assadors were
proud to go on their knees, and whom Gentlemen of the Chamber would have
covered with Diamonds. With a charming frankness, blushing and
stammering, yet with Virginal Pride, she confessed that she was
enamoured of me, and, if Fortune were propitious, would gladly be my
Wife. I could at first scarcely realize the possibility of such great
and unmerited Happiness; for well did I know the disparity in Age that
existed between us--how Rough and Weather-beaten was I; and she, how
Tender, Delicate, and Good! "But does not the Ivy twine round the Oak?"
quoth the Physician, as he smote me cheerfully on the Shoulder. And
behold, now, gnarled and battered old Jack Dangerous, with this
delicious little Parasite creeping toward and Nestling Round him.

FOOTNOTES:

[C] 2 Kings, ix. 30.

[D] I preserve a fragment of what His Eminence was pleased once upon a
time to write to me, in his curious Italian way of spelling the French
tongue:

"_Si cieu che vous m'avez dict sur vostre Naissance e vray, vos esteo
digne di monter dedans le carozze du Roy._"

CHAPTER THE NINTH AND LAST.

OF MY SERVICE UNDER THE GREAT TURK AS A BASHAW; OF MY ADVENTURES IN
RUSSIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES; AND OF MY COMING HOME AT LAST AND BUYING MY
GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE (WHICH IS NOW MINE) IN HANOVER SQUARE.

'TWAS the advice of the Good Physician, that, to prevent Accidents, we
should be Married without delay; for in these hot countries you are here
to-day and gone to-morrow, and no one can tell what may happen.
Difficulties almost insurmountable, 'tis true, seemed to stand in the
way of our Union; but Hamet Abdoollah was able to act almost a
Magician's part to bring about our Happiness. I was for the time being
bestowed in his House, and the next morning the Physician hies him to
the Dey, who was in a Fury about me, and was threatening all kinds of
Bowstrings and Bastinadoes. But his Highness happening likewise to be
suffering from Toothache, and as a Man with a Raging Tooth would give
all the Treasures of Potosi to be quit of his Agony, the Physician
promised to Relieve him forthwith if he would grant his Suit. The Dey
promised him any thing he could wish for, and so Hamet Abdoollah cures
him with a little Phial full of nothing but Tar Balsam. 'Tis but just to
the Mussulmans to say, that when they have once given their Word of
Honour, they keep it with Extreme Rigour; so that when the Physician
begged pardon for me, and License to purc