From the Oxford DNB entry on Charles Macfarlane:

Quote

. . . On returning to Britain in February 1829 he published his first book, Constantinople in 1828. Both a travelogue and a recent history of Turkey, this extensive work was enlivened by occasional lively descriptions of everyday events, but was imbued with Macfarlane's rampant racial prejudices against Armenians, Jews, and (to a lesser degree) Turks, which were only moderated by his obvious susceptibility to all varieties of Eastern women.

On the question of the Albanian Catholics, one suspects that some of his spleen was due to the discomfort he experienced in trying to reconcile his sympathies with his obvious anti-Catholic prejudices.

I notice that the DNB entry for Stratford Canning is unusually long, but doesn’t mention this incident. Possibly worth following up the biography by Lane-Poole.

M.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2007 06:51AM by mstower.