MR. RICH, THE BRITISH RESIDENT. 
245 
heard over the usually low murmuring sounds from the company 
at large. 
On arriving at the gate of the British resident’s mansion, 1 
was saluted by a Sepoy guard, and then ushered into a spacious 
saloon overlooking the Tigris. It would be vain to attempt en¬ 
tering into the details of my reception. Personally, I was a 
stranger to Mr. Rich; yet the most eloquent language cannot 
describe the friendly warmth with which both himself and his 
accomplished wife bade me welcome; nor can I express, in any 
words, my sense of their subsequent kindness. I felt it the 
more, since I came to them under the impression of having- 
received one of the most essential services from him while I was 
in the desert; and I arrived in a situation, from the state of my 
party, to incur still accumulating obligations. 
In this place I cannot refrain from remarking how indis¬ 
pensable it is to the progress of science and research, that our 
European residents in the East, and in all countries under si¬ 
milar circumstances, should not only be selected for eminent 
talent in their vocation, but with reference to their character for 
prompt benevolence of heart. If men in these stations hesitate 
about the whys and wherefores for assisting any travelling coun¬ 
tryman, who may chance to require it when passing near the 
places of their influence, the critical moment of service may 
be irretrievably lost during the demur, and the lamentable con¬ 
sequences I need not describe. To such persons, delegated from 
their country as its representatives, to aid and shelter, when 
required, those of its people who go forth on errands of com¬ 
merce or investigation, every traveller of that description turns 
his eyes as to a sure refuge : and no one who so looked to 
Mr. Rich at Bagdad, or to Sir Robert Liston at Constantinople, 
have been disappointed. 
