‘Bah,’ said Emerson vigorously. ‘Do you think we are acting out of benevolence? Ask the inhabitants of Alexandria how they enjoyed being shelled by British gunboats, two years ago. We are not so uncivilized as the Turk, but we have the same purpose – our own self-interest. And we are letting those imbecile French mismanage the antiquities department! Not that our own so-called scholars are any better.’
