" addressing me now, she says, is to get me to write on "the loss of a slave-ship, the particulars of which she " details. " The second epistle is short, and in a hand I know very well: it is anonymous too. Hear what she says: "I cannot longer exist without acknowledging the "tumultuous and agonizing delight with which my soul * burns at the glowing beauties of yours.' "A third is of a very different character from the last; "it is from a Mr. Sheppard, inclosing a prayer made for 66 my welfare by his wife a few days before her death. The "letter states that he has had the misfortune to lose this " amiable woman, who had seen me at Ramsgate, many years ago, rambling among the cliffs; that she had been impressed with a sense of my irreligion from the tenor of 66 66 my works, and had often prayed fervently for my con version, particularly in her last moments. The prayer " is beautifully written. I like devotion in women. 66 She must have been a divine creature. I pity the man who has lost her! I shall write to him by return of "the courier, to console with him, and tell him that Mrs. " spiritual affairs, for that no man is more of a Christian " than I am, whatever my writings may have led her and " others to suspect." JANUARY. "A circumstance took place in Greece that impressed " itself lastingly on my memory. I had once thought " of founding a tale on it; but the subject is too har rowing for any nerves, too terrible for any pen! An " order was issued at Zanina by its sanguinary Rajah, " that any Turkish woman convicted of incontinence with a Christian should be stoned to death! Love is slow at calculating dangers, and defies tyrants and their edicts; " and many were the victims to the savage barbarity of " this of Ali's. Among others a girl of sixteen, of a 66 beauty such as that country only produces, fell under "the vigilant eye of the police. She was suspected, and " not without reason, of carrying on a secret intrigue with 66 a Neapolitan of some rank, whose long stay in the city "could be attributed to no other cause than this attach 66 66 ment. Her crime (if crime it be to love as they loved) was too fully proved; they were torn from each other's " arms, never to meet again: and yet both might have 66 66 66 escaped, she by abjuring her religion, or he by adopting hers. They resolutely refused to become apostates to their faith. Ali Pacha was never known to pardon. "She was stoned by those dæmons, although in the fourth " month of her pregnancy! He was sent to a town where "the plague was raging, and died, happy in not having 66 66 66 long outlived the object of his affections ! "One of the principal incidents in 'The Giaour' is de rived from a real occurrence, and one too in which I myself was nearly and deeply interested; but an unwill ingness to have it considered a traveller's tale made me suppress the fact of its genuineness. The Marquis of " Sligo, who knew the particulars of the story, reminded " me of them in England, and wondered I had not authen"ticated them in the Preface : "When I was at Athens, there was an edict in force "similar to that of Ali's, except that the mode of punish 66 ment was different. It was necessary, therefore, that "all love-affairs should be carried on with the greatest 66 66 66 privacy. I was very fond at that time of a Turkish girl,ay, fond of her as I have been of few women. All went on very well till the Ramazan for forty days, which 6 " is rather a long fast for lovers: all intercourse between "the sexes is forbidden by law, as well as by religion. 66 During this Lent of the Musselmans, the women are " not allowed to quit their apartments. I was in despair, " and could hardly contrive to get a cinder, or a token " flower sent to express it. We had not met for several 66 66 66 66 days, and all my thoughts were occupied in planning an assignation, when, as ill fate would have it, the means I took to effect it led to the discovery of our secret. The penalty was death,-death without reprieve, a horrible death, at which one cannot think without shuddering! "An order was issued for the law being put into immediate 66 effect. In the mean time I knew nothing of what had happened, and it was determined that I should be kept in ignorance of the whole affair till it was too late to in"terfere. A mere accident only enabled me to prevent 66 66 the completion of the sentence. I was taking one of my usual evening rides by the sea-side, when I observed a crowd of people moving down to the shore, and the arms of the soldiers glittering among them. They were not so far off, but that I thought I could now and " then distinguish a faint and stifled shriek. My curio “sity was forcibly excited, and I dispatched one of my fol 66 lowers to enquire the cause of the procession. What was 66 my horror to learn that they were carrying an unfortu nate girl, sewn up in a sack, to be thrown into the sea! " I did not hesitate as to what was to be done. I knew I " could depend on my faithful Albanians, and rode up to the officer commanding the party, threatening, in case " of his refusal to give up his prisoner, that I would adopt means to compel him. He did not like the business he 66 was on, or perhaps the determined look of my body" guard, and consented to accompany me back to the city “ with the girl, whom I soon discovered to be my Turkish "favourite. Suffice it to say, that my interference with "the chief magistrate, backed by a heavy bribe, saved 66 her; but it was only on condition that I should " break off all intercourse with her, and that she should immediately quit Athens, and be sent to her friends in " Thebes. There she died, a few days after her arrival, of 66 66 66 66 The severest fever I ever had was at Patras. I had left Fletcher at Constantinople-convalescent, but unable to move from weakness, and had no attendants but my "Albanians, to whom I owe my life. |