le of hours,
thanks to our ambassador, Admiral Roussin. Our liberation, however, was
conditional; we had to leave at once. We made our way to Smyrna, where
my music seemed to meet with a little more favour. I performed every
night, but in the open air, and some one took the hat round, just as if
we had been a company of ambulant musicians to the manner born. We were,
however, not altogether unhappy, for we had enough to eat and to drink,
which with me, at any rate, was a paramount consideration. Up till then
sufficient food had not been a daily item in my programme of life. My
companions, nevertheless, became restless; they said they had not come
to eat and drink and play music, but to convert the most benighted part
of Europe to their doctrines; so we moved to Jaffa and Jerusalem, then
to Alexandria, and finally to Cairo. By the time we got there, only
three of us were left; the rest had gone homeward. Koenig-Bey had just
at that moment undertaken the tuition of Mehemet-Ali's children--there
were between sixty and seventy at that time; it was he who presented me
to their father, with a view of my becoming the professor of music to
the inmates of the harem. 'It is of no use to try to get you the
appointment of professor of music to the young princes, because Mehemet,
though intelligent enough, would certainly not hear of it. He would not
think it necessary that a man-child should devote himself to so
effeminate an accomplishment. I am translating his own thoughts on the
subject, not mine. When I tell you that my monthly report about their
intellectual progress is invariably waved off with the words, "Tell me
how much they have gained or lost in weight," you will understand that I
am not speaking at random. The viceroy thinks that hard study should
produce a corresponding decrease in weight, which is not always the
case, for those more or less inclined to obesity make flesh in virtue of
their sitting too much. Consequently the fat kine have a very bad time
of it, and among the latter is one of the most intelligent boys,
Mohammed-Said.'"

"Those who would infer from this," said David one day, referring to the
same subject, "that Mehemet-Ali was lacking in intelligence, would
commit a grave error. I am convinced, from the little I saw of him, that
he was a man of very great natural parts. His features, though not
absolutely handsome, were very striking and expressive. He was over
sixty then, but looked as if he could bear