APPENDIX--THE HOME OF LADY HESTER STANHOPE
It was late when we came in sight of two high conical hills, on one
of which stands the village of Djouni, on the other a circular
wall, over which dark trees were waving; and this was the place in
which Lady Hester Stanhope had finished her strange and eventful
career. It had formerly been a convent, but the Pasha of Sidon had
given it to the "prophet-lady," who converted its naked walls into
a palace, and its wilderness into gardens.
The sun was setting as we entered the enclosure, and we were soon
scattered about the outer court, picketing our horses, rubbing down
their foaming flanks, and washing out their wounds. The buildings
that constituted the palace were of a very scattered and
complicated description, covering a wide space, but only one storey
in height: courts and gardens, stables and sleeping-rooms, halls
of audience and ladies' bowers, were strangely intermingled. Heavy
weeds were growing everywhere among the open portals, and we forced
our way with difficulty through a tangle of roses and jasmine to
the inner court; here choice flowers once bloomed, and fountains
played in marble basins, but now was presented a scene of the most
melancholy desolation.
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