A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

346 SELIM PASHA.
of his fidelity by an increase of favour and an
accumulation of honours. While still very young
he was created a Bey ; and a few years after-
wards, as a crowning proof of regard, Mohammed
Ali proposed to give him a wife from his own
hareem, a young slave whose beauty and accom-
plishments had rendered her for awhile the chief
favourite of her master.
These arrangements, startling to European
notions of propriety, are nevertheless of common
occurrence in the East, and no Turk considers
himself dishonoured by receiving a wife so cir-
cumstanced from the hands of his patron. But,
even should the gift be unwelcome, it cannot
be refused, unless the proMg^ is willing to incur
the loss of favour, and forfeiture of advancement,
which such an offence as a rejection would entail
upon him. Selim Bey dreamed not of refusing
" the good the gods dispensed " through the me-
dium of the Pasha: he signified his entire con-
tentment, and the fulness of his joy at being
thus distinguished, in all the florid eloquence of
Oriental hyperbole, and having learned that his
bride was to be portioned by his master with an
allowance of ten purses''" a month, and a suitable
* The amount of a purse is five hundred piastres, about
five pounds Enghsh.