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-stood from the people of the place that not long ago each
of these pedestals had a statue on it, which was carried
away by some Franks like ourselves. This tradition agrees
very well with the import of the inscription
These marks | shew where the lines end: the dotted marks : shew where
I imagine the words end: the Σ in the third line being obliterated
by a crack in the stone is supplied by my conjecture.
The general import I take to be that on this
pedestal stood the statue of a nameless philosopher: the rest is open
to conjecture which I have at present neither room nor leisure nor
sufficient learning to discuss.
The time I was employ'd in decyphering or rather endeavouring
to decypher these inscriptions was much circumscribed
by the necessity I was under of having the old
interpreter at my elbow, and the annoyance I met with
from the people of the place, particularly the children,
who came in crowds to stare at the stranger who was
busying himself so seriously about such insignificant
nonsense. Amongst others however came an old man of
a genteel appearance who after putting some questions
to me and receiving such imperfect answers as I
could give him through the medium of our old man
who spoke no language that I had least smattering
of except Italian, gave me to understand that
he knew of another inscription, and that if I would
call on him some other time, (for he was then going
to prayers) he would send a man with me to
shew me the way, and should then be glad to hear
my sentiments about it. To enable me to carry on this
conversation a little less imperfectly I determined to endeavour
to engage the company not only of this old
man, but of Mr H.'s Nissard Servant who speaks
French and Italian with equal facility. To find a time
in which the leisure of these three persons could be
brought to coincide was no such easy matter: on Monday
afternoon however the business was accomplished:
and I got admission, attended by my two interpreters
into the house of Achmet Effendi, that was the old
gentleman's name, who I had learnt in the mean
time was a man of the first quality in the place.
The apartment into which the door open'd from the
street was neither more nor less than a stable, in
which however there happen'd at that time to be no company
of the four-footed kind: from thence went up
something between a ladder and a staircase which
open'd into a pretty spatious hall of the same dimensions
of as the stable, rather upon the antique, but upon the
whole not ill fitted up. In the upper part of the
room, being the farthest from the staircase and nearest
the windows, which I can assure you were glazed and
sash-windows though not of the lightest workmanship,
on an elevated platform cover'd with matting and
some carpeting, sat the master of the house. The first
salutations
salutations over, upon a sign from the old gentleman
I stepped on the platform and seated myself by his
side: 3 or 4 little boys, one tolerably dressed, the
others dirty and shabby, crowded round us as if
they had been at home: one or two of them I believe
were already with him, others enter'd along
with us: what relation if any they bore to the old
gentleman I did not learn. My two interpreters remained
on the area below either sometimes standing, sometimes
kneeling as convenience dictated. I found
him with a printed book by his side, which I found
was to make the subject of our conversation. It proved
to be a general system of Geography in Arabick
printed at written by a man of the name of
Khatib Cheliby and printed at Constantinople in the
year of Mahomet 1125, which speaking at this
distance from all books that could ascertain the
I imagine is not widely distant from the year
1720 or thereabouts of our OEra. Upon my expressing
my surprize at seeing a book printed at that metropolis,
where I should not have expected that either
the capacity of the people or the disposition of the
ruling powers would have been favourable to such
a performance, he told me it was printed by
a French Renegado who went there to settle. It
contained a number of Maps, upon a small
scale & rude as might be expected from the place
and time. On one he shew'd me the signs of the Zodiac
telling me how many of them there were. I asked him
what he made the number of the planets, meaning
to introduce Herschel's discovery of a new one: he
answer'd nine: and went on to shew me other things
not having patience to enter into any discussions relative
to the number. He afterwards turned to the map
of Europe, for the purpose of shewing me the track taken
by the Russian fleet in its passage to the Mediterranean:
a subject which I should little have expected to
find him touch upon of his own accord. Instead of coming
from Petersburgh through the Baltic he made them
come from Archangel or thereabouts North about: in
other respects his conception seemed to be just enough.
He spoke of the publication of this book as an oera of
importance to the Ottoman Empire: before that time, it
was impossible for the Grand Signor to have any tolerable
idea of what was going forward in his empire: since then
if he hears of a rebellion, he turns to the book and
sees where it is: if he orders troops to quell it, he
turns to his book again and sees which way and how
far they have to go. Speaking of the Mariner's compass
he acknowledged it to be a most useful and fortunate
invention: imagine why: — because of its use in navigation?
no: but because by the help of it the faithful are
enabled to turn their faces exactly to the right spot when
they are saying their prayers. This spot, understand, is
that
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Identifier: | JB/540/215/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540.
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1785-11-05 |
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540 |
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215 |
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002 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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