42 
pravity of difpofition; and a perpe- 
tual inclination to acts of hottility. 
This has leffened that foftnefs and 
urbanity of manners for which this 
nation has been at all former times 
fo famous ; and has at the fame time 
too much extinguifhed all fentiments 
of honour, and humanity amongit 
thofe of higher rank. 
The Perfians, in their converfa- 
tion, aim much at elegance, and are 
perpetually . repeating verfes and 
pafiages from the works of their 
moft favourite poets, Hafiz, Sadi, 
and Jami; a practice univerfally 
prevalent, from the higheft to the 
loweft; becaufe thofe who have 
not the advantages of reading and 
writing, or the other benefits arifing 
from education, by the help of their 
memories, which are very retentive, 
and what they learn by heart, are 
always ready to bear their part in 
converfation. They alfo delight 
much in jokes and quaint expref- 
fions, and’are fond of playing upon 
each other; which they fometimes 
do with great elegance and irony. 
‘There is one.thing much to be ad- 
mired in their converfations, which 
is the ftri€t attention they always 
pay to the perfon fpeaking, whom 
they never interrupt on any ac~ 
count. They are in general a per- 
fonable, and in many refpects a 
handfome people; their complex- 
ions, faving thofe who are expofed 
to the inclemencies of the weather, 
are as fair as Europeans. 
The women at Shirauz have at 
all times been celebrated over thofe 
of other parts of Perfia for their 
beauty, and not without reafon. Of 
thofe whom I had the fortuné to 
fee during my refidence, and who 
were moitly relations ‘and friends 
of the family I lived in, many 
were tall and well-fhaped ; but their 
_& fhe is in health.’’ 
ANNUAE "REGISTER; 1790. 
bright and fparkling eyes was a 
very ftriking beauty : this, how- 
ever, 1s in a. great meafure owing 
to art, as they rub their eye-brows 
and eye-lids with the black powder 
of antimony (called furma) which 
adds an incomparable brilliancy to 
their natural luftre. The large 
black eye is in moft eftimation 
among the Perfians, and this is the 
moft, common at Shirauz. The 
women, as in all Mahomedan coun- 
tries, are, down to the meaneft, co- 
vered with a veil from head to foot, 
fo that a fight is never to be ob: 
tained of them inthe ftreet.. After 
marriage, they are fubje& to the 
ftricteft.confinement, The hufband 
thinks himfelf affronted even by 
the inquiry of a friend after the’ 
health of his wife. Calling her by 
name, is ‘never allowed of; the 
mode of addrefs muft be, « May 
« the mother of fuch a fon, or fuch 
“a daughter, be happy; I hope 
And ; none, 
except thofe of-.the neareft kin, as 
a brother, or uncle, are ever allowed 
to fee the females of the family 
unveiled. mt “a 
Extracts from Obfervations ina Four- 
" ney through Italy, by Mrs. Piozzi. 
Turin, O&. 17, 1734. 
E have at length paffed the 
Alps, and are fafely arrived 
at this lovely little city, whence I 
look back on the majeftic boundaries 
of Italy, with amazement at. his 
courage who firlt profaned them; 
furely the immediate fenfation con- 
veyed to the mind by the fight of 
fuch tremendous appearances mutt 
be in every traveller the fame, a 
fenfation of fulnefs never -experi- 
enced before, a {fatisfaction that 
there is fomething great to be feen 
on 
