390 DEPARTURE FROM TEHERAN. 
countries ; and informed us that as it was a received fact amongst 
them, that the being seated in a new house at an auspicious 
hour was ever productive of good fortune, he had expressly availed 
himself of such a circumstance to receive the ratification of our 
peace. I had still my letter of recall to deliver, which being perceived 
by His Majesty he condescended to call me to him, and as I knelt down 
to deliver it, he did not bid me place it on the carpet before him, as 
on other occasions, but took it at once into his hand from mine, which 
I was informed was a mark of his special favour. After the King had 
asked Mr. Willock a great many questions upon the state of the Euro¬ 
pean world, and particularly what he had observed in his passage 
through Russia, we were dismissed by the usual nod of the King’s 
head. 
The 6th of October was at length fixed for my departure, and the 
King was pleased to grant my audience of leave on the day preceding. 
Although His Majesty in the most flattering terms expressed his sor¬ 
row at my departure, yet I must own that I never felt so much happi¬ 
ness as on the morning when I made my exit from the gates of 
Teheran. My sensations were exactly those expressed by Tourne- 
fort, when he determined to return to France.* Although in the 
heart of Persia, yet I had scarcely quitted Teheran, before it seemed 
that I could perceive the dome of St. Paul’s church, and the spires 
of London. In Persia there is nothing to attach the heart — the 
people (with some exceptions) are false, the soil is dreary, and dis¬ 
ease is in the climate. At a distance from civilized life, seldom hearing 
from our country and friends, without the resources of society, the 
life we led was little better than a state of exile. My regrets, which 
were confined to parting from those who had been my companions, 
were heightened by the thought that I left them to pursue that life 
which had been so irksome to myself. 
I was accompanied as far as Tabriz by Messrs. Willock and Camp¬ 
bell, where we arrived on the 26th. We found the Prince engaged in 
* Tournefort’s Travels, 21st Letter. 
