
+
+The nose was small, slightly elevated, with long oval nostrils fully
+developed. The small mouth, the short upper lip, the teeth like the
+neighbouring pearls of Ormuz, the round chin, polished as a statue,
+were in perfect harmony with the delicate ears, and the hands with nails
+shaped like almonds.
+
+Such was the form that caught the eye of Tan-cred. She was on the
+opposite side of the fountain, and stood gazing on him with calmness,
+and with a kind of benignant curiosity: The garden, the kiosk, the
+falling waters, recalled the past, which flashed over his mind almost at
+the moment when he beheld the beautiful apparition. Half risen, yet
+not willing to remain until he was on his legs to apologise for his
+presence, Tancred, still leaning on his arm and looking up at his
+unknown companion, said, 'Lady, I am an intruder.'
+
+The lady, seating herself on the brink of the fountain, and motioning at
+the same time with her hand to Tancred not to rise, replied, 'We are so
+near the desert that you must not doubt our hospitality.'
+
+'I was tempted by the first sight of a palm tree to a step too bold; and
+then sitting by this fountain, I know not how it was----'
+
+'You yielded to our Syrian sun,' said the lady.
+
+'It has been the doom of many; but you, I trust, will not find it
+fatal. Walking in the garden with my maidens, we observed you, and one
+of us covered your head. If you remain in this land you should wear the
+turban.'
+
+'This garden seems a paradise,' said Tancred. 'I had not thought that
+anything so fair could be found among these awful mountains. It is a
+spot that quite becomes Bethany.'
+
+'You Franks love Bethany?'
+
+'Naturally; a place to us most dear and interesting.'
+
+'Pray, are you of those Franks who worship a Jewess; or of those other
+who revile her, break her images, and blaspheme her pictures?'
+
+'I venerate, though I do not adore, the mother of God,' said Tancred,
+with emotion.
+
+'Ah! the mother of Jesus!' said his companion. 'He is your God. He lived
+much in this village. He was a great man, but he was a Jew; and you
+worship him.'
+
+'And you do not worship him?' said Tancred, looking up to her with an
+inquiring glance, and with a reddening cheek.
+
+'It sometimes seems to me that I ought,' said the lady, 'for I am of his
+race, and you should sympathise with your race.'
+
+'You are, then, a Hebrew?'
+
+'I am of the same blood as Mary whom you venerate, but do not adore.'
+
+'You just now observed,' said Tancred, after a momentary pause, 'that it
+sometimes almost seems to you that you ought to acknowledge my Lord and
+Master. He made many converts at Bethany, and found here some of his
+gentlest disciples. I wish that you had read the history of his life.'
+
+'I have read it. The English bishop here has given me the book. It is a
+good one, written, I observe, entirely by Jews. I find in it many things
+with which I agree; and if there be some from which I dissent, it may be
+that I do not comprehend them.'
+
+'You are already half a Christian!' said Tancred, with animation.
+
+'But the Christianity which I draw from your book does not agree with
+the Christianity which you practise,' said the lady, 'and I fear,
+therefore, it may be heretical.'
+
+'The Christian Church would be your guide.'
+
+'Which?' inquired the lady; 'there are so many in Jerusalem. There is
+the good bishop who presented me with this volume, and who is himself a
+Hebrew: he is a Church; there is the Latin Church, which was founded
+by a Hebrew; there is the Armenian Church, which belongs to an Eastern
+nation who, like the Hebrews, have lost their country and are scattered
+in every clime; there is the Abyssinian Church, who hold us in great
+honour, and practise many of our rites and ceremonies; and there are the
+Greek, the Maronite, and the Coptic Churches, who do not favour us,
+but who do not treat us as grossly as they treat each other. In this
+perplexity it may be wise to remain within the pale of a church older
+than all of them, the church in which Jesus was born and which he never
+quitted, for he was born a Jew, lived a Jew, and died a Jew; as became
+a Prince of the House of David, which you do and must acknowledge him to
+have been. Your sacred genealogies prove the fact; and if you could not
+establish it, the whole fabric of your faith falls to the ground.'
+
+'If I had no confidence in any Church,' said Tancred, with agitation, 'I
+would fall down before God and beseech him to enlighten me; and, in this
+land,' he added, in a tone of excitement, 'I cannot believe that the
+appeal to the Mercy-seat would be made in vain.'
+
+'But human wit ought to be exhausted before we presume to invoke divine
+interposition,' said the lady. 'I observe that Jesus was as fond of
+asking questions as of performing miracles; an inquiring spirit will
+solve mysteries. Let me ask you: you think that the present state of my
+race is penal and miraculous?'
+
+Tancred gently bowed assent.
+
+'Why do you?' asked the lady.
+
+'It is the punishment ordained for their rejection and crucifixion of
+the Messiah.'
+
+'Where is it ordained?'
+
+'Upon our heads and upon our children be his blood.'
+
+'The criminals said that, not the judge. Is it a principle of your
+jurisprudence to permit the guilty to assign their own punishment?
+They might deserve a severer one. Why should they transfer any of the
+infliction to their posterity? What evidence have you that Omnipotence
+accepted the offer? It is not so announced in your histories. Your
+evidence is the reverse. He, whom you acknowledge as omnipotent, prayed
+to Jehovah to forgive them on account of their ignorance. But, admit
+that the offer was accepted, which in my opinion is blasphemy, is the
+cry of a rabble at a public execution to bind a nation? There was
+a great party in the country not disinclined to Jesus at the time,
+especially in the provinces where he had laboured for three years, and
+on the whole with success; are they and their children to suffer? But
+you will say they became Christians. Admit it. We were originally a
+nation of twelve tribes; ten, long before the advent of Jesus, had been
+carried into captivity and scattered over the East and the Mediterranean
+world; they are probably the source of the greater portion of the
+existing Hebrews; for we know that, even in the time of Jesus, Hebrews
+came up to Jerusalem at the Passover from every province of the Roman
+Empire. What had they to do with the crucifixion or the rejection?'
+
+'The fate of the Ten Tribes is a deeply interesting question,' said
+Tancred; 'but involved in, I fear, inexplicable-obscurity. In England
+there are many who hold them to be represented by the Afghans, who state
+that their ancestors followed the laws of Moses. But perhaps they ceased
+to exist and were blended with their conquerors.'
+
+'The Hebrews have never blended with their conquerors,' said the lady,
+proudly. 'They were conquered frequently, like all small states situate
+amid rival empires. Syria was the battlefield of the great monarchies.
+Jerusalem has not been conquered oftener than Athens, or treated worse;
+but its people, unhappily, fought too bravely and rebelled too often, so
+at last they were expatriated. I hold that, to believe that the Hebrew
+communities are in a principal measure the descendants of the Ten
+Tribes, and of the other captivities preceding Christ, is a just,
+and fair, and sensible inference, which explains circumstances that
+otherwise could not be explicable. But let that pass. We will suppose
+all the Jews in all the cities of the world to be the lineal descendants
+of the mob who shouted at the crucifixion. Yet another question! My
+grandfather is a Bedouin sheikh, chief of one of the most powerful
+tribes of the desert. My mother was his daughter. He is a Jew; his whole
+tribe are Jews; they read and obey the five books, live in tents, have
+thousands of camels, ride horses of the Nedjed breed, and care for
+nothing except Jehovah, Moses, and their mares. Were they at Jerusalem
+at the crucifixion, and does the shout of the rabble touch them? Yet my
+mother marries a Hebrew of the cities, and a man, too, fit to sit on the
+throne of King Solomon; and a little Christian Yahoor with a round hat,
+who sells figs at Smyrna, will cross the street if he see her, lest he
+should be contaminated by the blood of one who crucified his Saviour;
+his Saviour being, by his own statement, one of the princes of our royal
+house. No; I will never become a Christian, if I am to eat such sand! It
+is not to be found in your books. They were written by Jews, men far
+too well acquainted with their subject to indite such tales of the
+Philistines as these!'
+
+Tancred looked at her with deep interest as her eye flashed fire, and
+her beautiful cheek was for a moment suffused with the crimson cloud of
+indignant passion; and then he said, 'You speak of things that deeply
+interest me, or I should not be in this land. But tell me: it cannot
+be denied that, whatever the cause, the miracle exists; and that the
+Hebrews, alone of the ancient races, remain, and are found in every
+country, a memorial of the mysterious and mighty past.'
+
+'Their state may be miraculous without being penal. But why miraculous?
+Is it a miracle that Jehovah should guard his people? And can He guard
+them better than by endowing them with faculties superior to those of
+the nations among whom they dwell?'
+
+'I cannot believe that merely human agencies could have sustained a
+career of such duration and such vicissitudes.'
+
+'As for human agencies, we have a proverb: "The will of man is the
+servant of God." But if you wish to make a race endure, rely upon it
+you should expatriate them. Conquer them, and they may blend with
+their conquerors; exile them, and they will live apart and for ever.
+To expatriate is purely oriental, quite unknown to the modern world. We
+were speaking of the Armenians, they are Christians, and good ones, I
+believe.'
+
+'I have understood very orthodox.' 'Go to Armenia, and you will not find
+an Armenian. They, too, are an expatriated nation, like the Hebrews. The
+Persians conquered their land, and drove out the people. The Armenian
+has a proverb: "In every city of the East I find a home." They are
+everywhere; the rivals of my people, for they are one of the great
+races, and little degenerated: with all our industry, and much of our
+energy; I would say, with all our human virtues, though it cannot be
+expected that they should possess our divine qualities; they have not
+produced Gods and prophets, and are proud that they can trace up their
+faith to one of the obscurest of the Hebrew apostles, and who never knew
+his great master.'
+
+'But the Armenians are found only in the East,' said Tancred.
+
+'Ah!' said the lady, with a sarcastic smile; 'it is exile to Europe,
+then, that is the curse: well, I think you have some reason. I do not
+know much of your quarter of the globe: Europe is to Asia what America
+is to Europe. But I have felt the winds of the Exuine blowing up the
+Bosphorus; and, when the Sultan was once going to cut off our heads for
+helping the Egyptians, I passed some months at Vienna. Oh! how I sighed
+for my beautiful Damascus!'
+
+'And for your garden at Bethany?' said Tancred.
+
+'It did not exist then. This is a recent creation,' said the lady. 'I
+have built a nest in the chink of the hills, that I might look upon
+Arabia; and the palm tree that invited you to honour my domain was the
+contribution of my Arab grandfather to the only garden near Jerusalem.
+But I want to ask you another question. What, on the whole, is the thing
+most valued in Europe?'
+
+Tancred pondered; and, after a slight pause, said, 'I think I know what
+ought to be most valued in Europe; it is something very different from
+what I fear I must confess is most valued there. My cheek burns while I
+say it; but I think, in Europe, what is most valued is money.'
+
+'On the whole,' said the lady, 'he that has most money there is most
+honoured?'
+
+'Practically, I apprehend so.'
+
+'Which is the greatest city in Europe?'
+
+'Without doubt, the capital of my country, London.'
+
+'Greater I know it is than Vienna; but is it greater than Paris?'
+
+'Perhaps double the size of Paris.'
+
+'And four times that of Stamboul! What a city! Why 'tis Babylon! How
+rich the most honoured man must be there! Tell me, is he a Christian?'
+
+'I believe he is one of your race and faith.' 'And in Paris; who is the
+richest man in Paris?' 'The brother, I believe, of the richest man in
+London.'
+
+'I know all about Vienna,' said the lady, smiling. 'Caesar makes my
+countrymen barons of the empire, and rightly, for it would fall to
+pieces in a week without their support. Well, you must admit that the
+European part of the curse has not worked very fatally.'
+
+'I do not see,' said Tancred thoughtfully, after a short pause, 'that
+the penal dispersion of the Hebrew nation is at all essential to the
+great object of the Christian scheme. If a Jew did not exist, that would
+equally have been obtained.'
+
+'And what do you hold to be the essential object of the Christian
+scheme?' 'The Expiation.'
+
+'Ah!' said the lady, in a tone of much solemnity, 'that is a great idea;
+in harmony with our instincts, with our traditions, our customs. It
+is deeply impressed upon the convictions of this land. Shaped as you
+Christians offer the doctrine, it loses none of its sublimity; or its
+associations, full at the same time of mystery, power, and solace. A
+sacrificial Mediator with Jehovah, that expiatory intercessor born from
+the chosen house of the chosen people, yet blending in his inexplicable
+nature the divine essence with the human elements, appointed before all
+time, and purifying, by his atoning blood, the myriads that preceded and
+the myriads that will follow us, without distinction of creed or clime,
+this is what you believe. I acknowledge the vast conception, dimly as my
+brain can partially embrace it. I understand thus much: the human race
+is saved; and, without the apparent agency of a Hebrew prince, it could
+not have been saved. Now tell me: suppose the Jews had not prevailed
+upon the Romans to crucify Jesus, what would have become of the
+Atonement?'
+
+'I cannot permit myself to contemplate such contingencies,' said
+Tancred. 'The subject is too high for me to touch with speculation.
+I must not even consider an event that had been pre-ordained by the
+Creator of the world for countless ages.'
+
+'Ah!' said the lady; 'pre-ordained by the Creator of the world for
+countless ages! Where, then, was the inexpiable crime of those who
+fulfilled the beneficent intention? The holy race supplied the victim
+and the immolators. What other race could have been entrusted with such
+a consummation? Was not Abraham prepared to sacrifice even his son? And
+with such a doctrine, that embraces all space and time; nay more, chaos
+and eternity; with divine persons for the agents, and the redemption of
+the whole family of man for the subject; you can mix up the miserable
+persecution of a single race! And this is practical, not doctrinal
+Christianity. It is not found in your Christian books, which were all
+written by Jews; it must have been made by some of those Churches to
+which you have referred me. Persecute us! Why, if you believe what you
+profess, you should kneel to us! You raise statues to the hero who saves
+a country. We have saved the human race, and you persecute us for doing
+it.'
+
+'I am no persecutor,' said Tancred, with emotion; 'and, had I been so,
+my visit to Bethany would have cleansed my heart of such dark thoughts.'
+
+'We have some conclusions in common,' said his companion, rising. 'We
+agree that half Christendom worships a Jewess, and the other half a
+Jew. Now let me ask one more question. Which is the superior race, the
+worshipped or the worshippers?'
+
+Tancred looked up to reply, but the lady had disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+     _Fakredeen and the Rose of Sharon_
+
+BEFORE Tancred could recover from his surprise, the kiosk was invaded
+by a crowd of little grinning negro pages, dressed in white tunics, with
+red caps and slippers. They bore a number of diminutive trays of ebony
+inlaid with tortoiseshell, and the mother-o'-pearl of Joppa, and covered
+with a great variety of dishes. It was in vain that he would have
+signified to them that he had no wish to partake of the banquet, and
+that he attempted to rise from his mat. They understood nothing that he
+said, but always grinning and moving about him with wonderful quickness,
+they fastened a napkin of the finest linen, fringed with gold, round his
+neck, covered the mats and the border of the fountain with their
+dishes and vases of differently-coloured sherbets, and proceeded,
+notwithstanding all his attempts at refusal, to hand him their dainties
+in due order. Notwithstanding his present tone of mind, which was
+ill-adapted to any carnal gratification, Tancred had nevertheless been
+an unusual number of hours without food. He had made during the period
+no inconsiderable exertion, and was still some distance from the
+city. Though he resigned himself perforce to the care of his little
+attendants, their solicitude therefore was not inappropriate. He
+partook of some of their dishes, and when he had at length succeeded
+in conveying to them his resolution to taste no more, they cleared the
+kiosk with as marvellous a celerity as they had stored it, and then two
+of them advanced with a nargileh and a chibouque, to offer their choice
+to their guest. Tan-cred placed the latter for a moment to his mouth,
+and then rising, and making signs to the pages that he would now return,
+they danced before him in the path till he had reached the other side
+of the area of roses, and then, with a hundred bows, bending, they took
+their leave of him.
+
+The sun had just sunk as Tancred quitted the garden: a crimson glow,
+shifting, as he proceeded, into rich tints of purple and of gold,
+suffused the stern Judaean hills, and lent an almost supernatural lustre
+to the landscape; lighting up the wild gorges, gilding the distant
+glens, and still kindling the superior elevations with its living blaze.
+The air, yet fervid, was freshened by a slight breeze that came over the
+wilderness from the Jordan, and the big round stars that were already
+floating in the skies were the brilliant heralds of the splendour of
+a Syrian night. The beauteous hour and the sacred scene were alike in
+unison with the heart of Tancred, softened and serious. He mused in
+fascinated reverie over the dazzling incident of the day. Who was this
+lady of Bethany, who seemed not unworthy to have followed Him who had
+made her abiding place so memorable? Her beauty might have baffled the
+most ideal painter of the fair Hebrew saints. Raffaelle himself could
+not have designed a brow of more delicate supremacy. Her lofty but
+gracious bearing, the vigour of her clear, frank mind, her earnestness,
+free from all ecstasy and flimsy enthusiasm, but founded in knowledge
+and deep thought, and ever sustained by exact expression and ready
+argument, her sweet witty voice, the great and all-engaging theme on
+which she was so content to discourse, and which seemed by right to
+belong to her: all these were circumstances which wonderfully affected
+the imagination of Tancred.
+
+He was lost in the empyrean of high abstraction, his gaze apparently
+fixed on the purple mountains, and the golden skies, and the glittering
+orbs of coming night, which yet in truth he never saw, when a repeated
+shout at length roused him. It bade him stand aside on the narrow path
+that winds round the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem to Bethany, and let
+a coming horseman pass. The horseman was the young Emir who was a guest
+the night before in the divan of Besso. Though habited in the Mamlouk
+dress, as if only the attendant of some great man, huge trousers and
+jacket of crimson cloth, a white turban, a shawl round his waist holding
+his pistols and sabre, the horse he rode was a Kochlani of the highest
+breed., By him was a running footman, holding his nargileh, to which
+the Emir frequently applied his mouth as he rode along. He shot a keen
+glance at Tancred as he passed by, and then throwing his tube to his
+attendant, he bounded on.
+
+In the meantime, we must not forget the lady of Bethany after she so
+suddenly disappeared from the kiosk. Proceeding up her mountain garden,
+which narrowed as she advanced, and attended by two female slaves, who
+had been in waiting without the kiosk, she was soon in that hilly chink
+in which she had built her nest; a long, low pavilion, with a shelving
+roof, and surrounded by a Saracenic arcade; the whole painted in fresco;
+a golden pattern of flowing fancy on a white ground. If there were door
+or window, they were entirely concealed by the blinds which appeared to
+cover the whole surface of the building. Stepping into the arcade, the
+lady entered the pavilion by a side portal, which opened by a secret
+spring, and which conducted her into a small corridor, and this again
+through two chambers, in both of which were many females, who mutely
+saluted her without rising from their employments.
+
+Then the mistress entered a more capacious and ornate apartment.
+Its ceiling, which described the horseshoe arch of the Saracens, was
+encrusted with that honeycomb work which is peculiar to them, and which,
+in the present instance, was of rose colour and silver. Mirrors were
+inserted in the cedar panels of the walls; a divan of rose-coloured silk
+surrounded the chamber, and on the thick soft carpet of many colours,
+which nearly covered the floor, were several cushions surrounding an
+antique marble tripod of wreathed serpents. The lady, disembarrassing
+herself of her slippers, seated herself on the divan in the fashion of
+her country; one of her attendants brought a large silver lamp, which
+diffused a delicious odour as well as a brilliant light, and placed
+it on the tripod; the other clapped her hands, and a band of beautiful
+girls entered the room, bearing dishes of confectionery, plates of
+choice fruits, and vases of delicious sherbets. The lady, partaking of
+some of these, directed, after a short time, that they should be offered
+to her immediate attendants, who thereupon kissed their hands with a
+grave face, and pressed them to their hearts. Then one of the girls,
+leaving the apartment for a moment, returned with a nargileh of crystal,
+set by the most cunning artists of Damascus in a framework of golden
+filigree crusted with precious stones. She presented the flexible silver
+tube, tipped with amber, to the lady, who, waving her hand that the room
+should be cleared, smoked a confection of roses and rare nuts, while she
+listened to a volume read by one of her maidens, who was seated by the
+silver lamp.
+
+While they were thus employed, an opposite curtain to that by which they
+had entered was drawn aside, and a woman advanced, and whispered some
+words to the lady, who seemed to signify her assent. Immediately, a tall
+negro of Dongola, richly habited in a flowing crimson vest, and with
+a large silver collar round his neck, entered the hall, and, after the
+usual salutations of reverence to the lady, spoke earnestly in a low
+voice. The lady listened with great attention, and then, taking out her
+tablets from her girdle, she wrote a few words and gave a leaf to the
+tall negro, who bowed and retired. Then she waved her hand, and the
+maiden who was reading closed her book, rose, and, pressing her hand to
+her heart, retired.
+
+It seemed that the young Emir had arrived at the pavilion, and prayed
+that, without a moment's delay, he might speak with the Lady of Bethany.
+
+The curtain was again withdrawn, a light step was heard, the young man
+who had recently passed Tancred on the road to Jerusalem bounded into
+the room.
+
+'How is the Rose of Sharon?' he exclaimed. He threw himself at her feet,
+and pressed the hem of her garment to his lips with an ecstasy which
+it would have been difficult for a bystander to decide whether it were
+mockery or enthusiasm, or genuine feeling, which took a sportive air to
+veil a devotion which it could not conceal, and which it cared not too
+gravely to intimate.
+
+'Ah, Fakredeen!' said the lady, 'and when did you leave the Mountain?'
+
+'I arrived at Jerusalem yesterday by sunset; never did I want to see you
+so much. The foreign consuls have stopped my civil war, which cost me a
+hundred thousand piastres. We went down to Beiroot and signed articles
+of peace; I thought it best to attend to escape suspicion. However,
+there is more stirring than you can conceive: never had I such
+combinations! First, let me shortly tell you what I have done, then what
+I wish you to do. I have made immense hits, but I am also in a scrape.'
+
+'That I think you always are,' said the lady.
+
+'But you will get me out of it, Rose of Sharon! You always do, brightest
+and sweetest of friends! What an alliance is ours! My invention, your
+judgment; my combinations, your criticism. It must carry everything
+before it.'
+
+'I do not see that it has effected much hitherto,' said the lady.'
+However, give me your mountain news. What have you done?'
+
+'In the first place,' said Fakredeen, 'until this accursed peace
+intrigue of the foreign consuls, which will not last as long as the
+carnival, the Mountain was more troubled than ever, and the Porte,
+backed up by Sir Canning, is obstinate against any prince of our house
+exercising the rule.'
+
+'Do you call that good news?'
+
+'It serves. In the first place it keeps my good uncle, the Emir Bescheer
+and his sons, prisoners at the Seven Towers. Now, I will tell you what I
+have done. I have sent to my uncle and offered him two hundred thousand
+piastres a year for his life and that of his sons, if they will
+represent to the Porte that none but a prince of the house of Shehaab
+can possibly pacify and administer Lebanon, and that, to obtain this
+necessary end, they are ready to resign their rights in favour of any
+other member of the family.'
+
+'What then?' said the Lady of Bethany, taking her nargileh from her
+mouth.
+
+'Why, then,' said Fakredeen, 'I am by another agent working upon Riza
+Pasha to this effect, that of all the princes of the great house of
+Shehaab, there is none so well adapted to support the interests of the
+Porte as the Emir Fakredeen, and for these three principal reasons: in
+the first place, because he is a prince of great qualities----'
+
+'Your proof of them to the vizir would be better than your assertion.'
+
+'Exactly,' said Fakredeen. 'I prove them by my second reason, which is a
+guaranty to his excellency of the whole revenue of the first year of my
+princedom, provided I receive the berat.'
+
+'I can tell you something,' said the lady, 'Riza shakes a little. He is
+too fond of first-fruits. His nomination will not be popular.'
+
+'Yes it will, when the divan takes into consideration the third reason
+for my appointment,' said the prince. 'Namely, that the Emir Fakredeen
+is the only prince of the great house of Shehaab who is a good
+Mussulman.'
+
+'You a good Mussulman! Why, I thought you had sent two months ago
+Archbishop Murad to Paris, urging King Louis to support you, because,
+amongst other reasons, being a Christian prince, you would defend the
+faith and privileges of the Maronites.'
+
+'And devote myself to France,' said Fakredeen. 'It is very true, and an
+excellent combination it is, if we could only bring it to bear, which I
+do not despair of, though affairs, which looked promising at Paris, have
+taken an unfortunate turn of late.'
+
+'I am sorry for that,' said the lady, 'for really, Fakredeen, of all
+your innumerable combinations, that did seem to me to be the most
+practical. I think it might have been worked. The Maronites are
+powerful; the French nation is interested in them; they are the link
+between France and Syria; and you, being a Christian prince as well as
+an emir of the most illustrious house, with your intelligence and such
+aid as we might give you, I think your prospects were, to say the least,
+fair.'
+
+'Why, as to being a Christian prince, Eva, you must remember I aspire to
+a dominion where I have to govern the Maronites who are Christians,
+the Metoualis who are Mahometans, the Ansareys who are Pagans, and the
+Druses who are nothing. As for-myself, my house, as you well know, is
+more ancient even than that of Othman. We are literally descended from
+the standard-bearer of the Prophet, and my own estates, as well as those
+of the Emir Bes-cheer, have been in our registered possession for nearly
+eight hundred years. Our ancestors became Christians to conciliate the
+Maronites. Now tell me: in Europe, an English or French prince who wants
+a throne never hesitates to change his religion, why should I be more
+nice? I am of that religion which gives me a sceptre; and if a Frank
+prince adopts a new creed when he quits London or Paris, I cannot
+understand why mine may not change according to the part of the mountain
+through which I am passing. What is the use of belonging to an old
+family unless to have the authority of an ancestor ready for any
+prejudice, religious or political, which your combinations may require?'
+
+'Ah! Fakredeen,' said the lady, shaking her head, 'you have no
+self-respect.'
+
+'No Syrian has; it won't do for us. You are an Arabian; it will do for
+the desert. Self-respect, too, is a superstition of past centuries, an
+affair of the Crusades. It is not suited to these times; it is much
+too arrogant, too self-conceited, too egotistical. No one is important
+enough to have self-respect. Don't you see?'
+
+'You boast of being a prince inferior to none in the antiquity of your
+lineage, and, as far as the mere fact is concerned, you are justified
+in your boast. I cannot comprehend how one who feels this pride should
+deign to do anything that is not princely.'
+
+'A prince!' exclaimed Fakredeen. 'Princes go for nothing now, without
+a loan. Get me a loan, and then you turn the prince into a government.
+That's the thing.'
+
+'You will never get a loan till you are Emir of Lebanon,' said the lady.
+'And you have shown me to-day that the only chance you have is failing
+you, for, after all, Paris was your hope. What has crossed you?'
+
+'In the first place,' said Fakredeen, 'what can the French do? After
+having let the Egyptians be driven out, fortunately for me, for their
+expulsion ruined my uncle, the French will never take the initiative in
+Syria. All that I wanted of them was, that they should not oppose Riza
+Pasha in his nomination of me. But to secure his success a finer move
+was necessary. So I instructed Archbishop Murad, whom they received very
+well at Paris, to open secret communications over the water with the
+English. He did so, and offered to cross and explain in detail to their
+ministers. I wished to assure them in London that I was devoted to
+their interests; and I meant to offer to let the Protestant missionaries
+establish themselves in the mountain, so that Sir Canning should have
+received instructions to support my nomination by Riza. Then you see,
+I should have had the Porte, England, and France. The game was won. Can
+you believe it? Lord Aberdeen enclosed my agent's letter to Guizot. I
+was crushed.'
+
+'And disgraced. You deserved it. You never will succeed. Intrigue will
+be your ruin, Fakredeen.'
+
+'Intrigue!' exclaimed the prince, starting from the cushion near the
+tripod, on which he sat, speaking with great animation and using, as
+was his custom, a superfluity of expression, both of voice and hands
+and eyes, 'intrigue! It is life! It is the only thing! How do you think
+Guizot and Aberdeen got to be ministers without intrigue? Or Riza Pasha
+himself? How do you think Mehemet Ali got on? Do you believe Sir Canning
+never intrigues? He would be recalled in a week if he did not. Why, I
+have got one of his spies in my castle at this moment, and I make
+him write home for the English all that I wish them not to believe.
+Intrigue! Why, England won India by intrigue. Do you think they are not
+intriguing in the Punjaub at this moment? Intrigue has gained half the
+thrones of Europe: Greece, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Russia. If
+you wish to produce a result, you must make combinations; and you call
+combinations, Eva, intrigue!'
+
+'And this is the scrape that you are in,' said the lady. 'I do not see
+how I can help you out of it.'
+
+'Pardon; this is not the scrape: and here comes the point on which I
+need your aid, daughter of a thousand sheikhs! I can extricate myself
+from the Paris disaster, even turn it to account. I have made an
+alliance with the patriarch of the Lebanon, who manages affairs for the
+Emir Bescheer. The patriarch hates Murad, whom you see I was to have
+made patriarch. I am to declare the Archbishop an unauthorised agent,
+an adventurer, and my letter to be a forgery. The patriarch is to go
+to Stamboul, with his long white beard, and put me right with France,
+through De Bourqueney, with whom he has relations in favour of the Emir
+Bescheer; my uncle is to be thrown over; all the Maronite chiefs are
+to sign a declaration supplicating the Porte to institute me; nay, the
+declaration is signed----'
+
+'And the Druses? Will not this Maronite manifestation put you wrong with
+the Druses?'
+
+'I live among the Druses, you see,' said Fakredeen, shaking his head,
+and looking with his glittering eye a thousand meanings. 'The Druses
+love me. They know that I am one of themselves. They will only think
+that I have made the Maronites eat sand.'
+
+'And what have you really done for the Maronites to gain all this?'
+asked the lady, quietly.
+
+'There it is,' said Fakredeen, speaking in an affected whisper, 'the
+greatest stroke of state that ever entered the mind of a king without
+a kingdom, for I am resolved that the mountain shall be a royalty I You
+remember when Ibrahim Pasha laid his plans for disarming the Lebanon,
+the Maronites, urged by their priests, fell into the snare, while the
+Druses wisely went with their muskets and scimitars, and lived awhile
+with the eagle and the antelope. This has been sand to the Maronites
+ever since. The Druses put their tongues in their cheek whenever they
+meet, and treat them as so many women. The Porte, of course, will do
+nothing for the Maronites; they even take back the muskets which they
+lent them for the insurrection. Well, as the Porte will not arm them, I
+have agreed to do it.'
+
+'You!'
+
+''Tis done; at least the caravan is laden; we only want a guide.
+And this is why I am at Jerusalem. Scheriff Effendi, who met me here
+yesterday, has got me five thousand English muskets, and I have arranged
+with the Bedouin of Zoalia to carry them to the mountain.'
+
+'You have indeed Solomon's signet, my dear Fakredeen.'
+
+'Would that I had; for then I could pay two hundred thousand piastres
+to that Egyptian camel, Scheriff Effendi, and he would give me up my
+muskets, which now, like a true son of Eblis, he obstinately retains.'
+
+'And this is your scrape, Fakredeen. And how much have you towards the
+sum?'
+
+'Not a piastre; nor do I suppose I shall ever see, until I make a great
+financial stroke, so much of the sultan's gold as is on one of the gilt
+balls of roses in your nargileh. My crops are sold for next year, my
+jewels are gone, my studs are to be broken up. There is not a cur in the
+streets of Beiroot of whom I have not borrowed money. Riza Pasha is a
+sponge that would dry the sea of Galilee.'
+
+'It is a great thing to have gained the Patriarch of Lebanon,' said
+the lady; 'I always felt that, as long as that man was against you, the
+Maronites never could be depended on. And yet these arms; after all,
+they are of no use, for you would not think of insurrection!'
+
+'No; but they can quarrel with the Druses, and cut each other's throats,
+and this will make the mountain more unmanageable than ever, and the
+English will have no customers for their calicoes, don't you see? Lord
+Palmerston will arraign the minister in the council. I shall pay off
+Aberdeen for enclosing the Archbishop's letter to Guizot. Combination
+upon combination! The calico merchants will call out for a prince of the
+house of Shehaab! Riza will propose me; Bourqueney will not murmur, and
+Sir Canning, finding he is in a mess, will sign a fine note of words
+about the peace of Europe and the prosperity of Lebanon, and 'tis
+finished.'
+
+'And my father, you have seen him?'
+
+'I have seen him,' said the young Emir, and he cast his eyes on the
+ground.
+
+'He has done so much,' said Eva.
+
+'Ask him to do more, Rose of Sharon,' said Fakredeen, like a child about
+to cry for a toy, and he threw himself on his knees before Eva, and kept
+kissing her robe. 'Ask him to do more,' he repeated, in a suppressed
+tone of heart-rending cajolery; 'he can refuse you nothing. Ask him, ask
+him, Eva! I have no friend in the world but you; I am so desolate.
+You have always been my friend, my counsellor, my darling, my ruby, my
+pearl, my rose of Rocnabad! Ask him, Eva; never mind my faults; you
+know me by heart; only ask him!'
+
+She shook her head.
+
+'Tell him that you are my sister, that I am his son, that I love you
+so, that I love him so; tell him anything. Say that he ought to do it
+because I am a Hebrew.'
+
+'A what?' said Eva.
+
+'A Hebrew; yes, a Hebrew. I am a Hebrew by blood, and we all are by
+faith.'
+
+'Thou son of a slave!' exclaimed the lady, 'thou masquerade of humanity!
+Christian or Mussulman, Pagan or Druse, thou mayest figure as; but spare
+my race, Fakredeen, they are fallen----'
+
+'But not so base as I am. It may be true, but I love you, Eva, and you
+love me; and if I had as many virtues as yourself, you could not love
+me more; perhaps less. Women like to feel their superiority; you are
+as clever as I am, and have more judgment; you are generous, and I am
+selfish; honourable, and I am a villain; brave, and I am a coward; rich,
+and I am poor. Let that satisfy you, and do not trample on the fallen;'
+and Fakredeen took her hand and bedewed it with his tears.
+
+'Dear Fakredeen,' said Eva, 'I thought you spoke in jest, as I did.'
+
+'How can a man jest, who has to go through what I endure!' said the
+young Emir, in a desponding tone, and still lying at her feet. 'O, my
+more than sister, 'tis hell! The object I propose to myself would, with
+the greatest resources, be difficult; and now I have none.'
+
+'Relinquish it.'
+
+'When I am young and ruined! When I have the two greatest stimulants in
+the world to action, Youth and Debt! No; such a combination is never to
+be thrown away. Any young prince ought to win the Lebanon, but a young
+prince in debt ought to conquer the world!' and the Emir sprang from the
+floor, and began walking about the apartment.
+
+'I think, Eva,' he said, after a moment's pause, and speaking in his
+usual tone, 'I think you really might do something with your father; I
+look upon myself as his son; he saved my life. And I am a Hebrew; I
+was nourished by your mother's breast, her being flows in my veins;
+and independent of all that, my ancestor was the standard-bearer of the
+Prophet, and the Prophet was the descendant of Ishmael, and Ishmael
+and Israel were brothers. I really think, between my undoubted Arabian
+origin and being your foster-brother, that I may be looked upon as a
+Jew, and that your father might do something for me.'
+
+'Whatever my father will do, you and he must decide together,' said Eva;
+'after the result of my last interference, I promised my father that I
+never would speak to him on your affairs again; and you know, therefore,
+that I cannot. You ought not to urge me, Fakredeen.'
+
+'Ah! you are angry with me,' he exclaimed, and again seated himself
+at her feet. 'You were saying in your heart, he is the most selfish of
+beings. It is true, I am. But I have glorious aspirations at least. I am
+not content to live like my fathers in a beautiful palace, amid my woods
+and mountains, with Kochlani steeds, falcons that would pull down an
+eagle, and nargilehs of rubies and emeralds. I want something more than
+troops of beautiful slaves, music and dances. I want Europe to talk of
+me. I am wearied of hearing nothing but Ibrahim Pasha, Louis Philippe,
+and Palmerston. I, too, can make combinations; and I am of a better
+family than all three, for Ibrahim is a child of mud, a Bourbon is not
+equal to a Shehaab, and Lord Palmerston only sits in the Queen's
+second chamber of council, as I well know from an Englishman who was at
+Beiroot, and with whom I have formed some political relations, of which
+perhaps some day you will hear.'
+
+'Well, we have arrived at a stage of your career, Fakredeen, in which no
+combination presents itself; I am powerless to assist you; my resources,
+never very great, are quite exhausted.'
+
+'No,' said the Emir, 'the game is yet to be won. Listen, Rose of Sharon,
+for this is really the point on which I came to hold counsel. A young
+English lord has arrived at Jerusalem this week or ten days past; he
+is of the highest dignity, and rich enough to buy the grand bazaar of
+Damascus; he has letters of credit on your father's house without
+any limit. No one can discover the object of his mission. I have some
+suspicions; there is also a French officer here who never speaks; I
+watch them both. The Englishman, I learnt this morning, is going to
+Mount Sinai. It is not a pilgrimage, because the English are really
+neither Jews nor Christians, but follow a sort of religion of their own,
+which is made every year by their bishops, one of whom they have sent
+to Jerusalem, in what they call a parliament, a college of muftis; you
+understand. Now lend me that ear that is like an almond of Aleppo! I
+propose that one of the tribes that obey your grandfather shall make
+this Englishman prisoner as he traverses the desert. You see? Ah! Rose
+of Sharon, I am not yet beat; your Fakredeen is not the baffled boy
+that, a few minutes ago, you looked as if you thought him. I defy
+Ibrahim, or the King of France, or Palmerston himself, to make a
+combination superior to this. What a ransom! The English lord will pay
+Scheriff Effendi for his five thousand muskets, and for their conveyance
+to the mountain besides.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+     _Besso, the Banker_
+
+IN ONE of those civil broils at Damascus which preceded the fall of the
+Janissaries, an Emir of the house of Shehaab, who lost his life in the
+fray, had, in the midst of the convulsion, placed his infant son in the
+charge of the merchant Besso, a child most dear to him, not only because
+the babe was his heir, but because his wife, whom he passionately
+loved, a beautiful lady of Antioch and of one of the old families of the
+country, had just sacrificed her life in giving birth to their son.
+
+The wife of Besso placed the orphan infant at her own breast, and the
+young Fakredeen was brought up in every respect as a child of the house;
+so that, for some time, he looked upon the little Eva, who was three
+years younger than himself, as his sister. When Fakredeen had
+attained an age of sufficient intelligence for the occasion and the
+circumstances, his real position was explained to him; but he was still
+too young for the communication to effect any change in his feelings,
+and the idea that Eva was not his sister only occasioned him sorrow,
+until his grief was forgotten when he found that the change made no
+difference in their lives or their love.
+
+Soon after the violent death of the father of Fakredeen, affairs had
+become more tranquil, and Besso had not neglected the interests of his
+charge. The infant was heir to a large estate in the Lebanon; a fine
+castle, an illimitable forest, and cultivated lands, whose produce,
+chiefly silk, afforded a revenue sufficient to maintain the not
+inconsiderable state of a mountain prince.
+
+When Fakredeen was about ten years of age, his relative the Emir
+Bescheer, who then exercised a sovereign and acknowledged sway over all
+the tribes of the Lebanon, whatever their religion or race, signified
+his pleasure that his kinsman should be educated at his court, in the
+company of his sons. So Fakredeen, with many tears, quitted his happy
+home at Damascus, and proceeded to Beteddeen, the beautiful palace of
+his uncle, situate among the mountains in the neighbourhood of Beiroot.
+This was about the time that the Egyptians were effecting the conquest
+of Syria, and both the Emir Bescheer, the head of the house of
+Shehaab as well as Prince of the Mountain, and the great commercial
+confederation of the brothers Besso, had declared in favour of the
+invader, and were mainly instrumental to the success of Mehemet Ali.
+Political sympathy, and the feelings of mutual dependence which
+united the Emir Bescheer and the merchant of Damascus, rendered
+the communications between the families so frequent that it was not
+difficult for the family of Besso to cherish those sentiments of
+affection which were strong and lively in the heart of the young
+Fakredeen, but which, under any circumstances, depend so much on
+sustained personal intercourse. Eva saw a great deal of her former
+brother, and there subsisted between them a romantic friendship. He
+was their frequent guest at Damascus and was proud to show her how he
+excelled in his martial exercises, how skilful he was with his falcon,
+and what horses of pure race he proudly rode.
+
+In the year '39, Fakredeen being then fifteen years of age, the country
+entirely tranquil, even if discontented, occupied by a disciplined
+army of 80,000 men, commanded by captains equal it was supposed to any
+conjuncture, the Egyptians openly encouraged by the greatest military
+nation of Europe, the Turks powerless, and only secretly sustained by
+the countenance of the ambassador of the weakest government that ever
+tottered in England, a government that had publicly acknowledged that
+it had forfeited the confidence of the Parliament which yet it did
+not dissolve; everything being thus in a state of flush and affluent
+prosperity, and both the house of Shehaab and the house of Besso
+feeling, each day more strongly, how discreet and how lucky they had
+been in the course which they had adopted, came the great Syrian crash!
+
+Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the policy pursued by
+the foreign minister of England, with respect to the settlement of the
+Turkish Empire in 1840-41, none can be permitted, by those, at least,
+competent to decide upon such questions, as to the ability with which
+that policy was accomplished. When we consider the position of the
+minister at home, not only deserted by Parliament, but abandoned by his
+party and even forsaken by his colleagues; the military occupation
+of Syria by the Egyptians; the rabid demonstration of France; that an
+accident of time or space, the delay of a month or the gathering of a
+storm, might alone have baffled all his combinations, it is difficult to
+fix upon a page in the history of this country which records a superior
+instance of moral intrepidity. The bold conception and the brilliant
+performance were worthy of Chatham; but the domestic difficulties with
+which Lord Palmerston had to struggle place the exploit beyond the
+happiest achievement of the elder Pitt. Throughout the memorable
+conjuncture, Lord Palmerston, however, had one great advantage, which
+was invisible to the millions; he was served by a most vigilant and able
+diplomacy. The superiority of his information concerning the state of
+Syria to that furnished to the French minister was the real means
+by which he baffled the menaced legions of our neighbours. A timid
+Secretary of State in the position of Lord Palmerston, even with such
+advantages, might have faltered; but the weapon was placed in the hands
+of one who did not shrink from its exercise, and the expulsion of
+the Egyptians from Turkey remains a great historic monument alike of
+diplomatic skill and administrative energy.
+
+The rout of the Egyptians was fatal to the Emir Bescheer, and it seemed
+also, for a time, to the Damascus branch of the family of Besso. But in
+these days a great capitalist has deeper roots than a sovereign prince,
+unless he is very legitimate. The Prince of the Mountain and his
+sons were summoned from their luxurious and splendid Beteddeen to
+Constantinople, where they have ever since remained prisoners. Young
+Fakredeen, the moment he heard of the fall of Acre, rode out with his
+falcon, as if for the pastime of a morning, and the moment he was out of
+sight made for the desert, and never rested until he reached the tents
+of the children of Rechab, where he placed himself under the protection
+of the grandfather of Eva.
+
+As for the merchant himself, having ships at his command, he contrived
+to escape with his wife and his young daughter to Trieste, and he
+remained in the Austrian dominions between three and four years.
+At length the influence of Prince Metternich, animated by Sidonia,
+propitiated the Porte. Adarfi Besso, after making his submission at
+Stamboul, and satisfactorily explaining his conduct to Riza Pasha,
+returned to his country, not substantially injured in fortune, though
+the northern clime had robbed him of his Arabian wife; for his brothers,
+who, as far as politics were concerned, had ever kept in the shade, had
+managed affairs in the absence of the more prominent member of their
+house, and, in truth, the family of Besso were too rich to be long under
+a cloud. The Pasha of Damascus found his revenue fall very short without
+their interference; and as for the Divan, the Bessoes could always find
+a friend there if they chose. The awkwardness of the Syrian catastrophe
+was, that it was so sudden and so unexpected that there was then no time
+for those satisfactory explanations which afterwards took place between
+Adam Besso and Riza.
+
+Though the situation of Besso remained, therefore, unchanged after the
+subsidence of the Syrian agitation, the same circumstance could not be
+predicated of the position of his foster-child. Fakredeen possessed
+all the qualities of the genuine Syrian character in excess; vain,
+susceptible, endowed with a brilliant though frothy imagination, and a
+love of action so unrestrained that restlessness deprived it of energy,
+with so fine a taste that he was always capricious, and so ingenious
+that he seemed ever inconsistent. His ambition was as high as his
+apprehension was quick. He saw everything and understood everybody in
+a flash; and believed that everything that was said or done ought to
+be made to contribute to his fortunes. Educated in the sweet order, and
+amid the decorous virtues of the roof of Besso, Fakredeen, who, from his
+susceptibility, took the colour of his companions, even when he thought
+they were his tools, had figured for ten years as a soft-hearted and
+somewhat timid child, dependent on kind words, and returning kindness
+with a passionate affection.
+
+His change to the palace of his uncle developed his native qualities,
+which, under any accidents, could not perhaps have been long restrained,
+but which the circumstances of the times brought to light, and matured
+with a celerity peculiar to the East. The character of Fakredeen was
+formed amid the excitement of the Syrian invasion and its stirring
+consequences. At ten years of age he was initiated in all the mysteries
+of political intrigue. His startling vivacity and the keen relish of his
+infant intelligence for all the passionate interests of men amused and
+sometimes delighted his uncle. Everything was spoken before him; he
+lived in the centre of intrigues which were to shake thrones, and
+perhaps to form them. He became habituated to the idea that everything
+could be achieved by dexterity, and that there was no test of conduct
+except success. To dissemble and to simulate; to conduct confidential
+negotiations with contending powers and parties at the same time; to be
+ready to adopt any opinion and to possess none; to fall into the public
+humour of the moment, and to evade the impending catastrophe; to look
+upon every man as a tool, and never do anything which had not a definite
+though circuitous purpose; these were his political accomplishments;
+and, while he recognised them as the best means of success, he found
+in their exercise excitement and delight. To be the centre of a maze of
+manoeuvres was his empyrean. He was never without a resource.
+
+Stratagems came to him as naturally as fruit comes to a tree. He lived
+in a labyrinth of plans, and he rejoiced to involve some one in the
+perplexities which his magic touch could alone unravel. Fakredeen had
+no principle of any kind; he had not a prejudice; a little superstition,
+perhaps, like his postponing his journey because a hare crossed his
+path. But, as for life and conduct in general, forming his opinions
+from the great men of whom he had experience, princes, pashas, and some
+others, and from the great transactions with which he was connected,
+he was convinced that all was a matter of force or fraud. Fakredeen
+preferred the latter, because it was more ingenious, and because he was
+of a kind and passionate temperament, loving beauty and the beautiful,
+apt to idealise everything, and of too exquisite a taste not to shrink
+with horror from an unnecessary massacre.
+
+Though it was his profession and his pride to simulate and to dissemble,
+he had a native ingenuousness which was extremely awkward and very
+surprising, for, the moment he was intimate with you, he told you
+everything. Though he intended to make a person his tool, and often
+succeeded, such was his susceptibility, and so strong were his
+sympathetic qualities, that he was perpetually, without being aware of
+it, showing his cards. The victim thought himself safe, but the teeming
+resources of Fakredeen were never wanting, and some fresh and brilliant
+combination, as he styled it, often secured the prey which so heedlessly
+he had nearly forfeited. Recklessness with him was a principle of
+action. He trusted always to his fertile expedients if he failed, and
+ran the risk in the meanwhile of paramount success, the fortune of those
+who are entitled to be rash. With all his audacity, which was nearly
+equal to his craft, he had no moral courage; and, if affairs went wrong,
+and, from some accident, exhaustion of the nervous system, the weather,
+or some of those slight causes which occasionally paralyse the creative
+mind, he felt without a combination, he would begin to cry like a
+child, and was capable of any action, however base and humiliating, to
+extricate himself from the impending disaster.
+
+Fakredeen had been too young to have fatally committed himself during
+the Egyptian occupation. The moment he found that the Emir Bescheer and
+his sons were prisoners at Constantinople, he returned to Syria, lived
+quietly at his own castle, affected popularity among the neighbouring
+chieftains, who were pleased to see a Shehaab among them, and showed
+himself on every occasion a most loyal subject of the Porte. At
+seventeen years of age, Fakredeen was at the head of a powerful party,
+and had opened relations with the Divan. The Porte looked upon him with
+confidence, and although they intended, if possible, to govern Lebanon
+in future themselves, a young prince of a great house, and a young
+prince so perfectly free from all disagreeable antecedents, was not to
+be treated lightly. All the leaders of all the parties of the mountain
+frequented the castle of Fakredeen, and each secretly believed that the
+prince was his pupil and his tool. There was not one of these men,
+grey though some of them were in years and craft, whom the innocent and
+ingenuous Fakredeen did not bend as a nose of wax, and, when Adam Besso
+returned to Syria in '43, he found his foster-child by far the most
+considerable person in the country, and all parties amid their doubts
+and distractions looking up to him with hope and confidence. He was then
+nineteen years of age, and Eva was sixteen. Fakredeen came instantly
+to Damascus to welcome them, hugged Besso, wept like a child over his
+sister, sat up the whole night on the terrace of their house smoking
+his nargileh, and telling them all his secrets without the slightest
+reserve: the most shameful actions of his career as well as the most
+brilliant; and finally proposed to Besso to raise a loan for the
+Lebanon, ostensibly to promote the cultivation of mulberries, really to
+supply arms to the discontented population who were to make Fakredeen
+and Eva sovereigns of the mountain. It will have been observed, that to
+supply the partially disarmed tribes of the mountain with weapons was
+still, though at intervals, the great project of Fakredeen, and to
+obtain the result in his present destitution of resources involved
+him in endless stratagems. His success would at the same time bind the
+tribes, already well affected to him, with unalterable devotion to a
+chief capable of such an undeniable act of sovereignty, and of course
+render them proportionately more efficient instruments in accomplishing
+his purpose. It was the interest of Fakredeen that the Lebanon should be
+powerful and disturbed.
+
+Besso, who had often befriended him, and who had frequently rescued
+him from the usurers of Beiroot and Sidon, lent a cold ear to these
+suggestions. The great merchant was not inclined again to embark in
+a political career, or pass another three or four years away from his
+Syrian palaces and gardens. He had seen the most powerful head that the
+East had produced for a century, backed by vast means, and after having
+apparently accomplished his purpose, ultimately recoil before the
+superstitious fears of Christendom, lest any change in Syria should
+precipitate the solution of the great Eastern problem. He could not
+believe that it was reserved for Fakredeen to succeed in that which had
+baffled Mehemet Ali.
+
+Eva took the more sanguine view that becomes youth and woman. She had
+faith in Fakredeen. Though his position was not as powerful as that of
+the great viceroy, it was, in her opinion, more legitimate. He seemed
+indicated as the natural ruler of the mountain. She had faith, too,
+in his Arabian origin. With Eva, what is called society assumed the
+character of a continual struggle between Asia and the North. She
+dreaded the idea that, after having escaped the crusaders, Syria should
+fall first under the protection, and then the colonisation of some
+European power. A link was wanted in the chain of resistance which
+connected the ranges of Caucasus with the Atlas. She idealised her
+foster-brother into a hero, and saw his standard on Mount Lebanon, the
+beacon of the oriental races, like the spear of Shami, or the pavilion
+of Abd-el-Kader. Eva had often influenced her father for the advantage
+of Fakredeen, but at last even Eva felt that she should sue in vain.
+
+A year before, involved in difficulties which it seemed no combination
+could control, and having nearly occasioned the occupation of Syria by
+a united French and English force, Fakredeen burst out a-cry-ing like
+a little boy, and came whimpering to Eva, as if somebody had broken his
+toy or given him a beating. Then it was that Eva had obtained for him
+a final assistance from her father, the condition being, that this
+application should be the last.
+
+Eva had given him jewels, had interested other members of her family
+in his behalf, and effected for him a thousand services, which only
+a kind-hearted and quick-witted woman could devise. While Fakredeen
+plundered her without scruple and used her without remorse, he doted on
+her; he held her intellect in absolute reverence; a word from her guided
+him; a look of displeasure, and his heart ached. As long as he was under
+the influence of her presence, he really had no will, scarcely an idea
+of his own. He spoke only to elicit her feelings and opinions. He had a
+superstition that she was born under a fortunate star, and that it
+was fatal to go counter to her. But the moment he was away, he would
+disobey, deceive, and, if necessary, betray her, loving her the same all
+the time. But what was to be expected from one whose impressions were
+equally quick and vivid, who felt so much for himself, and so much
+for others, that his life seemed a perpetual re-action between intense
+selfishness and morbid sensibility?
+
+Had Fakredeen married Eva, the union might have given him some
+steadiness of character, or at least its semblance. The young Emir had
+greatly desired this alliance, not for the moral purpose that we have
+intimated, not even from love of Eva, for he was totally insensible
+to domestic joys, but because he wished to connect himself with great
+capitalists, and hoped to gain the Lebanon loan for a dower. But this
+alliance was quite out of the question. The hand of Eva was destined,
+according to the custom of the family, for her cousin, the eldest son of
+Besso of Aleppo. The engagement had been entered into while she was at
+Vienna, and it was then agreed that the marriage should take place soon
+after she had completed her eighteenth year. The ceremony was therefore
+at hand; it was to occur within a few months.
+
+Accustomed from an early period of life to the contemplation of this
+union, it assumed in the eyes of Eva a character as natural as that of
+birth or death. It never entered her head to ask herself whether she
+liked or disliked it. It was one of those inevitable things of which we
+are always conscious, yet of which we never think, like the years of our
+life or the colour of our hair. Had her destiny been in her own hands,
+it is probable that she would not have shared it with Fakredeen, for she
+had never for an instant entertained the wish that there should be any
+change in the relations which subsisted between them. According to the
+custom of the country, it was to Besso that Fakredeen had expressed his
+wishes and his hopes. The young Emir made liberal offers: his wife and
+children might follow any religion they pleased; nay, he was even ready
+to conform himself to any which they fixed upon. He attempted to
+dazzle Besso with the prospect of a Hebrew Prince of the Mountains. 'My
+daughter,' said the merchant, 'would certainly, under any circumstances,
+marry one of her own faith; but we need not say another word about it;
+she is betrothed, and has been engaged for some years, to her cousin.'
+
+When Fakredeen, during his recent visit to Bethany, found that Eva,
+notwithstanding her Bedouin blood, received his proposition for
+kidnapping a young English nobleman with the utmost alarm and even
+horror, he immediately relinquished it, diverted her mind from the
+contemplation of a project on her disapproval of which, notwithstanding
+his efforts at distraction, she seemed strangely to dwell, and finally
+presented her with a new and more innocent scheme in which he required
+her assistance. According to Fakredeen, his new English acquaintance
+at Beiroot, whom he had before quoted, was ready to assist him in the
+fulfilment of his contract, provided he could obtain sufficient time
+from Scheriff Effendi; and what he wished Eva to do was personally to
+request the Egyptian merchant to grant time for this indulgence. This
+did not seem to Eva an unreasonable favour for her foster-brother
+to obtain, though she could easily comprehend why his previous
+irregularities might render him an unsuccessful suitor to his creditor.
+Glad that it was still in her power in some degree to assist him, and
+that his present project was at least a harmless one, Eva offered the
+next day to repair to the city and see Scheriff Effendi on his business.
+Pressing her hand to his heart, and saluting her with a thousand
+endearing names, the Emir quitted the Rose of Sharon with the tears in
+his grateful eyes.
+
+Now the exact position of Fakredeen was this: he had induced the
+Egyptian merchant to execute the contract for him by an assurance that
+Besso would be his security for the venture, although the peculiar
+nature of the transaction rendered it impossible for Besso, in his
+present delicate position, personally to interfere in it. To keep up
+appearances, Fakredeen, with his usual audacious craft, had appointed
+Scheriff Effendi to meet him at Jerusalem, at the house of Besso, for
+the completion of the contract; and accordingly, on the afternoon of the
+day preceding his visit to Bethany, Fakredeen had arrived at Jerusalem
+without money, and without credit, in order to purchase arms for a
+province.
+
+The greatness of the conjuncture, the delightful climate, his sanguine
+temperament, combined, however, to sustain him. As he traversed his
+delicious mountains, with their terraces of mulberries, and olives, and
+vines, lounged occasionally for a short time at the towns on the coast,
+and looked in at some of his creditors to chatter charming delusions,
+or feel his way for a new combination most necessary at this moment,
+his blood was quick and his brain creative; and although he had ridden
+nearly two hundred miles when he arrived at the 'Holy City,' he was
+fresh and full of faith that 'something would turn up.' His Egyptian
+friend, awfully punctual, was the first figure that welcomed him as
+he entered the divan of Besso, where the young Emir remained in the
+position which we have described, smoking interminable nargilehs while
+he revolved his affairs, until the conversation respecting the arrival
+of Tancred roused him from his brooding meditation.
+
+It was not difficult to avoid Scheriff Effendi for a while. The
+following morning, Fakredeen passed half a dozen hours at the bath, and
+then made his visit to Eva with the plot which had occurred to him the
+night before at the divan, and which had been matured this day while
+they were shampooing him. The moment that, baffled, he again arrived at
+Jerusalem, he sought his Egyptian merchant, and thus addressed him: 'You
+see, Effendi, that you must not talk on this business to Besso, nor can
+Besso talk to you about it.'
+
+'Good!' said the Effendi.
+
+'But, if it be managed by another person to your satisfaction, it will
+be as well.'
+
+'One grain is like another.'
+
+'It will be managed by another person to your satisfaction.'
+
+'Good!'
+
+'The Rose of Sharon is the same in this business as her father?'
+
+'He is a ruby and she is a pearl.'
+
+'The Rose of Sharon will see you to-morrow about this business.'
+
+'Good!'
+
+'The Rose of Sharon may ask you for time to settle everything; she
+has to communicate with other places. You have heard of such a city as
+Aleppo?'
+
+'If Damascus be an eye, Aleppo is an ear.'
+
+'Don't trouble the Rose of Sharon, Effendi, with any details if she
+speaks to you; but be content with all she proposes. She will ask,
+perhaps, for three months; women are nervous; they think robbers may
+seize the money on its way, or the key of the chest may not be found
+when it is wanted; you understand? Agree to what she proposes; but,
+between ourselves, I will meet you at Gaza on the day of the new moon,
+and it is finished.'
+
+'Good.'
+
+Faithful to her promise, at an early hour of the morrow, Eva, wrapped
+in a huge and hooded Arab cloak, so that her form could not in the
+slightest degree be traced, her face covered with a black Arab mask,
+mounted her horse; her two female attendants, habited in the same
+manner, followed their mistress; before whom marched her janissary
+armed to the teeth, while four Arab grooms walked on each side of the
+cavalcade. In this way, they entered Jerusalem by the gate of Sion, and
+proceeded to the house of Besso. Fakredeen watched her arrival. He was
+in due time summoned to her presence, where he learned the success of
+her mission.
+
+'Scheriff Effendi,' she said, 'has agreed to keep the arms for three
+months, you paying the usual rate of interest on the money. This is but
+just. May your new friend at Beiroot be more powerful than I am, and as
+faithful!'
+
+'Beautiful Rose of Sharon! who can be like you! You inspire me; you
+always do. I feel persuaded that I shall get the money long before the
+time has elapsed.' And, so saying, he bade her farewell, to return, as
+he said, without loss of time to Beiroot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+     _Capture of the New Crusader_
+
+THE dawn was about to break in a cloudless sky, when Tancred,
+accompanied by Baroni and two servants, all well armed and well mounted,
+and by Hassan, a sheikh of the Jellaheen Bedouins, tall and grave, with
+a long spear tufted with ostrich feathers in his hand, his musket slung
+at his back, and a scimitar at his side, quitted Jerusalem by the gate
+of Bethlehem.
+
+If it were only to see the sun rise, or to become acquainted with nature
+at hours excluded from the experience of civilisation, it were worth
+while to be a traveller. There is something especially in the hour that
+precedes a Syrian dawn, which invigorates the frame and elevates the
+spirit. One cannot help fancying that angels may have been resting on
+the mountain tops during the night, the air is so sweet and the earth
+so still. Nor, when it wakes, does it wake to the maddening cares of
+Europe. The beauty of a patriarchal repose still lingers about its
+existence in spite of its degradation. Notwithstanding all they have
+suffered during the European development, the manners of the Asiatic
+races generally are more in harmony with nature than the complicated
+conventionalisms which harass their fatal rival, and which have
+increased in exact proportion as the Europeans have seceded from those
+Arabian and Syrian creeds that redeemed them from their primitive
+barbarism.
+
+But the light breaks, the rising beam falls on the gazelles still
+bounding on the hills of Judah, and gladdens the partridge which still
+calls among the ravines, as it did in the days of the prophets. About
+half-way between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Tancred and his companions
+halted at the tomb of Rachel: here awaited them a chosen band of twenty
+stout Jellaheens, the subjects of Sheikh Hassan, their escort through
+the wildernesses of Arabia Petraea. The fringed and ribbed kerchief of
+the desert, which must be distinguished from the turban, and is woven
+by their own women from the hair of the camel, covered the heads of the
+Bedouins; a short white gown, also of home manufacture, and very rude,
+with a belt of cords, completed, with slippers, their costume.
+
+Each man bore a musket and a dagger.
+
+It was Baroni who had made the arrangement with Sheikh Hassan. Baroni
+had long known him as a brave and faithful Arab. In general, these
+contracts with the Bedouins for convoy through the desert are made by
+Franks through their respective consuls, but Tancred was not sorry to
+be saved from the necessity of such an application, as it would have
+excited the attention of Colonel Brace, who passed his life at the
+British Consulate, and who probably would have thought it necessary to
+put on the uniform of the Bellamont yeomanry cavalry, and have attended
+the heir of Montacute to Mount Sinai. Tancred shuddered at the idea of
+the presence of such a being at such a place, with his large ruddy face,
+his swaggering, sweltering figure, his flourishing whiskers, and his fat
+hands.
+
+It was the fifth morn after the visit of Tancred to Bethany, of which
+he had said nothing to Baroni, the only person at his command who could
+afford or obtain any information as to the name and quality of her
+with whom he had there so singularly become acquainted. He was far from
+incurious on the subject; all that he had seen and all that he had heard
+at Bethany greatly interested him. But the reserve which ever controlled
+him, unless under the influence of great excitement, a reserve which was
+the result of pride and not of caution, would probably have checked any
+expression of his wishes on this head, even had he not been under the
+influence of those feelings which now absorbed him. A human being,
+animated by the hope, almost by the conviction, that a celestial
+communication is impending over his destiny, moves in a supernal sphere,
+which no earthly consideration can enter. The long musings of his voyage
+had been succeeded on the part of Tancred, since his arrival in the
+Holy Land, by one unbroken and impassioned reverie, heightened, not
+disturbed, by frequent and solitary prayer, by habitual fasts, and by
+those exciting conferences with Alonza Lara, in which he had struggled
+to penetrate the great Asian mystery, reserved however, if indeed ever
+expounded, for a longer initiation than had yet been proved by the son
+of the English noble.
+
+After a week of solitary preparation, during which he had interchanged
+no word, and maintained an abstinence which might have rivalled an old
+eremite of Engedi, Tancred had kneeled before that empty sepulchre of
+the divine Prince of the house of David, for which his ancestor,
+Tancred de Montacute, six hundred years before, had struggled with
+those followers of Mahound, who, to the consternation and perplexity of
+Christendom, continued to retain it. Christendom cares nothing for
+that tomb now, has indeed forgotten its own name, and calls itself
+enlightened Europe. But enlightened Europe is not happy. Its existence
+is a fever, which it calls progress. Progress to what?
+
+The youthful votary, during his vigils at the sacred tomb, had received
+solace but not inspiration. No voice from heaven had yet sounded, but
+his spirit was filled with the sanctity of the place, and he returned to
+his cell to prepare for fresh pilgrimages.
+
+One day, in conference with Lara, the Spanish Prior had let drop these
+words: 'Sinai led to Calvary; it may be wise to trace your steps from
+Calvary to Sinai.'
