dier. But as, according to the ancient customs of this people, it is deemed degrading to a person, who has money sufficient to purchase a horse, to serve on foot, the infantry of Persia has been, from the earliest ages, contemptible, whilst her numerous bodies of irregular cavalry have, more than once, carried terror and defeat amidst the disciplined legions of Rome.

"The dress of the Persians appears to a stranger to be, in some degree, effeminate; although, perhaps, in reality, it is not so much so as that of any other Eastern nation. It consists of a long robe, reaching nearly to the feet, and a high cap, which, when covered with a shawl, has some resemblance to the ancient tiara. A sash is bound round the waist: in this a small dagger is stuck; and no person ever conceives himself dressed without his sword. The custom of shaving, practised in former times by the natives of the East, and looked upon by Europeans as an act of effeminacy, is now completely reversed. The modern European considers a long beard as the emblem of barbarism, but the Persian regards it as a mark of beauty and wisdom. To talk disrespectfully of his beard, is the greatest insult that can be offered to a native of this country; and an attempt to touch it, would probably be followed by the instant death of the offender.

"The dress of the women is extremely simple. It is composed, in the summer season, of a silk or muslin shift, a loose pair of velvet trowsers, and ulkhaliq, or vest. The head is covered with a large black turban, over which a Cashmerian shawl is gracefully thrown, to answer the purpose of a veil. In the cold weather, a close-bodied robe, reaching to the knees, and fastened in front by large gold buttons, is worn over the vest. This is made of velvet, or kimcob, and sometimes ornamented with jewels.

"The natives of Persia do not recline on cushions in the luxurious manner of the Turks, but sit in an erect posture on a thick felt, called a numud. They have seldom or ever fires in their apartments, even in the coldest season; and in order to be warm, fold themselves in a fur pelisse, or a barounee, which is a handsome robe of crimson cloth, lined with shawls or velvet. Like other oriental nations, they rise with the sun; and, having dressed and said their prayers, take a cup of coffee, or perhaps some fruit. They then enter upon the business of the day, if they have any; and if not, smoke and converse until about eleven o'clock, at which time they usually have their breakfast, and then retire into the haram. Here they remain until about three o'clock, when they return into the hall, see company, and finish their business; for with these people the most important affairs are discussed and transacted in public. Between nine and ten the dinner, or principal meal, is served up. This chiefly consists of pillan's, and of mutton and fowl, dressed in various ways, of which, however, they eat but moderately.

Wine they never taste before company; although, in private, they are the most notorious drunkards, and invariably drink before they eat. They are passionately fond of tobacco, which they smoke almost incessantly, from the moment they rise until it is time to retire to rest; it constitutes, indeed, the principal source of amusement to a man of fortune; and were it not for his calean, I am at a loss to imagine how he could possibly spend his time. In this respect, indeed, there seems to be something peculiarly inconsist ent in the character of the Persian. When without an inducement to exertion, he resigns himself entirely to luxury and ease; and the same person who, with his calean in his mouth, would appear to pass the day in a state of stupor, when roused into action and mounted on his horse, will ride for days and nights without intermission. Hunting and hawking, as well as various gymnastic exercises, are their favourite amusements. By these means, their bodies become hardened and active; and as they are taught to ride from their youth, they manage their horses with great boldness and address. They frequently use the warm bath, but seldom change their linen.

"The Persian women are comparatively less handsome than the men; but as a stranger and a christian has seldom or ever an opportunity of seeing ladies of rank, his opinion, of course, is formed, in a great degree, from those of the lower classes.

"Georgian slaves are preferred to all others. These women are extremely beautiful and full of animation, but excel more in the grace and elegance of their persons than in the regularity of their features. They are sometimes brought from their native country by the Armenian merchants, as an article of trade; but the greater part of them are carried away by the Persian armies, in their chupows, or predatory incursions into Georgia. Their price varies according to the supply of the market; and when I was at Tauris, in 1810, a young and beautiful Georgian girl could be purchased for about eighty pounds sterling."

Of the horses of this country Mr. K. speaks with admiration; also of the sheep, the poultry and the game; but the beef is coarse, and is eaten by the lower classes only. The revenue does not much exceed three millions: the tax on land yields, probably, about two thirds of this sum; the remainder is derived from imposts, and duties on merchandise. The military power is an undisciplined rabble, unfit to contend with regular European troops.

They seldom shed much blood in their engagements; and Mr. K. mentions a battle fought while he was in the country, that lasted four days, yet, although ten thousand men were engaged on each side, and the conflict terminated in a complete route, the whole loss was but five men killed and wounded. Predatory excursions are the favourite warlike exploits of the Persians; what ra

vages they occasion may be conjectured, though but faintly, from the following instances. The first describes the manners of four Persian chiefs, who are brothers, but at variance.

