Сделать lady hester stanhope is a well-known british traveller and adventuress, whose journeys and lifestyle helped her achieve a near legendary status. she was born on the estate of her father, charles mahon, the earl of stanhope in 1776. her father encouraged hester to develop her body’s potential, practise sports, study foreign languages and sleep with the windows open- things which were considered very strange to be done by a young lady in the 18th century. as a young woman, lady hester was very attractive to men—witty, a good talker in a society- although not conventionally beautiful: tall, slender and dark-eyed. those charms became the currency of english high society when, after her father died in 1803, she went to live in walmer castle with her uncle william pitt. pitt became the prime minister in 1804. now 28, lady hester was at the zenith of her career. pitt loved her for lack of a daughter, english nobility loved her for her ability as a gracious hostess, and a succession of men loved her for position and wealth. two years later pitt dies, leaving her with a fortune of more than 10 thousand pounds. soon thereafter she became engaged to sir john moore, england's commander-in-chief in spain and portugal against napoleon's forces. in 1808 he was killed, her name on his dying lips, and shortly afterward one of her brothers was shot dead in the same campaign. grief over the loss, in rapid succession, of men she loved, drove her from london. she went first to wales, then in 1810 left england never to return. she was 33. lady hester set sail for the mediterranean accompanied by her private physician, dr. charles meryon, and in gibraltar met a 20-year-old englishman named michael bruce, with whom she felt in love. they decided to travel together. several months later the trio reached corinth, greece, where stanhope won the goodwill of the french ambassador and obtained a passport to france. paris did not seem to impress stanhope and her friends since when we see them next time they are on their way to egypt. if you travel to egypt today, it will take you several hours in a plane. in the 19th century it took stanhope and company nearly two months to get there. shipwrecked off rhodes, they took refuge ashore in an old windmill and waited for another ship to remove them. in february 1812 the party reached alexandria, where they set to learn arabic and turkish. the east was in hester’s blood, its combination of mystery, romance, mysticism, hardship, fatalism and fanaticism having captured her english soul. from egypt stanhope crossed the red sea and arrived in jaffa, palestine. she made the grand tour of jerusalem, proceeded to nazareth, acre and other little-known cities where no westerner had set a foot before her. in 1814 she received an invitation from emir besher, prince of lebanon mountains to pay him a visit in deir el kamar. dr. meryon made an entry in his diary: ”they say, emir is a very good man. he is said to have killed his three nephews and executed his prime minister . . but these things go for nothing here." by the time their caravan- 22 camels, 25 mules and 8 horses carried their possessions- approached the foothills of mount lebanon, the aristocratic englishwoman had disappeared, hester stanhope wore a male clothing, smoked a pipe, and swore at her servants in three languages. emir bashir extended a generous hospitality and invited her to stay at his domain for as long as she wished. frightened at the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in a foreign country both dr. meryon and michael bruce left for england. obviously not disappointed at her friends departure, stanhope settled in a 36-room house. she studied alchemy and astrology, her residence was guarded by black slaves who treated her as royalty. the local villagers regarded her as a prophetess and called “the queen of desert”. she kept 34 servants, and several horses, including two arab mares, impressed the local people with her riding skills. she also protected young men from conscription by taking them into her service. unfortunately her generosity and penchant for expensive lifestyle reduced her to poverty and she died almost penniless in 1839 at the age of 63. ex 1 supply the missing information from the text. 1. hester stanhope, a well-known british traveller and adventuress, was born (when and where? ) 2. she was the daughter of ( 3. her uncle died (when) 4. she inherited a fortune of (how 5. stanhope visited several countries including gibraltar, greece and….. 6. at the invitation of emir besher, prince of lebanon mountain she arrived in (where? ) 7. she died (where and 8. she lived in lebanon (how long? )

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