it back to him: "What," said he, " is it not worth twenty dollars between Christians?"

"Between Christians, please your reverence,' said I, "perhaps the scarabeus is worth that sum; but between an Arab and a Frank it is worth about ten piastres."

"Ten piastres!" cried the enraged Bishop, "Wallah! by God! it cost me thirty! but as you are a hakkim—and a hakkim to my friend, the Consul Saul, why, you may have it for forty piastres."

"Twelve, please your reverence," I replied, "not a paras more can I afford for it."

"Take it," said he, at last: "you are harder to deal with than a Yahudi," (a Jew); and so I got the scarabeus, for which his grace had the Coptic conscience to demand five pounds of our money, for about three shillings.

I hardly knew how to broach my business in the presence of the Bishop: if the man had really become a priest, it would be so very awkward to ask him to return to his former service. However, I summoned courage, and explained to him the nature of my visit; he shut his book, and looked at the Bishop, as if for advice.

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"Tell Saul," said his reverence, in a very indignant tone, "that Abdriman has nearly completed his religious studies, and is about to enter the mother church; and therefore, that if he got a thousand piastres a year, instead of a hundred, he could not go.

I made a great many apologies, and took my leave; but I had hardly got home, when his mother and sister presented themselves at the door, kissed my hand very respectfully, and besought me to prevail, if possible, on Abdriman to renounce the church, and go with me to his old master. "He will earn ten times more money at service," said his amiable mother, "than he possibly can do in the church: besides, there are so many priests there is not bread for one half of them! He spends," she continued, " every paras of our earning on old books, and he will not work a stroke."

The fellow looked like a lazy dog; but I scrupled, however, robbing the church of him, The woman kissed my hand over and over, and begged of me to take him away. I consented to speak to him on the subject. I went next day, and was fortunate enough to find him without the

100

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Bishop. I said nothing about his vocation; but

I

put one plain question to him: "Where did he feed best-in Mr. Salt's kitchen or in the Bishop's house?" This staggered him; the zeal of the theologian was merged for an instant in the earthly feelings of the Copt: he made no reply, but he passed his hand over his meager cheeks. I had one of those small French mirrors in my pocket, which magnifies the features on one side and diminishes them on the other: I was in the habit of astonishing the Arabs with what appeared to them its miraculous effect; and with this I determined to aid my argument in persuading my Copt to eat the bread of industry and honesty.

While the remembrance of the fleshpots of Lower Egypt was passing over his mind; while the recollection of the Consul's larder was rising in his bosom; and while, like Pythagoras, he reflected on beans with horror, and thought of their daily recurrence at the Bishop's table with disgust; I said to him, "I fear, my friend, you fast too much; there is famine in your countenance;" and presenting to him the diminishing surface of the little mirror, I bid him look on his

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meager features.

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He saw his countenance re

duced to the size of a walnut. Never shall I for

get his look of horror; I hardly could preserve my gravity; so I took my leave. Next day I saw nothing of him; but the third morning, at the dawn, he was at my bedside; he had a bundle of books in one hand, and some rags in the other. "I am ready for Cairo," said he; "but ah, if the Bishop should meet me!" I wanted him to remain till I came back to Thebes from Nubia. "No, no," he exclaimed, "I would not face the Bishop for a million of piastres!"

In a couple of days I purpose setting out for Nubia; perhaps, on my return, I may be able to give your Ladyship some more interesting information than this letter contains; in the meantime,

I have the honour to be

Your Ladyship's obedient Servant,

R. R. M.

LETTER XXX.

TO M. MONTEFIORE, ESQ.

Damietta, April 15, 1827.

MY DEAR SIR, THOUGH the distance from Thebes to Assouan, the last town in Egypt, is only one hundred and seventy-five miles, our voyage occupied seven days. The first remarkable town we visited was Esnèh, the ancient Latopolis, forty miles from Thebes here we found the ruins of a splendid temple, whose portico is reckoned the finest specimen of Egyptian architecture. Denon considered the style of this monument as the purest he had seen in Egypt. The capitals are all different, and the diversity appears to increase the beauty of the whole.

On the ceiling of the portico there are the remains of a zodiac, which the French Savans calculated gave an antiquity to the building of six