text:  Time was within the memory of most of the present generation when the sight of a genuine Oriental in a London drawing-room except in the angel visits "few and far between " of a Persian or Moorish ambassador was a rarity beyond the reach of even the most determined lion-hunters; and if by any fortunate chance a stray Persian khan or a "very magnificent three-tailed bashaw " was brought within the circle of the quidnuncs of the day the sayings and doings of the illustrious stranger were chronicled with as much minuteness as if he had been the denizen of another planet