It was not far from Kashan, however, that they did first see (as a compensation for the display of all the barbarian mosques, cupolas, and minarets they had been obliged to look at) the finely-shaped snow-clad summit of the mountain Demawend, then distant from them a hundred and fifty miles, and which the Persians assured them might be descried from one of the high buildings of Ispahan, a distance of at least two hundred and forty miles. Having crossed part of a plain so impregnated with salt, that the ground after rain or snow becomes a yielding and dangerous mud, they arrived at Teheran, the end of a journey deemed by the Persians of wonderful and unexampled celerity for an embassy, though scarcely averaging twenty miles a day, and which had fretted and disappointed some of the gentry concerned in conducting it, by giving them but little time to levy contributions on the country.

The aspect of this metropolis, at the entrance, was miserable. The house of the second minister, which was assigned for the residence of the embassy, was far less respectable than those of the great officers at Shiraz and Ispahan. 'All the riches,' says Mr. M. are collected on the throne, and all around is poverty, either real or affected.' Relative to points of rank and ceremony, it was thought worth while to make one more little experiment on the ambassador, from a doubt, perhaps, whether it was possible that mortal man, however stubbornly he might have carried himself when at a distance, could really be made of materials capable of maintaining an unalterable consistence at the very centre and utmost heat of the royal effulgence. This exotic composition proved, however, of a substance to defy the most powerful test in Persia. Not the smallest angle flattened--not a shade of colour changed-not a hair contorted. The disputed point was conceded to this obstinate representative of the unbelievers: and the first visit of state ceremony made to the most invincible hero that had for a long time been seen in Persia, had the appropriate and very extraordinary accompaniment of a person of that class which has the power of conferring immortal fame.

The minister came, and with him the king's Chief Poet, and some other officers of state. We went through the common routine of compliments and presentations. When the poet was introduced to the envoy, the conversation turned on poetry and the works of the bard himself. He was extolled above the skies; all exclaimed that in this age he had not an equal on earth, and some declared that he was superior to Ferdousi, the Homer of their country. To all this he listened with very complacent credulity, and at length recited some of his admired effusions. His genius, however, is paid by something more substantial than praise; for he is a great favourite at court, and, according to my Persian informers, receives from the king a gold tomaun for every couplet; and once indeed secured

the remission of a large debt due to the king by writing a poem in his praise. Yet the people, from whom the supplies of this munificence are drawn, groan whenever they hear that the poet's muse has been produc

tive.'

The Moharrem, or season of mourning for Hossein, the son of Ali, (the Persians being of that division of the Mahometans denominated Sheyahs, or followers of Ali) had suspended all matters of ceremony and business at court before the arrival of the embassy, notwithstanding their diligent haste to reach Teheran before this solemnity. It was therefore received as a mark of signal respect to his Britannic Majesty, and a good omen, that a very early day was appointed for the introduction of the English commoners to the successor of Cyrus and Darius, and Abbas and Nadir Shah. Had they not previously evinced an almost republican fortitude in sustaining the sight of magnificent things and personages, (if we should not rather say, irreverence in gazing at them) we should have deemed it extremely fortunate for our countrymen, (as preventive of a too great oppression on their spirits) that the proprieties of this mourning season had drawn a softening shade, a partial eclipse, over the ardent lustre which they were now, in the very zenith of their high destiny, approaching to behold.-It is fair to observe here, that this is not the kind of diction in which Mr. Morier celebrated this great day and we can only wonder at the unimpassioned tone in which he relates how the morning-as if it had been any ordinary sun-rising-came on in due course: how they equipped themselves in green slippers with high heels, and red cloth stockings, the court dress always worn before the king:' how, in cavalcade 'they proceeded through miserable streets which were crowded by the curious, entered the first court of the palace between two thick lines of soldiers, who were disciplined and dressed with some resemblance to the English manner-dismounted at the imperial gate-and, as something a little in the nature of paying toll, produced to full view the royal letter, and the presents intended for his majesty: how they proceeded through dark passages till they came to a small room, where some of the high nobility were in waiting to entertain them a little while, till the king should be ready, and where they took, very composedly, their coffee and pipes: and how they then went forward through sundry courts filled with guards, and finally arrived, through a dark and intricate passage, at a wretched door, worse than that of any English stable. This preliminary darkness and meanness reminded us (sie parvis componere, &c.) of the contrivance which some traveller mentions as practised by the guides in the grotto of Antiparos, who, having conducted the expectants through long subterraneous passages, where they

had managed to send forward, unobserved, some of their torches into the grand scene of magnificence, suddenly extinguished, when they had approached near it, those which they carried, and led the visitants groping and wandering in the dark, till the almost insufferable splendour opened on them, instantaneously. At this door they were marshalled, by their con-ductor; and they paused, waiting the fated moment, and rallying within their minds those powers of philosophy, whose strongest aid we cannot help suspecting was by this time urgently demanded: for the party were going to behold-perhaps finer clothes than they had ever seen put on ordinary shaped human figures before. The fated point of time was at hand.

The door was opened, and we were ushered into a court laid out in canals and playing fountains, and at intervals lined with men richly dressed, who were all the grandees of the kingdom. At the extremity of a room, open in front by large windows, was the king in person. When we were opposite to him the master of the ceremonies stopped, and we all made low bows; we approached most slowly again, and at another angle stopped and bowed again. Then we were taken immediately fronting the king, where again we bowed most profoundly. Our conductor then said aloud, "Most Mighty Monarch, Director of the World,

"Sir Harford Jones, Baronet, Embassador from your Majesty's Bro"ther, the King of England, having brought a letter and some presents, 66 requests to approach the dust of your Majesty's feet."

