nd Syria. As for
the English, the Russians, the Franks, your friends the Austrians, they
are strangers. They come, and they will go; but Syria and Egypt will
always remain.'

'Egypt has tried, and failed.'

'Then let Syria try, and succeed.'

'Do you visit Egypt before you return from the East, noble sir?' asked
Besso, of Tancred.

'I have not thought of my return; but I should not be sorry to visit
Egypt. It is a country that rather perplexes us in Europe. It has
undergone great changes.'

Besso shook his head, and slightly smiled.

'Egypt,' said he, 'never changes. 'Tis the same land as in the days of
the Pharaohs: governed on their principles of political economy, with a
Hebrew for prime minister.'

'A Hebrew for prime minister!'

'Even so: Artim Bey, the present prime minister of Egypt, formerly
the Pasha's envoy at Paris, and by far the best political head in the
Levant, is not only the successor but the descendant of Joseph.'

'He must be added then to your friend M. de Sidonia's list of living
Hebrew statesmen,' said Tancred.

'We have our share of the government of the world,' said Besso.

'It seems to me that you govern every land except your own.'

'That might have been done in '39,' said Besso musingly; 'but why speak
of a subject which can little interest you?'

'Can little interest me!' exclaimed Tancred. 'What other subject should
interest me? More than six centuries ago, the government of that land
interested my ancestor, and he came here to achieve it.'

The stars were shining before they quitted the Arabian tabernacle of
Besso. The air was just as soft as a sweet summer English noon, and
quite as still. The pavilions of the terrace and the surrounding bowers
were illuminated by the varying tints of a thousand lamps. Bright
carpets and rich cushions were thrown about for those who cared to
recline; the brothers Farhi, for example, and indeed most of the men,
smoking inestimable nargilehs. The Consul-General Laurella begged
permission to present Lord Montacute to his daughters Therese and
Sophonisbe, who, resolved to show to him that Damascus was not
altogether so barbarous as he deemed it, began talking of new dances and
the last opera. Tancred would have found great difficulty in sustaining
his part in the conversation, had not the young ladies fortunately been
requested to favour those present with a specimen of the art in which
they excelled, which they did after much solicitation, v