THE SOURCE OE THE NILE. y^s 



of that ambaflTador, the indifTcrence they teflified at the ap- 

 proach, and in the immediate iuffering oi:' death, had ita 

 origin rather in hardnefs of heart than in the quietnefs of 

 their confciences. Many fanatics have been known to die, 

 glorying in liaving perpetrated the mod horrid crimes to 

 which the fentence of eternal damnation is certainly an- 

 nexed^in the book .before, them.. 



I HAVE often, both on purpofe and by accident, pafTed by 

 this place, where three large, and one fmall pile of ftoncs; 

 cover the bodies of thefe unfortunate fufferers ; and, with 

 many heavy refleaionsupon my own danger, I have often 

 wondered how thefe three priefts, of whatever nation they 

 were, pafled. unnoticed among the nimiber of their frater- 

 nity, whofe memory is honoured with long panegyrics by 

 the Romifh writers, of thofe times, as deftined one day to 

 appear in the kalendar. Though thofe that compofe the 

 long lift of Tellez died with piety and refignation, they 

 were furely gjiilty in the way they almoft -all- were engaged-, 

 contrary to the laws and conftitution of the country, in aci 

 tions and defigns that can be fairly quahfied by no other 

 name than that of treafon, while no fuch political meddling 

 out of their profefTion ever was reproached to thefe threei, 

 even by their enemies* . 



Tellez fays not a word of them ; Le Grande, a zealous 

 Catholic writer of thefe times, but little ; though he pub'- 

 liihes an Arabic letter to conful Maillet, which mentions 

 their names, their fufFerings, and other . circumilances at- 

 tending them. Ifhall, therefore, take the liberty of oifer- 

 ing^my conjeaure, as I think _this filence, pr the fuppreffiun 



of: 



