He next asked a number of questions relatively to the Fire Insurance Companies of London, of which he had heard vaguely; and, when I had explained to him the whole of the system, he expressed his regret that no institution of the kind had been established in Constantinople; a want to which he was the more sensible as he had lately lost a house filled with valuable furniture and effects, of which he had been unable to save the smallest portion. He inquired if I thought that one of our Companies would consent to accept an insurance for his palace; as in the event of their being willing to do so, he would immediately take steps to make the arrangement. I explained to him the difficulty of inducing them to run so great a risk, aware as they must be of the frequency of fires in Stamboul, and the exorbitant interest they would require in the event of their consenting to his wish: when he at once allowed the objection to be perfectly reasonable, although he much regretted the necessity of abandoning the idea. In the course of conversation, some allusion having been made to the philosophy with which he supported his reverses, his reply was so characteristic that it deserves record. “The chariot of my fortunes,” he said, “had, for so long a time, run smoothly over the highways of life, that I ought rather to feel surprise at its even pace during so many years, than wonder that its wheels should fail at last.” To comment on such an answer would be idle. It was not without regret that I took leave of the Pasha, whose courteous manners and intelligent conversation rendered him a most agreeable companion; and, had I been able to converse with him in his own language, I have no doubt that I should have been still more impressed in his favour. Before we quitted him, he invited us to spend a few days with the Buyuk Hanoum, and his daughter, during the marriage festivities of the Princess Mihirmàh, at a house which he had taken at the “Sweet Waters;” and, as we re-entered the harem, I could not refrain from expressing to the fair Heyminè my admiration of the intelligence and information of her father. But all praise of the Pasha to his daughter was “gilding refined gold, painting the lily, and throwing a perfume o’er the violet;” human commendations could not exalt him higher in her esteem. If splendour could insure repose, we were destined to a long night of slumber beneath the roof of Mustapha Pasha, for our beds were one blaze of gold and embroidery; and it is certain that the fair form which hovered about me until I sank upon my pillows had a most pleasant influence over my dreams; I never passed a more delicious night. I had visions of beauty, of which the lovely Heyminè was the type and subject: and if some faint impressions of strife and suffering mingled in the illusion, a bright smile and a soft glance dispelled the gloom, and brought back the light and the loveliness, that had been veiled for a moment, with tenfold lustre.