Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, 1804-1881 / 2008-06-23 00:00:00

EBOOK ALROY ***


Produced by David Widger


ALROY
OR
THE PRINCE OF THE CAPTIVITY

By Benjamin Disraeli

[Illustration: cover]
[Illustration: alroy-frontis-174]
[Illustration: frontis-label]

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Being at Jerusalem in the year 1831, and visiting the traditionary
tombs of the Kings of Israel, my thoughts recurred to a personage whose
marvellous career had, even in boyhood, attracted my attention, as
one fraught with the richest materials of poetic fiction. And I then
commenced these pages that should commemorate the name of Alroy. In the
twelfth century, when he arose, this was the political condition of the
East:
The Caliphate was in a state of rapid decay. The Seljukian Sultans, who
had been called to the assistance of the Commanders of the Faithful, had
become, like the Mayors of the palace in France, the real sovereigns of
the Empire. Out of the dominions of the successors of the Prophet,
they had carved four kingdoms, which conferred titles on four Seljukian
Princes, to wit, the Sultan of Bagdad, the Sultan of Persia, the Sultan
of Syria, and the Sultan of Roum, or Asia Minor.
But these warlike princes, in the relaxed discipline and doubtful
conduct of their armies, began themselves to evince the natural effects
of luxury and indulgence.
Read more


Parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20