der of
St. Basil was slowly dying, for having boldly refused a sacrilegious
simony proposed to him by Ali. He was a fit subject for the experiment,
and was successfully blown to pieces, to the great satisfaction of Ali,
who concluded his bargain, and hastened to make use of it. He prepared
a false firman, which, according to custom, was enclosed and sealed in a
cylindrical case, and sent to Yussuf Bey by a Greek, wholly ignorant of
the real object of his mission. Opening it without suspicion, Yussuf had
his arm blown off, and died in consequence, but found time to despatch
a message to Moustai Pacha of Scodra, informing him of the catastrophe,
and warning him to keep good guard.

Yussuf's letter was received by Moustai just as a similar infernal
machine was placed in his hands under cover to his young wife. The
packet was seized, and a careful examination disclosed its nature.
The mother of Moustai, a jealous and cruel woman, accused her
daughter-in-law of complicity, and the unfortunate Ayesha, though
shortly to become a mother, expired in agony from the effects of poison,
only guilty of being the innocent instrument of her grandfather's
treachery.

Fortune, having frustrated Ali's schemes concerning Moustai Pacha,
offered him as consolation a chance of invading the territory of Parga,
the only place in Epirus which had hitherto escaped his rule, and which
he greedily coveted. Agia, a small Christian town on the coast, had
rebelled against him and allied itself to Parga. It provided an excuse
for hostilities, and Ali's troops, under his son Mouktar, first seized
Agia, where they only found a few old men to massacre, and then marched
on Parga, where the rebels had taken refuge. After a few skirmishes,
Mouktar entered the town, and though the Parganiotes fought bravely,
they must inevitably have surrendered had they been left to themselves.
But they had sought protection from the French, who had garrisoned the
citadel, and the French grenadiers descending rapidly from the height,
charged the Turks with so much fury that they fled in all directions,
leaving on the field four "bimbashis," or captains of a thousand, and a
considerable number of killed and wounded.

The pacha's fleet succeeded no better than his army. Issuing from the
Gulf of Ambracia, it was intended to attack Parga from the sea, joining
in the massacre, and cutting off all hope of escape from that side,
Ali meaning to spare neither the garrison nor any