beshyr

Updated: May 15, 2025

A remarkable proof of her personal courage, and also of the supernatural awe with which she was regarded, was shown by her open defiance of the Emir Beshyr, in whose principality she lived, but who was unable to reduce her, either by threats or persecution, to even a nominal submission to his rule.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

From Jerusalem the party made a leisurely tour through Syria, visiting Caesarea, Acre, Nazareth, Sayda, where Lady Hester was entertained by her future enemy, the Emir Beshyr, prince of the Druzes, and on September 1, 1812, arrived at Damascus, where a lengthened stay was made.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

Not only did she give public utterance to her contemptuous opinion of the Emir, but she openly assisted his relation and rival, the Sheikh Beshyr; yet no vengeance either of the bowstring or the poisoned cup rewarded her rebellion or her intrigues. Her religious views, at this time, were decidedly complicated in character.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

In the Memoirs of a Babylonian Princess by the Emira Asmar, daughter of the Emir Abdallah Asmar, the author tells us that as a girl she paid a long visit to the Emir Beshyr, prince of the Druzes.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

Before his departure she produced a list of her debts, which then amounted to L14,000. The greater part of this sum, which had been borrowed at a high rate of interest from native usurers, had been spent in assisting Abdallah Pasha, the family of the Sheikh Beshyr, and many other victims of political malignity.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

From that hour was begun a system of hostility towards the doctor's wife, which never ceased until her departure from the country. Lady Hester was not above taking a leaf out of the book of her own enemy, the Emir Beshyr, for she used her influence to prevent the villagers from supplying the wants of the recalcitrant family, who now began to make preparations for their departure.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

She put her foot in the stirrup, and vaulting nimbly into the saddle, which she bestrode like a man, started off at a rapid pace, galloping over rocks and mountains in advance of her suite, with a fearlessness and address that would have done honour to a Mameluke. The stranger was, of course, none other than Lady Hester Stanhope, who, at that time, was on friendly terms with the Emir Beshyr, afterwards her bitterest enemy.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

The Italian captain was obliged to put back to Leghorn, and here Dr. Meryon heard the news of the battle of Navarino, and of the shelter afforded by Lady Hester Stanhope to two hundred refugee Europeans from Sayda. By this time she was at daggers-drawn with the Emir Beshyr, whose rival she had helped and protected.

George Paston - Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century

In her feud with her terrible neighbour, the Emir Beshyr, she maintained an undaunted front. She kept the tyrant at bay; but perhaps the Emir, who, so far as physical force was concerned, held her in the hollow of his hand, might have proceeded to extremities if he had not received a severe admonishment from Stratford Canning at Constantinople.

Lytton Strachey - Books and Characters: French and English