RUINS OF ISPAHAN. 431 
these mouldering gates, and bade adieu to the venerable prelate 
of ruined Julpha. 
Th eferoshes, or government-servants who had been appointed 
to attend me, varied the route back to my residence, by con¬ 
ducting me through the most interesting- parts of the city of 
Ispahan, which were yet in the dilapidated state left by the 
Afghan devastation. These dreary tracks were numerous j 
strangely contrasting with the extensive rows of newly-planted 
plane-trees, whose well-spread branches, full of leaves of the 
most youthful and freshest green, promised a luxuriance of 
growth hereafter, that might rival the proudest avenues of Shah 
Abbas. But the prospect of their being enjoyed, in like or in 
any manner, is not so fair. From one end of the city to the 
other, under these avenues old and new, through the gardens, 
and amidst their most delightful “ paradises” of shade and 
fountain, I saw hardly a human creature moving, besides those 
who were incidentally engaged on the public works under the 
pay of the governor. Trade being almost lost to the city, and 
the royal residence entirely removed from it, there is no motive 
for the influx of profitable inhabitants, or for the active industry 
of those already there. In short, if Ispahan continue another 
fifty years so totally abandoned of its sovereign’s personal notice, 
future governors can have no stimulus for the re-erection of 
buildings, which must remain untenanted; for the repair of 
bazars, on which the grass must ever grow ; for the preservation 
of gardens, whose sweetness blooms and dies without an eye to 
behold or lament the change ; and the natural effects must 
ensue : Ispahan will become a total ruin, amidst the saddest of 
wildernesses ; beauty, in the blossom of youth, and the fulness 
of maturity, left to decay and to perish, from the progress of 
