subject of his having taken a woman from the bath--whom he had lawfully
bought, however--a thing quite contrary to etiquette. Basili also was
extremely gallant amongst his own persuasion, and had the greatest
veneration for the church, mixed with the highest contempt of churchmen,
whom he cuffed upon occasion in a most heterodox manner. Yet he never
passed a church without crossing himself; and I remember the risk he
ran in entering St. Sophia, in Stambol, because it had once been a place
of his worship. On remonstrating with him on his inconsistent
proceedings, he invariably answered, "Our church is holy, our priests
are thieves:" and then he crossed himself as usual, and boxed the ears
of the first "papas" who refused to assist in any required operation, as
was always found to be necessary where a priest had any influence with
the Cogia Bashi[216] of his village. Indeed, a more abandoned race of
miscreants cannot exist than the lower orders of the Greek clergy.

When preparations were made for my return, my Albanians were summoned to
receive their pay. Basili took his with an awkward show of regret at my
intended departure, and marched away to his quarters with his bag of
piastres. I sent for Dervish, but for some time he was not to be found;
at last he entered, just as Signor Logotheti,[217] father to the
ci-devant Anglo-consul of Athens, and some other of my Greek
acquaintances, paid me a visit. Dervish took the money in his hand, but
on a sudden dashed it to the ground; and clasping his hands, which he
raised to his forehead, rushed out of the room weeping bitterly. From
that moment to the hour of my embarkation, he continued his
lamentations, and all our efforts to console him only produced this
answer, "[Greek: M'apheinei]", "He leaves me." Signer Logotheti, who
never wept before for anything less than the loss of a para (about the
fourth of a farthing), melted; the padre of the convent, my attendants,
my visitors--and I verily believe that even Sterne's "foolish fat
scullion" would have left her "fish-kettle" to sympathize with the
unaffected and unexpected sorrow of this barbarian.[218]

For my own part, when I remembered that, a short time before my
departure from England, a noble and most intimate associate had excused
himself from taking leave of me because he had to attend a female
relation "to a milliner's,"[219] I felt no less surprised than
humiliated by the present occurrence and the past recollection