692 
PER 
confult particular interefts that by no means harmonize 
with the welfare of Great Britain as connected with the 
fafety of her Indian pofleflions. Perfia neither underva¬ 
lues the friendfhip nor the manufactures of England. 
On the contrary, w<e may preferve our pre-eminence if 
we will. Should government, by a wife difregard of 
perfonal confiderations, aCt liberally and juftly towards 
Perfia, our foreign trade will reap the benefit : by a con¬ 
trary courfe, file will leave Perfia to the influence of Ruf- 
fia, and our northern ally will enrich herfelf by ultimately 
excluding the Englilh merchant and the Eaft-India Com¬ 
pany from participation in Perfian commerce. Such was 
the political lituation of Perfia with Great Britain and 
Ruflia at the beginning of the prefent year 1823. 
PRESENT STATE OF PERSIA. 
Of the Kinc ; his Court, Government, Laws, 
and Religion. 
If we negleft the fluctuating limits of tranfitory pof- 
feffion, and look only to the landmarks placed by nature, 
the boundaries of the Perfian empire feem diftinCfly traced 
by the courfes of the Indus, the Oxus, and the Tigris; 
the fliores of the Cafpian, and the arid’traCfs which fkirt 
the Indian Ocean. The primitive inhabitants of thisex- 
tenfive region, too, have in ail ages been advantageoufly 
dittinguifiied from the adjacent nations. Their tall and 
graceful perfons are neither disfigured by the harfti 
features of the Arabian phyfiognomy, nor the darker 
tints of their Indian neighbours. Their fk.il 1 in horfe- 
manlhip, their expertnefs at military exercifes, the acute- 
nefs of their underftanding,find the vivacity of their con- 
verfation, appear at all times to have merited praife ; 
whilft their infincerity and falfehood, the ufual vices of 
flaves, feem as juftly to have attracted cenfure. In all 
thefe refpeCts nothing is changed. They are ftill richly 
endowed with the gifts of nature; but the “invariable 
laws of the Medes and Perfians” have decreed, that def- 
potifm, in its molt pernicious form, fhould defeat the ob- 
jeftsofher bounty; and rhar, with lefs glory, lefs wealth, 
and lefs enjoyment, the fubjeCts of Feth Ali Shah, at the 
prefent day, fhould difplay the fame natural talents, and 
the fame inherent defedls, which marked the flaves of Da¬ 
rius, difperfed through twenty fatrapies. 
Mr. Scott Waring is certainly not an adept in calculat¬ 
ing the influence of government on the morals of a people, 
or he would not have Fa id, in extenuation of Perfian def- 
potifm, that he “ doubted whether the moral character of 
the Perfians qualified them for a better government.” 
What elfe than government is it, we fhould be glad to 
know, that has engendered and difleminated thefe cor¬ 
ruptions ? Does the foil or the climate of Perfia contain 
any quality more productive of vice than the foil and the 
climate of Europe ? or what elfe than tyranny has created 
the dillinclion between the moral qualities of the Greek 
in the prefent day, and thofe of his anceftor in the age 
of Ariftid.es ? 
Feth Ali Shah, the prefent king of Perfia, is about fifty- 
three years of age, having been born in the year 1770. 
Sir Robert Ker Porter, to whom his majefty fat for his 
portrait, who feems to have been not a little flattered by 
his condefcenfion, and to be not very fparing of flattery 
in return, defcribes in the following terms the perfonal 
character of this monarch : “Hisface teemed exceedingly 
pale, of a polifiied marble hue, with the fineft contour of 
features, .and eyes dark, brilliant, and piercing; a beard 
black as jet, and of a length which fell below his cheft 
over a large portion of the effulgent belt which held his 
diamond-Lilted dagger. This extraordinary amplitude 
of heard appears to have been a badge of Perfian royalty 
from the earlieft ■ times ; for we find it attached to the 
heads of the fovereigns in all the ancient fcuiptured re¬ 
mains throughout the empire. His complexion, as be¬ 
fore obferved, is extremely pale; but, when he fpeaks on 
fubje&s that intereft him, a vivid colour rufhes to his 
S I A. 
cheek, but only for a moment, it pafles fo tranfiently 
away. His nofe is very aquiline; his eye-brows full, 
black,and finely arched, with lathes of the fame appearance, 
fiiading eyes of the mod perfefl form, dark and beaming, 
but at times full of a fire that kindles his whole counte¬ 
nance, though in general its expreflion is that of languor. 
