Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope as Related by Herself in Conversations with her Physician (Complete)
9781465684912
213 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
When Lady Hester Stanhope commenced her travels, in 1810, I accompanied her in the capacity of physician, until, after many wanderings in the East, I saw her finally settled on Mount Lebanon; but, being obliged to return to England for the purpose of taking my medical degrees at Oxford and London, after having passed seven years uninterruptedly in her service, I took leave of her. My successor, an English surgeon, disliking an Oriental life, left her, however, at the end of a year or two, and, at Lady Hester’s request, I again revisited Syria. But I found that her ladyship had in the mean while completely familiarized herself with the usages of the East, conducting her establishment entirely in the Turkish manner, and adopting even much of their medical empiricism. Under these circumstances, and at her own suggestion, I again bade her adieu, as I then believed, for the last time. It was my intention to have cultivated my professional pursuits in London; there were great difficulties to be overcome—difficulties which have been ably depicted in the graphic pages of a recent publication. I did not wait, however, to try the issue of this slow career. Years of travel had inspired me with other views; and it was with much secret satisfaction that I resolved to avail myself of an opportunity which Lady Hester’s wishes again presented me, of once more traversing the mountain solitudes of Syria. It is not altogether an idle tribute of respect and admiration for her character to say, that the prospect of resuming my former position afforded me real pleasure. Long habit had reconciled me to her eccentricities, and even to her violent and overbearing temper. I had a profound sense of her exalted nature, and I felt that her oddities and peculiarities weighed only with those who knew her merely by common report, and that they in no respect affected her intrinsic worth in the estimation of such as were intimately acquainted with the sterling qualities of her heart and understanding. I had been honoured with letters from her, in which she gave me reason to understand that she should be gratified by my presence in Syria; and I promptly expressed my readiness, in reply, to resume my situation near her person. The long intervals, however, which elapsed in the transmission of letters, (sometimes as much as four months) added to the uncertainty of what I should do, and the absolute necessity of doing something, induced me, while the correspondence was pending, to enter into a professional engagement with a gentleman of rank. When her anxiety to receive me, therefore, was definitively conveyed to me, I was placed in the painful dilemma of being obliged to apologize to her for not being able at that time to join her. This apology naturally generated a feeling of distrust in a mind so sensitive and impulsive—a feeling abundantly exhibited, in her own peculiar way, in the following extracts from letters received from her at this period. Some of these letters were written by herself, and some by her protégée Miss Williams, at her dictation.
