In most respects the present Shah of Persia is a
fit king for a race of horsemen. He is an ardent
hunter, a good shot, able to bring down a wild
ass with a rifle. He is a bold and dexterous
rider. He is witty and accomplished, after the
manner of his countrymen, and, indeed, something
more. He draws witli taste and talent, he
has a good knowledge of military music, and,
when I was in Persia, had just caused a most
magnificent and beautifully illustrated copy of
the Arabian Nights Entertainments to be
prepared for his own use. His habits are simple
and abstemious. His daily food is usually a little
rice and a little roast mutton, with dry bread.
His favourite drink is champagne. His mind
is active and unusually vigorous for that of an
Asiatic. Under favourable circumstances he
might have made a very remarkable sovereign.
After the murder of the Ameer, he determined
for a short time to be his own prime minister.
It might have been happy for Persia had he
persevered in his intention. But of course it suited
nobody about him, and they soon found means
to disgust him with the office. He was so
flooded with washing-bills, bills for the repairs
of old walls, demands for servants' wages, and
such undignified affairs, that, after working day
and night for a week, he gave up his task in
despair. But it is by no means improbable that
he may resume it some day, for he has a
confirmed habit of thinking for himself; and it
might be unsafe to presume upon his apparent
inattention to what is going on. Powerful also
as any minister might be, the king's frown
would ruin him, and leave him friendless in an
hour. The late prime minister, the able and
astute Sadr Azem, had raised his own influence
to an unexampled height. He had seized upon
all the public trusts and employments in the kingdom,
and had filled every place of importance
with his own creatures. The Shah's relations
were mere pensioners on his bounty. One of his
sons was married to the king's sister, another
was betrothed to the king's daughter. But all
at once, in a single day, his power was broken to
pieces, and he became a prisoner and a beggar.

The king's private expenses are very small;
they do not amount to more than fifteen
thousand tomauns, or say seven thousand pounds
English money, yearly. The late king spent at
least four times that sum. The Shah of Persia
has very little power, strange to say, over the
public revenue, but he sometimes gives presents
and rewards from it; not often, however.
Perhaps he may give a thousand tomauns to
somebody once or twice a year in this manner. His
presents are generally rather burdensome than
advantageous to those who receive them. He
will send a person one of his old coats, or a
brace of partridges, or a roebuck, and the
servant who brings the precious gift expects and
receives enough to keep him for a twelvemonth.
Thus, if the Shah wishes to reward one of his
attendants, he frequently sends him with a
present to some considerable person. The
ancient magnificence and liberality of Oriental
princes exists no more.

Indeed, the income of the state itself is small.
The revenue derived from the customs is, or
was recently, not more than two hundred
thousand tomauns yearly (about one hundred
thousand pounds); for an extraordinary
irregularity prevails in the mode of levying the
public taxes in Persia, and the custom-house
affairs are in a surprising state of confusion. In
some places the duty on goods is levied by
weight or quantity, without any consideration of
value. In other places there is an ad valorem
duty on the same articles. In some places
customs duties are levied by the mule-load,
gold watches and charcoal paying the same tax.
It is impossible to have a rich king or a rich
country by such means as these.

The Shah has eleven wives, but they live very
meanly, and are restricted to the simplest
necessaries, common clothes, scanty rations of wood
and charcoal, and a small sum of money monthly.
They are forbidden to make presents to their
relations. The Shah's favourite wife, however,
who is called Geiran, or the antelope, is
altogether on a different footing, and is as much a
queen, or more so, than the wife of any
European sovereign. Her history is romantic and
strange. She was a miller's daughter, who
caught the king's eye one day while he was
riding through a village, and 'his constancy to
her and devotion to her in all things, has
something very touching and knightly and noble in
it. In spite of her humble origin, she is now
called " the honour of the state," and is proved
by courtiers to be descended from Cyrus.*

* See Love and Marriage in Persia, volume vi.,
page 488.

The old old custom of the king sitting in judgment
in person, of which so many instances will
be found in the Bible, existed up to a very recent
date in Persia. It was abolished only within
the last few years, in consequence of the Russian
ambassador, going in state to an audience,
being horrified by seeing a number of corpses of
persons who had just been executed dragged
from the presence-chamber. The manner in
which the Shah condemned a criminal to death
was very simple and impressive. He merely
made a horizontal motion with his right hand,
when the feroshes or executioners, who always
attend him, seized the condemned person and
executed him immediately. It is said that a
Persian magnate was often observed to put both
his hands to his head and shake it when quitting
the royal presence. The Shah asked him why
he did so? " I like to feel," replied the Khan,
with grim pleasantry, "that it is still upon my
shoulders."

The chief state of the King of Persia, like that
of the princes of Barbary, is kept on horseback,
and despatches and public documents are dated
from " the king's stirrup." When his majesty
goes abroad, although only for an afternoon's
ride, he is accompanied by several hundreds of
horsemen. If he makes a summer excursion, to
get out of the dust and stifling air of the capital
tal, he will have fourteen or fifteen thousand