On
The 22d, I Went In Person To Receive These Phirmaunds, And Carried The
Merchants Along With Me, Together With Some Pearls The Prince Was Eager
To See, And Which Were Pretended To Belong To Mr Towerson.
The prince
had received some vague accounts of our having pearls to the value of
twenty or thirty thousand pounds, which he hoped to have extracted from
us.
When his secretary saw our small pearls, he observed that his master
had maunds of such, and if we had no better, we might take these away.
You may judge how basely covetous these people are of jewels. I told him
that we had procured these from a gentlewoman to satisfy the prince, and
as they could not be made better, it was uncivil to be angry with
merchants who had done their best to shew their good will.
I then spoke to him about the phirmaunds, when he bluntly told me I
should have none; for as we had deceived the prince's hopes, he would
disappoint us. I had asked leave to depart, and I might come to take
leave whenever I pleased. To this I answered, that nothing could please
me more, but that I should requite their injustice in another place, for
I should now apply to the king, and depend no more on them, as I saw
their conduct was made up of covetousness and unworthiness. So I arose
to depart, but he recalled me, desiring that I might come next day to
the king and prince together, when I should have complete satisfaction.
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