, would expect something
to be forthcoming in the future narrative, from what is, in fact, only a
trait of common life.'

I then suggested, that, perhaps, if an European would give a correct
idea of Oriental manners, which would comprehend an account of the
vicissitudes attendant upon the life of an Eastern, of his feelings
about his government, of his conduct in domestic life, of his hopes and
plans of advancement, of his rivalities and jealousies, in short, of
everything that is connected both with the operations of the mind and
those of the body, perhaps his best method would be to collect so many
facts and anecdotes of actual life as would illustrate the different
stations and ranks which compose a Mussulman community, and then work
them into one connected narrative, upon the plan of that excellent
picture of European life, "Gil Blas" of Le Sage.

To this you were pleased to object, because you deemed it almost
impossible that an European, even supposing him to have rejected his
own faith and adopted the Mohammedan, as in the case of Monsieur de
Bonneval, who rose to high rank in the Turkish government, and of
Messrs. C---- and B---- in more modern times (the former a _Topchi
Bashi_, or general of artillery, the latter an attendant upon the
Capitan Pasha), could ever so exactly seize those nice shades and
distinctions of purpose, in action and manner, which a pure Asiatic only
could. To support your argument, you illustrated it by observing, that
neither education, time, nor talent, could ever give to a foreigner, in
any given country, so complete a possession of its language as to make
him pass for a native; and that, do what he would, some defect in idiom,
or even some too great precision in grammar, would detect him. 'But,'
said you, 'if a native Oriental could ever be brought to understand so
much of the taste of Europeans, in investigations of this nature, as to
write a full and detailed history of his own life, beginning with his
earliest education, and going through to its decline, we might then
stand a chance of acquiring the desired knowledge.

This conversation, reverend sir, has remained treasured up in my mind;
for having lived much in Eastern countries, I never lost sight of the
possibility of either falling in with a native who might have written
his own adventures, or of forming such an intimacy with one, as might
induce him faithfully to recite them, and thus afford materials for the
work which my