Europe that
he owes this glory; while the once formidable empire of Mahomet is
rapidly sinking under an accumulation of evils, the operation of which
European diplomacy will in vain attempt to arrest.

THE COURT OF EGYPT

TWO or three miles from Cairo, approached by an avenue of sycamores, is
Shoubra, a favourite residence of the Pasha of Egypt. The palace, on the
banks of the Nile, is not remarkable for its size or splendour, but the
gardens are extensive and beautiful, and adorned by a kiosk, which is
one of the most elegant and fanciful creations I can remember.

Emerging from fragant bowers of orange trees, you suddenly perceive
before you tall and glittering gates rising from a noble range of
marble steps. These you ascend, and entering, find yourself in a large
quadrangular colonnade of white marble. It surrounds a small lake,
studded by three or four gaudy barques, fastened to the land by silken
cords. The colonnade terminates towards the water by a very noble marble
balustrade, the top of which is covered with groups of various kinds of
fish in high relief. At each angle of the colonnade the balustrade gives
way to a flight of steps which are guarded by crocodiles of immense
size, admirably sculptured in white marble. On the farther side the
colonnade opens into a great number of very brilliant banqueting-rooms,
which you enter by withdrawing curtains of scarlet cloth, a colour
vividly contrasting with the white shining marble of which the whole
kiosk is formed. It is a frequent diversion of the Pasha himself to
row some favourite Circassians in one of the barques and to overset
his precious freight in the midst of the lake. As his Highness piques
himself upon wearing a caftan of calico, and a juba or exterior robe of
coarse cloth, a ducking has not for him the same terrors it would offer
to a less eccentric Osmanli. The fair Circassians shrieking, with their
streaming hair and dripping finery, the Nubian eunuchs rushing to their
aid, plunging into the water from the balustrade, or dashing down the t
marble steps,--all this forms an agreeable relaxation after the labours
of the Divan.

All the splendour of the Arabian Nights is realised in the Court
of Egypt. The guard of Nubian eunuchs with their black, glossy
countenances, clothed in scarlet and gold, waving their glittering
Damascus sabres, and gently bounding on their snow-white steeds, is,
perhaps, the most picturesque corps in the world. The num