Part 9 (1/2)

?And is it true,? said I, ?that they are so irascible, that if perchance their word is doubted, and they are called liars, they will fight on such an occasion till they die??

?That is also said of them,? answered the doctor; ?but the case has not happened to , which is, that if they happen to ad you possess, you must not say to them, as you would to one of us, ?It is a present to you, it is your property,? lest they should take you at your word and keep it, which you knoould be inconvenient, and not what you intended; but you must endeavour as much as possible to speak what you think, for that is what they like?

?But then, if such is the case,? said I, ?do not you think that the Frank doctor will findto be sick when I a medicine from him for myself, when I want it for another??

?No, no,? said the Mirza; ?you are to be sick, really sick, you know, and then it will be no lie Go, Hajji, o, eat your cucu? And then coaxingany further objections to his unexpected request, he gently pushedwhether to laugh or to cry at the new posture which my affairs had taken To sicken without any stipulated rehat I could not consent to do, so I retraced ain with er there, having apparently retreated into his hareed to proceed on my errand

[Illustration: ?I pretended to receive a violent twitch? 13jpg]

CHAPTER XX

He succeeds in deceiving two of the faculty, getting a pill froold from the other

I inquired my way to the ambassador?s house, and actually set off with the intention of putting the doctor?s wishes into execution, and getting, if possible, a writhing disorder on the road; but, upon more mature reflection, I recollected that a stoht be purchased at a ht disagree with an old grand vizier, yet it was a hundred to one but they would find an easy digestion in a young person like em, if I could not procure it in a ned to be ill, the doctor would very probably detect me, and turn me out of his house for a cheat, so I preferred the easiermyself off for one of the servants of the royal hareht attain ly stepped into one of the old clothes? shops in the bazaar, and hired a cloak fora roll of paper in ht pass for so more than a common servant

I soon found out where the a in mind all that Mirza Ahmak had told me, I rather approached the door of the doctor?s residence with fear and hesitation I found the avenues to it croith poor wo infants in their arms, who, I was told, caainst the smallpox This, it was supposed for political reasons, the Franks were anxious to proratis, he had no lack of patients, particularly of the poorer sort, who could not approach a Persian doctor without a present, or a good fee in their hand

On entering, I found a man seated in the middle of the room, near an elevated wooden platform, upon which were piled boxes, books, and a variety of instruments and utensils, the uses of which were unknown to me He was in dress and appearance theinfidel I had ever seen His chin and upper lip ithout the vestige of a hair upon them, as like a eunuch as possible He kept his head e round his neck, with other contrivances on the sides of his cheeks, as if he were anxious to conceal soht to his body, and his outward coat in particular was cut off at such sharp angles, that it was evident cloth was a scarce and dear commodity in his country The lower part of his dress was particularly improper, and he kept his boots on in his roo upon, which struck me as a custom subversive of all decorue; for, as soon as he saw me, he asked me how I did, and then immediately remarked that it was a fine day, which was so self-evident a truth, that I iht it necessary to make him some fine speeches, and flattered hireat reputation he had already acquired in Persia; that Locman[35] was a fool when compared to one of his wisdom; and that as for his contemporaries, the Persian physicians, they were not fit to handle his pestle for hi hi heard of the wonderful effects of his rand vizier, had ordered his historian to insert the circumstance in the annals of the en,--that a considerable sensation had been produced in his lio, for many of the ladies had i to ian slave was, in fact, at this reat pain,--that I had been deputed by the chief eunuch, owing to a special order from his majesty, to procure medicine similar to that which the firstthe doctor immediately to furnish me with some

He see a short time, said that it was not his custo theood; but that if he found that the slave was in want of his aid, he should be very happy to attend her

I answered to this, that as to seeing the face of the Georgian slave, that was totally out of the question, for noher husband In cases of extreht be permitted to feel a woman?s pulse, but then it must be done when a veil covers the hand

To which the Frank replied, ?In order to judge of my patient?s case I ue also?

?Looking at the tongue is totally new in Persia,? said I; ?and I aht in the seraglio, without a special order froue first?

?Well, then,? said the doctor, ?recollect, that if I deliverany responsibility upon myself for its effects; for if it does not cure it may perhaps kill?

When I had assured him that no hare chest, which appeared to be full of drugs, and taking there from the smallest quantity of a certain white powder, he mixed it up, with soave it me, with proper directions how it should be ade, I began to question him upon the nature and properties of this particular eneral He answered me without any reserve; not like our Persian doctors, who only make a parade of fine words, and who adjust every ailment that comes before them to what they read in their Galen, their Hippocrates, and their Abou Avicenna

When I had learned all I could, I left hireat demonstration of friendshi+p and thankfulness, and i fordivested myself of my borrowed cloak and resumed my own dress, I appeared before him with a face made up for the occasion, for I wished to make him believe that the lettuce and cucumbers had done their duty At every word I pretended to receive a violent twitch, and acted my part so true to life, that the stern and inflexible nature of Mirza Ahmak himself was moved into somewhat like pity for me

?There! there,? said I, as I entered his apartment, ?in the na to be bent double, I roans: ?there! I have followed your orders, and now throw enerosity? He endeavoured to take the object of his search froave him to understand that I expected prompt reward, I made indications of an intention to s it, unless he actually gaveable to answer the king?s interrogatories concerning the pill, so anxious to get it into his possession, that he actually pressed a gold piece upon rant him a favour than the doctor did me for my pill I should very probably have continued the deceit a little longer, and have endeavoured to extract another piece fro a dose of his own h ti all of a sudden to have received relief, I gave up ot possession, he looked at it with intense eagerness, and turned it over and over on his pale than before At length, after per him fully to exhaust his conjectures, I told hi that it was composed of _jivch_, or mercury