marble of various colors, which, for their richness and novelty, cannot but engage the admiration of a stranger. In the area of the square is a stone cistern of very antique mould. It is inscribed on all fides with hieroglyphics, and from a rail which enclosed it, appears to have served for some religious purpose. From hence we walked through a field of antiquities to a convent, which maintains four Franciscan friars. The building is simple, and suited to the character of its founders. Here we found about an acre of ground, very neatly disposed of. The foil was naturally sterile, but by the industry of these holy fathers, produces vegetables in great abundance. They have a vineyard in some forwardness; and with no small labor and perfeverance, have funk a reservoir to supply the garden with water, which is conveyed thither from a neighboring aqueduct. These innocent creatures were diverting themselves at nine-pins, and carried a content in their looks, which seemed to set the cares and the vanities of the world equally at defiance. The evening was advanced, and we returned towards the city. In the way we were overtaken by a shower of rain. This was such a novelty to us, who had not seen rain for fix months past, that we enjoyed it in the highest degree; and were the only persons in company, who would not have dispensed with getting wet to the skin. The shower was flight, however, and we arrived at the French factory without any damage. The consul now introduced us to his lady, who is a pretty sprightly woman. We readily complied with an invitation from her to play at cards, and spend the evening in her company. It was many months since we had seen a female, whose dress and manners resembled those of our own countrywomen. She appears not to have any great relish for her situation, which, to one of her vivacity, must be dull enough. Indeed, the disposition of the people she is among, may ! may have occafioned her disgust to this country. The French conful loft his life here from a barbarous principle of revenge, about eighteen months ago; and her husband was appointed to fucceed him. This would be a sufficient motive for a woman's fears. The particulars of this tragical story I will relate hereafter. TUESDAY, 30th SEPTEMBER. We breakfasted this morning on board the French ship, which Mr. Baldwin had recommended to us for a passage to France. She is called the Cleopatra, and is a new, pretty, and commodious vessel. We have agreed with the Captain, Monfieur Calvi, to give him 133 crowns each for our passage, which is indeed a large sum in these seas. But the gentlemen from India are always confidered as monied men, and are taxed accordingly, whether they travel this way for pleasure, or are charged with business of a public nature. We find, however, that we shall be accommodated in the most elegant manner; and we must do Captain Calvi the justice to say, that he stated his intentions of providing us with a plentiful table, and fubmitted the price to our generofity. On our return from the Cleopatra, we passed under the sterns of several merchantmen of different nations. There were but two English vessels in the number, one of which is freighted by Mr. Baldwin for Constantinople. In the afternoon a large party of us sallied out to take a view of Pompey's pillar, the theme of the present age, and the admiration of past times! Befides my companions and myself, we were joined by the two English commanders of the ships in the harbour, and by Monfieur Meillon, and fome young gentlemen of the French factory. We mounted the first asses that presented themselves for hire, and, attended by our Janizary, took the course 3 B : course we pursued yesterday. We left the convent on our right, and presently came among broken arches and long pavements, which are the remains of an aqueduct. Several towers reared up their dismantled heads on each side of us, whose appearance pronounces them to have been posts of great importance and strength. A number of stately pillars next engaged our attention. They are placed in two parallel lines, and seem to have formerly fupported some magnificent portico. The pillars are of granite, or Thebaic marble, and about thirty feet high of a fingle stone; and we counted no less than thirty of them still standing. But however choice these columns might be in any other place, they were but foils to the pillar which now appeared before us. We had been buried amid the ruins and the hills of sand, which the winds have thrown up, when, leaving the city by the gate of Rofetto, we came unexpectedly upon the pillar. It is impossible to tell which is most worthy of admiration, the height, the workmanship, or the condition of this pillar. By the best accounts we can obtain, it is an hundred and ten feet high. The shaft, which is of a single ftone of granite, is ninety feet, and the pedestal is twenty more. It is of the Corinthian order, which gives a beautiful dignity to its fimplicity, rarely to be met with in modern architec ture. It has suffered little or no injury from time. The polish upon the shaft has wonderfully withstood the buffeting of the tempeft; and it promises to hand down a patriot name to the late pofterity of the ignorant native, who has no other trace of the fame of Pompey! The pedestal has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity; and one of the volutes of the column was immaturely brought down about four years ago, by a prank of fome English captain, which is too ludicrous to pass over.. These jolly fons of Neptune had been pushing about the can on board one of the ships in the harbor, until a strange freak entered tered into one of their brains. The eccentricity of the thought occafioned it immediately to be adopted; and its apparent impofsibility was but a spur for the putting it into execution. The boat was ordered, and with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprizing heroes pushed ashore, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of Pompey's pillar! At the spot they arrived; and many contrivances were proposed to accomplish the defired point. But their labor was vain; and they began to defpair of success, when the genius who ftruck out the frolic, happily suggested the means of performing it. A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite. The inhabitants were by this time apprized of what was going forward, and flocked in crouds to be witnesses of the address and boldness of the English. The governor of Alexandria was told that these seamen were about to pull down Pompey's pillar. But whether he gave them credit for their respect to the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left them to themselves, and politely answered, that the English were too great patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were engaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire rose in opposition, it would not, perhaps, at that moment have deterred them. The kite was brought, and flown so directly over the pillar, that when it fell on the other fide, the string lodged upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A two-inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By this rope one of the seamen afcended to the top, and in less than an hour, a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the whole company went up, and drank their punch amid the shouts of the astonished multitude. To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain no less than eight persons very conveniently. It is astor nishing nishing that no accident befel these madcaps, in a fituation fo elevated, that would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment which the pillar received, was the lofs of the volute before-mentioned; which came down with a thundering sound, and was carried to England by one of the captains, as a present to a lady who commissioned him for a piece of the pillar. The discovery which they made, amply compensated for this mischief; as without their evidence, the world would not have known at this hour, that there was originally a statue on this pillar, one foot and ancle of which are still remaining. The statue was, probably, of Pompey himself; and must have been of a gigantic fize, to have appeared of a man's proportion at so great an height. There are circumstances in this story which might give it an air of fiction, were it not demonstrated beyond all doubt. Befides the teftimonies of many eye-witnesses, the adventurers themselves have left us a token of the fact, by the initials of their names, which are very legible in black paint just beneath the capital. We spent so much time in viewing this elegant column, that the evening was too far advanced for us to go further. After providing ourselves with a relic of this shrine, we returned towards the port, which is about a mile and a quarter distant. In our way we mounted an eminence, which has been thrown up by the Turks in digging for antiques, which are frequently found here. From hence we had a fine view of the new and old city and port of Alexandria. WEDNESDAY, 1st OCTOBER. I had a present of an antique this morning from Signior Brandi. It is a blue stone which bears the head of a Jupiter Capitolinus. The small collection which I have made, is not worth presenting 10 |