Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/267

 relate to those who profess Islamism alone, but to all the curious religions (not sects) which are to be found in the different parts of the East. Not that I have learned the secrets of one religion to betray them to another—on the contrary, I have observed an inviolable silence with all; but it has served to enlighten, as well as consolidate my own ideas, and given me an opportunity of seeking corroboratory evidence of many wonderfully important and abstract things, which has been hitherto very satisfactory.

The revolutions and public calamities, which often take place in what is called a semi-barbarous country, call for great presence of mind and energy, and a degree of humanity and liberality unknown in Europe. To have unfortunate sufferers starving at your gate until you have had an opportunity of inquiring into their private life and character, and of investigating how far it is likely to endanger your own life, or risk your property, in receiving them—these reflections are not made in the East. One takes one’s chance; and if one wishes to keep up the character of either an Eastern monarch or an Eastern peasant, you must treat even an enemy in misfortune avec les mêmes égards that you would do a friend. Starting upon this principle (which is, indeed, a natural one, and was always mine), there were times in which I have been obliged to spend more money than I could well afford, and this has been the