+
+At this moment, Tancred and his escort are in sight of Bethlehem, with
+the population of a village but the walls of a town, situate on an
+eminence overlooking a valley, which seems fertile after passing the
+stony plain of Rephaim. The first beams of the sun, too, were rising
+from the mountains of Arabia and resting on the noble convent of the
+Nativity.
+
+From Bethlehem to Hebron, Canaan is still a land of milk and honey,
+though not so rich and picturesque as in the great expanse of Palestine
+to the north of the Holy City. The beauty and the abundance of the
+promised land may still be found in Samaria and Galilee; in the
+magnificent plains of Esdraelon, Zabulon, and Gennesareth; and ever by
+the gushing waters of the bowery Jordan.
+
+About an hour after leaving Bethlehem, in a secluded valley, is one of
+the few remaining public works of the great Hebrew Kings, It is in every
+respect worthy of them. I speak of those colossal reservoirs cut out
+of the native rock and fed by a single spring, discharging their waters
+into an aqueduct of perforated stone, which, until a comparatively
+recent period, still conveyed them to Jerusalem. They are three in
+number, of varying lengths from five to six hundred feet, and almost
+as broad; their depth, still undiscovered. They communicate with each
+other, so that the water of the uppermost reservoir, flowing through the
+intermediate one, reached the third, which fed the aqueduct. They are
+lined with a hard cement like that which coats the pyramids, and which
+remains uninjured; and it appears that hanging gardens once surrounded
+them. The Arabs still call these reservoirs the pools of Solomon, nor is
+there any reason to doubt the tradition. Tradition, perhaps often more
+faithful than written documents, is a sure and almost infallible guide
+in the minds of the people where there has been no complicated variety
+of historic incidents to confuse and break the chain of memory; where
+their rare revolutions have consisted of an eruption once in a thousand
+years into the cultivated world; where society has never been broken
+up, but their domestic manners have remained the same; where, too, they
+revere truth, and are rigid in its oral delivery, since that is their
+only means of disseminating knowledge.
+
+There is no reason to doubt that these reservoirs were the works
+of Solomon. This secluded valley, then, was once the scene of his
+imaginative and delicious life. Here were his pleasure gardens; these
+slopes were covered with his fantastic terraces, and the high places
+glittered with his pavilions. The fountain that supplied these treasured
+waters was perhaps the 'sealed fountain,' to which he compared his
+bride; and here was the garden palace where the charming Queen of Sheba
+vainly expected to pose the wisdom of Israel, as she held at a distance
+before the most dexterous of men the two garlands of flowers, alike in
+form and colour, and asked the great king, before his trembling court,
+to decide which of the wreaths was the real one.
+
+They are gone, they are vanished, these deeds of beauty and these words
+of wit! The bright and glorious gardens of the tiaraed poet and the
+royal sage, that once echoed with his lyric voice, or with the startling
+truths of his pregnant aphorisms, end in this wild and solitary valley,
+in which with folded arms and musing eye of long abstraction, Tancred
+halts in his ardent pilgrimage, nor can refrain from asking himself,
+'Can it, then, be true that all is vanity?'
+
+Why, what, is this desolation? Why are there no more kings whose words
+are the treasured wisdom of countless ages, and the mention of whose
+name to this moment thrills the heart of the Oriental, from the waves of
+the midland ocean to the broad rivers of the farthest Ind? Why are there
+no longer bright-witted queens to step out of their Arabian palaces
+and pay visits to the gorgeous 'house of the forest of Lebanon,' or
+to where Baalbec, or Tadmor in the wilderness, rose on those plains now
+strewn with the superb relics of their inimitable magnificence?
+
+And yet some flat-nosed Frank, full of bustle and puffed up with
+self-conceit (a race spawned perhaps in the morasses of some Northern
+forest hardly yet cleared), talks of Progress! Progress to what, and
+from whence? Amid empires shrivelled into deserts, amid the wrecks of
+great cities, a single column or obelisk of which nations import for
+the prime ornament of their mud-built capitals, amid arts forgotten,
+commerce annihilated, fragmentary literatures and populations destroyed,
+the European talks of progress, because, by an ingenious application
+of some scientific acquirements, he has established a society which has
+mistaken comfort for civilisation.
+
+The soft beam of the declining sun fell upon a serene landscape; gentle
+undulations covered with rich shrubs or highly cultivated corn-fields
+and olive groves; sometimes numerous flocks; and then vineyards
+fortified with walls and with watch-towers, as in the time of David,
+whose city Tancred was approaching. Hebron, too, was the home of the
+great Sheikh Abraham; and the Arabs here possess his tomb, which no
+Christian is permitted to visit. It is strange and touching, that the
+children of Ishmael should have treated the name and memory of
+the Sheikh Abraham with so much reverence and affection. But the
+circumstance that he was the friend of Allah appears with them entirely
+to have outweighed the recollection of his harsh treatment of their
+great progenitor. Hebron has even lost with them its ancient Judaean
+name, and they always call it, in honour of the tomb of the Sheikh, the
+'City of a Friend.'
+
+About an hour after Hebron, in a fair pasture, and near an olive grove,
+Tancred pitched his tent, prepared on the morrow to quit the land of
+promise, and approach that 'great and terrible wilderness where there
+was no water.'
+
+'The children of Israel,' as they were called according to the custom
+then and now universally prevalent among the Arabian tribes (as, for
+example, the Beni Kahtan, Beni Kelb, Beni Salem, Beni Sobh, Beni Ghamed,
+Beni Seydan, Beni Ali, Beni Hateym, all adopting for their description
+the name of their founder), the 'children of Israel' were originally a
+tribe of Arabia Petrasa. Under the guidance of sheikhs of great ability,
+they emerged from their stony wilderness and settled on the Syrian
+border.
+
+But they could not maintain themselves against the disciplined nations
+of Palestine, and they fell back to their desert, which they found
+intolerable. Like some of the Bedouin tribes of modern times in the
+rocky wastes contiguous to the Red Sea, they were unable to resist the
+temptations of the Egyptian cities; they left their free but distressful
+wilderness, and became Fellaheen. The Pharaohs, however, made them pay
+for their ready means of sustenance, as Mehemet Ali has made the Arabs
+of our days who have quitted the desert to eat the harvests of the Nile.
+They enslaved them, and worked them as beasts of burden. But this was
+not to be long borne by a race whose chiefs in the early ages had
+been favoured by Jehovah; the patriarch Emirs, who, issuing from
+the Caucasian cradle of the great races, spread over the plains of
+Mesopotamia, and disseminated their illustrious seed throughout the
+Arabian wilderness. Their fiery imaginations brooded over the great
+traditions of their tribe, and at length there arose among them one of
+those men whose existence is an epoch in the history of human nature:
+a great creative spirit and organising mind, in whom the faculties
+of conception and of action are equally balanced and possessed in the
+highest degree; in every respect a man of the complete Caucasian model,
+and almost as perfect as Adam when he was just finished and placed in
+Eden.
+
+But Jehovah recognised in Moses a human instrument too rare merely to
+be entrusted with the redemption of an Arabian tribe from a state of
+Fellaheen to Bedouin existence. And, therefore, he was summoned to be
+the organ of an eternal revelation of the Divine will, and his tribe
+were appointed to be the hereditary ministers of that mighty and
+mysterious dispensation.
+
+It is to be noted, although the Omnipotent Creator might have found, had
+it pleased him, in the humblest of his creations, an efficient agent
+for his purpose, however difficult and sublime, that Divine Majesty has
+never thought fit to communicate except with human beings of the very
+highest powers. They are always men who have manifested an extraordinary
+aptitude for great affairs, and the possession of a fervent and
+commanding genius. They are great legislators, or great warriors, or
+great poets, or orators of the most vehement and impassioned spirit.
+Such were Moses, Joshua, the heroic youth of Hebron, and his magnificent
+son; such, too, was Isaiah, a man, humanly speaking, not inferior to
+Demosthenes, and struggling for a similar and as beautiful a cause,
+the independence of a small state, eminent for its intellectual power,
+against the barbarian grandeur of a military empire. All the great
+things have been done by the little nations. It is the Jordan and the
+Ilyssus that have civilised the modern races. An Arabian tribe, a clan
+of the AEgean, have been the promulgators of all our knowledge; and
+we should never have heard of the Pharaohs, of Babylon the great and
+Nineveh the superb, of Cyrus and of Xerxes, had not it been for Athens
+and Jerusalem.
+
+Tancred rose with the sun from his encampment at Hebron, to traverse,
+probably, the same route pursued by the spies when they entered the
+Land of Promise. The transition from Canaan to the stony Arabia is
+not abrupt. A range of hills separates Palestine from a high but level
+country similar to the Syrian desert, sandy in some places, but covered
+in all with grass and shrubs; a vast expanse of downs. Gradually the
+herbage disappears, and the shrubs are only found tufting the ridgy tops
+of low undulating sandhills. Soon the sand becomes stony, and no trace
+of vegetation is ever visible excepting occasionally some thorny plant.
+Then comes a land which alternates between plains of sand and dull
+ranges of monotonous hills covered with loose flints; sometimes the
+pilgrim winds his way through their dull ravines, sometimes he mounts
+the heights and beholds a prospect of interminable desolation.
+
+For three nights had Tancred encamped in this wilderness, halting at
+some spot where they could find some desert shrubs that might serve as
+food for the camels and fuel for themselves. His tent was soon pitched,
+the night fires soon crackling, and himself seated at one with the
+Sheikh and Baroni, he beheld with interest and amusement the picturesque
+and flashing groups around him. Their fare was scant and simple: bread
+baked upon the spot, the dried tongue of a gazelle, the coffee of the
+neighbouring Mocha, and the pipe that ever consoles, if indeed the
+traveller, whatever his hardships, could need any sustenance but his own
+high thoughts in such a scene, canopied, too, by the most beautiful sky
+and the most delicious climate in the world.
+
+They were in the vicinity of Mount Seir; on the morrow they were to
+commence the passage of the lofty range which stretches on to Sinai. The
+Sheikh, who had a feud with a neighbouring tribe, and had been anxious
+and vigilant while they crossed the open country, riding on with
+an advanced guard before his charge, reconnoitring from sandhill to
+sandhill, often creeping up and lying on his breast, so as not to be
+visible to the enemy, congratulated Tancred that all imminent danger was
+past.
+
+'Not that I am afraid of them,' said Hassan, proudly; 'but we must kill
+them or they will kill us.' Hassan, though Sheikh of his own immediate
+family and followers, was dependent on the great Sheikh of the Jellaheen
+tribe, and was bound to obey his commands in case the complete clan were
+summoned to congregate in any particular part of the desert.
+
+[Illustration: page2-083]
+
+On the morrow they commenced their passage of the mountains, and, after
+clearing several ranges found themselves two hours after noon in a
+defile so strangely beautiful that to behold it would alone have
+repaid all the exertions and perils of the expedition. It was formed
+by precipitous rocks of a picturesque shape and of great height, and of
+colours so brilliant and so blended that to imagine them you must fancy
+the richest sunset you have ever witnessed, and that would be inferior,
+from the inevitable defect of its fleeting character. Here the tints,
+sometimes vivid, sometimes shadowed down, were always equally fair:
+light blue heights, streaked, perhaps, with scarlet and shaded off
+to lilac or purple; a cleft of bright orange; a broad peach-coloured
+expanse, veined in delicate circles and wavy lines of exquisite grace;
+sometimes yellow and purple stripes; sometimes an isolated steep of
+every hue flaming in the sun, and then, like a young queen on a gorgeous
+throne, from a vast rock of crimson, and gold rose a milk-white summit.
+The frequent fissures of this defile were filled with rich woods of
+oleander and shrubs of every shade of green, from which rose acacia, and
+other trees unknown to Tancred. Over all this was a deep and cloudless
+sky, and through it a path winding amid a natural shrubbery, which
+princes would have built colossal conservatories to preserve.
+
+''Tis a scene of enchantment that has risen to mock us in the middle of
+the desert,' exclaimed the enraptured pilgrim; 'surely it must vanish
+even as we gaze!'
+
+About half-way up the defile, when they had traversed it for about a
+quarter of an hour, Sheikh Hassan suddenly galloped forward and hurled
+his spear with great force at an isolated crag, the base of which
+was covered with oleanders, and then looking back he shouted to his
+companions. Tancred and the foremost hurried up to him.
+
+'Here are tracks of horses and camels that have entered the valley thus
+far and not passed through it. They are fresh; let all be prepared.'
+
+'We are twenty-five men well armed,' said Baroni. 'It is not the Tyahas
+that will attack such a band.'
+
+'Nor are they the Gherashi or the Mezeines,' said the Sheikh, 'for we
+know what they are after, and we are brothers.'
+
+'They must be Alouins,' said an Arab.
+
+At this moment the little caravan was apparently land-locked, the
+defile again winding; but presently it became quite straight, and its
+termination was visible, though at a considerable distance.
+
+'I see horsemen,' said the Sheikh; 'several of them advance; they are
+not Alouins.'
+
+He rode forward to meet them, accompanied by Tancred and Baroni.
+
+'Salaam,' said the Sheikh, 'how is it?' and then he added, aside to
+Baroni, 'They are strangers; why are they here?'
+
+'Aleikoum! We know where you come from,' was the reply of one of the
+horsemen. 'Is that the brother of the Queen of the English? Let him
+ride with us, and you may go on in peace.'
+
+'He is my brother,' said Sheikh Hassan, 'and the brother of all here.
+There is no feud between us. Who are you?'
+
+'We are children of Jethro, and the great Sheikh has sent us a long way
+to give you salaam. Your desert here is not fit for the camel that your
+Prophet cursed. Come, let us finish our business, for we wish to see a
+place where there are palm trees.'
+
+'Are these children of Eblis?' said Sheikh Hassan to Baroni.
+
+'It is the day of judgment,' said Baroni, looking pale; 'such a thing
+has not happened in my time. I am lost.'
+
+'What do these people say?' inquired Tancred.
+
+'There is but one God,' said Sheikh Hassan, whose men had now reached
+him, 'and Mahomet is his Prophet. Stand aside, sons of Eblis, or you
+shall bite the earth which curses you!'
+
+A wild shout from every height of the defile was the answer. They looked
+up, they looked round; the crest of every steep was covered with armed
+Arabs, each man with his musket levelled.
+
+'My lord,' said Baroni, 'there is something hidden in all this. This is
+not an ordinary desert foray. You are known, and this tribe comes from a
+distance to plunder you;' and then he rapidly detailed what had already
+passed.
+
+'What is your force, sons of Eblis?' said the Sheikh to the horsemen.
+
+'Count your men, and your muskets, and your swords, and your horses, and
+your camels; and if they were all double, they would not be our force.
+Our great Sheikh would have come in person with ten thousand men, were
+not your wilderness here fit only for Giaours.'
+
+'Tell the young chief,' said the Sheikh to Baroni, 'that I am his
+brother, and will shed the last drop of my blood in his service, as I am
+bound to do, as much as he is bound to give me ten thousand piastres for
+the journey, and ask him what he wishes.'
+
+'Demand to know distinctly what these men want,' said Tancred to Baroni,
+who then conferred with them.
+
+'They want your lordship,' said Baroni, 'whom they call the brother
+of the Queen of the English; their business is clearly to carry you to
+their great Sheikh, who will release you for a large ransom.'
+
+'And they have no feud with the Jellaheens?'
+
+'None; they are strangers; they come from a distance for this purpose;
+nor can it be doubted that this plan has been concocted at Jerusalem.'
+
+'Our position, I fear, is fatal in this defile,' said Tancred; 'it
+is bitter to be the cause of exposing so many brave men to almost
+inevitable slaughter. Tell them, Baroni, that I am not the brother of
+the Queen of the English; that they are ridiculously misled, and that
+their aim is hopeless, for all that will be ransomed will be my corpse.'
+
+Sheikh Hassan sat on his horse like a statue, with his spear in his hand
+and his eye on his enemy; Baroni, advancing to the strange horsemen, who
+were in position about ten yards from Tancred and his guardian, was soon
+engaged in animated conversation. He did all that an able diplomatist
+could effect; told lies with admirable grace, and made a hundred
+propositions that did not commit his principal. He assured them very
+heartily that Tancred was not the brother of the Queen of the English;
+that he was only a young Sheikh, whose father was alive, and in
+possession of all the flocks and herds, camels and horses; that he had
+quarrelled with his father; that his father, perhaps, would not be sorry
+if he were got rid of, and would not give a hundred piastres to save his
+life. Then he offered, if he would let Tancred pass, himself to go with
+them as prisoner to their great Sheikh, and even proposed Hassan and
+half his men for additional hostages, whilst some just and equitable
+arrangement could be effected. All, however, was in vain. The enemy had
+no discretion; dead or alive, the young Englishman must be carried to
+their chief.
+
+'I can do nothing,' said Baroni, returning; 'there is something in all
+this which I do not understand. It has never happened in my time.'
+
+'There is, then, but one course to be taken,' said Tancred; 'we must
+charge through the defile. At any rate we shall have the satisfaction of
+dying like men. Let us each fix on our opponent. That audacious-looking
+Arab in a red kefia shall be my victim, or my destroyer. Speak to the
+Sheikh, and tell him to prepare his men. Freeman and Trueman,' said
+Tancred, looking round to his English servants, 'we are in extreme
+peril; I took you from your homes; if we outlive this day, and return to
+Montacute, you shall live on your own land.'
+
+'Never mind us, my lord: if it wern't for those rocks we would beat
+these niggers.'
+
+'Are you all ready?' said Tancred to Baroni.
+
+'We are all ready.'
+
+'Then I commend my soul to Jesus Christ, and to the God of Sinai, in
+whose cause I perish.' So saying, Tancred shot the Arab in the red kefia
+through the head, and with his remaining pistol disabled another of the
+enemy. This he did, while he and his band were charging, so suddenly and
+so boldly, that those immediately opposed to them were scattered. There
+was a continuous volley, however, from every part of the defile, and the
+scene was so involved in smoke that it was impossible for Tancred to see
+a yard around him; still he galloped on and felt conscious that he had
+companions, though the shouting was so great that it was impossible to
+communicate. The smoke suddenly drifting, Tancred caught a glimpse of
+his position; he was at the mouth of the defile, followed by several of
+his men, whom he had not time to distinguish, and awaited by innumerable
+foes.
+
+'Let us sell our lives dearly!' was all that he could exclaim. His sword
+fell from his wounded arm; his horse, stabbed underneath, sank with him
+to the ground. He was overpowered and bound. 'Every drop of his blood,'
+exclaimed the leader of the strange Arabs, 'is worth ten thousand
+piastres.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+     _Plans for Rescue_
+
+'WHERE is Besso?' said Barizy of the Tower, as the Consul Pasqualigo
+entered the divan of the merchant, about ten days after the departure of
+Tancred from Jerusalem for Mount Sinai.
+
+'Where is Besso? I have already smoked two chibouques, and no one has
+entered except yourself. I suppose you have heard the news?'
+
+'Who has not? It is in every one's mouth.' 'What have you heard?' asked
+Barizy of the Tower, with an air of malicious curiosity.
+
+'Some things that everybody knows,' replied Pasqualigo, 'and some things
+that nobody knows.'
+
+'Hah, hah!' said Barizy of the Tower, pricking up his ears, and
+preparing for one of those diplomatic encounters of mutual pumping,
+in which he and his rival were practised. 'I suppose you have seen
+somebody, eh?'
+
+'Somebody has been seen,' replied Pasqualigo, and then he busied himself
+with his pipe just arrived.
+
+'But nobody has seen somebody who was on the spot?' said Barizy.
+
+'It depends upon what you mean by the spot,' replied Pasqualigo.
+
+'Your information is second-hand,' observed Barizy.
+
+'But you acknowledge it is correct?' said Pasqualigo, more eagerly.
+
+'It depends upon whether your friend was present----' and here Barizy
+hesitated.
+
+'It does,' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'Then he was present?' said Barizy.
+
+'He was.'
+
+'Then he knows,' said Barizy, eagerly, 'whether the young English prince
+was murdered intentionally or by hazard.'
+
+'A--h,' said Pasqualigo, whom not the slightest rumour of the affair had
+yet reached, 'that is a great question.'
+
+'But everything depends upon it,' said Barizy. 'If he was killed
+accidentally, there will be negotiations, but the business will
+be compromised; the English want Cyprus, and they will take it as
+compensation. If it is an affair of malice prepense, there will be war,
+for the laws of England require war if blood royal be spilt.'
+
+The Consul Pasqualigo looked very grave; then, withdrawing his lips for
+a moment from his amber mouthpiece, he observed, 'It is a crisis.'
+
+'It will be a crisis,' said Barizy of the Tower, excited by finding
+his rival a listener, 'but not for a long time. The crisis has not
+commenced. The first question is: to whom does the desert belong; to the
+Porte, or to the Viceroy?'
+
+'It depends upon what part of the desert is in question,' said
+Pasqualigo.
+
+'Of course the part where it took place. I say the Arabian desert
+belongs to the Viceroy; my cousin, Barizy of the Gate, says "No, it
+belongs to the Porte." Raphael Tafna says it belongs to neither. The
+Bedouins are independent.'
+
+'But they are not recognised,' said the Consul Pasqualigo. 'Without
+a diplomatic existence, they are nullities. England will hold all the
+recognise powers in the vicinity responsible. You will see! The murder
+of an English prince, under such circumstances too, will not pass
+unavenged. The whole of the Turkish garrison of the city will march out
+directly into the desert.'
+
+'The Arabs care shroff for your Turkish garrison of the city,' said
+Barizy, with great derision.
+
+'They are eight hundred strong,' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'Eight hundred weak, you mean. No, as Raphael Tafna was saying, when
+Mehemet. Ali was master, the tribes were quiet enough. But the Turks
+could never manage the Arabs, even in their best days. If the Pasha of
+Damascus were to go himself, the Bedouins would unveil his harem while
+he was smoking his nargileh.'
+
+'Then England will call upon the Egyptians,' said the Consul.
+
+'Hah!' said Barizy of the Tower, 'have I got you at last? Now comes
+your crisis, I grant you. The English will send a ship of war with a
+protocol, and one of their lords who is a sailor: that is the way. They
+will call upon the pasha to exterminate the tribe who have murdered the
+brother of their queen; the pasha will reply, that when he was in Syria
+the brothers of queens were never murdered, and put the protocol in his
+turban. This will never satisfy Palmerston; he will order----'
+
+'Palmerston has nothing to do with it,' screamed out Pasqualigo; 'he is
+no longer Reis Effendi; he is in exile; he is governor of the Isle of
+Wight.'
+
+'Do you think I do not know that?' said Barizy of the Tower; 'but he
+will be recalled for this purpose. The English will not go to war in
+Syria without Palmerston. Palmerston will have the command of the fleet
+as well as of the army, that no one shall say "No" when he says "Yes."
+The English will not do the business of the Turks again for nothing.
+They will take this city; they will keep it. They want a new market for
+their cottons. Mark me: England will never be satisfied till the people
+of Jerusalem wear calico turbans.'
+
+Let us inquire also with Barizy of the Tower, where was Besso? Alone in
+his private chamber, agitated and troubled, awaiting the return of
+his daughter from the bath; and even now, the arrival may be heard of
+herself and her attendants in the inner court.
+
+'You want me, my father?' said Eva, as she entered. 'Ah! you are
+disturbed. What has happened?'
+
+'The tenth plague of Pharaoh, my child,' replied Besso, in a tone of
+great vexation. 'Since the expulsion of Ibrahim, there has been nothing
+which has crossed me so much.'
+
+'Fakredeen?'
+
+'No, no; 'tis nothing to do with him, poor boy; but of one as young, and
+whose interests, though I know him not, scarcely less concern me.'
+
+'You know him not; 'tis not then my cousin. You perplex me, my father.
+Tell me at once.'
+
+'It is the most vexatious of all conceivable occurrences,' replied
+Besso, 'and yet it is about a person of whom you never heard, and whom
+I never saw; and yet there are circumstances connected with him. Alas!
+alas! you must know, my Eva, there is a young Englishman here, and a
+young English lord, of one of their princely families----'
+
+'Yes!' said Eva, in a subdued but earnest tone.
+
+'He brought me a letter from the best and greatest of men,' said Besso,
+with much emotion, 'to whom I, to whom we, owe everything: our fortunes,
+our presence here, perhaps our lives. There was nothing which I was not
+bound to do for him, which I was not ready and prepared to do. I ought
+to have guarded over him; to have forced my services on his acceptance;
+I blame myself now when it is too late. But he sent me his letter by
+the Intendant of his household, whom I knew. I was fearful to obtrude
+myself. I learnt he was fanatically Christian, and thought perhaps he
+might shrink from my acquaintance.'
+
+'And what has happened?' inquired Eva, with an agitation which proved
+her sympathy with her father's sorrow.
+
+'He left the city some days ago to visit Sinai; well armed and properly
+escorted. He has been waylaid in the wilderness and captured after a
+bloody struggle.'
+
+'A bloody struggle?'
+
+'Yes; they of course would gladly not have fought, but, though entrapped
+into an ambush, the young Englishman would not yield, but fought with
+desperation. His assailants have suffered considerably; his own
+party comparatively little, for they were so placed; surrounded,
+you understand, in a mountain defile, that they might have been all
+massacred, but the fear of destroying their prize restrained at first
+the marksmen on the heights; and, by a daring and violent charge,
+the young Englishman and his followers forced the pass, but they were
+overpowered by numbers.'
+
+'And he wounded?'
+
+'I hope not severely. But you have heard nothing. They have sent his
+Intendant to Jerusalem with a guard of Arabs to bring back his ransom.
+What do you think they want?'
+
+Eva signified her inability to conjecture.
+
+'Two millions of piastres!'
+
+'Two millions of piastres! Did you say two? 'Tis a great sum; but we
+might negotiate. They would accept less, perhaps much less, than two
+millions of piastres.'
+
+'If it were four millions of piastres, I must pay it,' said Besso. ''Tis
+not the sum alone that so crosses me. The father of this young noble
+is a great prince, and could doubtless pay, without serious injury to
+himself, two millions of piastres for the ransom of his son; but that's
+not it. He comes here; he is sent to me. I was to care for him, think
+for him, guard over him: I have never even seen him; and he is wounded,
+plundered, and a prisoner!'
+
+'But if he avoided you, my father?' murmured Eva, with her eyes fixed
+upon the ground.
+
+'Avoided me!' said Besso; 'he never thought of me but as of a Jew
+banker, to whom he would send his servant for money when he needed it.
+Was I to stand on punctilios with a great Christian noble? I ought to
+have waited at his gate every day when he came forth, and bowed to the
+earth, until it pleased him to notice me; I ought----'
+
+'No, no, no, my father! you are bitter. This youth is not such as you
+think; at least, in all probability is not,' said Eva. 'You hear he is
+fanatically Christian; he may be but deeply religious, and his thoughts
+at this moment may rest on other things than the business of the world.
+He who makes pilgrimage to Sinai can scarcely think us so vile as you
+would intimate.'
+
+'What will he think of those whom he is among? Here is the wound, Eva!
+Guess, then, child, who has shot this arrow. 'Tis my father!'
+
+'O traitor! traitor!' said Eva, quickly covering her face with her
+hands. 'My terror was prophetic! There is none so base!'
+
+'Nay, nay,' said Besso; 'these, indeed, are women's words. The great
+Sheikh in this has touched me nearly, but I see no baseness in it. He
+could not know the intimate relation that should subsist between me and
+this young Englishman. He has captured him in the desert, according to
+the custom of his tribe. Much as Amalek may injure me, I must acquit him
+of treason and of baseness.'
+
+'Yes, yes,' said Eva, with an abstracted air. 'You misconceive me. I was
+thinking of others; and what do you purpose, my father?'
+
+'First, to clear myself of the deep stain that I now feel upon my life,'
+said Besso. 'This Englishman comes to Jerusalem with an unbounded
+credit on my house: he visits the wilderness, and is made prisoner by my
+father-in-law, who is in ambush in a part of the desert which his tribe
+never frequents, and who sends to me for a princely ransom for his
+captive.
+
+These are the apparent circumstances. These are the facts. There is
+but one inference from them. I dare say 'tis drawn already by all the
+gossips of the city: they are hard at it, I doubt not, at this moment,
+in my own divan, winking their eyes and shrugging their shoulders,
+while they are smoking my choice tobacco, and drinking my sherbet of
+pomegranate. And can I blame them?'
+
+'A pure conscience may defy city gossips.'
+
+'A pure conscience must pay the ransom out of my own coffers. I am not
+over fond of paying two millions of piastres, or even half, for one
+whose shadow never fell upon my threshold. And yet I must do it: do it
+for my father-in-law, the Sheikh of the Recha-bites, whose peace I
+made with Mehemet Ali, for whom I gained the guardianship of the
+Mecca caravan through the Syrian desert for five years, who has twelve
+thousand camels which he made by that office. Oh, were it not for you,
+my daughter, I would curse the hour that I ever mixed my blood with the
+children of Jethro. After all, if the truth were known, they are sons of
+Ishmael.'
+
+'No, no, dear father, say not such things. You will send to the great
+Sheikh; he will listen----'
+
+'I send to the great Sheikh! You know not your grandfather, and you know
+not me. The truth is, the Sheikh and myself mutually despise each other,
+and we have never met without parting in bitterness. No, no; I would
+rather pay the ransom myself than ask a favour of the great Sheikh. But
+how can I pay the ransom, even if I chose? This young Englishman is a
+fiery youth: he will not yield even to an ambush and countless odds. Do
+you think a man who charges through a defile crowned with matchlocks,
+and shoots men through the head, as I am told he did, in the name of
+Christ, will owe his freedom to my Jewish charity? He will burn the
+Temple first. This young man has the sword of Gideon. You know little of
+the world, Eva, and nothing of young Englishmen. There is not a race so
+proud, so wilful, so rash, and so obstinate. They live in a misty clime,
+on raw meats, and wines of fire. They laugh at their fathers, and never
+say a prayer. They pass their days in the chase, gaming, and all violent
+courses. They have all the power of the State, and all its wealth; and
+when they can wring no more from their peasants, they plunder the kings
+of India.' 'But this young Englishman, you say, is pious?' said Eva.
+
+Ah! this young Englishman; why did he come here? What is Jerusalem to
+him, or he to Jerusalem? His Intendant, himself a prisoner, waits here.
+I must see him; he is one of the people of my patron, which proves our
+great friend's interest in this youth. O day thrice cursed! day of a
+thousand evil eyes! day of a new captivity----'
+
+'My father, my dear father, these bursts of grief do not become your
+fame for wisdom. We must inquire, we must hold counsel. Let me see the
+Intendant of this English youth, and hear more than I have yet learnt.
+I cannot think that affairs are so hopeless as you paint them: I will
+believe that there is a spring near.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+     _Parleyings_
+
+IN AN almost circular valley, surrounded by mountains, Amalek, great
+Sheikh of the Rechabite Bedouins, after having crossed the peninsula of
+Petrasa from the great Syrian desert, pitched his camp amid the
+magnificent ruins of an ancient Idumaean city. The pavilion of the chief,
+facing the sunset, was raised in the arena of an amphitheatre cut out of
+the solid rock and almost the whole of the seats of which were entire.
+The sides of the mountains were covered with excavated tombs and
+temples, and, perhaps, dwelling-places; at any rate, many of them were
+now occupied by human beings. Fragments of columns were lying about, and
+masses of unknown walls. From a defile in the mountains issued a stream,
+which wound about in the plain, its waters almost hid, but its course
+beautifully indicated by the undulating shrubbery of oleanders,
+fig-trees, and willows. On one side of these, between the water and the
+amphitheatre, was a crescent of black tents, groups of horses, and
+crouching camels. Over the whole scene the sunset threw a violet hue,
+while the moon, broad and white, floated over the opposite hills.
+
+The carpet of the great Sheikh was placed before his pavilion, and,
+seated on it alone, and smoking a chibouque of date wood, the patriarch
+ruminated. He had no appearance of age, except from a snowy beard, which
+was very long: a wiry man, with an unwrinkled face; dark, regular, and
+noble features, beautiful teeth. Over his head, a crimson kefia, ribbed
+and fringed with gold; his robe was of the same colour, and his boots
+were of red leather; the chief of one of the great tribes, and said,
+when they were united, to be able to bring ten thousand horsemen into
+the field.
+
+One at full gallop, with a long spear, at this moment darted from the
+ravine, and, without stopping to answer several who addressed him,
+hurried across the plain, and did not halt until he reached the Sheikh.
+
+'Salaam, Sheikh of Sheikhs, it is done; the brother of the Queen of the
+English is your slave.'
+
+'Good!' said Sheikh Amalek, very gravely, and taking his pipe from his
+mouth. 'May your mother eat the hump of a young camel! When will they be
+here?'
+
+'They will be the first shadows of the moon.' 'Good! is the brother of
+the Queen with Sheikh Salem?'
+
+'There is only one God: Sheikh Salem will never drink leban again,
+unless he drink it in Paradise.'
+
+'Certainly, there is only one God. What! has he fallen asleep into the
+well of Nummula?'
+
+'No; but we have seen many evil eyes. Four hares crossed our path this
+morning. Our salaam to the English prince was not a salaam of peace. The
+brother of the Queen of the English is no less than an Antar. He will
+fight, yea or nay; and he has shot Sheikh Salem through the head.'
+
+'There is but one God, and His will be done. I have lost the apple of
+mine eye. The Prince of the English is alive?'
+
+'He is alive.'
+
+'Good! camels shall be given to the widow of Sheikh Salem, and she shall
+be married to a new husband. Are there other deeds of Gin?'
+
+'One grape will not make a bunch, even though it be a great one.'
+
+'Let truth always be spoken. Let your words flow as the rock of Moses.'
+
+'There is only one God: if you call to Ibrahim-ben-Hassan, to Molgrabi
+Teuba, and Teuba-ben-Amin, they will not be roused from their sleep:
+there are also wounds.'
+
+'Tell all the people there is only one God: it is the Sheikh of the
+Jeilaheens that has done these deeds of Gin?'
+
+'Let truth always be spoken; my words shall flow as the rock of Moses.
+The Sheikh of the Jeilaheens counselled the young man not to fight, but
+the young man is a very Zatanai. Certainly there are many devils, but
+there is no devil like a Frank in a round hat.'
+
+The evening advanced; the white moon, that had only gleamed, now
+glittered; the necks of the camels looked tall and silvery in its beam.
+The night-fires began to blaze, the lamps to twinkle in the crescent of
+dark tents. There was a shout, a general stir, the heads of spears were
+seen glistening in the ravine. They came; a winding line of warriors.
+Some, as they emerged into the plain, galloped forward and threw their
+spears into the air; but the main body preserved an appearance of
+discipline, and proceeded at a slow pace to the pavilion of the Sheikh.
+A body of horsemen came first; then warriors on dromedaries; Sheikh
+Hassan next, grave and erect as if nothing had happened, though he was
+wounded, and followed by his men, disarmed, though their chief retained
+his spear. Baroni followed. He was unhurt, and rode between two
+Bedouins, with whom he continually conversed. After them, the bodies of
+Sheikh Salem and his comrades, covered with cloaks and stowed on camels.
+And then came the great prize, Tancred, mounted on a dromedary, his
+right arm bound up in a sling which Baroni had hastily made, and
+surrounded and followed by a large troop of horsemen, who treated him
+with the highest consideration, not only because he was a great prince,
+whose ransom could bring many camels to their tribe, but because he had
+shown those feats of valour which the wild desert honours.
+
+Notwithstanding his wound, which, though slight, began to be painful,
+and the extreme vexation of the whole affair, Tancred could not be
+insensible to the strange beauty of the scene which welcomed him. He
+had read of these deserted cities, carved out of the rocks of the
+wilderness, and once the capitals of flourishing and abounding kingdoms.
+
+They stopped before the pavilion of the great Sheikh; the arena of the
+amphitheatre became filled with camels, horses, groups of warriors; many
+mounted on the seats, that they might overlook the scene, their arms and
+shawled heads glistening in the silver blaze of the moon or the ruddy
+flames of the watch-fires. They assisted Tancred to descend, they
+ushered him with courtesy to their chief, who made room for Tancred on
+his own carpet, and motioned that he should be seated by his side. A
+small carpet was placed for Sheikh Hassan, and another for Baroni.
+
+'Salaam, brother of many queens, all that you see is yours; Salaam
+Sheikh Hassan, we are brothers. Salaam,' added Amalek, looking at
+Baroni, 'they tell me that you can speak our language, which is
+beautiful as the moon and many palm trees; tell the prince, brother of
+many queens, that he mistook the message that I sent him this morning,
+which was an invitation to a feast, not to a war. Tell him we are
+brothers.'
+
+'Tell the Sheikh,' said Tancred, 'that I have no appetite for feasting,
+and desire to be informed why he has made me a prisoner.'
+
+'Tell the prince, brother of many queens, that he is not a prisoner, but
+a guest.'
+
+'Ask the Sheikh, then, whether we can depart at once.'
+
+'Tell the prince, brother of many queens, that it would be rude in me to
+let him depart to-night.'
+
+'Ask the Sheikh whether I may depart in the morning.'
+
+'Tell the prince that, when the morning comes, he will find I am his
+brother.' So saying, the great Sheikh took his pipe from his mouth and
+gave it to Tancred: the greatest of distinctions. In a few moments,
+pipes were also brought to Sheikh Hassan and Baroni.
+
+'No harm can come to you, my lord, after smoking that pipe,' said
+Baroni. 'We must make the best of affairs. I have been in worse straits
+with M. de Sidonia. What think you of Malay pirates? These are all
+gentlemen.'
+
+While Baroni was speaking, a young man slowly and with dignity passed
+through the bystanders, advanced, and, looking very earnestly at
+Tancred, seated himself on the same carpet as the grand Sheikh. This
+action alone would have betokened the quality of the newcomer, had not
+his kefia, similar to that of Sheikh Amalek, and his whole bearing,
+clearly denoted his princely character. He was very young; and
+Tancred, while he was struck by his earnest gaze, was attracted by
+his physiognomy, which, indeed, from its refined beauty and cast of
+impassioned intelligence, was highly interesting.
+
+Preparations all this time had been making for the feast. Half a dozen
+sheep had been given to the returning band; everywhere resounded the
+grinding of coffee; men passed, carrying pitchers of leban and panniers
+of bread cakes hot from their simple oven. The great Sheikh, who had
+asked many questions after the oriental fashion: which was the most
+powerful nation, England or France; what was the name of a third
+European nation of which he had heard, white men with flat noses in
+green coats; whether the nation of white men with flat noses in green
+coats could have taken Acre as the English had, the taking of Acre being
+the test of military prowess; how many horses the Queen of the English
+had, and how many slaves; whether English pistols are good; whether the
+English drink wine; whether the English are Christian giaours or Pagan
+giaours? and so on, now invited Tancred, Sheikh Hassan, and two or three
+others, to enter his pavilion and partake of the banquet.
+
+'The Sheikh must excuse me,' said Tancred to Baroni; 'I am wearied and
+wounded. Ask if I can retire and have a tent.'
+
+'Are you wounded?' said the young Sheikh, who was sitting on the carpet
+of Amalek, and speaking, not only in a tone of touching sympathy, but in
+the language of Franguestan.
+
+'Not severely,' said Tancred, less abruptly than he had yet spoken, for
+the manner and the appearance of the youth touched him, 'but this is
+my first fight, and perhaps I make too much of it. However, my arm is
+painful and stiff, and indeed, you may conceive after all this, I could
+wish for a little repose.'
+
+'The great Sheikh has allotted you a compartment of his pavilion,'
+said the youth; 'but it will prove a noisy resting-place, I fear, for a
+wounded man. I have a tent here, an humbler one, but which is at least
+tranquil. Let me be your host!'
+
+'You are most gracious, and I should be much inclined to be your guest,
+but I am a prisoner,' he said, haughtily, 'and cannot presume to follow
+my own will.'
+
+'I will arrange all,' said the youth, and he conversed with Sheikh
+Amalek for some moments. Then they all rose, the young man advancing to
+Tancred, and saying in a sweet coaxing voice, 'You are under my care.
+I will not be a cruel gaoler; I could not be to you.' So saying, making
+their reverence to the great Sheikh, the two young men retired together
+from the arena. Baroni would have followed them, when the youth stopped
+him, saying, with decision, 'The great Sheikh expects your presence; you
+must on no account be absent. I will tend your chief: you will permit
+me?' he inquired in a tone of sympathy, and then, offering to support
+the arm of Tancred, he murmured, 'It kills me to think that you are
+wounded.'
+
+Tancred was attracted to the young stranger: his prepossessing
+appearance, his soft manners, the contrast which they afforded to all
+around, and to the scenes and circumstances which Tancred had recently
+experienced, were winning. Tancred, therefore, gladly accompanied him
+to his pavilion, which was pitched outside the amphitheatre, and stood
+apart. Notwithstanding the modest description of his tent by the young
+Sheikh, it was by no means inconsiderable in size, for it possessed
+several compartments, and was of a different colour and fashion from
+those of the rest of the tribe. Several steeds were picketed in Arab
+fashion near its entrance, and a group of attendants, smoking and
+conversing with great animation, were sitting in a circle close at hand.
+They pressed their hands to their hearts as Tancred and his host passed
+them, but did not rise. Within the pavilion, Tancred found a luxurious
+medley of cushions and soft carpets, forming a delightful divan; pipes
+and arms, and, to his great surprise, several numbers of a French
+newspaper published at Smyrna.
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed Tancred, throwing himself on the divan, 'after all
+I have gone through to-day, this is indeed a great and an unexpected
+relief.'
+
+''Tis your own divan,' said the young Arab, clapping his hands; 'and
+when I have given some orders for your comfort, I shall only be your
+guest, though not a distant one.' He spoke some words in Arabic to an
+attendant who entered, and who returned very shortly with a silver lamp
+fed with palm oil, which he placed on the ground.
+
+'I have two poor Englishmen here,' said Tancred, 'my servants; they must
+be in sad straits; unable to speak a word----'
+
+'I will give orders that they shall attend you. In the meantime you must
+refresh yourself, however lightly, before you repose.' At this moment
+there entered the tent several attendants with a variety of dishes,
+which Tancred would have declined, but the young Sheikh, selecting one
+of them, said, 'This, at least, I must urge you to taste, for it is
+a favourite refreshment with us after great fatigue, and has some
+properties of great virtue.' So saying, he handed to Tancred a dish of
+bread, dates, and prepared cream, which Tancred, notwithstanding his
+previous want of relish, cheerfully admitted to be excellent. After
+this, as Tancred would partake of no other dish, pipes were brought to
+the two young men, who, reclining on the divan, smoked and conversed.
+
+'Of all the strange things that have happened to me to-day,' said
+Tancred, 'not the least surprising, and certainly the most agreeable,
+has been making your acquaintance. Your courtesy has much compensated me
+for the rude treatment of your tribe; but, I confess, such refinement is
+what, under any circumstances, I should not have expected to find among
+the tents of the desert, any more than this French journal.'
+
+'I am not an Arab,' said the young man, speaking slowly and with an air
+of some embarrassment.
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed Tancred.
+
+'I am a Christian prince.'
+
+'Yes!'
+
+'A prince of the Lebanon, devoted to the English, and one who has
+suffered much in their cause.'
+
+'You are not a prisoner here, like myself?'
+
+'No, I am here, seeking some assistance for those sufferers who should
+be my subjects, were I not deprived of my sceptre, and they of a prince
+whose family has reigned over and protected them for more than seven
+centuries. The powerful tribe of which Sheikh Amalek is the head often
+pitch their tents in the great Syrian desert, in the neighbourhood
+of Damascus, and there are affairs in which they can aid my unhappy
+people.'
+
+'It is a great position, yours,' said Tancred, in an animated tone, 'at
+the same time a Syrian and a Christian prince!'
+
+'Yes,' said the young Emir, eagerly, 'if the English would only
+understand their own interests, with my co-operation Syria might be
+theirs.'
+
+'The English!' said Tancred, 'why should the English take Syria?'
+
+'France will take it if they do not.'
+
+'I hope not,' said Tancred.
+
+'But something must be done,' said the Emir. 'The Porte never could
+govern it. Do you think anybody in Lebanon really cares for the Pasha
+of Damascus? If the Egyptians had not disarmed the mountain, the Turks
+would be driven out of Syria in a week.'
+
+'A Syrian and a Christian prince!' said Tancred, musingly. 'There
+are elements in that position stronger than the Porte, stronger than
+England, stronger than united Europe. Syria was a great country when
+France and England were forests. The tricolour has crossed the Alps and
+the Rhine, and the flag of England has beaten even the tricolour; but
+if I were a Syrian prince, I would raise the cross of Christ and ask for
+the aid of no foreign banner.'
+
+'If I could only raise a loan,' said the Emir, 'I could do without
+France and England.'
+
+'A loan!' exclaimed Tancred; 'I see the poison of modern liberalism has
+penetrated even the desert. Believe me, national redemption is not an
+affair of usury.'
+
+At this moment there was some little disturbance without the tent, which
+it seems was occasioned by the arrival of Tancred's servants, Freeman
+and True-man. These excellent young men persisted in addressing the
+Arabs in their native English, and, though we cannot for a moment
+believe that they fancied themselves understood, still, from a mixture
+of pride and perverseness peculiarly British, they continued their
+valuable discourse as if every word told, or, if not apprehended, was a
+striking proof of the sheer stupidity of their new companions. The noise
+became louder and louder, and at length Freeman and Trueman entered.
+
+'Well,' said Tancred, 'and how have you been getting on?'
+
+'Well, my lord, I don't know,' said Freeman, with a sort of jolly sneer;
+'we have been dining with the savages.'
+
+'They are not savages, Freeman.'
+
+'Well, my lord, they have not much more clothes, anyhow; and as for
+knives and forks, there is not such a thing known.'
+
+'As for that, there was not such a thing known as a fork in England
+little more than two hundred years ago, and we were not savages then;
+for the best part of Montacute Castle was built long before that time.'
+
+'I wish we were there, my lord!'
+
+'I dare say you do: however, we must make the best of present
+circumstances. I wanted to know, in the first place, whether you had
+food; as for lodging, Mr. Baroni, I dare say, will manage something for
+you; and if not, you had better quarter yourselves by the side of this
+tent. With your own cloaks and mine, you will manage very well.'
+
+'Thank you, my lord. We have brought your lordship's things with us. I
+don't know what I shall do to-morrow about your lordship's boots. The
+savages have got hold of the bottle of blacking and have been drinking
+it like anything.'
+
+'Never mind my boots,' said Tancred, 'we have got other things to think
+of now.'
+
+'I told them what it was,' said Freeman, 'but they went on just the
+same.'
+
+'Obstinate dogs!' said Tancred.
+
+'I think they took it for wine, my lord,' said Trueman. 'I never see
+such ignorant creatures.'
+
+'You find now the advantage of a good education, Trueman.'
+
+'Yes, my lord, we do, and feel very grateful to your lordship's honoured
+mother for the same. When we came down out of the mountains and see
+those blazing fires, if I didn't think they were going to burn us alive,
+unless we changed our religion! I said the catechism as hard as I could
+the whole way, and felt as much like a blessed martyr as could be.'
+
+'Well, well,' said Tancred, 'I dare say they will spare our lives. I
+cannot much assist you here; but if there be anything you particularly
+want, I will try and see what can be done.'
+
+Freeman and Trueman looked at each other, and their speaking faces held
+common consultation. At length, the former, with some slight hesitation,
+said, 'We don't like to be troublesome, my lord, but if your lordship
+would ask for some sugar for us; we cannot drink their coffee without
+sugar.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+    _Suspense_
+
+'I WOULD not mention it to your lordship last night,' said Baroni; 'I
+thought enough had happened for one day.'
+
+'But now you think I am sufficiently fresh for new troubles.' 'He spoke
+it in Hebrew, that myself and Sheikh Hassan should not understand him,
+but I know something of that dialect.'
+
+'In Hebrew! And why in Hebrew?' 'They follow the laws of Moses, this
+tribe.' 'Do you mean that they are Jews?' 'The Arabs are only Jews
+upon horseback,' said Baroni. 'This tribe, I find, call themselves
+Rechabites.'
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed Tancred, and he began to muse. 'I have heard of that
+name before. Is it possible,' thought he, 'that my visit to Bethany
+should have led to this captivity?'
+
+'This affair must have been planned at Jerusalem,' said Baroni; 'I saw
+from the first it was not a common foray. These people know everything.
+They will send immediately to Besso; they know he is your banker, and
+that if you want to build the Temple, he must pay for it, and unless
+a most immoderate ransom is given, they will carry us all into the
+interior of the desert.'
+
+'And what do you counsel?'
+
+'In this, as in all things, to gain time; and principally because I
+am without resource, but with time expedients develop themselves.
+Naturally, what is wanted will come; expediency is a law of nature.
+The camel is a wonderful animal, but the desert made the camel. I have
+already impressed upon the great Sheikh that you are not a prince of
+the blood; that your father is ruined, that there has been a murrain for
+three years among his herds and flocks; and that, though you appear to
+be travelling for amusement, you are, in fact, a political exile. All
+these are grounds for a reduced ransom. At present he believes nothing
+that I say, because his mind has been previously impressed with contrary
+and more cogent representations, but what I say will begin to work when
+he has experienced some disappointment, and the period of re-action
+arrives. Re-action is the law of society; it is inevitable. All success
+depends upon seizing it.'
+
+'It appears to me that you are a great philosopher, Baroni,' said
+Tancred.
+
+'I travelled five years with M. de Sidonia,' said Baroni. 'We were in
+perpetual scrapes, often worse than this, and my master moralised upon
+every one of them. I shared his adventures, and I imbibed some of his
+wisdom; and the consequence is, that I always ought to know what to say,
+and generally what to do.'
+
+'Well, here at least is some theatre for your practice; though, as far
+as I can form an opinion, our course is simple, though ignominious.
+We must redeem ourselves from captivity. If it were only the end of
+my crusade, one might submit to it, like Coeur de Lion, after due
+suffering; but occurring at the commencement, the catastrophe is
+mortifying, and I doubt whether I shall have heart enough to pursue my
+way. Were I alone, I certainly would not submit to ransom. I would
+look upon captivity as one of those trials that await me, and I would
+endeavour to extricate myself from it by courage and address, relying
+ever on Divine aid; but I am not alone. I have involved you in this
+mischance, and these poor Englishmen, and, it would seem, the brave
+Hassan and his tribe. I can hardly ask you to make the sacrifice which I
+would cheerfully endure; and therefore it seems to me that we have only
+one course--to march under the forks.'
+
+'With submission,' said Baroni, 'I cannot agree with any of your
+lordship's propositions. You take an extreme view of our case. Extreme
+views are never just; something always turns up which disturbs
+the calculations formed upon their decided data. This something is
+circumstance. Circumstance has decided every crisis which I have
+experienced, and not the primitive facts on which we have consulted.
+Rest assured that circumstance will clear us now.'
+
+'I see no room, in our situation, for the accidents on which you rely,'
+said Tancred. 'Circumstance, as you call it, is the creature of cities,
+where the action of a multitude, influenced by different motives,
+produces innumerable and ever-changing combinations; but we are in the
+desert. The great Sheikh will never change his mind any more than his
+habits of life, which are the same as his ancestors pursued thousands of
+years ago; and, for an identical reason, he is isolated and superior to
+all influences.'
+
+'Something always turns up,' said Baroni.
+
+'It seems to me that we are in a _cul-de-sac_,' said Tancred.
+
+'There is always an outlet; one can escape from a _cul-de-sac_ by a
+window.'
+
+'Do you think it would be advisable to consult the master of this tent?'
+said Tancred, in a lower tone. 'He is very friendly.'
+
+'The Emir Fakredeen,' said Baroni.
+
+'Is that his name?'
+
+'So I learnt last night. He is a prince of the house of Shehaab; a great
+house, but fallen.'
+
+'He is a Christian,' said Tancred, earnestly.
+
+'Is he?' said Baroni carelessly; 'I have known a good many Shehaabs, and
+if you will tell me their company, I will tell you their creed.'
+
+'He might give us some advice.'
+
+'No doubt of it, my lord; if advice could break our chains, we should
+soon be free; but in these countries my only confidant is my camel.
+Assuming that this affair is to end in a ransom, what we want now is to
+change the impressions of the great Sheikh respecting your wealth. This
+can only be done from the same spot where the original ideas emanated.
+I must induce him to permit me to accompany his messenger to Besso. This
+mission will take time, and he who gains time gains everything, as M.
+de Sidonia said to me when the savages were going to burn us alive, and
+there came on a thunder-storm which extinguished their fagots.'
+
+'You must really tell me your history some day, Baroni,' said Tancred.
+
+'When my mission has failed. It will perhaps relieve your imprisonment;
+at present, I repeat, we must work for a moderate ransom, instead of the
+millions of which they talk, and during the negotiation take the chance
+of some incident which will more agreeably free us.'
+
+'Ah! I despair of that.'
+
+'I do not, for it is presumptuous to believe that man can foresee the
+future, which will be your lordship's case, if you owe your freedom only
+to your piastres.'
+
+'But they say that everything is calculation, Baroni.'
+
+'No,' said Baroni, with energy, 'everything is adventure.'
+
+In the meantime the Emir Fakredeen was the prey of contending emotions.
+Tancred had from the first, and in an instant, exercised over his
+susceptible temperament that magnetic influence to which he was so
+strangely subject. In the heart of the wilderness and in the person
+of his victim, the young Emir suddenly recognised the heroic character
+which he had himself so vaguely and, as it now seemed to him, so vainly
+attempted to realise. The appearance and the courage of Tancred, the
+thoughtful repose of his manner, his high bearing amid the distressful
+circumstances in which he was involved, and the large views which the
+few words that had escaped from him on the preceding evening would
+intimate that he took of public transactions, completely captivated
+Fakredeen, who seemed at length to have found the friend for whom he
+had often sighed; the steadfast and commanding spirit, whose control,
+he felt conscious, was often required by his quick but whimsical
+temperament. And in what relation did he stand to this being whom he
+longed to press to his heart, and then go forth with him and conquer
+the world? It would not bear contemplation. The arming of the Maronites
+became quite a secondary object in comparison with obtaining the
+friendship of Tancred. Would that he had not involved himself in this
+conspiracy! and yet, but for this conspiracy, Tancred and himself
+might never have met. It was impossible to grapple with the question;
+circumstances must be watched, and some new combination formed to
+extricate both of them from their present perplexed position.
+
+Fakredeen sent one of his attendants in the morning to offer Tancred
+horses, should his guest, as is the custom of Englishmen, care to
+explore the neighbouring ruins which were celebrated; but Tancred's
+wound kept him confined to his tent. Then the Emir begged permission to
+pay him a visit, which was to have lasted only a quarter of an hour;
+but when Fakredeen had once established himself in the divan with his
+nargileh, he never quitted it. It would have been difficult for Tancred
+to have found a more interesting companion; impossible to have made an
+acquaintance more singularly unreserved. His frankness was startling.
+Tancred had no experience of such self-revelations; such a jumble of
+sublime aspirations and equivocal conduct; such a total disregard
+of means, such complicated plots, such a fertility of perplexed and
+tenebrous intrigue! The animated manner and the picturesque phrase, too,
+in which all this was communicated, heightened the interest and effect.
+Fakredeen sketched a character in a sentence, and you knew instantly the
+individual whom he described without any personal knowledge. Unlike the
+Orientals in general, his gestures were as vivid as his words. He acted
+the interviews, he achieved the adventures before you. His voice could
+take every tone and his countenance every form. In the midst of all
+this, bursts of plaintive melancholy; sometimes the anguish of a
+sensibility too exquisite, alternating with a devilish mockery and a
+fatal absence of all self-respect.
+
+'It appears to me,' said Tancred, when the young Emir had declared his
+star accursed, since, after the ceaseless exertions of years, he was
+still as distant as ever from the accomplishment of his purpose, 'it
+appears to me that your system is essentially erroneous. I do not
+believe that anything great is ever effected by management. All this
+intrigue, in which you seem such an adept, might be of some service in
+a court or in an exclusive senate; but to free a nation you require
+something more vigorous and more simple. This system of intrigue in
+Europe is quite old-fashioned. It is one of the superstitions left us by
+the wretched eighteenth century, a period when aristocracy was rampant
+throughout Christendom; and what were the consequences? All faith in God
+or man, all grandeur of purpose, all nobility of thought, and all beauty
+of sentiment, withered and shrivelled up. Then the dexterous management
+of a few individuals, base or dull, was the only means of success.
+But we live in a different age: there are popular sympathies, however
+imperfect, to appeal to; we must recur to the high primeval practice,
+and address nations now as the heroes, and prophets, and legislators
+of antiquity. If you wish to free your country, and make the Syrians
+a nation, it is not to be done by sending secret envoys to Paris or
+London, cities themselves which are perhaps both doomed to fall; you
+must act like Moses and Mahomet.'
+
+'But you forget the religions,' said Fakredeen. 'I have so many
+religions to deal with. If my fellows were all Christians, or all
+Moslemin, or all Jews, or all Pagans, I grant you, something might be
+effected: the cross, the crescent, the ark, or an old stone, anything
+would do: I would plant it on the highest range in the centre of the
+country, and I would carry Damascus and Aleppo both in one campaign;
+but I am debarred from this immense support; I could only preach
+nationality, and, as they all hate each other worse almost than they do
+the Turks, that would not be very inviting; nationality, without race as
+a plea, is like the smoke of this nargileh, a fragrant puff. Well, then,
+there remains only personal influence: ancient family, vast possessions,
+and traditionary power: mere personal influence can only be maintained
+by management, by what you stigmatise as intrigue; and the most
+dexterous member of the Shehaab family will be, in the long run, Prince
+of Lebanon.'
+
+'And if you wish only to be Prince of Lebanon, I dare say you may
+succeed,' said Tancred, 'and perhaps with much less pains than you at
+present give yourself. But what becomes of all your great plans of
+an hour ago, when you were to conquer the East, and establish the
+independence of the Oriental races?'
+
+'Ah!' exclaimed Fakredeen with a sigh, 'these are the only ideas for
+which it is worth while to live.'
+
+'The world was never conquered by intrigue: it was conquered by faith.
+Now, I do not see that you have faith in anything.'
+
+'Faith,' said Fakredeen, musingly, as if his ear had caught the word
+for the first time, 'faith! that is a grand idea. If one could only have
+faith in something and conquer the world!'
+
+'See now,' said Tancred, with unusual animation, 'I find no charm in
+conquering the world to establish a dynasty: a dynasty, like everything
+else, wears out; indeed, it does not last as long as most things; it
+has a precipitate tendency to decay. There are reasons; we will not now
+dwell on them. One should conquer the world not to enthrone a man,
+but an idea, for ideas exist for ever. But what idea? There is the
+touchstone of all philosophy! Amid the wreck of creeds, the crash of
+empires, French revolutions, English reforms, Catholicism in agony, and
+Protestantism in convulsions, discordant Europe demands the keynote,
+which none can sound. If Asia be in decay, Europe is in confusion. Your
+repose may be death, but our life is anarchy.'
+
+'I am thinking,' said Fakredeen, thoughtfully, 'how we in Syria could
+possibly manage to have faith in anything; I had faith in Mehemet Ali,
+but he is a Turk, and that upset him. If, instead of being merely a
+rebellious Pasha, he had placed himself at the head of the Arabs, and
+revived the Caliphate, you would have seen something. Head the desert
+and you may do anything. But it is so difficult. If you can once get
+the tribes out of it, they will go anywhere. See what they did when they
+last came forth. It is a simoom, a kamsin, fatal, irresistible. They are
+as fresh, too, as ever. The Arabs are always young; it is the only race
+that never withers. I am an Arab myself; from my ancestor who was the
+standard-bearer of the Prophet, the consciousness of race is the only
+circumstance that sometimes keeps up my spirit.'
+
+'I am an Arab only in religion,' said Tancred, 'but the consciousness
+of creed sustains me. I know well, though born in a distant and northern
+isle, that the Creator of the world speaks with man only in this land;
+and that is why I am here.'
+
+The young Emir threw an earnest glance at his companion, whose
+countenance, though grave, was calm. 'Then you have faith?' said
+Fakredeen, inquiringly.
+
+'I have passive faith,' said Tancred. 'I know that there is a Deity who
+has revealed his will at intervals during different ages; but of his
+present purpose I feel ignorant, and therefore I have not active
+faith; I know not what to do, and should be reduced to a mere spiritual
+slothfulness, had I not resolved to struggle with this fearful
+necessity, and so embarked in this great pilgrimage which has so
+strangely brought us together.'
+
+'But you have your sacred books to consult?' said Fakredeen.
+
+'There were sacred books when Jehovah conferred with Solomon; there
+was a still greater number of sacred books when Jehovah inspired the
+prophets; the sacred writings were yet more voluminous when the Creator
+ordained that there should be for human edification a completely new
+series of inspired literature. Nearly two thousand years have passed
+since the last of those works appeared. It is a greater interval than
+elapsed between the writings of Malachi and the writings of Matthew.'
+
+'The prior of the Maronite convent, at Mar Hanna, has often urged on me,
+as conclusive evidence of the falseness of Mahomet's mission, that our
+Lord Jesus declared that after him "many false prophets should arise,"
+and warned his followers.'
+
+'There spoke the Prince of Israel,' said Tancred, 'not the universal
+Redeemer. He warned his tribe against the advent of false Messiahs,
+no more. Far from terminating by his coming the direct communication
+between God and man, his appearance was only the herald of a relation
+between the Creator and his creatures more fine, more permanent, and
+more express. The inspiring and consoling influence of the Paraclete
+only commenced with the ascension of the Divine Son. In this fact,
+perhaps, may be found a sufficient reason why no written expression
+of the celestial will has subsequently appeared. But, instead of
+foreclosing my desire for express communication, it would, on the
+contrary, be a circumstance to authorise it.'
+
+'Then how do you know that Mahomet was not inspired?' said Fakredeen.
+
+'Far be it from me to impugn the divine commission of any of the seed
+of Abraham,' replied Tancred. 'There are doctors of our church who
+recognise the sacred office of Mahomet, though they hold it to be, what
+divine commissions, with the great exception, have ever been, limited
+and local.'
+
+'God has never spoken to a European?' said Fakredeen, inquiringly.
+
+'Never.'
+
+'But you are a European?'
+
+'And your inference is just,' said Tancred, in an agitated voice, and
+with a changing countenance. 'It is one that has for some time haunted
+my soul. In England, when I prayed in vain for enlightenment, I at last
+induced myself to believe that the Supreme Being would not deign to
+reveal His will unless in the land which his presence had rendered holy;
+but since I have been a dweller within its borders, and poured forth
+my passionate prayers at all its holy places, and received no sign, the
+desolating thought has sometimes come over my spirit, that there is
+a qualification of blood as well as of locality necessary for this
+communion, and that the favoured votary must not only kneel in the Holy
+Land but be of the holy race.'
+
+'I am an Arab,' said Fakredeen. 'It is something.'
+
+'If I were an Arab in race as well as in religion,' said Tancred, 'I
+would not pass my life in schemes to govern some mountain tribes.'
+
+'I'll tell you,' said the Emir, springing from his divan, and flinging
+the tube of his nargileh to the other end of the tent: 'the game is
+in our hands, if we have energy. There is a combination which would
+entirely change the whole 'face of the world, and bring back empire to
+the East. Though you are not the brother of the Queen of the English,
+you are nevertheless a great English prince, and the Queen will listen
+to what you say; especially if you talk to her as you talk to me, and
+say such fine things in such a beautiful voice. Nobody ever opened my
+mind like you. You will magnetise the Queen as you have magnetised me.
