693 
PER 
the king and his court retire to the plains of Sultania, fo 
many of the inhabitants follow him thither, or retire to 
the neighbouring mountains, that not more than 10,000 
remain. 
The king has probably, at this time, not fewer than 
200 children. In the year 1819, the number was as fol¬ 
lows : ten foils adminiftering important governments of 
cities or provinces, 39 younger fons, and 140 daughters. 
It has fometimes happened that feveral women have made 
him a father in one and the fame night. One day, while 
Mr. Morier was at Teheran, in his firlt vifit to Perfia, fix 
of his women produced his majefty fix children, four boys 
and two girls. 
It has been cuftomary with fome of the Perfian mo- 
narchs to deprive their children of fight left they ftiould 
prove rebellious fubjefls, leaving but one unmutilated as 
heir to the throne: while others have been content with 
dooming them to perpetual imprifonment in "the feraglio. 
Feth Ali has not imitated the barbarity of the former 
practice nor the injuftice of the latter; feveral of his fons 
who have arrived at manhood occupy high pofts in the 
empire, and are training in the art of government under 
experienced ininifters, to whofe guidance the king con- 
iigns them. 
The king’s eldeft fon, Mohammed Ali Mirza, is invert¬ 
ed with the government of Kermanftiah. The condition 
of his mother, who is a Georgian (lave, or perhaps the par¬ 
tiality of his father for another fon, has excluded him 
from the throne. He is thirty-five years of age, with a 
pleafing pbyfiognomy, affable manners, courage and acti¬ 
vity. Abbas Mirza, whofe mother was of the tribe of 
the Cadjars, and whom Feth Ali has declared his fuccefi- 
for, governs the province of Adherbijan. According to 
the concurrent teftimony of all travellers, the qualities 
difplayed by this prince juftify the preference of his 
father. He is of middling fize; his face, though pale, is 
full of majefty and good-nature, and animated by large 
black ej'es, (haded by well-arched eye-brows which meet. 
He is an excellent horfeman, diltinguiflied. for his fkill in 
all military exercifes, and pafiionately fond of war. The 
fimplicity of his drefs befpeaks the dignity of his mind. 
When one of his officers once appeared at his court clothed 
in fluff of gold and covered with rich ornaments, “ What 
is the benefit of this luxury?” laid the prince; “inltead 
of this gold and this tinfel, why do not you buy a good 
horfe, a good fword,and a good.gun ? Such finery as this 
belongs to women, and is unbecoming a man, and efpe- 
daily a foldier.” The fame fpirit which dictated this re¬ 
buke is manifefted in an anecdote recorded of this prince 
by captain Kotzebue, who accompanied the Ruffian em- 
baify to Perfia in 1817. When the ambaffador offered 
him the prelents lent for him by the emperor, among 
which were a fervice of porcelain, diamond plumes, &c. 
Abbas Mirza felefited only a fuperb gun and a fabre : 
“ This,” faid he, “ belongs to me; the reft is too hand- 
lome for me, and belongs to the king.” 
Kotzebue, (peaking of the reception of the Ruffian em- 
baffy, by this prince at Tabreez, fays; We accidentally 
difcovered an honourable trait in his character, which, 
in Perfia, excited our aftonifhinent. The ambaffador ob- 
ferved in the garden a projecting corner of an old wall, 
which fpoiled the beauty of the furrounding objeCts and 
disfigured the profpeCt. His excellency afked the prince 
why he did not order it to be pulled down. The prince 
replied, “With a view to the forming of gardens on a 
grand icale, I purchaled the ground of feveral proprietors. 
The owner of that where the wall (lands is an old peafant, 
who has abfolutely refilled to fell his property to me, be- 
caufe he will not part, for any price, with an ancient pa¬ 
trimonial poffeffion of his family. His obftinacy, I mull 
confefs, vexes me exceedingly ; and yet I cannot but 
honour him for his attachment to his forefathers, and (till 
more for his boldnefs in denying me the ground. I muft 
wait till the time when his heir will perhaps be more 
reafonable.” 
S I A. 
