EDUCATION IN PERSIA. 
347 
knowledge of Arabic, and also the Turkish language, to their 
deeper studies. The usual list are—arithmetic, geometry, moral 
philosophy, astronomy ; and, not unfrequently, astrology ; which 
are all cultivated with considerable assiduity and success, by 
most of the Persian gentlemen; who never fail to add the manly 
exercises, to these mental acquirements. When I converse with 
such men, and listen to the liberal views of the King, and the 
Prince-Governors, his sons, on these subjects, I cannot under¬ 
stand the ruin and neglect into which the colleges of nearly all 
their great cities have fallen. The once noble establishments of 
Ardebil, Casvin, Ispahan, Shiraz, &c. are mere shadows of what 
they were. Aristotle, anciently translated into Arabic, is the 
fountain whence all their philosophy springs ; but, at present, 
the whole stream runs very shallow. However, that the science 
of practical improvement in government, seems every day to be 
gaining ground, may be gathered, by comparing the present 
manners of the Persians, with what they were under one of the 
most celebrated of their sovereigns, the great Shah Abbas. From 
his time, to that of Kereem Khan, the royal palaces, and the 
houses of the ministers, were filled with the most distracting 
revels. Although wine is so strictly forbidden by the Koran, 
the King himself sanctioned the violation of the law, by his most 
flagrant example; and the scenes which ensued, may be more 
easily imagined than described. But while the rich, and power¬ 
ful, thus abandoned themselves without constraint, to the most 
shameful practices; the lower orders, out of the sphere of tempt¬ 
ation, went soberly on, according to the wary rule of their 
prophet. A complete reverse, to the first of these accounts, is 
seen in the court of the present King of Persia; Futteh Ali Shah, 
and his sons, being strict observers of the ordinances of their 
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