The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

EGYPT UNDER MEHEMET ALI, by Prince
YUCK LER MUSKAU. Vol. 1. London: henry

n.

This Cierman Prince attracted some notice in this
country a few years age, partly from the freedom of
his remarks on English manners, and partly from the
rambling and eccentric manner in which he related
what he saw. His travels in Egypt bear the same
stamp. They are full of gossip and anecdote, and
egotism, but we excuse them all for the very exten-
sive insight which he has given into the character of
the great man who now rules that land so celebrated
in the history of nations, and for reports of
the numerous conversations between them rela-
tive to the Pasha's system of policy, and the
reforms which have marked his government.
They are of the manner of Boswell and O'Meara,
and are possibly as faithful, for we can hardly be-
lieve that a man NI ho had been admitted into such
intimacy with his host would have given imaginary
details or distorted facts. It is true that most of
them are favourable to Mehemet Ali, but still
there is a point in the expressions, and proofs
of deep schemes and enlarged views, which go far to
establiih their authenticity. Among the first inter-
views which the Prince had with the Pacha he took
occasion to mention the extraordinary improvements
which had taken place in Egypt under his sway.
" g Well,' repled helmet Ali, I will not deny
that something more than common has been done here,
and I have certainly endeavoured to follow the examples
of great men, as far as it was in my power. It is certain
to,, that I can now continue the work with less anxiety.
I am no longer quite alone as I was before ; people begin
to understand ms ; tite machinery is at work ; and my
grandchildren, not my children, will be able to reap
what I have sown. Where such ;infinite confusion pre-
vailed as here, where there was such a complete dissolu-
tion of all sound political relations, and among a people
so entirely barbarous, ignorant, and incapable of all use-
ful labour, civilisation can revive but slowly. You know
that Egypt was once the first land in the world—an ex-
ample to all others. Now, it is the turn of Europe. In
time, perhaps, enlightenment may again have its seat
here. Everything in the world is in a constant state of
vacillation.' (This is a favourite expression of the
Pasha.)"
Among the institutions the Viceroy has established
is a hospital for vaccination, but so reluctant are the
people, as in fact they were once in this country, to
the change, that the parents are to be bribed, and the
Government pays one piastre for every child which is
vaccinated. " I have always been compelled," said the
Viceroy, " either to force the people, or to pay them,
for their good." In adverting to other prejudices,
and excusing himself for not making more rapid
changes, he said " the times will not permit me to
go so far as you would wish. After my death, many
more prejudices will give way, though I must con-
fess that it is immensely difficult for even the wisest
man to free himself from them ; and perhaps it is
impossible for any mortal ever entirely t.) shake off
the him of his early education. The remainder of
the conversation is too good to be abridged :
" I sincerely complimented him that he had, neverthe-
less, already been able to conquer so many prejudices ;
and Eerparked, how grateful the present generation
tight to be t,. hint, ftl- the a pe4liable benefits which
he had conferr:d upon it. 't here ens a sincerity and
originality in his reply which manifested his intimate
knowledge of the human heart. A father,' said he,
loves his child—wherefore ? from selfishness ; he sees
a prolongation of himself in that child ; it claims its
origin from him ; it belongs to him ; and he hopes that
it will one day be the prop of his old age. A child loves
his father because it receives support, and every good
thing it possesses from him, and expects on his decease
to inherit his property. Master and servant, prince and
subject, all are actuated by these motives ; self-interest
lies at the root of all human relations ; and if it is skill-
fully managed, it constitutes good masters and good
servants.'

" It is a pity, however,' I exclaimed, that so few
men understand their real interest ; and in this respect I
greatly admire the energy of your Highness, vvh ) is de-
terred neither by deceit nor stupidity is the prosecutio❑
of your benevolent plans.'
6. It is true,' replied he, I have to overcome many a
severe struggle ; and, perhaps, for this very reason, I
have become more closely and ardently devoted to my
adopted land. I had neither rest nor peace ; Egypt ap-
peared to me like a poor, naked, helpless child, which
for centuries had been stupitied with sleep, to whom I
was now to be everything,—its fatl.cr and mother, its
master and servant, its teacher and judge ; and often,
when lying sleepless on my couch, have I said within
myself :—Can a single Mehemet Ali be sufficient to rear,
to clothe, to instruct, and to train this child ? Even now
I feel dubious of success ; yet, perhaps, in spite of every
obstacle, it may be accorded to me by God, to whom I
owe so much, and to whom I have always applied for
direction.'" _ _

In the work will be found a memoir, drawn up by
a M. Besson, relative to the means which he possessed
of saving Napoleon from imprisonment, by eluding
the British cruisers oft' Rochefort, after the battle of
Waterloo. This Frenchman held some situation in
Egypt, and having formed a friendship with the
author had entrusted to him the memoir. But little
confidence, however, can be placed in his statements
when we find that he attributes the failure of his plan
to the " petty Camarilla by whom the Emperor was
surrounded at Rochefort," meaning thereby Bertrand,
Las Casas, Montholon, and others, the most devoted
to his safety and honour.
We may mention that the work is translated from
the German original, which consists of three volumes,
and will be comprised in two English. One volume
only has yet appeared, but the other may be expected
shortly.