The almoft fublime dignity which the form of his beard 
adds to the native majefty of his features is not to be 
conceived; and the fmile which often (hone through it, 
ineffably fweet and noble, rather increafed than diminifh- 
ed the efteft.” The portrait of his majefty given in the 
upper part of the annexed Engraving, where he is accom¬ 
panied by his mailer of the ceremonies and one of the 
ladies of the harem, is copied from Monf. Jourdain’s work 
entitled La Perfe, to which we are indebted for all the 
Plates accompanying this article, and a great deal of the 
following information. This work lias never been tranfl- 
lated, though-it has formed the groundwork of a neat 
publication now coming out in London, called the World 
in Miniature. 
Though the feigning monarch has not been celebrated 
for that aftivity which demonftrates itfelf in ambitious pro- 
. jecls, yet he manifefts on every occafion that promptitude 
in the difpatch of public bufinefs, and vigilance in main¬ 
taining the laws he has enadied for the fecurity of the 
perfons and property of his people, which bear every tefl- 
timony to the foundnefs of his judgment on the duties 
of a king; while his encouragement of Perfian literature 
and his tafte for poetry and the arts fliow him to be a 
fcholar and a man of genius. That his views are liberally 
direfted toward the improvement of his people, is ftill more 
evident from the many Perfians Lent by him to Europe, 
to ftudy the arts and fciences moft wanted in their own 
country. Thefe men generally conduct themfelves well 
when abroad ; and, the quicknefs of their intellects foon 
making them matters of their objeCts, they return home 
in the prime of life, bringing back not merely the learn¬ 
ing and pradfice for which they were fentout, butfeedsof 
moral, mental, and national, improvements, which, being 
gradually flown in the minds of. the people, nothing can 
prevent from producing their natural harveft. 
Feth Ali Shah is not merely a lover of poetry but him- 
flelf a poet, and the author of fome pleafing compofitions 
of that kind. The chief of the poets of his court is in 
high favour with him, and receives for his prailes and the 
eltufions of his genius more flubftantial remuneration. The 
governor of Kallian was indebted for his appointment to 
his being an excellent poet. O11 his fending the king a 
prefent of one of his compofitions, he exprelfled greater 
fatisfadfion at the gift than at the fumptuous offering of 
Chiragh Ali Khan, which amounted to fome thoufands 
of pounds; but, adds Mr. Scott Waring, “ he would be 
very forry to have all his governors poets, and all their 
prefentntions, poems.” 
Perfia lias, properly (peaking, 110 capital city. The feat 
of government has been changed according to the caprice 
or the convenience of the reigning monarch. Rages, 
Ifpahan, Calbin, Tauris, Shiraz, Sultania, Ctefiphon, and 
even Samarkand, have been, at different times, the place 
of their refidence. The prefent king keeps his court at 
Teheran ; this muft therefore be conlidered as the metro¬ 
polis at the prefent time. It is fituated in the Irak Ajemi, 
and province of Mazanderan, a league and a half from 
Rages, and about eight leagues Couth of the Cafpian Sea. 
The furrounding fcenery renders the approaches to this 
city highly interetting. To the Couth are the ruin's of the 
celebrated Rages, the country of Haroun Airalhid ; on 
the ealt is Mount Alboraz, famed in Perfian mythology 
as having been the retreat of the devas, or evil genii; to 
the north is the elevated peak of Demavend,always capped 
with (now; while to the weft we difcover a vaft plain well 
cultivated and covered with villages, charmingly con¬ 
trolling with the frightful rocks on the eaft and north. 
The population amounts to 60,000 perfons during nine 
months of the year; but in June, July, and Auguft, when 
