The Ambassador, moreover, procured him passports and letters from the King of Persia and his ministers, and a Mehmander, who would have been responsible for his life and property, as far as the Persian dominions extend. His impatience, however, to proceed, induced him to leave the king’s camp some hours before his Mehmander was ready, and being in a Turkish dress, and not known to be an Englishman, he was murdered by some wandering tribe of Kurds or Turkomans, near the Kaflán Kúh or Tiger Mountain, after having crossed the river Kezel Ouzan, which separates Azerbarján (Atropatera) from Irak.
He had no English attendant, but whilst he remained in Persia, kept one groom and one valet, both Persians, and had two or three horses.
He left no papers or memoranda behind him when he departed from Tebriz, but a few dispersed fragments were collected at the spot where the body was found.
He often avowed his intention of publishing his travels to Bokhara and Samarkand, and he purposed, had it been practicable, to return by the northern end of the Caspian sea, as he was to have gone by the southern end of it. The Ambassador made such representations to the King of Persia, that both he and his son Abbas Mirza took the greatest pains to discover the assassins.
Mr. B. was in appearance and indeed in fact, one of the most reserved men in the world—cold, cautious, and wary; and yet, in this last journey, he was so impatient to proceed, that he not only refused to wait for the escort, which the Ambassador undertook to provide for him, but he made a display of the gold which was to enable him to accomplish his purpose.
This last fact, though strongly asserted, is so incompatible with his general habits and character, that it may well excite a suspicion of its accuracy. True it certainly is, that the same morning brought to England the news of his safe arrival at Tabriz, on his way to Kurdistan, and of his being murdered by the very band, who undertook to be his guides and protectors.
The intelligence of his death came to England through Somnerat, the celebrated French traveller. It is, however, to be hoped, that as some of his papers remain in private hands, the public will have, sooner or later, the benefit of his observations, as far as he was actually able to proceed.
The annotations relating to Browne, in our manuscript, conclude with a paragraph, in which serious regret is expressed, at his scepticism with respect to religious subjects. Indeed he appears to have been an avowed disciple of the school of Volney, and the other miscreant writers of that stamp.
He has deformed and defaced his otherwise valuable publications, with some passages so bad as not to be transcribed, and some remarks which he has inserted on education, prove that he had adopted many of the wildest absurdities of the modern French philosophy.
The following particulars concerning the latter part of the life of Browne, are added by him who revised and has superintended the publication of these volumes.