and the second, Mirza Abul Hassan, who was then the Governor of Shooster, was dragged to the capital as a prisoner. The circumstances of his seizure and escape from death are better described in his own words. He told me, “ I was asleep when the King's officers entered into my room; they seized me, stripped me of my clothes, and, tying my hands behind my back, dragged me to Koom, where the King then was; treating me during the march with all the rigour and intemperance that generally befalls a man in disgrace. The moment I reached Koom, the King pronounced the order for my execution; I was already on my knees, my neck was made bare, and the executioner had unsheathed his sword to sever my head from my body, when the hand of the Almighty interposed, and a messenger in great haste announced my reprieve. I was indebted for my life to a man who had known me from my boyhood, and who had long cherished me as his son. This worthy man, by name Mirza Reza Kouli, the moment he heard sentence of death passed upon me, threw himself at the feet of the King, and, pleading my youth and inoffensiveness, entreated that I might be pardoned. The King yielded to his entreaties; my pardon was announced; and I still live to praise the Almighty for his great goodness and commiseration towards me."

After his providential escape, Mirza Abul Hassan, (fearing that the King might repent of his lenity towards him) fled from his country, although he had received his Majesty's order to go to Shiraz, and to remain there; he left Persia with the determination of never more returning, until the disgraces of his family had been obliterated, and until the wrath of the King against him had entirely subsided. He fled first to Shooster, the city in which he had so recently been all-powerful; and there he experienced the hospitality for which the Arabs are so justly renowned. As his administration had been lenient and temperate, he found a host of friends ready to relieve him; and on quitting Shooster, miserable and destitute of even the common necessaries of life, the inhabitants came to him in a crowd and forced seven thousand piastres upon him. From Shooster he went to Bussora, he then crossed through the heart of Arabia, frequently obliged to proceed on foot, for want of an animal to carry him, until he reached Mecca. On this journey he visited Deriyéh, the capital of Abdul Assiz the then chief of the Wahabees. From Mecca he went to Medina; and having performed all the devotions of a pilgrim he returned to Bussora. At Bussora he learnt that the King was still inveterate against his family; and, finding an English ship on the point of sailing for India, he embarked on board of her, and shortly after reached Calcutta, at the time when the Marquis of Wellesley was Governor-General of India. From

Calcutta he went to Moorshedabad, then to Hyderabad, Poonah, and Bombay; having remained altogether about two years and a half in India. At Bombay he received a firman from the King to return to Persia; by which he was assured of the King's forgiveness, and of his having been received into favour. He obeyed the firman, and ever since has enjoyed the royal protection. He has not, indeed, occupied any specific post under government, but has been the Homme d' Affaires to his brother-in-law the Ameen-ed-Doulah, second Vizier and Lord Treasurer, by which means he has been continually in active and useful life, until he was nominated the King of Persia's Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of England.

Anecdotes which occured during the Ambassador's Residence at Constantinople, and his Voyage from thence to England.

In a short time after my (Mr. Morier's) arrival, the Persian Envoy and suit rejoined me at Constantinople. The splendour of the scenery, and the great novelty of every object about that city, did not seem to strike them with the surprise that I had expected. Few people are more sensible than they are to any thing that is new and extraordinary; and few more curious and inquisitive. I could therefore only attribute their apparent indifference to the downright jealousy which they entertain of the Turks. Often when (struck with the beauties of the very fine tracts of country which we were passing) I have attempted to make them join in my feelings of admiration, they merely yielded a cool assent; always endeavouring to lessen my ardour by saying, "what is the use of such a country if it be without order?” And they considered almost as a gross national insult any comparison between the arid, unshaded mountains of Persia, and the splendid foliage and rich vegetation of the Turkish dominions. As, however, they were very keenly alive to the beauties of nature, and enjoyed much the shade of trees and the refreshing sound of running water; and as such spots occurred constantly during the course of our journey, they could not restrain their expressions of delight, though they always added at the same time, "What a pitty this charming country is in the hands of these people! If we had it, (and God grant we shall) what a paradise it would be."

I frequently visited the Mirza Abul Hassan at Scutari. The windows of his apartment had a fine view of the great extent of Constantinople, the Seraglio point, the shipping in the harbour, the palaces of Dolma Baghehe, and part of the Sultan's fleet, (consisting of two three-deckers, and five seventy-fours, at their anchorage) and all the activity spread over the Bosphorus by the

numerous vessels of all descriptions, rowing about in every direction, altogether forming the most beautiful picture that an imagination the most fertile could picture to itself, and contrasted in the strongest manner with the misery, dulness, and sterility, of Teheran and its surrounding scenery. Whenever I called his attention to it, he seemed to shrink from the observation; and if I talked of the Turkish fleet, he said, "who can look at any ships after he has seen English ships?" Indeed, he was so little disposed to compliment the Turks, that when the Caimakan, being desirous to inspire him with a grand idea of the naval force of the Sultan, sent a Turkish officer to conduct him near the fleet, the Persian replied, "I have seen English ships much finer than any thing that you can shew me."

Yet in cases where no national jealousy intervened, whenever hospitality and kindness were shewn the Persian, I must do him the justice to add, that he never omitted to make the strongest acknowledgments of them; and, I believe, the fullest returns in his power. The most trifling attention never appeared, from the general conversation and temper of him or his people, to be thrown away upon them. The Envoy always spoke in raptures of the kindnesses which he had received in India, mentioning the names of his friends every time with an increased delight, and apparently with an unfeigned sincerity.

