VISIT TO THE MINISTER, MIRZA SHEFFY. 
313 
for the pencil of Rembrandt, in painting the Repose of an Avare. 
We found the old man in a small, dark, and even dirty, apart¬ 
ment, belonging to the quarter of the palace which is called the 
treasury. He was lying on as dingy a nummud, dosing off the 
effects of the opium pills, with which Persians of all ranks, when 
they advance in life, indulge themselves. This humble couch 
was pressed upon, on every side, by iron-braced boxes, some 
open, and others shut, filled with ducats, tomauns, and other 
coin current of the country. Not far from him sat his treasurer, 
a one-eyed personage, with paper, pens, and ink-horn, before 
him ; and a large pair of scales, which he used, both in receiv¬ 
ing, and sending forth, any part of the contents of the circum¬ 
jacent coffers. Indeed his attributes, both personal and append¬ 
ing, were very corresponding to those of the blind goddess 
herself. 
When we took our seats, this attentive deputy roused his 
master; who, starting from his slumber, without the least shade 
of recent sleep on any of his faculties, welcomed us with the 
usual florid compliments of his country. This nobleman is about 
seventy-five years of age ; rather short in stature; his figure 
spare and stooping; a thin, pallid, and withered visage ; with 
small sparkling eyes ; his beard rather long, pointed, and dyed a 
bright red. He is a man of considerable talent, and tact; the 
latter being a most essential addition, in turning the first to 
any important degree of advantage. The world has given him 
another lesson too; and, perhaps, it does not belong more par¬ 
ticularly to the Asiatic world, than to that of the great European 
states in general; who, almost all, virtually acknowledge, that 
power is the ambition of life, and that wealth is power. This 
principle of the world has taught this Persian minister to grasp 
VOL. i. 
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