lounges at the door to explain the sights that pass in the streets or the sounds that issue from the lips of your entertainer. Conversation is not considered a necessary part of a visit or of agreeableness; and if you will only stay quiet and look pleased, you may pass for a very entertaining 5 person. You have, therefore, full leisure for observation, while you are enjoying society in true Oriental style. In the absence of any claim on our ears, let us use our eyes and look about us. A house is being rebuilt nearly opposite; masons in turbans and long blue chemises and 10 red slippers down at the heel are engaged, as if in pantomime, with much gesticulation, but little effect. A score of children are carrying bricks and mortar in little handfuls, chanting a measured song, as if to delude themselves into the idea that they are at play. 15 Now, a dervish, naked except for a small cloth or a bit of sheepskin round his loins, presents himself, claiming rather than asking alms.. The wild, fierce eyes, in which the gleaming of insanity conveys his title to your forbearance and to the Moslem's reverence the long, matted, 20 filthy hair, falling over his naked, sun-scorched shoulders, and the savage gluttony, proclaim his calling something between a friar and a saint of Islam. Here is a water carrier with his jar of cool sherbet, adorned with fresh flowers; he tinkles little brazen 25 saucers to announce his progress, and receives half a farthing for each draught. There is a beggar devouring his crust, but religiously leaving a portion of it in some clean spot for the wild dogs. Now an old man stoops to pick up a piece of paper, and to put it by, 30 "lest," says he, "the name of God be written on it, and it be defiled." Here is a lady mounted on her donkey and attended by her slave; she might seem to be a mere bundle of linen but that a pair of brilliant eyes relieve the ghastly appearance that would figure excellently well in 5 tableau as an Irish banshee. a All these and a thousand other quaint personages are perpetually passing and repassing, with hand upon the heart as they meet an acquaintance, or on the head if they meet a superior. But it is time to return Abou 10 Habib's richly mounted pipe, to lay our hands upon our heart, and to pursue our researches through the city. The most interesting building in Cairo is undoubtedly the citadel, which overlooks the city. Here are the remains of Saladin's palace and the commencement of a 15 magnificent mosque, from the terraced roof of which there is perhaps the finest view in the world. All Lower Egypt lies spread out, as in a map, before you one great emerald set in the golden desert, bossed with the mountains that surround it.. Ar á besque' (běsk): a style of ornamental work used in Arabic decorative art, either painted, inlaid, or carved, in which plants, fruits, foliage, and figures are curiously blended. Măg'pied: like magpies, colored black and white. Căl'en ders : Eastern dervishes or monks. Drăm'a tis per sõnaē: characters in a drama or play. Star and crescent: the national emblems of Egypt represented on its flag. Prō'te an: variable; of or characteristic of Proteus, a sea god who was able to assume different shapes at will. Bey: a governor of a province in Turkey. På shä': a Turkish officer of high rank. Drăg'o man : interpreter - so called in the East. Iş'lam: the Mohammedan people or country; the Mohammedan religion. Islam is an Arabic word meaning submission, and it was applied to the Mohammedan religion because it inculcated perfect submission to the will of God. Băn'shēe: a supernatural being supposed by the Scotch and Irish peasantry to warn persons of their approaching death. Săl'a din (1137-1194?): a brave and powerful sultan of Egypt and Syria, who was the opponent of the Christian powers engaged in the third crusade. She walks in Beauty BY GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824): An English poet. His early poems possessed little merit, and his first work of importance was "Childe Harold," published in 1812, which won instant popularity. As he said, "I awoke one morning and found myself famous." He wrote "The Giaour," "Don Juan," "Mazeppa," "The Prisoner of Chillon," several dramatic poems, and many shorter poems. She walks in beauty, like the night One shade the more, one ray the less, 5 10 5 And on that cheek and o'er that brow, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, A Formidable Vassal BY SIR WALTER SCотт Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): A Scotch novelist and poet. Several selections from his poems and historical romances have been given in former books of this series, and a sketch of his life will be found in Book Five. This selection is from "Quentin Durward," the scene of which is laid in France during the reign of the crafty and powerful Louis XI. (1423–1483). This extract describes the banquet on the occasion of Louis's visit in 1468 to his powerful vassal, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the interruption of the feast by the tidings of the insurrection of the Liègeois. Scott departs from historical fact in assigning this as the date of the murder of Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège. He was made prisoner by the insurgents, but his murder did not take place until the insurrection of 1482. Louis's agents had led the people of Liège to rebel against their lord, Duke Charles, but they rose more promptly than the king had anticipated, and thus the news of their insurrection reached Duke Charles just at the time when Louis had placed himself so unguardedly in his vassal's power. Charles, deeply resenting Louis's treachery, imprisoned him in the castle of Peronne while he deliberated whether he should put him to death. Louis remained three days in this precarious situation, and then, by the intervention of Duke Charles's courtiers, his life was spared and he was required to lead his troops against the mutineers whom he had instigated. I King Louis found a banquet prepared with such a profusion of splendor and magnificence, as became the wealth of his formidable vassal, possessed as he was of almost all the Low Countries, then the richest portion of Europe. At the head of the long board, which groaned 5 under plate of gold and silver, filled to profusion with the most exquisite dainties, sat the duke, and on his right hand, upon a seat more elevated than his own, was placed his royal guest. Behind him stood Le Glorieux, his jester, without whom he seldom stirred. To this personage Charles, and Louis in imitation of his host, often addressed themselves during the entertainment; and both seemed to manifest, by hearty laughter, their amusement at the answers of Lè Glorieux. 10 "Whose seats be those that are vacant?" said Charles 15 to the jester. "One of those at least should be mine by right of succession, Charles," replied Le Glorieux. "Why so, knave?" said Charles. "Because they belong to the Sieur D'Hymbercourt and 20 De Comines, who are gone so far to fly their falcons, that they have forgot their supper. They who would rather look at a kite on the wing than a pheasant on the board are of kin to the fool, and he should succeed to the stools as a part of their movable estate." "That is but a stale jest, my friend Tiel," said the duke; "but, fools or wise men, here come the defaulters." As he spoke, Comines and D'Hymbercourt entered the room, and, having made their reverence to the two 25 |