INTRODUCTION. 
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aspired. His family, indeed, was a low branch of an obscure tribe in 
Courdistan, that of the Zunds, from which his dynasty has been deno¬ 
minated ; and his profession was the single occupation of all his coun¬ 
trymen, robbery,* which, when it thus becomes a national object, loses 
in reputation all its grossness. Here he acquired the talents and 
hardihood of a soldier; and was renowned for an effectual spirit of 
enterprise, and for great personal skill in the exercise of the sword, a 
qualification of much value among his people. The long revolutions 
of Persia called forth every talent and every passion; and the hopes of 
Kerim Khan were excited by the partial successes of others, and 
by the consciousness of his own resources. He entered the field; and 
eventually overcame Mahomed Hassan Khan, his principal compe¬ 
titor, who fled and was killed in Mazanderan. The conqueror having 
seized and confined the children of his rival, proceeded to quell the 
several inferior chiefs, who, in their turns, had aspired to the succes¬ 
sion. His superior activity and talents finally secured the dominion: 
and having, in 1755, settled at Shiraz, he made that city the seat of 
his government. He beautified it by many public buildings, both of 
use and luxury; and their present state attests the solid magnificence of 
his taste. His memory is much lamented in Persia; as his reign, a 
reign of dissipation and splendor, was congenial to the character of the 
people. In his time prostitutes were publicly protected; their calling was 
classed among the professions; and the chief, or representative, of their 
* “ He made no scruple of avowing that in his youth he pursued the occupation of a 
“ robber; and that his fore teeth had been demolished by the kick of an ass which he 
<( had stolen and was carrying off.” Foster’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 241. 
