sker-Khan seated
himself to rest, asked for a pipe, and indulged in a smoke; and when he
had finished, rose, and seeing around him many ladies whom curiosity had
attracted, paid them, through M. Jaubert, exceedingly flattering
compliments. Then leaving the Museum, his Excellency went to promenade
in the garden of the Tuileries, where he was soon followed by an immense
crowd. On that day his Excellency bestowed on Prince de Benevento, in
the name of his sovereign, the Grand Order of the Sun, a magnificent
decoration consisting of a diamond sun attached to a cordon of red cloth
covered with pearls.

Asker-Khan made a greater impression at Paris than the Turkish
ambassador. He was generous and more gallant, paid his court with more
address, and conformed more readily to French customs and manners. The
Turk was irascible, austere, and irritable, while the Persian was fond of
and well understood a joke. One day, however, he became red with anger,
and it must be admitted not without good reason.

At a concert given in the apartments of the Empress Josephine,
Asker-Khan, whom the music evidently did not entertain very highly, at
first applauded by ecstatic gestures and rolling his eyes in admiration,
until at last nature overcame politeness, and the ambassador fell sound
asleep. His Excellency's position was not the best for sleeping,
however, as he was standing with his back against the wall, with his
feet braced against a sofa on which a lady was seated. It occurred to
some of the officers of the palace that it would be a good joke to take
away suddenly this point of support, which they accomplished with all
ease by simply beginning a conversation with the lady on the sofa, who
rising suddenly, the seat slipped over the floor; his Excellency's feet
followed this movement, and the ambassador, suddenly deprived of the
weight which had balanced him, extended his length on the floor. On
this rude awakening, he tried to stop himself in his fall by clutching
at his neighbors, the furniture, and the curtains, uttering at the same
time frightful screams. The officers who had played this cruel joke upon
him begged him, with the most ridiculously serious air, to place himself
on a stationary chair in order to avoid the recurrence of such an
accident; while the lady who had been made the accomplice in this
practical joke, with much difficulty stifled her laughter, and his
Excellency was consumed with an anger which he could express on