ers; and we got into a brisk argument as
to whether England was part of London, or London part of England. He
appeared to be a remarkably good-natured man, and took great interest in
the affairs of Egypt, from which country I had lately arrived, and asked
me numberless questions about Mehemet Ali, comparing his character with
that of Ali Pasha, who had built this palace, which was in a very
ruinous state, for nothing had been expended to keep it in repair. The
hall of audience was a magnificent room, richly decorated with inlaid
work of mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell: the ceiling was gilt, and the
windows of Venetian plate-glass, but some of them were broken: the floor
was loose and almost dangerous; and two holes in the side walls, which
had been made by a cannon-ball, were stopped up with pieces of deal
board roughly nailed upon the costly inlaid panels. The divan was of red
cloth; and a crowd of men, with their girdles stuck full of arms, stood
leaning on their long guns at the bottom of the room, listening to our
conversation, and laughing loudly whenever a joke was made, but never
coming forward beyond the edge of the carpet.

The Pasha offered to give me an escort, as he said that the country at
that moment was particularly unsafe; but at length it was settled that
he should give me a letter to the commander of the troops at Mezzovo,
who would supply me with soldiers to see me safely to the monasteries of
Meteora. When I arose to take my leave, he sent for more pipes and
coffee, as a signal for me to remain; in short, we became great friends.
Whilst I was with him a pasha of inferior rank came in, and sat on the
divan for half an hour without saying a single word or doing anything
except looking at me unceasingly. After he had taken his departure we
had some sherbet; and at last I got away, leaving the Pasha in great
wonderment at the English government paying large sums of money for the
transportation of criminals, when cutting off their heads would have
been so much more economical and expeditious. Incurring any expense to
keep rogues and vagabonds in prison, or to send them away from our own
country to be the plague of other lands, appeared to him to be an
extraordinary act of folly; and that thieves should be fed and clothed
and lodged, while poor and honest people were left to starve, he
considered to be contrary to common sense and justice. I laughed at the
time at what I thought the curious opinions of th