The chapter summarizes the events and circumstances of his life that would have significantly contributed to his decision to travel to Egypt:
- Disenchantment with college life,
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- Bad impression (drinking), his older brother is quoted as having "ruined" him.
- Waste of his time (excelling in the University's mathematics papers)
- Visiting the Egyptian hall in Picadilly Circus
- Seeing the Rosetta stone in the British Museum
- Discovered of Napoleon's Description of Egypt while working as an engraver
- Meeting Ibrahim Salame who may have taught him Egyptian Arabic
- Doctor's orders to move to a warmer climate after a Typhus attack that nearly killed him.
- Lord Bexley, shadowy figure who may have financed the trip.
The chapter quotes a passage from Lane's Description of Egypt as evidence of his motives for going to Egypt:
A zealous attachment to the study of oriental literature, and a particular desire to render myself familiar with the language of the Arabs, and with their manners and customs, induced me to visit Egypt. But these were not my only motives. I had long entertained a wish to examine the antiquities of that most interesting country; and as I felt even before I commenced my travels, that there was a probability of my publishing the observations that I might make: I purposed to execute a series of sketches of all the most remarkable objects that I might see; well convinces that a drawing, in many cases, is worth many pages of description: and to ensure the utmost accuracy in these. I determined to make use of the Camera Lucida.