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near the fepulclire of Ali. He died in the feventieth year 
of his age, after a reign of forty-three years over Perfia, 
and fifty over Chorafan. Shah Abbas had a fine face, of 
which the mod remarkable features were a high nofe, and 
a keen and piercing eye. He wore no beard, but had 
large muftachios, or whifkers. In his ftature he was ra- 
therlow ; but muft have been uncommonly robuft and ac¬ 
tive, as he was throughout life celebrated for the power 
of bearing fatigue, and to the laft indulged in his favour¬ 
ite amufement of hunting. 
By the Perfians, who are accuftomed to perfidy and cru¬ 
elty, the memory of Shah Abbas is held in great venera¬ 
tion ; and it is certain that he was in many refpefls an ufe- 
ful fovereign to his country. By deftroying the power of 
the independent khans, and the (landing army, he intro¬ 
duced peace and good order at home. He was fond of 
thofe afts of rigorous juftice which render a prince popu¬ 
lar, and areeafyto a defpot; but in thefe he difplayed 
that cruel and ferocious difpofition which appears in all 
his aiSls, and often punifhed the innocent with the guilty. 
His encouragement of commerce was beneficial to his 
iubje&s, though probably he was excited to it only by a 
defire of enriching himfelf. He made alliances with Eu¬ 
ropean princes againft the Turks; and gave privileges to 
foreigners who were difpofed to trade in his dominions. 
It was by means of his liberality that the Armenians were 
enabled to extend the (ilk trade through great part of the 
Baft. He fettled them in Julfa, a fuburb of Ifpahan, 
which foon vied in riches and population with the city it- 
felf. An inftance of his good fenfe appeared in the pains 
he took to fubftitute a religious pilgrimage to the tomb of 
the imam Rizza in his own country, to that of Mecca, 
which carried great fums of money among foreigners and 
enemies. He adorned his empire with many magnificent 
and ufeful works. In fhort, compared with the ignorant 
and weak defpots who generally occupy the thrones of 
the’Eaft, he may merit the title of Great; if that be at all 
compatible with perfidy, injuftice, and cruelty. 
While the death of Abbas was concealed from his fubje£Is,> 
one of the principal miniflers repaired to the apartments of 
the princefs-mother of Mirza.todemand the young prince. 
She, fufpefling it only to be a contrivance to get him 
murdered, refilled to open her door, till at length force 
was threatened to be employed. She then delivered her 
fon, with thefe words: “ Go, my child, to join thy fa¬ 
ther; here are the murderers ready to difpatch thee.” 
But, when fne faw thofe lords proftrate themfelves and 
killing the prince’s feet, her fright was turned into the 
mod extravagant joy. The noblemen conduced the 
young prince to the royal palace, where they feated him 
in the divan on a (lone table, on which there were as 
many carpets as there had been kings of Perfia of his fa¬ 
mily ; for every king, at his coming to the crown, has 
one of thefe carpets, called “carpets of juftice,” made for 
him ; and, having fent for all the lords in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Ifpahan, they crowned him, killed his feet, and 
wilhed him a long and happy reign. On his acceffion he 
alfumed the name of Sefi. 
The beginning of the reign of this emperor was re¬ 
markable for many great viftories which he gained over 
his enemies. He defeated Karib Shah in the province of 
Kilan ; he forced the Turks to raife the liege of Bagdad, 
and took by afl'ault the fortrefs of Ervan. At this laft 
place, finding the fiege but little advanced after a dura¬ 
tion of four months, he grew impatient, and refolved to 
make an affault on it in perfon, faying that he would ra¬ 
ther die in the attempt than rife before a town which the 
Turks had formerly taken in three days. He had already 
put on the clothes of one of his attendants, to prevent 
him from being diltinguilhed, and had given orders for 
a general attack ; but he was diffuaded from the attempt, 
till the next day, when the whole army made the affault, 
and carried the place, though with the lofs of fifty thou- 
fand men. 
