Description
Folio leaf (numbered 6) of an original autograph manuscript by Richard Cobden about Egypt, describing his interview with Mehemet Ali. Unsigned. 40 lines on 1 page 13 x 8 inches, with corrections, light creasing. Undated. Richard Cobden (1804-65), statesman. When Cobden visited Egypt in 1836, on behalf of a Lancashire calico factory, he wrote letters to his sisters and friends, extracts of which are printed in John Morley‘s Life of Richard Cobden. “I was startled too on observing that whilst the mouth, which was partially concealed beneath his white beard & moustache, put on the semblance of laughter, the eyes were all the while peering coldly from beneath their heavy brows with an expression quite opposite to that of unguarded mirth. The great size of his head accords, phrenologically, with the extraordinary force of character possessed by this successful soldier; whilst a broad & massive forehead harmonises with that subtlety & depth of intellect which he had evinced in his intrigues & schemes of personal aggrandisement. Upon the whole however – let me hasten to confess it – there is nothing remarkable in the appearance of Mehemet Ali…”