grandees of the kingdom, was agreeably and hospitably received by the courtiers, particularly by the wife of the grand pontiff, who was the king's aunt. This lady, in order to manifest the friendship she entertained for him, though in consequence of the peculiar manners of the country their souls only had met, made him a present of eight chests of dried sweetmeats, scented with amber and the richest perfumes of the East. Her husband was no less distinguished by his friendship for our traveller, who nowhere in Persia experienced more genuine kindness or generosity than from this noble family.
During this visit to Casbin, Chardin had the honour, as it is vulgarly termed, of presenting two of his countrymen to the shah; and so powerful is the force of habit and prejudice, that this able, learned, and virtuous man really imagined it an honour to approach and converse familiarly with an opium-eating, cruel, and unprincipled sot, merely because he wore a tiara and could sport with the destinies of a great empire! The nazir, in introducing the traveller, observed, "Sire, this is Chardin, your merchant." To which the shah replied, with a smile, "He is a very dear merchant."—"Your majesty is right," added the nazir; "he is a politic man; he has overreached the whole court." This the minister uttered with a smile; and he had a right to smile, says Chardin, for he took especial care that quite the contrary should happen.
Chardin soon after this took his final leave of the court of Persia, and returned by way of Ispahan to Bander-Abassi, whence he purposed sailing by an English ship for Surat. The fear of falling into the hands of the Dutch, then at war with France, prevented him, however, from putting his design into execution; and relinquishing the idea of again visiting Hindostan, he returned to Europe in 1677. Of the latter part of his life few particulars are known. Prevented by religious considerations from residing