Happy would it have been for the world if the emperor 
had been one of the (lain; but he lived to prove a fecond 
Nero, fcarcely falling fhort of that monfterin his cruelty. 
Like him, he was the murderer of his neareft relations. 
The firft objeff of his brutality was a half-brother, whom, 
according to the barbarous policy of the times, it was 
necelfary for him to remove; he caufed two of his un¬ 
cles, firft to be deprived of fight, and then dafhed down 
a rock, faying, “ Since they are blind, what ufe are they 
of in the world ?” One of his aunts, an extremely beau¬ 
tiful woman, had three fons: (he was frequently with the- 
king her nephew, and once rallied him on account of his 
having no children; the next day he invited her to din¬ 
ner, and caufed the heads of her three fons to be ferved 
up in feparate difties ; at the fame time finding, he laid: 
“ Confole yourfelf, you are young enough to repair the 
lofs.” His own wife he ftabbed, and his deareft friends 
he caufed to be executed on the flighted pretences. But 
we will not difguft the reader with a further detail of 
fa6ls which are a difgrace to human nature, and which 
the hiflorian trembles in recording. He was the fcourge 
of mankind for a period of thirteen years, though there 
was nothing in his countenance that indicated fo foul a 
difpofition. 
He left a fon named Abbas, who fucceeded him, 
though only 13 years of age, and whom his father had 
ordered to be deprived of fight: but the compaftion of 
the executioner had taught the prince to counterfeit 
blindnels, without fuffering the lavage fentence. On his 
death-bed the king repented of the treatment which he 
fuppofed his fon to have endured. The eunuch, perceiv¬ 
ing that his grief was not feigned but fincere, promifed 
to reftore the prince to fight, and accordingly in a (horz 
time after, brought him to the king’s bed-fide, with his 
eyes open. The pleafure which Sefi felt on this occafion 
prolonged his life till the next day, and gave him time 
to fettle the fuccefiion according to his mind. 
A. D. 1642,—The joy which the people exprefied at 
the change of fovereigns did not laft long. Under Shah 
Abbas II. life was not more fecure than under his brutal 
father. Abbas I. had baniftiedfrom his court, to a com¬ 
modious dwelling, a number of ufelefs perfons. Thefe 
the prefent emperor dellroyed, except fifteen whofe age 
precluded them from the expectation of a long life. His 
lifter’s children he caufed to be ftarved to death ; and 
four of his wives were, by his command, burned alive. 
His reign affords few memorable events. He aftifted 
the prince of the Ulbek Tartars againft his own children, 
who had rifen in rebellion ; and recovered the province 
of Candahar from the Great Mogul. His generals made 
fome ineffefhial attempts to reduce the prince of Jalkes, 
whofe country lies on the coaft of the Indian Sea. Seve¬ 
ral other military expeditions, of which little is known, 
took place in his reign. The lliah himfelf had the cha¬ 
racter of great capacity, and a good difpofition ; yet the 
ltories related of him are little to his honour. He was 
much addifted to excell'es in wine and women; and, if 
not naturally cruel, was however led by intemperance 
and the fpirit of defpotifm into feveral aCts of cruelty. 
He was fond of ftrangers, and had a tafte for the arts; 
which may account for the encomiums he has received 
from fome European travellers; yet Tavernier, who had 
near accefs to him. has little better to relate concerning 
him than fome feenes of low debauch, and a trivial curi- 
ofity for works of European mechanifm. After a reign 
of twenty-four years, he died miferably in confequence 
of a veneral dileafe caught from a dancing-girl, which 
his irregularity would not fuff’er to be treated properly. 
This was in 1666. He was buried atKoni under a mag¬ 
nificent fepulclire, of which a draught is given by the ce¬ 
lebrated traveller, Chardin. 
As foon as Abbas was dead, notice was fent of the 
event to his eldell fon Sefi, who was immediately faluted 
emperor, and the ceremony of coronation was regularly 
performed ; which confided only of girding on the fey- 
metar, and placing the bonnet on the fovereign’s head. 
1 Some 
