such again as the vivid (instead of the live) rock in p. 352, or to use the adjective, transparent, and diaphanous, as though they were not synonimous; or lastly, in p. 264, to describe the appearance of a country which resembled the swell of the sea in a calm, by such a word as undulatory. We think too, that an editor of taste would have omitted a passage like the following, even if it had occurred in the original journal.

The night was boisterous, the wind blew strong from the southward and westward, and distant thunder rolled over the hills. The morning presented a dark and dismal array of clouds and snow-clad mountains all around us, and when the trumpet sounded for the envoy's departure, every thing announced a cold and cheerless ride. The sun made several efforts to break through the heavy atmosphere, and succeeded once or twice only to cast faint shadows of our troops across the road a we' paced along.' P. 52.

Finally we take the liberty of inquiring of the editor what is the meaning of the letter R which he has affixed to the note in p. 124: In general, we understand it, in such a situation, to signify, that the note was written by the reviewer. A reviewer, in our estimation, is indeed a very respectable personage; but, as Dr. Caius says, Vat shall de honest man do in my closet? Are we authorized to conclude from this circumstance, that as the publication of Mr. Morier's work, and that of a very favourable critique upon it succeeded to each other almost as immediately as the report follows the flash of a pistol, so both of them likewise proceeded from the same hand?

The following extract from the account of an entertainment given by the minister at Shiraz to the British envoy, may perhaps gratify the curiosity of some of our readers as a specimen of a Persian festival.

'Abdullah Khan, the minister's son, conducted us into the presence of his father, where we soon ranged ourselves among a numerous company of the nobles of the place who were invited to meet us. Abdullah Khan, who is a man of about thirty, and a person of much consequence at Shiraz, never once seated himself in the apartment where his father sat, but, according to the eastern customs of filial reverence, stood at the door like a menial servant, or went about superintending the entertainments of the day. As soon as we were settled, the amusements commenced.'

We omit the details of these amusements to proceed to the more solid part of the feast.

"When the concert was over, we collected our legs under us (which, till this time, we had kept extended at ease), to make

room for the sofras or table-cloths, which were now spread before us. On these were first placed trays of sweet viands, light sugared cakes, and sherbet of various descriptions. After these, dishes of plain rice were put, each before two guests: then pillaus and after them a succession and variety, which would have sufficed ten companies of our number. On a very moderate calculation, there were two hundred dishes, exclusive of the sherbets. All these were served up in bowls and dishes of fine china, and in the bowls of sherbet were placed the long spoons made of pear-tree (which I mentioned on a former occasion), and each of which contained about the measure of six common table spoons, and with these every guest helped himself. The Persians bent themselves down to the dishes, and ate in general most heartily and indiscriminately of every thing sweet and sour, meat and fish, fruit and vegetable. They are very fond of ice, which they eat constantly and in great quantities, a taste which becomes almost necessary to qualify the sweetmeats which they devour so profusely. The minister, Nasr Oallah Khan, had a bowl of common ice constantly before him, which he kept eating when the other dishes were carried away. They are equally fond of spices and of every other stimulant, and highly recommend one of their sherbets, a composition of sugar, cinnamon, and other strong ingredients. As the envoy sat next the minister, and I next to the envoy, we very frequently shared the marks of his peculiar attention and politeness, which consisted in large handfuls of certain favourite dishes. These he tore off by main strength, and put before us; sometimes a full grasp of lamb mixed with a sauce of prunes, pistachio nuts, and raisins; at another time, a whole partridge disguised by a rich brown sauce; and then, with the same hand, he scooped out a bit of melon, which he gave into our palms, or a great piece of omelette thickly swimming in fat ingredients. The dishes lie promiscuously before the guests, who all eat without any particular notice of one another. The silence, indeed, with which the whole is transacted, is one of the most agreeable circumstances of a Persian feast. There is no rattle of plates and knives and forks, no confusion of lacquies, no drinking of healths, no disturbance of carving, scarcely a word is spoken, and all are intent on the business before them. Their feasts are soon over, and although it appears difficult to collect such an immense number of dishes, and to take them away again without much confusion and much time, yet all is so well regulated, that every thing disappears as if by magic. The lacquies bring the dishes in long trays called conchas, which are discharged in order, and which are again taken up and carried away with equal facility. When the whole is cleared and the cloths rolled up, ewers and basins are brought in, and every one washes his hand and mouth.'

The family of his Persian majesty is said to consist of sixty-five sons. As they make no account of females, it is

not known how many daughters he may have, although he is said to have an equal number of both sexes. It sometimes happens, that many of his women are delivered on the same night, and (if we may give credit to a Persian), one of these happy coincidences occurred during our abode in the capital, when, in one night, six of his women were brought to bed, four of sons and two of daughters.'

From the comparative shortness of my stay in Persia,' says Mr. M. p. 248, I cannot presume to delineate the national character. I shall therefore spare the reader any general observations which can be rendered of decisive authority only by the experience of years, and an intimate acquaintance with the literature and amusements, as well as with the administration of a country. The simple incidents of my journal, as they occur, may perhaps afford to every reader better materials for the illustration of the manners and society and government of Persia, than any systematic conclusions which I might have been able to extract from the same scenes and subjects.' P. 248.

