Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/111

 to meet us, who, after doing obeisance and welcoming us, conducted us into the great saloon or hall, which was all hung with valuable Persian tapestry and carpets interwoven with gold and silver. Here again the pashas went once more through one room to the Sultan, and on returning asked our lord whether he had any weapon, dagger, or knife about his person. Both my lords the ambassadors having answered that they had nothing of the sort, the two pashas took them each by one hand,—a custom observed among the Turks ever since a Croat, having requested and obtained an audience, assassinated Sultan Murad, and avenged the death of his lord, Marko, the despot of Servia. The chamberlains opened a door, concealed by handsome tapestry, glittering with gold and precious stones; and these pashas conducted my lord the ambassador into the presence of the Emperor, and made a low obeisance to the Emperor. My lord the ambassador made as though he would kneel upon his knees; but the pashas, by order of the Sultan, held him up, and did not allow him to kneel upon the ground. Then a dragoman or Turkish interpreter, a renegade, or Christian who had turned Turk, was brought, and spoke in short sentences to the Sultan, at the dictation of my lord the ambassador.

First, he delivered the greeting from his Imperial Majesty, and then kissed and presented, with an obeisance, his letter credential to the Sultan, which the Sultan handed to Muhamet Pasha, as his chancellor, and asked how our Emperor was in health. After these questions my lord the ambassador stood aside. Thereupon, in the same manner and form, Herr Petsch was introduced by the two pashas, kissed the Sultan’s hand, and also stood