178 
PREACHING IN TENTS. 
and we generally passed unmolested through the middle of congre¬ 
gations, during the time of their devotions. 
Such little scruples have they at our seeing their religious ceremonies, 
that on the 8th night of the Moharrem, the Grand Vizier invited the 
whole of the Embassy to attend his takieh. On entering the room we 
found a large assembly of Persians clad in dark-coloured clothes, which, 
accompanied with their black caps, their black beards, and their dis¬ 
mal faces, really looked as if they were afflicting their souls. We 
observed, that no man did put on his ornaments.^ They neither wore 
their daggers, nor any parts of their dress which they look upon 
as ornamental. A mollah of high consideration sat next to the 
Grand Vizier, and kept him in serious conversation, whilst the re¬ 
maining part of the society communicated with each other in whis¬ 
pers. After we had sat some time, the windows of the room in which 
we were seated were thrown open, and we then discovered a priest 
placed on a high chair, under the covering of a tent, surrounded by 
a crowd of the populace ; the whole of the scene being lighted up 
with candles. He commenced by an exordium, in which he re¬ 
minded them of the great value of each tear shed for the sake of 
Imam Hossein, which would be an atonement for a past life of wick¬ 
edness ; and also informed them with much solemnity, that xchat- 
soever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in the same day^ shall be cut 
off from among the people. Lev. xxiii. 29. He then began to read from 
a book with a sort of nasal chaunt, that part of the tragic history of 
Hossein appointed for the day, which soon produced its effect upon 
his audience, for he scarcely had turned over three leaves, before the 
Grand Vizier commenced to shake his head to and fro, to utter in a 
most piteous voice the usual Persian exclamation of grief, “ wahi! ’wahil 
wahi!^' both of which acts were followed in a more or less violent 
manner by the rest of the audience. The chaunting of the priest 
lasted nearly an hour, and some parts of his story were indeed pathetic, 
and well calculated to rouse the feelings of a superstitious and lively 
people. In one part of it, all the company stood up, and I observed 
* Exodus, xxxiii. 4. 
