14 



Turkey they do not attend so much to the richness, as to the num- 

 ber of the dresses, giving more or fewer, according to the dignity of 

 the persons to whom they are presented, or the marks of favour 

 the prince would confer on his guests: thus in primeval times 

 Joseph gave to each of his brethren changes of raiment, but to his 

 favourite Benjamin, he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and 

 five changes of raiment. Among the honourable distinctions con- 

 ferred by a Persian monarch on Mordecai, he ordered him to be 

 clothed with his own royal apparel: the same honour was granted, 

 by the king of Babylon to Daniel, who for his excellent wisdom 

 was commanded to be clothed in scarlet, and to have a chain of 

 gold about his neck. In modern times, when Charles the twelfth 

 was made a prisoner by the Turks setting fire to his house at Ben- 

 der, the dresses, tents, horse-caparisons richly ornamented with 

 gold and jewels, and other valuable articles which had been given 

 him in presents, amounted to fifty thousand pounds. 



On our first public visit to Ragobah, it was intimated to me, 

 that acting in the double capacity of chaplain to the British troops, 

 and secretary to the commander in chief, the peshwa being a 

 brahmin, and associating an idea of priesthood or brahminisin to 

 the former appointment, the presents allotted to me were on that 

 account superior in quality and quantity to those of the other 

 staff-officers. 



One part of Ragobah 's behaviour on these public visits, was 

 extremely offensive to the gravity and politeness of the Nabob, 

 and the high-born Moguls and Persians who attended him. On 

 our first introduction to the brahmin sovereign, the English gentle- 

 men were equally astonished and disgusted: a repetition of such 



