718 PER 
The Perfians have no candles for lighting their houfes. 
For this purpofe they ufe brafs cups fixed upon rods of 
the fame metal, which they fill with pure white tallow, 
having a cotton wick in the middle. Sometimes they 
burn fcented tapers, the wax of which has been mixed 
up with oil of cinnamon or cloves, or fome other aro¬ 
matic. 
The mode of warming houfes is economical but un- 
wholefome. The Perfians are ftrangers to the ufe of fire¬ 
places and chimneys. In their ftead, a forry expedient 
prelents itfelf in the (liape of a large jar, called a konrcj/, 
which is funk in the earth, generally in the middle of 
the room, with its mouth on a level with the floor. This 
the people fill with wood, or, as that is very fcarce, with 
dung, or any other combuftible ; and, when it is fuffici- 
ently charred, the mouth of the veffei is (hut in with a 
fquare wooden frame, (haped like a low table. The 
whole is then covered with a thick w’added quilt, under 
which the family, ranged round, place their knees, to al¬ 
low the hot vapour to infinuate itfelf into every fold of 
their clothing. When very cold, they draw the borders 
of the quilt up as high as their chins, and form a group 
fomething refembling our ideas of a wizard incantation. 
This mode of warming is very difagreeable, and often 
dangerous; owing to the immoveable pofition neceflary 
to receiving the full benefit of the glowing embers, and 
to the naufeous and often deleterious effluvia from the 
fmoke, which may caufe dreadful head-aches. This An¬ 
gular kind of chauffoir anfwers alfo the purpofe of prepa¬ 
ring the frugal meal of the family, either as an oven, or 
to admit on its embers the pot which boils the meat or 
pottage. Barbarous as the ufage may feem, the konrci/ 
is not confined to the peafantry ; it is found in the no- 
bleft manfions of the cities, only burning more agreeable 
fuel. (Jourdain iv. 266.) 
Education. —Perfians of high rank have their chil¬ 
dren inftru&ed by mollahs (prielis) and other preceptors, 
at their own houles. The lower orders, and often confi- 
derable Perfians who are under the condition of nobles, 
fend their fons to the public fchools eftablilhed in every 
town. They are commonly held in the mofques, and 
fiornetimes in the houfes of the teachers, who are moftly 
mollahs. The expenfe of each child’s education annually 
amounts to fcarcely a toman, a price greatly in favour of 
the advancement of learning. The fcholars fit round 
their mailer on the matted floor, all conning their leflons 
aloud as they learn them, and not flopping their noife 
even when the teacher is hearing one of the other pupils 
read. This little feminary prefents a curious fight to an 
European; for, befides the rapid motion of their lips, 
they keep their bodies in one continued fee-faw, v.’ithout 
which movement a Perfian conceives it would be impof- 
fible to learn anything. When idlenefs or any other mif- 
demeanour requires chaftifement, the young culprit un¬ 
dergoes the fame punifhment as that which royalty at 
times inflifts on any offending nobleman; namely, the 
baflinado on the foies of the feet. The children are 
taught reading and writing ; and, as foon as they can com¬ 
mit to memory, they learn paflages from the favourite 
poets of the country, many of which are fraught with the 
nobleft fentiments and the moft amiable feelings of hu¬ 
man nature. At the fame time they are taught prayers 
from the Koran in Arabic, a language which they do not 
in general underftand ; but the meaning of the prayer is 
explained to them, in the fame manner as Latin prayers 
to ignorant Catholic Chriftians, and they are directed on 
what oecafions to repeat it. Youth of the higher clafles 
often add a knowledge of the Arabic, and alfo the Turk- 
ifli language, to their deeper (Indies. The ufual lift is, 
arithmetic, geometry, moral philofophy, aftronomy, and 
not unfrequently aftrology, all of which are cultivated 
with cor.fiderable afliduity and fuccefs by moft of the Per- 
fian gentlemen, who never fail to add the manly exercifes 
to thefe liberal acquirements. This being the cafe, if is 
difficult to comprehend the ruin and neglect into which 
S I A, 
the colleges of nearly all the great cities have fallen : the 
once noble eftabliftmienfs of Ardebil, Cafvin, Ifpahan, 
Shiraz, See. being mere fhadows of what they were. 
