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Article &ETIEWS OF.HEW BOOKS. ← Page 4 of 5 →
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&Etiews Of.Hew Books.
This charming and vigorous sketchisenliancedin value by van and characteristic details respecting the great viceroy scattered through Mr , Murray ' svolumesv Thus we learn that Mohanuned Ali lived much at the uoav neglected palace of Shubrah . This residence is situated in a very narrow , pretty garden , on the right bank of the Nile , about three miles below Cairo , which was planted and laid out with some taste by a Greek
gardener , under the instructions of the viceroy himself . He built a small country house at one extrem ^ of it , containing a large basing o were richly furnished apartments , in one of Avhich was a billiard table , at which the old warrior used sometimes to recreate himself , during his latter days , with his officers or guests . After his death , the garden was neglected , and almost destroyed . Of characteristic anecdotes Ave have enough to make the fortune of a dozen diners out . Here is one of a true Oriental flavour : — -
'"¦ " " ' I I / Ah ! said the pasha , laughing ., -knew all that ; shall have difficulties ; what can be done without difficulty ' ;? ' . ' ¦ All my life 1 have been contending against them ; I have always overcome them , and , Inshallah , I will do so still ! Bid you see , " he added with increased animation / " a canal that joins the Nile a few miles northward of this spot ? " Mr . Thorpe had noticed it > but had not thought of inquiring whether it had led . " Well ^ then , " continued the pasha , " that canal
leads to a large village in the middle of the Delta , from Avhich and from the neighbouring provinces it brings the produce down to the Nile . How do you think I made that canal 1 Ay 0 ll shall hear . Two years ago I stopped here on my Way to Cairo from Alexandria , and having determined to hiake a canal from the Nile to that village , I sent for the cliief engineer of the province , and having given him the length , breadth , and depth of the canal required , I asked him in what space of time he would undertake to make it . He took out his pen and his paper , and having made his calculations , he said that if I gave him an order on the
governor of the province for the labour he required , he would undertake to finish it in a year . My reply was a signal to my servants to throw him doAvn and give him two hundred blows of the stick : on his feet . This ceremony being concluded , 1 said to him , Here is the order for the number of labourers you may require ; I am going to Upper Egypt , and shall be back in four months ; if the canal is not completed by the day of my return , you shall have three hundred more . ' In relating this story , the pasha ' s eyes sparkled , and he almost , jumped from his sitting posture with excitement , as he added , rubbing his hands , ' By Allah , the canal Avas completed Avhen I returned ! ' "
ToAvards the close of the second volume Mr . Murray gives a most interesting account of a conspiracy against the viceroy , and in a very curious note takes occasion to absolve Ibrahim Pasha from the share he was sometimes supposed to have had in it . The absolution , hoAvever , is scarcely more complimentary than the imputation : —
" One day , " writes Mr . Murray , " when I was sitting tete-a-tete with Mohammed Ali , he spoke very disparagingly of Ibrahim Pasha . I observed : Yet on the occasion of that dangerous conspiracy against your highness * s life , he behaved Avell , and gave no encouragement to it . ' i He dared not !* replied the old lion ; c but it was only fear that Avithheld him / I shall never forget the fire that flashed from his eyes as he uttered these words .
Other historical details , no less valuable are profusely scattered throughout this admirable Avork . "Respecting the charge so often brought against Mohammed Ali of having caused poison to be administered to one of his sons Mr . Murray says : — It would he unwarrantable to introduce , even in a Avork of fiction , such a charge against the memory of a man , who , with all his faults , was certainly a great and sagacious prince , had it not some foundation in truth . But it was stated to tlie author by Abbas Pasha himself that he fully believed that his father had been poisoned by Mohammed All ' s order . The author asked him whether there was any
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
&Etiews Of.Hew Books.
This charming and vigorous sketchisenliancedin value by van and characteristic details respecting the great viceroy scattered through Mr , Murray ' svolumesv Thus we learn that Mohanuned Ali lived much at the uoav neglected palace of Shubrah . This residence is situated in a very narrow , pretty garden , on the right bank of the Nile , about three miles below Cairo , which was planted and laid out with some taste by a Greek
gardener , under the instructions of the viceroy himself . He built a small country house at one extrem ^ of it , containing a large basing o were richly furnished apartments , in one of Avhich was a billiard table , at which the old warrior used sometimes to recreate himself , during his latter days , with his officers or guests . After his death , the garden was neglected , and almost destroyed . Of characteristic anecdotes Ave have enough to make the fortune of a dozen diners out . Here is one of a true Oriental flavour : — -
'"¦ " " ' I I / Ah ! said the pasha , laughing ., -knew all that ; shall have difficulties ; what can be done without difficulty ' ;? ' . ' ¦ All my life 1 have been contending against them ; I have always overcome them , and , Inshallah , I will do so still ! Bid you see , " he added with increased animation / " a canal that joins the Nile a few miles northward of this spot ? " Mr . Thorpe had noticed it > but had not thought of inquiring whether it had led . " Well ^ then , " continued the pasha , " that canal
leads to a large village in the middle of the Delta , from Avhich and from the neighbouring provinces it brings the produce down to the Nile . How do you think I made that canal 1 Ay 0 ll shall hear . Two years ago I stopped here on my Way to Cairo from Alexandria , and having determined to hiake a canal from the Nile to that village , I sent for the cliief engineer of the province , and having given him the length , breadth , and depth of the canal required , I asked him in what space of time he would undertake to make it . He took out his pen and his paper , and having made his calculations , he said that if I gave him an order on the
governor of the province for the labour he required , he would undertake to finish it in a year . My reply was a signal to my servants to throw him doAvn and give him two hundred blows of the stick : on his feet . This ceremony being concluded , 1 said to him , Here is the order for the number of labourers you may require ; I am going to Upper Egypt , and shall be back in four months ; if the canal is not completed by the day of my return , you shall have three hundred more . ' In relating this story , the pasha ' s eyes sparkled , and he almost , jumped from his sitting posture with excitement , as he added , rubbing his hands , ' By Allah , the canal Avas completed Avhen I returned ! ' "
ToAvards the close of the second volume Mr . Murray gives a most interesting account of a conspiracy against the viceroy , and in a very curious note takes occasion to absolve Ibrahim Pasha from the share he was sometimes supposed to have had in it . The absolution , hoAvever , is scarcely more complimentary than the imputation : —
" One day , " writes Mr . Murray , " when I was sitting tete-a-tete with Mohammed Ali , he spoke very disparagingly of Ibrahim Pasha . I observed : Yet on the occasion of that dangerous conspiracy against your highness * s life , he behaved Avell , and gave no encouragement to it . ' i He dared not !* replied the old lion ; c but it was only fear that Avithheld him / I shall never forget the fire that flashed from his eyes as he uttered these words .
Other historical details , no less valuable are profusely scattered throughout this admirable Avork . "Respecting the charge so often brought against Mohammed Ali of having caused poison to be administered to one of his sons Mr . Murray says : — It would he unwarrantable to introduce , even in a Avork of fiction , such a charge against the memory of a man , who , with all his faults , was certainly a great and sagacious prince , had it not some foundation in truth . But it was stated to tlie author by Abbas Pasha himself that he fully believed that his father had been poisoned by Mohammed All ' s order . The author asked him whether there was any