1822. ] 
curdled milk, diluted with water. 
The Persians and Turks of the pre- 
sent day are not, as their forefathers 
were, rigid observers of the precept 
which forbids the drinking of wine. 
Nevertheless, those who transgress 
are still obliged to do it in secret. In 
every part of Persia where the vine 
grows, the Armenians and Jews make 
the wine, and sell it to the Persians. 
The Turks are more addicted than 
their neighbours to the vice of drun- 
kenness. 
The little freedom of manners, the 
jealousy of the men, and the rigorous 
seclusion of the women, gave rise in 
Persia and Turkey to the establish- 
ment of public places for smoking 
and taking coffee. These establish- 
ments were become in Persia houses 
of debauchery. An end was at last 
put to these shameful disorders by 
the severe decrees of the govern-— 
ment; the places were undoubt- 
edly abolished, on account of the 
troubles which agitated the empire 
after its invasion by the Afghans. In 
Turkey these establishments have 
been preserved. There the idle go 
and pass the day in smoking, and in 
drinking that liquor which so delight- 
fully excites the brain, and quickens 
eyery sense. There the men of busi- 
ness spend their hours of relaxation, 
and the politicians discuss the affairs 
of state. These places are particu- 
larly frequented during the time of the 
Ramazan. 
The Europeans have very exagge- 
rated ideas of the cleanliness of the 
orientals, to which the ablutions or- 
dered by their religious laws have 
given rise. But the Persians appear- 
ed to me to be still more negligent in 
this important article than the Turks. 
Both sexes consider they pay sufli- 
cient attention to cleanliness in per- 
forming five ablutions a-day, and 
going to the bath. Imagine a large 
reservoir of hot water, which is re- 
newed scarcely once in ten days; and 
in which men and women, at different 
hours, come to immerse themselves ; 
and you will have an idea of the va- 
pour-baths in use amongst the Per- 
sians. No Christian is permitted to 
enter them, lest his body should pol- 
lute a water which of itself emits a 
pestilential odour. As an European, 
I was allowed the use of the bath. I 
had one day a mind to go into this 
reservoir, but was quickly repelled by 
the mephitic vapour rising from it as 
News from Parnassus, No. XIX. 
23 
I approached. It is not thus in Tur- 
key. There Mussulmans and Chris- 
tians, indiscriminately, are rubbed and 
washed by a boy who attends the bath, 
in rooms into which hot and cold wa- 
ter are admitted by different taps, and 
constantly renewed. The Persian 
never uses a handkerchief, his fingers 
serving instead of that article. He 
earries his filthiness so far, as some- 
times to wear the same shirt for a 
fortnight. Both rich and poor are 
frequently covered with vermin, which 
is also seen on their clothes, and on 
the carpets in their apartments. It 
may with truth be said, that the Per- 
sian knows cleanliness only by the 
name. 
I conclude this parallel with a re- 
flexion which will not, I think, appear 
arash one. The Persian, degenerate 
as he is, might, with wiser and juster 
laws, and a government less despotic 
and arbitrary, model his manners after 
those of the European nations; but the 
Turk, notwithstanding he possesses 
qualities which give him in some re- 
spects the advantage over the Per- 
sian, will never be able to free him- 
self from his religious and political 
shackles, and take his place amongst 
the nations more advanced than his 
own in civilization. 
—<—— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
NEWS FROM PARNASSUS. 
NO. XIX. 
Halidon-Hill, a Dramatic Sketch, from 
Scottish History; by Sir Walter 
Scott, bart. 
N ayowed production from the 
pen of Sir Walter Scott has now 
become a very attractive novelty ; and 
having him at last, in his own un- 
doubted personality, before us, we 
feel inclined, in the first instance, to 
ask at the baronet, (to speak in correct 
Scotch,) a few preliminary questions. 
Whether he really be the author of 
the Scotch novels, is an enquiry 
which, we suppose, is not to be made 
or answered with a grave physiog- 
nomy. We will take it for granted 
that he is ; but another question, far 
more perplexing and unfathomable, 
remains behind, as to any possible in- 
ducement which this great writer can 
haye had to disguise his identity, and 
play off upon the public the phantas- 
magoria of Jedediah Cleishbotham, 
Capt. Clutterbuck, Dr. Dryasdust, 
and all the other engines of his obsti- 
nate system of deception. If there 
be 
