Seraglio, Hagia Sophia Mosque, meeting with Sultan Mahmud II and Seraskir Khozrev

Ahmet Pasha himself came to me. I then told His Majesty that the main object of my journey through Constantinople was to see the great Sovereign, the transformer of his people, the coming successor of our Great PETER. Akhmet very favorably told me that he would report this to the Sultan, and would inform me of his wishes. Not five minutes had passed when my Colonel came out and said a myth that the Sultan ordered me to be brought in alone and the others to be left outside the gates. “I don’t know oriental languages,” I say, “and without my comrade, Mr. Bogdanov, I will be completely deaf and infidel.” “Let him come in with you,” said the Colonel, and we were led through the gate. We entered a small courtyard: on the right side there is a porch, three steps leading to. court mosque; directly opposite us were the two-story chambers of the Sultan's sons. The youngest of them, a beautiful child, in the arms of a fat eunuch, a blackamoor, looked out the window, under which stood the Front of Izhot with the musicians. Near me, old men were standing in two rows, in brown caftans, with medals on their chests: I later learned that these were Chamberlains. Between them and the Front there was a passage from another courtyard, from the inner chambers. I was placed next to the old people, and Mr. Bogdanov was with me, a little behind. Suddenly music began to thunder, the soldiers took their guns under their butts, and two officials appeared from the inner gate, huge silver and gilded incense burners, shaped like vases, from which came the incense of aloe. Behind them walked the Sultan, supported on the right hand by Galil Pasha, and on the left by Seraskir Khozrev. The soldiers made it to the guardhouse, and Sultan walked with quiet steps, very close to me, into the mosque. When E.V. drew level with me, I bowed low to him; he favored me with a favorable glance. Thus, my wish to see the Sultan came true. Believing that there was no reason for me to stay here, I was about to leave, moreover, the rays of the sun mercilessly burned me, in the middle of this small courtyard, on the sand and without the slightest cover; but my comrade very wisely told me that since my admission to the face of the Sultan should be taken as a special favor, especially since no one, despite me, was allowed to enter the courtyard, so he advised me to wait for the Sultan to return from the mosque in order to bow to His Majesty another time, and then express gratitude for the merciful attention shown to me. I listened to the commander of Sergei Ivanovich Bogdanov, and did not repent, because soon after this the same Colonel came out of the mosque and told me that the Sultan, fearing that I, waiting for him in the courtyard under the sun, would not lose my breath from the intense heat, instructed the two Pashas to invite me to the chambers before his return from the mosque. In fact, two young General Masters came out to me, one a servant in the army, and the other in the cavalry, and led me to the rooms over which, as I said above, the young Princes, the sons of Mahmud, live. When we entered the room, there were sofas all around, I was invited to eat, and Pasha sat next to me: the attendants handed us all pipes and soon coffee. Our conversation began with private comments from them. They told me that I was the first foreigner admitted to the Ktat-Gane palace, in which E.V., taking a break from dBl, regularly allows his nobles to visit him. I replied that I feel this mercy of the Sultan, and accept it in all its glory. Then they began to pour out the inevitable conversation of that time about Chorcillo (CBBIGS), began to tell this story, and asked if I had heard about it? - I have (I answered briefly). Chngligan is to blame. - Having said this, I noticed that the mop’s words seemed to be reflected in joy on their faces. “Isn’t it true, Moskov Pasha? But “Our Sultan is so kind that this upset him very much! A man, no longer young, who had gone to a foreign side on trade matters, “didn’t need to wander through the fields and shoot quails; and here, instead of a bird, he shot a child. Is it any wonder that his father and mother “the children gave him a good beating?” It’s only a pity “that they didn’t send him later to the English “Ambassador.” This conversation multiplied, and when we had completely exhausted it, one of the Pashas went to the mosque, probably to report my words. A few minutes later, the inevitable Colonel came up to us and announced to me that the Sultan would soon leave the mosque, and that he, wanting to see me better, ordered the Chamberlains to leave, and for me to stand on their mo5 alone. I immediately went with G. Bogdanov, and we took up the post assigned to us. Coming out of the mosque, Mahmud stood on the porch; He glanced at us, as if wanting to make sure that his order had not been fulfilled, and went in the same order, straight to me. Having come very close, he stopped and said something to GalilPash. This one turned to me and, placing his hand on his chest, bowed to the myth. Although I should not have bowed to another person in the presence of the Sovereign, I reasoned that Galil’s bow could be a consequence of what the Sultan told him (which, however, Mr. Bogdanov could not hear from the music and drums), and therefore I decided to pay Galil-Pashf his bow. The Sovereign continued his work in the inner chambers, and we went to our boat.