During the Mirza's residence at Constantinople, he was invited by Mr. Adair to an entertainment, given on the occasion, and consisting of a dinner under tents at the Buyukderé meadow, and a ball and supper at night, in a house borrowed for the purpose. The Mirza did not seem at all astonished at the introduction of ladies into the society of men, as he had already witnessed our customs in the English settlements in India; but his attendants, who had just left the very innermost parts of Persia, by one common consent collected themselves together in a corner, and eyed every thing with the most anxious astonishment and attention. Their natural loquacity seemed to have quite forsaken them, and they sat with their mouths wide open, and eyes fullstaring, aud uttered not a single word.

When the hour of dancing arrived, the Mirza entered the ballroom, escorted by all his servants. There his people were more than ever in amaze, particularly when the whole assembly was in motion. Of all the dances the Waltz excited the most wonder and perhaps apprehension, for one of them quietly asked my servant in Turkish, "Pray does any thing ensue after all this?"

In the national character of the Persian, the most striking difference from that of the Turk, is perhaps the facility with which he adopts foreign manners and customs. I remarked two instances during our stay at Constantinople: the first occurred one

morning when I went to visit the Mirza, where one of his servants took off his cap and saluted me by a bow in our fashion : again, at a ball, several of his attendants took off their caps and sat bald-headed, from the supposition that it was disrespectful in European company to keep the head covered, whilst they saw every one uncovered. There were many other accommodations to our usages which would never have been yielded by a Turk; such as eating with knives and forks, sitting at table, drinking wine, &c. The Mirza himself told me, that when he was in Calcutta, he wore leather-breeches and boots. I am sure, then, that if the Persians had possessed as much communication with Europeans as the Turks have had, they would at this day not only have adopted many of our customs, but, with their natural quickness, would have rivalled us in our own arts and sciences. Unlike the Turks, they never scruple to acknowledge our superiority, always however reserving to themselves the second place after the English in the list of nations: whereas the Turk, too proud, too obstinate, and too ignorant to confess his own inferiority, spurns at the introduction of any improvement with equal disdain from any nation.

The great changes that are now making in the military system in Persia, particularly by the Prince Royal in Aderbigian, will in a very short time so much influence the general character and disposition of the people, that they will scarcely be recognizable. Ever since their late wars with Russia, and their political connections with Europe, the effect produced has been most striking: and a person of excellent authority, who was in Persia during the time of Kerim Khan, affimed, in my hearing, that the nation' could scarcely be considered the same.

From Constantinople we went to Smyrna, where we remained till we quitted Turkey. On the 7th of September, 1809, the Mirza and his servants went on board the Success, Captain Ayscough, to proceed to England. The people of Smyrna gathered in crowds to see him. The yards were manned; and he was honoured with a salute of fifteen guns, which (as soon at least as it was over) gave him no little satisfaction.

He soon accommodated himself to the manner of a ship, sleeping in a cot, and eating with a knife and fork. He did not miss a single opportunity of informing himself on every thing which he saw on board; and whatever he learned, he carefully noted in a book. His attendants seldom complained, except sometimes of the badness of the water, the hardness of the biscuit, and the want of fruit. I was struck with their natural ignorance of relative distance; they had been ever accustomed to calculate distance by menzils or day's journies; and they were surprised to find it impossible to continue such reckoning, A world of water

seemed to them incomprehensible; and one of them gravely said to me "This is quite extraordinary; this country of your's is nothing but water."

The Persians were particularly astonished, that women and little boys went to sea. The Mirza seeing some women on board the Success, exclaimed, "Is it possible ! if I were to tell our women in Persia that there were women in ships, they would never believe me. To go from one town to another is considered a great undertaking amongst them; but here your women go from one end of the world to the other, and think nothing of it. If it were even known in my family that I was now in a ship and on the great seas, there would be nothing but wailings and lamentations from morning to night."

Among the many things which struck the Persians as extraordinary on board the ship, was the business of signals. They looked very much inclined to believe, that I was telling them untruths, when I said, that at two fursungs distance they might ask any questions from another ship, and receive an immediate answer and that when we should reach England, our arrival would be known in London in ten minutes, and every necessary order returned before we could get out of the ship. All these things the Mirza carefully noted down in his book, ever exclaiming, "God grant that all such things may take place in my country too?"

When we arrived at Malta we were not permitted to land on account of the quarantine; a very mortifying prohibition to the Persians, who had no greater wish than to set foot once again on shore. I could make the Envoy indeed comprehend the nature of the quarantine laws; but his people were not so tractable, and frequently suggested their fears to him, that he might not be allowed to land even in England. He spoke seriously to me :"It is well that I have already seen your countrymen, and know many of their regulations; for, if any other Persian had been in my place he would have required instantly to return back to his own country." They were much delighted with the exterior of Malta; and particularly with the quantity of shipping in the port. On the left of the harbour, there is a very fine building begun by Bonaparte, intended as a hospital. They seemed mightily astonished that so supurb a building should be the habitation of the sick.

Those, indeed, who have been accustomed to live under an arbitrary government, and to see acts of despotism committed every day, look with contempt, rather than with admiration, upon the establishments of a free and liberal government; and ridicule objects by which the promoter apparently and directly gains nothing.