This anecdote will certainly furprife the Englifh reader, 
who would not expeCl to find any eaftern prince, from 
the days of Ahab, inclined to refrain froVn helping him- 
felf to Naboth’s vineyard when it fuited his convenience. 
We have heard other particulars much to the credit of 
Abbas Mirza, the declared heir, and alfo of fome of the 
other princes who are governors of provinces; but we 
(hall only obferve, that cutting-off nofes and ears, and 
putting-out eyes, are now very little in ufe. With this com¬ 
fortable reflection we (hall difmifs the reft of the 59 fons of 
Feth Ali; and, as to enlarging upon the virtues and ac- 
complifliments of his 140 daughters, our readers will not 
be fo unreafonable as to expeCt it. 
We have noticed the alteration of the fucceffion. Can 
that ill-advifed meafure fail to produce a civil war at the 
deceafe of the prefent king? and will not thofe dreadful 
maflacres, and emafculations, and blindings, which we 
have been forced fo repeatedly to defcribe in the courfe 
of this article, be repeated ? Sir Robert Ker Porter in¬ 
forms us, that, on the day for naming the fucceffor, all 
the royal brothers, with the ininifters and great khans', 
were prefent; and, when the king prefented Abbas Mirza 
to them as their fovereign, every one bowed the head of 
fubmiftion, excepting Mohammed Ali Mirza; and he told 
his royal father, that, while he lived, he would acknow¬ 
ledge no other fovereign than himfelf; then, laying his 
hand on his fword, he added fternly, “ After that, this 
(hall decide who is to be the king of Perfia.” 
This may be fufficient to bear us out in our melan¬ 
choly forebodings. But we have alfo to add, that, in the 
treaty of 1813, (alluded to p. 655.) by which Georgia was 
ceded to Ruffia, the emperor Alexander agreed to a lli- 
pulation, by which both “himfelf and his fucceffors are 
bound to acknowledge, and to maintain on the throne, 
by force fhould it be neceflary, the prince who is deftined 
to fucceed, in order that no foreign power fliall interfere 
in the internal concerns of Perfia.” Now may not our 
jealculy of the influence of Ruffia induce us to fupport 
what may be called the legitimate fucceffion, and thus great¬ 
ly enlarge the theatre of the war ? for otherwife, (hould the 
refinance to the new fucceffion be very obflinate, what can 
hinder the Ruffians, when once they get footing in the 
country, from overrunning the greater part of it, and, 
after all, from leaving their own favourite candidate with 
a divided and dependent kingdom ? and, fuppoting that 
a fecond Alexander fhould, after overcoming a fecond 
Darius, find himfelf on the banks of the Hydalpes or the 
Tigris, and in a fituation to invade India from the north ; 
would not the natives avail t'netnfelves of the opportunity 
to (hake off their yoke? or rather, might they not be 
forced into (what we fhould call) a harderTervitude; but 
at any rate, might they not ceafe to be flaves to us ? 
We will not purfue this firbjeCt any farther; but pro¬ 
ceed to Hate what is, inltead of what may be. 
The ordinary title of the Perfian monarchs is Shah, 
which correfponds with our Emperor; or Padijhah Iran, 
Great Emperor of Iran. His fubjeCts, however, dare not 
give him fo Ample a denomination : they muft not write 
his name without adding, “ The meft exalted of men ; 
the fource of majefty, of grandeur, of power, of glory; 
the equal of the fun ; the chief of the great kings, whole 
throne is the ftirrup of heaven ; the centre of the globe 
of the earth ; the mailer of the conjunctions; the afylum 
of the world ; the (hadow of God, diffufed over the face 
of all fenfible things,” &c. But thefe denominations vary 
according to the eloquence of the writer. 
In Perfia there are no nobility according to the accep¬ 
tation of that term in Europe. In that country no dig¬ 
nity, no office, is hereditary; yet there are titles which 
denote the birth or rank of the perfons who bear them : 
luch are thofe of Mirza and Khan. 
Mirza is a Perfian compound word, a contraction from 
mirzadeh , which lignifies “fon of an emir, or prince.” 
This title is very common in Perfia: but it would be 
wrong to fuppofe that all who aflume it are of high birth. 
It 
