Page:Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz (1862).djvu/116

 When we returned to our hotel, we each got our rooms ready for ourselves, as the attendants of Herr Petsch vacated them for us, and prepared for their journey from Constantinople to Vienna. After living with us here about a fortnight. Herr Petsch took leave of the pashas, and, bidding adieu to us, left the city with great joy, for he had already, to a certain extent, perceived that some change would take place.

After the departure of Herr Petsch, our ambassador gave a splendid entertainment every day, and whoever of the chief Christians and Turks thought fit, might dine with him, so that scarcely any day passed without our having Turkish guests, in whose company we saw many of their customs, and asked questions about the rest. There was also assigned to us, for guard and safety, that no one might injure us, or enter into the house without the leave and knowledge of my lord, a chief chiaous from the imperial court, an old veteran, whom our lord had to keep in food daily, pay monthly wages to, and clothe twice a year. The chiaous had three servants, who never went out all at once. He being lodged on the ground-floor, close to the door of our house, and his attendants above him, they all gave attentive heed to the persons who went hither and thither, and never let any one into the house whom they did not like. There were also assigned to this chiaous, for our protection, whenever we wished to ride or walk anywhere in the city or out of the city, four chief janissaries, for whom a fixed quantity of food, monthly wages, and two suits of clothes a year, with silver trumpets and staves, had to be provided by my lord the ambassador. Orders were also strictly given them by