He Said He Was Only A Poor Servant
Of The King, Yet Wished I Might Have Some Content, And Had Therefore
Invited Me To A Slight Banquet, That We Might Eat Bread And Salt
Together, To Seal A Friendship Which He Entreated Me To Accept.
There
were many great men, he alleged, who were better able to shew me
kindness, but were proud and false-hearted, and he wished me therefore
to trust none of them.
For, if I had any business to transact concerning
the Portuguese or any other, they who acted as my interpreters would
never deliver the truth, but only what pleased themselves, or would give
satisfaction in the relation. That, therefore, I should never be rightly
understood, nor be able to effect my business without being abused and
cheated, nor ever clearly know the situation in which I stood, until I
had an Englishman who could speak Persian, who was able rightly to
deliver what I wished to have said, without using any other person. And,
if I could find any such, the king would readily grant me leave to
employ him, having conceived a good opinion of me; insomuch, that the
preceding night, at the Guzalcan, when the jewels of Sheik Ferid,
governor of Lahore, who was lately deceased, were presented to him, he
remembered me of his own accord, and seeing a picture of himself which
pleased him, he delivered it to Asaph Khan, commanding him to send it to
me, that I might wear it for his sake, with many words of favour
concerning me, which would make all the great men respect me.
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