THE PURSUIT OF KNOW LEDGE UNDER
DIFFICULTIES. Vol 111.

Mr. Knight has just brought out the third and
last volume of this new edition, which has been re-
vised and corrected by the author, and contains bio-
graphical sketches of the most remarkable men raised
to eminence during the latter end of the last century
and the beginning of the present, by their own ex-
ertions. Among these are Watt, Dollond, Herschel,
and Arkwright—names which will go down to the
latest posterity, because they are associated with the
most important discoveries of the present age in
optics, astronomy, and that great element of British
power—the steam-engine. It includes also the lives
of many eminent painters, sculptors, and poets, illus-
trated by anecdotes collected from the best sources.
The work is published at a very moderate price, and
is adorned with portraits more remarkable for their
strict likeness to the original paintings, than their
execution.

NAVAL AND MILITARY SKETCH-BOOK.

Part I.

This is the first part of a cheap weekly periodical,
devoted to the record of the achievements of the
United Services. It is well got up, is profusely illus-
trated with wood-cuts, and will no doubt be a great
favourite in all ship's and regimental libraries.

THE EDINBURGH TALES. Conducted by
Mrs. JOHNSTONE. Part I.
This is a new undertaking, to which we heartily
wish success. There can be very few readers who do
not owe some hours of pleasant entertainment to the
pen of the authoress of Violet Hamilton and Blanche
Delamere. She is as clever as Mrs. Gore, and not as
flippant or as heartless; she can produce strong
effects without degenerating into coarsenesF, like
Mrs. Trollope. A collection of tales, then, from her
pen, is a perfect acquisition. The first part of the
present work, under the title of " The Experiences of
Richard Taylor, Esq.," contains " Young Mrs. Ro-
berts's Three Christmas Dinners, Mary Anne's Hair,"
and the commencement of " Governor Fox." Per-
haps some of our readers may be curious to know
who Richard Taylor, Esq., was—we are happy, by
the aid of the Authoress, to be so well able to gratify
them :
There must be manypersons in London, particularly
in the busy neighbourhood extending from St. Paul's
churchyard to Charing-cross, perfectly familiar with Mr.
Richard Taylor. His burrow, or central point, was in
some lane, small street, or alley, between Arundel-street
and Surrey-stairs, whence he daily revolved in an orbit,
of which no man could trace its eccentricity. Its extre-
mities seemed to be Gray's Inn on the north, the Obe-
lisk on the south, the London Docks on the vulgar side,
and Hyde Park-corner on the point of gentility. It was
next to impossible, any day from eleven till twu o'clock,
between the years 1815 and 1832, to walk from Pall-
mall to St. Paul's, without once, if not oftener, encoun-
tering "The Gentleman with the Umbrella.' There he
emerged from Chancery-lane, and here he popped upon
you from Temple-lane ; you saw him glide down Nor-
folk-street, or lost sight of him, all at once, about Drury-
lane ; or beheld him holding on briskly, but without
effort, along the Strand, till, about Charing-cross, he
suddenly disappeared to start upon you, like Will- o'-the-
Wisp, in some unexpected corner. Now was he seen in
the Chancery Court—now sauntering towards Billings-
gate-market—now at the Stock Exchange, and again at
the Bow-street office. He might, in the same hour, be
seen at the hustings in Palace-yard, and hovering on the
outskirts of one of Orator Hunt's meetings, as far off as
Spa-fields ;at a reasonable hour in the gallery of the
House of Commons, and next in Mr. Edward Irving's
chapel. The British Museum divided his favour with
the great butcher markets, and with the picture and
book auctions, which he regularly frequented. The bust
idea may be formed of the movements of Mr. Richard
Taylor, from the different notions formed of his charac-
ter and calling. For the first five years of his sojourning
in London, many ceejecturcs were formed concerning
this Gentleman about town,' or The Gentleman with
the Umbrella;' by which descriptive appellation he came
to be pretty generally known among the shopmen and
clerks along his line of quick-march. His costume and
appearance, strange as the association seems, was half
military, half Moravian. By ninny he was set down as
a reporter for the daily prints—vulgarly a penny-a-liner;
a calling universally sneered at by those whose figments
and marvels are paid from twopence a line upwards.
His frequent attendance at the police-offices and the
courts of law favoured this conjecture, as well as his
occasional appearance at places of public amusement. A
sagacious tradesman in Cockspur-street, a reformer who
,a‘ ..d ;11 • o.ol:bl,s' titil-s ,rf•
and Rome i vui c, set h iu du CS a I.air-p.i,y
now a spy of the Home-office. A tavern-keeper in Fleet-
street, Wil9 had EMU higa at the Dermitilet cauu