loss of a ten guinea ring or some such bauble:—not that they cared for it, but they could not bear to lose it. But if I want to know what is passing at Constantinople, or London, or anywhere, I have nothing to do but to turn my thoughts that way, and in a quarter of an hour I have it all before me, just as it is ; so true, doctor, that if it is not actually passing, it will be in a month, in three months—so true: isn’t it extraordinary?". . . . . ..
Upon some occasions, her munificence wore the appearance of ostentation. She would bestow on strangers, like dervises, sheykhs, and fakyrs, large sums of money, and yet drive hard bargains with those about her neighbourhood; and would sometimes make presents, apparently not so much to comfort those who received them as to display her own superiority and greatness over others.
I have said, in a preceding chapter, that she used to give new suits of clothes to her people on Byràm day, and at Easter, according to their religion: but it should be mentioned that, on those days, every servant was called in, and received forty piasters; and one thousand piasters were divided by Logmagi among the persons in Sayda who in any way were occasionally useful to her or her people. These were the porter of the French khan and the janissary there; the porters of the town-gate; the harbour-master; the gardener
