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TEHERAN. 
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 Khoneh, 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 Khoneh, (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 Khoneh 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 
