Sonnini de Manoncourt, Charles Nicolas Sigisbert: Travels in upper and lower Egypt (Band 3) (London, 1807)

AND LOWER EGYPT. 1 I 7

very willingly received, and that they demanded
nothing of me for this act of hospitality. Before
I made any reply to so much generosity, I pre-
sented to him the letter which their superior-gene-
ral had furnished me with to this convent, and by
which he recommended me to the attention of the
monks who inhabited it. He read this letter with
a smile of contempt, and told me, that not being
the superior of the house, he would go and seek
for him ; after which he returned to his sofa,
without either speaking or looking at me again.

The letter of the superior, the composition of
a true capuchin, could not, however, have been
more precise, nor more urgent. It is as follows ;

(: ReverenJissimo Padre Procuralore cxcdlent 'isshm
cc ed amino carhshno.

" Essendosi a noi presentato l'honoratissimo
" signor Sonnini, officialc di marina delle truppc
" reggie Francese, et avendoci notificato il suo de-
" siderio, che c per portarsi in queste parti dell'
" superior Egitto, per osservare quelle anlichita cd
" insinuarli ove si trovano, e per tai' effetto aven-
" doci anche parlato l'illustre signor Carlo Maga-
<{ Ion quivi mercante Francese, nostro carissimo
(( amico, e ben afFetto: per cio prego le loro

1 3 P.P. R. R,