THE PERSIAN CHARACTER. 
41 
the attendants on the possession, or seeking the means of money 
in Persia; but they belong to the principle on which it is amassed, 
and the consequence is very general. 
I have already mentioned, that the peculiar temperament of 
the Persian is lively, imitative, full of imagination, and of that 
easy nature which we in the west call “ taking the world lightly;” 
and that hence lie is prone to seek pleasures, and to enjoy them 
with his whole heart. Amongst these, the gaiety of his taste 
renders him fond of pomp and show; but his fear of attracting 
suspicion to his riches, prevents him exhibiting such signs in his 
own person, beyond an extra superb shawl, a handsomely hilted 
dagger, or the peculiar beauty of his kaliouns. The utmost mag¬ 
nificence of his house, consists in the number of apartments, and 
extent of the courts ; of the rose-trees and little fountains in the 
one, and the fine carpets and nummuds in the other. But 
vessels of gold or silver are never seen. The dinner-trays are of 
painted wood; and those on which the sweetmeats and fruits 
appear, are of copper, thickly tinned over, looking like dirty 
plate. Neither gluttony nor epicurism is a vice of this nation. 
The lower classes also live principally upon bread, fruits, and 
water. The repasts of the higher, consist of the simplest fare ; 
their cookery being devoid of any ingredient to stimulate the 
appetite. Sherbets, of different kinds, are their usual beverage ; 
and tea and coffee the luxuries of ceremonious meetings. In this 
general abstinence from what is usually styled the pleasures of 
the table, we find a nearer resemblance to the manly frugality of 
ancient Persis, or Iran, (which the admirable institutions of the 
First Cyrus extended from that people to the less temperate 
Medes,) than to the manners which prevailed even in so short a 
time as a century after, under the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon 
VOL. II. 
G 
