1828.] Hajji Baba in England. 609 



" A very handsome breakfast was served up. to him, but which, strange to 

 say, did not seem to his taste. The ambassador helped him to- the choicest 

 bits with his own fingers ; he even put his hand into the same mess of rice 

 with him, and gave him his own spoon to drink sherbet with; but 'he could 

 ijot be prevailed upon to make the most of the good things before him. We 

 tried him. with some gczenjibin, which he scrupulously examined; but when 

 Hashim, the footman, had dexterously broken it with his hands, and blown 

 Ihe dust from it with his mouth, he did not seem inclined to carry his curiosity 

 farther. . . . 



" ' Surely,' said we, ' this infidel cannot affect to think us impure, that he 

 d0es- not choose to taste our food; he, who will not scruple to eat swine's 

 flesh,' and to drink of the forbidden wine ? and this, too, when our ambassador 

 has laid by his own scruples, 'has shut his ears to the commands of our holy 

 Prophet, and has treated the Frank as if he were a true believer.' We found 

 that we had still much to learn concerning this extraordinary people." 



For the account of the arrival of the directors of the East India Com- 

 pany the." Kings of India, " as the Persians designate them in six 

 hackney-coaches, to wait upon the embassy and the horror of the 

 foreigners at such an oblivion of etiquette, we must refer our readers to 

 Hajji Baba himself. And can do little more for the ceremony of the presen- 

 tation of the ambassador at the English court, the introduction at 

 Almack's and the Italian opera, and the still more imposing adventure of 

 the opening of the session of parliament by the king in person, when 

 his majesty receiving some demonstrations of public disapprobation, two 

 of the Persian suite, who have got in trees into St. James's Park to 

 witness the procession, conceive that " hissing " must be the English 

 mode of expressing devotion to a sovereign, and hiss so fervently that 

 they are taken possession of by a body of the police. The whole of the 

 second volume is occupied with the adventures of the Persians in 

 Iiondon ; and a love adventure which befalls Hajji Baba, in a family 

 the name of which is Hogg a family, as he designates them, " of the 

 unclean beast !" and the card of invitation which he writes to admit 

 his friends to one of the ambassador's parties " Admit one mother 

 Hogg, and two head of daughters " are amongst the best points in 

 this part of the book. In the end, the ambassador remains for a time ift 

 England, and it falls to the lot of Hajji Baba {under circumstances of 

 something diminished splendour from the manner of its outward jour- 

 ney) to conduct the embassy home. The Persians return to Constanti- 

 nople in a " transport," on board which they experience every description 

 of horror. " The unclean beast," they say, " walked daily upon the 

 deck ; encountering them as if in defiance." Its flesh was eaten before 

 their eyes in 'every corner. The captain of the vessel blasphemed and 

 threatened, and cursed Persia incessantly ; and Mohamed Beg (the 

 Mollah or priest attached to the mission) swore <e that he had been 

 more severely polluted by what he had encountered on board that ship, 

 than by all he had undergone since his residence with the infidels." 



With the help of the prophet, however, the whole party returns to 

 Ispahan; and Hajji Baba, being admitted to an audience of the shah, 

 is examined as to the wonders of Frangistan in a conversation, witli a 

 few extracts from which we shall close our short notice of Mr. Morier's 

 second appearance. 



(( f Well, Hajji, so you have seen Frangistan what sort of a place is it?' 

 "' Owing- to the condescension of the Asylum of the Universe/ : said I, f it is 

 not a bad place.* 



M. M. New Serie*. VOL. V. No. 30." 4 I 



