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that I have seldom if ever quitted
a Bulgarian house but opportunity has
been taken behind the Janissary's back, to
intimate that some the fowls, or the wine,
or some other part of the entertainment has
been forgotten to be paid for: this of course
has produced an appeal to the Janissary:
upon which appeal the insinuation has as
constantly been retracted. Fear it may be
said, & not truth has been the cause of the retraction.
What gives me the satisfaction (shall I say?)
of thinking otherwise is that my servant
talks a little Bulgarian and understands
it better; a language of which the Janissary
does not understand a syllable: sometimes
my servant himself has been the channel though which
the intimation has been convey'd: and yet
in no instance has any attempt been made
so much as by whisper or gesture to urge
the plea of duress either to him or me.
As constantly has the master of the house, according
to what seems to be the etiquette
follow'd us a few hundred yards from his
door in order to receive a parting present
from the Janissary's hands. Taught by this
experience, if now any application is made
to me for paras on the score of justice
I refer it to the Janissary, by saying,
" Yenghichery para :" which response though
I have been alone has been submitted to
without remonstrance or apparent dissatisfaction.
To do justice however on both sides
to our Bulgarian hosts, I have found them
I think without exception cheerfully civil
and
and attentive: enduring with wonderful
good humour a torrent of abuse which
the Janissary is perpetually pouring on
them without cause. Let me add likewise
to the credit of the honesty or the
prudence of one of them, whose name
it is a pity I have it not in my power
to immortalize, that a neat English iron
spoon as much superior in value to
their wooden ones as a silver one is to
that, having been left behind by the
servant was brought after us to the distance
of a quarter of a mile. To policy
or some such motive I must
allow its share, because, lest the particular
present expected according to this
theory from me, should be merged in
the general present expected from the Janissary,
care was taken by the man who
brought it not to give it not into the
hands of the Janissary, or of the Bulgarian
who according to the etiquette
abovementioned was attending him, but
into mine.
Bucharest Dec. 28. 1785
I arrived here the day before yesterday;
I set off the day after tomorrow. The
gaps in the above journal I shall endeavour
to fill up and send off the sequel
by a future opportunity: possibly
the quarantine at Olviopol may
afford me more time than I could wish
This place is interesting and the civilities of
the Russian Consul & Imperial Ayah render it
agreable
Identifier: | JB/540/229/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 540.
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1785-12-10 |
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540 |
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229 |
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002 |
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Journal |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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