When They Lay
For Dead, He Commanded The Standers-By To Spurn Them With Their Feet,
And The Door-Keepers To Break Their Staves Upon Them.
Thus cruelly
mangled and bruised, they were carried away, one of them dying on the
spot.
Some would have excused themselves, by blaming the ambassador; but
the king said he had only ordered a cup or two to be given to him.
Though drunkenness be a common and frequent vice in the king, it is yet
strictly forbidden; and no one can enter the guzelkhan where the king
sits, till the porters have smelt his breath, and if he have only tasted
wine he is refused admittance; and if this reason of his absence be
known, he shall scarcely escape the whip. When the king has taken
offence at any one, even a father dares not speak for his son. Thus the
king made all the company pay for the Persian ambassador's reward.
The 26th, I went to Sorocolla, the prince's secretary, to get the
promised firmaun; when he sent me a copy as fraudulent and ambiguous as
the former, which I refused to accept. I drew up the clause I so much
disliked myself, which I sent back, and was promised to have it sealed
next day.
The day of the king's removal being at hand, I sent on the 28th to Asaph
Khan, to have a warrant for carriages, as our merchants had sought all
over the town for carriages to convey their goods to Agra, and could not
procure any.
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