"Was there ever a more bewildering man than this modern Admirable Crichton, who can speak more languages than Mezzofanti--it is a treat to hear him troll out some Persian love-ditty or Arabic desert-song in their guttural originals--who has been everywhere, who can fight with every weapon, who is something of a doctor, and something of a wizard, and something of a philosopher. The English Government, in whose service he has passed his life, has scarcely made the best use of him. He knows more about Eastern countries and Eastern peoples, and can speak more Eastern languages than probably any living man, and therefore a wise Administration planted him, during many recent years of Eastern complication, in which he might have rendered splendid service to the State, in an Italo-Austrian town, where the mouse-coloured cattle recall the Campagna, and neighbouring Miramar suggests the luckless lord of Mexico, and where Burton's special knowledge was well-nigh of no avail. He is happier now beneath the blue Marocco skies. There, with the white domes and the spreading palms of the East ever in his eyes, he can peacefully finish what is, perhaps, the greatest labour of his life--his version of those marvellous tales which have delighted the Orient for cycles, and which have profoundly influenced European thought and literature for nearly two centuries." [Sidenote: _He waits for me at Tangier_.] November 28th, in Marocco, Richard mourns the death of our good old friend, the Duke of Somerset. He settled down at the hotel close to the sea, called on every one, got out his work, and waited for me. His journals do not show him to have been very taken with Marocco. Before he had been there two days, everybody ran to him with all their little political intrigues and private spites. There did not seem to be two people in the place who really liked or trusted one another. The principal house to go to for grandeur was, of course, Sir John Drummond-Hay's; but the only really enjoyable house was Perdicaris', who had a semi-European, semi-Oriental establishment, and the Oriental part was a dream. He painted very beautifully, was very talented, and his devotion to his wife was ideal. In December Richard found the air simply splendid. However, he was not long in Tangier before he began to feel gouty again. [1] It is a curious thing that he never missed the chance of a pilgrimage to any holy shrine. CHAPTER XII. RICHARD ON HOME RULE AND THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION.