INFLUENCE OF ASTROLOGY.

181

time for entering the place he was appointed to govern, and was adjusting his march to enter precisely three hours before sun-set the next day. At a former period of his life, when about to depart on a mission to Calcutta, "he was ordered by these astrologers (as the only means of counteracting the influence of a certain evil star) to go out of his house in a particular aspect: as, unfortunately, there happened to be no door in that direction, he caused a hole to be made in the wall, and thus made his exit." One of the ceremonies appointed for giving éclat to his entrance on his government is worth mentioning: "From the town to the swamps were erected stages on which bullocks were to be sacrificed, and from which their heads were to be thrown under his horse's feet, as he advanced; a ceremony indeed appropriated to princes alone, and to them only on particular occasions."

CEREMONY OF THE ISTAKBALL.

At every place of any considerable population the party were met by what is denominated istakball, a tumultuary assemblage of people, on foot and on horseback, greeting the strangers with a complimentary hubbub of all sorts of noises and antics. One specimen will serve to represent all the

rest :

"Almost the whole male population of Kauzeron was collected to meet us. A bottle, which contained sugar-candy, was broken under the feet of the envoy's horse, a ceremony never practised in Persia to any but royal personages; and then about thirty wrestlers, in parti-coloured breeches (their only covering), and armed with a pair of clubs called meals, begun each to make the most curious noise, move in the most extravagant postures, and display their professional exploits all the way before our horses, until we reached our encampment. It would be difficult to describe a crowd so wild and confused. The extreme jolting, running, pushing, and scrambling almost bewildered me: while the dust, which seemed to powder the beards of the Persians, nearly suffocated us all. Probably ten thousand persons of all descriptions were assembled. Officers were dispersed among them, and with whips and sticks drove the crowd backwards or forwards, as the occasion required. Nothing could exceed the tumult and cries. Here, men were tumbling one over the other in the inequalities of the ground; there, horses were galloping in every direction, while their riders were performing feats with their long spears; behind was an impenetrable crowd; before us were the wrestlers dancing about to the sound of three copper drums, and twirling round their clubs. On every side was noise

and confusion. This ceremony is never practised but to princes of the blood; and we considered, therefore, the honours of this day as a further proof of the reviving influence of the English name."

SHIRAZ.

Near the last day of December, 1808, the mission reached Shiraz, where, after a resolute and decisive assertion of superior rank, on the part of the envoy, against the pride of a number of Persian grandees, they made their entrance with very great difficulty, through the dense accumulation of slaves in the gate.

They had no sooner taken possession of the house assigned to them, than they were almost wedged, beyond deliverance, into its corners, by the immense accumulation of sweetmeats that came in on them as presents. Their individual powers and means of combat with so formidable an invasion soon totally failed, and the case had been hopeless, had they not luckily bethought themselves to call to their assistance the masticating forces of their "numerous servants, troopers, and feroshes."

At the hour appointed for their introduction to the Prince, they were conducted through two magnificent courts of his palace, and at length saw him seated in his chamber of audience, a kind of open room at the extremity of a third. Four times, at measured distances, they were formally halted, to second their conductor's "very low obeisance," with an English bow and move of the hat. This operation was executed the fifth time, on their reaching the edge of the floor that sustained that object which a Persian might not glance upon but with an aspect, and in a posture, expressive of willingness to subside into nonentity. In seating themselves, the party received from the royal indulgence the permission to extend their legs; but "chose to be respectful and uncomfortable." Having stayed long enough to verify that the most gracious and flattering attentions of a great prince could neither alleviate nor compensate the sensation of having the knees bent in rather too acute an angle, they quitted the presence "with every precaution not to turn their backs as they departed."

As no popular assemblies are held at Shiraz for the discussion and settlement of the civil list of Ali Mirza's regency,

the people have not an opportunity of formally testifying how gladly they contribute the large revenue necessary to support his magnificence, and how cordially they prefer the expending of their resources in making him splendid, to the employment of them in making themselves comfortable. But after we are told how he "lavishes his revenue," as Mr. Morier is pleased to express himself; how that, “in the costliness of a hunting equipage, the fantasies of dress, and the delicacies of the harem, are frittered away a hundred thousand tomauns a year;" it is as gratifying as it is unexpected to learn that the people fully admit the enlightened conviction, that the court ought to maintain a sumptuous splendour, whatever be their own distresses.

WATER-SPOUTING AND ROPE-DANCING.

The fortnight spent by the party at Shiraz was full of bustle and amusement. The festive pomp which prevailed without intermission, was in several instances carried up toward the sublime, by tumultuous discords of all manner of music, and exhibitions of rope-dancing, fire-eating, and water-spouting. This last operation was performed by a negro, who appeared on the side of a basin of water (in which three fountains were already playing), and by a singular faculty which he possessed of secreting liquids, managed to make himself a sort of fourth fountain, by spouting water from his mouth. "We closely observed him," says Mr. Morier; "he drank two basins and a quarter of water, each holding about four quarts, and he was five minutes spouting them out." The rope-dancer was a man of great merit in his profession, a man better qualified to make a figure and command attention among all portions of the universal human race, than any person at that time in Shiraz, excepting scarcely even the prince with his diamonds. One of his numerous feats was to "ascend the rope to a tree in an angle of forty-five degrees." His rope was so high that a "slip would have been his inevitable destruction."

FILIAL RESPECT AMONG THE PERSIANS.

66

It is noticed as an instance of only the customary manners of filial respect, that the minister's son, a man about thirty, and of much consequence in Shiraz, never once seated himself in the apartment where his father sat, but stood at

the door like a menial servant, or went about superintending the entertainment." As this first man of the prince's court may fairly be assumed as a model of Persian refinement, it was well to describe some of his convivial graces :

"As the envoy sat next to the minister, and I next to the envoy, we very frequently shared the marks of his peculiar attention and politeness, which consisted in large handfuls of certain favourite dishes. These he tore off by main strength, and put before us; sometimes a full grasp of lamb, mixed with sauce of prunes, pistachio-nuts, and raisins; at another time, a whole partridge, disguised by a rich brown sauce; and then, with the same hand, he scooped out a bit of melon, which he gave into our palms, or a great piece of omelette thickly swimming in fat ingredients."

There is much silence and despatch in the Persian feasts: "no rattle of plates and knives and forks, no confusion of lacqueys, no drinking of healths, no disturbance of carving, scarcely a word is spoken, and all are intent on the business before them. The dishes lie promiscuously before the guests, who all eat without any particular notice of one another." When the performance is finished, it may well be supposed to be quite time for water to be brought for ablution; till the arrival of which, our author says, "it is ridiculous enough to see the right hand of every person (which is covered with the complicated fragments of all the dishes) placed in a certain position over his left arm: there is a fashion even in this.".

THE ROYAL AUDIENCE.

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. "They proceeded through miserable streets which were crowded by the curious,"-entered the first court of the palace between two thick lines of soldiers,

THE ROYAL AUDIENCE.

185

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 :

"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. The conductor then said aloud,—

"Most Mighty Monarch, Director of the World,

"Sir Harford Jones, Baronet, Embassador from your Majesty's Brother, the King of England, having brought a letter and some presents, 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 answered 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 reigning, he exclaimed, "the French have told me lies in that also !"