Little did I imagine when I thus undisguisedly gave my opinion of the Turkish Minister to Youssouf Pasha, that the Firman would be so soon despatched which contained his transfer to the Court of England; and I was not a little amused when I was told some time afterwards that the Reiss Effendi, in giving the information of Reschid Bey’s arrival in London to a friend of mine, added with a quiet smile: “You may as well tell your Frank friend that the new _Ilchí_ is in England before her. She will perhaps be glad to hear that he is the individual whom she would have herself selected.” From the Turkish Ambassador he digressed to the King of England, and assured me that there was no European Monarch for whom the Grand Seignior entertained a more affectionate regard. Indeed, he talked so long and so fondly, not only of our good Sovereign, but of his people also, that had I not previously known him to be deeply in the Russian interest, I should have believed him to be as sincere an Anglo-Turk as any individual throughout the Sultan’s dominions. An apology for having received me in his morning dress, rather than keep me waiting, led us to the subject of costume generally; for I could not offer a better reply to his politeness than by expressing my admiration of that which he wore, and declaring how much I considered it preferable to the European frock-coat. He appeared gratified by the assurance, and took this opportunity of desiring Conjefèm Hanoum to bring out his decorations, in order that I might judge of the taste and magnificence of the Sultan; and truly I never beheld anything more costly. The first, which had been delivered to him with his diploma of Vèzir, was an elaborately mounted medal of gold, inscribed with the cipher of the Sultan, and the rank of the wearer, splendidly framed with brilliants. But the diploma itself interested me much more; it was enclosed in a wrapper of white satin, fastened with a cord and tassels of gold, and occupied an immense sheet of stout paper; the name of Allah stood at the head of the page, and immediately beneath it, but in much larger characters, figured the cipher of the Sultan; these were written in gold, as were also the name of the Vèzir himself which occurred in the body of the document, and the word Stamboul at the foot of the page on the left hand. The remainder of the contents were simply traced in ink, but the characters were beautifully formed; and at the back of the sheet were the signatures of Nourri Effendi who had drawn up the document, as a voucher for its accuracy, and that of the Pasha himself, as an acknowledgment of the duties to which it pledged him.