THE PERSIAN CHARACTER. 
43 
a festive board. From the earliest times, the breeding of fine 
horses has been a passion in the East; and in no country more 
than Persia, where indeed a man and his horse are seen in such 
constant companionship, that custom has in a manner identified 
them with each other, and hence the most beautiful steeds are 
never brought in proof of any extraordinary riches ; a Persian 
being well mounted, though the clothes on his back may not be 
worth half a tomaun. Their mules too, are a stately, useful race. 
I have already noticed, that horse-racing is not pursued here as 
with us, to produce a certain prodigious swiftness in a short 
given time ; but to exercise the limbs of the travelling or courier- 
horse, to go over a considerable number of miles in one day, or 
more, at an unusual rate, without slackening his pace, or suffer¬ 
ing by the exertion. The fleetness of a Persian horse in the 
chase, is equal to that of any country ; but his exquisite manage¬ 
ment in the military sports of the girid, &c. cannot be equalled 
on any other field. In these ekercises we see something of the 
latent fire of the chivalric Shah Sevund, breaking forth in their 
descendants, and lambently playing on the point of their lances. 
The dexterity of the evolutions, the grace of their motions, and 
the knighthood-gallantry of their address, unite in giving an in¬ 
expressible charm to these scenes. But it does not end there. 
This gaiete de cceur , and courtesy of manner, pervading every 
class, renders the society of the higher ranks particularly amiable; 
and communication with the lower free of any rudeness. Nay, 
indeed, the humblest peasant, from the old man to the boy, ex¬ 
presses himself with a degree of civility only to be expected from 
education and refinement. Quick in seeing, or apprehending oc¬ 
casions of service, high and low seem to bend themselves grace¬ 
fully to whatever task their superiors may assign; besides talent 
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