08-07-2010, 08:13 AM
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The Galeongee feeds Didloff . .![[Image: haha.gif]](http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr217/darkside_999/haha.gif)
(from Thackeray's The Book Of Snobs (1848) )
Being at Constantinople a few years since (on a delicate mission), the Russians were playing a double game, between ourselves, and it became necessary on our part to employ an extra negotiator -- Leckerbis, Pasha of Roumelia, then chief Galeongee of the Porte, gave a diplomatic banquet at his summer palace of Bujukdere. I was on the left of the Galeongee, and the Russian agent, Count de Didloff, on his dexter side. Didloff is a dandy who would 'die of a rose in aromatic pain'. He had tried to have me assassinated three times in the course of the negotiation; but of course we were friends in public, and saluted each other in the most cordial and charming manner.
The Galcongee is -- or was, alas ! for a bowstring has done for him -- a staunch supporter of the old school of Turkish politics. We dined with our fingers, and had flaps of bread for plates ; the only innovation he admitted was the use of European liquors, in which he indulged with great gusto. He was an enormous eater. Amongst the dishes a very large one was placed before him of a lamb dressed in its wool, stuffed with prunes, garlic, assafcetida, capsicums, and other condiments, the most abominable mixture that ever mortal smelt or tasted. The Galeongee ate of this hugely; and pursuing the Eastern fashion, insisted on helping his friends right and left, and when he came to a particularly spicy morsel, would push it with his own hands into his guests' very mouths.
I never shall forget the look of poor Didloff when his Excellency, rolling up a large quantity of this into a ball, and exclaiming, "Buk, buk" (it is very good), administered the horrible bolus to Didloff. The Russian's eyes rolled dreadfully as he received it: he swallowed it with a grimace that I thought must precede a convulsion, and seizing a bottle next him, which he thought was Sauterne, but which turned out to be French brandy, he drank off nearly a pint before he knew his error. It finished him : he was carried away from the dining-room almost dead, and laid out to cool in a summer-house on the Bosphorus.
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The Galeongee feeds Didloff . .
(from Thackeray's The Book Of Snobs (1848) )
Being at Constantinople a few years since (on a delicate mission), the Russians were playing a double game, between ourselves, and it became necessary on our part to employ an extra negotiator -- Leckerbis, Pasha of Roumelia, then chief Galeongee of the Porte, gave a diplomatic banquet at his summer palace of Bujukdere. I was on the left of the Galeongee, and the Russian agent, Count de Didloff, on his dexter side. Didloff is a dandy who would 'die of a rose in aromatic pain'. He had tried to have me assassinated three times in the course of the negotiation; but of course we were friends in public, and saluted each other in the most cordial and charming manner.
The Galcongee is -- or was, alas ! for a bowstring has done for him -- a staunch supporter of the old school of Turkish politics. We dined with our fingers, and had flaps of bread for plates ; the only innovation he admitted was the use of European liquors, in which he indulged with great gusto. He was an enormous eater. Amongst the dishes a very large one was placed before him of a lamb dressed in its wool, stuffed with prunes, garlic, assafcetida, capsicums, and other condiments, the most abominable mixture that ever mortal smelt or tasted. The Galeongee ate of this hugely; and pursuing the Eastern fashion, insisted on helping his friends right and left, and when he came to a particularly spicy morsel, would push it with his own hands into his guests' very mouths.
I never shall forget the look of poor Didloff when his Excellency, rolling up a large quantity of this into a ball, and exclaiming, "Buk, buk" (it is very good), administered the horrible bolus to Didloff. The Russian's eyes rolled dreadfully as he received it: he swallowed it with a grimace that I thought must precede a convulsion, and seizing a bottle next him, which he thought was Sauterne, but which turned out to be French brandy, he drank off nearly a pint before he knew his error. It finished him : he was carried away from the dining-room almost dead, and laid out to cool in a summer-house on the Bosphorus.