+Go back to England and arrange this. You see, gloze it over as they may,
+one thing is clear, it is finished with England. There are three things
+which alone must destroy it. Primo, O'Connell appropriating to himself
+the revenues of half of Her Majesty's dominions. Secondo, the cottons;
+the world begins to get a little disgusted with those cottons; naturally
+everybody prefers silk; I am sure that the Lebanon in time could supply
+the whole world with silk, if it were properly administered. Thirdly,
+steam; with this steam your great ships have become a respectable Noah's
+ark. The game is up; Louis Philippe can take Windsor Castle whenever he
+pleases, as you took Acre, with the wind in his teeth. It is all over,
+then. Now, see a _coup d'etat_ that saves all. You must perform the
+Portuguese scheme on a great scale; quit a petty and exhausted position
+for a vast and prolific empire. Let the Queen of the English collect a
+great fleet, let her stow away all her treasure, bullion, gold plate,
+and precious arms; be accompanied by all her court and chief people,
+and transfer the seat of her empire from London to Delhi. There she
+will find an immense empire ready made, a firstrate army, and a large
+revenue. In the meantime I will arrange with Mehemet Ali.
+
+He shall have Bagdad and Mesopotamia, and pour the Bedouin cavalry into
+Persia. I will take care of Syria and Asia Minor. The only way to manage
+the Afghans is by Persia and by the Arabs. We will acknowledge the
+Empress of India as our suzerain, and secure for her the Levantine
+coast. If she like, she shall have Alexandria as she now has Malta: it
+could be arranged. Your Queen is young; she has an _avenir_. Aberdeen
+and Sir Peel will never give her this advice; their habits are formed.
+They are too old, too _ruses_. But, you see! the greatest empire that
+ever existed; besides which she gets rid of the embarrassment of her
+Chambers! And quite practicable; for the only difficult part, the
+conquest of India, which baffled Alexander, is all done!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+     _A Pilgrim to Mount Sinai_
+
+IT WAS not so much a conviction as a suspicion that Tancred had conveyed
+to the young Emir, when the pilgrim had confessed that the depressing
+thought sometimes came over him, that he was deficient in that
+qualification of race which was necessary for the high communion to
+which he aspired. Four-and-twenty hours before he was not thus dejected.
+Almost within sight of Sinai, he was still full of faith. But his
+vexatious captivity, and the enfeebling consequences of this wound,
+dulled his spirit. Alone, among strangers and foes, in pain and in
+peril, and without that energy which finds excitement in difficulty,
+and can mock at danger, which requires no counsellor but our own quick
+brain, and no champion but our own right arm, the high spirit of Tancred
+for the first time flagged. As the twilight descended over the rocky
+city, its sculptured tombs and excavated temples, and its strewn remains
+of palaces and theatres, his heart recurred with tenderness to the halls
+and towers of Montacute and Bellamont, and the beautiful affections
+beneath those stately roofs, that, urged on, as he had once thought,
+by a divine influence, now, as he was half tempted to credit, by a
+fantastic impulse, he had dared to desert. Brooding in dejection, his
+eyes were suffused with tears.
+
+It was one of those moments of amiable weakness which make us all akin,
+when sublime ambition, the mystical predispositions of genius, the
+solemn sense of duty, all the heaped-up lore of ages, and the dogmas of
+a high philosophy alike desert us, or sink into nothingness. The voice
+of his mother sounded in his ear, and he was haunted by his father's
+anxious glance. Why was he there? Why was he, the child of a northern
+isle, in the heart of the Stony Arabia, far from the scene of his birth
+and of his duties? A disheartening, an awful question, which, if it
+could not be satisfactorily answered by Tancred of Montacute, it seemed
+to him that his future, wherever or however passed, must be one of
+intolerable bale.
+
+Was he, then, a stranger there? uncalled, unexpected, intrusive,
+unwelcome? Was it a morbid curiosity, or the proverbial restlessness of
+a satiated aristocrat, that had drawn him to these wilds? What wilds?
+Had he no connection with them? Had he not from his infancy repeated, in
+the congregation of his people, the laws which, from the awful summit of
+these surrounding mountains, the Father of all had Himself delivered for
+the government of mankind? These Arabian laws regulated his life.
+And the wanderings of an Arabian tribe in this 'great and terrible
+wilderness,' under the immediate direction of the Creator, sanctified by
+His miracles, governed by His counsels, illumined by His presence, had
+been the first and guiding history that had been entrusted to his young
+intelligence, from which it had drawn its first pregnant examples
+of human conduct and divine interposition, and formed its first dim
+conceptions of the relations between man and God. Why, then, he had a
+right to be here! He had a connection with these regions; they had a
+hold upon him. He was not here like an Indian Brahmin, who visits Europe
+from a principle of curiosity, however rational or however refined. The
+land which the Hindoo visits is not his land, nor his father's land; the
+laws which regulate it are not his laws, and the faith which fills its
+temples is not the revelation that floats upon his sacred Ganges. But
+for this English youth, words had been uttered and things done, more
+than thirty centuries ago, in this stony wilderness, which influenced
+his opinions and regulated his conduct every day of his life, in that
+distant and seagirt home, which, at the time of their occurrence, was
+not as advanced in civilisation as the Polynesian groups or the islands
+of New Zealand. The life and property of England are protected by the
+laws of Sinai. The hard-working people of England are secured in every
+seven days a day of rest by the laws of Sinai. And yet they persecute
+the Jews, and hold up to odium the race to whom they are indebted for
+the sublime legislation which alleviates the inevitable lot of the
+labouring multitude!
+
+And when that labouring multitude cease for a while from a toil which
+equals almost Egyptian bondage, and demands that exponent of the
+mysteries of the heart, that soother of the troubled spirit, which
+poetry can alone afford, to whose harp do the people of England fly for
+sympathy and solace? Who is the most popular poet in this country? Is
+he to be found among the Mr. Wordsworths and the Lord Byrons, amid
+sauntering reveries or monologues of sublime satiety? Shall we seek him
+among the wits of Queen Anne? Even to the myriad-minded Shakespeare can
+we award the palm? No; the most popular poet in England is the sweet
+singer of Israel. Since the days of the heritage, when every man dwelt
+safely under his vine and under his fig tree, there never was a race who
+sang so often the odes of David as the people of Great Britain.
+
+Vast as the obligations of the whole human family are to the Hebrew
+race, there is no portion of the modern population so much indebted to
+them as the British people. It was 'the sword of the Lord and of Gideon'
+that won the boasted liberties of England; chanting the same canticles
+that cheered the heart of Judah amid their glens, the Scotch, upon their
+hillsides, achieved their religious freedom.
+
+Then why do these Saxon and Celtic societies persecute an Arabian race,
+from whom they have adopted laws of sublime benevolence, and in
+the pages of whose literature they have found perpetual delight,
+instruction, and consolation? That is a great question, which, in
+an enlightened age, may be fairly asked, but to which even the
+self-complacent nineteenth century would find some difficulty in
+contributing a reply. Does it stand thus? Independently of their
+admirable laws which have elevated our condition, and of their exquisite
+poetry which has charmed it; independently of their heroic history which
+has animated us to the pursuit of public liberty, we are indebted to the
+Hebrew people for our knowledge of the true God and for the redemption
+from our sins.
+
+'Then I have a right to be here,' said Tancred of Montacute, as his eyes
+were fixed in abstraction on the stars of Arabia; 'I am not a travelling
+dilettante, mourning over a ruin, or in ecstasies at a deciphered
+inscription. I come to the land whose laws I obey, whose religion I
+profess, and I seek, upon its sacred soil, those sanctions which for
+ages were abundantly accorded. The angels who visited the Patriarchs,
+and announced the advent of the Judges, who guided the pens of Prophets
+and bore tidings to the Apostles, spoke also to the Shepherds in the
+field. I look upon the host of heaven; do they no longer stand before
+the Lord? Where are the Cherubim, where the Seraphs? Where is Michael
+the Destroyer? Gabriel of a thousand missions?'
+
+At this moment, the sound of horsemen recalled Tancred from his reverie,
+and, looking up, he observed a group of Arabs approaching him, three
+of whom were mounted. Soon he recognised the great Sheikh Amalek, and
+Hassan, the late commander of his escort. The young Syrian Emir was
+their companion. This was a visit of hospitable ceremony from the great
+Sheikh to his distinguished prisoner. Amalek, pressing his hand to his
+heart, gave Tancred the salute of peace, and then, followed by Hassan,
+who had lost nothing of his calm self-respect, but who conducted himself
+as if he were still free, the great Sheikh seated himself on the
+carpet that was spread before the tent, and took the pipe, which
+was immediately offered him by Freeman and Trueman, following the
+instructions of an attendant of the Emir Fakredeen.
+
+After the usual compliments and some customary observations about horses
+and pistols, Fakredeen, who had seated himself close to Tancred, with a
+kind of shrinking cajolery, as if he were seeking the protection of some
+superior being, addressing Amalek in a tone of easy assurance, which
+remarkably contrasted with the sentimental deference he displayed
+towards his prisoner, said:
+
+'Sheikh of Sheikhs, there is but one God: now is it Allah, or Jehovah?'
+
+'The palm tree is sometimes called a date tree,' replied Amalek, 'but
+there is only one tree.'
+
+'Good,' said Fakredeen, 'but you do not pray to Allah?'
+
+'I pray as my fathers prayed,' said Amalek.
+
+'And you pray to Jehovah?'
+
+'It is said.'
+
+'Sheikh Hassan,' said the Emir, 'there is but one God, and his name is
+Jehovah. Why do you not pray to Jehovah?'
+
+'Truly there is but one God,' said Sheikh Hassan, 'and Mahomet is his
+Prophet. He told my fathers to pray to Allah, and to Allah I pray.'
+
+'Is Mahomet the prophet of God, Sheikh of Sheikhs?'
+
+'It may be,' replied Amalek, with a nod of assent.
+
+'Then why do you not pray as Sheikh Hassan?'
+
+'Because Moses, without doubt the prophet of God,--for all believe in
+him, Sheikh Hassan, and Emir Fakredeen, and you too, Prince, brother of
+queens,--married into our family and taught us to pray to Jehovah. There
+may be other prophets, but the children of Jethro would indeed ride on
+asses were they not content with Moses.'
+
+'And you have his five books?' inquired Tancred.
+
+'We had them from the beginning, and we shall keep them to the end.'
+
+'And you learnt in them that Moses married the daughter of Jethro?'
+
+'Did I learn in them that I have wells and camels? We want no books to
+tell us who married our daughters.'
+
+'And yet it is not yesterday that Moses fled from Egypt into Midian?'
+
+'It is not yesterday for those who live in cities, where they say at
+one gate that it is morning, and at another it is night. Where men tell
+lies, the deed of the dawn is the secret of sunset. But in the desert
+nothing changes; neither the acts of a man's life, nor the words of a
+man's lips. We drink at the same well where Moses helped Zipporah,
+we tend the same flocks, we live under the same tents; our words have
+changed as little as our waters, our habits, or our dwellings. What my
+father learnt from those before him, he delivered to me, and I have told
+it to my son. What is time and what is truth, that I should forget that
+a prophet of Jehovah married into my house?'
+
+'Where little is done, little is said,' observed Sheikh Hassan, 'and
+silence is the mother of truth.
+
+Since the Hegira, nothing has happened in Arabia, and before that was
+Moses, and before him the giants.'
+
+'Let truth always be spoken,' said Amalek; 'your words are a flowing
+stream, and the children of Rechab and the tribes of the Senites never
+joined him of Mecca, for they had the five books, and they said, "Is
+not that enough?" They withdrew to the Syrian wilderness, and they
+multiplied. But the sons of Koreidha, who also had the five books,
+but who were not children of Rechab, but who came into the desert near
+Medina after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed El Khuds, they first joined
+him of Mecca, and then they made war on him, and he broke their bows and
+led them into captivity; and they are to be found in the cities of Yemen
+to this day; the children of Israel who live in the cities of Yemen are
+the tribe of Koreidha.'
+
+'Unhappy sons of Koreidha, who made war upon the Prophet, and who live
+in cities!' said Sheikh Hassan, taking a fresh pipe.
+
+'And perhaps,' said the young Emir, 'if you had not been children of
+Jethro, you might have acknowledged him of Mecca, Sheikh of Sheikhs.'
+
+'There is but one God,' said Amalek; 'but there may be many prophets. It
+becomes not a son of jethro to seek other than Moses. But I will not say
+that the Koran comes not from God, since it was written by one who
+was of the tribe of Koreish, and the tribe of Koreish are the lineal
+descendants of Ibrahim.'
+
+'And you believe that the Word of God could come only to the seed of
+Abraham?' asked Tancred, eagerly.
+
+'I and my fathers have watered our flocks in the wilderness since time
+was,' replied Amalek; 'we have seen the Pharaohs, and Nebuchadnezzar,
+and Iskander, and the Romans, and the Sultan of the French: they
+conquered everything except us; and where are they? They are sand. Let
+men doubt of unicorns: but of one thing there can be no doubt, that God
+never spoke except to an Arab.'
+
+Tancred covered his face with his hands. Then, after a few moments'
+pause, looking up, he said, 'Sheikh of Sheikhs, I am your prisoner; and
+was, when you captured me, a pilgrim to Mount Sinai, a spot which, in
+your belief, is not less sacred than in mine. We are, as I have learned,
+only two days' journey from that holy place. Grant me this boon, that I
+may at once proceed thither, guarded as you will. I pledge you the word
+of a Christian noble, that I will not attempt to escape. Long before
+you have received a reply from Jerusalem, I shall have returned; and
+whatever may be the result of the visit of Baroni, I shall, at least,
+have fulfilled my pilgrimage.'
+
+'Prince, brother of queens,' replied Amalek, with that politeness which
+is the characteristic of the Arabian chieftains; 'under my tents you
+have only to command; go where you like, return when you please. My
+children shall attend you as your guardians, not as your guards.' And
+the great Sheikh rose and retired.
+
+Tancred re-entered his tent, and, reclining, fell into a reverie of
+distracting thoughts. The history of his life and mind seemed with a
+whirling power to pass before him; his birth, in clime unknown to the
+Patriarchs; his education, unconsciously to himself, in an Arabian
+literature; his imbibing, from his tender infancy, oriental ideas and
+oriental creeds; the contrast that the occidental society in which he
+had been reared presented to them; his dissatisfaction with that social
+system; his conviction of the growing melancholy of enlightened Europe,
+veiled, as it may be, with sometimes a conceited bustle, sometimes a
+desperate shipwreck gaiety, sometimes with all the exciting empiricism
+of science; his perplexity that, between the Asian revelation and the
+European practice there should be so little conformity, and why the
+relations between them should be so limited and imperfect; above all,
+his passionate desire to penetrate the mystery of the elder world, and
+share its celestial privileges and divine prerogative. Tancred sighed.
+
+He looked round; some one had gently drawn his hand. It was the young
+Emir kneeling, his beautiful blue eyes bedewed with tears.
+
+'You are unhappy, said Fakredeen, in a tone of plaintiveness.
+
+'It is the doom of man,' replied Tancred; 'and in my position sadness
+should not seem strange.'
+
+'The curse of ten thousand mothers on those who made you a prisoner; the
+curse of twenty thousand mothers on him who inflicted on you a wound!'
+
+''Tis the fortune of life,' said Tancred, more cheerfully; 'and in truth
+I was perhaps thinking of other things.'
+
+'Do you know why I trouble you when your heart is dark?' said the young
+Emir. 'See now, if you will it, you are free. The great Sheikh has
+consented that you should go to Sinai. I have two dromedaries here,
+fleeter than the Kamsin. At the well of Mokatteb, where we encamp for
+the night, I will serve raki to the Bedouins; I have some with me,
+strong enough to melt the snow of Lebanon; if it will not do, they shall
+smoke some timbak, that will make them sleep like pashas. I know this
+desert as a man knows his father's house; we shall be at Hebron before
+they untie their eyelids. Tell me, is it good?'
+
+'Were I alone,' said Tancred, 'without a single guard, I must return.'
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Because I have pledged the word of a Christian noble.'
+
+'To a man who does not believe in Christ. Faugh! Is it not itself a sin
+to keep faith with heretics?'
+
+'But is he one?' said Tancred. 'He believes in Moses; he disbelieves in
+none of the seed of Abraham. He is of that seed himself! Would I were
+such a heretic as Sheikh Amalek!'
+
+'If you will only pay me a visit in the Lebanon, I would introduce you
+to our patriarch, and he would talk as much theology with you as you
+like. For my own part it is not a kind of knowledge that I have much
+cultivated; you know I am peculiarly situated, we have so many religions
+on the mountain; but time presses; tell me, my prince, shall Hebron be
+our point?'
+
+'If Amalek believed in Baal, I must return,' said Tancred; 'even if it
+were to certain death. Besides, I could not desert my men; and Baroni,
+what would become of him?'
+
+'We could easily make some plan that would extricate them. Dismiss them
+from your mind, and trust yourself to me. I know nothing that would
+delight me more than to baulk these robbers of their prey.'
+
+'I should not talk of such things,' said Tancred; 'I must remain here,
+or I must return.'
+
+'What can you want to do on Mount Sinai?' murmured the prince rather
+pettishly. 'Now if it were Mount Lebanon, and you had a wish to employ
+yourself, there is an immense field! We might improve the condition
+of the people; we might establish manufactures, stimulate agriculture
+extend commerce get an appalto of the silk, buy it all up at sixty
+piastres per oke, and sell it at Marseilles at two hundred and at the
+same time advance the interests of true religion as much as you please.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+     _In the Valley of the Shadow_
+
+THEN days had elapsed since the capture of Tancred; Amalek and his Arabs
+were still encamped in the rocky city; the beams of the early sun were
+just rising over the crest of the amphitheatre, when four horsemen, who
+were recognised as the children of Rechab, issued from the ravine. They
+galloped over the plain, shouted, and threw their lances in the air.
+From the crescent of black tents came forth the warriors, some mounted
+their horses and met their returning brethren, others prepared their
+welcome. The horses neighed, the camels stirred their long necks. All
+living things seemed conscious that an event had occurred.
+
+The four horsemen were surrounded by their brethren; but one of them,
+giving and returning blessings, darted forward to the pavilion of the
+great Sheikh.
+
+'Have you brought camels, Shedad, son of Amroo?' inquired one of the
+welcomers to the welcomed.
+
+'We have been to El Khuds,' was the reply. 'What we have brought back is
+a seal of Solomon.
+
+'From Mount Seir to the City of the Friend, what have you seen in the
+joyful land?'
+
+'We found the sons of Hamar by the well-side of Jumda; we found the
+marks of many camels in the pass of Gharendel, and the marks in the pass
+of Gharendel were not the marks of the camels of the Beni-Hamar.'
+
+'I had a dream, and the children of Tora said to me, "Who art thou in
+the hands of our father's flocks? Are none but the sons of Rechab to
+drink the sweet waters of Edom?" Methinks the marks in the pass of
+Gharendel were the marks of the camels of the children of Tora.'
+
+'There is a feud between the Beni-Tora and the Beni-Hamar,' replied the
+other Arab, shaking his head. 'The Beni-Tora are in the wilderness of
+Akiba, and the Beni-Hamar have burnt their tents and captured their
+camels and their women. This is why the sons of Hamar are watering their
+flocks by the well of Jumda.'
+
+In the meantime, the caravan, of which the four horsemen were the
+advanced guard, issued from the pass into the plain.
+
+'Shedad, son of Amroo,' exclaimed one of the Bedouins, 'what! have you
+captured an harem?' For he beheld dromedaries and veiled women.
+
+The great Sheikh came forth from his pavilion and sniffed the morning
+air; a dignified smile played over his benignant features, and once he
+smoothed his venerable beard.
+
+'My son-in-law is a true son of Israel,' he murmured complacently to
+himself. 'He will trust his gold only to his own blood.'
+
+The caravan wound about the plain, then crossed the stream at the
+accustomed ford, and approached the amphitheatre.
+
+The horsemen halted, some dismounted, the dromedaries knelt down, Baroni
+assisted one of the riders from her seat; the great Sheikh advanced and
+said, 'Welcome in the name of God! welcome with a thousand blessings!'
+
+'I come in the name of God; I come with a thousand blessings,' replied
+the lady.
+
+'And with a thousand something else,' thought Amalek to himself; but
+the Arabs are so polished that they never make unnecessary allusions to
+business.
+
+'Had I thought the Queen of Sheba was going to pay me a visit,' said the
+great Sheikh, 'I would have brought the pavilion of Miriam. How is the
+Rose of Sharon?' he continued, as he ushered Eva into his tent. 'How is
+the son of my heart; how is Besso, more generous than a thousand kings?'
+
+'Speak not of the son of thy heart,' said Eva, seating herself on the
+divan. 'Speak not of Besso, the generous and the good, for his head is
+strewn with ashes, and his mouth is full of sand.'
+
+'What is this?' thought Amalek. 'Besso is not ill, or his daughter would
+not be here. This arrow flies not straight. Does he want to scrape my
+piastres? These sons of Israel that dwell in cities will mix their pens
+with our spears. I will be obstinate as an Azafeer camel.'
+
+Slaves now entered, bringing coffee and bread, the Sheikh asking
+questions as they ate, as to the time Eva quitted Jerusalem, her
+halting-places in the desert, whether she had met with any tribes; then
+he offered to his granddaughter his own chibouque, which she took
+with ceremony, and instantly returned, while they brought her aromatic
+nargileh.
+
+Eva scanned the imperturbable countenance of her grandfather: calm,
+polite, benignant, she knew the great Sheikh too well to suppose for
+a moment that its superficial expression was any indication of his
+innermost purpose. Suddenly she said, in a somewhat careless tone, 'And
+why is the Lord of the Syrian pastures in this wilderness, that has been
+so long accursed?'
+
+The great Sheikh took his pipe from his mouth, and then slowly sent
+forth its smoke through his nostrils, a feat of which he was proud. Then
+he placidly replied: 'For the same reason that the man named Baroni made
+a visit to El Khuds.'
+
+'The man named Baroni came to demand succour for his lord, who is your
+prisoner.'
+
+'And also to obtain two millions of piastres,' added Amalek.
+
+'Two millions of piastres! Why not at once ask for the throne of
+Solomon?'
+
+'Which would be given, if required,' rejoined Amalek. 'Was it not said
+in the divan of Besso, that if this Prince of Franguestan wished to
+rebuild the Temple, the treasure would not be wanting?'
+
+'Said by some city gossip,' said Eva, scornfully.
+
+'Said by your father, daughter of Besso, who, though he lives in cities,
+is not a man who will say that almonds are pearls.'
+
+Eva controlled her countenance, though it was difficult to conceal her
+mortification as she perceived how well informed her grandfather was of
+all that passed under their roof, and of the resources of his prisoner.
+It was necessary, after the last remark of the great Sheikh, to take
+new ground, and, instead of dwelling, as she was about to do, on the
+exaggeration of public report, and attempting to ridicule the vast
+expectations of her host, she said, in a soft tone, 'You did not ask me
+why Besso was in such affliction, father of my mother?'
+
+'There are many sorrows: has he lost ships? If a man is in sound health,
+all the rest are dreams. And Besso needs no hakeem, or you would not be
+here, my Rose of Sharon.'
+
+'The light may have become darkness in our eyes, though we may still eat
+and drink,' said Eva. 'And that has happened to Besso which might have
+turned a child's hair grey in its cradle.'
+
+'Who has poisoned his well? Has he quarrelled with the Porte?' said the
+Sheikh, without looking at her.
+
+'It is not his enemies who have pierced him in the back.'
+
+'Humph,' said the great Sheikh.
+
+'And that makes his heart more heavy,' said Eva.
+
+'He dwells too much in walls,' said the great Sheikh. 'He should have
+ridden into the desert, instead of you, my child. He should have brought
+the ransom himself; 'and the great Sheikh sent two curling streams out
+of his nostrils.
+
+'Whoever be the bearer, he is the payer,' said Eva. 'It is he who is the
+prisoner, not this son of Franguestan, who, you think, is your captive.'
+
+'Your father wishes to scrape my piastres,' said the great Sheikh, in a
+stern voice, and looking his granddaughter full in the face.
+
+'If he wanted to scrape piastres from the desert,' said Eva, in a sweet
+but mournful voice, 'would Besso have given you the convoy of the Hadj
+without condition or abatement?'
+
+The great Sheikh drew a long breath from his chibouque. After a
+momentary pause, he said, 'In a family there should ever be unity and
+concord; above all things, words should not be dark. How much will the
+Queen of the English give for her brother?
+
+'He is not the brother of the Queen of the English,' said Eva.
+
+'Not when he is my spoil, in my tent,' said Amalek, with a cunning
+smile; 'but put him on a round hat in a walled city, and then he is the
+brother of the Queen of the English.'
+
+'Whatever his rank, he is the charge of Besso, my father and your son,'
+said Eva; 'and Besso has pledged his heart, his life, and his honour,
+that this young prince shall not be hurt. For him he feels, for him
+he speaks, for him he thinks. Is it to be told in the bazaars of
+Franguestan that his first office of devotion was to send this youth
+into the desert to be spoiled by the father of his wife?'
+
+'Why did my daughters marry men who live in cities?' exclaimed the old
+Sheikh.
+
+'Why did they marry men who made your peace with the Egyptian, when not
+even the desert could screen you? Why did they marry men who gained you
+the convoy of the Hadj, and gave you the milk of ten thousand camels?'
+
+'Truly, there is but one God in the desert and in the city,' said
+Amalek. 'Now, tell me, Rose of Sharon, how many piastres have you
+brought me?'
+
+'If you be in trouble, Besso will aid you as he has done; if you wish
+to buy camels, Besso will assist you as before; but if you expect ransom
+for his charge, whom you ought to have placed on your best mare of
+Nedgid, then I have not brought a para.'
+
+'It is clearly the end of the world,' said Amalek, with a savage sigh.
+
+'Why I am here,' said Eva, 'I am only the child of your child, a woman
+without spears; why do you not seize me and send to Besso? He must
+ransom me, for I am the only offspring of his loins. Ask for four
+millions of piastres I He can raise them. Let him send round to all the
+cities of Syria, and tell his brethren that a Bedouin Sheikh has made
+his daughter and her maidens captive, and, trust me, the treasure will
+be forthcoming. He need not say it is one on whom he has lavished a
+thousand favours, whose visage was darker than the simoom when he made
+the great Pasha smile on him; who, however he may talk of living in
+cities now, could come cringing to El Sham to ask for the contract
+of the Hadj, by which he had gained ten thousand camels; he need say
+nothing of all this, and, least of all, need he say that the spoiler is
+his father!'
+
+'What is this Prince of Franguestan to thee and thine?' said Amalek.
+'He comes to our land like his brethren, to see the sun and seek for
+treasure in our ruins, and he bears, like all of them, some written
+words to your father, saying, "Give to this man what he asks, and we
+will give to your people what they ask." I understand all this: they all
+come to your father because he deals in money, and is the only man in
+Syria who has money. What he pays, he is again paid. Is it not so, Eva?
+Daughter of my blood, let there not be strife between us; give me a
+million piastres, and a hundred camels to the widow of Sheikh Salem, and
+take the brother of the Queen.'
+
+'Camels shall be given to the widow of Sheikh Salem,' said Eva, in a
+conciliatory voice; 'but for this ransom of which you speak, my father,
+it is not a question as to the number of piastres. If you want a million
+of piastres, shall it be said that Besso would not lend, perhaps give,
+them to the great Sheikh he loves? But, you see, my father of fathers,
+piastres and this Frank stranger are not of the same leaven. Name them
+not together, I pray you; mix not their waters. It concerns the honour,
+and welfare, and safety, and glory of Besso that you should cover this
+youth with a robe of power, and place him upon your best dromedary, and
+send him back to El Khuds.' The great Sheikh groaned.
+
+'Have I opened a gate that I am unable to close?' he at length said.
+'What is begun shall be finished. Have the children of Rechab been
+brought from the sweet wells of Costal to this wilderness ever accursed
+to fill their purses with stones? Will they not return and say that my
+beard is too white? Yet do I wish that this day was finished. Name then
+at once, my daughter, the piastres that you will give; for the prince,
+the brother of queens, may to-morrow be dust.' 'How so?' eagerly
+inquired Eva. 'He is a Mejnoun,' replied Amalek. 'After the man named
+Baroni departed for El Khuds, the Prince of Franguestan would not
+rest until he visited Gibel Mousa, and I said "Yes" to all his wishes.
+Whether it were his wound inflamed by his journey, or grief at his
+captivity, for these Franks are the slaves of useless sorrow, he
+returned as wild as Kais, and now lies in his tent, fancying he is still
+on Mount Sinai. 'Tis the fifth day of the fever, and Shedad, the son of
+Amroo, tells me that the sixth will be fatal unless we can give him the
+gall of a phoenix, and such a bird is not to be found in this part of
+Arabia.
+
+Now, you are a great hakeem, my child of children; go then to the young
+prince, and see what can be done: for if he die, we can scarcely ransom
+him, and I shall lose the piastres, and your father the backsheesh which
+I meant to have given him on the transaction.'
+
+'This is very woful,' murmured Eva to herself, and not listening to the
+latter observations of her grandfather.
+
+At this moment the curtain of the pavilion was withdrawn, and there
+stood before them Fakredeen. The moment his eyes met those of Eva, he
+covered his face with both his hands.
+
+'How is the Prince of Franguestan?' inquired Amalek.
+
+The young Emir advanced, and threw himself at the feet of Eva. 'We
+must entreat the Rose of Sharon to visit him,' he said, 'for there is
+no hakeem in Arabia equal to her. Yes, I came to welcome you, and to
+entreat you to do this kind office for the most gifted and the most
+interesting of beings;' and he looked up in her face with a supplicating
+glance.
+
+'And you too, are you fearful,' said Eva, in atone of tender reproach,
+'that by his death you may lose your portion of the spoil?'
+
+The Emir gave a deprecating glance of anguish, and then, bending his
+head, pressed his lips to the Bedouin robes which she wore. ''Tis the
+most unfortunate of coincidences, but believe me, dearest of friends,
+'tis only a coincidence. I am here merely by accident; I was hunting, I
+was----'
+
+'You will make me doubt your intelligence as well as your good faith,'
+said Eva, 'if you persist in such assurances.'
+
+'Ah! if you but knew him,' exclaimed Fakredeen, 'you would believe me
+when I tell you that I am ready to sacrifice even my life for his. Far
+from sharing the spoil,' he added, in a rapid and earnest whisper, 'I
+had already proposed, and could have insured, his escape; when he
+went to Sinai, to that unfortunate Sinai. I had two dromedaries here,
+thoroughbred; we might have reached Hebron before----'
+
+'You went with him to Sinai?'
+
+'He would not suffer it; he desired, he said, to be silent and to be
+alone. One of the Bedouins, who accompanied him, told me that they
+halted in the valley, and that he went up alone into the mountain, where
+he remained a day and night. When he returned hither, I perceived a
+great change in him. His words were quick, his eye glittered like fire;
+he told me that he had seen an angel, and in the morning he was as he
+is now. I have wept, I have prayed for him in the prayers of every
+religion, I have bathed his temples with liban, and hung his tent with
+charms. O Rose of Sharon! Eva, beloved, darling Eva, I have faith in no
+one but in you. See him, I beseech you, see him! If you but knew him,
+if you had but listened to his voice, and felt the greatness of his
+thoughts and spirit, it would not need that I should make this entreaty.
+But, alas! you know him not; you have never listened to him; you have
+never seen him; or neither he, nor I, nor any of us, would have been
+here, and have been thus.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+     _The New Crusader in Peril_
+
+NOTWITHSTANDING all the prescient care of the Duke and Duchess of
+Bellamont, it was destined that the stout arm of Colonel Brace should
+not wave by the side of their son when he was first attacked by the
+enemy, and now that he was afflicted by a most severe if not fatal
+illness, the practised skill of the Doctor Roby was also absent. Fresh
+exemplification of what all of us so frequently experience, that the
+most sagacious and matured arrangements are of little avail; that no
+one is present when he is wanted, and that nothing occurs as it was
+foreseen. Nor should we forget that the principal cause of all these
+mischances might perhaps be recognised in the inefficiency of the third
+person whom the parents of Tancred had, with so much solicitude and at
+so great an expense, secured to him as a companion and counsellor in his
+travels. It cannot be denied that if the theological attainments of
+the Rev. Mr. Bernard had been of a more profound and comprehensive
+character, it is possible that Lord Montacute might have deemed it
+necessary to embark upon this new crusade, and ultimately to find
+himself in the deserts of Mount Sinai. However this may be, one thing
+was certain, that Tancred had been wounded without a single sabre of
+the Bellamont yeomanry being brandished in his defence; was now lying
+dangerously ill in an Arabian tent, without the slightest medical
+assistance; and perhaps was destined to quit this world, not only
+without the consolation of a priest of his holy Church, but surrounded
+by heretics and infidels.
+
+'We have never let any of the savages come near my lord,' said Freeman
+to Baroni, on his, return.
+
+'Except the fair young gentleman,' added True-man, 'and he is a
+Christian, or as good.'
+
+'He is a prince,' said Freeman, reproachfully. 'Have I not told you so
+twenty times? He is what they call in this country a Hameer, and lives
+in a castle, where he wanted my lord to visit him. I only wish he had
+gone with my lord to Mount Siny; I think it would have come to more
+good.'
+
+'He has been very attentive to my lord all the time,' said Trueman;
+'indeed, he has never quitted my lord night or day; and only left his
+side when we heard the caravan had returned.'
+
+'I have seen him,' said Baroni; 'and now let us enter the tent.'
+
+Upon the divan, his head supported by many cushions, clad in a Syrian
+robe of the young Emir, and partly covered with a Bedouin cloak,
+lay Tancred, deadly pale, his eyes open and fixed, and apparently
+unconscious of their presence. He was lying on his back, gazing on the
+roof of the tent, and was motionless. Fakredeen had raised his wounded
+arm, which had fallen from the couch, and had supported it with a pile
+made of cloaks and pillows. The countenance of Tancred was much changed
+since Baroni last beheld him; it was greatly attenuated, but the eyes
+glittered with an unearthly fire.
+
+'We don't think he has ever slept,' said Freeman, in a whisper.
+
+'He did nothing but talk to himself the first two days,' said Trueman;
+'but yesterday he has been more quiet.'
+
+Baroni advanced to the divan behind the head of Tancred, so that he
+might not be observed, and then, letting himself fall noiselessly on the
+carpet, he touched with a light finger the pulse of Lord Montacute.
+
+'There is not too much blood here,' he said, shaking his head.
+
+'You don't think it is hopeless?' said Freeman, beginning to blubber.
+
+'And all the great doings of my lord's coming of age to end in this!'
+said Trueman. 'They sat down only two less than a hundred at the
+steward's table for more than a week!'
+
+Baroni made a sign to them to leave the tent. 'God of my fathers!' he
+said, still seated on the ground, his arms folded, and watching Tancred
+earnestly with his bright black eyes; 'this is a bad business. This is
+death or madness, perhaps both. What will M. de Sidonia say? He loves
+not men who fail. All will be visited on me. I shall be shelved. In
+Europe they would bleed him, and they would kill him; here they will not
+bleed him, and he may die. Such is medicine, and such is life! Now, if I
+only had as much opium as would fill the pipe of a mandarin, that would
+be something. God of my fathers! this is a bad business.'
+
+He rose softly; he approached nearer to Tancred, and examined his
+countenance more closely; there was a slight foam upon the lip, which he
+gently wiped away.
+
+'The brain has worked too much,' said Baroni to himself. 'Often have I
+watched him pacing the deck during our voyage; never have I witnessed
+an abstraction so prolonged and so profound. He thinks as much as M.
+de Sidonia, and feels more. There is his weakness. The strength of my
+master is his superiority to all sentiment. No affections and a great
+brain; these are the men to command the world. No affections and a
+little brain; such is the stuff of which they make petty villains. And a
+great brain and a great heart, what do they make? Ah! I do not know.
+The last, perhaps, wears off with time; and yet I wish I could save this
+youth, for he ever attracts me to him.'
+
+Thus he remained for some time seated on the carpet by the side of the
+divan, revolving in his mind every possible expedient that might benefit
+Tancred, and finally being convinced that none was in his power. What
+roused him from his watchful reverie was a voice that called his name
+very softly, and, looking round, he beheld the Emir Fakredeen on tiptoe,
+with his finger on his mouth. Baroni rose, and Fakredeen inviting him
+with a gesture to leave the tent, he found without the lady of the
+caravan.
+
+'I want the Rose of Sharon to see your lord,' said the young Emir, very
+anxiously, 'for she is a great hakeem among our people.'
+
+'Perhaps in the desert, where there is none to be useful, I might not be
+useless,' said Eva, with some reluctance and reserve.
+
+'Hope has only one arrow left,' said Baroni, mournfully.
+
+'Is it indeed so bad?'
+
+'Oh! save him, Eva, save him!' exclaimed Fakredeen, distractedly.
+
+She placed her finger on her lip.
+
+'Or I shall die,' continued Fakredeen; 'nor indeed have I any wish to
+live, if he depart from us.'
+
+Eva conversed apart for a few minutes with Baroni, in a low voice, and
+then drawing aside the curtain of the tent, they entered.
+
+There was no change in the appearance of Tancred, but as they approached
+him he spoke. Baroni dropped into his former position, Fakredeen fell
+upon his knees, Eva alone was visible when the eyes of Tancred met hers.
+His vision was not unconscious of her presence; he stared at her with
+intentness. The change in her dress, however, would, in all probability,
+have prevented his recognising her even under indifferent circumstances.
+She was habited as a Bedouin girl; a leathern girdle encircled her
+blue robe, a few gold coins were braided in her hair, and her head was
+covered with a fringed kefia.
+
+Whatever was the impression made upon Tancred by this unusual
+apparition, it appeared to be only transient. His glance withdrawn, his
+voice again broke into incoherent but violent exclamations. Suddenly he
+said, with more moderation, but with firmness and distinctness, 'I am
+guarded by angels.'
+
+Fakredeen shot a glance at Eva and Baroni, as if to remind them of the
+tenor of the discourse for which he had prepared them.
+
+After a pause he became somewhat violent, and seemed as if he would have
+waved his wounded arm; but Baroni, whose eye, though himself unobserved,
+never quitted his charge, laid his finger upon the arm, and Tancred did
+not struggle. Again he spoke of angels, but in a milder and mournful
+tone.
+
+'Methinks you look like one,' thought Eva, as she beheld his spiritual
+countenance lit up by a superhuman fire.
+
+After a few minutes, she glanced at Baroni, to signify her wish to leave
+the tent, and he rose and accompanied her. Fakredeen also rose, with
+streaming eyes, and making the sign of the cross.
+
+'Forgive me,' he said to Eva, 'but I cannot help it. Whenever I am in
+affliction I cannot help remembering that I am a Christian.'
+
+'I wish you would remember it at all times,' said Eva, 'and then,
+perhaps, none of us need have been here;' and then not waiting for his
+reply, she addressed herself to Baroni. 'I agree with you,' she said.
+'If we cannot give him sleep, he will soon sleep for ever.'
+
+'Oh, give him sleep, Eva,' said Fakredeen, wringing his hands; 'you can
+do anything.'
+
+'I suppose,' said Baroni, 'it is hopeless to think of finding any opium
+here.'
+
+'Utterly,' said Eva; 'its practice is quite unknown among them.'
+
+'Send for some from El Khuds,' said Fakredeen. 'Idle!' said Baroni;
+'this is an affair of hours, not of days.'
+
+'Oh, but I will go,' exclaimed Fakredeen; 'you do not know what I can do
+on one of my dromedaries! I will----'
+
+Eva placed her hand on his arm without looking at him, and then
+continued to address Baroni.
+
+'Through the pass I several times observed a small white and yellow
+flower in patches. I lost it as we advanced, and yet I should think
+it must have followed the stream. If it be, as I think, but I did not
+observe it with much attention, the flower of the mountain arnica, I
+know a preparation from that shrub which has a marvellous action on the
+nervous system.'
+
+'I am sure it is the mountain arnica, and I am sure it will cure him,'
+said Fakredeen.
+
+'Time presses,' said Eva to Baroni. 'Call my I maidens to our aid; and
+first of all let us examine the borders of the stream.'
+
+While his friends departed to exert themselves, Fakredeen remained
+behind, and passed his time partly in watching Tancred, partly in
+weeping, and partly in calculating the amount of his debts. This
+latter was a frequent, and to him inexhaustible, source of interest and
+excitement. His creative brain was soon lost in reverie. He conjured up
+Tancred restored to health, a devoted friendship between them, immense
+plans, not inferior achievements, and inexhaustible resources. Then,
+when he remembered that he was himself the cause of the peril of that
+precious life on which all his future happiness and success were to
+depend, he cursed himself. Involved as were the circumstances in which
+he habitually found himself entangled, the present complication was
+certainly not inferior to any of the perplexities which he had hitherto
+experienced.
+
+He was to become the bosom friend of a being whom he had successfully
+plotted to make a prisoner and plunder, and whose life was consequently
+endangered; he had to prevail on Amalek to relinquish the ransom which
+had induced the great Sheikh to quit his Syrian pastures, and had cost
+the lives of some of his most valuable followers; while, on the other
+hand, the new moon was rapidly approaching, when the young Emir had
+appointed to meet Scheriff Effendi at Gaza, to receive the arms and
+munitions which were to raise him to empire, and for which he had
+purposed to pay by a portion of his share in the great plunder which
+he had himself projected. His baffled brain whirled with wild and
+impracticable combinations, till, at length, frightened and exhausted,
+he called for his nargileh, and sought, as was his custom, serenity
+from its magic tube. In this wise more than three hours had elapsed,
+the young Emir was himself again, and was calculating the average of the
+various rates of interest in every town in Syria, from Gaza to Aleppo,
+when Baroni returned, bearing in his hand an Egyptian vase.
+
+'You have found the magic flowers?' asked Fakredeen, eagerly.
+
+'The flowers of arnica, noble Emir, of which the Lady Eva spoke. I wish
+the potion had been made in the new moon; however, it has been blessed.
+Two things alone now are wanting, that my lord should drink it, and that
+it should cure him.'
+
+It was not yet noon when Tancred quaffed the potion. He took it without
+difficulty, though apparently unconscious of the act. As the sun reached
+its meridian height, Tancred sank into a profound slumber. Fakredeen
+rushed away to tell Eva, who had now retired into the innermost
+apartments of the pavilion of Amalek; Baroni never quitted the tent of
+his lord. The sun set; the same beautiful rosy tint suffused the tombs
+and temples of the city as on the evening of their first forced arrival:
+still Tancred slept. The camels returned from the river, the lights
+began to sparkle in the circle of black tents: still Tancred slept. He
+slept during the day, and he slept during the twilight, and, when the
+night came, still Tancred slept. The silver lamp, fed by the oil of the
+palm tree, threw its delicate white light over the couch on which he
+rested. Mute, but ever vigilant, Fakredeen and Baroni gazed on their
+friend and master: still Tancred slept.
+
+It seemed a night that would never end, and, when the first beam of the
+morning came, the Emir and his companion mutually recognised on their
+respective countenances an expression of distrust, even of terror. Still
+Tancred slept; in the same posture and with the same expression, unmoved
+and pale. Was it, indeed, sleep? Baroni touched his wrist, but could
+find no pulse; Fakredeen held his bright dagger over the mouth, yet its
+brilliancy was not for a moment clouded. But he was not cold.
+
+The brow of Baroni was knit with deep thought, and his searching eye
+fixed upon the recumbent form; Fakredeen, frightened, ran away to Eva.
+
+'I am frightened, because you are frightened,' said Fakredeen, 'whom
+nothing ever alarms. O Rose of Sharon! why are you so pale?'
+
+'It is a stain upon our tents if this youth be lost,' said Eva in a low
+voice, yet attempting to speak with calmness.
+
+'But what is it on me!' exclaimed Fakredeen, distractedly. 'A stain! I
+shall be branded like Cain. No, I will never enter Damascus again, or
+any of the cities of the coast. I will give up all my castles to my
+cousin Francis El Kazin, on condition that he does not pay my creditors.
+I will retire to Mar Hanna. I will look upon man no more.'
+
+'Be calm, my Fakredeen; there is yet hope; my responsibility at this
+moment is surely not lighter than yours.'
+
+'Ah! you did not know him, Eva!' exclaimed Fakredeen, passionately; 'you
+never listened to him! He cannot be to you what he is to me. I loved
+him!'
+
+She pressed her finger to her lips, for they had arrived at the tent of
+Tancred. The young Emir, drying his streaming eyes, entered first, and
+then came back and ushered in Eva. They stood together by the couch of
+Tancred. The expression of distress, of suffering, of extreme tension,
+which had not marred, but which, at least, had mingled with the
+spiritual character of his countenance the previous day, had
+disappeared. If it were death, it was at least beautiful. Softness and
+repose suffused his features, and his brow looked as if it had been the
+temple of an immortal spirit.
+
+Eva gazed upon the form with a fond, deep melancholy; Fakredeen and
+Baroni exchanged glances. Suddenly Tancred moved, heaved a deep sigh,
+and opened his dark eyes. The unnatural fire which had yesterday lit
+them up had fled. Calmly and thoughtfully he surveyed those around him,
+and then he said, 'The Lady of Bethany!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+     _The Angel's Message_
+
+BETWEEN the Egyptian and the Arabian deserts, formed by two gulfs of the
+Erythraean Sea, is a peninsula of granite mountains. It seems as if an
+ocean of lava, when its waves were literally running mountains high, had
+been suddenly commanded to stand still. These successive summits, with
+their peaks and pinnacles, enclose a series of valleys, in general stern
+and savage, yet some of which are not devoid of pastoral beauty. There
+may be found brooks of silver brightness, and occasionally groves of
+palms and gardens of dates, while the neighbouring heights command
+sublime landscapes, the opposing mountains of Asia and Afric, and the
+blue bosom of two seas. On one of these elevations, more than five
+thousand feet above the ocean, is a convent; again, nearly three
+thousand feet above this convent, is a towering peak, and this is Mount
+Sinai.
+
+On the top of Mount Sinai are two ruins, a Christian church and a
+Mahometan mosque. In this, the sublimest scene of Arabian glory, Israel
+and Ishmael alike raised their altars to the great God of Abraham.
+
+Why are they in ruins? Is it that human structures are not to be endured
+amid the awful temples of nature and revelation; and that the column and
+the cupola crumble into nothingness in sight of the hallowed Horeb and
+on the soil of the eternal Sinai?
+
+Ascending the mountain, about half way between the convent and the
+utmost height of the towering peak, is a small plain surrounded by
+rocks. In its centre are a cypress tree and a fountain. This is the
+traditional scene of the greatest event of time.
+
+Tis night; a solitary pilgrim, long kneeling on the sacred soil, slowly
+raises his agitated glance to the starry vault of Araby, and, clasping
+his hands in the anguish of devotion, thus prays:--
+
+'O Lord God of Israel, Creator of the Universe, ineffable Jehovah! a
+child of Christendom, I come to thine ancient Arabian altars to pour
+forth the heart of tortured Europe. Why art thou silent? Why no longer
+do the messages of thy renovating will descend on earth? Faith fades and
+duty dies. A profound melancholy has fallen on the spirit of man. The
+priest doubts, the monarch cannot rule, the multitude moans and toils,
+and calls in its frenzy upon unknown gods. If this transfigured mount
+may not again behold Thee; if not again, upon thy sacred Syrian plains,
+Divinity may teach and solace men; if prophets may not rise again to
+herald hope; at least, of all the starry messengers that guard thy
+throne, let one appear, to save thy creatures from a terrible despair!'
+
+[Illustration: page2-157]
+
+A dimness suffused the stars of Arabia; the surrounding heights, that
+had risen sharp and black in the clear purple air, blended in shadowy
+and fleeting masses, the huge branches of the cypress tree seemed to
+stir, and the kneeling pilgrim sank upon the earth senseless and in a
+trance.
+
+And there appeared to him a form; a shape that should be human, but vast
+as the surrounding hills. Yet such was the symmetry of the vision that
+the visionary felt his littleness rather than the colossal proportions
+of the apparition. It was the semblance of one who, though not young,
+was still untouched by time; a countenance like an oriental night, dark
+yet lustrous, mystical yet clear. Thought, rather than melancholy,
+spoke from the pensive passion of his eyes, while on his lofty forehead
+glittered a star that threw a solemn radiance on the repose of his
+majestic features.
+
+'Child of Christendom,' said the mighty form, as he seemed slowly to
+wave a sceptre fashioned like a palm tree, 'I am the angel of Arabia,
+the guardian spirit of that land which governs the world; for power is
+neither the sword nor the shield, for these pass away, but ideas, which
+are divine. The thoughts of all lands come from a higher source than
+man, but the intellect of Arabia comes from the Most High. Therefore
+it is that from this spot issue the principles which regulate the human
+destiny.
+
+'That Christendom which thou hast quitted, and over whose expiring
+attributes thou art a mourner, was a savage forest while the cedars of
+Lebanon, for countless ages, had built the palaces of mighty kings.
+Yet in that forest brooded infinite races that were to spread over the
+globe, and give a new impulse to its ancient life. It was decreed that,
+when they burst from their wild woods, the Arabian principles should
+meet them on the threshold of the old world to guide and to civilise
+them. All had been prepared. The Caesars had conquered the world to place
+the Laws of Sinai on the throne of the Capitol, and a Galilean Arab
+advanced and traced on the front of the rude conquerors of the Caesars
+the subduing symbol of the last development of Arabian principles.
+
+'Yet again, and Europe is in the throes of a great birth. The multitudes
+again are brooding; but they are not now in the forest; they are in the
+cities and in the fertile plains. Since the first sun of this century
+rose, the intellectual colony of Arabia, once called Christendom,
+has been in a state of partial and blind revolt. Discontented, they
+attributed their suffering to the principles to which they owed
+all their happiness, and in receding from which they had become
+proportionately miserable. They have hankered after other gods than the
+God of Sinai and of Calvary, and they have achieved only desolation.
+Now they despair. But the eternal principles that controlled barbarian
+vigour can alone cope with morbid civilisation. The equality of man
+can only be accomplished by the sovereignty of God. The longing for
+fraternity can never be satisfied but under the sway of a common father.
+The relations between Jehovah and his creatures can be neither too
+numerous nor too near. In the increased distance between God and man
+have grown up all those developments that have made life mournful.
+Cease, then, to seek in a vain philosophy the solution of the social
+problem that perplexes you. Announce the sublime and solacing doctrine
+of theocratic equality. Fear not, faint not, falter not. Obey the
+impulse of thine own spirit, and find a ready instrument in every human
+being.'
+
+A sound, as of thunder, roused Tancred from his trance. He looked around
+and above. There rose the mountains sharp and black in the clear purple
+air; there shone, with undimmed lustre, the Arabian stars; but the voice
+of the angel still lingered in his ear. He descended the mountain: at
+its base, near the convent, were his slumbering guards, some steeds, and
+crouching camels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+     _Fakredeen is Curious_
+
+THE beautiful daughter of Besso, pensive and abstracted, played with her
+beads in the pavilion of her grandfather. Two of her maidens, who had
+attended her, in a corner of this inner compartment, accompanied the
+wild murmur of their voices on a stringed instrument, which might in the
+old days have been a psaltery. They sang the loves of Antar and of Ibla,
+of Leila and of Mejnoun; the romance of the desert, tales of passion and
+of plunder, of the rescue of women and the capture of camels, of heroes
+with a lion heart, and heroines brighter and softer than the moon.
+
+The beautiful daughter of Besso, pensive and abstracted, played with her
+beads in the pavilion of her grandfather. Why is the beautiful daughter
+of Besso pensive and abstracted? What thoughts are flitting over her
+mind, silent and soft, like the shadows of birds over the sunshiny
+earth?
+
+Something that was neither silent nor soft disturbed the lady from
+her reverie; the voice of the great Sheikh, in a tone of altitude and
+harshness, with him most usual. He was in an adjacent apartment, vowing
+that he would sooner eat the mother of some third person, who was
+attempting to influence him, than adopt the suggestion offered. Then
+there were softer and more persuasive tones from his companion, but
+evidently ineffectual. Then the voices of both rose together in emulous
+clamour--one roaring like a bull, the other shrieking like some wild
+bird; one full of menace, and the other taunting and impertinent. All
+this was followed by a dead silence, which continuing, Eva assumed that
+the Sheikh and his companion had quitted his tent. While her mind was
+recurring to those thoughts which occupied them previously to this
+outbreak, the voice of Fakredeen was heard outside her tent, saying,
+'Rose of Sharon, let me come into the harem;' and, scarcely waiting for
+permission, the young Emir, flushed and excited, entered, and almost
+breathless threw himself on the divan.
+
+'Who says I am a coward?' he exclaimed, with a glance of devilish
+mockery. 'I may run away sometimes, but what of that? I have got moral
+courage, the only thing worth having since the invention of gunpowder.
+The beast is not killed, but I have looked into the den; 'tis something.
+Courage, my fragrant Rose, have faith in me at last. I may make an
+imbroglio sometimes, but, for getting out of a scrape, I would back
+myself against any picaroon in the Levant; and that is saying a good
+deal.'
+
+'Another imbroglio?'
+
+'Oh, no! the same; part of the great blunder. You must have heard us
+raging like a thousand Afrites. I never knew the great Sheikh so wild.'
+
+'And why?'
+
+'He should take a lesson from Mehemet Ali,' continued the Emir. 'Giving
+up Syria, after the conquest, was a much greater sacrifice than giving
+up plunder which he has not yet touched. And the great Pasha did it as
+quietly as if he were marching into Stamboul instead, which he might
+have done if he had been an Arab instead of a Turk. Everything comes
+from Arabia, my dear Eva, at least everything that is worth anything. We
+two ought to thank our stars every day that we were born Arabs.'
+
+'And the great Sheikh still harps upon this ransom?' inquired Eva.
+
+'He does, and most unreasonably. For, after all, what do we ask him to
+give up? a bagatelle.'
+
+'Hardly that,' said Eva; 'two millions of piastres can scarcely be
+called a bagatelle.'
+
+'It is not two millions of piastres,' said Fakre-deen; 'there is your
+fallacy, 'tis the same as your grandfather's. In the first place, he
+would have taken one million; then half belonged to me, which reduces
+his share to five hundred thousand; then I meant to have borrowed his
+share of him.'
+
+'Borrowed his share!' said Eva.
+
+'Of course I should have allowed him interest, good interest. What could
+the great Sheikh want five hundred thousand piastres for? He has camels
+enough; he has so many horses that he wants to change some with me for
+arms at this moment. Is he to dig a hole in the sand by a well-side
+to put his treasure in, like the treasure of Solomon; or to sew up
+his bills of exchange in his turban? The thing is ridiculous, I never
+contemplated, for a moment, that the great Sheikh should take any hard
+piastres out of circulation, to lock them up in the wilderness. It might
+disturb the currency of all Syria, upset the exchanges, and very much
+injure your family, Eva, of whose interests I am never unmindful. I
+meant the great Sheikh to invest his capital; he might have made a good
+thing of it. I could have afforded to pay him thirty per cent, for his
+share, and made as much by the transaction myself; for you see, as I am
+paying sixty per cent, at Beiroot, Tripoli, Latakia, and every accursed
+town of the coast at this moment. The thing is clear; and I wish you
+would only get your father to view it in the same light, and we might do
+immense things! Think of this, my Rose of Sharon, dear, dear Eva, think
+of this; your father might make his fortune and mine too, if he would
+only lend me money at thirty per cent.'
+
+'You frighten me always, Fakredeen, by these allusions to your affairs.
+Can it be possible that they are so very bad!'
+
+'Good, Eva, you mean good. I should be incapable of anything, if it were
+not for my debts. I am naturally so indolent, that if I did not remember
+in the morning that I was ruined, I should never be able to distinguish
+myself.'
+
+'You never will distinguish yourself,' said Eva; 'you never can, with
+these dreadful embarrassments.'
+
+'Shall I not?' said Fakredeen, triumphantly. 'What are my debts to my
+resources? That is the point. You cannot judge of a man by only knowing
+what his debts are; you must be acquainted with his resources.'
+
+'But your estates are mortgaged, your crops sold, at least you tell me
+so,' said Eva, mournfully.
+
+'Estates! crops! A man may have an idea worth twenty estates, a
+principle of action that will bring him in a greater harvest than all
+Lebanon.'
+
+'A principle of action is indeed precious,' said Eva; 'but although you
+certainly have ideas, and very ingenious ones, a principle of action is
+exactly the thing which I have always thought you wanted.'
+
+'Well, I have got it at last,' said Fakredeen; 'everything comes if a
+man will only wait.'
+
+'And what is your principle of action?'
+
+'Faith.'
+
+'In yourself? Surely in that respect you have not hitherto been
+sceptical?'
+
+'No; in Mount Sinai.'
+
+'In Mount Sinai!'
+
+'You may well be astonished; but so it is. The English prince has been
+to Mount Sinai, and he has seen an angel. What passed between them I
+do not yet know; but one thing is certain, he is quite changed by the
+interview. He is all for action: so far as I can form an opinion in the
+present crude state of affairs, it is not at all impossible that he may
+put himself at the head of the Asian movement. If you have faith, there
+is nothing you may not do. One thing is quite settled, that he will
+not at present return to Jerusalem, but, for change of air and other
+reasons, make a visit with me to Canobia.'
+
+'He seems to have great purpose in him,' said Eva, with an air of some
+constraint.
+
+'By-the-bye,' said Fakredeen, 'how came you, Eva, never to tell me that
+you were acquainted with him?'
+
+'Acquainted with him?' said Eva.
+
+'Yes; he recognised you immediately when he recovered himself, and he
+has admitted to me since that he has seen you before, though I could not
+get much out of him about it. He will talk for ever about Arabia, faith,
+war, and angels; but, if you touch on anything personal, I observe he
+is always very shy. He has not my fatal frankness. Did you know him at
+Jerusalem?'
+
+'I met him by hazard for a moment at Bethany. I neither asked then,
+nor did he impart to me, his name. How then could I tell you we were
+acquainted? or be aware that the stranger of my casual interview was
+this young Englishman whom you have made a captive?'
+
+'Hush!' said Fakredeen, with an air of real or affected alarm. 'He
+is going to be my guest at my principal castle. What do you mean by
+captive? You mean whom I have saved from captivity, or am about to save?
+
+'Well, that would appear to be the real question to which you ought
+to address yourself at this moment,' said Eva. 'Were I you, I should
+postpone the great Asian movement until you had disembarrassed yourself
+from your present position, rather an equivocal one both for a patriot
+and a friend.'
+
+'Oh! I'll manage the great Sheikh,' said Fakredeen, carelessly. 'There
+is too much plunder in the future for Amalek to quarrel with me. When
+he scents the possibility of the Bedouin cavalry being poured into Syria
+and Asia Minor, we shall find him more manageable. The only thing now
+is to heal the present disappointment by extenuating circumstances. If
+I could screw up a few thousand piastres for backsheesh,' and he looked
+Eva in the face, 'or could put anything in his way! What do you think,
+Eva?'
+
+Eva shook her head.
+
+'What an obstinate Jew dog he is!' said Fakre-deen. 'His rapacity is
+revolting!'
+
+'An obstinate Jew dog!' exclaimed Eva, rising, her eyes flashing, her
+nostrils dilating with contemptuous rage. The manner of Fakredeen had
+not pleased her this morning. His temper, was very uncertain, and, when
+crossed, he was deficient in delicacy. Indeed, he was too selfish,
+with all his sensibility and refined breeding, to be ever sufficiently
+considerate of the feelings of others. He was piqued also that he had
+not been informed of the previous acquaintance of Eva and Tancred. Her
+reason for not apprising him of their interview at Bethany, though not
+easily impugnable, was not as satisfactory to his understanding as to
+his ear. Again, his mind and heart were so absorbed at this moment by
+the image of Tancred, and he was so entirely under the influence of his
+own idealised conceptions of his new and latest friend, that, according
+to his custom, no other being could interest him. Although he was
+himself the sole cause of all the difficult and annoying circumstances
+in which he found himself involved, the moment that his passions and his
+interests alike required that Tancred should be free and uninjured,
+he acted, and indeed felt, as if Amalek alone were responsible for the
+capture and the detention of Lord Montacute.
+
+The young Emir indeed was, at this moment, in one of those moods which
+had often marred his popularity, but in which he had never indulged
+towards Eva before. She had, throughout his life, been the commanding
+influence of his being. He adored and feared her, and knew that she
+loved, and rather despised him. But Eva had ceased to be the commanding
+influence over Fakredeen. At this moment Fakredeen would have sacrificed
+the whole family of Besso to secure the devotion of Tancred; and the
+coarse and rude exclamation to which he had given vent, indicated the
+current of his feelings and the general tenor of his mind.
+
+Eva knew him by heart. Her clear sagacious intellect, acting upon an
+individual whom sympathy and circumstances had combined to make her
+comprehend, analysed with marvellous facility his complicated motives,
+and in general successfully penetrated his sovereign design.
+
+'An obstinate Jew dog!' she exclaimed; 'and who art thou, thou jackal of
+this lion! who should dare to speak thus? Is it not enough that you have
+involved us all in unspeakable difficulty and possible disgrace, that we
+are to receive words of contumely from lips like yours? One would think
+that you were the English Consul arrived here to make a representation
+in favour of his countryman, instead of being the individual who planned
+his plunder, occasioned his captivity, and endangered his life! It is
+a pity that this young noble is not acquainted with your claims to his
+confidence.'
+
+The possibility that in a moment of irritation Eva might reveal his
+secret, some rising remorse at what he had said, and the superstitious
+reverence with which he still clung to her, all acting upon Fakredeen at
+the same time, he felt that he had gone too far, and thereupon he sprang
+from the divan, on which he had been insolently lolling, and threw
+himself at the feet of his foster-sister, whimpering and kissing her
+slippers, and calling her, between his sobs, a thousand fond names.
+
+'I am a villain,' he said, 'but you know it; you have always known it.
+For God's sake, stand by me now; 'tis my only chance. You are the only
+being I love in the world, except your family. You know how I respect
+them. Is not Besso my father? And the great Sheikh, I honour the great
+Sheikh. He is one of my allies. Even this accursed business proves it.
+Besides, what do you mean, by words of contumely from my lips? Am I not
+a Jew myself, or as good? Why should I insult them? I only wish we were
+in the Land' of Promise, instead of this infernal wilderness.'
+
+'Well, well, let us consult together,' said Eva, 'reproaches are
+barren.'
+
+'Ah! Eva,' said Fakredeen, 'I am not reproaching you; but if, the
+evening I was at Bethany, you had only told me that you had just parted
+with this Englishman, all this would not have occurred.'
+
+'How do you know that I had then just parted with this Englishman?' said
+Eva, colouring and confused.
+
+'Because I marked him on the road. I little thought then that he had
+been in your retreat. I took him for some Frank, looking after the tomb
+of Lazarus.'
+
+'I found him in my garden,' said Eva, not entirely at her ease, 'and
+sent my attendants to him.'
+
+Fakredeen was walking up and down the tent, and seemed lost in thought.
+Suddenly he stopped and said, 'I see it all; I have a combination that
+will put all right.'
+
+'Put all right?'
+
+'See, the day after to-morrow I have appointed to meet a friend of mine
+at Gaza, who has a caravan that wants convoy through the desert to the
+mountain. The Sheikh of Sheikhs shall have it. It will be as good as ten
+thousand piastres. That will be honey in his mouth. He will forget the
+past, and our English friend can return with you and me to El Khuds.'
+
+'I shall not return to El Khuds,' said Eva. 'The great Sheikh will
+convoy me to Damascus, where I shall remain till I go to Aleppo.'
+
+'May you never reach Aleppo!' said Fakredeen, with a clouded
+countenance, for Eva in fact alluded to her approaching marriage with
+her cousin.
+
+'But after all,' resumed Eva, wishing to change the current of his
+thoughts, 'all these arrangements, so far as I am interested, depend
+upon the success of my mission to the great Sheikh. If he will not
+release my father's charge, the spears of his people will never guard
+me again. And I see little prospect of my success; nor do I think ten
+thousand piastres, however honestly gained, will be more tempting than
+the inclination to oblige our house.'