"To enable the reader to form some faint idea of the detestable system which has reduced these fine countries to their present state of barbarism, I will here relate an anecdote of one of these chiefs, whom Mr. Monteith and myself had occasion to visit, in our way from Shuster to Shiraaus, in the month of March, 1810, at the time when the first crops were ready for the sickle. Our road lying through the district of Ram Homus, and not far from the villages of three of the brothers, we alternately became their guests. On the second day, at the house of the youngest of the four, and just as we had finished our breakfast, he came into the room armed and equipped, as if prepared to set out on an expe dition. In the course of conversation, he inquired how we had been treated by his relation on the preceding day, and without giving us time to reply, added, that as he knew him to be a scurvy dog, and incapable of exercising the rights of hospitality, he would give us ample revenge, by loading our cattle (if we would allow them to accompany him in his intended excursion) with as much wheat and barley as they were able to carry. We thanked him for his generosity, but told him, that as we had no reason to complain of the manner in which we had been entertained by his brother, we could not possibly avail ourselves of his kind offer. He shortly afterwards withdrew, and, mounting his horse, issued forth at the head of his adherents. He was absent the greater part of the day, and returned, towards the close of the evening, with an immense booty. The quarrels of these chiefs not unfrequently prove fatal to themselves and to their followers. They are, in that event, summoned to attend the tribunal of the Beglerbeg of Bebahan, and he whose suit is sustained with the largest sum of money, is in no fear of losing his cause."

Such are the internal enemies of their own kin, and their own country; which the government is too weak or too slothful to punish!

The following are proofs that the external relations of this people, or at least of their border provinces, are in a state as barbarous as among the most savage tribes of the most savage nations.

"The road from Cashan to Koom winds principally along the edge of the Great Salt Desert, through a level country, depopulated and laid waste by the inroads of the Turkomans. It was the custom of these barbarians, previous to the reign of the present king, to make incursions into Persia, in parties not exceeding forty or fifty men; when, after plundering the villages and massaereing the male inhabitants, they carried off the women and chil

dren as slaves. For this purpose, each Turkoman was attended by two horses, which were as regularly trained for these chupons, or plundering expeditions, as the racers in England are to run at Newmarket; and it is an astonishing fact, that these horses have been known to perform a journey of seven or eight hundred miles in as many days.

"The following account, given by a person who accompanied Hyder Shah, the present sovereign of Bokhara, in one of his plundering expeditions, may give the reader some idea of the manner in which those predatory excursions are conducted. He commenced his journey from Bokhara, and by forced marches reached Merv Shah Jehan in ten days. Here leaving all his baggage, he advanced with twenty thousand horses, and after three moderate marches reached the banks of Tadzen. In these marches the troops mounted at break of day, and rode till four or five o'clock in the evening, when they fed their horses and took some refreshment. They always carried seven days' barley for their horses, and a sort of biscuit and jelly made from grapes for themselves. They also carried several days' water, of which they drank but sparingly, and only allowed their horses a small quantity once every twentyfour hours. They mounted again after evening prayers, and rode till midnight. When they reached the town which they intended to attack, they dismounted, and remained quiet till morning, when the gates were opened and the inhabitants came out with their cattle, &c. The city was then given up to plunder, and the men carried into slavery. Shah Hyder has made ten expeditions of this kind into Khorassan. He received a tenth of the plunder, and the remainder is divided equally amongst his followers."

DEFENCE OF THE POETRY OF HAMMOND.

No writer in our language has written with more tender elegance than Hammond, if a living author perhaps be excepted; and though it were said that his love, his woes, his sighs, and his prayers, were fictitious; that he threatened to kill himself when he meant to live, and that he sung of being in despair when he was perfectly happy and contented, it would not therefore follow that his imagination was not soft and persuasive; that his language was not melodious and appropriate, or that his images were not, in the highest degree, affecting and pathetic. If praise be denied to him whose topics are imaginary, though his descriptions are natural, to whom shall it be given? Poetry is perfect in proportion as it is an accurate representation of life, of things that are real and probable; and if it can be shown, as surely it may be shown, that authors have VOL. II. New Series.

31

written upon fictitious subjects, with a warmth and expression which the reality could not have inspired in a higher degree, the greatest praise will be due to that skill which hides the art by which we are made to believe in representations that have no foundation but in the poet's fancy.

Tickell, in his elegy upon the death of Addison, has these lines:

Slow comes the verse that real grief inspires;
What mourner ever felt poetic fires?

And the question is asked with a plausibility of truth which deceives the reader into an assent of what is implied by it. But if there be any justice in the opinion, that what we feel most we can best express, I see no reason why the deepest grief should not be uttered with the deepest pathos. At all events, if neither visionary nor real sorrows can be truly depicted; if the one must be frigid, and the other insufficient, where are we to look for that which poetry has always been supposed capable of giving-a vivid transcript of our feelings? We must reform our notions of the power of language to express the sentiments of the heart, and receive words only as tokens of imaginary value.

Johnson, whose mental perception was often as defective as his visual one, has attempted to deride the plaintive effusions of Hammond's muse, by talking of their pedantry; but I suppose no reader will be disposed to defer very implicitly to his opinions upon a question of amatory feeling. The first requisite to excellence is to understand the subject we are discussing; and I doubt if Johnson knew much of love in its refined state. His was a mind formed to embrace the vast, but not to seize the minute; and though he wrote verses which mentioned love in all its languishing sensibility of desire, I suspect his images were borrowed from writers who had been faithful to nature, and whom to imitate, therefore, could not be to err. What his notions of this passion were, may be easily inferred from various parts of his writings; especially from Rasselas, and his observations upon Pope's Elegy on the Death of an Unfortunate Young Lady. Yet, it is upon record, that he was susceptible of amorous fondness; of a sort of sensual dalliance, which is quite distinct from love in its state of purity. Such lascivious endearments have not even the quality of Pope's description of lust, which,

Through some certain strainers well refined,
Its gentle love that charms all woman kind.

Let us not wonder that such a man should indistinctly compre hend the delicate sentiments of a writer like Hammond, or that he should have pronounced of his elegies that they have "neither