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LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR CARLYLE 



LETTER II. 



My Lord, Buyukdere, near Constantinople, July 23. 1800. 



From the kindness I have experienced from Your Lordship, I have 

 the vanity to think that you will not be wholly uninterested in hear- 

 ing that I am once more arrived at Lord Elgin's, in health and safety, 

 after an expedition of considerable difficulty. 



The breaking out of the plague in Constantinople, at the beginning 

 of the year, totally precluded my making any investigations in that 

 city for some months. I was determined therefore (as I would not 

 willingly waste any part of the time I have to spend in the East) to 

 embrace the opportunity of General Koeler's going to join the Grand 

 Vizier's army, to accompany him in his journey through Asia Minor. 

 We had a most interesting ride through the whole of the peninsula; 

 the latter part, from Caraman to the sea, over the ancient Lycaonia, 

 Cilicia, and Isauria, I considered particularly curious, as I believe we 

 were the first Europeans that had passed over it since the Turkish 

 conquest. The whole of the country presents a melancholy picture 

 of former magnificence, and present desolation. The desert plains 

 we trod seemed ready to start into fertility with a touch, but that touch 

 unhappily is wanting. At Cyprus I joined Sir Sidney Smith, and 

 accompanied him first to Crete and afterwards to Alexandria, where, 

 under the sanction of a flag of truce, I landed and passed a few very 

 agreeable days with some of the French at that place. It is only 

 justice to say that they treated me with every politeness ; the Scavans 

 informing me of any thing I wished to inquire about, without the 

 smallest reserve, and the military offering me every accommodation 

 in their power to penetrate farther into the interior ; but these offers 

 I was obliged to decline on account of the situation of the country 

 which rendered all examination of matters of curiosity totally imprac- 

 ticable. r he moment I was there happened to be just after the battle 



