712 
P E R 
diftinftion and to the dregs of the people ; becanfe'thofe 
who have received no education, and cannot even read 
and write, take advantage of the readinefs and retentive- 
nefs of their memory to learn by heart a great number 
of (hiking paffages, which they omit no opportunity of 
bringing forward. They are alfo .very clever at irony 
and punning. Endowed with a fupple and intriguing 
difpofition, they have agreeable manners and extreme 
politenefs: but this politenefs is little better than a jar¬ 
gon of high-flown compliments, and hyperbolic expref- 
iions, equally deftitute of fenfe and feeling: hence it is, 
no doubt, that they have been denominated “ the French 
of Ada.” 
Mr. Morier gives feveral examples of this propenfity 
of the Perfians to hyperbole and exaggeration ; and he 
adds, that, however impertinent this fort of barefaced 
flattery may appear to Europeans, in the eyes of the Per¬ 
fians the omiffion of it would be a negleft of the common 
forms of politenefs. Mr. M. was once prefent when the 
prime-minifter gave inftruftions to a man who was fent 
to greet a Rufiian officer on his arrival; and his principal 
injunftion was, “Be fureycu give him plenty of flattery.” 
They know, however, the real value of it as well as we; 
for at the fame time he turned round to our countryman 
and faid : “ You know it is neceffary recjh-lihundijh beltu- 
neetn, to laugh at his beard, or, in other words, to hum¬ 
bug him.” Among themfelves they practife the fame 
fort of deceit; and,.though they are in general aware of 
the value of the praife they receive, yet it does not fail 
to ftimulate their vanity, which, as far back as the time 
of Herodotus, appears to have been a national vice ; for, 
he fays, “ they efteem themfelves the moll excellent of 
mankind.” 
I have repeatedly heard them compliment a perfon, 
obferves Mr. Scott Waring, either in his hearing, or in 
the prefence of fome one who would convey this adula¬ 
tion to his ears; and, the inftant that he has departed, 
their praifes have turned into abufe, and they have, with 
malicious pleafure, expofed the charafter which not a 
moment before they praifed with fervent fervility. I re¬ 
coiled!, fays the fame writer, that the Sheik at Buffiire was 
declaimingagainll the rapacity of Chiragh Ali Khan, the 
governor of Shiras ; and juft at that moment he was in¬ 
formed of the arrival of his principal fecretary. He began 
by inquiring after the governor’s health; and, when he 
was told that he had quitted the city, he readily obferved, 
that “ now Shiras was worthlefs, and that it had loft the 
only ornament it pofieffed.” Is not this fomething like 
an approximation to European manners ? 
The fpirit of exaggeration and infincerity is not confi¬ 
ned to their perlbnal intercourfe with one another: it in- 
finuates itfelf into public affairs, as weil as into the hum¬ 
bler relations between man and man. Not long after 
the arrival of the Englifliembaffy, under fir Gore Oufeley, 
at Teheran, the confidential fecretary of the grand-vizir, 
accompanied by Mirza Abul Ha flan Khan, who had been 
ambaffador from Periia to the Britiffi court, came one 
morning in great agitation to announce a victory 
gained by the prince-royal over the Ruffians. Their ac¬ 
count was, that the Perfians had killed 2000, and taken 
5000 prifoners and 12 guns. We foon afterwards heard 
the real truth, fays Mr. Morier, which reduced their ac¬ 
count to 300 killed, two guns taken, and 500 made pri¬ 
foners. On quellLoning them why they exaggerated fo 
much, when they knew how foon the falfehood mull he 
difcovered, they very ingen non fly replied : “ If we did 
not know that your ftubborn veracity would have come 
in our way, we Ihould have faid ten times as much. 
This is the firlt time our troops have made any Hand at 
all againft the Ruffians ; and you would not furely reft rift 
fo glorious an event in our hillory to a few dry fafts.” 
This, alfo, is a trait not quite unknown or unexampled 
in the Well. 
