RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSFIIRE. 
31 
other provinces for the remainder, to convert them at Shiraz into fire¬ 
locks, by affixing to the original barrel the new lock. Provisions also, 
of all sorts, were collecting into magazines at Shiraz. These prepara¬ 
tions were hastened by the Prince himself from personal motives. His 
dexterity in hitting a mark with a gun at full gallop, and in cutting 
asunder an ass with one blow of his sword had been so much exagge¬ 
rated, that the King became desirous of witnessing these exploits, and 
would have sent for his son to court, if the apprehensions at this time of 
General Malcolm's return from India with an army had not furnished 
a seasonable necessity for the Prince’s presence in his own provinces; 
and he prepared himself therefore, with great zeal, to march to Bender - 
Abassij , to await there the arrival of the English in the Persian Gulph. 
As a specimen of Persian wit, as well as in the relation of a Persian’s 
proficiency in English, I extract literally, from Jaffer Ali’s letter, the 
following account of the Prince of Shiraz: — 44 As he is a great quiz 
44 and flatterer, he flattered me much, and I made an equal return to 
44 him. Owing to the immense dust that blown all the while upon the 
44 road, my face and beard covered with dust, and appearing myself to 
44 be white, the Prince therefore sayed to me, that my black beard be- 
44 came with grey hairs in his service; I returned that whoever serves 
44 Khadmute Booznrk Whan (His Highness) becomes white-faced for 
44 eternity, as the common proverb among the Persians, that when a man 
“ serves his master with zeal, he says to his servant 4 roo sefeed , white 
44 face,’ and on the contrary they say 4 roo seeah , black face:”’ two 
very common expressions in the country, denoting severally honour and 
disgrace.* 
It is not an unfair criterion of the new impulse which the Court of 
* When Amurath I. instituted the Janizaries , a celebrated Dervish pronounced this 
blessing over the new corps: “ Let them be called Janizaries (Yengi Cheris, or new 
w soldiers) maj their countenance be ever bright! their hand victorious! their sword 
keen! may their spears always hang over the heads of their enemies ! and wheresoever 
they go, may they return with a white face .” Gibbon’s note illustrates the text by the 
Roman phrase. Hie niger est, hunc tu, Ilomane, caveto. Vol. VI. p. 320, 4to. 
