694 
TOMB OF HAFIZ. 
advantage of a milder atmosphere, the average of the thermo¬ 
meter being then at 78° during the day, and 62° at night. 
At little more than a mile from the Ispahan gate, appears a 
square inclosure, within which stands the tomb of Hafiz, and in 
whose vicinity, in the days of the Persian Anacreon, rose the gay 
and romantic suburb of Mosella. From the delightful descrip¬ 
tions given of the spot by Koempfer, Franklin, and others, I 
expected to find more than vestiges of the deep shade of tributary 
trees, which for so many years had hung an unseared leaf over 
his urn, seeming to brighten in the unfading fame they so 
beautifully emblemed. Whatever might have been the ravages 
of war elsewhere, or the depredations of cupidity, or the ruinous 
effects of neglect, I could not doubt that the national pride of 
the Persians, uniting with their known enthusiasm for poetry, 
would preserve the spot in all its honours, which contained the 
remains of their favourite bard. But how was I disappointed ! — 
The ground, which former reverence had devoted to his ashes 
alone, is covered with promiscuous graves ; and the tomb of 
white marble erected by Kerim Khan, and closely written over 
with extracts from the works of the poet, as his noblest in¬ 
scription, stands otherwise unmarked in the midst of them. The 
fine copy of his poems, which were fastened to the shrine, is no 
longer to be seen ; and the trees, so luxuriant a few years ago, 
and whose ancient boughs had so often dropped the tears of 
Spring on the cold bosom of her lover beneath, — they too were 
gone. No creature attended, to point out the sacred grave to 
the enquiring stranger; no parties of enthusiasts now appeared, 
as heretofore, to boast the birth-place of their poet, while they 
sung his praises in the words of his own unequalled verse. A 