A youth quits his preceptor at the age of eighteen. 
He then learns to bend the bow, to wfield the fab re, and to 
manage a horfe. Marriage releafes him from all reftraint, 
but not from the refpedt which he owes to his father. 
The facred rights of paternity are never violated in the 
eaft: there a fon, whatever be his age or condition, never 
fits in the prefence of his father; but his movements and 
whole demeanour are marked with filial fubmiflion. 
The children of the lower clafles are never feen run¬ 
ning about the ftreets, getting corrupted by bad examples 
and bad language, contracting a fondnefs for play, quar¬ 
relling and fighting. They ulually begin to go to fchool 
at the age of fix years, and attend it twice a-day. On their 
return, their parents keep them at home to accuftom them 
early to the bufinefs for which they delign them. 
The girls, however, receive no moral education what¬ 
ever. When they have learned reading, writing, and em¬ 
broidery, their education is finidied ; and tliofe things 
they are taught either by females hired for the purpofe, 
or at the fchools, which they frequent till they have at¬ 
tained fuch an age as not to be permitted to go abroad 
without a veil. Neither dancing, mufic, and other accom- 
plifhments, nor reading and ftudy, ever develop and 
heighten their natural graces, or enrich their minds. 
Deftined to be fliut up in a harem, vifiting and being vi- 
fited by none but females, fociety never forms their man¬ 
ners ; the power of human ixfpedf oppofes no barrier to 
their paflions, to the vices of their hearts, and to the ex¬ 
travagancies of their difpofition : the intercourfe with 
women perverts rather than purifies their morals. The 
mother exclufively fuperintends the education of her 
daughter, and faithfully tranfmits to her defe&s which 
were not corrected when (lie was herfelf young: virtue 
and modefty are terms which Ihe never utters in her hear¬ 
ing, for they are terms as unmeaning to the one as to 
the other. She familiarizes her with but one idea ; that 
fhe is one day to belong to an abfolute mafter, whofe love 
fhe tnuft ftrive to acquire, not by praftifing the virtues of 
her fex and condition, but by the arts of refined coquetry, 
which, though they may excite paflion, are an antidote to 
true conjugal tendernefs, which is founded on mutual ef- 
teern and regard. She does not teach her how to become 
a good wife and mother, or inculcate that modefty, and 
that chafte referve in ail her motions, language, and ac¬ 
tions, which adorn beauty and emhellifh plainnefs ; but 
fire enjoins her not to go abroad without muffling up her 
face and her whole perfon; not to look at a man, nor to 
engage in any intrigues ; if however file does not inftruft 
her in the art which (lie has herfelf iearned by experience, 
of bringing them to a fortunate conclufion. (Jourdain, 
tom. iv. p. 159.) 
Amusements. —The opinions of the Mahometans in 
general refpefting mufic and dancing tend much to con¬ 
tract the circle of their amufements. They are ftrangers 
alike to the pleafures of the ball, the concert, theatrical 
exhibitions, and thole fports in which the affembled youth 
of both fexes indulge the flow of gaiety natural to their 
time of life. Their difpofition on the contrary is grave 
and taciturn ; and, though the Periian may poflefs polilhed 
manners, extenfive information, and a memory well 
ftored with anecdote, yet his cheerfulnefs is never brilk 
and animated like ours. 
Several grandees keep for their amufement a number of 
young Georgians who can ling, play on different inftru- 
ments, and perform feats of tumbling and agility. Per- 
fons of inferior rank employ hired muficians and dancers. 
Befides thefe, there is a clafs of people called laoties, who 
go from houfe to houfe, amuling their auditors with 
relating numberlefs ftories, either true or fi&itious, but- 
always grofsly indecent. They alfo perforin a variety of 
tricks fimilar to thofe of our jugglers and tumblers. 
Though they have no theatre, the Perfians are not with- 
out 
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