The venerable Chargé d’Affaires, who had been long an invalid, was sitting upon his sofa, surrounded by cushions of every possible size and shape, wrapped in furs, and inhaling the odour of a bunch of musk lemons, the most sickly and sating of all savours—a magnificent mangal, upheaped with fire, occupied the centre of the apartment; the divan was almost covered with inlaid boxes, articles of bijouterie, books, and papers; a large silver tray resting upon a tripod was piled pyramidically with fine winter fruits; and within a recess on one side of the room were ranged a splendid coffee service of French porcelain, and a pair of tall and exquisitely-wrought essence-vases of fillagreed silver—in short, the whole aspect of the apartment would have satisfied the most boudoir-loving _petite-maitresse_ of Paris or London. Near the mangal stood the four attendants of the master of the house, two fine boys of twelve or fourteen years of age, and two pretty little girls, one or two years younger, gorgeously dressed, and wearing magnificent brilliant ornaments on their heads and bosoms. The rage for diamonds is excessive among both the Turks and the Greeks; but, while the Greek ladies delight in heaping upon their persons every ornament for which they can find space, many of the fair Osmanlis, with a pretty exclusive scorn of adventitious attraction, content themselves with a clasp or two, a bracelet, or some similar bagatelle; and decorate their favourite slaves with their more costly and ponderous jewels. A most venerable-looking person was Mustafa Effendi, with his lofty turban, and his snow-white beard; and he received us so kindly, and discoursed with us so good-humouredly, that I was delighted with him. A chair was brought for the Greek lady who had accompanied me, but he motioned to me to place myself on a pile of cushions at his side, where I remained very comfortably during the whole of our visit. He took a great quantity of snuff from a box whose lid was richly set with precious stones; and, on my admiring it, showed me another containing his opium pills, which was exquisitely inlaid with fine large brilliants.