FROM MY PRISON IN THE CITADEL OF CAIRO,
_19th June 1800_.
Should this ever come to the hands of my beloved wife, I shall
be no more. Torn from this world by a cruel enemy, I have been
bound to answer for the safety of another captive, a French
prisoner in the hands of the Turks, our allies. Should I,
however, innocent of the crime imputed to me, suffer this
unmerited death, I trust in God that I shall possess sufficient
fortitude to die as a man, and sufficient religion to die as
becomes a Christian.
My last prayer will be for the happiness and comfort of my
beloved wife, and of her child, should it have pleased God that
she has survived her lying-in. So high an opinion have I of her
devout mind and excellent heart, that I shall only recommend her
to instil into this dear infant its mother’s principles and
virtue.
Assure our friends, my loved Carolina, and particularly our dear
mother, that my soul—which will pray to God to receive it during
the last moments that it lingers here—will quit this world with
emotions of gratitude for kindness to us both, and with a
conviction of its continuance to you and to our child.... I
cannot write more in the wretched prison where I am confined.
Summon, dear Carolina, your utmost fortitude, and endeavour by
prayer to console yourself in this world of trial.
This is the tribute I ask to be paid to the memory of a husband,
who wished only to live to promote your happiness. Let my just
debts be paid; and give to John Stephens, an old and trusty
servant of my father, fifty pounds. Prove this my last
will—leaving and bequeathing everything I possess to my beloved
wife, Carolina Amelia Boyle.
Wrote in prison, in the citadel of Cairo, after having had an
audience with the French general-in-chief, Menou, who informed
me that he had determined on my death, and that no application
should make him move from his determination.
Adieu, for ever! My much-loved and esteemed wife, adieu!
COURTENAY BOYLE.
The cruel sentence would assuredly have been carried into execution, but
for the timely arrival in those waters of the gallant Admiral, Sir
Sydney Smith, whose influence effected an interchange of prisoners; and
so Captain Courtenay Boyle, with his faithful dog, “Malta,” returned in
safety to his native land.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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