Page:Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope.djvu/334

 harýms of great Turks here and at Constantinople, think there are none like Irish women.

"If Mr. Forster asks you anything about the Cruzes (as he seems to interest himself concerning the religion of that people), say to him that the Druzes, the Ansàries, the Ishmaelites—all these sects—must and will remain a mystery to strangers. There was Monsieur Reynaud, one of the forty savants who wrote the great book on Egypt, and was afterwards consul at Sayda—if any body could comprehend the secret, he could; yet, although he had four of the Druze books in his possession, and five learned persons of this country to assist him in translating and explaining them through a whole winter, he could make out nothing: because, even if you understand the text, you are still not a bit the wiser. Suppose, for example, you open a page, and you find these words—'Do you use senna leaves?' which is one of their questions of recognition, like similar apparently vague questions in freemasonry: what do you know about that? You may understand the answer clearly enough, so far as mere words go; but it is useless unless you understand the thing of which the words are a symbol; for they are all symbolical. You must know that it refers to an insurgent, who, in the cause of their faith, raised the standard of revolt, centuries ago, in the land where senna grows, and that it implies, 'Do you