M. Olivier, who travelled in Turkey and Periia during 
the firlt fix years of the French republic, by order of the 
S I A. 
government, has drawn a very laboured parallel between 
the Turkiffi and the Perfian charafter and ufages. The 
whole of this we find tranflated to our hand in the 
Monthly Magazine; but we ftiall only quote a few paf- 
fages. 
“ In Turkey every thing bears the ftamp of barbarifnt 
and cruelty: in Perfia every thing befpeaks a mild and 
civilized nation. The Turks are vain, fupercilious, inhof- 
pitable: the Perfians polite, complimentary, and obliging. 
“ The Perfian loves to be informed, and to interrogate 
foreigners concerning the manners and culloms of their 
refpeftive countries, the fciences cultivated, and the arts 
praftifed,irs them. He difcovers in them that fuperiority 
of intelligence which caufes him to efteem them, al¬ 
though they are of a religion different from his own. 
The Turk, on the other hand, is pleafed with his own 
ignorance, and thinks it quite beneath him to receive 
inllruftion from other nations, all of which he defpifes, 
He believes that the Koran contains all that ought to be 
learned. 
“The Turk is fanatical. The Perfian is fuperftitious 
without having religion, and more tolerant, though more 
ltrongly attached to the trifling forms of worffiip. The 
Chriftians in Perfia enjoy almoft as much liberty as the 
Muflulmans of the lower clafles. If they are infulted or 
ftruck, they may not only complain, hut may alfo defend 
themfelves. Of this we have already given an inftance or 
two. In Turkey, and efpecially in Romelia, a Greek 
would be puniffied with death who ffiould dare to lift 
his hand againft a Mahometan. The Turk does not per¬ 
mit an infidel to enter his rriofques, except witli a fu- 
preme order, and bare-footed. The foreigner, accom¬ 
panied by an officer of the government, has free accefs, 
in Perfia, to the mofques, and may enter them in his 
boots; nay, in the courfe of our travels, lodgings were 
appointed us, in feveral villages, in thefe edifices confe- 
crated to public worffiip. On the other hand, the Perfian 
is fuperftitious in the higheft degree. He never eats with 
a Chriftian, touches no food prepared by the hauds of an 
infidel, and is fearful of defiling himfelf by drinking from 
the fame cup or fmoking with the fame pipe. Taking a 
ride one day in Ifpahan, and being extremely thinly, I 
begged a Perfian, who was paffing on foot, to give me a 
little water from a neighbouring fountain: he filled me 
an earthen cup, which he broke immediately afterwards, 
becaufe my impure lips had touched it. Now the Turk 
would have drank out of the cup after me without ever 
rinfing it. At his table he drinks, without reluftance, 
what a European may have left in his glafs. Neverthe- 
lefs, he fpeaks of a Chriftian with contempt. The Turk- 
ilh flag bears the arms of the empire on a ground of 
green, which is the colour confecrated by their religious 
traditions : they have a term to exprefs this naval enfign, 
but they take efpecial care not to ufe the fame word when 
fpeaking of European colours : for their own they make 
tile of the word bcti'rue (flag), and for thofe of foreign 
nations of patchoura (difhclout). 
“The Perfian barbers never fliave an infidel. The 
Turkiffi ones ferve an European with pleafure. 
“ The Perfian diftinguifhes every people, whether tri¬ 
butary or not, by their national denomination; while 
the Ottoman confounds them ail under the emphatic ap¬ 
pellation of Giaour, which is continually in his mouth. 
“ Equally brave with the Turk, more aftive, but lefs 
patient, the Perfian is, like the other, cruel in battle and 
implacable towards his armed foe ; but more traftable 
after the combat, and more fociable after peace. 
“ In Perfia, the firlt vizier is not expefted to command 
the armies. In Turkey, he is moll frequently a man who 
has rifen from nothing, and is obliged to put himfelf at 
the head of the troops whenever war is declared. 
“ The Perfian is as confident in politics as the Turk is 
fufpicious. If an European, excited by the defire of in¬ 
formation, or by mere curiofity, traverfes any remote pro¬ 
vince of the Ottoman empire, the Turk lees in him no¬ 
thing 
