Volume 2

Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by herself in conversations with her physician : comprising her opinions and anecdotes of some of the most remarkable persons of her time.

  • Meryon, Charles Lewis, 1783-1877.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoirs of the Lady Hester Stanhope, as related by herself in conversations with her physician : comprising her opinions and anecdotes of some of the most remarkable persons of her time. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    proposed calling on the pasha, and equipped himself for that purpose with a pair of pistols and a yatagan in his girdle, after the fashion of a Turkish subaltern ; for the Franks, who surrounded him as dragomans and menials, had taught him to adopt what accorded with their ideas of finery, and not what was suitable to his rank. Luckily, he mentioned his intention the day before to me, and I told him that there was a full dress of ceremony in Turkey as well as in Europe, and I lent him the most essential part of it, a benysh/ with which he presented himself. At first there was some hesitation, on his entering the room with his people, as to which was the great Mylord; for his lordship’s doctor, who sat down close by him, and poked his head forward with an air of great attention to what the pasha said, made him doubt whether the doctor was not the chief personage; it being a part of Oriental etiquette that no dependant should obtrude himself into the least notice in his superior’s presence: nay, generally speaking, it is required that doctors, secretaries, dragomans, and the like, should remain standing during such interviews. This difficulty being i The benysh is a large mantle, reaching to the ground, ample, and folding over, with bagging sleeves hanging con- siderably below the tips of the fingers. When worn, it leaves nothing seen but the head and face. This is synonymous with a dress coat.