Chap. II. of the Empire p/ P E r s i A. 903 
Number of Workmen, which faves the Treafury a great 
deal of Money, and therefore the Labour of thofe 
People may well be efteemed Part of the Revenue. 
The Maintenance of Ambaffadors, and the providing 
them with Carriages, is done alfo at the Charge of the 
Country, and cofts the Shah Nothing. When he has a 
Mind to reward any Perfon for any fignal Piece of Ser- 
vice, this is done alfo at the Expence of another he fends 
him perhaps to one of the Chans or great Courtiers, with 
the Calaat or Royal Veil, for which the Chan makes 
theMeffenger a Prefent ufually of ten times the Value 
or more, according to. the Poft he is in. The Shah 
Ibmetimes expreffes the very Sum he expefls fliould be 
paid, which is commonly exceeded out of Refped, and 
as a Proof the Perforu values the Prince’s Favour. But 
notwithflanding the Impofitions above-mentioned, the 
People do not feem to be oppreffed or impoverifh’d ; 
even the Tradefmen and Flusbandmen appear to be in 
eafy Circumftances, and few of them but have Rings 
on their Fingers and Arms. One great Advantage to the 
Subjeft is, that fcarce any of the Duties are farmed, 
and in Times of Scarcity the Court is very indulgent 
and ready to make Abatements of their Rents and 
Taxes in Proportion to the Occafion. As to Poll or 
perfonal Taxes there are none in Ferfia^ unlefs that 
which is levied upon thofe of a different Religion ; nor 
are neceffary Provifions of any Kind taxed. 
What the Revenue of the Crovvn may amount to in 
the whole, is very uncertain, depending fo much as it 
does upon Cafualties j thofe who have attempted to com- 
pute it, fay, that one Year with another the Revenue 
amounts to four Millions of our Money ; which, con- 
iidering their Troops are mod of them paid out of the 
Lands of the State, that are not reckoned into this 
Account, is very confiderable ; but as the Splendor and 
Magnificence of the Perfian Court is much beyond any 
thing we have \n Europe^ poiiibly very little of it may 
remain in the Treafury at ttie Year’s End. The Court, 
whether it remains at Ifpahan^ Mefched^ or any other 
Capital, or removes from one Province to another, as 
it ufed to do during the Summer, if we confider the 
Women, the Eunuchs, and other Officers and Ser- 
vants, feldom confifts of Ids than ten thoufand Perfons 
which belong to the Houffiold, not including the 
Troops, or the great Men and their Dependants, which 
it mufl; require an immenfe Sum to mainiain. The 
Officers of the Revenue fend every Year up to Court 
the State of their Province, and what every Town and 
Village produces, examined and attd'ted by the princi^ 
pal Inhabitants of the refpehtive places, which are 
looked upon as fo many Debentures ^ and thefe given in 
Payment to thofe who are entitled toPenfions or Salaries 
from the Crown. In like Manner every Governor pays 
all the Officers and Soldiers of his Province, with Af- 
fignations on the Lands belonging to the Province j 
there is very little Money disbuned on thole Occafion s, 
and where the Pay is fmail, as that of the common 
Soldiers, and inferior Servants, one Man is deputed 
from the Troop or Company to receive the Wages of 
the reft, and the Refidue, after all Demands are fatisfied, 
is remitted into the Imperial Treafury. 
It may not be amifs to add a few Words concerning the 
Seals under which A6ls of State are paffed in Perjiar, 
they have five Seals which are ufed in five fevera^l 
Branches of Bufinefs, one in all fuch Affairs as concern 
the demefne Lands. A fecond for Commiffions, Let- 
ters Patents, Cfc. The third only in Military Affairs. 
The fourth about the Revenue and the fifth in Things 
relating to the Houfhold. There are no Arms engra- 
ven upon them, but on one there are the Names of the 
twelve Imans or Patriarchs, on the others, a Scrap of 
the Alcoran^ or fome pious Expreffjons, fhewing theft 
Dependance on God, and his Prophet Mahomet. The 
Form of one of the Seals is round, two others are 
fquare, and the other two are of an irregular Form. 
The largeft are about the Bignefs of a Crown-piece, 
and the others about half that Bignefs. They are 
made of Turquoifes, Rubies, Emeralds, or fome ocher 
precious Stones. The principal Seal the Shah always 
w'ears about his Neck, and Oxn every Friday all Inftru- 
ments which require thefe SealSj ate carried to the Pa- 
lace, and fealed in the Shah’s Prefence. The Impref- 
fion is made on the Paper, with a kind of thick Inkj 
and not on Wax as with us •, the fameUfage prevails in 
moft of the EaAern Courts. 
