Chapter I


Every one acquainted with the manners and customs of the East must be
aware, that there is no situation of eminence more unstable, or more
dangerous to its possessor, than that of a pacha. Nothing, perhaps,
affords us more convincing proof of the risk which men will incur, to
obtain a temporary authority over their fellow-creatures, than the
avidity with which this office is accepted from the sultan; who, within
the memory of the new occupant, has consigned scores of his predecessors
to the bowstring. It would almost appear, as if the despot but elevated
a head from the crowd, that he might obtain a more fair and
uninterrupted sweep for his scimitar, when he cut it off; only exceeded
in his peculiar taste by the king of Dahomy, who is said to ornament the
steps of his palace with heads, fresh severed, each returning sun, as we
renew the decoration of our apartments from our gay parterres. I make
these observations, that I may not be accused of a disregard to
chronology, in not precisely stating the year, or rather the months,
during which flourished one of a race, who, like the flowers of the
Cistus, one morning in all their splendour, on the next, are strewed
lifeless on the ground to make room for their successors. Speaking of
such ephemeral creations, it will be quite sufficient to say, "There
_was_ a Pacha."

Would you inquire by what means he was raised to the distinction? It is
an idle question. In this world, preeminence over your fellow-creatures
can only be obtained, by leaving others far behind in the career of
virtue or of vice. In compliance with the dispositions of those who