M. Boré,[BT] with all his learning and enlightenment, was a religious fanatic and profoundly intolerant of heretics. After residing with him for a fortnight, and having been treated by him with great kindness and hospitality, I found myself compelled, to my great sorrow, to leave his house [in 1840] under the following circumstances. The Embassy which the King of the French[BU] had sent to the Shah had not succeeded in obtaining the object of its mission, and had left Persia much irritated at its failure, which was mainly attributed by it and the French Government to English intrigues. The truth was, I believe, that they had been duped by Hussein Khan, who had been sent as ambassador to Paris. The subject was an unpleasant one for me to discuss, and I avoided it in conversation with my host. One day, however, at dinner, it was raised by M. Flandin,[5] the French artist, who denounced my country and countrymen in very offensive terms, M. Boré himself joining in the abuse. They accused the English Government and English agents of having had recourse to poison to prevent Frenchmen from establishing themselves and gaining influence in Persia, and of having actually engaged assassins to murder M. Outray, when on his way on a diplomatic mission to Tehran. I denied, with indignation, these ridiculous and calumnious charges, and high words having ensued, I moved from M. Boré's house to a ruined building occupied by Mr. Burgess.[BV][6] [Footnote BS: See note 9, Prologue.] [Footnote BT: M. Boré resided in Julfa, Iṣfahán. He was a layman sent by the French Government to obtain a foothold for the French in Írán. Later he became a Jesuit priest, and was the head of a Jesuit establishment in Galata when Layard met him in Constantinople. It is likely he sent copious notes to his superiors about the Báb and the Bábís.] [Footnote BU: Louis-Philippe.] [Footnote BV: An English merchant in Tabríz.] Failure in London and tortuosity in Paris did not commend themselves to Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh; and so, for the next few years, Ḥusayn [_Kh_]án lived under a cloud. But in 1845 we find him riding high in the province of Fárs. He had been given that governorship because he was reputed to be a man stern in his judgments, and Fárs needed an iron hand. Indeed Fárs had been in a terrifying plight. The people of [_Sh_]íráz, high and low alike, had effectively played cat and mouse with the governors sent from Ṭihrán to rule over them. Firaydún Mírzá, the Farmán-Farmá, Muḥammad [_Sh_]áh's own brother, much favoured by Ḥájí Mírzá Áqásí and much detested by the [_Sh_]írázís, was ousted by a combination of the grandees and the mob.