Soyer's Culinary Campaign: Being Historical Reminiscences of the Late War.: With The Plain Art of Cookery for Military and Civil Institutions

house being but a few paces. When I arrived, I at once retired to my apartment, quite worn out with fatigue. Having taken some refreshment, I made up my mind not to dine at the table d’hôte. I learnt that Colonel St. George, Captain Ponsonby, &c., had gone to the Hôtel de l’Europe, and I therefore felt free for that evening. About five o’clock, Mons. Pantaleone Veracleo, a young Greek, the son of the hotel-keeper, came and informed me that the table d’hôte would be ready at six. Thanking him for his attention, I proceeded to ask several questions about Constantinople, and also the distance from the hotel to the British Embassy? “Not five minutes’ walk, sir,” said he; “you can see it from the top of the hotel. Our house is the highest in Pera!” We mounted to the terrace, and my conductor pointed it out to me. From this terrace I again beheld a similar panorama to that which I had witnessed on board the _Simois_, and by which I had been so much charmed. In order to enjoy it fully, I expressed my desire to remain a short time alone. Having directed my attention to the different points of view, Mr. Veracleo left me. CHAPTER VII. A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE FROM PERA. An accomplished linguist--Le Petit Champ des Morts--Bird’s-eye view--Breakfast table of the hotel--English Embassy--Interview with Lady Stratford de Redcliffe--The sanctuary of high diplomacy--Lord Stratford de Redcliffe--Signor Roco Vido--His apartment--Importance of a good dinner--Lord Stratford’s diplomatic banquet postponed--Probable consequences--Quotation from the _Gastronomic Regenerator_. The rays of the sun on that showery March day assumed, towards five p.m., in the regions of the West, a most brilliant aspect. The vaporous edges of the humid clouds seemed gilded with vermilion and silver tints. The floods of light, like living fire, fell upon the rich masses of the domes of various mosques, and hundreds of pointed and slender minarets. While gazing in loneliness and contemplation, from the terrace of the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs, at this charming spot in the East, to which the beautiful mirage of an Oriental sunset