Lieut.-Colonel Charles Stuart, Journal of Residence in Northern Persia and the Adjacent Provinces of Turkey (London, 1854)
24th.—We dined with Count Simonich. He has not long been at Teheran: the massacre of Grebyadoff showed that the capital was no safe residence in troubled times for a Russian mission, and now the Count lives in the Ark, where he can be protected in case of need. The room in which we found His Excellency and suite was small and hot. Brandy, anchovies, and cheese were handed about immediately after our arrival. We were obliged to cross an open court to reach the dining-room, a regular Persian apartment, fantastically painted, and very cold on the window side, where I had the misfortune to sit. We were obliged to swallow an unmerciful quantity of liqueurs after dinner; and when we returned to the drawing-room, cherry brandy was brought to us in tea-cups. The Count's handsome little boys, the youngest of whom is only seven years old, drank like fishes, or like Georgians, which, according to their father, would be the more appropriate simile.
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