y made
yesterday to Albania to pay a visit to an old lady, a great
proprietress, who lives in a large ruinous castle at a place called
Filates. She is about the greatest personage in these regions, and
it was thought that the lord high commissioner should pay her a
visit if he wished to see Albania.... It was a lovely morning, and
breakfast was laid on the balcony of the private apartments looking
over the garden and commanding the loveliest of views across the
strait. Gladstone was in the highest spirits, full of talk and
_romping boyishly_. After breakfast the L.H.C.'s barge and the
cutters of the _Terrible_ conveyed us on board the pretty little
gunboat.

We reached Sayada in about two hours, and were received on landing
by the governor of the province, who had ridden down from Filates
to meet us. We went to the house of the English vice-consul, whilst
the long train of horses was preparing to start, but after a few
minutes' stay there Gladstone became irrepressibly restless, and
insisted on setting off to walk--I of course walked too. The old
steward also went with us, and a guard of eight white-kilted
palikari on foot. The rest of the party rode, and from a slight
hill which we soon reached, it was very pretty to look back at the
long procession starting from Sayada and proceeding along the
narrow causeway running parallel to our path, the figures
silhouetted against the sea. Filates is about 12 miles from Sayada,
perhaps more, the path is rugged and mountainous, and commands some
fine views. Our palikari guards fired off their long Afghan-looking
guns in every direction, greatly to Gladstone's annoyance, but
there was no stopping them.

Scouts on the hills gave warning of our approach, and at the
entrance to Filates we were met by the whole population. First the
Valideh's retainers, then the elders, then the moolahs in their
great green turbans, the Christian community, and finally, on the
top of the hill, the Valideh's little grandson, gorgeously dressed,
and attended by his tutor and a number of black slaves. The little
boy salaamed to Gladstone with much grace and self-possession, and
then conducted us to the castle, in front of which all the
townsfolk who were not engaged in receiving us were congregated in
picturesque groups