CHAP. XI.
TEHERAN.
VISIT FROM THE SECOND MINISTER—THE COURT POET—FIRST CONFERENCE—CEREMONIAL OF THE PUBLIC INTRODUCTION—PRESENTS TO THE KING BROUGHT BY THE ENVOY—ORDER OF THE PROCESSION—PRESENTATION—THE KING OF PERSIA—PEACOCK THRONE—THE COURT—THE PALACE—THE PRIME MINISTER; HIS LEVEE—PERSIAN TRAVELLER—PRESENT TO THE ENVOY—CEREMONIES OF THE MOHARREM.
It had been decided on the day of our arrival, that the first visit was to be paid by the owner of the house in which we lodged, Hajee Mahomed Hossein Khan, Ameen-ed-Doulah, or Lord Treasurer: but on the next day the Minister seemed to make some hesitation in according the compliment, and said that he rather expected it from the Envoy. Sir Harford Jones, however, immediately obviated the difficulty by representing that even among the most uncivilized nations the host pays the first attentions to his guest. When this explanation was satisfactorily received the Minister came, and with him the King’s Chief Poet, and some other officers of state.
We went through the common routine of compliments and presentations. When the poet was introduced to the Envoy, the conversation turned on poetry and the works of the bard himself. He was extolled above the skies; all exclaimed that in this age he had not an equal on earth, and some declared that he was superior even to Ferdousi, the Homer of their country. To all this the author listened with very complacent credulity, and at length recited some of his admired effusions. His genius, however, is paid by something more substantial than praise; for he is a great favourite at court, and, according to my Persian informers, receives from the King a gold tomaun for every couplet; and once indeed secured the remission of a large debt due to the King by writing a poem in his praise. Yet the people, from whom the supplies of this munificence are drawn, groan whenever they hear that the poet’s muse has been productive. Having exhausted the topics of the weather, and the relative temperature and air of Teheran, Ispahan, and Shiraz, our host took his leave, telling us that the house was our own, a common compliment of the East. In the evening the Envoy went to a conference with him, and settled some points of importance in the negociation. The ceremonial of the Envoy’s presentation to the King on the following day was then arranged; and it was agreed that the audience should be exactly the same as that given to Embassadors at Constantinople.
On the morrow accordingly we made every preparation of form for our introduction; and each appeared in green slippers with high heels, and red cloth stockings, the court dress always worn before the King of Persia. Early in the morning we received a message desiring us to be in readiness. At about twelve o’clock we proceeded to the palace. The presents for the King were laid out on a piece of white satin over a gold dish. It consisted of His Britannic Majesty’s picture set round with diamonds; a diamond of sixty-one carats valued at twenty thousand pounds; a small box, on the lid of which Windsor Castle was carved in ivory; a box made from the oak of the Victory, with the battle of Trafalgar in ivory; and a small blood-stone Mosaic box for opium. The Kings letter (which was mounted in a highly ornamented blue morocco box, and covered with a case of white satin, and an elegant net) was also laid on a piece of white satin. The Envoy carried the letter, and I the presents. When we went forwards to place them in the takht-e-ravan (the litter), and again, when the procession advanced, the trumpet sounded “God save the King.”
The order of the procession was as follows:
Officers of the King of Persia,
Led horses belonging to the Envoy,
Native officers of cavalry, swords drawn,
The trumpeter,
Four troopers,
The takht-e-ravan,
Guard of native cavalry, swords drawn,
Persian officers of the Envoy’s household, in scarlet and gold, dismounted,
The Envoy,
The Secretary and Gentlemen of the Mission,
Guard of native cavalry under Cornet Willock, with drawn swords,
colours displayed,
Servants, &c.
The procession proceeded through miserable streets, which were crowded by the curious, until we came to the large Maidan, at the entrance of which were chained a lion and a bear. It then turned to the right, and, crossing over a bridge, entered into the Ark or fortified Palace of the King, the building which contains every part of the royal household. Here the Envoy, as a mark of respect to the King of Persia, ordered the guard to sheath swords. There were troops on both sides, and cannon in several parts, and when we reached the first court, two very thick lines of soldiers were ranged to form an avenue for us. They were disciplined and dressed something after our manner, and went through their exercise as we passed. About thirty paces from the Imperial gate the takht-e-ravan stopped: we then dismounted, and the Envoy and I advancing uncovered to it, took out the King’s letter and the dish of presents. We proceeded through dark passages, until we came to a small room, where were seated Norooz Khan (a relation of the royal family, and Ish Agassi, or Master of the Ceremonies) and Mahomed Hussein Khan Mervee, a favourite of the King, and a deputy Lord Chamberlain, with other noblemen, who were waiting to entertain us. Our presentation was to take place in the Khalvet Khonéh, or private Hall of Audience, for it was then the Ashooreh of the month of Moharrem, a time of mourning, when all matters of ceremony or of business are suspended at court: the King of Persia therefore paid a signal respect to his Britannic Majesty, in fixing the audience of his Envoy so immediately after his arrival, and more particularly at a season when public affairs are so generally intermitted.
After we had sat here about half an hour, smoked, and drank coffee, the Master of the Ceremonies informed us that the King was ready, and we proceeded again. We entered the great court of the Dewan Khonéh, (the Hall of Public Audience) on all sides of which stood officers of the household, and in the centre walk were files of the new-raised troops, disciplined after the European manner, who went through the platoon as we passed, while the little Persian drummers beat their drums. The line presented arms to the Envoy, and the officers saluted. In the middle of the Dewan Khonéh was the famous throne built at Yezd of the marble of the place, on which the King sits in public, but to which we did not approach sufficiently near for any accurate observation. We ascended two steps on the left, and then passed under arched ways into another spacious court filled in the same manner; but the men were mostly sitting down, and did not rise as we approached. We crossed the centre of this court, and came to a small and mean door, which led us through a dark and intricate passage. When we were arrived at the end of it we found a door still more wretched, and worse indeed than that of any English stable. Here Norooz Khan paused, and marshaled us in order: the Envoy, first, with the King’s letter; I followed next with the presents, and then at the distance of a few paces the rest of the gentlemen. The door was opened, and we were ushered into a court laid out in canals and playing fountains, and at intervals lined by men richly dressed, who were all the grandees of the kingdom. At the extremity of a room, open in front by large windows, was the King in person. When we were opposite to him, the Master of the Ceremonies stopped, and we all made low bows; we approached most slowly again, and at another angle stopped and bowed again. Then we were taken immediately fronting the King, where again we bowed most profoundly. Our Conductor then said aloud,
“Most mighty Monarch, Director of the World,
Sir Harford Jones, Baronet, Embassador from your Majesty’s Brother, the King of England, having brought a letter and some presents, requests to approach the dust of your Majesty’s feet: (Hag paee mobarek bashed, literally,) that the dust of your feet may be fortunate.”