I have laid some stress upon the primitive boorishness of the Bulgarians as a race, and upon the essential effeminacy of the Prince who, for lack of a better, was called to the throne of this new principality. The contrast is necessary in order that it may be shown by what means Ferdinand established dominion over a people which has always despised and loathed him, and how he has been able to falsify the confident estimate of the shrewdest observers in Europe, and retain for over a quarter of a century a position for which no one would at any time have given a year’s purchase. The key to Bulgarian character was maintained by the Bulgarians themselves to be simplicity. In Bulgaria there were no inherited titles, no formalities, no niceties of social intercourse. Like many a man who is incapable of refinement and courtesy of manner, the Bulgarians, by exaggerating their defects, produced the impression of blunt honesty and straightforwardness. They prided themselves on their Spartan simplicity, and were for ever talking about it. Their boastings about their lack of ceremoniousness gave Ferdinand the clue to the weak spot in the Bulgarian character. He knew that the truly simple and unaffected man is not even aware of the virtue of his simplicity; that there can be no such thing as a conscious sincerity in such matters. And Ferdinand, the most artificial product of the Courts of Europe, deliberately chose that his Bœotian subjects should be a foil to his own elegances. He began, even in his bachelor days, by establishing a Court ruled by the stiffest formality. This ceremony was doubled when he married, just as his civil list was increased from £20,000 to £40,000 a year. In the little city of Sofia, which even now does not boast 100,000 inhabitants, he maintained a household and a state which rivalled that of the Kaiser himself, and far exceeded that of any other reigning House of Europe. His exits and entries were preceded by a band of gorgeously uniformed attendants, who backed before him waving wands of glittering whiteness. Court etiquette of an exacting severity was devised and scrupulously exacted. The Bulgarians derided this ceremony openly and on every occasion. But they conformed to it. Really they were deeply impressed. Ferdinand contrived a number of orders with brilliant decorations; they had had nothing of the kind in Bulgaria before his coming. Hardly a year passed but he added a new order to the list, and conferred on his toadies the glittering decoration it carried. The simple Bulgarians mocked at these orders, and made endless jokes about them. But there was keen competition for the decorations, and no respectable Sofiete can afford to be without one. Moreover, no decorated Bulgarian ever fails to wear the little button which marks him as decorated properly and jewelled in every hole.