In Morocco . lles. The co-incidence of two contemporary autocrats callingcities out of the wilderness has caused persons witha taste for analogy to describe Meknez as the Ver-sailles of Morocco: an epithet which is about asinstructive as it would be to call Phidias the Ben-venuto Cellini of Greece. There is, however, a pretext for the comparisonin the fact that the two sovereigns took a Hvelyinterest in each others affairs. Moulay-Ismaelsent several embassies to treat with Louis XIV onthe eternal question of piracy and the ransom ofChristian captives, and the two rulers were con-tinually excha
In Morocco . lles. The co-incidence of two contemporary autocrats callingcities out of the wilderness has caused persons witha taste for analogy to describe Meknez as the Ver-sailles of Morocco: an epithet which is about asinstructive as it would be to call Phidias the Ben-venuto Cellini of Greece. There is, however, a pretext for the comparisonin the fact that the two sovereigns took a Hvelyinterest in each others affairs. Moulay-Ismaelsent several embassies to treat with Louis XIV onthe eternal question of piracy and the ransom ofChristian captives, and the two rulers were con-tinually exchanging gifts and compliments. The governor of Tetouan, who was sent toParis in 1680, having brought as presents to theFrench King a lion, a lioness, a tigress, and fourostriches, Louis XIV shortly afterward despatchedM. de Saint-Amand to Morocco with two dozenwatches, twelve pieces of gold brocade, a cannonsix feet long and other firearms. After this the re-lations between the two courts remained friendly [58]. ^ VOLUBILIS, MOULAY IDRISS AND MEKNEZ till 1693, at which time they were strained by therefusal of France to return the Moorish captiveswho were employed on the kings galleys, and whowere probably as much needed there as the Sul-tans Christian slaves for the building of Moorishpalaces. Six years later the Sultan despatched Abdallah-ben-Aissa to France to reopen negotiations. Theambassador was as brilliantly received and aseagerly run after as a modern statesman on anofficial mission, and his candidly expressed admira-tion for the personal charms of the Princesse deConti, one of the French monarchs legitimatizedchildren, is supposed to have been mistaken by thecourt for an offer of marriage from the Emperor ofBarbary. But he came back without a treaty. Moulay-Ismael, whose long reign (1673 to 1727)and extraordinary exploits make him already alegendary figure, conceived, early in his career, apassion for Meknez; and through all his troubledrule, with its alternations of bar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1920