+
+'Ten thousand piastres is not much,' said Fakredeen. 'I give it every
+three months for interest to a little Copt at Beiroot, whose property
+I will confiscate the moment I have the government of the country in my
+hands. But then I only add my ten thousand piastres to the amount of my
+debt. Ten thousand piastres in coin are a very different affair. They
+will jingle in the great Sheikh's purse. His people will think he has
+got the treasure of Solomon. It will do; he will give them all a gold
+kaireen apiece, and they will braid them in their girls' hair.'
+
+'It will scarcely buy camels for Sheikh Salem's widow,' said Eva.
+
+'I will manage that,' said Fakredeen. 'The great Sheikh has camels
+enough, and I will give him arms in exchange.'
+
+'Arms at Canobia will not reach the stony wilderness.'
+
+'No; but I have got arms nearer at hand; that is, my friend, my friend
+whom I am going to meet at Gaza, has some; enough, and to spare. By the
+Holy Sepulchre, I see it!' said Fakredeen. 'I tell you how I will manage
+the whole business. The great Sheikh wants arms; well, I will give
+him five hundred muskets for the ransom, and he shall have the convoy
+besides. He'll take it. I know him. He thinks now all is lost, and, when
+he finds that he is to have a jingling purse and English muskets enough
+to conquer Tadmor, he will close.'
+
+'But how are we to get these arms?' said Eva.
+
+'Why, Scheriff Effendi, to be sure. You know I am to meet him at Gaza
+the day after to-morrow, and receive his five thousand muskets. Well,
+five hundred for the great Sheikh will make them four thousand five
+hundred; no great difference.'
+
+'Scheriff Effendi!' said Eva, with some surprise. 'I thought I had
+obtained three months' indulgence for you with Scheriff Effendi.'
+
+'Ah! yes--no,' said Fakredeen, blushing. 'The fact is, Eva, darling,
+beloved Eva, it is no use telling any more lies. I only asked you to
+speak to Scheriff Effendi to obtain time for me about payment to throw
+you off the scent, as you so strongly disapproved of my buccaneering
+project. But Scheriff Effendi is a camel. I was obliged to agree to meet
+him at Gaza on the new moon, pay him his two hundred thousand piastres,
+and receive the cargo. Well, I turn circumstances to account. The great
+Sheikh will convey the muskets to the mountains.'
+
+'But who is to pay for them?' inquired Eva.
+
+'Why, if men want to head the Asian movement, they must have muskets,'
+said Fakredeen; 'and, after all, as we are going to save the English
+prince two millions of piastres, I do not think he can object to paying
+Scheriff Effendi for his goods; particularly as he will have the muskets
+for his money.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+     _Tancred's Recovery_
+
+TANCRED rapidly recovered. On the second day after his recognition of
+Eva, he had held that conversation with Fakredeen which had determined
+the young Emir not to lose a moment in making the effort to induce
+Amalek to forego his ransom, the result of which he had communicated to
+Eva on their subsequent interview. On the third day, Tancred rose
+from his couch, and would even have quitted the tent, had not Baroni
+dissuaded him. He was the more induced to do so, for on this day he
+missed his amusing companion, the Emir. It appeared from the account of
+Baroni, that his highness had departed at dawn, on his dromedary, and
+without an attendant. According to Baroni, nothing was yet settled
+either as to the ransom or the release of Tancred. It seemed that the
+great Sheikh had been impatient to return to his chief encampment, and
+nothing but the illness of Tancred would probably have induced him to
+remain in the Stony Arabia as long as he had done. The Lady Eva had
+not, since her arrival at the ruined city, encouraged Baroni in any
+communication on the subject which heretofore during their journey had
+entirely occupied her consideration, from which he inferred that she had
+nothing very satisfactory to relate; yet he was not without hope, as he
+felt assured that Eva would not have remained a day were she convinced
+that there was no chance of effecting her original purpose. The
+comparative contentment of the great Sheikh at this moment, her silence,
+and the sudden departure of Fakredeen, induced Baroni to believe
+that there was yet something on the cards, and, being of a sanguine
+disposition, he sincerely encouraged his master, who, however, did not
+appear to be very desponding.
+
+'The Emir told me yesterday that he was certain to arrange everything,'
+said Tancred, 'without in any way compromising us. We cannot expect such
+an adventure to end like a day of hunting. Some camels must be given,
+and, perhaps, something else. I am sure the Emir will manage it all,
+especially with the aid and counsel of that beauteous Lady of Bethany,
+in whose wisdom and goodness I have implicit faith.'
+
+'I have more faith in her than in the Emir,' said Baroni. 'I never know
+what these Shehaabs are after. Now, he has not gone to El Khuds this
+morning; of that I am sure.'
+
+'I am under the greatest obligations to the Emir Fakredeen,' said
+Tancred, 'and independently of such circumstances, I very much like
+him.'
+
+'I know nothing against the noble Emir,' said Baroni, 'and I am sure
+he has been extremely polite and attentive to your lordship; but still
+those Shehaabs, they are such a set, always after something!'
+
+'He is ardent and ambitious,' said Tancred, 'and he is young. Are these
+faults? Besides, he has not had the advantage of our stricter training.
+He has been without guides; and is somewhat undisciplined, and
+self-formed. But he has a great and interesting position, and is
+brilliant and energetic. Providence may have appointed him to fulfil
+great ends.'
+
+'A Shehaab will look after the main chance,' said Baroni.
+
+'But his main chance may be the salvation of his country,' said Tancred.
+
+'Nothing can save his country,' said Baroni. 'The Syrians were ever
+slaves.'
+
+'I do not call them slaves now,' said Tancred; 'why, they are armed and
+are warlike! All that they want is a cause.'
+
+'And that they never will have,' said Baroni.
+
+'Why?'
+
+'The East is used up.'
+
+'It is not more used up than when Mahomet arose,' said Tancred. 'Weak
+and withering as may be the government of the Turks, it is not more
+feeble and enervated than that of the Greek empire and the Chosroes.'
+
+'I don't know anything about them,' replied Baroni; 'but I know there is
+nothing to be done with the people here. I have seen something of them,'
+said Baroni. 'M. de Sidonia tried to do something in '39, and, if there
+had been a spark of spirit or of sense in Syria, that was the time,
+but----' and here Baroni shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'But what was your principle of action in '39?' inquired Tancred,
+evidently interested.
+
+'The only principle of action in this world,' said Baroni; 'we had
+plenty of money; we might have had three millions.'
+
+'And if you had had six, or sixteen, your efforts would have been
+equally fruitless. I do not believe in national regeneration in the
+shape of a foreign loan. Look at Greece! And yet a man might climb
+Mount Carmel, and utter three words which would bring the Arabs again to
+Grenada, and perhaps further.'
+
+'They have no artillery,' said Baroni.
+
+'And the Turks have artillery and cannot use it,' said Lord Montacute.
+'Why, the most favoured part of the globe at this moment is entirely
+defenceless; there is not a soldier worth firing at in Asia except the
+Sepoys. The Persian, Assyrian, and Babylonian monarchies might be gained
+in a morning with faith and the flourish of a sabre.'
+
+'You would have the Great Powers interfering,' said Baroni.
+
+'What should I care for the Great Powers, if the Lord of Hosts were on
+my side!'
+
+'Why, to be sure they could not do much at Bagdad or Ispahan.'
+
+'Work out a great religious truth on the Persian and Mesopotamian
+plains, the most exuberant soils in the world with the scantiest
+population,--it would revivify Asia. It must spread. The peninsula of
+Arabia, when in action, must always command the peninsula of the Lesser
+Asia. Asia revivified would act upon Europe. The European comfort, which
+they call civilisation, is, after all, confined to a very small space:
+the island of Great Britain, France, and the course of a single river,
+the Rhine. The greater part of Europe is as dead as Asia, without the
+consolation of climate and the influence of immortal traditions.'
+
+'I just found time, my lord, when I was at Jerusalem, to call in at the
+Consulate, and see the Colonel,' said Baroni; 'I thought it as well to
+explain the affair a little to him. I found that even the rumour of our
+mischance had not reached him; so I said enough to prevent any alarm
+when it arrived; he will believe that we furnished him with the priority
+of intelligence, and he expects your daily return.'
+
+'You did well to call; we know not what may happen. I doubt, however,
+whether I shall return to Jerusalem. If affairs are pleasantly arranged
+here, I think of visiting the Emir, at his castle of Canobia. A change
+of air must be the best thing for me, and Lebanon, by his account, is
+delicious at this season. Indeed, I want air, and I must go out now,
+Baroni; I cannot stay in this close tent any longer; the sun has set,
+and there is no longer any fear of those fatal heats of which you are in
+such dread for me.'
+
+It was the first night of the new moon, and the white beams of the
+young crescent were just beginning to steal over the lately flushed
+and empurpled scene. The air was still glowing, and the evening breeze,
+which sometimes wandered through the ravines from the gulf of Akabah,
+had not yet arrived. Tancred, shrouded in his Bedouin cloak, and
+accompanied by Baroni, visited the circle of black tents, which they
+found almost empty, the whole band, with the exception of the scouts,
+who are always on duty in an Arab encampment, being assembled in the
+ruins of the amphitheatre, in whose arena, opposite to the pavilion of
+the great Sheikh, a celebrated poet was reciting the visit of Antar to
+the temple of the fire-worshippers, and the adventures of that greatest
+of Arabian heroes among the effeminate and astonished courtiers of the
+generous and magnificent Nushirvan.
+
+The audience was not a scanty one, for this chosen detachment of the
+children of Rechab had been two hundred strong, and the great majority
+of them were now assembled; some seated as the ancient Idumaeans, on the
+still entire seats of the amphitheatre; most squatted in groups upon the
+ground, though at a respectful distance from the poet; others standing
+amid the crumbling pile and leaning against the tall dark fragments just
+beginning to be silvered by the moonbeam; but in all their countenances,
+their quivering features, their flashing eyes, the mouth open with
+absorbing suspense, were expressed a wild and vivid excitement, the heat
+of sympathy, and a ravishing delight.
+
+When Antar, in the tournament, overthrew the famous Greek knight, who
+had travelled from Constantinople to beard the court of Persia; when he
+caught in his hand the assassin spear of the Persian satrap, envious of
+his Arabian chivalry, and returned it to his adversary's heart; when he
+shouted from his saddle that he was the lover of Ibla and the horseman
+of the age, the audience exclaimed with rapturous earnestness, 'It is
+true, it is true!' although they were guaranteeing the assertions of a
+hero who lived, and loved, and fought more than fourteen hundred years
+before. Antar is the Iliad of the desert; the hero is the passion of the
+Bedouins. They will listen for ever to his forays, when he raised
+the triumphant cry of his tribe, 'Oh! by Abs; oh! by Adnan,' to the
+narratives of the camels he captured, the men he slew, and the maidens
+to whose charms he was indifferent, for he was 'ever the lover of Ibla.'
+What makes this great Arabian invention still more interesting is, that
+it was composed at a period antecedent to the Prophet; it describes the
+desert before the Koran; and it teaches us how little the dwellers in it
+were changed by the introduction and adoption of Islamism.
+
+As Tancred and his companion reached the amphitheatre, a ringing laugh
+resounded.
+
+'Antar is dining with the King of Persia after his victory,' said
+Baroni; 'this is a favourite scene with the Arabs. Antar asks the
+courtiers the name of every dish, and whether the king dines so every
+day. He bares his arms, and chucks the food into his mouth without ever
+moving his jaws. They have heard this all their lives, but always laugh
+at it with the same heartiness. Why, Shedad, son of Amroo,' continued
+Baroni to an Arab near him, 'you have listened to this ever since you
+first tasted liban, and it still pleases you!'
+
+'I am never wearied with listening to fine language,' said the Bedouin;
+'perfumes are always sweet, though you may have smelt them a thousand
+times.'
+
+Except when there was some expression of feeling elicited by the
+performance, a shout or a laugh, the silence was absolute. Not a whisper
+could be heard; and it was in a muffled tone that Baroni intimated to
+Tancred that the great Sheikh was present, and that, as this was his
+first appearance since his illness, he must pay his respects to Amalek.
+So saying, and preceding Tancred, in order that he might announce his
+arrival, Baroni approached the pavilion. The great Sheikh welcomed
+Tancred with a benignant smile, motioned to him to sit upon his carpet;
+rejoiced that he was recovered; hoped that he should live a thousand
+years; gave him his pipe, and then, turning again to the poet, was
+instantly lost in the interest of his narrative. Baroni, standing as
+near Tancred as the carpet would permit him, occasionally leant over and
+gave his lord an intimation of what was occurring.
+
+After a little while, the poet ceased. Then there was a general hum and
+great praise, and many men said to each other, 'All this is true, for my
+father told it to me before.' The great Sheikh, who was highly pleased,
+ordered his slaves to give the poet a cup of coffee, and, taking from
+his own vest an immense purse, more than a foot in length, he extracted
+from it, after a vast deal of research, one of the smallest
+of conceivable coins, which the poet pressed to his lips, and,
+notwithstanding the exiguity of the donation, declared that God was
+great.
+
+'O Sheikh of Sheikhs,' said the poet, 'what I have recited, though it is
+by the gift of God, is in fact written, and has been ever since the days
+of the giants; but I have also dipped my pen into my own brain, and
+now I would recite a poem which I hope some day may be suspended in the
+temple of Mecca. It is in honour of one who, were she to rise to our
+sight, would be as the full moon when it rises over the desert. Yes, I
+sing of Eva, the daughter of Amalek (the Bedouins always omitted Besso
+in her genealogy), Eva, the daughter of a thousand chiefs. May she never
+quit the tents of her race! May she always ride upon Nejid steeds and
+dromedaries, with harness of silver! May she live among us for ever! May
+she show herself to the people like a free Arabian maiden!'
+
+'They are the thoughts of truth,' said the delighted Bedouins to one
+another; 'every word is a pearl.'
+
+And the great Sheikh sent a slave to express his Wish that Eva and her
+maidens should appear. So she came to listen to the ode which the poet
+had composed in her honour. He had seen palm trees, but they were not as
+tall and graceful as Eva; he had beheld the eyes of doves and antelopes,
+but they were not as bright and soft as hers; he had tasted the fresh
+springs in the wilderness, but they were not more welcome than she; and
+the soft splendour of the desert moon was not equal to her brow. She
+was the daughter of Amalek, the daughter of a thousand chiefs. Might
+she live for ever in their tents; ever ride on Nejid steeds and on
+dromedaries with silver harness; ever show herself to the people like a
+free Arabian maiden!
+
+The poet, after many variations on this theme, ceased amid great
+plaudits.
+
+'He is a true poet,' said an Arab, who was, like most of his brethren, a
+critic; 'he is in truth a second Antar.'
+
+'If he had recited these verses before the King of Persia, he would have
+given him a thousand camels,' replied his neighbour, gravely.
+
+'They ought to be suspended in the temple of Mecca,' said a third.
+
+'What I most admire is his image of the full moon; that cannot be-too
+often introduced,' said a fourth.
+
+'Truly the moon should ever shine,' said a fifth. 'Also in all truly
+fine verses there should be palm trees and fresh springs.'
+
+Tancred, to whom Baroni had conveyed the meaning of the verses, was also
+pleased; having observed that, on a previous occasion, the great Sheikh
+had rewarded the bard, Tancred ventured to take a chain, which he
+fortunately chanced to wear, from, his neck, and sent it to the poet of
+Eva. This made a great sensation, and highly delighted the Arabs.
+
+'Truly this is the brother of queens,' they whispered to each other.
+
+Now the audience was breaking up and dispersing, and Tancred, rising,
+begged permission of his host to approach Eva, who was seated at the
+entrance of the pavilion, somewhat withdrawn from them.
+
+'If I were a poet,' said Tancred, bending before her, 'I would attempt
+to express my gratitude to the Lady of Bethany. I hope,' he added, after
+a moment's pause, 'that Baroni laid my message at your feet. When I
+begged your permission to thank you in person to-morrow, I had not
+imagined that I should have been so wilful as to quit the tent tonight.'
+
+'It will not harm you,' said Eva; 'our Arabian nights bear balm.'
+
+'I feel it,' said Tancred; 'this evening will complete the cure you so
+benignantly commenced.'
+
+'Mine were slender knowledge and simple means,' said Eva; 'but I rejoice
+that they were of use, more especially as I learn that we are all
+interested in your pilgrimage.
+
+'The Emir Fakredeen has spoken to you?' said Tancred, inquiringly, and
+with a countenance a little agitated.
+
+'He has spoken to me of some things for which our previous conversation
+had not entirely unprepared me.'
+
+'Ah!' said Tancred, musingly, 'our previous conversation. It is not
+very long ago since I slumbered by the side of your fountain, and yet it
+seems to me an age, an age of thought and events.'
+
+'Yet even then your heart was turned towards our unhappy Asia,' said the
+Lady of Bethany.
+
+'Unhappy Asia! Do you call it unhappy Asia! This land of divine deeds
+and divine thoughts! Its slumber is more vital than the waking life of
+the rest of the globe, as the dream of genius is more precious than
+the vigils of ordinary men. Unhappy Asia, do you call it? It is the
+unhappiness of Europe over which I mourn.'
+
+'Europe, that has conquered Hindustan, protects Persia and Asia Minor,
+affects to have saved Syria,' said Eva, with some bitterness. 'Oh! what
+can we do against Europe?'
+
+'Save it,' said Tancred.
+
+'We cannot save ourselves; what means have we to save others?'
+
+'The same you have ever exercised, Divine Truth. Send forth a great
+thought, as you have done before, from Mount Sinai, from the villages of
+Galilee, from the deserts of Arabia, and you may again remodel all
+their institutions, change their principles of action, and breathe a new
+spirit into the whole scope of their existence.'
+
+'I have sometimes dreamed such dreams,' murmured Eva, looking down. 'No,
+no,' she exclaimed, raising her head, after a moment's pause, 'it is
+impossible. Europe is too proud, with its new command over nature, to
+listen even to prophets. Levelling mountains, riding without horses,
+sailing without winds, how can these men believe that there is any
+power, human or divine, superior to themselves?'
+
+'As for their command over nature,'said Tancred, 'let us see how it will
+operate in a second deluge. Command over nature! Why, the humblest root
+that serves for the food of man has mysteriously withered throughout
+Europe, and they are already pale at the possible consequences. This
+slight eccentricity of that nature which they boast they can command has
+already shaken empires, and may decide the fate of nations. No, gentle
+lady, Europe is not happy. Amid its false excitement, its bustling
+invention, and its endless toil, a profound melancholy broods over its
+spirit and gnaws at its heart. In vain they baptise their tumult by the
+name of progress; the whisper of a demon is ever asking them, "Progress,
+from whence and to what?" Excepting those who still cling to your
+Arabian creeds, Europe, that quarter of the globe to which God has never
+spoken, Europe is without consolation.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+     _Freedom_
+
+THREE or four days had elapsed since the departure of Fakredeen, and
+during each of them Tancred saw Eva; indeed, his hours were much passed
+in the pavilion of the great Sheikh, and, though he was never alone with
+the daughter of Besso, the language which they spoke, unknown to those
+about them, permitted them to confer without restraint on those subjects
+in which they were interested. Tancred opened his mind without reserve
+to Eva, for he liked to test the soundness of his conclusions by her
+clear intelligence. Her lofty spirit harmonised with his own high-toned
+soul. He found both sympathy and inspiration in her heroic purposes. Her
+passionate love of her race, her deep faith in the destiny and genius
+of her Asian land, greatly interested him. To his present position she
+referred occasionally, but with reluctance; it seemed as if she thought
+it unkind entirely to pass it over, yet that to be reminded of it
+was not satisfactory. Of Fakredeen she spoke much and frequently. She
+expressed with frankness, even with warmth, her natural and deep regard
+for him, the interest she took in his career, and the high opinion she
+entertained of his powers; but she lamented his inventive restlessness,
+which often arrested action, and intimated how much he might profit
+by the counsels of a friend more distinguished for consistency and
+sternness of purpose.
+
+In the midst of all this, Fakredeen returned. He came in the early
+morning, and immediately repaired to the pavilion of the great Sheikh,
+with whom he was long closeted. Baroni first brought the news to
+Tancred, and subsequently told him that the quantity of nargilehs smoked
+by the young Emir indicated not only a prolonged, but a difficult,
+controversy. Some time after this, Tancred, lounging in front of his
+tent, and watching the shadows as they stole over the mountain tombs,
+observed Fakredeen issue from the pavilion of Amalek. His flushed and
+radiant countenance would seem to indicate good news. As he recognised
+Tancred, he saluted him in the Eastern fashion, hastily touching his
+heart, his lip, and his brow. When he had reached Tancred, Fakredeen
+threw himself in his arms, and, embracing him, whispered in an agitated
+voice on the breast of Lord Montacute, 'Friend of my heart, you are
+free!'
+
+In the meantime, Amalek announced to his tribe that at sunset the
+encampment would break up, and they would commence their return to the
+Syrian wilderness, through the regions eastward of the Dead Sea. The
+Lady Eva would accompany them, and the children of Rechab were to have
+the honour of escorting her and her attendants to the gates of Damascus.
+A detachment of five-and-twenty Beni-Rechab were to accompany Fakredeen
+and Tancred, Hassan and his Jellaheens, in a contrary direction of the
+desert, until they arrived at Gaza, where they were to await further
+orders from the young Emir.
+
+No sooner was this intelligence circulated than the silence which had
+pervaded the desert ruins at once ceased. Men came out of every tent and
+tomb. All was bustle and noise. They chattered, they sang, they talked
+to their horses, they apprised their camels of the intended expedition.
+They declared that the camels had consented to go; they anticipated a
+prosperous journey; they speculated on what tribes they might encounter.
+
+It required all the consciousness of great duties, all the inspiration
+of a great purpose, to sustain Tancred under this sudden separation
+from Eva. Much he regretted that it was not also his lot to traverse the
+Syrian wilderness, but it was not for him to interfere with arrangements
+which he could neither control nor comprehend. All that passed amid
+the ruins of this desert city was as incoherent and restless as the
+incidents of a dream; yet not without the bright passages of strange
+fascination which form part of the mosaic of our slumbering reveries.
+At dawn a prisoner, at noon a free man, yet still, from his position,
+unable to move without succour, and without guides; why he was captured,
+how he was enfranchised, alike mysteries; Tancred yielded without a
+struggle to the management of that individual who was clearly master
+of the situation. Fakredeen decided upon everything, and no one was
+inclined to impugn the decrees of him whose rule commenced by conferring
+freedom.
+
+It was only half an hour to sunset. The advanced guard of the children
+of Rechab, mounted on their dromedaries, and armed with lances, had
+some hours ago quitted the ruins. The camels, laden with the tents and
+baggage, attended by a large body of footmen with matchlocks, and who,
+on occasion, could add their own weight to the burden of their charge,
+were filing through the mountains; some horsemen were galloping about
+the plain and throwing the jereed; a considerable body, most of them
+dismounted, but prepared for the seat, were collected by the river side;
+about a dozen steeds of the purest race, one or two of them caparisoned,
+and a couple of dromedaries, were picketed before the pavilion of the
+great Sheikh, which was not yet struck, and about which some grooms were
+squatted, drinking coffee, and every now and then turning to the horses,
+and addressing them in tones of the greatest affection and respect.
+
+Suddenly one of the grooms jumped up and said, 'He comes;' and then
+going up to a bright bay mare, whose dark prominent eye equalled in
+brilliancy, and far exceeded in intelligence, the splendid orbs of
+the antelope, he addressed her, and said, 'O Diamond of Derayeh, the
+Princess of the desert can alone ride on thee!'
+
+There came forth from his pavilion the great Amalek, accompanied by some
+of his Sheikhs; there came forth from the pavilion Eva, attended by her
+gigantic Nubian and her maidens; there came forth from the pavilion the
+Emir Fakredeen and Lord Mon-tacute.
+
+'There is but one God,' said the great Sheikh as he pressed his hand to
+his heart, and bade farewell to the Emir and his late prisoner. 'May he
+guard over us all!'
+
+'Truly there is but one God,' echoed the attendant Sheikhs. 'May you
+find many springs!'
+
+The maidens were placed on their dromedaries; the grooms, as if by
+magic, had already struck the pavilion of their Sheikh, and were stowing
+it away on the back of a camel; Eva, first imprinting on the neck of the
+mare a gentle embrace, vaulted into the seat of the Diamond of Derayeh,
+which she rode in the fashion of Zenobia. To Tancred, with her inspired
+brow, her cheek slightly flushed, her undulating figure, her eye proud
+of its dominion over the beautiful animal which moved its head with
+haughty satisfaction at its destiny, Eva seemed the impersonation of
+some young classic hero going forth to conquer a world.
+
+Striving to throw into her countenance and the tones of her voice a
+cheerfulness which was really at this moment strange to them, she
+said, 'Farewell, Fakredeen!' and then, after a moment's hesitation,
+and looking at Tancred with a faltering glance which yet made his heart
+tremble, she added, 'Farewell, Pilgrim of Sinai.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+     _The Romantic Story of Baroni_
+
+THE Emir of the Lebanon and his English friend did not depart from the
+desert city until the morrow, Fakredeen being so wearied by his journey
+that he required repose.
+
+Unsustained by his lively conversation, Tancred felt all the depression
+natural to his position; and, restless and disquieted, wandered about
+the valley in the moonlight, recalling the vanished images of the past.
+After some time, unable himself to sleep, and finding Baroni disinclined
+to slumber, he reminded his attendant of the promise he had once given
+at Jerusalem, to tell something of his history. Baroni was a lively
+narrator, and, accompanied by his gestures, his speaking glance, and
+all the pantomime of his energetic and yet controlled demeanour, the
+narrative, as he delivered it, would have been doubtless much more
+amusing than the calmer form in which, upon reflection, we have thought
+fit to record some incidents which the reader must not in any degree
+suppose to form merely an episode in this history. With this observation
+we solicit attention to
+
+
+_The history of the Baroni family._
+
+BEING A CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF SIDONIA.
+
+I.
+
+'I had no idea that you had a garrison here,' said Sidonia, as the
+distant sounds of martial music were wafted down a long, ancient
+street, that seemed narrower than it was from the great elevation of
+its fantastically-shaped houses, into the principal square in which was
+situate his hotel. The town was one of the least frequented of Flanders;
+and Sidonia, who was then a youth, scarcely of twenty summers, was on
+his rambling way to Frankfort, where he then resided.
+
+'It is not the soldiers,' said the Flemish maiden in attendance, and who
+was dressed in one of those pretty black silk jackets that seem to
+blend so well with the sombre yet picturesque dwellings of the Spanish
+Netherlands. 'It is not the soldiers, sir; it is only the Baroni
+family.'
+
+'And who are the Baroni family?'
+
+'They are Italians, sir, and have been here this week past, giving some
+representations.'
+
+'Of what kind?'
+
+'I hardly know, sir, only I have heard that they are very beautiful.
+There is tumbling, I know for certain; and there was the Plagues of
+Egypt; but I believe it changes every night.'
+
+'And you have not yet seen them?'
+
+'Oh no, sir, it is not for such as me; the second places are half a
+franc!'
+
+'And what is your name?' said Sidonia.
+
+'Therese; at your service, sir.'
+
+'You shall go and see the Baroni family to-night, Therese, if your
+mistress will let you.'
+
+'I am sure she would if you would ask her, sir,' said Therese, looking
+down and colouring with delight. The little jacket seemed very agitated.
+
+'Here they come!' said Sidonia, looking out of the window on the great
+square.
+
+A man, extremely good-looking and well made, in the uniform of a marshal
+of France, his cocked hat fringed and plumed, and the colour of his coat
+almost concealed by its embroidery, played a clarionet like a master;
+four youths of a tender age, remarkable both for their beauty and their
+grace, dressed in very handsome scarlet uniforms, with white scarfs,
+performed upon French horns and similar instruments with great energy
+and apparent delight; behind them an honest Blouse, hired for the
+occasion, beat the double drum.
+
+'Two of them are girls,' said Therese; 'and they are all the same
+family, except the drummer, who belongs, I hear, to Ypres. Sometimes
+there are six of them, two little ones, who, I suppose, are left at home
+to-day; they look quite like little angels; the boy plays the triangle
+and his sister beats a tambourine.'
+
+'They are great artists,' murmured Sidonia to himself, as he listened to
+their performance of one of Donizetti's finest compositions. The father
+stood in the centre of the great square, the other musicians formed a
+circle round him; they continued their performance for about ten minutes
+to a considerable audience, many of whom had followed them, while the
+rest had collected at their appearance. There was an inclination in the
+curious multitude to press around the young performers, who would have
+been in a great degree hidden from general view by this discourteous
+movement, and even the sound of their instruments in some measure
+suppressed. Sidonia marked with interest the calm and commanding manner
+with which, under these circumstances, the father controlled the people.
+They yielded in an instant to his will: one tall blacksmith seemed
+scarcely to relish his somewhat imperious demeanour, and stood rooted to
+the ground; but Baroni, placing only one hand on the curmudgeon's brawny
+shoulder, while he still continued playing on his instrument with the
+other, whirled him away like a puppet. The multitude laughed, and the
+disconcerted blacksmith slunk away.
+
+When the air was finished, Baroni took off his grand hat, and in a loud
+voice addressed the assembled people, informing them that this evening,
+in the largest room of the Auberge of St. Nicholas, there would be a
+variety of entertainments, consisting of masterpieces of strength and
+agility, dramatic recitations, dancing and singing, to conclude with the
+mystery of the Crucifixion of our blessed Lord and Saviour; in which all
+the actors in that memorable event, among others the blessed Virgin,
+the blessed St. Mary Magdalene, the Apostles, Pontius Pilate, the High
+Priest of the Jews, and many others, would appear, all to be represented
+by one family.
+
+The speaker having covered himself, the band again formed and passed
+the window of Sidonia's hotel, followed by a stream of idle amateurs,
+animated by the martial strain, and attracted by the pleasure of hearing
+another fine performance at the next quarter of the town, where the
+Baroni family might halt to announce the impending amusements of the
+evening.
+
+The moon was beginning to glitter, when Sidonia threw his cloak around
+him, and asked the way to the Auberge of St. Nicholas. It was a large,
+ungainly, whitewashed house, at the extremity of a suburb where the
+straggling street nearly ceased, and emptied itself into what in England
+would have been called a green. The many windows flared with lights, the
+doorway was filled with men smoking, and looking full of importance, as
+if, instead of being the usual loungers of the tavern, they were about
+to perform a principal part in the exhibition; they made way with
+respectful and encouraging ceremony to any one who entered to form part
+of the audience, and rated with sharp words, and sometimes a ready cuff,
+a mob of little boys who besieged the door, and implored every one who
+entered to give them tickets to see the Crucifixion. 'It's the last
+piece,' they perpetually exclaimed, 'and we may come in for five sous a
+head.'
+
+Sidonia mounted the staircase, and, being a suitor for a ticket for the
+principal seats, was received with a most gracious smile by a pretty
+woman, fair-faced and arch, with a piquant nose and a laughing blue
+eye, who sat at the door of the room. It was a long and rather narrow
+apartment; at the end, a stage of rough planks, before a kind of
+curtain, the whole rudely but not niggardly lighted. Unfortunately for
+the Baroni family, Sidonia found himself the only first-class spectator.
+There was a tolerable sprinkling of those who paid half a franc for
+their amusement. These were separated from the first row, which Sidonia
+alone was to occupy; in the extreme distance was a large space not
+fitted up with benches, where the miscellaneous multitude, who could
+summon up five sous apiece later in the evening, to see the Crucifixion,
+were to be stowed.
+
+'It hardly pays the lights,' said the pretty woman at the door. 'We have
+not had good fortune in this town. It seems hard, when there is so much
+for the money, and the children take such pains in going the rounds in
+the morning.'
+
+'And you are Madame Baroni?' said Sidonia.
+
+'Yes; I am the mother,' she replied.
+
+'I should have thought you had been their sister,' said Sidonia.
+
+'My eldest son is fifteen! I often wish that he was anything else but
+what he is, but we do not like to separate. We are all one family, sir,
+and that makes us bear many things.'
+
+'Well, I think I know a way to increase your audience,' said Sidonia.
+
+'Indeed! I am sure it is very kind of you to say so much; we have not
+met with a gentleman like you the whole time we have been here.'
+
+Sidonia descended the stairs; the smoking amateurs made way for him
+with great parade, and pushed back with equal unkindness the young and
+wistful throng who still hovered round the portal.
+
+'Don't you see the gentleman wants to go by? Get back, you boys!'
+
+Sidonia halted on the doorway, and, taking advantage of a momentary
+pause, said, 'All the little boys are to come in free.'
+
+What a rush!
+
+The performances commenced by the whole of the Baroni family appearing
+in a row, and bowing to the audience. The father was now dressed in
+a Greek costume, which exhibited to perfection his compact frame: he
+looked like the captain of a band of Palikari; on his left appeared the
+mother, who, having thrown off her cloak, seemed a sylph or a sultana,
+for her bonnet had been succeeded by a turban. The three girls were
+on her left hand, and on the right of her husband were their three
+brothers. The eldest son, Francis, resembled his father, or rather was
+what his father must have been in all the freshness of boyhood; the
+same form of blended strength and symmetry; the same dark eye, the same
+determined air and regular features which in time would become strongly
+marked. The second boy, Alfred, about eleven, was delicate, fair, and
+fragile, like his mother; his sweet countenance, full of tenderness,
+changed before the audience with a rapid emotion. The youngest son,
+Michel, was an infant of four years, and with his large blue eyes and
+long golden hair, might have figured as one of the seraphs of Murillo.
+
+There was analogy in the respective physical appearances of the brothers
+and the sisters. The eldest girl, Josephine, though she had only counted
+twelve summers, was in stature, and almost in form, a woman. She was
+strikingly handsome, very slender, and dark as night. Adelaide, in
+colour, in look, in the grace of every gesture, and in the gushing
+tenderness of her wild, yet shrinking glance, seemed the twin of Alfred.
+The little Carlotta, more than two years older than Michel, was the
+miniature of her mother, and had a piquant coquettish air, mixed with
+an expression of repose in one so young quite droll, like a little opera
+dancer. The father clapped his hands, and all, except himself, turned
+round, bowed to the audience, and retired, leaving Baroni and his two
+elder children. Then commenced a variety of feats of strength. Baroni
+stretched forth his right arm, and Josephine, with a bound, instantly
+sprang upon his shoulder; while she thus remained, balancing herself
+only on her left leg, and looking like a flying Victory, her father
+stretched forth his left arm, and Francis sprang upon the shoulder
+opposite to his sister, and formed with her a group which might have
+crowned a vase. Infinite were the postures into which, for more than
+half an hour, the brother and sister threw their flexible forms, and all
+alike distinguished for their agility, their grace, and their precision.
+At length, all the children, with the exception of Carlotta, glided from
+behind the curtain, and clustered around their father with a quickness
+which baffled observation. Alfred and Adelaide suddenly appeared,
+mounted upon Josephine and Francis, who had already resumed their former
+positions on the shoulders of their father, and stood immovable with
+outstretched arms, while their brother and sister balanced themselves
+above. This being arranged, Baroni caught up the young Michel, and, as
+it were, flung him up on high; Josephine received the urchin, and tossed
+him up to Adelaide, and in a moment the beautiful child was crowning the
+living pyramid, his smiling face nearly touching the rough ceiling of
+the chamber, and clapping his little hands with practised triumph, as
+Baroni walked about the stage with the breathing burden.
+
+He stopped, and the children disappeared from his shoulders, like birds
+from a tree when they hear a sound. He clapped his hands, they turned
+round, bowed, and vanished.
+
+'As this feat pleases you,' said the father, 'and as we have a gentleman
+here to-night who has proved himself a liberal patron of artists, I will
+show you something that I rarely exhibit; I will hold the whole of
+the Baroni family with my two hands;' and hereupon addressing some
+stout-looking fellows among his audience, he begged them to come forward
+and hold each end of a plank that was leaning against the wall, one
+which had not been required for the quickly-constructed stage. This they
+did with some diffidence, and with that air of constraint characteristic
+of those who have been summoned from a crowd to perform something which
+they do not exactly comprehend.
+
+'Be not afraid, my good friends,' said Baroni to them, as Francis
+lightly sprang on one end of the plank, and Josephine on the other; then
+Alfred and Adelaide skipped up together at equal distances; so that the
+four children were now standing in attitude upon the same basis, which
+four stout men endeavoured, with difficulty, to keep firm. At that
+moment Madame Baroni, with the two young children, came from behind the
+curtain, and vaulted exactly on the middle of the board, so that the
+bold Michel on the one side, and the demure Carlotta on the other,
+completed the group. 'Thank you, my friends,' said Baroni, slipping
+under the plank, which was raised to a height which just admitted him to
+pass under it, 'I will release you,' and with his outstretched hands he
+sustained the whole burthen, the whole of the Baroni family supported by
+the father.
+
+After this there was a pause of a few minutes, the stage was cleared and
+Baroni, in a loose great-coat, appeared at its side with a violin. He
+played a few bars, then turning to the audience, said with the same
+contemptuous expression, which always distinguished him when he
+addressed them, 'Now you are going to hear a scene from a tragedy of the
+great Racine, one of the greatest tragedy writers that ever existed, if
+you may never have heard him; but if you were at Paris, and went to the
+great theatre, you would find that what I am telling you is true.' And
+Josephine advanced, warmly cheered by the spectators, who thought that
+they were going to have some more tumbling. She advanced, however, as
+Andromache. It seemed to Sidonia that he had never listened to a voice
+more rich and passionate, to an elocution more complete; he gazed with
+admiration on her lightning glance and all the tumult of her noble brow.
+As she finished, he applauded her with vehemence. He was standing near
+to her father leaning against the wall.
+
+'Your daughter is a great actress,' he said to Baroni.
+
+'I sometimes think so,' said the father, turning round with some
+courtesy to Sidonia, whom he recognised as the liberal stranger who had
+so kindly increased his meagre audience; 'I let her do this to please
+herself. She is a good girl, but very few of the respectable savages
+here speak French. However, she likes it. Adelaide is now going to sing;
+that will suit them better.'
+
+Then there were a few more bars scraped on the violin, and Adelaide,
+glowing rather than blushing, with her eyes first on the ground and then
+on the ceiling, but in all her movements ineffable grace, came forward
+and courtesied. She sang an air of Auber and of Bellini: a voice of the
+rarest quality, and, it seemed to Sidonia, promising almost illimitable
+power.
+
+'Your family is gifted,' he said to Baroni, as he applauded his second
+daughter as warmly as the first; and the audience applauded her too.
+
+'I sometimes think so. They are all very good. I am afraid, however,
+that this gift will not serve her much. The good-natured savages seem
+pleased. Carlotta now is going to dance; that will suit them better. She
+has had good instruction. Her mother was a dancer.'
+
+And immediately, with her lip a little curling, a look of complete
+self-possession, willing to be admired, yet not caring to conceal her
+disgust, the little Carlotta advanced, and, after pointing her toe,
+threw a glance at her father to announce that he might begin. He played
+with more care and energy than for the other sisters, for Carlotta was
+exceedingly wilful and imperious, and, if the music jarred, would often
+stop, shrug her shoulders, and refuse to proceed. Her mother doted
+on her; even the austere Baroni, who ruled his children like a Pasha,
+though he loved them, was a little afraid of Carlotta.
+
+The boards were coarse and rough, some even not sufficiently tightened,
+but it seemed to Sidonia, experienced as he was in the schools of Paris,
+London, and Milan, that he had never witnessed a more brilliant facility
+than that now displayed by this little girl. Her soul, too, was entirely
+in her art; her countenance generally serious and full of thought,
+yet occasionally, when a fine passage had been successfully achieved,
+radiant with triumph and delight. She was cheered, and cheered,
+and cheered; but treated the applause, when she retired, with great
+indifference. Fortunately, Sidonia had a rose in his button-hole, and
+he stepped forward and presented it to her. This gratified Carlotta, who
+bestowed on him a glance full of coquetry.
+
+'And now,' said Baroni, to the people, 'you are going to see the
+crucifixion of Jesus Christ: all the tableaux are taken from pictures
+by the most famous artists that ever lived, Raphael, Rubens, and others.
+Probably you never heard of them. I can't help that; it is not my fault;
+all I can say is, that if you go to the Vatican and other galleries,
+you may see them. There will be a pause of ten minutes, for the children
+want rest.'
+
+Now there was a stir and a devouring of fruit; Baroni, who was on the
+point of going behind the curtain, came forward, and there was silence
+again to listen to him.
+
+'I understand,' he said, roughly, 'there is a collection going to be
+made for the children; mind, I ask no one to subscribe to it; no one
+obliges me by giving anything to it; it is for the children and the
+children alone, they have it to spend, that is all.'
+
+The collectors were Michel and Adelaide. Michel was always successful at
+a collection. He was a great favourite, and wonderfully bold; he would
+push about in the throng like a Hercules, whenever anyone called out
+to him to fetch a Hard. Adelaide, who carried the box, was much too
+retiring, and did not like the business at all; but it was her turn,
+and she could not avoid it. No one gave them more than a sou. It is due,
+however, to the little boys who were admitted free, to state that they
+contributed handsomely; indeed, they expended all the money they had
+in the exhibition room, either in purchasing fruit, or in bestowing
+backsheesh on the performers.
+
+'_Encore un liard pour Michel_,' was called out by several of them, in
+order to make Michel rush back, which he did instantly at the exciting
+sound, ready to overwhelm the hugest men in his resistless course.
+
+At last, Adelaide, holding the box in one hand and her brother by the
+other, came up to Sidonia, and cast her eyes upon the ground.
+
+'For Michel,' said Sidonia, dropping a five-franc piece into the box.
+
+'A piece of a hundred sous!' said Michel.
+
+'And a piece of a hundred sous for yourself and each of your brothers
+and sisters, Adelaide,' said Sidonia, giving her a purse.
+
+Michel gave a shout, but Adelaide blushed very much, kissed his hand,
+and skipped away. When she had got behind the curtain, she jumped on her
+father's neck, and burst into tears. Madame Baroni, not knowing what had
+occurred, and observing that Sidonia could command from his position a
+view of what was going on in their sanctuary, pulled the curtain, and
+deprived Sidonia of a scene which interested him.
+
+About ten minutes after this, Baroni again appeared in his rough
+great-coat, and with his violin. He gave a scrape or two, and the
+audience became orderly. He played an air, and then turning to Sidonia,
+looking at him with great scrutiny, he said, 'Sir, you are a prince.'
+
+'On the contrary,' said Sidonia, 'I am nothing; I am only an artist like
+yourself.'
+
+'Ah!' said Baroni, 'an artist like myself! I thought so. You have
+taste. And what is your line? Some great theatre, I suppose, where
+even if one is ruined, one at least has the command of capital. 'Tis a
+position. I have none. But I have no rebels in my company, no traitors.
+With one mind and heart we get on, and yet sometimes----' and here a
+signal near him reminded him that he must be playing another air, and in
+a moment the curtain separated in the middle, and exhibited a circular
+stage on which there were various statues representing the sacred story.
+
+There were none of the usual means and materials of illusion at hand;
+neither space, nor distance, nor cunning lights; it was a confined
+tavern room with some glaring tapers, and Sidonia himself was almost
+within arm's reach of the performers. Yet a representation more
+complete, more finely conceived, and more perfectly executed, he had
+never witnessed. It was impossible to credit that these marble forms,
+impressed with ideal grace, so still, so sad, so sacred, could be the
+little tumblers, who, but half-an-hour before, were disporting on the
+coarse boards at his side.
+
+The father always described, before the curtain was withdrawn, with a
+sort of savage terseness, the subject of the impending scene. The groups
+did not continue long; a pause of half a minute, and the circular stage
+revolved, and the curtain again closed. This rapidity of representation
+was necessary, lest delay should compromise the indispensable
+immovable-ness of the performers.
+
+'Now,' said Baroni, turning his head to the audience, and slightly
+touching his violin, 'Christ falls under the weight of the cross.'
+And immediately the curtain parted, and Sidonia beheld a group in the
+highest style of art, and which though deprived of all the magic of
+colour, almost expressed the passion of Correggio.
+
+'It is Alfred,' said Baroni, as Sidonia evinced his admiration. 'He
+chiefly arranges all this, under my instructions. In drapery his talent
+is remarkable.'
+
+At length, after a series of representations, which were all worthy of
+being exhibited in the pavilions of princes, Baroni announced the last
+scene.
+
+'What you are going to see now is the Descent from the Cross; it is
+after Rubens, one of the greatest masters that ever lived, if you
+ever heard of such a person,' he added, in a grumbling voice, and then
+turning to Sidonia, he said, 'This crucifixion is the only thing which
+these savages seem at all to understand; but I should like you, sir,
+as you are an artist, to see the children in some Greek or Roman story:
+Pygmalion, or the Death of Agrippina. I think you would be pleased.'
+
+'I cannot be more pleased than I am now,' said Sidonia. 'I am also
+astonished.'
+
+But here Baroni was obliged to scrape his fiddle, for the curtain moved.
+
+'It is a triumph of art,' said Sidonia, as he beheld the immortal group
+of Rubens reproduced with a precision and an exquisite feeling which no
+language can sufficiently convey, or too much extol.
+
+The performances were over, the little artists were summoned to the
+front scene to be applauded, the scanty audience were dispersing:
+Sidonia lingered.
+
+'You are living in this house, I suppose?' he said to Baroni.
+
+Baroni shook his head. 'I can afford no roof except my own.'
+
+'And where is that?'
+
+'On four wheels, on the green here. We are vagabonds, and, I suppose,
+must always be so; but, being one family, we can bear it. I wish the
+children to have a good supper to-night, in honour of your kindness. I
+have a good deal to do. I must put these things in order,' as he spoke
+he was working; 'there is the grandmother who lives with us; all this
+time she is alone, guarded, however, by the dog. I should like them to
+have meat to-night, if I can get it. Their mother cooks the supper.
+Then I have got to hear them say their prayers. All this takes time,
+particularly as we have to rise early, and do many things before we make
+our first course through the city.'
+
+'I will come and see you to-morrow,' said Sidonia, 'after your first
+progress.'
+
+'An hour after noon, if you please,' said Baroni. 'It is pleasant for
+me to become acquainted with a fellow artist, and one so liberal as
+yourself.'
+
+'Your name is Baroni,' said Sidonia, looking at him earnestly.
+
+'My name is Baroni.'
+
+'An Italian name.'
+
+'Yes, I come from Cento.'
+
+'Well, we shall meet to-morrow. Good night, Baroni. I am going, to send
+you some wine for your supper, and take care the grandmamma drinks my
+health.'
+
+
+II.
+
+It was a sunny morn: upon the green contiguous to the Auberge of St.
+Nicholas was a house upon wheels, a sort of monster omnibus, its huge
+shafts idle on the ground, while three fat Flemish horses cropped the
+surrounding pasture. From the door of the house were some temporary
+steps, like an accommodation ladder, on which sat Baroni, dressed
+something like a Neapolitan fisherman, and mending his clarionet; the
+man in the blouse was eating his dinner, seated between the shafts, to
+which also was fastened the little dog, often the only garrison, except
+the grandmother, of this strange establishment.
+
+The little dog began barking vociferously, and Baroni, looking up,
+instantly bade him be quiet. It was Sidonia whose appearance in the
+distance had roused the precautionary voice.
+
+'Well,' said Sidonia, 'I heard your trumpets this morning.'
+
+'The grandmother sleeps,' said Baroni, taking off his cap, and slightly
+rising. 'The rest also are lying down after their dinner. Children will
+never repose unless there are rules, and this with them is invariable.'
+
+'But your children surely cannot be averse to repose, for they require
+it.'
+
+'Their blood is young,' continued Baroni, still mending his clarionet;
+'they are naturally gay, except my eldest son. He is restless, but he is
+not gay.'
+
+'He likes his art?'
+
+'Not too much; what he wants is to travel, and, after all, though we are
+always moving, the circle is limited.'
+
+'Yes; you have many to move. And can this ark contain them all?' said
+Sidonia, seating himself on some timber that was at hand.
+
+'With convenience even,' replied Baroni; 'but everything can be effected
+by order and discipline. I rule and regulate my house like a ship. In a
+vessel, there is not as much accommodation for the size as in a house
+of this kind; yet nowhere is there more decency and cleanliness than on
+board ship.'
+
+'You have an obedient crew,' said Sidonia, 'and that is much.'
+
+'Yes; when they wake my children say their prayers, and then they come
+to embrace me and their mother. This they have never omitted during
+their lives. I have taught them from their birth to obey God and to
+honour their parents. These two principles have made them a religious
+and moral family. They have kept us united, and sustained us under
+severe trials.'
+
+'Yet such talents as you all possess,' said Sidonia, 'should have
+exempted you from any very hard struggle, especially when united, as
+apparently in your case, with well-ordered conduct.'
+
+'It would seem that they should,' said Baroni, 'but less talents than we
+possess would, probably, obtain as high a reward. The audiences that we
+address have little feeling for art, and all these performances, which
+you so much applauded last night, would not, perhaps, secure even the
+feeble patronage we experience, if they were not preceded by some feats
+of agility or strength.'
+
+'You have never appealed to a higher class of audience?'
+
+'No; my father was a posture-master, as his father was before him. These
+arts are traditionary in our family, and I care not to say for what
+length of time and from what distant countries we believe them to have
+been received by us. My father died by a fall from a tight rope in the
+midst of a grand illumination at Florence, and left me a youth. I count
+now only sixty-and-thirty summers. I married, as soon as I could,
+a dancer at Milan. We had no capital, but our united talents found
+success. We loved our children; it was necessary to act with decision,
+or we should have been separated and trampled into the mud. Then I
+devised this house and wandering life, and we exist in general as you
+see us. In the winter, if our funds permit it, we reside in some city,
+where we educate our children in the arts which they pursue. The mother
+can still dance, sings prettily, and has some knowledge of music. For
+myself, I can play in some fashion upon every instrument, and have
+almost taught them as much; I can paint, too, a scene, compose a
+group, and with the aid of my portfolio of prints, have picked up more
+knowledge of the costume, of different centuries than you would imagine.
+If you see Josephine to-night in the Maid of Orleans you would perhaps
+be surprised. A great judge, like yourself a real artist, once told me
+at Bruxelles, that the grand opera could not produce its equal.'
+
+'I can credit it,' said Sidonia, 'for I perceive in Josephine, as well
+as indeed in all your children, a rare ability!'
+
+'I will be frank,' said Baroni, looking at Sidonia very earnestly, and
+laying down his clarionet. 'I conclude from what you said last night,
+and the interest that you take in the children, that you are something
+in our way, though on a great scale. I apprehend you are looking out for
+novelties for the next season, and sometimes in the provinces things are
+to be found. If you will take us to London or Paris, I will consent to
+receive no remuneration if the venture fail; all I shall then require
+will be a decent maintenance, which you can calculate beforehand: if the
+speculation answer, I will not demand more than a third of the profits,
+leaving it to your own liberality to make me any regalo in addition,
+that you think proper.'
+
+'A very fair proposal,' said Sidonia.
+
+'Is it a bargain?'
+
+'I must think over it,' said Sidonia.
+
+'Well; God prosper your thoughts, for, from what I see of you, you are a
+man I should be proud to work with.'
+
+'Well, we may yet be comrades.'
+
+The children appeared at the door of the house, and, not to disturb
+their father, vaulted down. They saluted Sidonia with much respect, and
+then withdrew to some distance. The mother appeared at the door,
+and, leaning down, whispered something to Baroni, who, after a little
+hesitation, said to Sidonia, 'The grandmother is awake; she has a wish
+to thank you for your kindness to the children. It will not trouble
+you; merely a word; but women have their fancies, and we like always to
+gratify her, because she is much alone and never complains.'
+
+'By all means,' said Sidonia.
+
+Whereupon they ushered forward a venerable woman with a true Italian
+face; hair white as snow, and eyes still glittering with fire, with
+features like a Roman bust, and an olive complexion. Sidonia addressed
+her in Italian, which greatly pleased her. She was profuse, even solemn,
+in her thanks to him; she added, she was sure, from all that she had
+heard of him, if he took the children with him, he would be kind to
+them.
+
+'She has overheard something I said to my wife,' said Baroni, a little
+embarrassed.
+
+'I am sure I should be kind to them,' said Sidonia, 'for many reasons,
+and particularly for one;' and he whispered something in Baroni's ear.
+
+Baroni started from his seat with a glowing cheek, but Sidonia, looking
+at his watch and promising to attend their evening performance, bade
+them adieu.
+
+
+III.
+
+The performances were more meagrely attended this evening than even on
+the preceding one, but had they been conducted in the royal theatre of
+a capital, they could not have been more elaborate, nor the troupe have
+exerted themselves with greater order and effect. It mattered not a jot
+to them whether their benches were thronged or vacant; the only audience
+for whom the Baroni family cared was the foreign manager, young,
+generous, and speculative, whom they had evidently without intention
+already pleased, and whose good opinion they resolved to-night entirely
+to secure. And in this they perfectly succeeded. Josephine was a tragic
+muse; all of them, even to little Carlotta, performed as if their
+destiny depended on the die. Baroni would not permit the children's
+box to be carried round to-night, as he thought it an unfair tax on the
+generous stranger, whom he did not the less please by this well-bred
+abstinence. As for the mediaeval and historic groups, Sidonia could
+recall nothing equal to them; and what surprised him most was the effect
+produced by such miserable materials. It seemed that the whole was
+effected with some stiffened linen and paper; but the divine touch of
+art turned everything to gold. One statue of Henri IV. with his flowing
+plume, and his rich romantic dress, was quite striking. It was the very
+plume that had won at Ivry, and yet was nothing more than a sheet of
+paper cut and twisted by the plastic finger of little Alfred.
+
+There was to be no performance on the morrow; the niggard patronage of
+the town had been exhausted. Indeed, had it not been for Sidonia, the
+little domestic troupe would, ere this, have quitted the sullen town,
+where they had laboured so finely, and achieved such an ungracious
+return. On the morrow Baroni was to ride one of the fat horses over to
+Berg, a neighbouring town of some importance, where there was even a
+little theatre to be engaged, and if he obtained the permission of the
+mayor, and could make fair terms, he proposed to give there a series
+of representations. The mother was to stay at home and take care of the
+grandmother; but the children, all the children, were to have a holiday,
+and to dine with Sidonia at his hotel.
+
+It would have been quite impossible for the most respectable burgher,
+even of the grand place of a Flemish city, to have sent his children on
+a visit in trim more neat, proper, and decorous, than that in which
+the Baroni family figured on the morrow, when they went to pay their
+respects to their patron. The girls were in clean white frocks with
+little black silk jackets, their hair beautifully tied and plaited, and
+their heads uncovered, according to the fashion of the country: not an
+ornament or symptom of tawdry taste was visible; not even a necklace,
+although they necessarily passed their lives in fanciful or grotesque
+attire; the boys, in foraging caps all of the same fashion, were dressed
+in blouses of holland, with bands and buckles, their broad shirt collars
+thrown over their shoulders. It is astonishing, as Baroni said, what
+order and discipline will do; but how that wonderful house upon wheels
+contrived to contain all these articles of dress, from the uniform of
+the marshal of France to the diminutive blouse of little Michel, and how
+their wearers always managed to issue from it as if they came forth
+from the most commodious and amply-furnished mansion, was truly yet
+pleasingly perplexing. Sidonia took them all in a large landau to see a
+famous chateau a few miles off, full of pictures and rich old furniture,
+and built in famous gardens. This excursion would have been delightful
+to them, if only from its novelty, but, as a substitute for their daily
+progress through the town, it offered an additional gratification.
+
+The behaviour of these children greatly interested and pleased Sidonia.
+Their conduct to each other was invariably tender and affectionate:
+their carriage to him, though full of respect, never constrained, and
+touched by an engaging simplicity. Above all, in whatever they did or
+said, there was grace. They did nothing awkwardly; their voices were
+musical; they were merry without noise, and their hearts sparkled in
+their eyes.
+
+'I begin to suspect that these youthful vagabonds, struggling for life,
+have received a perfect education,' thought the ever-musing Sidonia, as
+he leaned back in the landau, and watched the group that he had made
+so happy. 'A sublime religious principle sustains their souls; a tender
+morality regulates their lives; and with the heart and the spirit thus
+developed, they are brought up in the pursuit and production of the
+beautiful. It is the complete culture of philosophic dreams!'
+
+
+IV.
+
+The children had never sat down before to a regular dinner, and they
+told Sidonia 50. Their confession added a zest to the repast. He
+gave them occasional instructions, and they listened as if they were
+receiving directions for a new performance. They were so quick and
+so tractable, that their progress was rapid; and at the second course
+Josephine was instructing Michel, and Alfred guiding the rather helpless
+but always self-composed Carlotta. After dinner, while Sidonia helped
+them to sugar-plums, he without effort extracted from each their master
+wish. Josephine desired to be an actress, while Adele confessed that,
+though she sighed for the boards, her secret aspirations were for the
+grand opera. Carlotta thought the world was made to dance.
+
+'For my part,' said Francis, the eldest son, 'I have no wish to be idle;
+but there are two things which I have always desired: first, that I
+should travel; and, secondly, that nobody should ever know me.'
+
+'And what would Alfred wish to be?' said Sidonia.
+
+'Indeed, sir, if it did not take me from my brothers and sisters, I
+should certainly wish to be a painter.'
+
+'Michel has not yet found out what he wishes,' said Sidonia.
+
+'I wish to play upon the horn,' said Michel, with great determination.
+
+When Sidonia embraced them before their departure, he gave each of the
+girls a French shawl; to Francis he gave a pair of English pistols,
+to guard him when he travelled; Alfred received a portfolio full of
+drawings of costume. It only arrived after dinner, for the town was too
+poor to supply anything good enough for the occasion, and Sidonia had
+sent a special messenger, the day before, for it to Lille. Michel was
+the guardian of a basket laden with good things, which he was to have
+the pleasure of dividing among the Baroni family. 'And if your papa come
+back to-night,' said Sidonia to Josephine, 'tell him I should like to
+have a word with him.'
+
+
+V.
+
+Sidonia had already commenced that habit which, during subsequent years,
+he has so constantly and successfully pursued, namely, of enlisting
+in his service all the rare talent which he found lying common and
+unappropriated in the great wilderness of the world, no matter if the
+object to which it would apply might not immediately be in sight. The
+conjuncture would arrive when it would be wanted. Thus he generally
+had ready the right person for the occasion; and, whatever might be the
+transaction, the human instrument was rarely wanting. Independent of the
+power and advantage which this system gave him, his abstract interest in
+intellect made the pursuit delightful to him. He liked to give ability
+of all kinds its scope. Nothing was more apt to make him melancholy,
+than to hear of persons of talents dying without having their chance.
+A failure is nothing; it may be deserved, or it may be remedied. In the
+first instance, it brings self-knowledge; in the second, it develops a
+new combination usually triumphant. But incapacity, from not, having a
+chance of being capable, is a bitter lot, which Sidonia was ever ready
+to alleviate.
+
+The elder Baroni possessed Herculean strength, activity almost as
+remarkable, a practised courage, and a controlling mind. He was in the
+prime of manhood, and spoke several languages. He was a man, according
+to Sidonia's views, of high moral principle, entirely trustworthy. He
+was too valuable an instrument to allow to run to seed as the strolling
+manager of a caravan of tumblers; and it is not improbable that Sidonia
+would have secured his services, even if he had not become acquainted
+with the Baroni family. But they charmed him. In every member of it he
+recognised character, and a predisposition which might even be genius.
+He resolved that every one of them should have a chance.
+
+When therefore Baroni, wearied and a little disgusted with an
+unpromising journey, returned from Berg in the evening, and, in
+consequence of the message of his children, repaired instantly to the
+hotel of Sidonia, his astonishment was great when he found the manager
+converted into a millionaire, and that too the most celebrated in
+Europe. But no language can convey his wonder when he learnt the career
+that was proposed to him, and the fortunes that were carved out for
+his children. He himself was to repair, with all his family, except
+Josephine and her elder brother, at once to Vienna, where he was to be
+installed into a post of great responsibility and emolument. He was made
+superintendent of the couriers of the house of Sidonia in that capital,
+and especially of those that conveyed treasure. Though his duties would
+entail frequent absences on him, he was to be master of a constant and
+complete establishment. Alfred was immediately to become a pupil of the
+Academy of Painters, and Carlotta of that of dancing; the talents of
+Michel were to be watched, and to be reported to Sidonia at fitting
+periods. As for Adele, she was consigned to a lady who had once been
+a celebrated prima donna, with whom she was to pursue her studies,
+although still residing under the paternal roof. 'Josephine will repair
+to Paris at once with her brother,' said Sidonia. 'My family will guard
+over her. She will enjoy her brother's society until I commence my
+travels. He will then accompany me.'
+
+It is nearly twenty years since these incidents occurred, and perhaps
+the reader may feel not altogether uninterested in the subsequent fate
+of the children of Baroni. Mademoiselle Josephine is at this moment
+the glory of the French stage; without any question the most admirable
+tragic actress since Clairon, and inferior not even to her. The spirit
+of French tragedy has risen from the imperial couch on which it had
+long slumbered since her appearance, at the same time classical and
+impassioned, at once charmed and commanded the most refined audience
+in Europe. Adele, under the name of Madame Baroni, is the acknowledged
+Queen of Song in London, Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg; while her
+younger sister, Carlotta Baroni, shares the triumphs, and equals the
+renown, of a Taglioni and a Cerito. At this moment, Madame Baroni
+performs to enthusiastic audiences in the first opera of her brother
+Michel, who promises to be the rival of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn; all
+delightful intelligence to meet the ear of the soft-hearted Alfred, who
+is painting the new chambers of the Papal palace, a Cavaliere, decorated
+with many orders, and the restorer of the once famous Roman school.
+
+'Thus,' continued Baroni to Tancred, 'we have all succeeded in
+life because we fell across a great philosopher, who studied our
+predisposition. As for myself, I told M. de Sidonia that I wished to
+travel and to be unknown, and so he made of me a secret agent.'
+
+'There is something most interesting,' said Tancred, 'in this idea of
+a single family issuing from obscurity, and disseminating their genius
+through the world, charming mankind with so many spells. How fortunate
+for you all that Sidonia had so much feeling for genius!'
+
+'And some feeling for his race,' said Baroni.
+
+'How?' said Tancred, startled.
+
+'You remember he whispered something in my father's ear?'
+
+'I remember.'
+
+'He spoke it in Hebrew, and he was understood.'
+
+'You do not mean that you, too, are Jews?'
+
+'Pure Sephardim, in nature and in name.'
+
+'But your name surely is Italian?'
+
+'Good Arabic, my lord. Baroni; that is, the son of Aaron; the name of
+old clothesmen in London, and of caliphs at Bagdad.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+     _The Mountains of Lebanon_
+
+HOW do you like my forest?' asked Fakredeen of Tancred, as, while
+descending a range of the Lebanon, an extensive valley opened before
+them, covered with oak trees, which clothed also, with their stout
+trunks, their wide-spreading branches, and their rich starry foliage,
+the opposite and undulating hills, one of which was crowned with a
+convent. 'It is the only oak forest in Syria. It will serve some day to
+build our fleet.'
+
+At Gaza, which they had reached by easy journeys, for Fakredeen was very
+considerate of the health of Tancred, whose wound had scarcely healed,
+and over whom he watched with a delicate solicitude which would have
+almost become a woman, the companions met Scheriff Effendi. The magic
+signature of Lord Montacute settled the long-vexed question of the
+five thousand muskets, and secured also ten thousand piastres for the
+commander of the escort to deliver to his chief. The children of Rechab,
+in convoy of the precious charge, certain cases of which were to be
+delivered to the great Sheikh, and the rest to be deposited in indicated
+quarters of the Lebanon, here took leave of the Emir and his friend,
+and pursued their course to the north of Hebron and the Dead Sea, in the
+direction of the Hauraan, where they counted, if not on overtaking
+the great Sheikh, at least on the additional security which his
+neighbourhood would ensure them. Their late companions remained at Gaza,
+awaiting Tancred's yacht, which Baroni fetched from the neighbouring
+Jaffa. A favourable breeze soon carried them from Gaza to Beiroot,
+where they landed, and where Fakredeen had the political pleasure of
+exhibiting his new and powerful ally, a prince, an English prince,
+the brother perhaps of a queen, unquestionably the owner of a splendid
+yacht, to the admiring eye of all his, at the same time, credulous and
+rapacious creditors.