II. The Generality of the W^orld will agree from, 
this View of the Perfian Policy, that there it no Reafon, 
fo long as their Government continues in a fettled Con- 
dition, to look upon the whole Nation as Slaves and: 
Beafts of Burthen. It is very certain, that there are 
great Errors in this, as well as in all the Conftiuitions' 
founded in the Khoran^ and it muft be fo, for that Book 
itfelf is a mere Syftem of Tyranny j and which is worft 
of all, it is pretended that this Syftem came from God. 
It is upon this Principle, that the abfolute Power of their 
Princes is built ; for as to all the Qualifications befides, 
they are brought in from the Remains of the old Per-- 
fian Goverment, which by their apparent Wifdom, and. 
natural Redtitude, have continued in Ufe through ail 
Invafions, and in Spite of all Changes of Govern- 
ment. Thus the Governors, Treafurcrs, and Secreta-^ 
ries of Provinces, are precifely mentioned, both by fa- 
cred Writers, and by the Greek Hiftorians, as well as 
modern Travellers. The profound Refpefl born to 
the Shah, is the Remains of that R^fverence paid to their 
Emperors of old, of which the Heathen Writers are 
full, which Alexander would have transferred to himlelf, 
and for which chiefly the Romans looked upon the Par- 
thians as a barbarous Nation. 
But above all, the new-Years Gifts are the ftrongeft 
Tcftirnonies of the Difficulty there is in extirpating an- 
cient Cuftoms amongft any Set of People. This was 
the Practice in the moft early Times, and the Perfian 
Emperors with all their Pride were then very humble to 
and familiar with their People, They eat and drank 
with them in Publick j they gave Audience to all who 
defired it, and as they received Prefents even from the 
meaneft, fo they received every Man’s Petition, and 
granted almoft every Man his Requeft. 
There are many other Things, m which the modera 
Perfians refemble very rjiuch their remotefl; Anceftors, 
but in nothing more than in their natural Inclination to 
and wondcrlul Genius for Poetry. This is fo univerfal, 
that every Chan, and indeed every rich and powerful 
Man, keeps a Poet in his Houfe, to whom occafionally 
they give Themes, and it is wonderful how well and 
how ihddenly they execute them. Thefe Sort of Peo- 
ple alfo frequent Corfee-houfes, and other publick Pla- 
ces, where, for the Amufement of idle People, they re- 
peat their Performances with infinite Spirit, and with 
inimitable Grace. It is certain, that the Perfiam are 
very nice in their Rhime, but fomewhaC loofe in their 
Numbers, that is to fay, they regard Cadence more 
than Qi-iantity. Yet no Nation in the World has more 
of that Enthuliafm, vvhich is the Effence of Poetry, 
the very found of their Verfes fufficiently diftinguiffies 
the SubjeCf, even to the Ears ot thole who are little 
acquainted with their Languge *, fo that Foreigners are 
never at a Lofs to know, whether their Poems are merry 
or melancholy, humourous or grave, intended toinftruCf, 
or calculated only to divert. 
In fhort, ffimoft all their Learning confifts in Poetry, 
for their Proverbs are in Rhime, fo are their Fables, and 
they have .Hiftories in Verfe of a great Length, which 
though fufficiently crouded v/ith Fable, are feldom or 
never v/ithout a Ground of Truth. It is true that their 
modern Writers, many of them, make UTe of Profe, 
but even this is incermixc with Verfe, and they are alfo 
very apt to quote Verfes in Converiation, vdiich they 
are obferved to do with great Propriety. But it is worth 
our Notice,, that no kind of Writing is here fo much 
in Fafhion, as Satyr, which is moftly national, and falls, 
generally fpeaking, upon their Neighbours. As for Ex- 
ample, they reprefenc the TrmG as Brutes and Barba- 
rians ; and whenever they have a Mind to reprefent a 
Blockhead, they are fure to paint him in a furkijh 
Drefs. The great Indolence, Effeminacy, and Luxury 
of the Indians, are likewife common Topicks of Rail- 
lery, and fo are the Faults and Follies of the Tartars 5,' 
the Pride and Sclf-fuffidency of the Georgians ; the Cun- 
