Usbek to Rustan in Isfahan [1]

A personage is appearing here in the guise of Persian ambassador, insolently making fools of the two greatest kings on earth. To the monarch of the French he brings presents which ours would never offer to a king or Irimette or Georgia [2] : and in his niggardly miserliness he has stigmatized the majesty of two empires.

He made himself look ridiculous before a people that claims to be the most refined in Europe, and he has caused it to be said in the Occident that the king of kings [3] reigns only over barbarians.

He has received honors which it seemed that he himself wished had been refused to him. And, as if the French court had had Persian grandeur more at heart than he, it has made him appear with dignity before a people who hold him in contempt. [4]

Do not say this in Isfahan : spare the head of a poor bloke. I do not want our ministers to punish him for their own imprudence, and for the unworthy choice they have made. [5]

Paris this last day of the moon of Gemmadi II, 1715