With all that is most truly Oriental in
its character the plague is associated; it dwells with the faithful
in the holiest quarters of their city. The coats and the hats of
Pera are held to be nearly as innocent of infection as they are
ugly in shape and fashion; but the rich furs and the costly shawls,
the broidered slippers and the gold-laden saddle-cloths, the
fragrance of burning aloes and the rich aroma of patchouli--these
are the signs that mark the familiar home of plague. You go out
from your queenly London--the centre of the greatest and strongest
amongst all earthly dominions--you go out thence, and travel on to
the capital of an Eastern Prince, you find but a waning power, and
a faded splendour, that inclines you to laugh and mock; but let the
infernal Angel of Plague be at hand, and he, more mighty than
armies, more terrible than Suleyman in his glory, can restore such
pomp and majesty to the weakness of the Imperial city, that if,
WHEN HE IS THERE, you must still go prying amongst the shades of
this dead empire, at least you will tread the path with seemly
reverence and awe.
It is the firm faith of almost all the Europeans living in the East
that Plague is conveyed by the touch of infected substances, and
that the deadly atoms especially lurk in all kinds of clothes and
furs.
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