The king from the room said in a loud voice, "Khosh Amedeed, you are welcome." We then took off our slippers and went into the royal presence. When we entered, the Envoy walked up towards the throne with the letter; Mirza Sheffeea, the Prime Minister, met him half way, and taking it from him, went up and placed it before the King; he then came back and received the presents from my hands, and laid them in the same place. The Envoy then commenced a written speech to the King in English, which at first startled his Majesty, but seemed to please him much as soon as Jaffier Ali Khan, the English Resident at Shiraz came forward and read it in Persian.'

His Majesty has therefore a taste in rhetoric rather more versa tile than could have been expected in a person of his education and calling for this speech, though conceived in very respectful terms, has nothing of the nature of homage to the dust of his feet.' He answered it in a handsome manner, extemporaneously, with wishes for the continued alliance and increasing friendship of the two states, with inquiries respecting the English monarch's health, and with compliments on his choice of an envoy. He asked whether his brother,' the present king of England were the son of the former king, with whose subjects he had had communications;' and when he was told that the same king was still reiguing, he exclaimed, "the French have told me lies in that also!" (For they

had spread the report that the king of England was dead.): We must transcribe a paragraph or two of the descriptions of his person, and of those appendages to it which will be held in undiminished esteem when the said person will be no more thought or cared about.

The King is about forty five years of age; of pleasing manners and an agreeable countenance, with an aquiline nose, large eyes, and very arched eye-brows. His face is obscured by an immense beard and mustachios, which are kept very black; and it is only when he talks and smiles that his mouth is discovered. His voice has once been fine, and is still harmonious, though now hollow, and obviously that of a man who has led a free life.' He was seated on a species of throne; on each side are two square pillars, on which are perched birds, probably intended for peacocks, studded with precious stones of every description, and holding each a ruby in their beaks. The highest part of the throne is composed of an oval ornament of jewelry, from which emanate a great number of diamond rays. Unfortunately, we were so far from the throne, and so little favoured by the light, that we could not discover much of its general materials. We were told, however, that it is covered with gold plates, enriched by fine enamel work so common in the ornamental furniture of Persia. It is said to have cost one hundred thousand tomauns.-We saw the whole court to disadvantage during our first visit: it was then the days of mourning, and the king himself did not at that time wear his magnificent and celebrated ornaments of precious stones.' 'On his head he wore a species of cylindrical crown covered with pearl and precious stones, and surmounted by a light feather of diamonds. He rested on a pillow embossed in every part with pearl, and terminated at each extremity by a thick tassel of pearl. On the left of the throne was a basin of water in which small fountains played; and on its borders were placed vases set with precious stones. On the right, stood six of the king's sons richly dressed: they were of differ ent sizes and ages; the eldest of them (brother by the same mother to the Prince of Shiraz) was the viceroy of Teheran, and possessed much authority in the state. On the left stood five pages; one held a crown similar to that which the king wore on his head: the second held a splendid sword; the third a shield and a mace of gold and pearls; the fourth a bow and arrows set with jewels; the fifth a crachoir similarly ornamented. When the audience was finished, the king desired one of his ministers to inquire from Jaffier Ali Khan (the English Agent) what the foreigners said of him, and whether they praised and admired his appearance.'

The envoy having complained that the English had not obtained a satisfactory sight of the royal person, his majesty had the goodness, in subsequent instances, to place himself in a better light, and give them a nearer access. In one of these interviews he blazed out upon them in the imperial radiance of his very finest jewels, some of them reputed to be among the richest in the world. A Pagan poet of Rome that had beheld such a vision, would have instantly comprehended his duty of intimating, in sonorous hexameters, his majesty's future position among the constellations, himself the brightest on 'yon

der argent fields;' and would perhaps have added that but very little change would be necessary in the translation. Our Christian prose-men could afford none of these prophetic melodies and reversionary tracts of waste sky. But they might have promised him, what would probably have gratified him a great deal more, the hopeless envy of some of the prime exhibitors of jewels in the European state shows. They might have added, too, if they chose, that in the European nations, (which abound, he must know, with great philosophers, moralists, and divines, and are incomparably higher in the exercise of sound understanding than all the rest of the world, saving his Persian majesty's own dominions,) it would be accounted the most romantic folly to trust to the effect of talents and virtues merely, for influence in the community; and that, in the absence of both the one and the other, it is not thought absurd to rely for respect and influence on such a kind of dignity as may be stitched on a man's coat, or painted on his equipage.

In each introduction to the presence, the Englishmen found the Persian monarch affable and unconstrained, and yet dignified, in his manners. High compliments were paid them by the king himself and by his ministers. In one of the conversations, when a comparison was made between the English and the French, he said, 'they' (the French) were haivans, beasts, wild men, savages: these' (the English) are gentlemen.'

At another time,

His Majesty talked with much familiarity; and asked us, what news from the Tenzee Duneea, that is, the new world, as they call America. He inquired, "What sort of a place is it? How do you get at it? Is it under ground, or how?" He then talked of our government; and appeared aware that the kings of England could do little without the intervention of their parliament. In the explanations which followed this subject, his Persian majesty was visibly astonished that any limitation could be placed to royal authority. The conversation turned; and the king talked of Bonaparte, and launched out in general terms against the French.' • He swore that it was by him that Bonaparte was made the man that he is, and that in the course of the next year he would be destroyed.'

As we have seen, by a former passage, that he is very indignant on finding that he has been imposed on, it might perhaps have been as well to have let him into the real truth about the insuperable obstacles opposed by parliament to the power of the crown.

A monarch so fine on the outside as our author has described, cannot need to adopt, in any rigorous degree, the oriental policy of keeping out of sight, in order to command the reverence of the people. Accordingly, he suffered himself to be familiarly looked upon several times during the three months of Mr. M.'s residence at Teheran. One of the times was when, at the end of the Moharrem, he distributed rewards to