+
+The air of the mountains invigorated Tancred. His eyes had rested so
+long on the ocean and the desert, that the effect produced on the nerves
+by the forms and colours of a more varied nature were alone reviving.
+
+There are regions more lofty than the glaciered crests of Lebanon;
+mountain scenery more sublime, perhaps even more beautiful: its peaks
+are not lost in the clouds like the mysterious Ararat; its forests
+are not as vast and strange as the towering Himalaya; it has not the
+volcanic splendour of the glowing Andes; in lake and in cataract it
+must yield to the European Alps; but for life, vigorous, varied, and
+picturesque, there is no highland territory in the globe that can for a
+moment compare with the great chain of Syria.
+
+Man has fled from the rich and servile plains, from the tyranny of the
+Turk and from Arabian rapine, to clothe the crag with vines, and rest
+under his fig tree on the mountain top. An ingenious spirit, unwearied
+industry, and a bland atmosphere have made a perpetual garden of the
+Syrian mountains. Their acclivities sparkle with terraces of corn and
+fruit. Castle and convent crown their nobler heights, and flat-roofed
+villages nestle amid groves of mulberry trees. Among these mountains
+we find several human races, several forms of government, and
+several schemes of religion, yet everywhere liberty: a proud, feudal
+aristocracy; a conventual establishment, which in its ramifications
+recalls the middle ages; a free and armed peasantry, whatever their
+creed, Emirs on Arabian steeds, bishops worthy of the Apostles, the
+Maronite monk, the horned head-gear of the Druses.
+
+Some of those beautiful horses, for which Fakredeen was celebrated, had
+awaited the travellers at Beiroot. The journey through the mountain was
+to last three days before they reached Canobia. They halted one night at
+a mountain village, where the young Emir was received with enthusiastic
+devotion, and on the next at a small castle belonging to Fakredeen, and
+where resided one of his kinsmen. Two hours before sunset, on the third
+day, they were entering the oak forest to which we referred, and through
+whose glades they journeyed for about half an hour. On arriving at the
+convent-crowned height opposite, they beheld an expanse of country; a
+small plain amid the mountains; in many parts richly cultivated,
+studded by several hamlets, and watered by a stream, winding amid rich
+shrubberies of oleander.
+
+Almost in the middle of this plain, on a height superior to the
+immediate elevations which bounded it, rose a mountain of gradual
+ascent, covered with sycamores, and crowned by a superb Saracenic
+castle.
+
+'Canobia!' said Fakredeen to Tancred, 'which I hope you never will
+quit.'
+
+'It would be difficult,' rejoined Tancred, animated. 'I have seldom seen
+a sight more striking and more beautiful.'
+
+In the meantime, Freeman and Trueman, who were far in the rear amid
+Fakredeen's attendants, exchanged congratulating glances of blended
+surprise and approbation.
+
+'This is the first gentleman's seat I have seen since we left England,'
+said Freeman.
+
+'There must have been a fine coming of age here,' rejoined Trueman.
+
+'As for that,' replied Freeman, 'comings of age depend in a manner upon
+meat and drink. They ain't in noways to be carried out with coffee and
+pipes. Without oxen roasted whole, and broached hogsheads, they ain't in
+a manner legal.'
+
+A horseman, who was ahead of the Emir and Tancred, now began beating
+with a stick on two small tabors, one on each side of his saddle, and
+thus announced to those who were already on the watch, the approach of
+their lord. It was some time, however, before the road, winding through
+the sycamore trees and gradually ascending, brought them to the outworks
+of the castle, of which, during their progress, they enjoyed a variety
+of views. It was a very extensive pile, in excellent condition, and
+apparently strongly fortified. A number of men, in showy dresses and
+with ornamented arms, were clustered round the embattled gateway, which
+introduced the travellers into a quadrangle of considerable size, and of
+which the light and airy style pleasingly and suitably contrasted with
+the sterner and more massive character of the exterior walls. A fountain
+rose in the centre of the quadrangle which was surrounded by arcades.
+Ranged round this fountain, in a circle, were twenty saddled steeds
+of the highest race, each held by a groom, and each attended by a
+man-at-arms. All pressed their hands to their hearts as the Emir
+entered, but with a gravity of countenance which was never for a
+moment disturbed. Whether their presence were habitual, or only for
+the occasion, it was unquestionably impressive. Here the travellers
+dismounted, and Fakredeen ushered Tancred through a variety of saloons,
+of which the furniture, though simple, as becomes the East, was
+luxurious, and, of its kind, superb; floors of mosaic marbles, bright
+carpets, arabesque ceilings, walls of carved cedar, and broad divans of
+the richest stuffs of Damascus.
+
+'And this divan is for you,' said Fakredeen, showing Tancred into a
+chamber, which opened upon a flower-garden shaded by lemon trees. 'I
+am proud of my mirror,' he added, with some exultation, as he called
+Tancred's attention to a large French looking-glass, the only one in
+Lebanon. 'And this,' added Fakredeen, leading Tancred through a suite of
+marble chambers, 'this is your bath.'
+
+In the centre of one chamber, fed by a perpetual fountain, was a large
+alabaster basin, the edges of which were strewn with flowers just
+culled. The chamber was entirely of porcelain; a golden flower on a
+ground of delicate green.
+
+'I will send your people to you,' said Fakredeen; 'but, in the meantime,
+there are attendants here who are, perhaps, more used to the duty;' and,
+so saying, he clapped his hands, and several servants appeared, bearing
+baskets of curious linen, whiter than the snow of Lebanon, and a variety
+of robes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII.
+
+     _Strange Ceremonies._
+
+IT HAS been long decreed that no poet may introduce the Phoenix. Scylla
+and Charybdis are both successfully avoided even by provincial rhetoric.
+The performance of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted, and Mahomet's
+unhappy coffin, these are illustrations that have long been the
+prerogative of dolts and dullards. It is not for a moment to be
+tolerated that an oasis should be met with anywhere except in the
+desert.
+
+We sadly lack a new stock of public images. The current similes, if
+not absolutely counterfeit, are quite worn out. They have no intrinsic
+value, and serve only as counters to represent the absence of ideas.
+The critics should really call them in. In the good old days, when the
+superscription was fresh, and the mint mark bright upon the metal, we
+should have compared the friendship of two young men to that of Damon
+and Pythias. These were individuals then still well known in polite
+society. If their examples have ceased to influence, it cannot
+be pretended that the extinction of their authority has been the
+consequence of competition. Our enlightened age has not produced them
+any rivals.
+
+Of all the differences between the ancients and ourselves, none more
+striking than our respective ideas of friendship. Grecian friendship
+was indeed so ethereal, that it is difficult to define its essential
+qualities. They must be sought rather in the pages of Plato, or the
+moral essays of Plutarch perhaps, and in some other books not quite
+as well known, but not less interesting and curious. As for modern
+friendship, it will be found in clubs. It is violent at a house
+dinner, fervent in a cigar shop, full of devotion at a cricket or a
+pigeon-match, or in the gathering of a steeple-chase. The nineteenth
+century is not entirely sceptical on the head of friendship, but fears
+'tis rare. A man may have friends, but then, are they sincere ones?
+Do not they abuse you behind your back, and blackball you at societies
+where they have had the honour to propose you? It might philosophically
+be suggested that it is more agreeable to be abused behind one's back
+than to one's face; and, as for the second catastrophe, it should not be
+forgotten that if the sincere friend may occasionally put a successful
+veto on your election, he is always ready to propose you again.
+Generally speaking, among sensible persons it would seem that a rich man
+deems that friend a sincere one who does not want to borrow his money;
+while, among the less favoured with fortune's gifts, the sincere friend
+is generally esteemed to be the individual who is ready to lend it.
+
+As we must not compare Tancred and Fakredeen to Damon and Pythias,
+and as we cannot easily find in Pall Mall or Park Lane a parallel more
+modish, we must be content to say, that youth, sympathy, and occasion
+combined to create between them that intimacy which each was prompt to
+recognise as one of the principal sources of his happiness, and which
+the young Emir, at any rate, was persuaded must be as lasting as it was
+fervent and profound.
+
+Fakredeen was seen to great advantage among his mountains. He was an
+object of universal regard, and, anxious to maintain the repute of which
+he was proud, and which was to be the basis of his future power,
+it seemed that he was always in a gracious and engaging position.
+Brilliant, sumptuous, and hospitable, always doing something kind, or
+saying something that pleased, the Emirs and Sheikhs, both Maronite and
+Druse, were proud of the princely scion of their greatest house, and
+hastened to repair to Ca-nobia, where they were welcome to ride any of
+his two hundred steeds, feast on his flocks, quaff his golden wine of
+Lebanon, or smoke the delicate tobaccos of his celebrated slopes.
+
+As for Tancred, his life was novel, interesting, and exciting. The
+mountain breezes soon restored his habitual health; his wound entirely
+healed; each day brought new scenes, new objects, new characters; and
+there was ever at his side a captivating companion, who lent additional
+interest to all he saw and heard by perpetually dwelling on the great
+drama which they were preparing, and in which all these personages and
+circumstances were to perform their part and advance their purpose.
+
+At this moment Fakredeen proposed to himself two objects: the first was,
+to bring together the principal chiefs of the mountain, both Maronite
+and Druse, and virtually to carry into effect at Ca-nobia that
+reconciliation between the two races which had been formally effected at
+Beiroot, in the preceding month of June, by the diplomatic interference
+of the Great Powers, and through the signature of certain articles of
+peace to which we have alluded. His second object was to increase his
+already considerable influence with these personages, by exhibiting
+to them, as his guest and familiar friend, an English prince, whose
+presence could only be accounted for by duties too grave for ordinary
+envoys, and who was understood to represent, in their fullest sense, the
+wealth and authority of the richest and most potent of nations.
+
+The credulous air of Syria was favourable to the great mystification in
+which Lord Montacute was an unconscious agent. It was as fully believed
+in the mountain, by all the Habeishes and the Eldadahs, the Kazins and
+the Elvasuds, the Elheires, and the Hai-dars, great Maronite families,
+as well as by the Druse Djinblats and their rivals, the House of
+Yezbeck, or the House of Talhook, or the House of Abuneked, that the
+brother of the Queen of England was a guest at Canobia as it was in the
+stony wilderness of Petrsea. Ahmet Raslan the Druse and Butros Kerauney
+the Maronite, who agreed upon no other point, were resolved on this. And
+was it wonderful, for Butros had already received privately two hundred
+muskets since the arrival of Tancred, and Raslan had been promised in
+confidence a slice of the impending English loan by Fakredeen?
+
+The extraordinary attention, almost homage, which the Emir paid his
+guest entirely authorised these convictions, although they could justify
+no suspicion on the part of Tancred. The natural simplicity of his
+manners, indeed, and his constitutional reserve, recoiled from the state
+and ceremony with which he found himself frequently surrounded and too
+often treated; but Fakredeen peremptorily stopped his remonstrances by
+assuring him that it was the custom of the country, and that every one
+present would be offended if a guest of distinction were not entertained
+with this extreme respect. It is impossible to argue against the customs
+of a country with which you are not acquainted, but coming home one
+day from a hawking party, a large assembly of the most influential
+chieftains, Fakredeen himself bounding on a Kochlani steed, and arrayed
+in a dress that would have become Solyman the Magnificent, Tancred about
+to dismount, the Lord of Canobia pushed forward, and, springing from his
+saddle, insisted on holding the stirrup of Lord Montacute.
+
+'I cannot permit this,' said Tancred, reddening, and keeping his seat.
+
+'If you do not, there is not a man here who will not take it as a
+personal insult,' said the Emir, speaking rapidly between his teeth,
+yet affecting to smile. 'It has been the custom of the mountain for more
+than seven hundred years.'
+
+'Very strange,' thought Tancred, as he complied and dismounted.
+
+All Syria, from Gaza to the Euphrates, is feudal. The system, generally
+prevalent, flourishes in the mountain region even with intenseness. An
+attempt to destroy feudalism occasioned the revolt against the Egyptians
+in 1840, and drove Mehemet Ali from the country which had cost him so
+much blood and treasure. Every disorder that has subsequently occurred
+in Syria since the Turkish restoration may be traced to some officious
+interposition or hostile encroachment in this respect. The lands of
+Lebanon are divided into fifteen Mookatas, or feudal provinces, and the
+rights of the mookatadgis, or landlords, in these provinces, are power
+of punishment not extending to death, service in war, and labour in
+peace, and the collection of the imperial revenue from the population,
+who are in fact their vassals, on which they receive a percentage from
+the Porte. The administration of police, of the revenue, and indeed
+the whole internal government of Lebanon, are in the hands of the
+mookatadgis, or rather of the most powerful individuals of this class,
+who bear the titles of Emirs and Sheikhs, some of whom are proprietors
+to a very great extent, and many of whom, in point of race and antiquity
+of established family, are superior to the aristocracy of Europe.
+
+There is no doubt that the founders of this privileged and territorial
+class, whatever may be the present creeds of its members, Moslemin,
+Maronite, or Druse, were the old Arabian conquerors of Syria. The Turks,
+conquerors in their turn, have succeeded in some degree in the plain to
+the estates and immunities of the followers of the first caliphs; but
+the Ottomans never substantially prevailed in the Highlands, and their
+authority has been recognised mainly by management, and as a convenient
+compromise amid the rivalries of so many local ambitions.
+
+Always conspicuous among the great families of the Lebanon, during
+the last century and a half preeminent, has been the House of Shehaab,
+possessing entirely one of the provinces, and widely disseminated and
+powerfully endowed in several of the others. Since the commencement of
+the eighteenth century, the virtual sovereignty of the country has been
+exercised by a prince of this family, under the title of Chief Emir. The
+chiefs of all the different races have kissed the hand of a Shehaab; he
+had the power of life and death, could proclaim war and confer honours.
+Of all this family, none were so supreme as the Emir Bescheer, who
+governed Lebanon during the Egyptian invasion, and to whose subdolous
+career and its consequences we have already referred. When the Turks
+triumphed in 1840, the Emir Bescheer was deposed, and with his sons sent
+prisoner to Constantinople. The Porte, warned at that time by the too
+easy invasion of Syria and the imminent peril which it had escaped,
+wished itself to assume the government of Lebanon, and to garrison the
+passes with its troops; but the Christian Powers would not consent to
+this proposition, and therefore Kassim Shehaab was called to the Chief
+Emirate. Acted upon by the patriarch of the Maronites, Kassim, who was a
+Christian Shehaab, countenanced the attempts of his holiness to destroy
+the feudal privileges of the Druse mookatadgis, while those of the
+Maronites were to be retained. This produced the civil war of 1841
+in Lebanon, which so perplexed and scandalised England, and which
+was triumphantly appealed to by France as indubitable evidence of the
+weakness and unpopularity of the Turks, and the fruitlessness of our
+previous interference. The Turks had as little to do with it as M.
+Guizot or Lord Palmerston; but so limited is our knowledge upon these
+subjects that the cry was successful, and many who had warmly supported
+the English minister during the previous year, and probably in equal
+ignorance of the real merits of the question, began now to shake their
+heads and fear that we had perhaps been too precipitate.
+
+The Porte adroitly took advantage of the general anarchy to enforce
+the expediency of its original proposition, to which the Great Powers,
+however, would not assent. Kassim was deposed, after a reign of a few
+months, amid burning villages and their slaughtered inhabitants; and, as
+the Porte was resolved not to try another Shehaab, and the Great Powers
+were resolved not to trust the Porte, diplomacy was obliged again to
+interfere, and undertake to provide Lebanon with a government.
+
+It was the interest of two parties, whose cooperation was highly
+essential to the settlement of this question, to prevent the desired
+adjustment, and these were the Turkish government and the family of
+Shehaab and their numerous adherents. Anarchy was an argument in the
+mouth of each, that the Lebanon must be governed by the Porte, or that
+there never could be tranquillity without a Shehaab prince. The Porte in
+general contented itself with being passive and watching the fray, while
+the agents of the Great Powers planned and promulgated their scheme of
+polity. The Shehaabs were more active, and their efforts were greatly
+assisted by the European project which was announced.
+
+The principal feature of this administrative design was the institution
+of two governors of Lebanon, called Caimacams, one of whom was to be a
+Maronite and govern the Maronites, and the other a Druse and govern his
+fellow-countrymen. Superficially, this seemed fair enough, but
+reduced into practice the machinery would not work. For instance, the
+populations in many places were blended. Was a Druse Caimacam to govern
+the Christians in his district? Was the government of the two Caimacams
+to be sectarian or geographical? Should the Christian Caimacam govern
+all the Christians, and the Druse Caimacam govern all the Druses of
+the Lebanon? Or should the Christian Caimacam govern the Christian
+Mook-atas, as well as such Druses as lived mixed with the Christians
+in the Christian Mookatas, and the Druse Caimacam in the Druse country
+exercise the same rights?
+
+Hence arose the terms of mixed Druses and mixed Christians; mixed Druses
+meaning Druses living in the Christian country, and mixed Christians
+those living in the Druse country. Such was the origin of the mixed
+population question, which entirely upset the project of Downing Street;
+happy spot, where they draw up constitutions for Syria and treaties for
+China with the same self-complacency and the same success!
+
+Downing Street (1842) decided upon the sectarian government of the
+Lebanon. It was simple, and probably satisfactory, to Exeter Hall;
+but Downing Street was quite unaware, or had quite forgotten, that the
+feudal system prevailed throughout Lebanon. The Christians in the Druse
+districts were vassals of Druse lords. The direct rule of a Christian
+Caimacam was an infringement on all the feudal rights of the Djinblats
+and Yezbecks, of the Talhooks and the Abdel-Maleks. It would be equally
+fatal to the feudal rights of the Christian chiefs, the Kazins and
+the El-dadahs, the Elheires and the El Dahers, as regarded their Druse
+tenantry, unless the impossible plan of the patriarch of the Maronites,
+which had already produced a civil war, had been adopted. Diplomacy,
+therefore, seemed on the point of at length succeeding in uniting the
+whole population of Lebanon in one harmonious action, but unfortunately
+against its own project.
+
+The Shehaab party availed themselves of these circumstances with
+great dexterity and vigour. The party was powerful. The whole of the
+Maronites, a population of more than 150,000, were enrolled in their
+ranks. The Emir Bescheer was of their faith; so was the unfortunate
+Kassim. True, there were several Shehaab princes who were Moslemin, but
+they might become Christians, and they were not Druses, at least only
+two or three of them. The Maronite clergy exercised an unquestioned
+influence over their flocks. It was powerfully organised: a patriarch,
+numerous monasteries, nine prelates, and an active country priesthood.
+
+Previously to the civil war of 1841, the feeling of the Druses had been
+universally in favour of the Shehaabs. The peril in which feudalism
+was placed revived their ancient sentiments. A Shehaab committee
+was appointed, with perpetual sittings at Deir el Kamar, the most
+considerable place in the Lebanon; and, although it was chiefly composed
+of Christians, there were several Druses at least in correspondence with
+it. But the most remarkable institution which occurred about this time
+(1844) was that of 'Young Syria.' It flourishes: in every town and
+village of Lebanon there is a band of youth who acknowledge the title,
+and who profess nationality as their object, though, behind that plea,
+the restoration of the House of Shehaab generally peeps out.
+
+Downing Street, frightened, gave up sectarian diplomacy, and announced
+the adoption of the geographical principle of government. The Druses,
+now that their feudal privileges were secured, cooled in their ardour
+for nationality. The Shehaabs, on the other hand, finding that the
+Druses were not to be depended on, changed their note. 'Is it to be
+tolerated for a moment, that a Christian should be governed by a Druse?
+Were it a Moslem, one might bear it; these things will happen; but a
+Druse, who adores a golden calf, worshippers of Eblis! One might as well
+be governed by a Jew.'
+
+The Maronite patriarch sent 200,000 piastres to his children to buy
+arms; the superior of the convent of Maashmooshi forwarded little
+less, saying it was much better to spend their treasure in helping the
+Christians than, in keeping it to be plundered by the Druses. Bishop
+Tubia gave his bond for a round sum, but afterwards recalled it; Bishop
+Joseph Djezini came into Sidon with his pockets full, and told the
+people that a prince of the House of Shehaab would soon be at their
+head, but explained on a subsequent occasion that he went thither merely
+to distribute charity.
+
+In this state of affairs, in May, 1845, the civil war broke out. The
+Christians attacked the Druses in several districts on the same day. The
+attack was unprovoked, and eventually unsuccessful. Twenty villages
+were seen burning at the same time from Beiroot. The Druses repulsed
+the Christians and punished them sharply; the Turkish troops, at the
+instigation of the European authorities, marched into the mountain and
+vigorously interfered. The Maronites did not show as much courage in the
+field as in the standing committee at Deir el Kamar, but several of the
+Shehaab princes who headed them, especially the Emir Kais, maintained
+the reputation of their house and displayed a brilliant courage. The
+Emir Fakre-deen was at Canobia at the time of the outbreak, which, as it
+often happens, though not unpremeditated, was unexpected. He marched to
+the scene of action at the head of his troops, and, when he found
+that Kais had been outflanked and repulsed, that the Maronites were
+disheartened in proportion to their previous vanity and insolence, and
+that the Turkish forces had interfered, he assumed the character of
+mediator. Taking advantage of the circumstances and the alarm of all
+parties at the conjuncture and its yet unascertained consequences, he
+obtained for the Maronites a long-promised indemnity from the Porte for
+the ravages of the Druses in the civil war of 1841, which the Druses
+had been unable to pay, on condition that they should accept the
+geographical scheme of government; and, having signed, with other Emirs
+and Sheikhs, the ten articles of peace, he departed, as we have seen, on
+that visit to Jerusalem which exercised such control over the career
+of Lord Monta-cute, and led to such strange results and such singular
+adventures.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+     _Festivities in Canobia_
+
+GALLOPED up the winding steep of Canobia the Sheikh Said Djinblat,
+one of the most popular chieftains of the Druses; amiable and brave,
+trustworthy and soft-mannered. Four of his cousins rode after him: he
+came from his castle of Mooktara, which was not distant. He was in the
+prime of manhood, tall and lithe; enveloped in a burnous which shrouded
+his dark eye, his white turban, and his gold-embroidered vests; his long
+lance was couched in its rest, as he galloped up the winding steep of
+Canobia.
+
+Came slowly, on steeds dark as night, up the winding steep of Canobia,
+with a company of twenty men on foot armed with muskets and handjars,
+the two ferocious brothers Abuneked, Nasif and Hamood. Pale is the cheek
+of the daughters of Maron at the fell name of Abuneked. The Abunekeds
+were the Druse lords of the town of Deir el Kamar, where the majority of
+the inhabitants were Christian. When the patriarch tried to deprive the
+Druses of their feudal rights, the Abunekeds attacked and sacked their
+own town of Deir el Kamar. The civil war being terminated, and it being
+agreed, in the settlement of the indemnities from the Druses to the
+Maronites, that all plunder still in possession of the plunderers should
+be restored, Nasif Abuneked said, 'I have five hundred silver horns, and
+each of them I took from the head of a Christian woman. Come and fetch
+them.'
+
+But all this is forgotten now; and least of all should it be remembered
+by the meek-looking individual who is at this moment about to ascend
+the winding steep of Canobia. Riding on a mule, clad in a coarse brown
+woollen dress, in Italy or Spain we should esteem him a simple Capuchin,
+but in truth he is a prelate, and a prelate of great power; Bishop
+Nicodemus, to wit, prime councillor of the patriarch, and chief prompter
+of those measures that occasioned the civil war of 1841. A single
+sacristan walks behind him, his only retinue, and befitting his limited
+resources; but the Maronite prelate is recompensed by universal respect;
+his vanity is perpetually gratified, and, when he appears, Sheikh and
+peasant are alike proud to kiss the hand which his reverence is ever
+prompt to extend.
+
+Placed on a more eminent stage, and called upon to control larger
+circumstances, Bishop Nicodemus might have rivalled the Bishop of Autun;
+so fertile was he in resource, and so intuitive was his knowledge of
+men. As it was, he wasted his genius in mountain squabbles, and in
+regulating the discipline of his little church; suspending priests,
+interdicting monks, and inflicting public penance on the laity. He
+rather resembled De Retz than Talleyrand, for he was naturally turbulent
+and intriguing. He could under no circumstances let well alone. He was
+a thorough Syrian, at once subtle and imaginative. Attached to the House
+of Shehaab by policy, he was devoted to Fakredeen as much by sympathy
+as interest, and had contrived the secret mission of Archbishop Murad
+to Europe, which had so much perplexed M. Guizot, Lord Cowley, and Lord
+Aberdeen; and which finally, by the intervention of the same Bishop
+Nicodemus, Fakredeen had disowned.
+
+Came caracoling up the winding steep of Canobia a troop of horsemen,
+showily attired, and riding steeds that danced in the sunny air. These
+were the princes Kais and Abdullah Shehaab, and Francis El Kazin, whom
+the Levantines called Caseno, and the principal members of the Young
+Syria party; some of them beardless Sheikhs, but all choicely mounted,
+and each holding on his wrist a falcon; for this was the first day of
+the year that they might fly. But those who cared not to seek a quarry
+in the partridge or the gazelle, might find the wild boar or track the
+panther in the spacious woods of Canobia.
+
+And the Druse chief of the House of Djezbek, who for five hundred years
+had never yielded precedence to the House of Djinblat, and Sheikh Fahour
+Kange, who since the civil war had never smoked a pipe with a Maronite,
+but who now gave the salaam of peace to the crowds of Habeishs and
+Dahdahes who passed by; and Butros Keramy, the nephew of the patriarch,
+himself a great Sheikh, who inhaled his nargileh as he rode, and who
+looked to the skies and puffed forth his smoke whenever he met a son
+of Eblis; and the House of Talhook, and the House of Abdel-Malek and
+a swarm of Elvasuds, and Elheires, and El Dahers, Emirs and Sheikhs on
+their bounding steeds, and musketeers on foot, with their light jackets
+and bare legs and wooden sandals, and black slaves, carrying vases and
+tubes; everywhere a brilliant and animated multitude, and all mounting
+the winding steep of Canobia.
+
+The great court of the castle was crowded with men and horses, and fifty
+mouths at once were drinking at the central basin; the arcades were full
+of Sheikhs, smoking and squatted on their carpets, which in general they
+had spread in this locality in preference to the more formal saloons,
+whose splendid divans rather embarrassed them; though even these
+chambers were well attended, the guests principally seated on the marble
+floors covered with their small bright carpets. The domain immediately
+around the castle was also crowded with human beings. The moment anyone
+arrived, his steed was stabled or picketed; his attendants spread his
+carpet, sought food for him, which was promptly furnished, with coffee
+and sherbets, and occasionally wine; and when he had sufficiently
+refreshed himself, he lighted his nargileh.
+
+Everywhere there was a murmur, but no uproar; a stir, but no tumult. And
+what was most remarkable amid these spears and sabres, these muskets,
+handjars, and poniards, was the sweet and perpetually recurring Syrian
+salutation of 'Peace.'
+
+Fakredeen, moving about in an immense turban, of the most national and
+unreformed style, and covered with costly shawls and arms flaming with
+jewels, recognised and welcomed everyone. He accosted Druse and Maronite
+with equal cordiality, talked much with Said Djinblat, whom he specially
+wished to gain, and lent one of his choicest steeds to the Djezbek, that
+he might not be offended. The Talhook and the Abdel-Malek could not be
+jealous of the Habeish and the Eldadah. He kissed the hand of Bishop
+Nicodemus, but then he sent his own nargileh to the Emir Ahmet Raslan,
+who was Caimacam of the Druses.
+
+In this strange and splendid scene, Tancred, dressed in a velvet
+shooting-jacket built in St. James' Street and a wide-awake which had
+been purchased at Bellamont market, and leaning on a rifle which was the
+masterpiece of Purday, was not perhaps the least interesting personage.
+The Emirs and Sheikhs, notwithstanding the powers of dissimulation for
+which the Orientals are renowned, their habits of self-restraint, and
+their rooted principle never to seem surprised about anything, have a
+weakness in respect to arms. After eyeing Tancred for a considerable
+time with imperturbable countenances, Francis El Kazin sent to Fakredeen
+to know whether the English prince would favour them by shooting an
+eagle. This broke the ice, and Fakredeen came, and soon the rifle was in
+the hands of Francis El Kazin. Sheikh Said Djinblat, who would have died
+rather than have noticed the rifle in the hands of Tancred, could not
+resist examining it when in the possession of a brother Sheikh. Kais
+Shehaab, several Habeishes and Elda-dahs gathered round; exclamations
+of wonder and admiration arose; sundry asseverations that God was great
+followed.
+
+Freeman and Trueman, who were at hand, were summoned to show their
+lord's double-barrelled gun, and his pistols with hair-triggers.
+This they did, with that stupid composure and dogged conceit which
+distinguish English servants in situations which must elicit from all
+other persons some ebullition of feeling.
+
+Exchanging between themselves glances of contempt at the lords of
+Lebanon, who were ignorant of what everybody knows, they exhibited
+the arms without the slightest interest or anxiety to make the Sheikhs
+comprehend them; till Tancred, mortified at their brutality, himself
+interfered, and, having already no inconsiderable knowledge of the
+language of the country, though, from his reserve, Fakredeen little
+suspected the extent of his acquirements, explained felicitously to
+his companions the process of the arms; and then taking his rifle, and
+stepping out upon the terrace, he levelled his piece at a heron which
+was soaring at a distance of upwards of one hundred yards, and brought
+the bird down amid the applause both of Maronite and Druse.
+
+'He is sent here, I understand,' said Butros Keramy, 'to ascertain
+for the Queen of the English whether the country is in favour of the
+Shehaabs. Could you believe it, but I was told yesterday at Deir el
+Kamar, that the English consul has persuaded the Queen that even the
+patriarch was against the Shehaabs?'
+
+'Is it possible?' said Rafael Farah, a Maronite of the House
+of Eldadah. 'It must be the Druses who circulate these enormous
+falsehoods.'
+
+'Hush!' said Young Syria, in the shape of Francis El Kazin, 'there is no
+longer Maronite or Druse: we are all Syrians, we are brothers.'
+
+'Then a good many of my brothers are sons of Eblis,' said Butros Keramy.
+'I hope he is not my father.'
+
+'Truly, I should like to see the mountain without the Maronite nation,'
+said Rafael Farah. 'That would be a year without rain.'
+
+'And mighty things your Maronite nation has done!' rejoined Francis El
+Kazin. 'If there had been the Syrian nation instead of the Maronite
+nation, and the Druse nation, and half a dozen other nations besides,
+instead of being conquered by Egypt in 1832, we should have conquered
+Egypt ourselves long ago, and have held it for our farm. We have done
+mighty things truly with our Maronite nation!'
+
+'To hear an El Kazin speak against the Maronite nation!' exclaimed
+Rafael Farah, with a look of horror; 'a natipn that has two hundred
+convents!'
+
+'And a patriarch,' said Butros Keramy, 'very much respected even by the
+Pope of Rome.'
+
+'And who were disarmed like sheep,' said Francis.
+
+'Not because we were beaten,' said Butros, who was brave enough.
+
+'We were persuaded to that,' said Rafael.
+
+'By our monks,' said Francis; 'the convents you are so proud of.'
+
+'They were deceived by sons of Eblis,' said Butros. 'I never gave up
+my arms. I have some pieces now, that, although they are not as fine
+as those of the English prince, could pick a son of Eblis off behind a
+rock, whether he be Egyptian or Druse.'
+
+'Hush!' said Francis El Kazin. 'You love our host, Butros; these are not
+words that will please him----'
+
+'Or me, my children,' said Bishop Nicodemus. 'This is a great day for
+Syria! to find the chiefs of both nations assembled at the castle of a
+Shehaab. Why am I here but to preach peace and love? And Butros Keramy,
+my friend, my dearly beloved brother Butros, if you wish to please the
+patriarch, your uncle, who loves you so well, you will no longer call
+Druses sons of Eblis.'
+
+'What are we to call them?' asked Rafael Farah, pettishly.
+
+'Brothers,' replied Bishop Nicodemus; 'misguided, but still brothers.
+This is not a moment for brawls, when the great Queen of the English has
+sent hither her own brother to witness the concord of the mountain.'
+
+Now arose the sound of tabors, beaten without any attempt at a tune, but
+with unremitting monotony, then the baying of many hounds more distant.
+There was a bustle. Many Sheikhs slowly rose; their followers rushed
+about; some looked at their musket locks, some poised their pikes and
+spears, some unsheathed their handjars, examined their edge, and then
+returned them to their sheath. Those who were in the interior of the
+castle came crowding into the great court, which, in turn, poured forth
+its current of population into the table-land about the castle. Here,
+held by grooms, or picketed, were many steeds. The mares of the Emir
+Fakredeen were led about by his black slaves. Many of the Sheikhs,
+mounted, prepared for the pastime that awaited them.
+
+There was to be a grand chase in the oak forest, through part of which
+Tancred had already travelled, and which spread over a portion of the
+plain and the low hilly country that encompassed it. Three parties,
+respectively led by the Emir Fakredeen, and the Caimacams of the two
+nations, were to penetrate into this forest at different and distant
+points, so that the sport was spread over a surface of many miles.
+The heads of the great houses of both nations accompanied the Emir of
+Canobia; their relatives and followers, by the exertions of Francis El
+Kazin and Young Syria, were in general so disturbed that the Maronites
+were under the command of the Emir Raslan, the Druse Caimacam, while the
+Druses followed the Emir Hai-dar. This great hunting party consisted of
+more than eight hundred persons, about half of whom were mounted, but
+all were armed; even those who held the dogs in leash were entitled
+to join in the sport with the same freedom as the proudest Sheikh. The
+three leaders having mounted and bowed gracefully to each other, the
+cavalcades separated and descended into the plain. The moment they
+reached the level country, the horsemen shouted and dispersed, galloping
+in all directions, and many of them throwing their spears; but, in a
+short time, they had collected again under their respective leaders, and
+the three distinct bodies, each a moving and many-coloured mass, might
+be observed from the castled heights, each instant diminishing in size
+and lustre, until they vanished at different points in the distance, and
+were lost amid the shades of the forest.
+
+For many hours throughout this region nothing was heard but the firing
+of guns, the baying of hounds, the shouting of men; not a human being
+was visible, except some groups of women in the villages, with veils
+suspended on immense silver horns, like our female headgear of the
+middle ages. By-and-by, figures were seen stealing forth from the
+forest, men on foot, one or two, then larger parties; some reposed on
+the plain, some returned to the villages, some re-ascended the winding
+steeps of Canobia. The firing, the shouting, the baying had become more
+occasional. Now a wearied horseman picked his slow way over the plain;
+then came forth a brighter company, still bounding along. And now they
+issued, but slowly and in small parties, from various and opposite
+quarters of the woodland. A great detachment, in a certain order, were
+then observed to cross the plain, and approach the castle. They advanced
+very gradually, for most of them were on foot, and joining together,
+evidently carried burdens; they were preceded and followed by a guard
+of cavalry. Soon it might be perceived that the produce of the chase was
+arriving: twenty-five wild boars carried on litters of green branches;
+innumerable gazelles borne by their victors; transfixed by four spears,
+and carried by four men, a hyena.
+
+Not very long after this caravan had reached the castle, the firing,
+which had died away, recommenced; the sounds were near at hand; there
+was a volley, and almost simultaneously there issued from various parts
+of the forest the great body of the hunt. They maintained no order on
+their return, but dispersed over the plain, blending together, galloping
+their steeds, throwing their lances, and occasionally firing a shot.
+Fakredeen and his immediate friends rode up to the Caimacam of the
+Druses, and they offered each other mutual congratulations on the sport
+of the morning. They waited for the Caimacam of the Maronites, who,
+however, did not long detain them; and, when he appeared, their suites
+joined, and, cantering off at a brisk pace, they soon mounted in company
+the winding steeps of Canobia.
+
+The kitchen of Canobia was on a great scale, though simple as it was
+vast. It was formed for the occasion. About fifty square pits, some four
+feet in length, and about half as deep, had been dug on the table-land
+in the vicinity of the castle. At each corner of each pit was a stake,
+and the four supported a rustic gridiron of green wood, suspended over
+each pit, which was filled with charcoal, and which yielded an equal
+and continuous heat to the animal reposing on the gridiron: in some
+instances a wild boar, in others a sheep--occasionally a couple of
+gazelles. The sheep had been skinned, for there had been time for the
+operation; but the game had only been split open, cleared out, and laid
+on its back, with its feet tied to each of the stakes, so as to retain
+its position. While this roasting was going on, they filled the stomachs
+of the animals with lemons gashed with their daggers, and bruised
+pomegranates, whose fragrant juice, uniting with the bubbling fat,
+produced an aromatic and rosy gravy. The huntsmen were the cooks, but
+the greatest order was preserved; and though the Emirs and the great
+Sheikhs, heads of houses, retiring again to their divans, occupied
+themselves with their nargilehs, many a mookatadgi mixed with the
+servants and the slaves, and delighted in preparing this patriarchal
+banquet, which indeed befitted a castle and a forest. Within the walls
+they prepared rice, which they piled on brazen and pewter dishes,
+boiled gallons of coffee, and stewed the liver of the wild boars and the
+gazelles in the golden wine of Lebanon.
+
+The way they dined was this. Fakredeen had his carpet spread on the
+marble floor of his principal saloon, and the two Caimacams, Tancred
+and Bishop Nicodemus, Said Djinblat, the heads of the Houses of Djezbek,
+Talhook, and Abdel-Malek, Hamood Abune-ked, and five Maronite chieftains
+of equal consideration, the Emirs of the House of Shehaab, the Habeish,
+and the Eldadah, were invited to sit with him. Round the chamber which
+opened to the air, other chieftains were invited to spread their
+carpets also; the centre was left clear. The rest of the Sheikhs and
+rhookatadgis established themselves in small parties, grouped in the
+same fashion, in the great court and under the arcades, taking care to
+leave free egress and regress to the fountain. The retainers feasted,
+when all was over, in the open air.
+
+Every man found his knife in his girdle, forks were unknown. Fakredeen
+prided himself on his French porcelain, which the Djinblats, the
+Talhooks, and the Abunekeds glanced at very queerly. This European
+luxury was confined to his own carpet. There was, however, a
+considerable supply of Egyptian earthenware, and dishes of pewter and
+brass. The retainers, if they required a plate, found one in the large
+flat barley cake with which each was supplied. For the principal guests
+there was no want of coarse goblets of Bohemian glass; delicious
+water abounded in vases of porous pottery, which might be blended, if
+necessary, with the red or white wine of the mountain. The rice, which
+had been dressed with a savoury sauce, was eaten with wooden spoons
+by those who were supplied with these instruments; but in general the
+guests served themselves by handfuls.
+
+Ten men brought in a framework of oaken branches placed transversely,
+then covered with twigs, and over these, and concealing everything, a
+bed, fully an inch thick, of mulberry leaves. Upon this fragrant bier
+reposed a wild boar; and on each side of him reclined a gazelle. Their
+bodies had closed the moment their feet had been loosened from the
+stakes, so that the gravy was contained within them. It required a most
+skilful carver not to waste this precious liquid. The chamber was filled
+with an invigorating odour as the practised hand of Habas of Deir el
+Kamar proceeded to the great performance. His instruments were a silver
+cup, a poniard, and a handjar. Making a small aperture in the side of
+the animal, he adroitly introduced the cup, and proportionately baled
+out the gravy to a group of plates that were extended to him; then,
+plunging in the long poniard on which he rested, he made an incision
+with the keen edge and broad blade of the handjar, and sent forth slice
+after slice of white fat and ruby flesh.
+
+The same ceremony was performing in the other parts of the castle.
+Ten of the pits had been cleared of their burden to appease the first
+cravings of the appetite of the hunters. The fires had been replenished,
+the gridirons again covered, and such a supply kept up as should not
+only satisfy the chieftains, but content their followers. Tancred could
+not refrain from contrasting the silent, business-like way in which the
+Shehaabs, the Talhooks, the Djinblats, and the Habeish performed the
+great operation that was going on, with the conversation which is
+considered an indispensable accompaniment of a dinner in Fran-guestan;
+for we must no longer presume to call Europe by its beautiful oriental
+name of Christendom. The Shehaabs, the Talhooks, the Djinblats, and the
+Habeish were sensible men, who were of opinion that if you want to talk
+you should not by any means eat, since from such an attempt at a united
+performance it generally results that you neither converse nor refresh
+yourself in a satisfactory manner.
+
+There can be no question that, next to the corroding cares of Europeans,
+principally occasioned by their love of accumulating money which they
+never enjoy, the principal cause of the modern disorder of dyspepsia
+prevalent among them is their irrational habit of interfering with the
+process of digestion by torturing attempts at repartee, and racking
+their brain at a moment when it should be calm, to remind themselves of
+some anecdote so appropriate that they have forgotten it. It has been
+supposed that the presence of women at our banquets has occasioned this
+fatal and inopportune desire to shine; and an argument has been founded
+on this circumstance in favour of their exclusion from an incident
+which, on the whole, has a tendency to impair that ideal which they
+should always study and cherish. It may be urged that if a woman eats
+she may destroy her spell; and that, if she will not eat, she destroys
+our dinner.
+
+Notwithstanding all this, and without giving any opinion on this latter
+point, it should be remembered that at dinners strictly male, where
+there is really no excuse for anything of the kind, where, if you are
+a person of ascertained position, you are invited for that position
+and for nothing else, and where, if you are not a person of ascertained
+position, the more agreeable you make yourself the more you will be
+hated, and the less chance you will have of being asked there again,
+or anywhere else, still this fatal frenzy prevails; and individuals are
+found who, from soup to coffee, from egg to apple, will tell anecdotes,
+indulge in jests, or, in a tone of levity approaching to jesting, pour
+forth garrulous secret history with which everyone is acquainted, and
+never say a single thing which is new that is not coolly invented for
+the occasion.
+
+The princes of the Houses of Shehaab, Kais, and Assaad, and Abdullah,
+the Habeish and the Eldadah, the great Houses of the Druses, the
+Djinblat and the Yezbek, the Abuneked, the Talhook, and the Abdel-Malek,
+were not of this school. Silently, determinedly, unceasing, unsatiated,
+they proceeded with the great enterprise on which they had embarked. If
+the two nations were indeed to be united, and form a great whole
+under the sceptre of a Shehaab, let not this banquet pass like the
+hypocritical hospitality of ordinary life, where men offer what they
+desire not to be accepted by those who have no wish to receive. This, on
+the contrary, was a real repast, a thing to be remembered. Practice
+made the guests accustomed to the porcelain of Paris and the goblets of
+Prague. Many was the goodly slice of wild boar, succeeded by the
+rich flesh of the gazelle, of which they disposed. There were also
+wood-pigeons, partridges, which the falconers had brought down, and
+quails from the wilderness. At length they called again for rice, a
+custom which intimated that their appetite for meat was satisfied, and
+immediately Nubian slaves covered them with towels of fine linen fringed
+with gold, and, while they held their hands over the basin, poured sweet
+waters from the ewer.
+
+In the meantime, Butros Keramy opened his heart to Rafael Farah.
+
+'I begin,' said Butros, quaffing a cup of the Vino d'Oro, 'to believe in
+nationality.'
+
+'It cannot be denied,' said Rafael Farah, judiciously shaking his head,
+'that the two nations were once under the same prince. If the great
+powers would agree to a Shehaab, and we could sometimes meet together in
+the present fashion, there is no saying, prejudices might wear off.'
+
+'Shall it ever be said that I am of the same nation as Hamood Abuneked?'
+said Butros.
+
+'Ah! it is very dreadful,' said Rafael; 'a man who has burned convents!'
+
+'And who has five hundred Maronite horns in his castle,' said Butros.
+
+'But suppose he restores them?' said Francis El Kazin.
+
+'That would make a difference,' said Rafael Farah.
+
+'There can be no difference while he lives,' said Butros.
+
+'I fear 'tis an affair of blood,' said Rafael Farah.
+
+'Taking horns was never an affair of blood,' said Francis El Kazin.
+
+'What should be an affair of blood,' said Butros, 'if----'
+
+'But nothing else but taking horns can be proved,' said Francis El
+Kazin.
+
+'There is a good deal in that!' said Rafael Farah.
+
+After confectionery which had been prepared by nuns, and strong waters
+which had been distilled by the hands of priors, the chieftains praised
+God, and rose, and took their seats on the divan, when immediately
+advanced a crowd of slaves, each bearing a nargileh, which they
+presented to the guests. Then gradually the conversation commenced. It
+was entirely confined to the exploits of the day, which had been rich in
+the heroic feats of forest huntsmen. There had been wild boars, too,
+as brave as their destroyers; some slight wounds, some narrow escapes.
+Sheikh Said Djinblat inquired of Lord Montacute whether there were
+hyenas in England, but was immediately answered by the lively and
+well-informed Kais Shehaab, who apprised him that there were only lions
+and unicorns. Bishop Nicodemus, who watched the current of observations,
+began telling hunting stories of the time of the Emir Bescheer, when
+that prince resided at his splendid castle of Bteddeen, near Deir el
+Kamar. This was to recall the days when the mountain had only one ruler,
+and that ruler a Shehaab, and when the Druse lords were proud to be
+classed among his most faithful subjects.
+
+In the meantime smoking had commenced throughout the castle, but this
+did not prevent the smokers from drinking raki as well as the sober
+juice of Mocha. Four hundred men, armed with nargileh or chibouque,
+inhaling and puffing with that ardour and enjoyment which men, after
+a hard day's hunting, and a repast of unusual solidity, can alone
+experience! Without the walls, almost as many individuals were feasting
+in the open air; brandishing their handjars as they cut up the huge
+masses of meat before them, plunging their eager hands into the enormous
+dishes of rice, and slaking their thirst by emptying at a draught a vase
+of water, which they poured aloft as the Italians would a flask of wine
+or oil.
+
+'And the most curious thing,' said Freeman to Trueman, as they
+established themselves under a pine tree, with an ample portion of roast
+meat, and armed with their traveling knives and forks, 'and the most
+curious thing is, that they say these people are Christians! Who ever
+heard of Christians wearing turbans?'
+
+'Or eating without knives and forks?' added True-man.
+
+'It would astonish their weak minds in the steward's room at Bellamont,
+if they could see all this, John,' said Mr. Freeman, pensively. 'A man
+who travels has very great advantages.'
+
+'And very great hardships too,' said Trueman. 'I don't care for work,
+but I do like to have my meals regular.'
+
+'This is not bad picking, though,' said Mr. Freeman; 'they call it
+gazelle, which I suppose is the foreign for venison.'
+
+'If you called this venison at Bellamont,' said Trueman, 'they would
+look very queer in the steward's room.'
+
+'Bellamont is Bellamont, and this place is this place, John,' said Mr.
+Freeman. 'The Hameer is a noble gentleman, every inch of him, and I
+am very glad my lord has got a companion of his own kidney. It is much
+better than monks and hermits, and low people of that sort, who are not
+by no means fit company for somebody I could mention, and might turn him
+into a papist into the bargain.'
+
+'That would be a bad business,' said Trueman; 'my lady could never abide
+that. It would be better that he should turn Turk.'
+
+'I am not sure it wouldn't,' said Mr. Freeman. 'It would be in a manner
+more constitutional. The Sultan of Turkey may send an Ambassador to our
+Queen, but the Pope of Rome may not.'
+
+'I should not like to turn Turk,' said Trueman, very thoughtfully.
+
+'I know what you are thinking of, John,' said Mr. Freeman, in a serious
+tone. 'You are thinking, if anything were to happen to either of us in
+this heathen land, where we should get Christian burial.'
+
+'Lord love you, Mr. Freeman, no, I wasn't. I was thinking of a glass of
+ale.'
+
+'Ah!' sighed Freeman, 'it softens the heart to think of such things away
+from home, as we are. Do you know, John, there are times when I feel
+very queer, there are indeed. I catched myself a singing "Sweet Home"
+one night, among those savages in the wilderness. One wants consolation,
+John, sometimes, one does, indeed; and, for my part, I do miss the
+family prayers and the home-brewed.'
+
+As the twilight died away, they lighted immense bonfires, as well to
+cheer them during their bivouac, as to deter any adventurous panther,
+stimulated by the savoury odours, or hyena, breathing fraternal revenge,
+from reconnoitring their encampment. By degrees, however, the noise
+of the revellers without subsided, and at length died away. Having
+satisfied their hunger, and smoked their chibouques, often made from the
+branch which they had cut since their return from hunting, with the bud
+still alive upon the fresh green tube, they wrapped themselves in their
+cloaks and sheepskins, and sunk into a deep and well-earned repose.
+
+Within, the Sheikhs and mookatadgis gradually, by no means
+simultaneously, followed their example. Some, taking off their turbans
+and loosening their girdles, ensconced themselves under the arcades,
+lying on their carpets, and covered with their pelisses and cloaks; some
+strolled into the divaned chambers, which were open to all, and more
+comfortably stowed themselves upon the well-stuffed cushions; others,
+overcome with fatigue and their revel, were lying in deep sleep,
+outstretched in the open court, and picturesque in the blazing
+moonlight.
+
+The hunting party was to last three days, and few intended to leave
+Canobia on the morrow; but it must not be supposed that the guests
+experienced any very unusual hardships in what the reader may consider a
+far from satisfactory mode of passing their night. To say nothing of the
+warm and benignant climate, the Easterns have not the custom of retiring
+or rising with the formality of the Occidental nations. They take their
+sleep when they require it, and meet its embrace without preparation.
+One cause of this difference undoubtedly is, that the Orientals do not
+connect the business of the toilet with that of rest. The daily bath,
+with its elaborate processes, is the spot where the mind ponders on the
+colour of a robe or the fashion of a turban; the daily bath, which is
+the principal incident of Oriental habits, and which can scarcely be
+said to exist among our own.
+
+Fakredeen had yielded even his own chambers to his friends. Every divan
+in Canobia was open, excepting the rooms of Tancred. These were sacred,
+and the Emir had requested his friend to receive him as a guest during
+the festival, and apportion him one of his chambers. The head of the
+House of Talhook was asleep with the tube of his nargileh in his mouth;
+the Yezbek had unwound his turban, cast off his sandals, wrapped himself
+in his pelisses, and fairly turned in; Bishop Nicodemus was kneeling
+in a corner and kissing a silver cross; and Hamood Abu-neked had rolled
+himself up in a carpet, and was snoring as if he were blowing through
+one of the horns of the Maronites. Fakredeen shot a glance at Tancred,
+instantly recognised. Then, rising and giving the salaam of peace to
+his guests, the Emir and his English friend made their escape down a
+corridor, at the bottom of which was one of the few doors that could be
+found in the castle of Canobia. Baroni received them, on the watch
+lest some cruising Sheikh should appropriate their resting-place. The
+young-moon, almost as young and bright as it was two months before at
+Gaza, suffused with lustre the beautiful garden of fruit and flowers
+without. Under the balcony, Baroni had placed a divan with many
+cushions, a lamp with burning coffee, and some fresh nargilehs.
+
+'Thank God, we are alone!' exclaimed Fakredeen. 'Tell me, my Tancred,
+what do you think of it all?'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+     _Fakredeen's Debts_
+
+IT HAS been a great day,' said Tancred 'not to be forgotten.'
+
+'Yes; but what do you think of them? Are they the fellows I described;
+the men that might conquer the world?'
+
+'To conquer the world depends on men not only being good soldiers, but
+being animated by some sovereign principle that nothing can resist,'
+replied Tancred.
+
+'But that we have got,' rejoined Fakredeen.
+
+'But have they got it?'
+
+'We can give it to them.'
+
+'I am not so sure of that. It seems to me that we are going to establish
+a theocratic equality by the aid of the feudal system.'
+
+'That is to say, their present system,' replied Fakredeen. 'Islamism
+was propagated by men who were previously idolaters, and our principle
+may be established by those whose practice at the present time is
+directly opposed to it.'
+
+'I still cling to my first idea of making the movement from the desert,'
+said Tancred: 'the Arabians are entirely unsophisticated; they are now
+as they were in the time of Mahomet, of Moses, of Abraham: a sublime
+devotion is natural to them, and equality, properly developed, is in
+fact the patriarchal principle.'
+
+'But these are Arabians,' said Fakredeen; 'I am an Arabian; there is not
+a mookatadgi, whatever his present creed, who does not come from Yemen,
+or the Hedjaz, or the Nejid.'
+
+'That is a great qualification,' said Tancred, musingly.
+
+'And, see what men these are!' continued Fakredeen, with great
+animation. 'Lebanon can send forth more than fifty thousand well-armed,
+and yet let enough stay at home to guard the mulberry trees and the
+women. Then you can keep them for nothing; a Bedouin is not more
+temperate than a Druse, if he pleases: he will get through a campaign
+on olives and cheese; they do not require even tents; they bivouac in a
+sheepskin.'
+
+'And yet,' said Tancred, 'though they have maintained themselves, they
+have done nothing; now, the Arabs have always succeeded.'
+
+'I will tell you how that is,' said Fakredeen. 'It is very true that we
+have not done much, and that, when we descended into the plain, as we
+did in '63, under the Emir Yousef, we were beat, beaten back even by the
+Mutualis; it is that we have no cavalry. They have always contrived
+to enlist the great tribes of the Syrian desert against us, as for
+instance, under Daher, of whom you must have heard: it was that which
+has prevented our development; but we have always maintained ourselves.
+Lebanon is the key of Syria, and the country was never unlocked unless
+we pleased. But this difficulty is now removed. Through Amalek we shall
+have the desert on our side; he is omnipotent in the Syrian wilderness;
+and if he sends messengers through Petraea to Derayeh, the Nejid, and
+through the Hedjaz, to Yemen and Oman, we could easily get a cavalry as
+efficient and not less numerous than our foot.'
+
+'The instruments will be found,' said Tancred, 'for it is decreed that
+the deed should be done. But the favour of Providence does not exempt
+man from the exercise of human prudence. On the contrary, it is an agent
+on whose co-operation they are bound to count. I should like to see
+something of the great Syrian cities. I should like also to see Bagdad.
+It appears to me, at the first glance, that the whole country to the
+Euphrates might be conquered in a campaign; but then I want to know how
+far artillery is necessary, whether it be indispensable. Then again,
+the Lesser Asia; we should never lose sight of the Lesser Asia as the
+principal scene of our movements; the richest regions in the world,
+almost depopulated, and a position from which we might magnetise Europe.
+But suppose the Turks, through Lesser Asia, conquer Lebanon, while we
+are overrunning the Babylonian and Assyrian monarchies? That will never
+do. I see your strength here with your own people and the Druses, and
+I do not underrate their qualities: but who is to garrison the north of
+Syria? Who is to keep the passes of the North? What population have you
+to depend on between Tripoli and Antioch, or between Aleppo and Adanah?
+Of all this I know nothing.'
+
+Fakredeen had entirely imbibed the views of Tancred; he was sincere in
+his professions, fervent in his faith. A great feudal proprietor, he was
+prepared to forsake his beautiful castle, his farms and villages, his
+vineyards, and mulberry orchards, and forests of oaks, to assist in
+establishing, by his voice and his sabre, a new social system, which was
+to substitute the principle of association for that of dependence as the
+foundation of the Commonwealth, under the sanction and superintendence
+of the God of Sinai and of Calvary. True it was that the young Syrian
+Emir intended, that among the consequences of the impending movement
+should be his enthronement on one of the royal seats of Asia. But we
+should do him injustice, were we to convey the impression that his
+ardent co-operation with Tancred at this moment was impelled merely,
+or even principally, by these coarsely selfish considerations. Men
+certainly must be governed, whatever the principle of the social system,
+and Fakredeen felt born with a predisposition to rule.
+
+But greater even than his desire for empire was his thirst for action.
+He was wearied with the glittering cage in which he had been born. He
+panted for a wider field and a nobler theatre, interests more vast and
+incidents more dazzling and comprehensive; he wished to astonish Europe
+instead of Lebanon, and to use his genius in baffling and controlling
+the thrones and dominations of the world, instead of managing the simple
+Sheikhs and Emirs of his mountains. His castle and fine estates were no
+sources of satisfaction to him. On the contrary, he viewed Canobia with
+disgust. It entailed duties, and brought no excitement. He was seldom
+at home and only for a few passing days: continued residence was
+intolerable to his restless spirit. He passed his life in perpetual
+movement, scudding about on the fleetest dromedaries, and galloping over
+the deserts on steeds of the highest race.
+
+Though proud of his ancient house, and not unequal, when necessary, to
+the due representation of his position, unlike the Orientals in general,
+he disliked pomp, and shrank from the ceremony which awaited him. His
+restless, intriguing, and imaginative spirit revelled in the incognito.
+He was perpetually in masquerade; a merchant, a Mamlouk, a soldier of
+fortune, a Tartar messenger, sometimes a pilgrim, sometimes a dervish,
+always in pursuit of some improbable but ingenious object, or lost in
+the mazes of some fantastic plot. He enjoyed moving alone without a
+single attendant; and seldom in his mountains, he was perpetually in
+Egypt, Bagdad, Cyprus, Smyrna, and the Syrian cities. He sauntered away
+a good deal of his time indeed in the ports and towns of the coast,
+looking after his creditors; but this was not the annoyance to him which
+it would be to most men.
+
+Fakredeen was fond of his debts; they were the source indeed of his only
+real excitement, and he was grateful to them for their stirring powers.
+The usurers of Syria are as adroit and callous as those of all other
+countries, and possess no doubt all those repulsive qualities which are
+the consequence of an habitual control over every generous emotion.
+But, instead of viewing them with feelings of vengeance or abhorrence,
+Fakredeen studied them unceasingly with a fine and profound
+investigation, and found in their society a deep psychological interest.
+His own rapacious soul delighted to struggle with their rapine, and it
+charmed him to baffle with his artifice their fraudulent dexterity. He
+loved to enter their houses with his glittering eye and face radiant
+with innocence, and, when things were at the very worst and they
+remorseless, to succeed in circumventing them. In a certain sense, and
+to a certain degree, they were all his victims. True, they had gorged
+upon his rents and menaced his domains; but they had also advanced large
+sums, and he had so involved one with another in their eager appetite to
+prey upon his youth, and had so complicated the financial relations of
+the Syrian coast in his own respect, that sometimes they tremblingly
+calculated that the crash of Fakredeen must inevitably be the signal of
+a general catastrophe.
+
+Even usurers have their weak side; some are vain, some envious;
+Fakredeen knew how to titillate their self-love, or when to give them
+the opportunity of immolating a rival. Then it was, when he had baffled
+and deluded them, or, with that fatal frankness of which he sometimes
+blushingly boasted, had betrayed some sacred confidence that shook
+the credit of the whole coast from Scanderoon to Gaza, and embroiled
+individuals whose existence depended on their mutual goodwill, that,
+laughing like one of the blue-eyed hyenas of his forests, he galloped
+away to Canobia, and, calling for his nargileh, mused in chuckling
+calculation over the prodigious sums he owed to them, formed whimsical
+and airy projects for his quittance, or delighted himself by brooding
+over the memory of some happy expedient or some daring feat of finance.
+
+'What should I be without my debts?' he would sometimes exclaim; 'dear
+companions of my life that never desert me! All my knowledge of human
+nature is owing to them: it is in managing my affairs that I have
+sounded the depths of the human heart, recognised all the combinations
+of human character, developed my own powers, and mastered the resources
+of others. What expedient in negotiation is unknown to me? What degree
+of endurance have I not calculated? What play of the countenance have
+I not observed? Yes, among my creditors, I have disciplined that
+diplomatic ability that shall some day confound and control cabinets.
+O, my debts, I feel your presence like that of guardian angels! If I be
+lazy, you prick me to action; if elate, you subdue me to reflection;
+and thus it is that you alone can secure that continuous yet controlled
+energy which conquers mankind.'
+
+Notwithstanding all this, Fakredeen had grown sometimes a little wearied
+even of the choice excitement of pecuniary embarrassment. It was
+too often the same story, the adventures monotonous, the characters
+identical. He had been plundered by every usurer in the Levant, and in
+turn had taken them in. He sometimes delighted his imagination by the
+idea of making them disgorge; that is to say, when he had established
+that supremacy which he had resolved sooner or later to attain. Although
+he never kept an account, his memory was so faithful that he knew
+exactly the amount of which he had been defrauded by every individual
+with whom he had had transactions. He longed to mulct them, to
+the service of the State, in the exact amount if their unhallowed
+appropriations. He was too good a statesman ever to confiscate; he
+confined himself to taxation. Confiscation is a blunder that destroys
+public credit: taxation, on the contrary, improves it, and both come to
+the same thing.
+
+That the proud soul of Tancred of Montacute, with its sublime
+aspirations, its inexorable purpose, its empyrean ambition, should find
+a votary in one apparently so whimsical, so worldly, and so worthless,
+may at the first glance seem improbable; yet a nearer and finer
+examination may induce us to recognise its likelihood. Fakredeen had
+a brilliant imagination and a passionate sensibility; his heart was
+controlled by his taste, and, when that was pleased and satisfied, he
+was capable of profound feeling and of earnest conduct. Moral worth
+had no abstract charms for him, and he could sympathise with a dazzling
+reprobate; but virtue in an heroic form, lofty principle, and sovereign
+duty invested with all the attributes calculated to captivate his rapid
+and refined perception, exercised over him a resistless and transcendent
+spell. The deep and disciplined intelligence of Tancred, trained in all
+the philosophy and cultured with all the knowledge of the West, acted
+with magnetic power upon a consciousness the bright vivacity of which
+was only equalled by its virgin ignorance of all that books can teach,
+and of those great conclusions which the studious hour can alone
+elaborate. Fakredeen hung upon his accents like a bee, while Tancred
+poured forth, without an effort, the treasures of his stored memory and
+long musing mind. He went on, quite unconscious that his companion was
+devoid of that previous knowledge, which, with all other persons, would
+have been a preliminary qualification for a profitable comprehension of
+what he said. Fakredeen gave him no hint of this: the young Emir trusted
+to his quick perception to sustain him, although his literary training
+was confined to an Arabic grammar, some sentences of wise men, some
+volumes of poetry, and mainly and most profitably to the clever Courier
+de Smyrne, and occasionally a packet of French journals which he
+obtained from a Levantine consul.
+
+It was therefore with a feeling not less than enthusiastic that
+Fakredeen responded to the suggestive influence of Tancred. The want
+that he had long suffered from was supplied, and the character he had
+long mused over had appeared. Here was a vast theory to be reduced to
+practice, and a commanding mind to give the leading impulse. However
+imperfect may have been his general conception of the ideas of Tancred,
+he clearly comprehended that their fulfilment involved his two great
+objects, change and action. Compared with these attainments on a great
+scale, his present acquisition and position sank into nothingness. A
+futurity consisting of a Syrian Emirate and a mountain castle figured as
+intolerable, and Fakredeen, hoping all things and prepared for anything,
+flung to the winds all consideration for his existing ties, whether in
+the shape of domains or of debts.
+
+The imperturbable repose, the grave and thoughtful daring, with which
+Tancred developed his revolutionary projects, completed the power with
+which he could now dispose of the fate of the young Emir. Sometimes,
+in fluttering moments of disordered reverie, Fakredeen had indulged in
+dreams of what, with his present companion, it appeared was to be the
+ordinary business of their lives, and which he discussed with a calm
+precision which alone half convinced Fakredeen of their feasibility.
+It was not for an impassioned votary to intimate a difficulty; but if
+Fakredeen, to elicit an opinion, sometimes hinted an adverse suggestion,
+the objection was swept away in an instant by an individual whose
+inflexible will was sustained by the conviction of divine favour.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV.
+
+     _The People of Ansarey_
+
+DO YOU know anything of a people in the north of this country, called
+the Ansarey?' inquired Tancred of Baroni.
+
+'No, my lord; and no one else. They hold the mountainous country about
+Antioch, and will let no one enter it; a very warlike race; they beat
+back the Egyptians; but Ibrahim Pasha loaded his artillery with piastres
+the second time he attacked them, and they worked very well with the
+Pasha after that.' 'Are they Moslemin?'