The geographical details appear to us to constitute the most valuable part of the work. Our commendation of them, however, is scarcely necessary, since Major Rennell has given the stamp to their authenticity, and has embodied them in a general chart, to which he has set his name, which accompanies and illustrates Mr. Morier's tour. We have indeed taken for granted the accuracy of the greatest part of these details, having compared only that part of the road which extends between Amasia and Constantinople with a very exact journal published by the Abate Sestini under the title of Viaggio da Constantinopoli a Bassora, 1786.'

Besides the maps, Mr. Morier's work is ornamented with twenty-five engravings from the designs of the author, on which, we are sorry to say, that we cannot bestow the same commendation. The engraver, indeed, may have done his duty, and have disposed his lights and shades in such a manner as to produce a picturesque and pleasing effect; but as drawings, they have very little merit, and indeed are, for the most part, so indistinct as to represent nothing at all. Plate xxii, for instance, is given as a description of the city of Ispahan, taken from the pavilion where Shah Abbas was wont to see the exercises of his troops.

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Here, as this is the highest building of the city,' says Mr. M. p. 69, we enjoyed a most extensive view, and from this place we could form a tolerably just idea of its real extent. Houses, or ruins of houses, are spread all over the plain, and reach to the very roots of the surrounding mountains. From

this point I took a panoramic view of the whole, which I completed undisturbed, as I had secured the door, and the porter at the bottom before I commenced. There is no difference in the colours of the buildings; they are universally of a light yellow, and if it were not for an abundant intermixture of trees, which in spring and summer cheer and enliven the scene, the view would be monotonous. The trees are mostly the chenars; but, besides these, there are the Lombardy poplar, the willow, and an elm with very thick and rich foliage and a formal shape. The domes of the mosques are a field of green or sometimes blue-lacquered tiles, with ornaments in yellow, blue, and red: the inscriptions are in the same colours. They are crowned with golden balls and a crescent, with the horns bending outwardly. P: 169.

Our first remark is on the word panoramic, which Mr. Morier has dared to apply to this hasty sketch of a capital city, taken, as it appears, in a few hours at the longest, when, at the same time, he must have known, that Mr. Barker, the inventor of the panorama, employed considerably more than a month in taking the view of Constantinople, and this circumstance indeed sufficiently explains to us why there appears neither a single mosque nor even a single tree in the whole of that part of the view which Mr. M. has selected for the subject of his plate.

Several of the plates represent the figures sculptured on rocks at Shapour and Nakshi Rustam. These are mere outlines, which consequently can pretend to no other merit than that of correctness. The editor indeed takes their accuracy for granted, and adduces it in corroboration of his own hypothesis, which he supports with a good deal of plausibility in a memoir in the appendix, p. 375, that the city of Shapour was built by Sapor the first as a memorial of the defeat, captivity, and servitude of the emperor Valerian. De Sacy, we are told, was misled by the engravings of Chardin, Le Brun, and Niebuhr, which are entirely unworthy of the originals, to consider all the subjects of these sculptures as representing only the conquest of the Parthians by Artaxerxes.

'But,' says our editor, if he who has done so much with imperfect materials, had enjoyed the opportunity of examining the full characteristic distinctions preserved in Mr. Morier's sketches, he would have separated the subjects of the sculptures, into those which commemorated the Parthian victories of Artaxerxes and those which were similarly destined to immortalize the Roman triumphs of Sapor.' P. 380.

The editor particularly notices the strong resemblance between a figure in the sculpture, No. X, and that on a

medal of one of the Sapors in the plates of De Sacy's • Memoire sur les Medailles des Sassonides.' Our confidence in Mr. Morier's skill, and his accuracy in such minute particulars, was however, we must confess, very much shaken by the instances which we have already produced of his negligence, and it is by no means restored by our observing a further disagreement between his written description, and his drawing of the subject represented in plate xix. The sculpture,' he says, p. 137, is composed of seven colossal figures and two small ones,' whereas in the plate itself there are only six colossal figures, and two small ones.

Mr. Morier describes the Persians as being freer from prejudices than their neighbours the Turks, more docile, and more ready to adopt European improvements. In their present state, however, they appear to us to be in no respect superior to any other Mahometan people. The despotism under which they live seems to be more abso lute even than that established in Turkey.

The habitual despotism,' says M. Morier, p. 26, which they are born to witness, familiarizes them so much to every act of violence which may be inflicted on themselves, or on others, that they view all events with equal indifference, and go in and out of prison, are bastinadoed, fined, and exposed to every ignominy, with an apathy which nothing but custom and fatalism could produce.'

The king indeed, in a conversation with which he honoured our envoy, is said to have expressed astonishment, that any limitation could be placed to royal authority (p. 215); yet we know not how to reconcile this with what we understand to be the case in all Mahometan states, that the monarch, however absolute in the political department of his government, is strictly prohibited from arbitrary interference with the administration of civil law, so that, in this respect, the limitations on royal authority in Persia must be not less than they are even in England. The Mahometan religion, however, seems in some degree to have lost its peculiar character in Persia. We certainly do not recognize Mahometans in men who submit patiently to shave their beards and to dress themselves in Russian uniforms. A regulation so capricious in itself, and so repugnant to all the prejudices of Mussulmans, that we are sure neither Turks, nor even Indian Mahometans, would submit to it. We do not however presume to contradict Mr. Morier's statement, of the facts of which he was an eye-witness, and therefore we believe, on his