Lady Hester, Meeting The Calamity In Her Own Fierce Way, Seems To
Have Scorned The Poor Island That Had Not Enough Of God's Grace To
Keep The "Heaven-Sent" Minister Alive.
I can hardly tell why it
should be, but there is a longing for the East very commonly felt
by proud-hearted people when goaded by sorrow.
Lady Hester
Stanhope obeyed this impulse. For some time, I believe, she was at
Constantinople, where her magnificence and near alliance to the
late Minister gained her great influence. Afterwards she passed
into Syria. The people of that country, excited by the
achievements of Sir Sidney Smith, had begun to imagine the
possibility of their land being occupied by the English, and many
of them looked upon Lady Hester as a princess who came to prepare
the way for the expected conquest. I don't know it from her own
lips, or indeed from any certain authority, but I have been told
that she began her connection with the Bedouins by making a large
present of money (500 pounds it was said - immense in piastres) to
the Sheik whose authority was recognised in that part of the desert
which lies between Damascus and Palmyra. The prestige created by
the rumours of her high and undefined rank, as well as of her
wealth and corresponding magnificence, was well sustained by her
imperious character and her dauntless bravery. Her influence
increased. I never heard anything satisfactory as to the real
extent or duration of her sway, but it seemed that for a time at
least she certainly exercised something like sovereignty amongst
the wandering tribes.
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