In the course of it, we have a description of Constantinople, which is the more curious because it is given at the moment when it tottered to its fall;[325] of Trebizond, with its Greek churches and clergy;[326] of Teheran, now the capital of Persia;[327] and of Samarcand, where they found the great Conqueror himself, and were entertained by him with a series of magnificent festivals continuing almost to the moment of his death,[328] which happened while they were at his court, and was followed by troubles embarrassing to their homeward journey.[329] The honest Clavijo seems to have been well pleased to lay down his commission at the feet of his sovereign, whom he found at Alcalá; and though he lingered about the court for a year, and was one of the witnesses of the king’s will at Christmas, yet on the death of Henry he retired to Madrid, his native place, where he spent the last four or five years of his life, and where, in 1412, he was buried in the convent of Saint Francis, with his fathers, whose chapel he had piously rebuilt.[330] [325] They were much struck with the works in mosaic in Constantinople, and mention them repeatedly, pp. 51, 59, and elsewhere. The reason why they did not, on the first day, see all the relics they wished to see in the church of San Juan de la Piedra is very quaint, and shows great simplicity of manners at the imperial court: “The Emperor went to hunt, and left the keys with the Empress his wife, and when she gave them, she forgot to give those where the said relics were,” etc. p. 52. [326] Page 84, etc. [327] Page 118, etc. [328] Pages 149-198. [329] Page 207, etc. [330] Hijos de Madrid, Ilustres en Santidad, Dignidades, Armas, Ciencias, y Artes, Diccionario Histórico, su Autor D. Joseph Ant. Alvarez y Baena, Natural de la misma Villa; Madrid, 1789-91, 4 tom. 4to;--a book whose materials, somewhat crudely put together, are abundant and important, especially in what relates to the literary history of the Spanish capital. A Life of Clavijo is to be found in it, Tom. IV. p. 302.