John of Jerusalem, could not fail
to create the highest degree of pleasurable feeling in minds capable
of enjoying such brilliant reveries of the past. The Citadel of Cairo
is also fraught with the recollections of an event which startled
all Europe within the memory of many of the present generation--the
massacre of the Mamelukes. We were shown the broken cleft in the
wall from which the only one of the devoted men who escaped urged his
gallant horse; it was, indeed, a fearful leap, and we gazed upon,
the spot and thought of the carnage of that dreadful hour with an
involuntary shudder.
The Citadel of Cairo has less the air of a regular fortification than
any place of arms I ever recollect to have entered; it is, however,
I believe, exceedingly strong by nature, the situation being very
commanding. I regretted that I could not look upon these things with
a professional eye, and that I had no military authority at hand to
refer to. Near to the ruins of Saladin's palace, the Pasha is now
constructing a mosque, which, when finished, will be one of the most
splendid temples of the kind in all the Moslem land. It is to be lined
and faced with marble, very elegantly carved, but it will take three
years to complete it, and should any circumstances occur to delay the
work during the lifetime of the present ruler of Egypt, the chances
seem much in favour of its never being completed at all.
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