The sexagenarian; or, the recollections of a literary life (Volume 2 of 2)Beloe, William
General
The sexagenarian; or, the recollections of a literary life (Volume 2 of 2)
Beloe, William
Authors, English; Beloe, William, 1756-1817; English literature -- Anecdotes
There was, however, some little delay in the equipment of this officer
appointed to attend him, occasioned partly by the tardiness of the man
himself, and partly by the negociation then near a conclusion between the
courts of Russia and Persia, which necessarily occupied a considerable
portion of the ambassador’s time.
Browne accordingly became impatient, and left Tebriz with two attendants
only, directing the Mahmendar to follow him. This officer having
received his instructions, and apprehensive of the English Ambassador’s
resentment, lost no time in his endeavour to overtake the traveller. Most
unfortunately he found him within forty miles of the Persian Monarch’s
camp, barbarously murdered. Plunder does not appear to have been the
object, as Mr. Browne’s papers, pistols, and effects, were recovered, and
placed in the hands of Sir Gore Ouseley. His money, of which he had not a
great deal, was certainly seized by his servant. But in all probability,
he owed his death not so much to any improper display of his property,
as to his invincible obstinacy with which he resisted all expostulation
and remonstrance, in always wearing the Turkish dress. Now it happens
that the Hordes, by some of whom Browne was murdered, entertain the most
deadly hatred and animosity against the Turks, for one of whom in all
probability he was mistaken.
Strict search was, however, made after his assassins, and a great number
of the inhabitants of the district, where he died, were apprehended, upon
whom the King of Persia, without any judicial proceeding, expressed to
the ambassador his determination of inflicting the summary punishment of
death. This, however, Sir Gore O. would not permit.
The surmise that he owed his death to the circumstance of his appearing
as a Turk, is somewhat confirmed by the fact, that within a few months
preceding this melancholy event, Sir William Ouseley, brother to the
ambassador, and who accompanied him in his mission, passed this very spot
without molestation.
It is a subject of the deepest regret, and a most serious loss to
literature, that Browne did not live to fulfil the object of his
expedition. How well qualified he was to increase our stores of
geographical information, his work on Africa sufficiently attested. Of
the countries which he meditated to visit, with the view of describing,
our information is very scanty as well as unsatisfactory. These were more
particularly the regions of Chorasan, Boccara, Samarcand, &c. concerning
which regions, our best books of geography communicate very little.
(_Further particulars from another hand._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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