+
+'It is very easy to say what they are not, and that is about the extent
+of any knowledge that we have of them; they are not Moslemin, they
+are not Christians, they are not Druses, and they are not Jews, and
+certainly they are not Guebres, for I have spoken of them to the Indians
+at Djedda, who are fire-worshippers, and they do not in any degree
+acknowledge them.'
+
+'And what is their race? Are they Arabs?' 'I should say not, my lord;
+for the only one I ever saw was more like a Greek or an Armenian than a
+son of the desert.'
+
+'You have seen one of them?'
+
+'It was at Damascus: there was a city brawl, and M. de Sidonia saved the
+life of a man, who turned out to be an Ansarey, though disguised. They
+have secret agents at most of the Syrian cities. They speak Arabic; but
+I have heard M. de Sidonia say they have also a language of their own.'
+
+'I wonder he did not visit them.'
+
+'The plague raged at Aleppo when we were there, and the Ansarey were
+doubly rigid in their exclusion of all strangers from their country.'
+
+'And this Ansarey at Damascus, have you ever seen anything of him
+since?'
+
+'Yes; I have been at Damascus several times since I travelled with M. de
+Sidonia, and I have sometimes smoked a nargileh with this man: his name
+is Dar-kush, and he deals in drugs.'
+
+Now this was the reason that induced Tancred to inquire of Baroni
+respecting the Ansarey. The day before, which was the third day of
+the great hunting party at Canobia, Fakredeen and Tancred had found
+themselves alone with Hamood Abuneked, and the lord of Canobia had
+thought it a good occasion to sound this powerful Sheikh of the Druses.
+Hamood was rough, but frank and sincere. He was no enemy of the House
+of Shehaab; but the Abunekeds had suffered during the wars and civil
+conflicts which had of late years prevailed in Lebanon, and he was
+evidently disinclined to mix in any movement which was not well matured
+and highly promising of success. Fakredeen, of course, concealed his
+ulterior purpose from the Druse, who associated with the idea of union
+between the two nations merely the institution of a sole government
+under one head, and that head a Shehaab, probably dwelling at Canobia.
+
+'I have fought by the side of the Emir Bescheer,' said Hamood, 'and
+would he were in his palace of Bteddeen at this moment! And the
+Abunekeds rode with the Emir Yousef against Djezzar. It is not the House
+of Abuneked that would say there should be two weak nations when there
+might be one strong one. But what I say is sealed with the signet of
+truth; it is known to the old, and it is remembered by the wise; the
+Emir Bescheer has said it to me as many times as there are oranges on
+that tree, and the Emir Yousef has said it to my father. The northern
+passes are not guarded by Maronite or by Druse.'
+
+'And as long as they are not guarded by us?' said Fakredeen,
+inquiringly.
+
+'We may have a sole prince and a single government,' continued Hamood,
+'and the houses of the two nations may be brothers, but every now and
+then the Osmanli will enter the mountain, and we shall eat sand.'
+
+'And who holds the northern passes, noble Sheikh?' inquired Tancred.
+
+'Truly, I believe,' replied Hamood, 'very sons of Eblis, for the whole
+of that country is in the hands of Ansarey, and there never has been
+evil in the mountain that they have not been against us.'
+
+'They never would draw with the Shehaabs,' said Fakredeen; 'and I have
+heard the Emir Bescheer say that, if the Ansarey had acted with him, he
+would have baffled, in '40, both the Porte and the Pasha.'
+
+'It was the same in the time of the Emir Yousef,' said Sheikh Hamood.
+'They can bring twenty-five thousand picked men into the plain.'
+
+'And I suppose, if it were necessary, would not be afraid to meet the
+Osmanli in Anatoly?' said Fakredeen.
+
+'If the Turkmans or the Kurds would join them,' said Sheikh Hamood,
+'there is nothing to prevent their washing their horses' feet in the
+Bosphorus.'
+
+'It is strange,' said Fakredeen, 'but frequently as I have been at
+Aleppo and Antioch, I have never been in their country. I have always
+been warned against it, always kept from it, which indeed ought to have
+prompted my earliest efforts, when I was my own master, to make them
+a visit. But, I know not how it is, there are some prejudices that do
+stick to one. I have a prejudice against the Ansarey, a sort of fear, a
+kind of horror. 'Tis vastly absurd. I suppose my nurse instilled it into
+me, and frightened me with them when I would not sleep. Besides, I had
+an idea that they particularly hated the Shehaabs. I recollect so well
+the Emir Bescheer, at Bteddeen, bestowing endless imprecations on them.'
+
+'He made many efforts to win them, though,' said Sheikh Hamood, 'and so
+did the Emir Yousef.'
+
+'And you think without them, noble Sheikh,' said Tancred, 'that Syria is
+not secure?'
+
+'I think, with them and peace with the desert, that Syria might defy
+Turk and Egyptian.'
+
+'And carry the war into the enemy's quarters, if necessary?' said
+Fakredeen.
+
+'If they would let us alone, I am content to leave them,' said Hamood.
+
+'Hem!' said the Emir Fakredeen. 'Do you see that gazelle, noble Sheikh?
+How she bounds along! What if we follow her, and the pursuit should lead
+us into the lands of the Ansarey?'
+
+'It would be a long ride,' said Sheikh Hamood. 'Nor should I care much
+to trust my head in a country governed by a woman.'
+
+'A woman!' exclaimed Tancred and Fakredeen.
+
+'They say as much,' said Sheikh Hamood; 'perhaps it is only a
+coffee-house tale.'
+
+'I never heard it before,' said Fakredeen. 'In the time of my uncle,
+Elderidis was Sheikh. I have heard indeed that the Ansarey worship a
+woman.'
+
+'Then they would be Christians,' said Sheikh Hamood, 'and I never heard
+that.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+     _The Laurellas_
+
+IT WAS destined that Napoleon should never enter Rome, and Mahomet never
+enter Damascus. What was the reason of this? They were not uninterested
+in those cities that interest all. The Emperor selected from the capital
+of the Caesars the title of his son; the Prophet, when he beheld the
+crown of Syria, exclaimed that it was too delightful, and that he must
+reserve his paradise for another world. Buonaparte was an Italian, and
+must have often yearned after the days of Rome triumphant. The son of
+Abdallah was descended from the patriarchs, whose progenitor had been
+moulded out of the red clay of the most ancient city in the world.
+Absorbed by the passionate pursuit of the hour, the two heroes postponed
+a gratification which they knew how to appreciate, but which, with all
+their success, all their power, and all their fame, they were never
+permitted to indulge. What moral is to be drawn from this circumstance?
+That we should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even
+than conquerors and prophets.
+
+The most ancient city of the world has no antiquity. This flourishing
+abode is older than many ruins, yet it does not possess one single
+memorial of the past. In vain has it conquered or been conquered. Not a
+trophy, a column, or an arch, records its warlike fortunes. Temples have
+been raised here to unknown gods and to revealed Divinity; all have been
+swept away. Not the trace of a palace or a prison, a public bath, a hall
+of justice, can be discovered in this wonderful city, where everything
+has been destroyed, and where nothing has decayed.
+
+Men moralise among ruins, or, in the throng and tumult of successful
+cities, recall past visions of urban desolation for prophetic warning.
+London is a modern Babylon; Paris has aped imperial Rome, and may share
+its catastrophe. But what do the sages say to Damascus? It had municipal
+rights in the days when God conversed with Abraham. Since then, the
+kings of the great monarchies have swept over it; and the Greek and the
+Roman, the Tartar, the Arab, and the Turk have passed through its walls;
+yet it still exists and still flourishes; is full of life, wealth,
+and enjoyment. Here is a city that has quaffed the magical elixir and
+secured the philosopher's stone, that is always young and always rich.
+As yet, the disciples of progress have not been able exactly to match
+this instance of Damascus, but it is said that they have great faith in
+the future of Birkenhead.
+
+We moralise among ruins: it is always when the game is played that we
+discover the cause of the result. It is a fashion intensely European,
+the habit of an organisation that, having little imagination, takes
+refuge in reason, and carefully locks the door when the steed is stolen.
+A community has crumbled to pieces, and it is always accounted for by
+its political forms, or its religious modes. There has been a deficiency
+in what is called checks in the machinery of government; the definition
+of the suffrage has not been correct; what is styled responsibility has,
+by some means or other, not answered; or, on the other hand, people have
+believed too much or too little in a future state, have been too much
+engrossed by the present, or too much absorbed in that which was to
+come. But there is not a form of government which Damascus has not
+experienced, excepting the representative, and not a creed which it has
+not acknowledged, excepting the Protestant. Yet, deprived of the only
+rule and the only religion that are right, it is still justly described
+by the Arabian poets as a pearl surrounded by emeralds.
+
+Yes, the rivers of Damascus still run and revel within and without the
+walls, of which the steward of Sheikh Abraham was a citizen. They have
+encompassed them with gardens, and filled them with fountains. They
+gleam amid their groves of fruit, wind through their vivid meads,
+sparkle-among perpetual flowers, gush from the walls, bubble in the
+courtyards, dance and carol in the streets: everywhere their joyous
+voices, everywhere their glancing forms, filling the whole world around
+with freshness, and brilliancy, and fragrance, and life. One might
+fancy, as we track them in their dazzling course, or suddenly making
+their appearance in every spot and in every scene, that they were
+the guardian spirits of the city. You have explained them, says the
+utilitarian, the age and flourishing fortunes of Damascus: they arise
+from its advantageous situation; it is well supplied with water.
+
+Is it better supplied than the ruins of contiguous regions? Did the Nile
+save Thebes? Did the Tigris preserve Nineveh? Did the Euphrates secure
+Babylon?
+
+Our scene lies in a chamber vast and gorgeous. The reader must imagine a
+hall, its form that of a rather long square, but perfectly proportioned.
+Its coved roof, glowing with golden and scarlet tints, is highly carved
+in the manner of the Saracens, such as we may observe in the palaces
+of Moorish Spain and in the Necropolis of the Mamlouk Sultans at Cairo,
+deep recesses of honeycomb work, with every now and then pendants of
+daring grace hanging like stalactites from some sparry cavern. This roof
+is supported by columns of white marble, fashioned in the shape of palm
+trees, the work of Italian artists, and which forms arcades around the
+chamber. Beneath these arcades runs a noble divan of green and silver
+silk, and the silken panels of the arabesque walls have been covered
+with subjects of human interest by the finest artists of Munich. The
+marble floor, with its rich mosaics, was also the contribution of
+Italian genius, though it was difficult at the present moment to trace
+its varied, graceful, and brilliant designs, so many were the sumptuous
+carpets, the couches, sofas, and cushions that were spread about it.
+There were indeed throughout the chamber many indications of furniture,
+which are far from usual even among the wealthiest and most refined
+Orientals: Indian tables, vases of china, and baskets of agate and
+porcelain filled with flowers. From one side, the large Saracenic
+windows of this saloon, which were not glazed, but covered only when
+required by curtains of green and silver silk, now drawn aside, looked
+on a garden; vistas of quivering trees, broad parterres of flowers,
+and everywhere the gleam of glittering fountains, which owned, however,
+fealty to the superior stream that bubbled in the centre of the saloon,
+where four negroes, carved in black marble, poured forth its refreshing
+waters from huge shells of pearl, into the vast circle of a jasper
+basin.
+
+At this moment the chamber was enlivened by the presence of many
+individuals. Most of these were guests; one was the master of the
+columns and the fountains; a man much above the middle height, though as
+well proportioned as his sumptuous hall; admirably handsome, for beauty
+and benevolence blended in the majestic countenance of Adam Besso.
+To-day his Syrian robes were not unworthy of his palace; the cream-white
+shawl that encircled his brow with its ample folds was so fine that the
+merchant who brought it to him carried it over the ocean and the desert
+in the hollow shell of a pomegranate. In his girdle rested a handjar,
+the sheath of which was of a rare and vivid enamel, and the hilt
+entirely of brilliants.
+
+A slender man of middle size, who, as he stood by Besso, had a
+diminutive appearance, was in earnest conversation with his host. This
+personage was adorned with more than one order, and dressed in the Frank
+uniform of one of the Great Powers, though his head was shaven, for
+he wore a tarboush or red cap, although no turban. This gentleman was
+Signor Elias de Laurella, a wealthy Hebrew merchant at Damascus, and
+Austrian consul-general _ad honorem_; a great man, almost as celebrated
+for his diplomatic as for his mercantile abilities; a gentleman who
+understood the Eastern question; looked up to for that, but still more,
+in that he was the father of the two prettiest girls in the Levant.
+
+The Mesdemoiselles de Laurella, Therese and Sophonisbe, had just
+completed their education, partly at Smyrna, the last year at
+Marseilles. This had quite turned their heads; they had come back with a
+contempt for Syria, the bitterness of which was only veiled by the high
+style of European nonchalance, of which they had a supreme command, and
+which is, perhaps, our only match for Eastern repose. The Mesdemoiselles
+de Laurella were highly accomplished, could sing quite ravishingly,
+paint fruits and flowers, and drop to each other, before surrounding
+savages, mysterious allusions to feats in ballrooms, which, alas! no
+longer could be achieved. They signified, and in some degree solaced,
+their intense disgust at their present position by a haughty and
+amusingly impassable demeanour, which meant to convey their superiority
+to all surrounding circumstances. One of their favourite modes of
+asserting this pre-eminence was wearing the Frank dress, which their
+father only did officially, and which no female member of their family
+had ever assumed, though Damascus swarmed with Laurellas. Nothing in the
+dreams of Madame Carson, or Madame Camille, or Madame Devey, nothing in
+the blazoned pages of the Almanachs des Dames and Belle Assemblee, ever
+approached the Mdlles. Laurella, on a day of festival. It was the acme.
+Nothing could be conceived beyond it; nobody could equal it. It was
+taste exaggerated, if that be possible; fashion baffling pursuit, if
+that be permitted. It was a union of the highest moral and material
+qualities; the most sublime contempt and the stiffest cambric. Figure to
+yourself, in such habiliments, two girls, of the same features, the
+same form, the same size, but of different colour: a nose turned up, but
+choicely moulded, large eyes, and richly fringed; fine hair, beautiful
+lips and teeth, but the upper lip and the cheek bones rather too long
+and high, and the general expression of the countenance, when not
+affected, more sprightly than intelligent. Therese was a brunette,
+but her eye wanted softness as much as the blue orb of the brilliant
+Sophonisbe. Nature and Art had combined to produce their figures, and it
+was only the united effort of two such first-rate powers that could have
+created anything so admirable.
+
+This was the first visit of the Mesdemoiselles Laurella to the family
+of Besso, for they had only returned from Marseilles at the beginning
+of the year, and their host had not resided at Damascus until the summer
+was much advanced. Of course they were well acquainted by reputation
+with the great Hebrew house of which the lord of the mansion was the
+chief. They had been brought up to esteem it the main strength and
+ornament of their race and religion. But the Mesdemoiselles Laurella
+were ashamed of their race, and not fanatically devoted to their
+religion, which might be true, but certainly was not fashionable.
+Therese, who was of a less sanguineous temperament than her sister,
+affected despair and unutterable humiliation, which permitted her to
+say before her own people a thousand disagreeable things with an air of
+artless frankness. The animated Sophonisbe, on the contrary, was always
+combating prejudice, felt persuaded that the Jews would not be so much
+disliked if they were better known; that all they had to do was to
+imitate as closely as possible the habits and customs of the nation
+among whom they chanced to live; and she really did believe that
+eventually, such was the progressive spirit of the age, a difference
+in religion would cease to be regarded, and that a respectable Hebrew,
+particularly if well dressed and well mannered, might be able to
+pass through society without being discovered, or at least noticed.
+Consummation of the destiny of the favourite people of the Creator of
+the universe!
+
+Notwithstanding their practised nonchalance, the Mesdemoiselles Laurella
+were a little subdued when they entered the palace of Besso, still more
+so when they were presented to its master, whose manner, void of all
+art, yet invested with a natural dignity, asserted in an instant its
+superiority. Eva, whom they saw for the first time, received them like
+a queen, and in a dress which offered as complete a contrast to their
+modish attire as the beauty of her sublime countenance presented to
+their pretty and sparkling visages.
+
+Madame Laurella, the mother of these young ladies, would in Europe have
+been still styled young. She was a Smyrniote, and had been a celebrated
+beauty. The rose had since then too richly expanded, but even now, with
+her dark eyelash charged with yamusk, her cheek touched with rouge, and
+her fingers tipped with henna, her still fine hair exaggerated by art
+or screened by her jewelled turban, she would have been a striking
+personage, even if it had not been for the blaze of jewels with
+which she was suffused and environed. The existence of this lady was
+concentred in her precious gems. An extreme susceptibility on this head
+is very prevalent among the ladies of the Levant, and the quantity
+of jewels that they accumulate far exceeds the general belief. Madame
+Laurella was without a rival in this respect, and resolved to maintain
+her throne; diamonds alone did not satisfy her; immense emeralds, rubies
+as big as pigeons' eggs, prodigious ropes of pearls, were studded and
+wound about every part of her rich robes. Every finger glittered,
+and bracelets flashed beneath her hanging sleeves. She sat in silent
+splendour on a divan, now and then proudly moving a fan of feathers,
+lost in criticism of the jewels of her friends, and in contemplation of
+her own.
+
+A young man, tall and well-looking, dressed as an Oriental, but with an
+affected, jerking air, more French than Syrian, moved jauntily about
+the room, speaking to several persons for a short time, shrugging
+his shoulders and uttering commonplaces as if they were poignant
+originalities. This was Hillel Besso, the eldest son of the Besso of
+Aleppo, and the intended husband of Eva. Hillel, too, had seen the
+world, passed a season at Pera, where he had worn the Frank dress, and,
+introduced into the circles by the lady of the Austrian Internuncio,
+had found success and enjoyed himself. He had not, however, returned
+to Syria with any of the disgust shared by the Mesdemoiselles Laurella.
+Hillel was neither ashamed of his race nor his religion: on the
+contrary, he was perfectly satisfied with this life, with the family
+of Besso in general, and with himself particularly. Hillel was a little
+philosophical, had read Voltaire, and, free from prejudices, conceived
+himself capable of forming correct opinions. He listened smiling and in
+silence to Eva asserting the splendour and superiority of their race,
+and sighing for the restoration of their national glory, and then
+would say, in a whisper to a friend, and with a glance of epigrammatic
+airiness, 'For my part, I am not so sure that we were ever better off
+than we are.'
+
+He stopped and conversed with Therese Laurella, who at first was
+unbending, but when she found that he was a Besso, and had listened to
+one or two anecdotes which indicated personal acquaintance not only
+with ambassadors but with ambassadors' ladies, she began to relax. In
+general, however, the rest of the ladies did not speak, or made only
+observations to each other in a hushed voice. Conversation is not the
+accomplishment of these climes and circles. They seemed content to
+show their jewels to their neighbours. There was a very fat lady, of
+prodigious size, the wife of Signor Yacoub Picholoroni, who was also a
+consul, but not a consul-general _in honorem_. She looked like a huge
+Chinese idol; a perpetual smile played upon her immense good-natured
+cheeks, and her little black eyes twinkled with continuous satisfaction.
+There were the Mourad Farhis and the Nas-sim Farhis. There were Moses
+Laurella and his wife, who shone with the reflected splendour of the
+great Laurellas, but who were really very nice people; sensible and most
+obliging, as all travellers must have found them. Moses Laurella was
+vice-consul to his brother. The Farhis had no diplomatic lustre, but
+they were great merchants, and worked with the House of Besso in all
+their enterprises. They had married two sisters, who were also their
+cousins. Madame Mourad Farhi was in the zenith of her renowned beauty;
+in the gorgeous Smyrniote style, brilliant yet languid, like a panther
+basking in the sunshine. Her sister also had a rich countenance, and
+a figure like a palm tree, while her fine brow beamed alike with
+intelligence and beauty. Madame, Nassim was highly cultured,
+enthusiastic for her race, and proud of the friendship of Eva, of which
+she was worthy.
+
+There were also playing about the room three or four children of such
+dazzling beauty and such ineffable grace that no pen can picture their
+seraphic glances or gestures of airy frolic. Sometimes serious, from
+exhaustion not from thought; sometimes wild with the witchery of infant
+riot; a laughing girl with hair almost touching the ground, and large
+grey eyes bedewed with lustrous mischief, tumbles over an urchin who
+rises doubtful whether to scream or shout; sometimes they pull the
+robe of Besso while he talks, who goes on, as if unconscious of the
+interruption; sometimes they rush up to their mother or Eva for an
+embrace; sometimes they run up to the fat lady, look with wondering
+gravity in her face, and then, bursting into laughter, scud away. These
+are the children of a sister of Hillel Besso, brought to Damascus for
+change of air. Their mother is also here, sitting at the side of Eva: a
+soft and pensive countenance, watching the children with her intelligent
+blue eyes, or beckoning to them with a beautiful hand.
+
+The men in general remained on their legs apart, conversing as if they
+were on the Bourse.
+
+Now entered, from halls beyond of less dimensions, but all decorated
+with similar splendour, a train of servants, two of whom carried between
+them a large broad basket of silver filigree, filled with branches of
+the palm tree entwined with myrtle, while another bore a golden basket
+of a different shape, and which was filled with citrons just gathered.
+These they handed to the guests, and each guest took a branch with the
+right hand and a citron with the left. The conversation of Besso with
+Elias Laurella had been broken by their entrance, and a few minutes
+afterwards, the master of the house, looking about, held up his branch,
+shook it with a rustling sound, and immediately Eva was at his side.
+
+The daughter of Besso wore a vest of white silk, fitting close to her
+shape and descending to her knees; it was buttoned with large diamonds
+and restrained by a girdle of pearls; anklets of brilliants peeped
+also, every now and then, from beneath her large Mamlouk trousers of
+rose-coloured silk that fell over her slippers, powdered with diamonds.
+Over her vest she wore the Syrian jacket, made of cherry-coloured
+velvet, its open arms and back richly embroidered, though these were
+now much concealed by her outer pelisse, a brocade of India, massy with
+gold, and yet relieved from heaviness by the brilliancy of its light
+blue tint and the dazzling fantasy of its pattern. This was loosely
+bound round her waist by a Moorish scarf of the colour of a blood-red
+orange, and bordered with a broad fringe of precious stones. Her
+head-dress was of the same fashion as when we first met her in the kiosk
+of Bethany, except that, on this occasion, her Syrian cap on the back
+of her head was covered only with diamonds, and only with diamonds was
+braided her long dark hair.
+
+'They will never come,' said Besso to his daughter. 'It was one of his
+freaks. We will not wait.'
+
+'I am sure, my father, they will come,' said Eva, earnestly. And indeed,
+at this very moment, as she stood at his side, holding in one hand her
+palm branch, which was reposing on her bosom, and in the other her fresh
+citron, the servants appeared again, ushering in two guests who had just
+arrived. One was quite a stranger, a young man dressed in the European
+fashion; the other was recognised at once by all present as the Emir of
+Canobia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVII.
+
+     _The Feast of Tabernacles_
+
+EVA had withdrawn from her father to her former remote position, the
+moment that she had recognised the two friends, and was, therefore,
+not in hearing when her father received them, and said, 'Welcome, noble
+stranger! the noble Emir here, to whom a thousand welcomes, told me that
+you would not be averse from joining a festival of my people.'
+
+'I would seize any opportunity to pay my respects to you,' replied
+Tancred; 'but this occasion is most agreeable to me.'
+
+'And when, noble traveller, did you arrive at Esh Sham?'
+
+'But this morning; we were last from Hasbeya.' Tancred then inquired
+after Eva, and Besso led him to his daughter.
+
+In the meantime the arrival of the new guests made a considerable
+sensation in the chamber, especially with the Mesdemoiselles Laurella. A
+young prince of the Lebanon, whatever his religion, was a distinguished
+and agreeable accession to their circle, but in Tancred they recognised
+a being at once civilised and fashionable, a Christian who could dance
+the polka. Refreshing as springs in the desert to their long languishing
+eyes were the sight of his white cravat and his boots of Parisian
+polish.
+
+'It is one of our great national festivals,' said Eva, slightly waving
+her palm branch; 'the celebration of the Hebrew vintage, the Feast of
+Tabernacles.'
+
+The vineyards of Israel have ceased to exist, but the eternal law
+enjoins the children of Israel still to celebrate the vintage. A race
+that persist in celebrating their vintage, although they have no fruits
+to gather, will regain their vineyards. What sublime inexorability in
+the law! But what indomitable spirit in the people!
+
+It is easy for the happier Sephardim, the Hebrews who have never quitted
+the sunny regions that are laved by the Midland Ocean; it is easy for
+them, though they have lost their heritage, to sympathise, in their
+beautiful Asian cities or in their Moorish and Arabian gardens, with the
+graceful rights that are, at least, an homage to a benignant nature.
+But picture to yourself the child of Israel in the dingy suburb or the
+squalid quarter of some bleak northern town, where there is never a sun
+that can at any rate ripen grapes. Yet he must celebrate the vintage
+of purple Palestine! The law has told him, though a denizen in an icy
+clime, that he must dwell for seven days in a bower, and that he must
+build it of the boughs of thick trees; and the Rabbins have told him
+that these thick trees are the palm, the myrtle, and the weeping willow.
+Even Sarmatia may furnish a weeping willow. The law has told him that
+he must pluck the fruit of goodly trees, and the Rabbins have explained
+that goodly fruit on this occasion is confined to the citron. Perhaps,
+in his despair, he is obliged to fly to the candied delicacies of
+the grocer. His mercantile connections will enable him, often at
+considerable cost, to procure some palm leaves from Canaan, which he
+may wave in his synagogue while he exclaims, as the crowd did when the
+Divine descendant of David entered Jerusalem, 'Hosanna in the highest!'
+
+There is something profoundly interesting in this devoted observance
+of Oriental customs in the heart of our Saxon and Sclavonian cities; in
+these descendants of the Bedouins, who conquered Canaan more than three
+thousand years ago, still celebrating that success which secured their
+forefathers, for the first time, grapes and wine.
+
+Conceive a being born and bred in the Judenstrasse of Hamburg or
+Frankfort, or rather in the purlieus of our Houndsditch or Minories,
+born to hereditary insult, without any education, apparently without a
+circumstance that can develop the slightest taste, or cherish the least
+sentiment for the beautiful, living amid fogs and filth, never treated
+with kindness, seldom with justice, occupied with the meanest, if
+not the vilest, toil, bargaining for frippery, speculating in usury,
+existing for ever under the concurrent influence of degrading causes
+which would have worn out, long ago, any race that was not of the
+unmixed blood of Caucasus, and did not adhere to the laws of Moses;
+conceive such a being, an object to you of prejudice, dislike, disgust,
+perhaps hatred. The season arrives, and the mind and heart of that being
+are filled with images and passions that have been ranked in all ages
+among the most beautiful and the most genial of human experience; filled
+with a subject the most vivid, the most graceful, the most joyous, and
+the most exuberant; a subject which has inspired poets, and which has
+made gods; the harvest of the grape in the native regions of the Vine.
+
+He rises in the morning, goes early to some White-chapel market,
+purchases some willow boughs for which he has previously given
+a commission, and which are brought, probably, from one of the
+neighbouring rivers of Essex, hastens home, cleans out the yard of his
+miserable tenement, builds his bower, decks it, even profusely, with the
+finest flowers and fruits that he can procure, the myrtle and the citron
+never forgotten, and hangs its roof with variegated lamps. After the
+service of his synagogue, he sups late with his wife and his children in
+the open air, as if he were in the pleasant villages of Galilee, beneath
+its sweet and starry sky.
+
+Perhaps, as he is giving the Keedush, the Hebrew blessing to the Hebrew
+meal, breaking and distributing the bread, and sanctifying, with a
+preliminary prayer, the goblet of wine he holds, the very ceremony which
+the Divine Prince of Israel, nearly two thousand years ago, adopted
+at the most memorable of all repasts, and eternally invested with
+eucharistic grace; or, perhaps, as he is offering up the peculiar
+thanksgiving of the Feast of Tabernacles, praising Jehovah for the
+vintage which his children may no longer cull, but also for His promise
+that they may some day again enjoy it, and his wife and his children are
+joining in a pious Hosanna, that is, Save us! a party of Anglo-Saxons,
+very respectable men, ten-pounders, a little elevated it may be, though
+certainly not in honour of the vintage, pass the house, and words like
+these are heard:
+
+'I say, Buggins, what's that row?'
+
+'Oh! it's those cursed Jews! we've a lot of 'em here. It is one of their
+horrible feasts. The Lord Mayor ought to interfere. However, things are
+not as bad as they used to be: they used always to crucify little boys
+at these hullabaloos, but now they only eat sausages made of stinking
+pork.'
+
+'To be sure,' replies his companion, 'we all make progress.'
+
+In the meantime, a burst of music sounds from the gardens of Besso of
+Damascus. He advances, and invites Tancred and the Emir to follow
+him, and, without any order or courtesy to the softer sex, who, on
+the contrary, follow in the rear, the whole company step out of the
+Saracenic windows into the gardens. The mansion of Besso, which was
+of great extent, appeared to be built in their midst. No other roof or
+building was in any direction visible, yet the house was truly in the
+middle of the city, and the umbrageous plane trees alone produced that
+illimitable air which is always so pleasing and effective. The house,
+though lofty for an eastern mansion, was only one story in height, yet
+its front was covered with an external and double staircase. This, after
+a promenade in the garden, the guests approached and mounted. It led
+to the roof or terrace of the house, which was of great size, an oblong
+square, and which again was a garden. Myrtle trees of a considerable
+height, and fragrant with many flowers, were arranged in close order
+along the four sides of this roof, forming a barrier which no eye from
+the city beneath or any neighbouring terrace could penetrate. This
+verdant bulwark, however, opened at each corner of the roof, which was
+occupied by a projecting pavilion of white marble, a light cupola of
+chequered carving supported by wreathed columns. From these pavilions
+the most charming views might be obtained of the city and the
+surrounding country: Damascus, itself a varied mass of dark green
+groves, white minarets, bright gardens, and hooded domes; to the south
+and east, at the extremity of its rich plain, the glare of the desert;
+to the west the ranges of the Lebanon; while the city was backed on the
+north by other mountain regions which Tancred had not yet penetrated.
+
+In the centre of the terrace was a temporary structure of a peculiar
+character. It was nearly forty feet long, half as many broad, and
+proportionately lofty. Twelve palm trees clustering with ripe fruit,
+and each of which seemed to spring from a flowering hedge of myrtles,
+supported a roof formed with much artifice of the braided boughs of
+trees. These, however, only furnished an invisible framework, from
+which were suspended the most beautiful and delicious fruits, citron and
+pomegranate, orange, and fig, and banana, and melon, in such thickness
+and profusion that they formed, as it were, a carved ceiling of rich
+shades and glowing colours, like the Saracenic ceiling of the mansion,
+while enormous bunches of grapes every now and then descended like
+pendants from the main body of the roof. The spaces between the palm
+trees were filled with a natural trellis-work of orange trees in fruit
+and blossom, leaving at intervals arches of entrance, whose form was
+indicated by bunches of the sweetest and rarest flowers.
+
+Within was a banqueting-table covered with thick white damask silk,
+with a border of gold about a foot in breadth, and before each guest was
+placed a napkin of the same fashion. The table, however, lacked none
+of the conveniences and luxuries and even ornaments of Europe. What
+can withstand the united influence of taste, wealth, and commerce? The
+choicest porcelain of France, golden goblets chiselled in Bond Street,
+and the prototypes of which had perhaps been won at Goodwood or Ascot,
+mingled with the rarest specimens of the glass of Bohemia, while the
+triumphant blades of Sheffield flashed in that very Syrian city whose
+skill in cutlery had once been a proverb. Around the table was a divan
+of amber-coloured satin with many cushions, so arranged that the
+guests might follow either the Oriental or the European mode of seating
+themselves. Such was the bower or tabernacle of Besso of Damascus,
+prepared to celebrate the seventh day of his vintage feast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVIII.
+
+     _Eva's Affianced Bridegroom_
+
+WE OUGHT to have met at Jerusalem,' said Tancred to Besso, on whose
+right hand he was seated, 'but I am happy to thank you for all
+your kindness, even at Damascus.' 'My daughter tells me you are not
+uninterested in our people, which is the reason I ventured to ask you
+here.'
+
+'I cannot comprehend how a Christian can be uninterested in a people who
+have handed down to him immortal truths.'
+
+'All the world is not as sensible of the obligation as yourself, noble
+traveller.'
+
+'But who are the world? Do you mean the inhabitants of Europe, which is
+a forest not yet cleared; or the inhabitants of Asia, which is a ruin
+about to tumble?'
+
+'The railroads will clear the forest,' said Besso. 'And what is to
+become of the ruin?' asked Tancred.
+
+'God will not forget His land.' 'That is the truth; the government of
+this globe must be divine, and the impulse can only come from Asia.'
+
+'If your government only understood the Eastern question!' said Mr.
+Consul-General Laurella, pricking up his ears at some half phrase that
+he had caught, and addressing Tancred across the table. 'It is more
+simple than you imagine, and before you return to England to take
+your seat in your Parliament, I should be very happy to have some
+conversation with you.
+
+I think I could tell you some things----' and he gave a glance of
+diplomatic mystery. Tancred bowed.
+
+'For my part,' said Hillel Besso, shrugging his shoulders, and speaking
+in an airy tone, 'it seems to me that your Eastern question is a great
+imbroglio that only exists in the cabinets of diplomatists. Why should
+there be any Eastern question? All is very well as it is. At least we
+might be worse: I think we might be worse.'
+
+'I am so happy to find myself once more among you,' whispered Fakredeen
+to his neighbour, Madame Mourad Farhi. 'This is my real home.'
+
+'All here must be happy and honoured to see you, too, noble Emir.'
+
+'And the good Signor Mourad: I am afraid I am not a favourite of his?'
+pursued Fakredeen, meditating a loan.
+
+'I never heard my husband speak of you, noble Emir, but with the
+greatest consideration.'
+
+'There is no man I respect so much,' said Fakredeen; 'no one in whom I
+have such a thorough confidence. Excepting our dear host, who is really
+my father, there is no one on whose judgment I would so implicitly rely.
+Tell him all that, my dear Madame Mourad, for I wish him to respect me.'
+
+'I admire his hair so much,' whispered Therese Laurella, in an audible
+voice to her sister, across the broad form of the ever-smiling Madame
+Picholoroni. 'Tis such a relief after our dreadful turbans.'
+
+'And his costume, so becoming! I wonder how any civilised being can
+wear the sort of things we see about us. 'Tis really altogether like a
+wardrobe of the Comedie.'
+
+'Well, Sophonisbe,' said the sensible Moses Laurella, 'I admire the
+Franks very much; they have many qualities which I could wish our
+Levantines shared; but I confess that I do not think that their strong
+point is their costume.'
+
+'Oh, my dear uncle!' said Therese; 'look at that beautiful white cravat.
+What have we like it? So simple, so distinguished! Such good taste! And
+then the boots. Think of our dreadful slippers! powdered with pearls
+and all sorts of trash of that kind, by the side of that lovely French
+polish.'
+
+'He must be terribly _ennuye_ here,' said Therese to Sophonisbe, with a
+look of the initiated.
+
+'Indeed, I should think so: no balls, not an opera; I quite pity him.
+What could have induced him to come here?'
+
+'I should think he must be attached to some one,' said Therese: 'he
+looks unhappy.'
+
+'There is not a person near him with whom he can have an idea in
+common.'
+
+'Except Mr. Hillel Besso,' said Therese. 'He appears to be quite
+enlightened. I spoke to him a little before dinner. He has been a winter
+at Pera, and went to all the balls.'
+
+'Lord Palmerston understood the Eastern question to a certain degree,'
+said Mr. Consul-General Laurella; 'but, had I been in the service of
+the Queen of England, I could have told him some things;' and he
+mysteriously paused.
+
+'I cannot endure this eternal chatter about Palmerston,' said the Emir,
+rather pettishly. 'Are there no other statesmen in the world besides
+Palmerston? And what should he know about the Eastern question, who
+never was in the East?'
+
+'Ah, noble Emir, these are questions of the high diplomacy. They cannot
+be treated unless by the cabinets which have traditions.'
+
+'I could settle the Eastern question in a month, if I were disposed,'
+said Fakredeen.
+
+Mr. Consul-General Laurella smiled superciliously, and then said, 'But
+the question is, what is the Eastern question?'
+
+'For my part,' said Hillel Besso, in a most epigrammatic manner, 'I do
+not see the use of settling anything.'
+
+'The Eastern question is, who shall govern the Mediterranean?' said the
+Emir. 'There are only two powers who can do it: Egypt and Syria. As for
+the English, the Russians, the Franks, your friends the Austrians, they
+are strangers. They come, and they will go; but Syria and Egypt will
+always remain.'
+
+'Egypt has tried, and failed.'
+
+'Then let Syria try, and succeed.'
+
+'Do you visit Egypt before you return from the East, noble sir?' asked
+Besso, of Tancred.
+
+'I have not thought of my return; but I should not be sorry to visit
+Egypt. It is a country that rather perplexes us in Europe. It has
+undergone great changes.'
+
+Besso shook his head, and slightly smiled.
+
+'Egypt,' said he, 'never changes. 'Tis the same land as in the days of
+the Pharaohs: governed on their principles of political economy, with a
+Hebrew for prime minister.'
+
+'A Hebrew for prime minister!'
+
+'Even so: Artim Bey, the present prime minister of Egypt, formerly
+the Pasha's envoy at Paris, and by far the best political head in the
+Levant, is not only the successor but the descendant of Joseph.'
+
+'He must be added then to your friend M. de Sidonia's list of living
+Hebrew statesmen,' said Tancred.
+
+'We have our share of the government of the world,' said Besso.
+
+'It seems to me that you govern every land except your own.'
+
+'That might have been done in '39,' said Besso musingly; 'but why speak
+of a subject which can little interest you?'
+
+'Can little interest me!' exclaimed Tancred. 'What other subject should
+interest me? More than six centuries ago, the government of that land
+interested my ancestor, and he came here to achieve it.'
+
+The stars were shining before they quitted the Arabian tabernacle of
+Besso. The air was just as soft as a sweet summer English noon, and
+quite as still. The pavilions of the terrace and the surrounding bowers
+were illuminated by the varying tints of a thousand lamps. Bright
+carpets and rich cushions were thrown about for those who cared to
+recline; the brothers Farhi, for example, and indeed most of the men,
+smoking inestimable nargilehs. The Consul-General Laurella begged
+permission to present Lord Montacute to his daughters Therese and
+Sophonisbe, who, resolved to show to him that Damascus was not
+altogether so barbarous as he deemed it, began talking of new dances and
+the last opera. Tancred would have found great difficulty in sustaining
+his part in the conversation, had not the young ladies fortunately been
+requested to favour those present with a specimen of the art in which
+they excelled, which they did after much solicitation, vowing that they
+had no voice to-night, and that it was impossible at all times to sing
+except in a chamber.
+
+'For my part,' said Hillel Besso, with an extremely piquant air, 'music
+in a chamber is very charming, but I think also in the open air it is
+not so bad.'
+
+Tancred took advantage of this movement to approach Eva, who was
+conversing, as they took their evening walk, with the soft-eyed
+sister of Hillel and Madame Nassim Farhi; a group of women that the
+drawing-rooms of Europe and the harems of Asia could perhaps not have
+rivalled.
+
+'The Mesdemoiselles Laurella are very accomplished,' said Tancred,
+'but at Damascus I am not content to hear anything but sackbuts and
+psalteries.'
+
+'But in Europe your finest music is on the subjects of our history,'
+said Eva.
+
+'Naturally,' said Tancred, 'music alone can do justice to such themes.
+They baffle the uninspired pen.'
+
+'There is a prayer which the Mesdemoiselles Laurella once sang, a prayer
+of Moses in Egypt,' said Madame Nassim, somewhat timidly. 'It is very
+fine.'
+
+'I wish they would favour us with it,' said Eva; 'I will ask Hillel to
+request that kindness;' and she beckoned to Hillel, who sauntered toward
+her, and listened to her whispered wish with a smile of supercilious
+complacency.
+
+'At present they are going to favour us with Don Pasquale,' he said,
+shrugging his shoulders. 'A prayer is a very fine thing, but for my
+part, at this hour, I think a serenade is not so bad.'
+
+'And how do you like my father?' said Eva to Tancred in a hesitating
+tone, and yet with a glance of blended curiosity and pride.
+
+'He is exactly what Sidonia prepared me for; worthy not only of being
+your father, but the father of mankind.'
+
+'The Moslemin say that we are near paradise at Damascus,' said Madame
+Nassim, 'and that Adam was fashioned out of our red earth.'
+
+'He much wished to see you,' said Eva, 'and your meeting is as
+unexpected as to him it is agreeable.'
+
+'We ought to have met long before,' said Tancred. 'When I first arrived
+at Jerusalem, I ought to have hastened to his threshold. The fault and
+the misfortune were mine. I scarcely deserved the happiness of knowing
+you.'
+
+'I am happy we have all met, and that you now understand us a little.
+When you go back to England, you will defend us when we are defamed? You
+will not let them persecute us, as they did a few years back, because
+they said we crucified their children at the feast of our passover?'
+
+'I shall not go back to England,' said Tancred, colouring; 'and if you
+are persecuted, I hope I shall be able to defend you here.'
+
+The glowing sky, the soft mellow atmosphere, the brilliant surroundings,
+and the flowers and flashing gems, rich dresses and ravishing music, and
+every form of splendour and luxury, combined to create a scene that to
+Tancred was startling, as well from its beauty as its novel character.
+A rich note of Therese Laurella for an instant arrested their
+conversation. They were silent while it lingered on their ear. Then
+Tancred said to the soft-eyed sister of Hillel, 'All that we require
+here to complete the spell are your beautiful children.'
+
+'They sleep,' said the lady, 'and lose little by not being present,
+for, like the Queen of Sheba, I doubt not they are dreaming of music and
+flowers.'
+
+'They say that the children of our race are the most beautiful in the
+world,' said Eva, 'but that when they grow up, they do not fulfil the
+promise of their infancy.'
+
+'That were scarcely possible,' said the soft-eyed mother.
+
+'It is the sense of shame that comes on them and dims their lustre,'
+said Eva. 'Instead of joyous-ness and frank hilarity, anxiety and a
+shrinking reserve are soon impressed upon the youthful Hebrew visage.
+It is the seal of ignominy. The dreadful secret that they are an
+expatriated and persecuted race is soon revealed to them, at least
+among the humbler classes. The children of our house are bred in noble
+thoughts, and taught self-respect. Their countenances will not change.'
+
+And the countenance from whose beautiful mouth issued those gallant
+words, what of that? It was one that might wilder the wisest. Tancred
+gazed upon it with serious yet fond abstraction. All heavenly and heroic
+thoughts gathered around the image of this woman. From the first moment
+of their meeting at Bethany to this hour of sacred festival, all the
+passages of his life in which she had been present flashed through
+his mind. For a moment he was in the ruins of the Arabian desert, and
+recalled her glance of sweet solicitude, when, recovered by her skill
+and her devotion, he recognised the fair stranger whose words had, ere
+that, touched the recesses of his spirit, and attuned his mind to high
+and holiest mysteries. Now again their eyes met; an ineffable expression
+suffused the countenance of Lord Monta-cute. He sighed.
+
+At this moment Hillel and Fakredeen advanced with a hurried air of
+gaiety. Hillel offered his hand to Eva with jaunty grace, exclaiming
+at the same time, 'Ladies, if you like to follow us, you shall see a
+casket just arrived from Marseilles, and which Eva will favour me by
+carrying to Aleppo. It was chosen for me by the Lady of the Austrian
+Internuncio, who is now at Paris. For my part, I do not see much
+advantage in the diplomatic corps, if occasionally they do not execute a
+commission for one.'
+
+Hillel hurried Eva away, accompanied by his sister and Madame Nassim.
+Tancred and Fakredeen remained behind.
+
+'Who is this man?' said Tancred.
+
+''Tis her affianced,' said the Emir; 'the man who has robbed me of my
+natural bride. It is to be hoped, however, that, when she is married,
+Besso will adopt me as his son, which in a certain sense I am, having
+been fostered by his wife. If he do not leave me his fortune, he ought
+at least to take up all my bills in Syria. Don't you think so, my
+Tancred?'
+
+'What?' said Tancred, with a dreamy look.
+
+There was a burst of laughter in the distance.
+
+'Come, come,' said Fakredeen, 'see how they are all gathering round the
+marriage casket. Even Nassim Farhi has risen. I must go and talk to him:
+he has impulses, that man, at least compared with his brother; Mourad is
+a stone, a precious stone though, and you cannot magnetise him through
+his wife, for she has not an idea; but Madame Nassim is immensely
+mesmeric. Come, come, Tancred.'
+
+'I follow.'
+
+But instead of following his friend, Tancred entered one of the marble
+pavilions that jutted out from each corner of the terraced roof, and
+commanded splendid views of the glittering and gardened city. The moon
+had risen over that unrivalled landscape; the white minarets sparkled in
+its beam, and the vast hoods of the cupolaed mosques were suffused with
+its radiancy or reposed in dark shadow, almost as black as the cypress
+groves out of which they rose. In the extreme distance, beyond the
+fertile plain, was the desert, bright as the line of the sea, while
+otherwise around him extended the chains of Lebanon and of the North.
+
+The countenance of Tancred was more than serious, it was sad, as,
+leaning against one of the wreathed marble pillars, he sighed and
+murmured: 'If I were thou, most beautiful Damascus, Aleppo should not
+rob me of such a gem! But I must tear up these thoughts from my heart by
+their roots, and remember that I am ordained for other deeds.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIX.
+
+     _A Discussion About Scammony_
+
+AFTER taking the bath on his arrival at Damascus, having his beard
+arranged by a barber of distinction, and dressing himself in a fresh
+white suit, as was his custom when in residence, with his turban of the
+same colour arranged a little aside, for Baroni was scrupulous as to his
+appearance, he hired a donkey and made his way to the great bazaar.
+The part of the city through which he proceeded was very crowded and
+bustling: narrow streets, with mats slung across, to shield from the sun
+the swarming population beneath. His accustomed step was familiar
+with every winding of the emporium of the city; he threaded without
+hesitation the complicated mazes of those interminable arcades. Now he
+was in the street of the armourers, now among the sellers of shawls;
+the prints of Manchester were here unfolded, there the silks of India;
+sometimes he sauntered by a range of shops gay with yellow papooshes and
+scarlet slippers, and then hurried by the stalls and shelves stored with
+the fatal frippery of the East, in which it is said the plague in
+some shape or other always lurks and lingers. This locality, however,
+indicated that Baroni was already approaching the purlieus of the chief
+places; the great population had already much diminished, the brilliancy
+of the scene much dimmed; there was no longer the swarm of itinerant
+traders who live by promptly satisfying the wants of the visitors to the
+bazaar in the shape of a pipe or an ice, a cup of sherbet or of coffee,
+or a basket of delicious fruit. The passengers were few, and all seemed
+busy: some Armenians, a Hebrew physician and his page, the gliding
+phantoms of some winding-sheets, which were in fact women.
+
+Baroni turned into an arcade, well built, spacious, airy, and very
+neatly fitted up. This was the bazaar of the dealers in drugs. Here,
+too, spices are sold, all sorts of dye-woods, and especially the choice
+gums for which Arabia is still celebrated, and which Syria would fain
+rival by the aromatic juices of her pistachio and her apricot trees.
+
+Seated on what may be called his counter, smoking a nargileh, in a
+mulberry-coloured robe bordered with fur, and a dark turban, was a
+middle-aged man of sinister countenance and air, a long hook nose and a
+light blue eye.
+
+'Welcome, Effendi,' he said, when he observed Baroni; 'many welcomes!
+And how long have you been at Esh Sham?'
+
+'Not too long,' said Baroni; 'and have you been here since my last
+visit?'
+
+'Here and there,' said the man, offering him his pipe.
+
+'And how are our friends in the mountains?' said Baroni, touching the
+tube with his lips and returning it.
+
+'They live,' said the man.
+
+'That's something,' said Baroni.
+
+'Have you been in the land of the Franks?' said the man.
+
+'I am always in the land of the Franks,' said Baroni, 'and about.'
+
+'You don't know any one who wants a parcel of scammony?' said the man.
+
+'I don't know that I don't,' said Baroni, mysteriously.
+
+'I have a very fine parcel,' said the man; 'it is very scarce.'
+
+'No starch or myrrh in it?' asked Baroni.
+
+'Do you think I am a Jew?' said the man.
+
+'I never could make out what you were, friend Darkush; but as for
+scammony, I could throw a good deal of business in your way at this
+moment, to say nothing of galls and tragacanth.'
+
+'As for tragacanth,' said Darkush, 'it is known that no one in Esh Sham
+has pure tragacanth except me; as for galls, every foundling in Syria
+thinks he can deal in afis, but is it afis of Moussoul, Effendi?'
+
+'What you say are the words of truth, good Darkush; I could recommend
+you with a safe conscience. I dreamt last night that there would many
+piastres pass between us this visit.'
+
+'What is the use of friends unless they help you in the hour of
+adversity?' exclaimed Darkush.
+
+'You speak ever the words of truth. I am myself in a valley of dark
+shadows. I am travelling with a young English capitani, a prince of many
+tails, and he has declared that he will entirely extinguish my existence
+unless he pays a visit to the Queen of the Ansarey.'
+
+'Let him first pay a visit to King Soliman in the cities of the Gin,'
+said Darkush, doggedly.
+
+'I am not sure that he will not, some time or other,' replied Baroni,
+'for he is a man who will not take nay. But now let us talk of
+scammony,' he added, vaulting on the counter, and seating himself by
+the side of Darkush; 'one might get more by arranging this visit to your
+mountains than by enjoying an appalto of all its gums, friend Darkush;
+but if it cannot be, it cannot be.'
+
+'It cannot be.'
+
+'Let us talk, then, of scammony. You remember my old master, Darkush?'
+
+'There are many things that are forgotten, but he is not one.'
+
+'This capitani with whom I travel, this prince of many tails, is his
+friend. If you serve me now, you serve also him who served you.'
+
+'There are things that can be done, and there are things that cannot be
+done.'
+
+'Let us talk, then, of scammony. But fifteen years ago, when we first
+met, friend Darkush, you did not say nay to M. de Sidonia. It was the
+plague alone that stopped us.'
+
+'The snow on the mountain is not the same snow as fifteen years ago,
+Effendi. All things change!'
+
+'Let us talk, then, of scammony. The Ansarey have friends in other
+lands, but if they will not listen to them, many kind words will be
+lost. Things also might happen which would make everybody's shadow
+longer, but if there be no sun, their shadows cannot be seen.'
+
+Darkush shrugged his shoulders.
+
+'If the sun of friendship does not illumine me,' resumed Baroni, 'I
+am entirely lost in the bottomless vale. Truly, I would give a thousand
+piastres if I could save my head by taking the capitani to your
+mountains.'
+
+'The princes of Franguestan cannot take off heads,' observed Darkush.
+'All they can do is to banish you to islands inhabited by demons.'
+
+'But the capitani of whom I speak is prince of many tails, is the
+brother of queens. Even the great Queen of the English, they say, is his
+sister.'
+
+'He who serves queens may expect backsheesh.'
+
+'And you serve a queen, Darkush?'
+
+'Which is the reason I cannot give you a pass for the mountains, as I
+would have done, fifteen years ago, in the time of her father.'
+
+'Are her commands, then, so strict?'
+
+'That she should see neither Moslem nor Christian. She is at war with
+both, and will be for ever, for the quarrel between them is beyond the
+power of man to remove.'
+
+'And what may it be?'
+
+'That you can learn only in the mountains of the Ansarey,' said Darkush,
+with a malignant smile.
+
+Baroni fell into a musing mood. After a few moments' thought, he
+looked up, and said: 'What you have told me, friend Darkush, is very
+interesting, and throws light on many things. This young prince, whom I
+serve, is a friend to your race, and knows well why you are at war both
+with Moslem and Christian, for he is so himself. But he is a man sparing
+of words, dark in thought, and terrible to deal with. Why he wishes to
+visit your people I dared not inquire, but now I guess, from what you
+have let fall, that he is an Ansarey himself. He has come from a far
+land merely to visit his race, a man who is a prince among the people,
+to whom piastres are as water. I doubt not he has much to say to your
+Queen: things might have happened that would have lengthened all our
+shadows; but never mind, what cannot be, cannot be: let us talk, then,
+of scammony.'
+
+'You think he is one?' said Darkush, in a lower tone, and looking very
+inquiringly.
+
+'I do,' said Baroni.
+
+'And what do you mean by one?' said Darkush.
+
+'That is exactly the secret which I never could penetrate.'
+
+'I cannot give a pass to the mountains,' said Darkush, 'but the sympathy
+of friends is a river flowing in a fair garden. If this prince, whose
+words and thoughts are dark, should indeed be one---- Could I see him,
+Effendi?'
+
+'It is a subject on which I dare not speak to him,' said Baroni. 'I
+hinted at his coming here: his brow was the brow of Eblis, his eye
+flashed like the red lightning of the Kamsin: it is impossible! What
+cannot be done, cannot be done. He must return to the land of his
+fathers, unseen by your Queen, of whom he is perhaps a brother; he will
+live, hating alike Moslem and Christian, but he will banish me for ever
+to islands of many demons.'
+
+'The Queen shall know of these strange things,' said Darkush, 'and we
+will wait for her words.'
+
+'Wait for the Mecca caravan!' exclaimed Baroni. 'You know not the child
+of storms, who is my master, and that is ever a reason why I think
+he must be one of you. For had he been softened by Christianity or
+civilised by the Koran----'
+
+'Unripe figs for your Christianity and your Koran!' exclaimed Darkush.
+'Do you know what we think of your Christianity and your Koran?'
+
+'No,' said Baroni, quietly. 'Tell me.'
+
+'You will learn in our mountains,' said Darkush.
+
+'Then you mean to let me go there?'
+
+'If the Queen permit you,' said Darkush.
+
+'It is three hundred miles to your country, if it be an hour's journey,'
+said Baroni. 'What with sending the message and receiving the answer, to
+say nothing of the delays which must occur with a woman and a queen in
+the case, the fountains of Esh Sham will have run dry before we hear
+that our advance is forbidden.'
+
+Darkush shook his head, and yet smiled.
+
+'By the sunset of to-morrow, Effendi, I could say, ay or nay. Tell me
+what scammony you want, and it shall be done.'
+
+'Write down in your tablets how much you can let me have,' said Baroni,
+'and I will pay you for it to-morrow. As for the goods themselves, you
+may keep them for me, until I ask you for them; perhaps the next time I
+travel with a capitani who is one of yourselves.'
+
+Darkush threw aside the tube of his nargileh, and, putting his hand very
+gently into the breast of his robe, he drew out a pigeon, dove-coloured,
+but with large bright black eyes. The pigeon seemed very knowing and
+very proud, as he rested on his master's two fingers.
+
+'Hah, hah! my Karaguus, my black-eyes,' exclaimed Darkush. 'What, is he
+going on a little journey to somebody! Yes, we can trust Karaguus, for
+he is one of us. Effendi, to-morrow at sunset, at your khan, for the
+bazaar will be closed, you shall hear from me.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER L.
+
+     _The Mysterious Mountains_
+
+AT THE black gorge of a mountain pass sat, like sentries, two horsemen.
+Their dress was that of the Kurds: white turbans, a black shirt girt
+with cords, on their backs a long lance, by their sides a crooked sword,
+and in their girdles a brace of pistols.
+
+Before them extended a wide, but mountainous landscape: after the small
+and very rugged plain on the brink of which they were posted, many hilly
+ridges, finally a lofty range. The general character of the scene was
+severe and savage; the contiguous rocks were black and riven, the
+hills barren and stony, the granite peaks of the more eminent heights
+uncovered, except occasionally by the snow. Yet, notwithstanding
+the general aridity of its appearance, the country itself was
+not unfruitful. The concealed vegetation of the valleys was not
+inconsiderable, and was highly cherished; the less precipitous cliffs,
+too, were cut into terraces, and covered with artificial soil. The
+numerous villages intimated that the country was well populated. The
+inhabitants produced sufficient wine and corn for their own use, were
+clothed in garments woven by themselves, and possessed some command
+over the products of other countries by the gums, the bees'-wax, and the
+goats' wool which they could offer in exchange.
+
+'I have seen two eagles over Gibel Kiflis twice this morning,' said one
+of the horsemen to his companion. 'What does that portend?'
+
+'A good backsheesh for our Queen, comrade. If these children of
+Franguestan can pay a princess's dower to visit some columns in the
+desert, like Tadmor, they may well give us the golden keys of their
+treasury when they enter where none should go but those who are----'
+
+'But they say that this Frank is one.'
+
+'It has never been known that there were any among the Franks,' replied
+his comrade, shaking his head. 'The Franks are all Nazareny, and, before
+they were Nazareny, they were savages, and lived in caves.'
+
+'But Keferinis has given the word that all are to guard over the
+strangers as over the Queen herself, and that one is a prince, who is
+unquestionably one of us.'
+
+'My father had counted a hundred and ten years when he left us, Azaz,
+and he had twenty-four children, and when he was at the point of death
+he told us two things: one was, never to forget what we were; and the
+other, that never in his time had one like us ever visited our country.'
+
+'Eagles again fly over Gibel Kiflis: methinks the strangers must be at
+hand.'
+
+'May their visit lead to no evil to them or to us!'
+
+'Have you misgivings?'
+
+'We are alone among men: let us remain so.'
+
+'You are right. I was once at Haleb (Aleppo); I will never willingly
+find myself there again.'
+
+'Give me the mountains, the mountains of our fathers, and the beautiful
+things that can be seen only by one of us!'
+
+'They are not to be found in the bazaars of Haleb; in the gardens of
+Damascus they are not to be sought.'
+
+'Oh! who is like the Queen who reigns over us? I know to whom she is to
+be compared, but I will not say; yet you too know, my brother in arms.'
+
+'Yes; there are things which are not known in the bazaars of Haleb; in
+the gardens of Damascus they are not to be sought.'
+
+Karaguus, the black-eyed pigeon, brought tidings to the Queen of the
+Ansarey, from her agent Darkush, that two young princes, one a Syrian,
+the other a Frank, wished to enter her territories to confer with her
+on grave matters, and that he had reason to believe that one of the
+princes, the Frank, strange, incredible as it might sound, was one of
+themselves. On the evening of the next day, very weary, came Ruby-lips,
+the brother of Black-eyes, with the reply of her Majesty, ordering
+Darkush to grant the solicited pass, but limiting the permission of
+entrance into her dominions to the two princes and two attendants. As
+one of these, Baroni figured. They did not travel very rapidly. Tancred
+was glad to seize the occasion to visit Hameh and Aleppo on his journey.
+
+It was after quitting the latter city, and crossing the river
+Koweik, that they approached the region which was the object of their
+expedition. What certainly did not contribute to render their progress
+less difficult and dangerous was the circumstance that war at this
+moment was waged between the Queen of the Ansarey and the Pasha of
+Aleppo. The Turkish potentate had levied tribute on some villages which
+owned her sway, and which, as he maintained, were not included in the
+ancient composition paid by the Ansarey to the Porte in full of all
+demands. The consequence was, that parties of the Ansarey occasionally
+issued from their passes and scoured the plain of Aleppo. There was also
+an understanding between the Ansarey and the Kurds, that, whenever any
+quarrel occurred between the mountaineers and the Turks, the Kurds, who
+resembled the inhabitants of the mountain in their general appearance,
+should, under the title of Ansarey, take this opportunity of ravage.
+Darkush, however, had given Baroni credentials to the secret agent of
+the Ansarey at Aleppo; and, with his instructions and assistance,
+the difficulties, which otherwise might have been insuperable, were
+overcome; and thus it was that the sentries stationed at the mouth of
+the black ravine, which led to the fortress palace of the Queen, were
+now hourly expecting the appearance of the princes.
+
+A horseman at full gallop issued from the hills, and came bounding
+over the stony plain; he shouted to the sentries as he passed them,
+announcing the arrival of the strangers, and continued his pace through
+the defile. Soon afterwards appeared the cavalcade of the princes;
+themselves, their two attendants, and a party of horsemen with white
+turbans and long lances.
+
+Tancred and Fakredeen rode horses of a high race. But great as is the
+pleasure of being well mounted, it was not that circumstance alone which
+lit up their eyes with even unwonted fire, and tinged their cheeks
+with a triumphant glow. Their expedition had been delightful; full of
+adventure, novelty, and suspense. They had encountered difficulties and
+they had overcome them. They had a great purpose, they were on the eve
+of a stirring incident. They were young, daring, and brilliant.
+
+'A strong position,' said Tancred, as they entered the defile.
+
+'O! my Tancred, what things we have seen together!' exclaimed
+Fakredeen. 'And what is to follow?'
+
+The defile was not long, and it was almost unbending. It terminated in
+a table-land of very limited extent, bounded by a rocky chain, on one of
+the front and more moderate elevations of which was the appearance of an
+extensive fortification; though, as the travellers approached it, they
+perceived that, in many instances, art had only availed itself of the
+natural advantages of the position, and that the towers and turrets were
+carved out of the living rock which formed the impregnable bulwarks and
+escarpments.
+
+The cavalcade, at a quick pace, soon gained the ascending and winding
+road that conducted them to a tall and massy gateway, the top of which
+was formed of one prodigious stone. The iron portal opening displayed a
+covered way cut out of the rock, and broad enough to permit the entrance
+of two horsemen abreast. This way was of considerable length, and so
+dark that they were obliged to be preceded by torch-bearers. Thence they
+issued into a large courtyard, the sunshine of which was startling and
+almost painful, after their late passage. The court was surrounded by
+buildings of different styles and proportions; the further end, and, as
+it were, centre of the whole, being a broad, square, and stunted brick
+tower, immediately behind which rose the granite peaks of the mountains.
+
+There were some horsemen in the court, and many attendants on foot, who
+came forward and assisted the guests to alight. Tancred and Fakredeen
+did not speak, but exchanged glances which expressed their secret
+thoughts. Perhaps they were of the same opinion as Baroni, that,
+difficult as it was to arrive there, it might not be more easy to
+return. However, God is great! a consolatory truth that had sustained
+Baroni under many trials.
+
+They were ushered into a pavilion at the side of the court, and thence
+into a commodious divan, which opened upon another and smaller court, in
+which were some acacia trees. As usual, pipes and coffee were brought.
+Baroni was outside, with the other attendant, stowing away the luggage.
+A man plainly but neatly dressed, slender and wrinkled, with a stooping
+gait but a glittering eye, came into the chamber, and, in a hushed
+voice, with many smiles, much humility, but the lurking air of a master,
+welcomed them to Gindarics. Then, seating himself on the divan, he
+clapped his hands, and an attendant brought him his nargileh.
+
+'I presume,' said Tancred, 'that the Emir and myself have the honour of
+conversing with the Lord Keferinis.' Thus he addressed this celebrated
+eunuch, who is prime minister of the Queen of the Ansarey.
+
+'The Prince of England,' replied Keferinis, bowing, and speaking in a
+very affected voice, and in a very affected manner, 'must not expect
+the luxuries of the world amid these mountains. Born in London, which
+is surrounded by the sea, and with an immense slave population at your
+command, you have advantages with which the Ansarey cannot compete,
+unjustly deprived, as they have been, of their port; and unable, in
+the present diminished supply of the markets, to purchase slaves as
+heretofore from the Turkmans and the Kurds.'
+
+'I suppose the Russians interfere with your markets?' said Fakredeen.
+
+'The noble Emir of the Lebanon has expressed himself with infinite
+exactitude,' said Keferinis. 'The Russians now entirely stock their
+harems from the north of Asia.'
+
+'The Lord Keferinis has been a great traveller, I apprehend?' said
+Tancred.
+
+'The Prince of England has expressed himself with extreme exactitude,
+and with flattering grace,' replied Keferinis. 'I have indeed visited
+all the Syrian cities, except Jerusalem, which no one wishes to see, and
+which,' he added, in a sweet calm tone, 'is unquestionably a place fit
+only for hogs.'
+
+Tancred started, but repressed himself.
+
+'Have you been in Lebanon?' asked Fakredeen.
+
+'Noble Emir, I have been the guest of princes of your illustrious house.
+Conversations have passed between me and the Emir Bescheer,' he added,
+with a significant look. 'Perhaps, had events happened which did not
+occur, the great Emir Bescheer might not at this moment have been a
+prisoner at Stamboul, among those who, with infinite exactitude, may be
+described as the most obscene sons of very intolerable barbarians.'
+
+'And why did not you and the Emir Bescheer agree?' inquired Fakredeen,
+eagerly. 'Why has there never been a right understanding between your
+people and the House of Shehaab? United, we should not only command
+Syria, but we might do more: we might control Asia itself!'
+
+'The noble Emir has expressed himself with inexpressible grace. The
+power of the Ansarey cannot be too highly estimated!'
+
+'Is it true that your sovereign can bring five and twenty thousand men
+into the field?' asked Tancred.
+
+'Five and twenty thousand men,' replied Keferinis, with insinuating
+courtesy, 'each of whom could beat nine Maronites, and consequently
+three Druses.'
+
+'Five and twenty thousand figs for your five and twenty thousand men!'
+exclaimed Fakredeen laughing.
+
+At this moment entered four pages and four maidens bringing sweetmeats
+from the Queen, and goblets of iced water. They bowed; Keferinis
+indicated their purpose, and when they had fulfilled their office
+they disappeared; but the seasonable interruption had turned the
+conversation, and prevented Fakredeen making a sharp retort. Now they
+talked of the Queen, who, Keferinis said, would be graciously pleased
+not to see them to-day, and might not even see them for a week, which
+agreeable intelligence was communicated in the most affable manner, as
+if it were good news, or a compliment at least.
+
+'The name of the Queen's father was Suedia,' said Fakredeen.
+
+'The name of the Queen's father was Suedia,' replied Keferinis.
+
+'And the name of the Queen's mother----'
+
+'Is of no consequence,' observed Keferinis, 'for she was a slave, and
+not one of us, and therefore may with singular exactitude be described
+as nothing.'
+
+'Is she the first Queen who has reigned over the Ansarey?' inquired
+Tancred.
+
+'The first since we have settled in these mountains,' replied Keferinis.
+
+'And where were you settled before?' inquired Fakredeen.
+
+'Truly,' replied Keferinis, 'in cities which never can be forgotten, and
+therefore need never be mentioned.'
+
+Tancred and Fakredeen were very desirous of learning the name of the
+Queen, but were too well-bred directly to make the inquiry of Keferinis.
+They had endeavoured to obtain the information as they travelled along,
+but although every Ansarey most obligingly answered their inquiry, they
+invariably found, on comparing notes, that every time they were favoured
+with a different piece of information. At last, Baroni informed them
+that it was useless to pursue their researches, as he was, from various
+reasons, convinced that no Ansarey was permitted to give any information
+of his country, race, government, or creed, although he was far
+too civil ever to refuse an apparently satisfactory answer to every
+question. As for Keferinis, although he was very conversable, the
+companions observed that he always made it a rule to dilate upon
+subjects and countries with which he had no acquaintance, and
+he expressed himself in so affected a manner, and with such an
+amplification of useless phraseology, that, though he was always
+talking, they seemed at the end of the day to be little more acquainted
+with the Ansarey and their sovereign than when Baroni first opened the
+subject of their visit to Darkush at Damascus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LI.
+
+     _Queen of the Ansarey_
+
+AWAY, away, Cypros! I can remain no more; my heart beats so.' 'Sweet
+lady,' replied Cypros, 'it is surprise that agitates you.' 'Is it
+surprise, Cypros? I did not know it was surprise. Then I never was
+surprised before.'
+
+'I think they were surprised, sweet lady,' said Cypros, smiling.
+
+'Hush, you are laughing very loud, my Cypros.' 'Is that laughter, sweet
+lady? I did not know it was laughter. Then I never laughed before.'
+
+'I would they should know nothing either of our smiles or of our sighs,
+my Cypros.'
+
+She who said this was a girl of eighteen summers; her features very
+Greek, her complexion radiant, hair dark as night, and eyes of the
+colour of the violet. Her beautiful countenance, however, was at this
+moment nearly shrouded by her veil, although no one could possibly
+behold it, excepting her attendant, younger even than herself, and fresh
+and fair as a flower.
+
+They were hurrying along a wooden gallery, which led, behind the upper
+part of the divan occupied by the travellers, to the great square
+central tower of the quadrangle, which we have already noticed, and as
+the truth must always, or at least eventually, come out, it shall not
+be concealed that, availing themselves of a convenient, perhaps
+irresistible position, the fair fugitives had peeped into the chamber,
+and had made even minute observations on its inhabitants with impunity.
+Suddenly, Fakredeen rising from his seat, a panic had seized them and
+they hurried away.
+
+The gallery led to a flight of steps, and the flight of steps into
+the first of several chambers without decoration, and with no other
+furniture than an Eastern apartment always offers, the cushioned seat,
+which surrounds at least two-thirds of the room. At length they entered
+a small alcove, rudely painted in arabesque, but in a classic Ionic
+pattern; the alcove opened into a garden, or rather court of myrtles
+with a fountain. An antelope, an Angora cat, two Persian greyhounds,
+were basking on the sunny turf, and there were many birds about, in rude
+but capacious cages.
+
+'We are safe,' said the lady, dropping on the divan; 'I think we must
+have been seen.'
+
+'That was clearly impossible,' said Cypros.
+
+'Well, we must be seen at last,' said the lady. 'Heigho! I never shall
+be able to receive them, if my heart beat so.'
+
+'I would let them wait a few days, sweet lady,' said Cypros, 'and then
+you would get more used to them.'
+
+'I shall never be more used to them. Besides, it is rude and
+inhospitable not to see them. Yesterday there was an excuse: they were
+wearied, or I had a right to suppose they were, with their travelling;
+and to-day, there ought to be an excuse for not receiving them to-day.
+What is it, Cypros?'
+
+'I dare say they will be quite content, if to-day you fix the time when
+you will receive them, sweet lady.'
+
+'But I shall not be content, Cypros. Having seen them once, I wish to
+see them again, and one cannot always be walking by accident in the
+gallery.'
+
+'Then I would see them to-day, sweet lady. Shall I send for the noble
+Keferinis?'
+
+'I wish I were Cypros, and you were---- Hark! what is that?'
+
+''Tis only the antelope, sweet lady.'
+
+'I thought it was---- Now tell me, my Cypros, which of these two princes
+do you think is he who is one of us?'
+
+'Oh, really, sweet lady, I think they are both so handsome!'
+
+'Yet so unlike,' said the lady.
+
+'Well, they are unlike,' said Cypros, 'and yet----'
+
+'And what?'
+
+'The fair one has a complexion almost as radiant as your own, sweet
+lady.'
+
+'And eyes as blue: no, they are too light. And so, as there is a
+likeness, you think he is the one?'
+
+'I am sure I wish they were both belonging to us,' said Cypros.
+
+'Ah, me!' said the lady, ''tis not the bright-faced prince whom I
+hold to be one of us. No, no, my Cypros. Think awhile, sweet girl. The
+visage, the head of the other, have you not seen them before? Have
+you not seen something like them? That head so proudly placed upon the
+shoulders; that hair, that hyacinthine hair, that lofty forehead, that
+proud lip, that face so refined and yet so haughty, does it not recall
+anything? Think, Cypros; think!'
+
+'It does, sweet lady.'
+
+'Tell me; whisper it to me; it is a name not to be lightly mentioned.'
+
+Cypros advanced, and bending her head, breathed a word in the ear of
+the lady, who instantly, blushing deeply, murmured with a faint smile,
+'Yes.'
+
+'It is he, then,' said Cypros, 'who is one of us.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LII.
+
+     _A Royal Audience_
+
+OUR travellers were speculating, not very sanguinely, on the possible
+resources which Gindarics might supply for the amusement of a week,
+when, to their great relief, they were informed by Keferinis, that the
+Queen had fixed noon, on this the day after their arrival, to receive
+them. And accordingly at that time some attendants, not accompanying,
+however, the chief minister, waited on Tancred and Fakredeen, and
+announced that they were commanded to usher them to the royal presence.
+Quitting their apartments, they mounted a flight of steps, which led
+to the wooden gallery, along which they pursued their course. At its
+termination were two sentries with their lances. Then they descended
+a corresponding flight of stairs and entered a chamber where they were
+received by pages; the next room, of larger size, was crowded, and
+here they remained for a few minutes. Then they were ushered into the
+presence.
+
+The young Queen of the Ansarey could not have received them with an air
+more impassive had she been holding a levee at St. James'. Seated on her
+divan, she was clothed in a purple robe; her long dark hair descended
+over her shoulders, and was drawn off her white forehead, which was
+bound with a broad circlet of pure gold, and of great antiquity. On
+her right hand stood Keferinis, the captain of her guard, and a
+priestly-looking person with a long white beard, and then at some
+distance from these three personages, a considerable number of
+individuals, between whose appearance and that of her ordinary subjects
+there was little difference. On her left hand were immediately three
+female attendants, young and pretty; at some distance from them, a troop
+of female slaves; and again, at a still further distance, another body
+of her subjects in their white turbans and their black dresses. The
+chamber was spacious, and rudely painted in the Ionic style.
+
+'It is most undoubtedly requested, and in a vein of the most
+condescending friendship, by the perfectly irresistible Queen, that
+the princes should be seated,' said Keferinis, and accordingly Tancred
+occupied his allotted seat on the right of the Queen, though at some
+distance, and the young Emir filled his on the left. Fakredeen was
+dressed in Syrian splendour, a blaze of shawls and jewelled arms; but
+Tancred retained on this, as he had done on every other occasion, the
+European dress, though in the present instance it assumed a somewhat
+more brilliant shape than ordinary, in the dark green regimentals,
+the rich embroidery, and the flowing plume of the Bellamont yeomanry
+cavalry.
+
+'You are a prince of the English,' said the Queen to Tancred.
+
+'I am an Englishman,' he replied, 'and a subject of our Queen, for we
+also have the good fortune to be ruled over by the young and the fair.'
+
+'My fathers and the House of Shehaab have been ever friends,' she
+continued, turning to Fakredeen.
+
+'May they ever continue so!' he replied. 'For if the Shehaabs and the
+Ansarey are of one mind, Syria is no longer earth, but indeed paradise.'
+
+'You live much in ships?' said the Queen, turning to Tancred.
+
+'We are an insular people,' he answered, somewhat confusedly, but the
+perfectly-informed Keferinis came to the succour both of Tancred and of
+his sovereign.
+
+'The English live in ships only during six months of the year,
+principally when they go to India, the rest entirely at their country
+houses.'
+
+'Ships are required to take you to India?' said her Majesty.
+
+Tancred bowed assent.
+
+'Is your Queen about my age?'
+
+'She was as young as your Majesty when she began to reign.'
+
+'And how long has she reigned?'
+
+'Some seven years or so.'
+
+'Has she a castle?'
+
+'Her Majesty generally resides in a very famous castle.'
+
+'Very strong, I suppose?'
+
+'Strong enough.'
+
+'The Emir Bescheer remains at Stamboul?'
+
+'He is now, I believe, at Brusa,' replied Fakredeen.
+
+'Does he like Brusa?'
+
+'Not as much at Stamboul.'
+
+'Is Stamboul the largest city in the world?'
+
+'I apprehend by no means,' said Fakredeen.
+
+'What is larger?'
+
+'London is larger, the great city of the English, from which the prince
+comes; Paris is also larger, but not so large as London.'
+
+'How many persons are there in Stamboul?'
+
+'More than half a million.'
+
+'Have you seen Antakia (Antioch)?' the Queen inquired of Tancred.
+
+'Not yet.'
+
+'You have seen Beiroot?'
+
+'I have.'
+
+'Antakia is not nearly so great a place as Beiroot,' said the Queen;
+'yet once Antakia was much larger than Stamboul; as large, perhaps, as
+your great city.'
+
+'And far more beautiful than either,' said Tancred.
+
+'Ah! you have heard of these things!' exclaimed the Queen, with much
+animation. 'Now tell me, why is Antakia no longer a great city, as great
+as Stamboul and the city of the English, and far more beautiful?'
+
+'It is a question that might perplex the wise,' said Tancred.
+
+'I am not wise,' said the Queen, looking earnestly at Tancred, 'yet I
+could solve it.'
+
+'Would that your Majesty would deign to do so.'
+
+'There are things to be said, and there are things not to be said,' was
+the reply, and the Queen looked at Keferinis.
+
+'Her Majesty has expressed herself with infinite exactitude and with
+condescending propriety,' said the chief minister.
+
+The Queen was silent for a moment, thoughtful, and then waved gracefully
+her hands; whereupon the chamber was immediately cleared. The princes,
+instructed by Keferinis, alone remained, with the exception of the
+minister, who, at the desire of his sovereign, now seated himself, but
+not on the divan. He sat opposite to the Queen on the floor.
+
+'Princes,' said the Queen, 'you are welcome to Gindarics, where nobody
+ever comes. For we are people who wish neither to see nor to be seen. We
+are not like other people, nor do we envy other people. I wish not for
+the ships of the Queen of the English, and my subjects are content to
+live as their fathers lived before them. Our mountains are wild and
+barren; our vales require for their cultivation unceasing toil. We have
+no gold or silver, no jewels; neither have we silk. But we have some
+beautiful and consoling thoughts, and more than thoughts, which are
+shared by all of us and open to all of us, and which only we can value
+or comprehend. When Darkush, who dwells at Damascus, and was the servant
+of my father, sent to us the ever-faithful messenger, and said that
+there were princes who wished to confer with us, he knew well it was
+vain to send here men who would talk of the English and the Egyptians,
+of the Porte and of the nations of Fran-guestan. These things to us are
+like the rind of fruit. Neither do we care for cottons, nor for things
+which are sought for in the cities of the plains, and it may be, noble
+Emir, cherished also in the mountains of Lebanon. This is not Lebanon,
+but the mountains of the Ansarey, who are as they have ever been, before
+the name of Turk or English was known in Syria, and who will remain as
+they are, unless that happens which may never happen, but which is
+too beautiful not to believe may arrive. Therefore I speak to you with
+frankness, princes of strange countries: Dar-kush, the servant of my
+father, and also mine, told me, by the ever-faithful messenger, that it
+was not of these things, which are to us like water spilt on sand, that
+you wished to confer, but that there were things to be said which ought
+to be uttered. Therefore it is I sent back the faithful messenger,
+saying, "Send then these princes to Gindarics, since their talk is not
+of things which come and go, making a noise on the coast and in the
+cities of the plains, and then passing away." These we infinitely
+despise; but the words of truth uttered in the spirit of friendship will
+last, if they be grave, and on matters which authorise journeys made by
+princes to visit queens.'
+
+Her Majesty ceased, and looked at Keferinis, who bowed profound
+approbation. Tancred and Fakre-deen, also exchanged glances, but the
+Emir waved his hand, signifying his wish that Tancred should reply,
+who, after a moment's hesitation, with an air of great deference, thus
+ventured to express himself:
+
+'It seems to me and to my friend, the Prince of the Lebanon, that we
+have listened to the words of wisdom. They are in every respect just.
+We know not, ourselves, Darkush, but he was rightly informed when he
+apprised your Majesty that it was not upon ordinary topics, either
+political or commercial, that we desired to visit Gindarics. Nor was it
+out of such curiosity as animates travellers. For we are not travellers,
+but men who have a purpose which we wish to execute. The world, that,
+since its creation, has owned the spiritual supremacy of Asia, which
+is but natural, since Asia is the only portion of the world which the
+Creator of that world has deigned to visit, and in which he has ever
+conferred with man, is unhappily losing its faith in those ideas and
+convictions that hitherto have governed the human race. We think,
+therefore, the time has arrived when Asia should make one of its
+periodical and appointed efforts to reassert that supremacy. But though
+we are acting, as we believe, under a divine impulse, it is our duty to
+select the most fitting human agents to accomplish a celestial mission.
+We have thought, therefore, that it should devolve on Syria and Arabia,
+countries in which our God has even dwelt, and with which he has been
+from the earliest days in direct and regular communication, to undertake
+the solemn task. Two races of men, alike free, one inhabiting the
+desert, the other the mountains, untainted by any of the vices of the
+plains, and the virgin vigour of their intelligence not dwarfed by the
+conventional superstitions of towns and cities, one prepared at once
+to supply an unrivalled cavalry, the other an army ready equipped of
+intrepid foot-soldiers, appear to us to be indicated as the natural
+and united conquerors of the world. We wish to conquer that world, with
+angels at our head, in order that we may establish the happiness of man
+by a divine dominion, and crushing the political atheism that is now
+desolating existence, utterly extinguish the grovelling tyranny of
+self-government.'
+
+The Queen of the Ansarey listened with deep and agitated attention to
+Tancred. When he had concluded, she said, after a moment's pause, 'I
+believe also in the necessity of the spiritual supremacy of our Asia.
+And since it has ceased, it seems not to me that man and man's life have
+been either as great or as beautiful as heretofore. What you have said
+assures me that it is well that you have come hither. But when you speak
+of Arabia, of what God is it you speak?'
+
+'I speak of the only God, the Creator of all things, the God who spoke
+on the Arabian Mount Sinai, and expiated our sins upon the Syrian Mount
+Calvary.'
+
+'There is also Mount Olympus,' said the Queen, 'which is in Anatolia.
+Once the gods dwelt there.'--'The gods of poets,' said Tancred. 'No; the
+gods of the people; who loved the people, and whom the people loved.'
+
+There was a pause, broken by the Queen, who, looking at her minister,
+said, 'Noble Keferinis, the thoughts of these princes are divine, and in
+every respect becoming celestial things. Is it not well that the gates
+of the beautiful and the sacred should not be closed?'
+
+'In every sense, irresistible Queen, it is well that the gates of the
+beautiful and the sacred should not be closed.'
+
+'Then let them bring garlands. Princes,' the Queen continued, 'what the
+eye of no stranger has looked upon, you shall now behold. This also is
+Asian and divine.'
+
+Immediately the chamber again filled. The Queen, looking at the two
+princes and bowing, rose from her seat. They instantly followed her
+example. One came forward, offering to the Queen, and then to each of
+them, a garland. Garlands were also taken by Keferinis and a few others.
+Cypros and her companions walked first, then Keferinis and one who had
+stood near the royal divan; the Queen, between her two guests, followed,
+and after her a small and ordered band.
+
+They stopped before a lofty portal of bronze, evidently of ancient art.'
+This opened into a covered and excavated way, in some respects similar
+to that which had led them directly to the castle of Gin-darics; but,
+although obscure, not requiring artificial light, yet it was of no
+inconsiderable length. It emerged upon a platform cut out of the natural
+rock; on all sides were steep cliffs, above them the bright blue sky.
+The ravine appeared to be closed on every side.
+
+The opposite cliff, at the distance of several hundred yards, reached by
+a winding path, presented, at first, the appearance of the front of an
+ancient temple; and Tancred, as he approached it, perceived that the
+hand of art had assisted the development of an imitation of nature: a
+pediment, a deep portico, supported by Ionic columns, and a flight of
+steps, were carved out of the cliff, and led into vast caverns, which
+art also had converted into lofty and magnificent chambers. When
+they had mounted the steps, the Queen and her companions lifted their
+garlands to the skies, and joined in a chorus, solemn and melodious,
+but which did not sound as the language of Syria. Passing through the
+portico, Tancred found himself apparently in a vast apartment, where he
+beheld a strange spectacle.
+
+At the first glance it seemed that, ranged on blocks of the surrounding
+mountains, were a variety of sculptured figures of costly materials
+and exquisite beauty; forms of heroic majesty and ideal grace; and,
+themselves serene and unimpassioned, filling the minds of the beholders
+with awe and veneration. It was not until his eye was accustomed to the
+atmosphere, and his mind had in some degree recovered from the first
+strange surprise, that Tancred gradually recognised the fair and famous
+images over which his youth had so long and so early pondered. Stole
+over his spirit the countenance august, with the flowing beard and
+the lordly locks, sublime on his ivory throne, in one hand the ready
+thunderbolt, in the other the cypress sceptre; at his feet the watchful
+eagle with expanded wings: stole over the spirit of the gazing pilgrim,
+each shape of that refined and elegant hierarchy made for the worship
+of clear skies and sunny lands; goddess and god, genius and nymph,
+and faun, all that the wit and heart of man can devise and create, to
+represent his genius and his passion, all that the myriad developments
+of a beautiful nature can require for their personification. A beautiful
+and sometimes flickering light played over the sacred groups and
+figures, softening the ravages of time, and occasionally investing them
+with, as it were, a celestial movement.
+
+'The gods of the Greeks!' exclaimed Tancred.
+
+'The gods of the Ansarey,' said the Queen; 'the gods of my fathers!'
+
+'I am filled with a sweet amazement,' murmured Tancred. 'Life is
+stranger than I deemed. My soul is, as it were, unsphered.'
+
+'Yet you know them to be gods,' said the Queen; 'and the Emir of the
+Lebanon does not know them to be gods?'
+
+'I feel that they are such,' said Fakredeen.
+
+'How is this, then?' said the Queen. 'How is it that you, the child of a
+northern isle----'
+
+'Should recognise the Olympian Jove,' said Tancred. 'It seems strange;
+but from my earliest youth I learnt these things.'
+
+'Ah, then,' murmured the Queen to herself, and with an expression of the
+greatest satisfaction, 'Dar-kush was rightly informed; he is one of us.'
+
+'I behold then, at last, the gods of the Ansarey,' said Fakredeen.
+
+'All that remains of Antioch, noble Emir; of Anti-och the superb, with
+its hundred towers, and its sacred groves and fanes of flashing beauty.'
+
+'Unhappy Asia!' exclaimed the Emir; 'thou hast indeed fallen!'
+
+'When all was over,' said the Queen; 'when the people refused to
+sacrifice, and the gods, indignant, quitted earth, I hope not for ever,
+the faithful few fled to these mountains with the sacred images, and we
+have cherished them. I told you we had beautiful and consoling thoughts,
+and more than thoughts. All else is lost, our wealth, our arts, our
+luxury, our invention, all have vanished. The niggard earth scarcely
+yields us a subsistence; we dress like Kurds, feed hardly as well; but
+if we were to quit these mountains, and wander like them on the plains
+with our ample flocks, we should lose our sacred images, all the
+traditions that we yet cherish in our souls, that in spite of our hard
+lives preserve us from being barbarians; a sense of the beautiful and
+the lofty, and the divine hope that, when the rapidly consummating
+degradation of Asia has been fulfilled, mankind will return again to
+those gods who made the earth beautiful and happy; and that they, in
+their celestial mercy, may revisit that world which, without them, has
+become a howling wilderness.'
+
+'Lady,' said Tancred, with much emotion, 'we must, with your permission,
+speak of these things. My heart is at present too full.'
+
+'Come hither,' said the Queen, in a voice of great softness; and she led
+Tancred away.
+
+They entered a chamber of much smaller dimensions, which might be looked
+upon as a chapel annexed to the cathedral or Pantheon which they had
+quitted. At each end of it was a statue. They paused before one. It was
+not larger than life, of ivory and gold; the colour purer than could
+possibly have been imagined, highly polished, and so little injured,
+that at a distance the general effect was not in the least impaired.
+
+'Do you know that?' asked the Queen, as she looked at the statue, and
+then she looked at Tancred.
+
+'I recognise the god of poetry and light,' said Tancred; 'Phoebus
+Apollo.'
+
+'Our god: the god of Antioch, the god of the sacred grove! Who could
+look upon him, and doubt his deity!'
+
+'Is this indeed the figure,' murmured Tancred, 'before which a hundred
+steers have bled? before which libations of honeyed wine were poured
+from golden goblets? that lived in a heaven of incense?'
+
+'Ah! you know all.'
+
+'Angels watch over us!' said Tancred, 'or my brain will turn. And who is
+this?'
+
+'One before whom the pilgrims of the world once kneeled. This is the
+Syrian goddess; the Venus of our land, but called among us by a name
+which, by her favour, I also bear, Astarte.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIII.
+
+     _Fakredeen's Plots_
+
+AND when did men cease from worshipping them?' asked Fakredeen of
+Tancred; 'before the Prophet?' 'When truth descended from Heaven in the
+person of Christ Jesus.'
+
+'But truth had descended from Heaven before Jesus,' replied Fakredeen;
+'since, as you tell me, God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, and since
+then to many of the prophets and the princes of Israel.'
+
+'Of whom Jesus was one,' said Tancred; 'the descendant of King David
+as well as the Son of God. But through this last and greatest of their
+princes it was ordained that the inspired Hebrew mind should mould and
+govern the world. Through Jesus God spoke to the Gentiles, and not to
+the tribes of Israel only. That is the great worldly difference between
+Jesus and his inspired predecessors. Christianity is Judaism for
+the multitude, but still it is Judaism, and its development was the
+death-blow of the Pagan idolatry.'
+
+'Gentiles,' murmured Fakredeen; 'Gentiles! you are a Gentile, Tancred?'
+
+'Alas! I am,' he answered, 'sprung from a horde of Baltic pirates, who
+never were heard of during the greater annals of the world, a descent
+which I have been educated to believe was the greatest of honours. What
+we should have become, had not the Syro-Arabian creeds formed our minds,
+I dare not contemplate. Probably we should have perished in mutual
+destruction. However, though rude and modern Gentiles, unknown to the
+Apostles, we also were in time touched with the sacred symbol, and
+originally endowed with an organisation of a high class, for our
+ancestors wandered from Caucasus; we have become kings and princes.'
+
+'What a droll thing is history,' said Fakredeen. 'Ah! if I were only
+acquainted with it, my education would be complete. Should you call me a
+Gentile?'
+
+'I have great doubts whether such an appellation could be extended to
+the descendants of Ishmael. I always look upon you as a member of the
+sacred race. It is a great thing for any man; for you it may tend to
+empire.'
+
+'Was Julius Caesar a Gentile?'
+
+'Unquestionably.'
+
+'And Iskander?' (Alexander of Macedon.)
+
+'No doubt; the two most illustrious Gentiles that ever existed, and
+representing the two great races on the shores of the Mediterranean, to
+which the apostolic views were first directed.'
+
+'Well, their blood, though Gentile, led to empire,' said Fakredeen.
+
+'But what are their conquests to those of Jesus Christ?' said Tancred,
+with great animation. 'Where are their dynasties? where their
+subjects? They were both deified: who burns incense to them now? Their
+descendants, both Greek and Roman, bow before the altars of the house of
+David. The house of David is worshipped at Rome itself, at every seat of
+great and growing empire in the world, at London, at St. Petersburg,
+at New York. Asia alone is faithless to the Asian; but Asia has been
+overrun by Turks and Tatars. For nearly five hundred years the true
+Oriental mind has been enthralled. Arabia alone has remained free and
+faithful to the divine tradition. From its bosom we shall go forth and
+sweep away the moulding remnants of the Tataric system; and then,
+when the East has resumed its indigenous intelligence, when angels and
+prophets again mingle with humanity, the sacred quarter of the globe
+will recover its primeval and divine supremacy; it will act upon the
+modern empires, and the faint-hearted faith of Europe, which is but
+the shadow of a shade, will become as vigorous as befits men who are in
+sustained communication with the Creator.'
+
+'But suppose,' said Fakredeen, in a captious tone that was unusual with
+him, 'suppose, when the Tataric system is swept away, Asia reverts to
+those beautiful divinities that we beheld this morning?'
+
+More than once, since they quitted the presence of Astarte, had
+Fakredeen harped upon this idea. From that interview the companions
+had returned moody and unusually silent. Strange to say, there seemed
+a tacit understanding between them to converse little on that subject
+which mainly engrossed their minds. Their mutual remarks on Astarte
+were few and constrained; a little more diffused upon the visit to the
+temple; but they chiefly kept up the conventional chat of companionship
+by rather commonplace observations on Keferinis and other incidents and
+persons comparatively of little interest and importance.
+
+After their audience, they dined with the minister, not exactly in
+the manner of Downing Street, nor even with the comparative luxury of
+Canobia; but the meal was an incident, and therefore agreeable. A good
+pilaff was more acceptable than some partridges dressed with oil and
+honey: but all Easterns are temperate, and travel teaches abstinence
+to the Franks. Neither Fakredeen nor Tancred were men who criticised a
+meal: bread, rice, and coffee, a bird or a fish, easily satisfied them.
+The Emir affected the Moslem when the minister offered him the wine of
+the mountains, which was harsh and rough after the delicious Vino d'Oro
+of Lebanon; but Tancred contrived to drink the health of Queen Astarte
+without any wry expression of countenance.
+
+'I believe,' said Keferinis, 'that the English, in their island of
+London, drink only to women; the other natives of Franguestan chiefly
+pledge men; we look upon both as barbarous.'
+
+'At any rate, you worship the god of wine,' remarked Tancred, who never
+attempted to correct the self-complacent minister. 'I observed to-day
+the statue of Bacchus.'
+
+'Bacchus!' said Keferinis, with a smile, half of inquiry, half of
+commiseration. 'Bacchus: an English name, I apprehend! All our gods
+came from the ancient Antakia before either the Turks or the English
+were heard of. Their real names are in every respect sacred; nor will
+they be uttered, even to the Ansarey, until after the divine initiation
+has been performed in the perfectly admirable and inexpressibly
+delightful mysteries,' which meant, in simpler tongue, that Keferinis
+was entirely ignorant of the subject on which he was talking.
+
+After their meal, Keferinis, proposing that in the course of the
+day they should fly one of the Queen's hawks, left them, when the
+conversation, of which we have given a snatch, occurred. Yet, as we have
+observed, they were on the whole moody and unusually silent. Fakredeen
+in particular was wrapped in reverie, and when he spoke, it was always
+in reference to the singular spectacle of the morning. His musing forced
+him to inquiry, having never before heard of the Olympian heirarchy, nor
+of the woods of Daphne, nor of the bright lord of the silver bow.
+
+Why were they moody and silent?
+
+With regard to Lord Montacute, the events of the morning might
+sufficiently account for the gravity of his demeanour, for he was
+naturally of a thoughtful and brooding temperament. This unexpected
+introduction to Olympus was suggestive of many reflections to one so
+habituated to muse over divine influences. Nor need it be denied that
+the character of the Queen greatly interested him. Her mind was
+already attuned to heavenly thoughts. She already believed that she
+was fulfilling a sacred mission. Tancred could not be blind to the
+importance of such a personage as Astarte in the great drama of divine
+regeneration, which was constantly present to his consideration. Her
+conversion might be as weighty as ten victories. He was not insensible
+to the efficacy of feminine influence in the dissemination of religious
+truth, nor unaware how much the greatest development of the Arabian
+creeds, in which the Almighty himself deigned to become a personal
+actor, was assisted by the sacred spell of woman. It is not the Empress
+Helene alone who has rivalled, or rather surpassed, the exploits of the
+most illustrious apostles. The three great empires of the age, France,
+England, and Russia, are indebted for their Christianity to female lips.
+We all remember the salutary influence of Clotilde and Bertha which bore
+the traditions of the Jordan to the Seine and the Thames: it should not
+be forgotten that to the fortunate alliance of Waldimir, the Duke of
+Moscovy, with the sister of the Greek Emperor Basil, is to be ascribed
+the remarkable circumstance, that the intellectual development of all
+the Russias has been conducted on Arabian principles. It was the fair
+Giselle, worthy successor of the softhearted women of Galilee, herself
+the sister of the Emperor Henry the Second, who opened the mind of her
+husband, the King of Hungary, to the deep wisdom of the Hebrews, to the
+laws of Moses and the precepts of Jesus. Poland also found an apostle
+and a queen in the sister of the Duke of Bohemia, and who revealed to
+the Sarmatian Micislas the ennobling mysteries of Sinai and of Calvary.
+
+Sons of Israel, when you recollect that you created Christendom, you may
+pardon the Christians even their _autos da fe!_
+
+Fakredeen Shehaab, Emir of Canobia, and lineal descendant of the
+standard-bearer of the Prophet, had not such faith in Arabian principles
+as to dream of converting the Queen of the Ansarey. Quite the reverse;
+the Queen of the Ansarey had converted him. From the first moment he
+beheld Astarte, she had exercised over him that magnetic influence
+of which he was peculiarly susceptible, and by which Tancred at once
+attracted and controlled him. But Astarte added to this influence a
+power to which the Easterns in general do not very easily bow: the
+influence of sex. With the exception of Eva, woman had never guided the
+spirit or moulded the career of Fakredeen; and, in her instance, the
+sovereignty had been somewhat impaired by that acquaintance of the
+cradle, which has a tendency to enfeeble the ideal, though it may
+strengthen the affections. But Astarte rose upon him commanding and
+complete, a star whose gradual formation he had not watched, and whose
+unexpected brilliancy might therefore be more striking even than
+the superior splendour which he had habitually contemplated. Young,
+beautiful, queenly, impassioned, and eloquent, surrounded by the
+accessories that influence the imagination, and invested with
+fascinating mystery, Fakredeen, silent and enchanted, had yielded his
+spirit to Astarte, even before she revealed to his unaccustomed and
+astonished mind the godlike forms of her antique theogony. Eva and
+Tancred had talked to him of gods; Astarte had shown them to him. All
+visible images of their boasted divinities of Sinai and of Calvary with
+which he was acquainted were enshrined over the altars of the convents
+of Lebanon. He contrasted those representations without beauty or grace,
+so mean, and mournful, and spiritless, or if endued with attributes of
+power, more menacing than majestic, and morose rather than sublime, with
+those shapes of symmetry, those visages of immortal beauty, serene
+yet full of sentiment, on which he had gazed that morning with a holy
+rapture. The Queen had said that, besides Mount Sinai and Mount
+Calvary, there was also Mount Olympus. It was true; even Tancred had
+not challenged her assertion. And the legends of Olympus were as old as,
+nay, older than, those of the convent or the mosques.
+
+This was no mythic fantasy of the beautiful Astarte; the fond tradition
+of a family, a race, even a nation. These were not the gods merely of
+the mountains: they had been, as they deserved to be, the gods of a
+great world, of great nations, and of great men. They were the gods of
+Alexander and of Caius Julius; they were the gods under whose divine
+administration Asia had been powerful, rich, luxurious and happy. They
+were the gods who had covered the coasts and plains with magnificent
+cities, crowded the midland ocean with golden galleys, and filled the
+provinces that were now a chain of wilderness and desert with teeming
+and thriving millions. No wonder the Ansarey were faithful to such
+deities. The marvel was why men should ever have deserted them. But
+man had deserted them, and man was unhappy. All, Eva, Tancred, his own
+consciousness, the surrounding spectacles of his life, assured him that
+man was unhappy, degraded, or discontented; at all events, miserable. He
+was not surprised that a Syrian should be unhappy, even a Syrian prince,
+for he had no career; he was not surprised that the Jews were unhappy,
+because they were the most persecuted of the human race, and in all
+probability, very justly so, for such an exception as Eva proved
+nothing; but here was an Englishman, young, noble, very rich, with every
+advantage of nature and fortune, and he had come out to Syria to tell
+them that all Europe was as miserable as themselves. What if their
+misery had been caused by their deserting those divinities who had once
+made them so happy?
+
+A great question; Fakredeen indulged in endless combinations while he
+smoked countless nargilehs. If religion were to cure the world, suppose
+they tried this ancient and once popular faith, so very popular in
+Syria. The Queen of the Ansarey could command five-and-twenty thousand
+approved warriors, and the Emir of the Lebanon could summon a host,
+if not as disciplined, far more numerous. Fakredeen, in a frenzy
+of reverie, became each moment more practical. Asian supremacy,
+cosmopolitan regeneration, and theocratic equality, all gradually
+disappeared. An independent Syrian kingdom, framed and guarded by a
+hundred thousand sabres, rose up before him; an established Olympian
+religion, which the Druses, at his instigation, would embrace, and
+toleration for the Maronites till he could bribe Bishop Nicodemus to
+arrange a general conformity, and convert his great principal from the
+Patriarch into the Pontiff of Antioch. The Jews might remain,
+provided they negotiated a loan which should consolidate the Olympian
+institutions and establish the Gentile dynasty of Fakredeen and Astarte.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIV.
+
+     _Astarte is Jealous_
+
+WHEN Fakredeen bade Tancred as usual good-night, his voice was different
+from its accustomed tones; he had replied to Tancred with asperity
+several times during the evening; and when he was separated from his
+companion, he felt relieved. All unconscious of these changes and
+symptoms was the heir of Bellamont.
+
+Though grave, one indeed who never laughed and seldom smiled, Tancred
+was blessed with the rarest of all virtues, a singularly sweet temper.
+He was grave, because he was always thinking, and thinking of great
+deeds. But his heart was soft, and his nature most kind, and
+remarkably regardful of the feelings of others. To wound them, however
+unintentionally, would occasion him painful disturbance. Though
+naturally rapid in the perception of character, his inexperience of
+life, and the self-examination in which he was so frequently absorbed,
+tended to blunt a little his observation of others. With a generous
+failing, which is not uncommon, he was prepared to give those whom
+he loved credit for the virtues which he himself possessed, and the
+sentiments which he himself extended to them. Being profound, steadfast,
+and most loyal in his feelings, he was incapable of suspecting that his
+elected friend could entertain sentiments towards him less deep, less
+earnest, and less faithful. The change in the demeanour of the Emir
+was, therefore, unnoticed by him. And what might be called the sullen
+irritability of Fakredeen was encountered with the usual gentleness and
+total disregard of self which always distinguished the behaviour of Lord
+Montacute.
+
+The next morning they were invited by Astarte to a hawking party,
+and, leaving the rugged ravines, they descended into a softer and
+more cultivated country, where they found good sport. Fakredeen was an
+accomplished falconer, and loved to display his skill before the Queen.
+Tancred was quite unpractised, but Astarte seemed resolved that he
+should become experienced in the craft among her mountains, which did
+not please the Emir, as he caracoled in sumptuous dress on a splendid
+steed, with the superb falcon resting on his wrist.
+
+The princes dined again with Keferinis; that, indeed, was to be their
+custom during their stay; afterwards, accompanied by the minister,
+they repaired to the royal divan, where they had received a general
+invitation. Here they found Astarte alone, with the exception of Cypros
+and her companions, who worked with their spindles apart; and here, on
+the pretext of discussing the high topics on which they had repaired
+to Gindarics, there was much conversation on many subjects. Thus passed
+one, two, and even three days; thus, in general, would their hours be
+occupied at Gindarics. In the morning the hawks, or a visit to some
+green valley, which was blessed with a stream and beds of oleander, and
+groves of acacia or sycamore. Fakredeen had no cause to complain of
+the demeanour of Astarte towards him, for it was most gracious and
+encouraging. Indeed, he pleased her; and she was taken, as many had
+been, by the ingenuous modesty, the unaffected humility, the tender and
+touching deference of his manner; he seemed to watch her every glance,
+and hang upon her every accent: his sympathy with her was perfect; he
+agreed with every sentiment and observation that escaped her. Blushing,
+boyish, unsophisticated, yet full of native grace, and evidently gifted
+with the most amiable disposition, it was impossible not to view with
+interest, and even regard, one so young and so innocent.
+
+But while the Emir had no cause to be dissatisfied with the demeanour of
+Astarte to himself, he could not be unaware that her carriage to Tancred
+was different, and he doubted whether the difference was in his favour.
+He hung on the accents of Astarte, but he remarked that the Queen hung
+upon the accents of Tancred, who, engrossed with great ideas, and full
+of a great purpose, was unconscious of what did not escape the
+lynx-like glance of his companion. However, Fakredeen was not, under any
+circumstances, easily disheartened; in the present case, there were many
+circumstances to encourage him. This was a great situation; there was
+room for combinations. He felt that he was not unfavoured by Astarte; he
+had confidence, and a just confidence, in his power of fascination. He
+had to combat a rival, who was, perhaps, not thinking of conquest; at
+any rate, who was unconscious of success. Even had he the advantage,
+which Fakredeen was not now disposed to admit, he might surely be
+baffled by a competitor with a purpose, devoting his whole intelligence
+to his object, and hesitating at no means to accomplish it.
+
+Fakredeen became great friends with Keferinis. He gave up his time and
+attentions much to that great personage; anointed him with the most
+delicious flattery, most dexterously applied; consulted him on great
+affairs which had no existence; took his advice on conjunctures which
+never could occur; assured Keferinis that, in his youth, the Emir
+Bescheer had impressed on him the importance of cultivating the friendly
+feelings and obtaining the support of the distinguished minister of the
+Ansarey; gave him some jewels, and made him enormous promises.
+
+On the fourth day of the visit, Fakredeen found himself alone with
+Astarte, at least, without the presence of Tancred, whom Keferinis had
+detained in his progress to the royal apartment. The young Emir had
+pushed on, and gained an opportunity which he had long desired.
+
+They were speaking of the Lebanon; Fakredeen had been giving Astarte,
+at her request, a sketch of Canobia, and intimating his inexpressible
+gratification were she to honour his castle with a visit; when, somewhat
+abruptly, in a suppressed voice, and in a manner not wholly free from
+embarrassment, Astarte said, 'What ever surprises me is, that Darkush,
+who is my servant at Damascus, should have communicated, by the faithful
+messenger, that one of the princes seeking to visit Gindarics was of our
+beautiful and ancient faith; for the Prince of England has assured me
+that nothing was more unfounded or indeed impossible; that the faith,
+ancient and beautiful, never prevailed in the land of his fathers; and
+that the reason why he was acquainted with the god-like forms is, that
+in his country it is the custom (custom to me most singular, and indeed
+incomprehensible) to educate the youth by teaching them the ancient
+poems of the Greeks, poems quite lost to us, but in which are embalmed
+the sacred legends.'
+
+'We ought never to be surprised at anything that is done by the
+English,' observed Fakredeen; 'who are, after all, in a certain sense,
+savages. Their country produces nothing; it is an island, a mere rock,
+larger than Malta, but not so well fortified. Everything they require
+is imported from other countries; they get their corn from Odessa, and
+their wine from the ports of Spain. I have been assured at Beiroot that
+they do not grow even their own cotton, but that I can hardly believe.
+Even their religion is an exotic; and as they are indebted for that to
+Syria, it is not surprising that they should import their education from
+Greece.'
+
+'Poor people!' exclaimed the Queen; 'and yet they travel; they wish to
+improve themselves?'
+
+'Darkush, however,' continued Fakredeen, without noticing the last
+observation of Astarte, 'was not wrongly informed.'
+
+'Not wrongly informed?'
+
+'No: one of the princes who wished to visit Gindarics was, in a certain
+sense, of the ancient and beautiful faith, but it was not the Prince of
+the English.'
+
+'What are these pigeons that you are flying without letters!' exclaimed
+Astarte, looking very perplexed.
+
+'Ah! beautiful Astarte,' said Fakredeen, with a sigh; 'you did not know
+my mother.'
+
+'How should I know your mother, Emir of the castles of Lebanon? Have I
+ever left these mountains, which are dearer to me than the pyramids of
+Egypt to the great Pasha? Have I ever looked upon your women, Maronite
+or Druse, walking in white sheets, as if they were the children of ten
+thousand ghouls; with horns on their heads, as if they were the wild
+horses of the desert?'
+
+'Ask Keferinis,' said Fakredeen, still sighing; 'he has been at
+Bteddeen, the court of the Emir Bescheer. He knew my mother, at least by
+memory. My mother, beautiful Astarte, was an Ansarey.'
+
+'Your mother was an Ansarey!' repeated Astarte, in a tone of infinite
+surprise; 'your mother an Ansarey? Of what family was she a child?'
+
+'Ah!' replied Fakredeen, 'there it is; that is the secret sorrow of
+my life. A mystery hangs over my mother, for I lost both my parents in
+extreme childhood; I was at her heart,' he added, in a broken voice,
+'and amid outrage, tumult, and war. Of whom was my mother the child? I am
+here to discover that, if possible. Her race and her beautiful religion
+have been the dream of my life. All I have prayed for has been to
+recognise her kindred and to behold her gods.'
+
+'It is very interesting,' murmured the Queen.
+
+'It is more than interesting,' sighed Fakredeen. 'Ah! beautiful Astarte!
+if you knew all, if you could form even the most remote idea of what I
+have suffered for this unknown faith;' and a passionate tear quivered on
+the radiant cheek of the young prince.
+
+'And yet you came here to preach the doctrines of another,' said
+Astarte.
+
+'I came here to preach the doctrines of another!' replied Fakredeen,
+with an expression of contempt; his nostril dilated, his lip curled with
+scorn. 'This mad Englishman came here to preach the doctrines of another
+creed, and one with which it seems to me, he has as little connection
+as his frigid soil has with palm trees. They produce them, I am told, in
+houses of glass, and they force their foreign faith in the same manner;
+but, though they have temples, and churches, and mosques, they confess
+they have no miracles; they admit that they never produced a prophet;
+they own that no God ever spoke to their people, or visited their land;
+and yet this race, so peculiarly favoured by celestial communication,
+aspire to be missionaries!'
+
+'I have much misapprehended you,' said Astarte; 'I thought you were both
+embarked in a great cause.'
+
+'Ah, you learnt that from Darkush!' quickly replied Fakredeen. 'You see,
+beautiful Astarte, that I have no personal acquaintance with Darkush. It
+was the intendant of my companion who was his friend; and it is through
+him that Darkush has learnt anything that he has communicated. The
+mission, the project, was not mine; but when I found my comrade had the
+means, which had hitherto evaded me, of reaching Gindarics, I threw
+no obstacles in his crotchety course. On the contrary, I embraced the
+opportunity even with fervour, and far from discouraging my friend from
+views to which I know he is fatally, even ridiculously, wedded, I looked
+forward to this expedition as the possible means of diverting his
+mind from some opinions, and, I might add, some influences, which I am
+persuaded can eventually entail upon him nothing but disappointment
+and disgrace.' And here Fakredeen shook his head, with that air of
+confidential mystery which so cleverly piques curiosity.
+
+'Whatever may be his fate,' said Astarte, in a tone of seriousness,
+'the English prince does not seem to me to be a person who could ever
+experience disgrace.'
+
+'No, no,' quickly replied his faithful friend; 'of course I did not
+speak of personal dishonour. He is extremely proud and rash, and not
+in any way a practical man; but he is not a person who ever would
+do anything to be sent to the bagnio or the galleys. What I mean by
+disgrace is, that he is mixed up with transactions, and connected with
+persons who will damage, cheapen, in a worldly sense dishonour him,
+destroy all his sources of power and influence. For instance, now, in
+his country, in England, a Jew is never permitted to enter England; they
+may settle in Gibraltar, but in England, no. Well, it is perfectly well
+known among all those who care about these affairs, that this enterprise
+of his, this religious-politico-military adventure, is merely undertaken
+because he happens to be desperately enamoured of a Jewess at Damascus,
+whom he cannot carry home as his bride.'
+
+'Enamoured of a Jewess at Damascus!' said Astarte, turning pale.
+
+'To folly, to frenzy; she is at the bottom of the whole of this affair;
+she talks Cabala to him, and he Nazareny to her; and so, between them,
+they have invented this grand scheme, the conquest of Asia, perhaps the
+world, with our Syrian sabres, and we are to be rewarded for our pains
+by eating passover cakes.'
+
+'What are they?'
+
+'Festival bread of the Hebrews, made in the new moon, with the milk of
+he-goats.'
+
+'What horrors!'
+
+'What a reward for conquest!'
+
+'Will the Queen of the English let one of her princes marry a Jewess?'
+
+'Never; he will be beheaded, and she will be burnt alive, eventually;
+but, in the meantime, a great deal of mischief may occur, unless we stop
+it.'
+
+'It certainly should be stopped.'
+
+'What amuses me most in this affair,' continued Fakredeen, 'is the cool
+way in which this Englishman comes to us for our assistance. First, he
+is at Canobia, then at Gindarics; we are to do the business, and Syria
+is spoken of as if it were nothing. Now the fact is, Syria is the only
+practical feature of the case. There is no doubt that, if we were all
+agreed, if Lebanon and the Ansarey were to unite, we could clear
+Syria of the Turks, conquer the plain, and carry the whole coast in
+a campaign, and no one would ever interfere to disturb us. Why should
+they? The Turks could not, and the natives of Fran-guestan would not.
+Leave me to manage them. There is nothing in the world I so revel in as
+hocus-sing Guizot and Aberdeen. You never heard of Guizot and Aberdeen?
+They are the two Reis Effendis of the King of the French and the Queen
+of the English. I sent them an archbishop last year, one of my fellows,
+Archbishop Murad, who led them a pretty dance. They nearly made me King
+of the Lebanon, to put an end to disturbances which never existed except
+in the venerable Murad's representations.'
+
+'These are strange things! Has she charms, this Jewess? Very beautiful,
+I suppose?'
+
+'The Englishman vows so; he is always raving of her; talks of her in his
+sleep.'
+
+'As you say, it would indeed be strange to draw our sabres for a Jewess.
+Is she dark or fair?'
+
+'I think, when he writes verses to her, he always calls her a moon or a
+star; that smacks nocturnal and somewhat sombre.'
+
+'I detest the Jews; but I have heard their women are beautiful.'
+
+'We will banish them all from our kingdom of Syria,' said Fakredeen,
+looking at Astarte earnestly.
+
+'Why, if we are to make a struggle, it should be for something. There
+have been Syrian kingdoms.'
+
+'And shall be, beauteous Queen, and you shall rule them. I believe now
+the dream of my life will be realised.'
+
+'Why, what's that?'
+
+'My mother's last aspiration, the dying legacy of her passionate soul,
+known only to me, and never breathed to human being until this moment.'
+
+'Then you recollect your mother?'
+
+'It was my nurse, long since dead, who was the depositary of the
+injunction, and in due time conveyed it to me.'
+
+'And what was it?'
+
+'To raise, at Deir el Kamar, the capital of our district, a marble
+temple to the Syrian goddess.'
+
+'Beautiful idea!'
+
+'It would have drawn back the mountain to the ancient faith; the Druses
+are half-prepared, and wait only my word.'
+
+'But the Nazareny bishops,' said the Queen, 'whom you find so useful,
+what will they say?'
+
+'What did the priests and priestesses of the Syrian goddess say, when
+Syria became Christian? They turned into bishops and nuns. Let them turn
+back again.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LV.
+
+     _Capture of a Harem_
+
+TANCRED and Fakredeen had been absent from Gindarics for two or three
+days, making an excursion in the neighbouring districts, and visiting
+several of those chieftains whose future aid might be of much importance
+to them. Away from the unconscious centre of many passions and
+intrigues, excited by the novelty of their life, sanguine of the
+ultimate triumph of his manoeuvres, and at times still influenced by
+his companion, the demeanour of the young Emir of Lebanon to his friend
+resumed something of its wonted softness, confidence, and complaisance.
+They were once more in sight of the wild palace-fort of Astarte;
+spurring their horses, they dashed before their attendants over the
+plain, and halted at the huge portal of iron, while the torches were
+lit, and preparations were made for the passage of the covered way.
+
+When they entered the principal court, there were unusual appearances
+of some recent and considerable occurrence: groups of Turkish soldiers,
+disarmed, reclining camels, baggage and steeds, and many of the armed
+tribes of the mountain.
+
+'What is all this?' inquired Fakredeen.
+
+''Tis the harem of the Pasha of Aleppo,' replied a warrior, 'captured on
+the plain, and carried up into the mountains to our Queen of queens.'
+
+'The war begins,' said Fakredeen, looking round at Tancred with a
+glittering eye.
+
+'Women make war on women,' he replied.
+
+''Tis the first step,' said the Emir, dismounting; 'I care not how it
+comes. Women are at the bottom of everything. If it had not been for the
+Sultana Mother, I should have now been Prince of the Mountain.'
+
+When they had regained their apartments the lordly Keferinis soon
+appeared, to offer them his congratulations on their return. The
+minister was peculiarly refined and mysterious this morning, especially
+with respect to the great event, which he involved in so much of
+obscurity, that, after much conversation, the travellers were as little
+acquainted with the occurrence as when they entered the courtyard of
+Gindarics.
+
+'The capture of a pasha's harem is not water spilt on sand, lordly
+Keferinis,' said the Emir. 'We shall hear more of this.'
+
+'What we shall hear,' replied Keferinis, 'is entirely an affair of the
+future; nor is it in any way to be disputed that there are few men who
+do not find it more difficult to foretell what is to happen than to
+remember what has taken place.'
+
+'We sometimes find that memory is as rare a quality as prediction,' said
+Tancred.
+
+'In England,' replied the lordly Keferinis; 'but it is never to be
+forgotten, and indeed, on the contrary, should be entirely recollected,
+that the English, being a new people, have nothing indeed which they can
+remember.'
+
+Tancred bowed.
+
+'And how is the most gracious lady, Queen of queens?' inquired
+Fakredeen.
+
+'The most gracious lady, Queen of queens,' replied Keferinis, very
+mysteriously, 'has at this time many thoughts.'
+
+'If she require any aid,' said Fakredeen, 'there is not a musket in
+Lebanon that is not at her service.'
+
+Keferinis bent his head, and said, 'It is not in any way to be
+disputed that there are subjects which require for their management
+the application of a certain degree of force, and the noble Emir of
+the Lebanon has expressed himself in that sense with the most
+exact propriety; there are also subjects which are regulated by the
+application of a certain number of words, provided they were well
+chosen, and distinguished by an inestimable exactitude. It does not by
+any means follow that from what has occurred there will be sanguinary
+encounters between the people of the gracious lady, Queen of queens, and
+those that dwell in plains and cities; nor can it be denied that war is
+a means by which many things are brought to a final conjuncture. At the
+same time courtesy has many charms, even for the Turks, though it is not
+to be denied, or in any way concealed, that a Turk, especially if he be
+a pasha, is, of all obscene and utter children of the devil, the most
+entirely contemptible and thoroughly to be execrated.'
+
+'If I were the Queen, I would not give up the harem,' said Fakredeen;
+'and I would bring affairs to a crisis. The garrison at Aleppo is not
+strong; they have been obliged to march six regiments to Deir el Kamar,
+and, though affairs are comparatively tranquil in Lebanon for the
+moment, let me send a pigeon to my cousin Francis El Kazin, and young
+Syria will get up such a stir that old Wageah Pasha will not spare a
+single man. I will have fifty bonfires on the mountain near Beiroot in
+one night, and Colonel Rose will send off a steamer to Sir Canning to
+tell him there is a revolt in the Lebanon, with a double despatch for
+Aberdeen, full of smoking villages and slaughtered women!' and the young
+Emir inhaled his nargileh with additional zest as he recollected the
+triumphs of his past mystifications.
+
+At sunset it was announced to the travellers that the Queen would
+receive them. Astarte appeared much gratified by their return, was very
+gracious, although in a different way, to both of them, inquired much
+as to what they had seen and what they had done, with whom they had
+conversed, and what had been said. At length she observed, 'Something
+has also happened at Gindarics in your absence, noble princes. Last
+night they brought part of a harem of the Pasha of Aleppo captive
+hither. This may lead to events.'
+
+'I have already ventured to observe to the lordly Keferinis,' said
+Fakredeen, 'that every lance in the Lebanon is at your command, gracious
+Queen.'
+
+'We have lances,' said Astarte; 'it is not of that I was thinking. Nor
+indeed do I care to prolong a quarrel for this capture. If the Pasha
+will renounce the tribute of the villages, I am for peace; if he will
+not, we will speak of those things of which there has been counsel
+between us. I do not wish this affair of the harem to be mixed up with
+what has preceded it. My principal captive is a most beautiful woman,
+and one, too, that greatly interests and charms me. She is not a Turk,
+but, I apprehend, a Christian lady of the cities. She is plunged in
+grief, and weeps sometimes with so much bitterness that I quite share
+her sorrow; but it is not so much because she is a captive, but because
+some one, who is most dear to her, has been slain in this fray. I have
+visited her, and tried to console her; and begged her to forget her
+grief and become my companion. But nothing soothes her, and tears flow
+for ever from eyes which are the most beautiful I ever beheld.'
+
+'This is the land of beautiful eyes,' said Tancred, and Astarte almost
+unconsciously glanced at the speaker.
+
+Cypros, who had quitted the attendant maidens immediately on the
+entrance of the two princes, after an interval, returned. There was
+some excitement on her countenance as she approached her mistress, and
+addressed Astarte in a hushed but hurried tone. It seemed that the fair
+captive of the Queen of the Ansarey had most unexpectedly expressed to
+Cypros her wish to repair to the divan of the Queen, although, the
+whole day, she had frequently refused to descend. Cypros feared that the
+presence of the two guests of her mistress might prove an obstacle to
+the fulfilment of this wish, as the freedom of social intercourse that
+prevailed among the Ansarey was unknown even among the ever-veiled women
+of the Maronites and Druses. But the fair captive had no prejudices on
+this head, and Cypros had accordingly descended to request the royal
+permission, or consult the royal will. Astarte spoke to Keferinis, who
+listened with an air of great profundity, and finally bowed assent, and
+Cypros retired.
+
+Astarte had signified to Tancred her wish that he should approach her,
+while Keferinis at some distance was engaged in earnest conversation
+with Fakredeen, with whom he had not had previously the opportunity of
+being alone. His report of all that had transpired in his absence was
+highly favourable. The minister had taken the opportunity of the absence
+of the Emir and his friend to converse often and amply about them with
+the Queen. The idea of an united Syria was pleasing to the imagination
+of the young sovereign. The suggestion was eminently practicable. It
+required no extravagant combinations, no hazardous chances of fortune,
+nor fine expedients of political skill. A union between Fakredeen and
+Astarte at once connected the most important interests of the mountains
+without exciting the alarm or displeasure of other powers. The union was
+as legitimate as it would ultimately prove irresistible. It ensured a
+respectable revenue and a considerable force; and, with prudence and
+vigilance, the occasion would soon offer to achieve all the rest. On the
+next paroxysm in the dissolving empire of the Ottomans, the plain would
+be occupied by a warlike population descending from the mountains that
+commanded on one side the whole Syrian coast, and on the other all the
+inland cities from Aleppo to Damascus.
+
+The eye of the young Emir glittered with triumph as he listened to the
+oily sentences of the eunuch. 'Lebanon,' he whispered, 'is the key of
+Syria, my Keferinis, never forget that; and we will lock up the land.
+Let us never sleep till this affair is achieved. You think she does not
+dream of a certain person, eh? I tell you, he must go, or we must get
+rid of him: I fear him not, but he is in the way; and the way should
+be smooth as the waters of El Arish. Remember the temple to the Syrian
+goddess at Deir el Kamar, my Keferinis! The religion is half the battle.
+How I shall delight to get rid of my bishops and those accursed monks:
+drones, drivellers, bigots, drinking my golden wine of Canobia, and
+smoking my delicate Latakia. You know not Canobia, Keferinis; but you
+have heard of it. You have been at Bted-deen? Well, Bteddeen to Canobia
+is an Arab moon to a Syrian sun. The marble alone at Canobia cost a
+million of piastres. The stables are worthy of the steeds of Solomon.
+You may kill anything you like in the forest, from panthers to
+antelopes. Listen, my Keferinis, let this be done, and done quickly, and
+Canobia is yours.'
+
+'Do you ever dream?' said Astrate to Tancred. 'They say that life is
+a dream.' 'I sometimes wish it were. Its pangs are too acute for a
+shadow.'
+
+'But you have no pangs.'
+
+'I had a dream when you were away, in which I was much alarmed,' said
+Astarte. 'Indeed!'
+
+'I thought that Gindarics was taken by the Jews. I suppose you have
+talked of them to me so much that my slumbering memory wandered.'
+
+'It is a resistless and exhaustless theme,' said Tancred; 'for the
+greatness and happiness of everything, Gindarics included, are comprised
+in the principles of which they were the first propagators.'
+
+'Nevertheless, I should be sorry if my dream came to be true,' said
+Astarte.
+
+'May your dreams be as bright and happy as your lot, royal lady!' said
+Tancred.
+
+'My lot is not bright and happy,' said the Queen; 'once I thought it
+was, but I think so no longer.'
+
+'But why?'
+
+'I wish you could have a dream and find out,' said the Queen.
+'Disquietude is sometimes as perplexing as pleasure. Both come and go
+like birds.'
+
+'Like the pigeon you sent to Damascus,' said Tancred.
+
+'Ah! why did I send it?'
+
+'Because you were most gracious, lady.'
+
+'Because I was very rash, noble prince.'
+
+'When the great deeds are done to which this visit will lead, you will
+not think so.'
+
+'I am not born for great deeds; I am a woman, and I am content with
+beautiful ones.'
+
+'You still dream of the Syrian goddess,' said Tan-cred.
+
+'No; not of the Syrian goddess. Tell me: they say the Hebrew women are
+very lovely, is it so?'
+
+'They have that reputation.'
+
+'But do you think so?'
+
+'I have known some distinguished for their beauty.'
+
+'Do they resemble the statue in our temple?'
+
+'Their style is different,' said Tancred; 'the Greek and the Hebrew are
+both among the highest types of the human form.'
+
+'But you prefer the Hebrew?'
+
+'I am not so discriminating a critic,' said Tancred; 'I admire the
+beautiful.'
+
+'Well, here comes my captive,' said the Queen; 'if you like, you shall
+free her, for she wonderfully takes me. She is a Georgian, I suppose,
+and bears the palm from all of us. I will not presume to contend with
+her: she would vanquish, perhaps, even that fair Jewess of whom, I hear,
+you are so enamoured.'
+
+Tancred started, and would have replied, but Cypros advanced at this
+moment with her charge, who withdrew her veil as she seated herself, as
+commanded, before the Queen. She withdrew her veil, and Fakredeen and
+Tancred beheld Eva!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVI.
+
+     _Eva a Captive_
+
+IN ONE of a series of chambers excavated in the mountains, yet connected
+with the more artificial portion of the palace, chambers and galleries
+which in the course of ages had served for many purposes, sometimes
+of security, sometimes of punishment; treasuries not unfrequently, and
+occasionally prisons; in one of these vast cells, feebly illumined from
+apertures above, lying on a rude couch with her countenance hidden,
+motionless and miserable, was the beautiful daughter of Besso, one who
+had been bred in all the delights of the most refined luxury, and in the
+enjoyment of a freedom not common in any land, and most rare among the
+Easterns.
+
+The events of her life had been so strange and rapid during the last few
+days that, even amid her woe, she revolved in her mind their startling
+import. It was little more than ten days since, under the guardianship
+of her father, she had commenced her journey from Damascus to Aleppo.
+When they had proceeded about half way, they were met at the city of
+Horns by a detachment of Turkish soldiers, sent by the Pasha of Aleppo,
+at the request of Hillel Besso, to escort them, the country being much
+troubled in consequence of the feud with the Ansarey. Notwithstanding
+these precautions, and although, from the advices they received, they
+took a circuitous and unexpected course, they were attacked by the
+mountaineers within half a day's journey of Aleppo; and with so much
+strength and spirit, that their guards, after some resistance, fled and
+dispersed, while Eva and her attendants, after seeing her father cut
+down in her defence, was carried a prisoner to Gindarics.
+
+Overwhelmed by the fate of her father, she was at first insensible to
+her own, and was indeed so distracted that she delivered herself up to
+despair. She was beginning in some degree to collect her senses, and to
+survey her position with some comparative calmness, when she learnt
+from the visit of Cypros that Fakredeen and Tancred were, by a strange
+coincidence, under the same roof as herself. Then she recalled the kind
+sympathy and offers of consolation that had been evinced and proffered
+to her by the mistress of the castle, to whose expressions at the time
+she had paid but an imperfect attention. Under these circumstances she
+earnestly requested permission to avail herself of a privilege, which
+had been previously offered and refused, to become the companion, rather
+than the captive, of the Queen of the Ansarey; so that she might find
+some opportunity of communicating with her two friends, of inquiring
+about her father, and of consulting with them as to the best steps to be
+adopted in her present exigency.
