servant, however, who, to our great amazement, made a
profound salutation, and seemed delighted to see us. "My master did not
expect your Excellencies to-day; he has gone into the gardens, but will
soon return. Will your Excellencies take coffee after your dinner?" and
coffee was forthwith served. The old woman was unremitting in her
attentions; and her son, a boy of eight years, and the most venerable
child I ever saw, entertained us with the description of a horse which his
master had just bought--a horse which had cost two thousand piastres, and
was ninety years old. Well, this Aleppo is an extraordinary place, was my
first impression, and the inhabitants are remarkable people; but I waited
the master's arrival, as the only means of solving the mystery. About
dusk, there was another rap at the door. A lady dressed in white, with an
Indian handkerchief bound over her black hair, arrived. "Pray excuse us,"
said she; "we thought you would not reach here before to-morrow; but my
brother will come directly." In fact, the brother did come soon
afterwards, and greeted us with a still warmer welcome. "Before leaving
the gardens," he said, "I heard of your arrival, and have come in a full
gallop the whole way." In order to put an end to this comedy of errors, I
declared at once that he was mistaken; nobody in Aleppo could possibly
know of our coming, and we were, perhaps, transgressing on his
hospitality. But no: he would not be convinced. He was a dragoman to the
English Consulate; his master had told him we would be here the next day,
and he must be prepared to receive us. Besides, the janissary of the
Consulate had showed us the way to his house. We, therefore, let the
matter rest until next morning, when we called on Mr. Very, the Consul,
who informed us that the janissary had mistaken us for two gentlemen we
had met in Damascus, the travelling companions of Lord Dalkeith. As they
had not arrived, he begged us to remain in the quarters which had been
prepared for them. We have every reason to be glad of this mistake, as it
has made us acquainted with one of the most courteous and hospitable
gentlemen in the East.

Aleppo lies so far out of the usual routes of travel, that it is rarely
visited by Europeans. One is not, therefore, as in the case of Damascus,
prepared beforehand by volumes of description, which preclude all
possibility of mistake or surprise. For my part, I only knew that Aleppo
had once been the greatest co