verflowed with Esculapii, he was persuaded to accompany a Pasha of two
tails to Tocat, who had recently been appointed to its government, and
was there now established as his body physician. I suspected this story
to be fabrication, and undertook to examine his knowledge of physic,
particularly in the case of my friend the Persian Mirza. The galimatia
which he unfolded, as we proceeded, was so extremely ridiculous, and he
puzzled himself so entirely by his answers to the plain questions which
I put, that at length, not being able to proceed, he joined, with the
best good-nature possible, in the horse-laugh, from which I could not
refrain. I made him candidly confess that he knew nothing of medicine,
more than having been servant to a doctor of some eminence at Padua,
where he had picked up a smattering; and that, as all his patients were
heretics and abominable Mussulmans, he never could feel any remorse for
those which, during his practice, he had despatched from this world.

'But, _caro Signor Dottore_,' said I, 'how in the name of all that is
sacred, how have you managed hitherto not to have had your bones broken?
Turks are dangerous tools to play with.'

'Oh,' said he, in great unconcern, 'the Turks believe anything, and I
take care never to give them medicine that can do harm.'

'But you must have drugs, and you must apply them,' said I. 'Where are
they?'

'I have different coloured liquids,' said he, 'and as long as there is
bread and water to be had I am never at a loss for a pill. I perform
all my cures with them, accompanied by the words _Inshallah_ and
_Mashallah_!'

'Bread and water! wonderful!' did I exclaim.

'_Signor, si_,' said he, 'I sprinkle my pills with a little flour for
the common people, cover them with gold leaf for my higher patients, the
Agas and the Pasha, and they all swallow them without even a wry face.'

I was so highly amused by the account which this extraordinary fellow
gave of himself, of the life he led, and of the odd adventures which he
had met with, that I invited him to dine; and were it not for the length
which this letter has already run, I should, perhaps, have thought it
right to make partake of my entertainment by retailing his narrative.
I repaid him, as he said, over and above, by presents from my
medicine-chest, which he assured me would be plentifully sufficient to
administer relief to the whole of Asia Minor.

I could not think of leaving the poor Persian in such