268 SULTAN MAHMOUD. 



This was the 31st May, and I think must 

 have been about the last time of his o^oing to 

 mosque, because on the last day of June he was 

 no more numbered amongst the kings of the 

 earth. There was not the dignity about him 

 which I had expected to see. His eye was good 

 and piercing, and I. was enabled to take a good 

 searching look into the features of his counte- 

 nance, because my red jacket caught his atten- 

 tion, and he looked hard at me, giving me, by so 

 doing, a favourable opportunity of returning the 

 compliment to him. Whatever may have been 

 the faults of Mahmoud, and however great the 

 foUies of which he may have been guilty, I dare 

 say he was painted blacker by his enemies, and 

 more extravagantly extolled by his admirers, than 

 he need have been. He was, doubtless, an ex- 

 traordinary man, and will bear a conspicuous 

 place in the history of the nineteenth century. I 

 therefore consider myself very fortunate in hav- 

 ing had the opportunity to see him, and what a 

 narrow escape I had of not seeing him ! A week 

 later in my journey, had we, in fact, proceeded as 

 we originally intended, by land from Salonica to 

 Constantinople, instead of taking the steamer. 



