the dignity and consequence of the gravest Turk, into
the inmost recesses of my harem.

CHAPTER LXIX

From a vender of pipe-sticks he becomes a rich Aga, but feels all the
inconvenience of supporting a false character.

I soon found that I had a very difficult part to perform. A Chinese
philosopher is said to have remarked, that if the operation of eating
was confined to what takes place between the mouth and the palate, then
nothing could be more pleasant, and one might eat for ever; but it is
the stomach, the digestive organs, and, in fact, the rest of the body,
which decide ultimately whether the said operation has been prejudicial
or healthful. So it is in marriage. If it were confined to what takes
place between man and wife, nothing more simple; but then come the ties
of relationship and the interests of families, and they decide much upon
its happiness or misery.

My fair spouse entertained me for several successive days after our
marriage with such manifold and intricate stories of her family, of
their quarrels and their makings-up, of their jealousies and their
hatreds, and particularly of their interested motives in their conduct
towards her, that she made me feel as if I might have got into a nest
of scorpions. She recommended that we should use the greatest
circumspection in the manner of informing her brothers of our marriage;
and remarked that although we were so far secure in being lawful man and
wife, still as much of our future happiness depended upon their goodwill
towards us (they being men of wealth, and consequently of influence in
the city), we ought to do everything in our power to conciliate them.
As a precautionary measure, she had spread a report that she was on the
point of being married to one of the richest and most respectable of the
Bagdad merchants, and in a conversation with one of her brothers, had
not denied, although she had abstained from confessing it to be the
case. She now requested that our marriage might be proclaimed, and to
that effect recommended that we should give an entertainment to all
her relations, and that no expense should be spared in making it as
magnificent as possible, in order that they might be convinced she had
not thrown herself away upon an adventurer, but, in fact, had made an
alliance worthy of them and of herself.

She found me ready in seconding her wishes, and I was delighted to have
so early an opportunity to make a display of our wealth. I b