aid,
loses somewhat of its effect when it is known that the good Prince never
failed to address it to every stranger who presented himself. He next
inquired of the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the presents he intended
for me were ready, and particularly recommended that they should not be
worth less than three hundred toumans. I then took leave of His Majesty,
backing out of the room as well as I could, while he continued to bestow
on me his smiles and gracious words. The next day, on my way to the
Russian Embassy, I met four of the King's servants, slowly leading in
great ceremony a tall, lame, bay horse. Before they accosted me to tell
me so, I had guessed that it was intended for me. I had not had time to
take on a fitting air for the occasion before my groom, who was walking
beside my horse, began to abuse the Schah's people in most lively terms,
refusing to admit such a sorry jade into my stables. In spite of my
opposition to so rude an action, and my exclamations in bad Turkish, the
Persians returned to the Palace stables, where they chose another horse,
which they brought me direct to the Embassy. My groom was not more
inclined to receive it than the first, nor to listen to my
remonstrances, and those of a dragoman of the Embassy, whose aid I had
invoked in order to declare that I accepted the royal gift with due
respect. All was useless; the quarrel proceeded,--my squire insisting on
performing his duty in spite of myself, and only interrupting himself to
make me understand that he was acting in my interest. The Schah's
servants at last, reduced to silence by the observations of so zealous a
follower, departed once more with their horse to submit the affair to
the Prime Minister, who was to decide in his wisdom whether the animal
was or was not worthy of being offered to me. A mixture of cleverness
and cunning, with an almost childish naivete, seemed to me a striking
feature in the Persian character. Hadji-Mirza-Agassi pronounced the
steed to be to a certain degree valuable, and requested me to excuse
it,--for the present a better could not be offered,--adding, that on my
return I should receive a magnificent one."

Prince Soltykoff's remarks generally relate more to the habits and
indications of character observable among those whom he visits than to
any material objects or physical sensations. The notions entertained of
politeness in Persia seem especially to have struck him, as our readers
may have seen by