+
+The interview, from which so much was anticipated, had turned out as
+strange and as distressful as any of the recent incidents to which it
+was to have brought balm and solace. Recognised instantly by Tancred and
+the young Emir, and greeted with a tender respect, almost equal to the
+surprise and sorrow which they felt at beholding her, Astarte, hitherto
+so unexpectedly gracious to her captive, appeared suddenly agitated,
+excited, haughty, even hostile. The Queen had immediately summoned
+Fakredeen to her side, and there passed between them some hurried and
+perturbed explanations; subsequently she addressed some inquiries to
+Tancred, to which he replied without reserve. Soon afterwards, Astarte,
+remaining intent and moody, the court was suddenly broken up; Keferinis
+signifying to the young men that they should retire, while Astarte,
+without bestowing on them her usual farewell, rose, and, followed by her
+maidens, quitted the chamber. As for Eva, instead of returning to one of
+the royal apartments which had been previously allotted to her, she was
+conducted to what was in fact a prison.
+
+There she had passed the night and a portion of the ensuing day, visited
+only by Cypros, who, when Eva would have inquired the cause of all this
+mysterious cruelty and startling contrast to the dispositions which had
+preceded it, only shook her head and pressed her finger to her lip, to
+signify the impossibility of her conversing with her captive.
+
+It was one of those situations where the most gifted are deserted by
+their intelligence; where there is as little to guide as to console;
+where the mystery is as vast as the misfortune; and the tortured
+apprehension finds it impossible to grapple with irresistible
+circumstances.
+
+In this state, the daughter of Besso, plunged in a dark reverie, in
+which the only object visible to her mind's eye was the last glance of
+her dying father, was roused from her approaching stupor by a sound,
+distinct, yet muffled, as if some one wished to attract her attention,
+without startling her by too sudden an interruption. She looked up;
+again she heard the sound, and then, in a whispered tone, her name----
+
+'Eva!'
+
+'I am here.'
+
+'Hush!' said a figure, stealing into the caverned chamber, and then
+throwing off his Syrian cloak, revealing to her one whom she recognised.
+
+'Fakredeen,' she said, starting from her couch, 'what is all this?'
+
+The countenance of Fakredeen was distressed and agitated; there was an
+expression of alarm, almost of terror, stamped upon his features.
+
+'You must follow me,' he said; 'there is not a moment to lose; you must
+fly!'
+
+'Why and whither?' said Eva. 'This capture is one of plunder not of
+malice, or was so a few hours back. It is not sorrow for myself that
+overwhelmed me. But yesterday, the sovereign of these mountains treated
+me with a generous sympathy, and, if it brought me no solace, it was
+only because events have borne, I fear, irremediable woe. And now I
+suddenly find myself among my friends; friends, who, of all others, I
+should most have wished to encounter at this moment, and all is changed.
+I am a prisoner, under every circumstance of harshness, even of cruelty,
+and you speak to me as if my life, my immediate existence, was in
+peril.'
+
+'It is.'
+
+'But why?'
+
+Fakredeen wrung his hands, and murmured, 'Let us go.'
+
+'I scarcely care to live,' said Eva; 'and I will not move until you give
+me some clue to all this mystery.'
+
+'Well, then, she is jealous of you; the Queen, Astarte; she is jealous
+of you with the English prince, that man who has brought us all so many
+vexations.' 'Is it he that has brought us so many vexations?' replied
+Eva. 'The Queen jealous of me, and with the English prince! 'Tis very
+strange. We scarcely exchanged a dozen sentences together, when all was
+disturbed and broken up. Jealous of me! Why, then, was she anxious that
+I should descend to her divan? This is not the truth, Fakredeen.'
+
+'Not all; but it is the truth; it is, indeed. The Queen is jealous of
+you: she is in love with Tancred; a curse be on him and her both! and
+somebody has told her that Tancred is in love with you.' 'Somebody! When
+did they tell her?' 'Long ago; long ago. She knew, that is, she had been
+told, that Tancred was affianced to the daughter of Besso of Damascus;
+and so this sudden meeting brought about a crisis. I did what I could
+to prevent it; vowed that you were only the cousin of the Besso that she
+meant; did everything, in short, I could to serve and save you; but it
+was of no use. She was wild, is wild, and your life is in peril.'
+
+Eva mused a moment. Then, looking up, she said, 'Fakredeen, it is you
+who told the Queen this story. You are the somebody who has invented
+this fatal falsehood. What was your object I care not to inquire,
+knowing full well, that, if you had an object, you never would spare
+friend or foe. Leave me. I have little wish to live; but I believe in
+the power of truth. I will confront the Queen and tell her all. She will
+credit what I say; if she do not, I can meet my fate; but I will not,
+now or ever, entrust it to you.'
+
+Thereupon Fakredeen burst into a flood of passionate tears, and,
+throwing himself on the ground, kissed Eva's feet, and clung to her
+garments which he embraced, sobbing, and moaning, and bestowing on her
+endless phrases of affection, mixed with imprecations on his own head
+and conduct.
+
+'O Eva! my beloved Eva, sister of my soul, it is of no use telling you
+any lies! Yes, I am that villain and that idiot who has brought about
+all this misery, misery enough to turn me mad, and which, by a just
+retribution, has destroyed all the brilliant fortunes which were at last
+opening on me. This Frank stranger was the only bar to my union with
+the sovereign of these mountains, whose beauty you have witnessed, whose
+power, combined with my own, would found a kingdom. I wished to marry
+her. You cannot be angry with me, Eva, for that. You know very well
+that, if you had married me yourself, we should neither of us have been
+in the horrible situation in which we now find ourselves. Ah! that would
+have been a happy union! But let that pass. I have always been the most
+unfortunate of men; I have never had justice done me. Well, she loved
+this prince of Franguestan. I saw it; nothing escapes me. I let her know
+that he was devoted to another. Why I mentioned your name I cannot
+well say; perhaps because it was the first that occurred to me; perhaps
+because I have a lurking suspicion that he really does love you. The
+information worked.
+
+My own suit prospered. I bribed her minister. He is devoted to me. All
+was smiling. How could I possibly have anticipated that you would ever
+arrive here! When I saw you, I felt that all was lost. I endeavoured to
+rally affairs, but it was useless. Tan-cred has no finesse; his replies
+neutralised, nay, destroyed, all my counter representations. The Queen
+is a whirlwind. She is young; she has never been crossed in her life.
+You cannot argue with her when her heart is touched. In short, all is
+ruined;' and Fakredeen hid his weeping face in the robes of Eva. 'What
+misery you prepare for yourself, and for all who know you!' exclaimed
+Eva. 'But that has happened which makes me insensible to further grief.'
+
+'Yes; but listen to what I say, and all will go right. I do not care in
+the least for my own disappointment. That now is nothing. It is you,
+it is of you only that I think, whom I wish to save. Do not chide me:
+pardon me, pardon me, as you have done a thousand times; pardon and pity
+me. I am so young and really so inexperienced; after all, I am only
+a child; besides, I have not a friend in the world except you. I am a
+villain, a fool; all villains are. I know it. But I cannot help it. I
+did not make myself. The question now is, How are we to get out of this
+scrape? How are we to save your life?'
+
+'Do you really mean, Fakredeen, that my life is in peril?'
+
+'Yes, I do,' said the Emir, crying like a child.
+
+'You do not know the power of truth, Fakredeen. You have no confidence
+in it. Let me see the Queen.'
+
+'Impossible!' he said, starting up, and looking very much alarmed.
+
+'Why?'
+
+'Because, in the first place, she is mad. Keferinis, that is, her
+minister, one of my creatures, and the only person who can manage
+her, told me this moment that it was a perfect Kamsin, and that, if he
+approached her again, it would be at his own risk; and, in the second
+place, bad as things are, they would necessarily be much worse if she
+saw you, because (and it is of no use concealing it any longer) she
+thinks you already dead.'
+
+'Dead! Already dead!'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'And where is your friend and companion?' said Eva. 'Does he know of
+these horrors?'
+
+'No one knows of them except myself. The Queen sent for me last night to
+speak to me of the subject generally. It was utterly vain to attempt to
+disabuse her; it would only have compromised all of us. She would only
+have supposed the truth to be an invention for the moment. I found your
+fate sealed. In my desperation, the only thing that occurred to me was
+to sympathise with her indignation and approve of all her projects. She
+apprised me that you should not live four-and-twenty hours. I rather
+stimulated her vengeance, told her in secresy that your house had nearly
+effected my ruin, and that there was no sacrifice I would not make,
+and no danger that I would not encounter, to wreak on your race my
+long-cherished revenge. I assured her that I had been watching my
+opportunity for years. Well, you see how it is, Eva; she consigned to me
+the commission which she would have whispered to one of her slaves. I am
+here with her cognisance; indeed, by this time she thinks 'tis all over.
+You comprehend?'
+
+'You are to be my executioner?'
+
+'Yes; I have undertaken that office in order to save your life.'
+
+'I care not to save my life. What is life to me, since he perhaps is
+gone who gave me that life, and for whom alone I lived!'
+
+'O Eva! Eva! don't distract me; don't drive me absolutely mad! When a
+man is doing what I am for your sake, giving up a kingdom, and more
+than a kingdom, to treat him thus! But you never did me justice.' And
+Fakredeen poured forth renewed tears. 'Keferinis is in my pay; I have
+got the signet of the covered way. Here are two Mamlouk dresses; one
+you must put on. 'Without the gates are two good steeds, and in
+eight-and-forty hours we shall be safe, and smiling again.'
+
+'I shall never smile again,' said Eva. 'No, Fakredeen,' she added, after
+a moment's pause, 'I will not fly, and you cannot fly. Can you leave
+alone in this wild place that friend, too faithful, I believe, whom you
+have been the means of leading hither?'
+
+'Never mind him,' said the Emir. 'I wish we had never seen him. He is
+quite safe. She may keep him a prisoner perhaps. What then? He makes
+so discreet a use of his liberty that a little durance will not be very
+injurious. His life will be safe enough. Cutting off his head is not
+the way to gain his heart. But time presses. Come, my sister, my beloved
+Eva! In a few hours it may not be in my power to effect all this. Come,
+think of your father, of his anxiety, his grief. One glimpse of you will
+do him more service than the most cunning leech.'
+
+Eva burst into passionate tears. 'He will never see us again. I saw him
+fall; never shall I forget that moment!' and she hid her face in her
+hands.
+
+'But he lives,' said Fakredeen. 'I have been speaking to some of the
+Turkish prisoners. They also saw him fall; but he was borne off the
+field, and, though insensible, it was believed that the wound was not
+fatal. Trust me, he is at Aleppo.' 'They saw him borne off the field?'
+'Safe, and, if not well, far from desperate.' 'O God of my fathers!'
+said Eva, falling on her knees; 'thine is indeed a mercy-seat!'
+
+'Yes, yes; there is nothing like the God of your fathers, Eva. If you
+knew the things that are going on in this place, even in these vaults
+and caverns, you would not tarry here an instant. They worship nothing
+but graven images, and the Queen has fallen in love with Tancred,
+because he resembles a marble statue older than the times of the
+pre-Adamite Sultans. Come, come!'
+
+'But how could they know that he was far from desperate?'
+
+'I will show you the man who spoke to him,' said Fakredeen; 'he is only
+with our horses. You can ask him any questions you like. Come, put on
+your Mamlouk dress, every minute is golden.'
+
+'There seems to me something base in leaving him here alone,' said Eva.
+'He has eaten our salt, he is the child of our tents, his blood will be
+upon our heads.'
+
+'Well, then, fly for his sake,' said Fakredeen; 'here you cannot aid
+him; but when you are once in safety, a thousand things may be done for
+his assistance. I could return, for example.'
+
+'Now, Fakredeen,' said Eva, stopping him, and speaking in a solemn tone,
+'if I accompany you, as you now require, will you pledge me your word,
+that the moment we pass the frontier you will return to him.'
+
+'I swear it, by our true religion, and by my hopes of an earthly crown.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVII.
+
+     _Message of the Pasha_
+
+THE sudden apparition of Eva at Gindarics, and the scene of painful
+mystery by which it was followed, had plunged Tancred into the greatest
+anxiety and affliction. It was in vain that, the moment they had quitted
+the presence of Astarte, he appealed to Fakredeen for some explanation
+of what had occurred, and for some counsel as to the course they should
+immediately pursue to assist one in whose fate they were both so deeply
+interested. The Emir, for the first time since their acquaintance,
+seemed entirely to have lost himself. He looked perplexed, almost
+stunned; his language was incoherent, his gestures those of despair.
+Tancred, while he at once ascribed all this confused demeanour to the
+shock which he had himself shared at finding the daughter of Besso a
+captive, and a captive under circumstances of doubt and difficulty,
+could not reconcile such distraction, such an absence of all resources
+and presence of mind, with the exuberant means and the prompt expedients
+which in general were the characteristics of his companion, under
+circumstances the most difficult and unforeseen.
+
+When they had reached their apartments, Fakredeen threw himself upon
+the divan and moaned, and, suddenly starting from the couch, paced the
+chamber with agitated step, wringing his hands. All that Tan-cred could
+extract from him was an exclamation of despair, an imprecation on his
+own head, and an expression of fear and horror at Eva having fallen into
+the hands of pagans and idolaters.
+
+It was in vain also that Tancred endeavoured to communicate with
+Keferinis. The minister was invisible, not to be found, and the night
+closed in, when Tancred, after fruitless counsels with Baroni, and many
+united but vain efforts to open some communication with Eva, delivered
+himself not to repose, but to a distracted reverie over the present
+harassing and critical affairs.
+
+When the dawn broke, he rose and sought Fakredeen, but, to his surprise,
+he found that his companion had already quitted his apartment. An
+unusual stillness seemed to pervade Gindarics this day; not a person
+was visible. Usually at sunrise all were astir, and shortly afterwards
+Keferinis generally paid a visit to the guests of his sovereign; but
+this day Keferinis omitted the ceremony, and Tancred, never more anxious
+for companions and counsellors, found himself entirely alone; for Baroni
+was about making observations, and endeavouring to find some clue to the
+position of Eva.
+
+Tancred had resolved, the moment that it was practicable, to solicit
+an audience of Astarte on the subject of Eva, and to enter into all
+the representations respecting her which, in his opinion, were alone
+necessary to secure for her immediately the most considerate treatment,
+and ultimately a courteous release.
+
+The very circumstance that she was united to the Emir of Canobia by ties
+so dear and intimate, and was also an individual to whom he himself was
+indebted for such generous aid and such invaluable services, would,
+he of course assumed, independently of her own interesting personal
+qualities, enlist the kind feelings of Astarte in her favour. The
+difficulty was to obtain this audience of Astarte, for neither Fakredeen
+nor Keferinis was to be found, and no other means of achieving the
+result were obvious.
+
+About two hours before noon, Baroni brought word that he had contrived
+to see Cypros, from whom he gathered that Astarte had repaired to the
+great temple of the gods. Instantly, Tancred resolved to enter the
+palace, and if possible to find his way to the mysterious sanctuary.
+That was a course by no means easy; but the enterprising are often
+fortunate, and his project proved not to be impossible. He passed
+through the chambers of the palace, which were entirely deserted, and
+with which he was familiar, and he reached without difficulty the portal
+of bronze, which led to the covered way that conducted to the temple,
+but it was closed. Baffled and almost in despair, a distant chorus
+reached his ear, then the tramp of feet, and then slowly the portal
+opened. He imagined that the Queen was returning; but, on the contrary,
+pages and women and priests swept by without observing him, for he was
+hidden by one of the opened valves, but Astarte was not there; and,
+though the venture was rash, Tancred did not hesitate, as the last
+individual in the procession moved on, to pass the gate. The portal
+shut instantly with a clang, and Tancred found himself alone and in
+comparative darkness. His previous experience, however, sustained him.
+His eye, fresh from the sunlight, at first wandered in obscurity, but
+by degrees, habituated to the atmosphere, though dim, the way was
+sufficiently indicated, and he advanced, till the light became each step
+more powerful, and soon he emerged upon the platform, which faced the
+mountain temple at the end of the ravine: a still and wondrous scene,
+more striking now, if possible, when viewed alone, with his heart the
+prey of many emotions. How full of adventure is life! It is monotonous
+only to the monotonous. There may be no longer fiery dragons, magic
+rings, or fairy wands, to interfere in its course and to influence our
+career; but the relations of men are far more complicated and numerous
+than of yore; and in the play of the passions, and in the devices of
+creative spirits, that have thus a proportionately greater sphere for
+their action, there are spells of social sorcery more potent than all
+the necromancy of Merlin or Friar Bacon.
+
+Tancred entered the temple, the last refuge of the Olympian mind. It was
+race that produced these inimitable forms, the idealised reflex of
+their own peculiar organisation. Their principles of art, practised by a
+different race, do not produce the same results. Yet we shut our eyes to
+the great truth into which all truths merge, and we call upon the Pict,
+or the Sarmatian, to produce the forms of Phidias and Praxiteles.
+
+Not devoid of that awe which is caused by the presence of the solemn
+and the beautiful, Tancred slowly traced his steps through the cavern
+sanctuary. No human being was visible. Upon his right was the fane to
+which Astarte led him on his visit of initiation. He was about to enter
+it, when, kneeling before the form of the Apollo of Antioch, he beheld
+the fair Queen of the Ansarey, motionless and speechless, her arms
+crossed upon her breast, and her eyes fixed upon her divinity, in a
+dream of ecstatic devotion.
+
+The splendour of the ascending sun fell full upon the statue, suffusing
+the ethereal form with radiancy, and spreading around it for some space
+a broad and golden halo. As Tancred, recognising the Queen, withdrew a
+few paces, his shadow, clearly defined, rested on the glowing wall of
+the rock temple. Astarte uttered an exclamation, rose quickly from
+her kneeling position, and, looking round, her eyes met those of Lord
+Montacute. Instantly she withdrew her gaze, blushing deeply.
+
+'I was about to retire,' murmured Tancred.
+
+'And why should you retire?' said Astarte, in a soft voice, looking up.
+
+'There are moments when solitude is sacred.'
+
+'I am too much alone: often, and of late especially, I feel a painful
+isolation.'
+
+She moved forward, and they re-entered together the chief temple, and
+then emerged into the sunlight. They stood beneath the broad Ionic
+portico, beholding the strange scene around. Then it was that Tancred,
+observing that Astarte cared not to advance, and deeming the occasion
+very favourable to his wishes, proceeded to explain to her the cause
+of his venturing to intrude on her this morning. He spoke with that
+earnestness, and, if the phrase may be used, that passionate repose,
+which distinguished him. He enlarged on the character of Besso, his
+great virtues, his amiable qualities, his benevolence and unbounded
+generosity; he sought in every way to engage the kind feelings of
+Astarte in favour of his family, and to interest her in the character of
+Eva, on which he dilated with all the eloquence of his heart. Truly, he
+almost did justice to her admirable qualities, her vivid mind, and lofty
+spirit, and heroic courage; the occasion was too delicate to treat of
+the personal charms of another woman, but he did not conceal his own
+deep sense of obligation to Eva for her romantic expedition to the
+desert in his behalf.
+
+'You can understand then,' concluded Tancred, 'what must have been my
+astonishment and grief when I found her yesterday a captive. It was
+some consolation to me to remember in whose power she had fallen, and I
+hasten to throw myself at your feet to supplicate for her safety and her
+freedom.'
+
+'Yes, I can understand all this,' said Astarte, in a low tone.
+
+Tancred looked at her. Her voice had struck him with pain; her
+countenance still more distressed him. Nothing could afford a more
+complete contrast to the soft and glowing visage that a few moments
+before he had beheld in the fane of Apollo. She was quite pale, almost
+livid; her features, of exquisite shape, had become hard and even
+distorted; all the bad passions of our nature seemed suddenly to have
+concentred in that face which usually combined perfect beauty of form
+with an expression the most gentle, and in truth most lovely.
+
+'Yes, I can understand all this,' said Astarte, 'but I shall not
+exercise any power which I may possess to assist you in violating the
+laws of your country, and outraging the wishes of your sovereign.'
+
+'Violating the laws of my country!' exclaimed Tancred, with a perplexed
+look.
+
+'Yes, I know all. Your schemes truly are very heroic and very flattering
+to our self-love. We are to lend our lances to place on the throne of
+Syria one who would not be permitted to reside in your own country, much
+less to rule in it?'
+
+'Of whom, of what, do you speak?'
+
+'I speak of the Jewess whom you would marry,' said Astarte, in a hushed
+yet distinct voice, and with a fell glance, 'against all laws, divine
+and human.'
+
+'Of your prisoner?'
+
+'Well you may call her my prisoner; she is secure.'
+
+'Is it possible you can believe that I even am a suitor of the daughter
+of Besso?' said Tancred, earnestly. 'I wear the Cross, which is graven
+on my heart, and have a heavenly mission to fulfil, from which no
+earthly thought shall ever distract me. But even were I more than
+sensible to her charms and virtues, she is affianced, or the same as
+affianced; nor have I the least reason to suppose that he who will
+possess her hand does not command her heart.'
+
+'Affianced?'
+
+'Not only affianced, but, until this sad adventure, on the very point of
+being wedded. She was on her way from Damascus to Aleppo, to be united
+to her cousin, when she was brought hither, where she will, I trust, not
+long remain your prisoner.'
+
+The countenance of Astarte changed; but, though it lost its painful and
+vindictive expression, it did not assume one of less distress. After a
+moment's pause, she murmured, 'Can this be true?'
+
+'Who could have told you otherwise?'
+
+'An enemy of hers, of her family,' continued Astarte, in a low voice,
+and speaking as if absorbed in thought; 'one who admitted to me his
+long-hoarded vengeance against her house.'
+
+Then turning abruptly, she looked Tancred full in the face, with a
+glance of almost fierce scrutiny. His clear brow and unfaltering eye,
+with an expression of sympathy and even kindness on his countenance, met
+her searching look.
+
+'No,' she said; 'it is impossible that you can be false.'
+
+'Why should I be false? or what is it that mixes up my name and life
+with these thoughts and circumstances?'
+
+'Why should you be false? Ah! there it is,' said Astarte, in a sweet and
+mournful voice. 'What are any of us to you!' And she wept.
+
+'It grieves me to see you in sorrow,' said Tancred, approaching her, and
+speaking in a tone of kindness.
+
+'I am more than sorrowful: this unhappy lady----' and the voice of
+Astarte was overpowered by her emotion.
+
+'You will send her back in safety and with honour to her family,' said
+Tancred, soothingly. 'I would fain believe her father has not fallen.
+My intendant assures me that there are Turkish soldiers here who saw him
+borne from the field. A little time, and their griefs will vanish. You
+will have the satisfaction of having acted with generosity, with that
+good heart which characterises you; and as for the daughter of Besso,
+all will be forgotten as she gives one hand to her father and the other
+to her husband.'
+
+'It is too late,' said Astarte in an almost sepulchral voice.
+
+'What is that?'
+
+'It is too late! The daughter of Besso is no more.'
+
+'Jesu preserve us!' exclaimed Tancred, starting. 'Speak it again: what
+is it that you say?'
+
+Astarte shook her head.
+
+'Woman!' said Tancred, and he seized her hand, but his thoughts were too
+wild for utterance, and he remained pallid and panting.
+
+'The daughter of Besso is no more; and I do not lament it, for you loved
+her.'
+
+'Oh, grief ineffable!' said Tancred, with a groan, looking up to heaven,
+and covering his face with his hands: 'I loved her, as I loved the stars
+and sunshine.' Then, after a pause, he turned to Astarte, and said, in a
+rapid voice, 'This dreadful deed; when, how, did it happen?'
+
+'Is it so dreadful?'
+
+'Almost as dreadful as such words from woman's lips. A curse be on the
+hour that I entered these walls!'
+
+'No, no, no!' said Astarte, and she seized his arm distractedly. 'No,
+no! No curse!'
+
+'It is not true!' said Tancred. 'It cannot be true! She is not dead.'
+
+'Would she were not, if her death is to bring me curses.'
+
+'Tell me when was this?'
+
+'An hour ago, at least.'
+
+'I do not believe it. There is not an arm that would have dared to touch
+her. Let us hasten to her. It is not too late.'
+
+'Alas! it is too late,' said Astarte. 'It was an enemy's arm that
+undertook the deed.'
+
+'An enemy! What enemy among your people could the daughter of Besso have
+found?'
+
+'A deadly one, who seized the occasion offered to a long cherished
+vengeance; one who for years has been alike the foe and the victim of
+her race and house. There is no hope!'
+
+'I am indeed amazed. Who could this be?'
+
+'Your friend; at least, your supposed friend, the Emir of the Lebanon.'
+
+'Fakredeen?'
+
+'You have said it.'
+
+'The assassin and the foe of Eva!' exclaimed Tancred, with a
+countenance relieved yet infinitely perplexed. 'There must be some great
+misconception in all this. Let us hasten to the castle.'
+
+'He solicited the office,' said Astarte; 'he wreaked his vengeance,
+while he vindicated my outraged feelings.'
+
+'By murdering his dearest friend, the only being to whom he is really
+devoted, his more than friend, his foster-sister, nursed by the same
+heart; the ally and inspiration of his life, to whom he himself was a
+suitor, and might have been a successful one, had it not been for the
+custom of her religion and her race, which shrink from any connection
+with strangers and with Nazarenes.'
+
+'His foster-sister!' exclaimed Astarte.
+
+At this moment Cypros appeared in the distance, hastening to Astarte
+with an agitated air. Her looks were disturbed; she was almost
+breathless when she reached them; she wrung her hands before she spoke.
+
+'Royal lady!' at length she said, 'I hastened, as you instructed me,
+at the appointed hour, to the Emir Fakredeen, but I learnt that he had
+quitted the castle.
+
+Then I repaired to the prisoner; but, woe is me! she is not to be
+found.'
+
+'Not to be found!'
+
+'The raiment that she wore is lying on the floor of her prison. Methinks
+she has fled.'
+
+'She has fled with him who was false to us all,' said Astarte, 'for it
+was the Emir of the Lebanon who long ago told me that you were affianced
+to the daughter of Besso, and who warned me against joining in any
+enterprise which was only to place upon the throne of Syria one whom the
+laws of your own country would never recognise as your wife.'
+
+'Intriguer!' said Tancred. 'Vile and inveterate intriguer!'
+
+'It is well,' said Astarte. 'My spirit is more serene.'
+
+'Would that Eva were with any one else!' said Tancred, thoughtfully, and
+speaking, as it were, to himself.
+
+'Your thoughts are with the daughter of Besso,' said Astarte. 'You wish
+to follow her, to guard her, to restore her to her family.'
+
+Tancred looked round and caught the glance of the Queen of the Ansarey,
+mortified, yet full of affection.
+
+'It seems to me,' he said, 'that it is time for me to terminate a visit
+that has already occasioned you, royal lady, too much vexation.'
+
+Astarte burst into tears.
+
+'Let me go,' she said, 'you want a throne; this is a rude one, yet
+accept it. You require warriors, the Ansarey are invincible. My castle
+is not like those palaces of Antioch of which we have often talked, and
+which were worthy of you, but Gindarics is impregnable, and will serve
+you for your headquarters until you conquer that world which you are
+born to command.'
+
+'I have been the unconscious agent in petty machinations,' said Tancred.
+'I must return to the desert to recover the purity of my mind. It is
+Arabia alone that can regenerate the world.'
+
+At this moment Cypros, who was standing apart, waved her scarf, and
+exclaimed, 'Royal lady, I perceive in the distance the ever-faithful
+messenger;' whereupon Astarte looked up, and, as yet invisible to the
+inexperienced glance of Tancred, recognised what was an infinitely small
+dusky speck, each moment becoming more apparent, until at length a bird
+was observed by all of them winging its way towards the Queen.
+
+'Is it the ever-faithful Karaguus,' said Astarte; 'or is it Ruby-lips
+that ever brings good news?'
+
+'It is Karaguus,' said Cypros, as the bird drew nearer and nearer; 'but
+it is not Karaguus of Damascus. By the ring on its neck, it is Karaguus
+of Aleppo.'
+
+The pigeon now was only a few yards above the head of the Queen.
+Fatigued, but with an eye full of resolution, it fluttered for a moment,
+and then fell upon her bosom. Cypros advanced and lifted its weary wing,
+and untied the cartel which it bore, brief words, but full of meaning,
+and a terrible interest.
+
+'The Pasha, at the head of five thousand regular troops, leaves Haleb
+to-morrow to invade our land.'
+
+'Go,' said Astarte to Tancred; 'to remain here is now dangerous. Thanks
+to the faithful messenger, you have time to escape with ease from that
+land which you scorned to rule, and which loved you too well.'
+
+'I cannot leave it in the hour of peril,' said Tancred. 'This invasion
+of the Ottomans may lead to results of which none dream. I will meet
+them at the head of your warriors!'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LVIII.
+
+     _Three Letters of Cabala_
+
+IS THERE any news?' asked Adam Besso of Issachar, the son of Selim, the
+most cunning leech at Aleppo, and who by day and by night watched the
+couch which bore the suffering form of the pride and mainstay of the
+Syrian Hebrews.
+
+'There is news, but it has not yet arrived,' replied Issachar, the son
+of Selim, a man advanced in life, but hale, with a white beard, a bright
+eye, and a benignant visage.
+
+'There are pearls in the sea, but what are they worth?' murmured Besso.
+
+'I have taken a Cabala,' said Issachar, the son of Selim, 'and three
+times that I opened the sacred book, there were three words, and the
+initial letter of each word is the name of a person who will enter this
+room this day, and every person will bring news.'
+
+'But what news?' sighed Besso. 'The news of Tophet and of ten thousand
+demons?'
+
+'I have taken a Cabala,' said Issachar, the son of Selim, 'and the news
+will be good.'
+
+'To whom and from whom? Good to the Pasha, but not to me! good to the
+people of Haleb, but not, perhaps, to the family of Besso.'
+
+'God will guard over his own. In the meanwhile, I must replace this
+bandage, noble Besso. Let me rest your arm upon this cushion and you
+will endure less pain.'
+
+'Alas! worthy Issachar, I have wounds deeper than any you can probe.'
+
+The resignation peculiar to the Orientals had sustained Besso under
+his overwhelming calamity. He neither wailed nor moaned. Absorbed in a
+brooding silence, he awaited the result of the measures which had been
+taken for the release of Eva, sustained by the chance of success, and
+caring not to survive if encountering failure. The Pasha of Aleppo, long
+irritated by the Ansarey, and meditating for some time an invasion of
+their country, had been fired by the all-influential representations of
+the family of Besso instantly to undertake a step which, although it had
+been for some time contemplated, might yet, according to Turkish
+custom, have been indefinitely postponed. Three regiments of the line,
+disciplined in the manner of Europe, some artillery, and a strong
+detachment of cavalry, had been ordered at once to invade the contiguous
+territory of the Ansarey. Hillel Besso had accompanied the troops,
+leaving his uncle under his paternal roof, disabled by his late
+conflict, but suffering from wounds which in themselves were serious
+rather than perilous.
+
+Four days had elapsed since the troops had quitted Aleppo. It was
+the part of Hillel, before they had recourse to hostile movements, to
+obtain, if possible, the restoration of the prisoners by fair means; nor
+were any resources wanting to effect this purpose. A courier had arrived
+at Aleppo from Hillel, apprising Adam Besso that the Queen of the
+Ansarey had not only refused to give up the prisoners, but even declared
+that Eva had been already released; but Hillel concluded that this
+was merely trifling. This parleying had taken place on the border; the
+troops were about to force the passes on the following day.
+
+About an hour before sunset, on the very same day that Issachar, the son
+of Selim, had taken more than one Cabala, some horsemen, in disorder,
+were observed from the walls by the inhabitants of Aleppo, galloping
+over the plain. They were soon recognised as the cavalry of the Pasha,
+the irregular heralds, it was presumed, of a triumph achieved. Hillel
+Besso, covered with sweat and dust, was among those who thus early
+arrived. He hastened at a rapid pace through the suburb of the city,
+scattering random phrases to those who inquired after intelligence as he
+passed, until he reached the courtyard of his own house.
+
+''Tis well,' he observed, as he closed the gate. 'A battle is a fine
+thing, but, for my part, I am not sorry to find myself at home.'
+
+'What is that?' inquired Adam Besso, as a noise reached his ear.
+
+''Tis the letter of the first Cabala,' replied Issachar, the son of
+Selim.
+
+'Uncle, it is I,' said Hillel, advancing.
+
+'Speak,' said Adam Besso, in an agitated voice; 'my sight is dark.'
+
+'Alas, I am alone!' said Hillel.
+
+'Bury me in Jehoshaphat,' murmured Besso, as he sank back.
+
+'But, my uncle, there is hope.'
+
+'Speak, then, of hope,' replied Besso, with sudden vehemence, and
+starting from his pillow.
+
+'Truly I have seen a child of the mountains, who persists in the tale
+that our Eva has escaped.'
+
+'An enemy's device! Are the mountains ours? Where are the troops?'
+
+'Were the mountains ours, I should not be here, my uncle. Look from the
+ramparts, and you will soon see the plain covered with the troops, at
+least with all of them who have escaped the matchlocks and the lances of
+the Ansarey.'
+
+'Are they such sons of fire?'
+
+'When the Queen of the Ansarey refused to deliver up the prisoners, and
+declared that Eva was not in her power, the Pasha resolved to penetrate
+the passes, in two detachments, on the following morning. The enemy
+was drawn up in array to meet us, but fled after a feeble struggle.
+Our artillery seemed to carry all before it. But,' continued Hillel,
+shrugging his shoulders, 'war is not by any means a commercial
+transaction. It seemed that, when we were on the point of victory,
+we were in fact entirely defeated. The enemy had truly made a feigned
+defence, and had only allured us into the passes, where they fired on
+us from the heights, and rolled down upon our confused masses huge
+fragments of rock. Our strength, our numbers, and our cannon, only
+embarrassed us; there arose a confusion; the troops turned and
+retreated. And, when everything was in the greatest perplexity, and we
+were regaining the plain, our rear was pursued by crowds of cavalry,
+Kurds, and other Giaours, who destroyed our men with their long lances,
+uttering horrible shouts. For my own part, I thought all was over, but
+a good horse is not a bad thing, and I am here, my uncle, having ridden
+for twenty hours, nearly, without a pause.'
+
+'And when did you see this child of the mountains who spoke of the lost
+one?' asked Besso, in a low and broken voice.
+
+'On the eve of the engagement,' said Hillel. 'He had been sent to me
+with a letter, but, alas! had been plundered on his way by our troops,
+and the letter had been destroyed or lost. Nevertheless, he induced them
+to permit him to reach my tent, and brought these words, that the ever
+adorable had truly quitted the mountains, and that the lost letter had
+been written to that effect by the chieftain of the Ansarey.'
+
+'Is there yet hope! What sound is that?'
+
+''Tis the letter of the second Cabala,' said Issachar, the son of Selim.
+
+And at this moment entered the chamber a faithful slave, who made signs
+to the physician, upon which Issachar rose, and was soon engaged in
+earnest conversation with him who had entered, Hillel tending the side
+of Besso. After a few minutes, Issachar approached the couch of his
+patient, and said, 'Here is one, my lord and friend, who brings good
+tidings of your daughter.'
+
+'God of my fathers!' exclaimed Besso, passionately, and springing up.
+
+'Still, we must be calm,' said Issachar; 'still, we must be calm.'
+
+'Let me see him,' said Besso.
+
+'It is one you know, and know well,' said Issachar. 'It is the Emir
+Fakredeen.'
+
+'The son of my heart,' said Besso, 'who brings me news that is honey in
+my mouth.'
+
+'I am here, my father of fathers,' said Fakredeen, gliding to the side
+of the couch.
+
+Besso grasped his hand, and looked at him earnestly in the face. 'Speak
+of Eva,' he at length said, in a voice of choking agitation.
+
+'She is well, she is safe. Yes, I have saved her,' said Fakredeen,
+burying his face in the pillow, exhausted by emotion. 'Yes, I have
+not lived in vain.' 'Your flag shall wave on a thousand castles,' said
+Besso. 'My child is saved, and she is saved by the brother of her
+heart. Entirely has the God of our fathers guarded over us. Henceforth,
+my Fakredeen, you have only to wish: we are the same.' And Besso sank
+down almost insensible; then he made a vain effort to rise again,
+murmuring 'Eva!'
+
+'She will soon be here,' said Fakredeen; 'she only rests awhile after
+many hardships.'
+
+'Will the noble Emir refresh himself after his long journey?' said
+Hillel.
+
+'My heart is too elate for the body to need relief,' said the Emir.
+
+'That may be very true,' said Hillel. 'At the same time, for my part,
+I have always thought that the body should be maintained as well as the
+spirit.' 'Withdraw from the side of the couch,' said Issachar, the son
+of Selim, to his companions. 'My lord and friend has swooned.'
+
+Gradually the tide of life returned to Besso, gradually the heart beat,
+the hand grew warm. At length he slowly opened his eyes, and said, 'I
+have been dreaming of my child, even now I see her.'
+
+Yes, so vivid had been the vision that even now, restored entirely to
+himself, perfectly conscious of the locality and the circumstances that
+surrounded him, knowing full well that he was in his brother's house at
+Aleppo, suffering and disabled, keenly recalling his recent interview
+with Fakredeen, notwithstanding all these tests of inward and outward
+perception, still before his entranced and agitated vision hovered
+the lovely visage of his daughter, a little paler than usual, and an
+uncommon anxiety blended with its soft expression, but the same rich
+eyes and fine contour of countenance that her father had so often gazed
+on with pride, and recalled in her absence with brooding fondness. 'Even
+now I see her,' said Besso.
+
+He could say no more, for the sweetest form in the world had locked him
+in her arms.
+
+''Tis the letter of the third Cabala,' said Issachar, the son of Selim.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LIX.
+
+     _Tancred Returns to Jerusalem_
+
+TANCRED had profited by his surprise by the children of Rechab in the
+passes of the Stony Arabia, and had employed the same tactics against
+the Turkish force. By a simulated defence on the borders, and by the
+careful dissemination of false intelligence, he had allowed the Pasha
+and his troops to penetrate the mountains, and principally by a pass
+which the Turks were assured by their spies that the Ansarey had
+altogether neglected. The success of these manoeuvres had been as
+complete as the discomfiture and rout of the Turks. Tancred, at the head
+of the cavalry, had pursued them into the plain, though he had halted,
+for an instant, before he quitted the mountains, to send a courier to
+Astarte from himself with the assurance of victory, and the horsetails
+of the Pasha for a trophy.
+
+It so happened, however, that, while Tancred, with very few attendants,
+was scouring the plain, and driving before him a panic-struck multitude,
+who, if they could only have paused and rallied, might in a moment have
+overwhelmed him, a strong body of Turkish cavalry, who had entered
+the mountains by a different pass from that in which the principal
+engagement had taken place, but who, learning the surprise and defeat of
+the main body, had thought it wise to retreat in order and watch events,
+debouched at this moment from the high country into the plain and in the
+rear of Tancred. Had they been immediately recognised by the fugitives,
+it would have been impossible for Tancred to escape; but the only
+impression of the routed Turks was, that a reinforcement had joined
+their foe, and their disorder was even increased by the appearance in
+the distance of their own friends. This misapprehension must, however,
+in time, have been at least partially removed; but Baroni, whose quick
+glance had instantly detected the perilous incident, warned Tancred
+immediately.
+
+'We are surrounded, my lord; there is only one course to pursue. To
+regain the mountains is impossible; if we advance, we enter only a
+hostile country, and must be soon overpowered. We must make for the
+Eastern desert.'
+
+Tancred halted and surveyed the scene: he had with him not twenty men.
+The Turkish cavalry, several hundreds strong, had discovered their
+quarry, and were evidently resolved to cut off their retreat.
+
+'Very well,' said Tancred, 'we are well mounted, we must try the mettle
+of our steeds. Farewell, Gindarica! Farewell, gods of Olympus! To the
+desert, which I ought never to have quitted!' and, so speaking, he and
+his band dashed towards the East.
+
+Their start was, so considerable that they baffled their pursuers, who,
+however, did not easily relinquish their intended prey. Some shots in
+the distance, towards nightfall, announced that the enemy had given up
+the chase. After three hours of the moon, Tancred and his companions
+rested at a well not far from a village, where they obtained some
+supplies. An hour before dawn, they again pursued their way over a rich
+flat country, uninclosed, yet partially cultivated, with, every now and
+then, a village nestling in a jungle of Indian fig.
+
+It was the commencement of December, and the country was very parched;
+but the short though violent season of rain was at hand: this renovates
+in the course of a week the whole face of Nature, and pours into little
+more than that brief space the supplies which in other regions are
+distributed throughout the year. On the third day, before sunset, the
+country having gradually become desolate and deserted, consisting
+of vast plains covered with herds, with occasionally some wandering
+Turkmans or Kurds, Tancred and his companions came within sight of a
+broad and palmy river, a branch of the Euphrates.
+
+The country round, far as the eye could range, was a kind of downs
+covered with a scanty herbage, now brown with heat and age. When Tancred
+had gained an undulating height, and was capable of taking a more
+extensive survey of the land, it presented, especially towards the
+south, the same features through an illimitable space.
+
+'The Syrian desert!' said Baroni; 'a fortnight later, and we shall see
+this land covered with flowers and fragrant with aromatic herbs.'
+
+'My heart responds to it,' said Tancred. 'What is Damascus, with all its
+sumptuousness, to this sweet liberty?'
+
+Quitting the banks of the river, they directed their course to the
+south, and struck as it were into the heart of the desert; yet, on the
+morrow, the winding waters again met them. And now there opened on their
+sight a wondrous scene: as far as the eye could reach innumerable tents;
+strings of many hundred camels going to, or returning from, the waters;
+groups of horses picketed about; processions of women with vases on
+their heads visiting the palmy banks; swarms of children and dogs;
+spreading flocks; and occasionally an armed horseman bounding about the
+environs of the vast encampment.
+
+Although scarcely a man was visible when Tancred first caught a glimpse
+of this Arabian settlement, a band of horsemen suddenly sprang from
+behind a rising ground and came galloping up to them to reconnoitre and
+to inquire.
+
+'We are brothers,' said Baroni, 'for who should be the master of so many
+camels but the lord of the Syrian pastures?'
+
+'There is but one God,' said the Bedouin, 'and none are lords of the
+Syrian pastures but the children of Rechab.'
+
+'Truly, there is only one God,' said Baroni; 'go tell the great Sheikh
+that his friend the English prince has come here to give him a salaam of
+peace.'
+
+Away bounded back the Bedouins, and were soon lost in the crowded
+distance.
+
+'All is right,' said Baroni; 'we shall sup to-night under the pavilion
+of Amalek.'
+
+'I visit him then, at length, in his beautiful pastures,' said Tancred;
+'but, alas! I visit him alone.'
+
+They had pulled up their horses, and were proceeding leisurely towards
+the encampment, when they observed a cavalcade emerging from the outer
+boundary of the settlement. This was Amalek himself, on one of his
+steeds of race, accompanied by several of his leading Sheikhs, coming
+to welcome Tancred to his pavilion in the Syrian pastures. A joyful
+satisfaction sparkled in the bright eyes of the old chieftain, as, at
+a little distance, he waved his hand with graceful dignity, and then
+pressed it to his heart.
+
+'A thousand salaams,' he exclaimed, when he had reached Tancred; 'there
+is but one God. I press you to my heart of hearts. There are also other
+friends, but they are not here.'
+
+'Salaam, great Sheikh! I feel indeed we are brothers. There are friends
+of whom we must speak, and indeed of many things.'
+
+Thus conversing and riding side by side, Amalek and Tancred entered
+the camp. Nearly five thousand persons were collected together in this
+wilderness, and two thousand warriors were prepared at a moment's notice
+to raise their lances in the air. There were nearly as many horses,
+and ten times as many camels. This wilderness was the principal and
+favourite resting-place of the great Sheikh of the children of Rechab,
+and the abundant waters and comparatively rich pasturage permitted him
+to gather around him a great portion of his tribe.
+
+The lamps soon gleamed, and the fires soon blazed; sheep were killed,
+bread baked, coffee pounded, and the pipe of honour was placed in the
+hands of Tancred. For an Arabian revel, the banquet was long and rather
+elaborate. By degrees, however, the guests stole away; the women ceased
+to peep through the curtains; and the children left off asking Baroni
+to give them backsheesh. At length, Amalek and Tancred being left alone,
+the great Sheikh, who had hitherto evinced no curiosity as to the cause
+of the presence of his guest, said, 'There is a time for all things, for
+eating and for drinking, also for prayers. There is, also, a season to
+ask questions. Why is the brother of the Queen of the English in the
+Syrian desert?'
+
+'There is much to tell, and much to inquire,' said Tancred; 'but before
+I speak of myself, let me know whether you can get me tidings of Eva,
+the daughter of Besso.'
+
+'Is she not living in rooms with many divans?' said Amalek.
+
+'Alas!' said Tancred, 'she was a prisoner, and is now a fugitive.'
+
+'What children of Gin have done this deed? Are there strange camels
+drinking at my wells? Is it some accursed Kurd that has stolen her
+sheep; or some Turkman, blacker than night, that has hankered after her
+bracelets?'
+
+'Nothing of all this, yet more than all this. All shall be told to you,
+great Sheikh, yet before I speak, tell me again, can you get me tidings
+of Eva, the daughter of Besso?'
+
+'Can I fire an arrow that will hit its mark?' said Amalek; 'tell me the
+city of Syria where Eva the daughter of Besso may be found, and I will
+send her a messenger that would reach her even in the bath, were she
+there.'
+
+Tancred then gave the great Sheikh a rapid sketch of what had occurred
+to Eva, and expressed his fear that she might have been intercepted
+by the Turkish troops. Amalek decided that she must be at Aleppo, and,
+instantly summoning one of his principal men, he gave instructions for
+the departure of a trusty scout in that direction.
+
+'Ere the tenth day shall have elapsed,' said the great Sheikh, 'we
+shall have sure tidings. And now let me know, prince of England, by
+what strange cause you could have found yourself in the regions of those
+children of hell, the Ansarey, who, it is well known, worship Eblis in
+every obscene form.'
+
+'It is a long tale,' said Tancred, 'but I suppose it must be told; but
+now that you have relieved my mind by sending to Aleppo, I can hardly
+forget that I have ridden for more than three days, and with little
+pause. I am not, alas! a true Arab, though I love Arabia and Arabian
+thoughts; and, indeed, my dear friend, had we not met again, it is
+impossible to say what might have been my lot, for I now feel that I
+could not have much longer undergone the sleepless toil I have of late
+encountered. If Eva be safe, I am content, or would wish to feel so;
+but what is content, and what is life, and what is man? Indeed, great
+Sheikh, the longer I live and the more I think----' and here the
+chibouque dropped gently from Tancred's mouth, and he himself sunk upon
+the carpet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LX.
+
+     _The Road to Bethany_
+
+BESSO is better,' said the Consul Pasqualigo to Barizy of the Tower, as
+he met him on a December morning in the Via Dolorosa.
+
+'Yes, but he is by no means well,' quickly rejoined Barizy. 'The
+physician of the English prince told me----'
+
+'He has not seen the physician of the English prince!' screamed
+Pasqualigo, triumphantly.
+
+'I know that,' said Barizy, rallying; 'but the physician of the English
+prince says for flesh-wounds----'
+
+'There are no flesh-wounds,' said the Consul Pasqualigo. 'They have all
+healed; 'tis an internal shock.'
+
+'For internal shocks,' said Barizy of the Tower, 'there is nothing like
+rosemary stewed with salt, and so keep on till it simmers.'
+
+'That is very well for a bruise,' said the Consul Pasqualigo.
+
+'A bruise is a shock,' said Barizy of the Tower.
+
+'Besso should have remained at Aleppo,' said the Consul.
+
+'Besso always comes to Jerusalem when he is indisposed,' said Barizy;
+'as he well says, 'tis the only air that can cure him; and, if he
+cannot be cured, why, at least, he can be buried in the Valley of
+Je-hoshaphat.'
+
+'He is not at Jerusalem,' said the Consul Pasqualigo, maliciously.
+
+'How do you mean?' said Barizy, somewhat confused. 'I am now going to
+inquire after him, and smoke some of his Latakia.'
+
+'He is at Bethany,' said the Consul.
+
+'Hem!' said Barizy, mysteriously. 'Bethany! Will that marriage come off
+now, think you? I always fancy, when, eh?----'
+
+'She will not marry till her father has recovered,' said the Consul.
+
+'This is a curious story,' said Barizy. 'The regular troops beaten by
+the Kurds.'
+
+'They were not Kurds,' said the Consul Pasqualigo. 'They were Russians
+in disguise. Some cannon have been taken, which were cast at St.
+Petersburg; and, besides, there is a portfolio of state papers found on
+a Cossack, habited as a Turkman, which betrays all. The documents are to
+be published in numbers, with explanatory commentaries. Consul-General
+Laurella writes from Damascus that the Eastern question is more alive
+than ever. We are on the eve of great events.'
+
+'You don't say so?' said Barizy of the Tower, losing his presence
+of mind from this overwhelming superiority of information. 'I always
+thought so. Palmerston will never rest till he gets Jerusalem.'
+
+'The English must have markets,' said the Consul Pasqualigo.
+
+'Very just,' said Barizy of the Tower. 'There will be a great opening
+here. I think of doing a little myself in cottons; but the house of
+Besso will monopolise everything.'
+
+'I don't think the English can do much here,' said the Consul, shaking
+his head. 'What have we to give them in exchange? The people here had
+better look to Austria, if they wish to thrive. The Austrians also have
+cottons, and they are Christians. They will give you their cottons, and
+take your crucifixes.'
+
+'I don't think I can deal in crucifixes,' said Barizy of the Tower.
+
+'I tell you what, if you won't, your cousin Barizy of the Gate will. I
+know he has given a great order to Bethlehem.'
+
+'The traitor!' exclaimed Barizy of the Tower. 'Well, if people will
+purchase crucifixes and nothing else, they must be supplied. Commerce
+civilises man.'
+
+'Who is this?' exclaimed the Consul Pasqualigo.
+
+A couple of horsemen, well mounted, but travel-worn, and followed by a
+guard of Bedouins, were coming up the Via Dolorosa, and stopped at the
+house of Hassan Nejid.
+
+''Tis the English prince,' said Barizy of the Tower. 'He has been absent
+six months; he has been in Egypt.'
+
+'To see the temples of the fire-worshippers, and to shoot crocodiles.
+They all do that,' said the Consul Pasqualigo.
+
+'How glad he must be to get back to Jerusalem,' said Barizy of the
+Tower. 'There may be larger cities, but there are certainly none so
+beautiful.'
+
+'The most beautiful city in the world is the city of Venice,' said
+Pasqualigo.
+
+'You have never been there,' said Barizy.
+
+'But it was built principally by my ancestors,' said the Consul, 'and I
+have a print of it in my hall.'
+
+'I never heard that Venice was comparable to Jerusalem,' said Barizy.
+
+'Jerusalem is, in every respect, an abode fit for swine, compared with
+Venice,' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'I would have you to know, Monsieur Pasqualigo, who call yourself
+consul, that the city of Jerusalem is not only the city of God, but has
+ever been the delight and pride of man.'
+
+'Pish!' said Pasqualigo.
+
+'Poh!' said Barizy.
+
+'I am not at all surprised that Besso got out of it as soon as he
+possibly could.'
+
+'You would not dare to say these things in his presence,' said Barizy.
+
+'Who says "dare" to the representative of a European Power!'
+
+'I say "dare" to the son of the janissary of the Austrian Vice-Consul at
+Sidon.'
+
+'You will hear more of this,' said Pasqualigo, fiercely. 'I shall make a
+representation to the Inter-nonce at Stamboul.'
+
+'You had better go there yourself, as you are tired of El Khuds.'
+
+Pasqualigo, not having a repartee ready, shot at his habitual comrade a
+glance of withering contempt, and stalked away.
+
+In the meantime, Tancred dismounted and entered for the first time his
+house at Jerusalem, of which he had been the nominal tenant for half a
+year. Baroni was quite at home, as he knew the house in old days, and
+had also several times visited, on this latter occasion, the suite of
+Tancred. Freeman and True-man, who had been forwarded on by the British
+Consul at Beiroot, like bales of goods, were at their post, bowing as
+if their master had just returned from a club. But none of the important
+members of the body were at this moment at hand. Colonel Brace was
+dining with the English Consul on an experimental plum-pudding,
+preliminary to the authentic compound, which was to appear in a few
+days. It was supposed to be the first time that a Christmas pudding
+had been concocted at Jerusalem, and the excitement in the circle was
+considerable. The Colonel had undertaken to supervise the preparation,
+and had been for several days instilling the due instructions into a
+Syrian cook, who had hitherto only succeeded in producing a result
+which combined the specific gravity of lead with the general flavour and
+appearance of a mass of kneaded dates, in a state of fermentation after
+a lengthy voyage. The Rev. Mr. Bernard was at Bethlehem, assisting the
+Bishop in catechising some converts who had passed themselves off as
+true children of Israel, but who were in fact, older Christians
+than either of their examinants, being descendants of some Nestorian
+families, who had settled in the south of Palestine in the earlier ages
+of Christianity. As for Dr. Roby, he was culling simples in the valley
+of the Jordan; and thus it happened that, when Tancred at length did
+evince some disposition to settle down quietly under his own roof, and
+avail himself of the services and society of his friends, not one of
+them was present to receive and greet him. Tancred roamed about the
+house, surveyed his court and garden, sighed, while Baroni rewarded and
+dismissed their escort. 'I know not how it is,' he at length said to his
+intendant, 'but I never could have supposed that I could have felt so
+sad and spiritless at Jerusalem.'
+
+'It is the reaction, my lord, after a month's wandering in the desert.
+It is always so: the world seems tame.'
+
+'I am disappointed that Besso is not here. I am most anxious to see
+him.'
+
+'Shall I send for the Colonel, my lord?' said Baroni, shaking Tancred's
+Arabian cloak.
+
+'Well, I think I should let him return naturally,' said Tancred;
+'sending for him is a scene; and I do not know why, Baroni, but I
+feel--I feel unstrung. I am surprised that there are no letters from
+England; and yet I am rather glad too, for a letter----'
+
+'Received some months after its date,' said Baroni, 'is like the visit
+of a spectre. I shudder at the sight of it.'
+
+'Heigho!' said Tancred, stretching his arm, and half-speaking to
+himself, 'I wish the battle of Gindarics had never ceased, but that,
+like some hero of enchantment, I had gone on for ever fighting.'
+
+'Ah! there is nothing like action,' said Baroni, unscrewing his pistols.
+
+'But what action is there in this world?' said Tancred. 'The most
+energetic men in Europe are mere busybodies. Empires are now governed
+like parishes, and a great statesman is only a select vestryman. And
+they are right: unless we bring man nearer to heaven, unless government
+become again divine, the insignificance of the human scheme must
+paralyse all effort.'
+
+'Hem!' said Baroni, kneeling down and opening Tancred's rifle-case. The
+subject was getting a little too deep for him. 'I perceive,' he said
+to himself, 'that my lord is very restless. There is something at the
+bottom of his mind which, perhaps, he does not quite comprehend himself;
+but it will come out.' Tancred passed the day alone in reading, or
+walking about his room with an agitated and moody step. Often when his
+eye rested on the page, his mind wandered from the subject, and he was
+frequently lost in profound and protracted reverie. The evening drew
+on; he retired early to his room, and gave orders that he was not to be
+disturbed. At a later hour, Colonel Brace returned, having succeeded in
+his principal enterprise, and having also sung the national anthem.
+He was greatly surprised to hear that Lord Montacute had returned; but
+Baroni succeeded in postponing the interview until the morrow. An hour
+after the Colonel, the Rev. Mr. Bernard returned from Bethlehem. He was
+in great tribulation, as he had been pursued by some of the vagabonds of
+that ruffianly district; a shot had even been fired after him; but this
+was only to frighten him. The fact is, the leader of the band was his
+principal catechumen, who was extremely desirous of appropriating a very
+splendid copy of the Holy Writings, richly bound, and adorned with massy
+golden clasps, which the Duchess of Bellamont had presented to the Rev.
+Mr. Bernard before his departure, and which he always, as a sort of
+homage to one whom he sincerely respected, displayed on any eminent
+instance of conversion.
+
+The gates of the city were closed when Dr. Roby returned, laden with
+many rare balsams. The consequence was, he was obliged to find quarters
+in a tomb in the valley of Jehoshaphat. As his attendant was without
+food, when his employer had sunk into philosophic repose, he supped off
+the precious herbs and roots, and slaked his thirst with a draught from
+the fountain of Siloah.
+
+Tancred passed a night of agitating dreams. Sometimes he was in the
+starry desert, sometimes in the caverned dungeons of Gindarics. Then,
+again, the scene changed to Bellamont Castle, but it would seem that
+Fakredeen was its lord; and when Tancred rushed forward to embrace his
+mother, she assumed the form of the Syrian goddess, and yet the face was
+the face of Eva. Though disturbed, he slept, and when he woke, he was
+for a moment quite unconscious of being at Jerusalem. Although within
+a week of Christmas, no sensible difference had yet occurred in the
+climate. The golden sun succeeded the silver moon, and both reigned in
+a clear blue sky. You may dine at night on the terrace of your house at
+Jerusalem in January, and find a serene and benignant atmosphere.
+
+Tancred rose early; no one was stirring in the house except the native
+servants, and Mr. Freeman, who was making a great disturbance about hot
+water. Tancred left a message with this gentleman for the Colonel and
+his companions, begging that they might all meet at breakfast, and
+adding that he was about to stroll for half an hour. Saying this, he
+quitted the house, and took his way by the gate of Stephen to the Mount
+of Olives.
+
+It was a delicious morn, wonderfully clear, and soft, and fresh. It
+seemed a happy and a thriving city, that forlorn Jerusalem, as Tancred,
+from the heights of Olivet, gazed upon its noble buildings, and its
+cupolaed houses of freestone, and its battlemented walls and lofty
+gates. Nature was fair, and the sense of existence was delightful.
+It seemed to Tancred that a spicy gale came up the ravines of the
+wilderness, from the farthest Arabia.
+
+Lost in prolonged reverie, the hours flew on. The sun was mounting in
+the heavens when Tancred turned his step, but, instead of approaching
+the city, he pursued a winding path in an opposite direction. That path
+led to Bethany.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER LXI.
+
+     _Arrival of the Duke and Duchess_
+
+THE crest of the palm tree in the garden of Eva glittered in the
+declining sun; and the lady of Bethany sat in her kiosk on the margin
+of the fountain, unconsciously playing with a flower, and gazing in
+abstraction on the waters. She had left Tancred with her father, now
+convalescent. They had passed the morning together, talking over the
+strange events that had occurred since they first became acquainted
+on this very spot; and now the lady of Bethany had retired to her own
+thoughts.
+
+A sound disturbed her; she looked up and recognised Tancred.
+
+'I could not refrain from seeing the sun set on Arabia,' he said; 'I had
+almost induced the noble Besso to be my companion.'
+
+'The year is too old,' said Eva, not very composed.
+
+'They should be midsummer nights,' said Tancred, 'as on my first visit
+here; that hour thrice blessed!' 'We know not what is blessed in this
+world,' said Eva, mournfully.
+
+'I feel I do,' murmured Tancred; and he also seated himself on the
+margin of the fountain.
+
+'Of all the strange incidents and feelings that we have been talking
+over this day,' said Eva, 'there seems to me but one result; and that
+is, sadness.'
+
+'It is certainly not joy,' said Tancred.
+
+'There comes over me a great despondency,' said Eva, 'I know not why,
+my convictions are as profound as they were, my hopes should not be less
+high, and yet----'
+
+'And what?' said Tancred, in a low, sweet voice, for she hesitated.
+
+'I have a vague impression,' said Eva, sorrowfully, 'that there have
+been heroic aspirations wasted, and noble energies thrown away; and yet,
+perhaps,' she added, in a faltering tone, 'there is no one to blame.
+Perhaps, all this time, we have been dreaming over an unattainable end,
+and the only source of deception is our own imagination.'
+
+'My faith is firm,' said Tancred; 'but if anything could make it falter,
+it would be to find you wavering.'
+
+'Perhaps it is the twilight hour,' said Eva, with a faint smile. 'It
+sometimes makes one sad.'
+
+'There is no sadness where there is sympathy,' said Tancred, in a low
+voice. 'I have been, I am sad, when I am alone: but when I am with you,
+my spirit is sustained, and would be, come what might.'
+
+'And yet----' said Eva; and she paused.
+
+'And what?'
+
+'Your feelings cannot be what they were before all this happened; when
+you thought only of a divine cause, of stars, of angels, and of our
+peculiar and gifted land. No, no; now it is all mixed up with intrigue,
+and politics, and management, and baffled schemes, and cunning arts of
+men. You may be, you are, free from all this, but your faith is not the
+same. You no longer believe in Arabia.'
+
+'Why, thou to me art Arabia,' said Tancred, advancing and kneeling at
+her side. 'The angel of Arabia, and of my life and spirit! Talk not
+to me of faltering faith: mine is intense. Talk not to me of leaving a
+divine cause: why, thou art my cause, and thou art most divine! O Eva!
+deign to accept the tribute of my long agitated heart! Yes, I too, like
+thee, am sometimes full of despair; but it is only when I remember that
+I love, and love, perhaps, in vain!'
+
+He had clasped her hand; his passionate glance met her eye, as he looked
+up with adoration to a face infinitely distressed. Yet she withdrew not
+her hand, as she murmured, with averted head, 'We must not talk of these
+things; we must not think of them. You know all.'
+
+'I know of nothing, I will know of nothing, but of my love.'
+
+'There are those to whom I belong; and to whom you belong. Yes,' she
+said, trying to withdraw her hand, 'fly, fly from me, son of Europe and
+of Christ!'
+
+'I am a Christian in the land of Christ,' said Tancred, 'and I kneel to
+a daughter of my Redeemer's race. Why should I fly?'
+
+'Oh! this is madness!'
+
+'Say, rather, inspiration,' said Tancred, 'for I will not quit this
+fountain by which we first met until I am told, as you now will tell
+me,' he added, in a tone of gushing tenderness, 'that our united
+destinies shall advance the sovereign purpose of our lives. Talk not to
+me of others, of those who have claims on you or on myself. I have no
+kindred, no country, and, as for the ties that would bind you, shall
+such world-worn bonds restrain our consecrated aim? Say but you love me,
+and I will trample them to the dust.'
+
+The head of Eva fell upon his shoulder. He impressed an embrace upon her
+cheek. It was cold, insensible. Her hand, which he still held, seemed to
+have lost all vitality. Overcome by contending emotions, the principle
+of life seemed to have deserted her. Tancred laid her reclining figure
+with gentleness on the mats of the kiosk; he sprinkled her pale face
+with some drops from the fountain; he chafed her delicate hand. Her eyes
+at length opened, and she sighed. He placed beneath her head some of
+the cushions that were at hand. Recovering, she slightly raised herself,
+leant upon the marble margin of the fountain, and looked about her with
+a wildered air.
+
+At this moment a shout was heard, repeated and increased; soon the sound
+of many voices and the tramp of persons approaching. The vivid but brief
+twilight had died away. Almost suddenly it had become night. The voices
+became more audible, the steps were at hand. Tancred recognised his
+name, frequently repeated. Behold a crowd of many persons, several of
+them bearing torches. There was Colonel Brace in the van; on his right
+was the Rev. Mr. Bernard; on his left, was Dr. Roby. Freeman and Trueman
+and several guides and native servants were in the rear, most of them
+proclaiming the name of Lord Montacute.
+
+'I am here,' said Tancred, advancing from the kiosk, pale and agitated.
+'Why am I wanted?'
+
+Colonel Brace began to explain, but all seemed to speak at the same
+time.
+
+The Duke and Duchess of Bellamont had arrived at Jerusalem.
+
+[Illustration: front-backplate]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tancred, by Benjamin Disraeli
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