decoration consisting of a diamond sun attached to a cordon of red cloth
covered with pearls.

Asker-Khan made a greater impression at Paris than the Turkish
ambassador. He was generous and more gallant, paid his court with more
address, and conformed more readily to French customs and manners. The
Turk was irascible, austere, and irritable, while the Persian was fond of
and well understood a joke. One day, however, he became red with anger,
and it must be admitted not without good reason.

At a concert given in the apartments of the Empress Josephine, Asker-
Khan, whom the music evidently did not entertain very highly, at first
applauded by ecstatic gestures and rolling his eyes in admiration, until
at last nature overcame politeness, and the ambassador fell sound asleep.
His Excellency's position was not the best for sleeping, however, as he
was standing with his back against the wall, with his feet braced against
a sofa on which a lady was seated. It occurred to some of the officers
of the palace that it would be a good joke to take away suddenly this
point of support, which they accomplished with all ease by simply
beginning a conversation with the lady on the sofa, who rising suddenly,
the seat slipped over the floor; his Excellency's feet followed this
movement, and the ambassador, suddenly deprived of the weight which had
balanced him, extended his length on the floor. On this rude awakening,
he tried to stop himself in his fall by clutching at his neighbors, the
furniture, and the curtains, uttering at the same time frightful screams.
The officers who had played this cruel joke upon him begged him, with the
most ridiculously serious air, to place himself on a stationary chair in
order to avoid the recurrence of such an accident; while the lady who had
been made the accomplice in this practical joke, with much difficulty
stifled her laughter, and his Excellency was consumed with an anger which