obligations to Mr. Farren, Consul General in Syria, I will not dwell in this place. I cannot conclude without adverting to the lamented decease of my friend and near relation, Mr. William Wardlaw Ramsay, the companion of the greater part of my tour. - If excellent abilities and sound judgment, expanding and maturing every day; — if singular genius for music and drawing, and a general love for the fine arts, balanced by an enlightened taste for science and natural philosophy;-if sweetness of temper, a warm, kind heart, and sincere but unostentatious religious principle-be qualities to render a character attractive and estimable, and to enhance the sorrow of surviving friends for the loss of one who, if spared by an all-wise Providence, would have been a blessing to his family, and an ornament to society-such a character, such qualities, were Mr. Ramsay's. I have extracted from his private journal, and appended to the present work in the shape of notes, many passages which, I think, will be read with interest by every one into whose hands these volumes may fall. Haigh, Feb. 1838. Since writing the above, I have been favoured, by the kindness of Mr. Farren, with a most interesting communication on the present state and prospects of Syria. If I have myself refrained from adding to the few general observations which forced themselves upon me, while resident in that unhappy country, it has been only in consequence of the strong conviction that, while the casual visitor has the right, and, at certain periods, almost incurs the obligation, of recording what he sees, the springs of evil, the sources from which the tides of misery flow, are remote and inaccessible to him without the assistance of a guide, conversant with all the tortuous and gloomy avenues that lead to them. To Mr. Farren, therefore, as to one whom many years' residence in the country, and many years' study, under peculiar advantages, of the character and prejudices of the natives, pointed out as the man of all others most able to give me the information I desired-I applied; and the letter, which closes the text of these volumes, was his answer to my request. To invite the attention of the Public to a document emanating from such authority, and at such a moment-when Mohammed Ali is said to be on the point of openly renouncing his allegiance to the Porte, and England, it is said, actually hesitates which party to espouse! would be superfluous. 21, Berkeley Square. 10th July, 1838. |