Though the sciences and learning have made but little progress, yet education is exceedingly cheap, and the know ledge of the simpler branches of learning are very gene rally diffused among all ranks. There are schools in every town and city of Persia, where the rudiments of the Persic and Arabic languages are taught ; and the fees are suffi ciently reasonable to admit the children of the poorest tradesmen. There are also madrassas or colleges, where are taught moral philosophy, metaphysics, and the princi ples of their religion. Some of these colleges are magni ficent and richly endowed, and owe their origin to the piety of some of their kings or nobles, who regarded it as meri torious in the eyes of God and the prophet to employ their wealth in such charitable foundations. This facility of ob taining a certain degree of education, and the habits of in dolence and indulgence which they acquire in these col leges, produce a swarm of students, who pass their useless lives in poverty and idleness. Every city is consequently inundated with literary mendicants and vagrant poets, who take every opportunity of dealing out their flattering verses upon all strangers, whose rank or appearance afford them the slightest prospect of a return. The art of printing is here unknown. Beautiful writing is therefore looked upon as an eminent accomplishment, and those who excel in it are almost classed with literary men. They are employed in copying books ; and such are the acquirements of some in this art, that specimens of penmanship of a celebrated copyist have often sold for a considerable sum.
The manufactures of Persia have undergone very little variation since the days of Chardin, in the seventeenth cen tury. Many of them are very beautiful, particularly their carpets, their gold and silver brocades, their silks, and their imitation of Cashmere shawls, which are made of the wool of Kerman. Their cottons of various kinds are inferior to those of India ; and a kind of felt is their substitute for broad cloths. Manufactories of glass are established at Shiraz ant] Maragha, and of porcelain at Zarang ; and the manufactures of leather, stiagreen, and morocco, which are as old as the Parthian kings, are still in a flourishing state. Fire-arms are made and mounted in most of the principal towns. Excellent sabres are still manufactured at Casbin and in Khorassan, and though brittle are of an excellent temper and edge. The fine quality of the steel is known by its waving clouded streaks. They are damas cened with gold ; and those of Khorassan sell as high as 30/. Sterling. They also enamel upon gold and silver in the most beautiful manner. Their workmanship in jewels and trinkets is admirable; and few nations surpass them in the arts of carving and gilding. Upon the whole, it cannot be said that the useful and fine arts in Persia are either in a state of deterioration or improvement. "Know ledge in this country has hitherto ebbed and flowed with the changes in the political situation of the empire, and must continue to do so, as long as its inhabitants arc un der the depressing influence of a despotic and unsettled government."
The national religion of Persia is Mahomedan, but in this country it has lost much of its intolerance and fanati cism. This may arise from the inhabitants professing the principles of the Sheahs, or followers of Aly, who are con sidered as heretics by the Turks and others of the sect of the Sonnites. Of the various sects which have arisen among the followers of the Arabian Prophet, the most considerable is that of the Sheahs, who stand opposed to the Sonnites, or orthodox believers, and between whom there subsists an irreconcileable hostility. The principal difference between these sects arises from the Sheahs maintaining the right of Aly to have succeeded to the caliphate on the death of Mahomed, as being his first con vert, his cousin and nearest male relation, and the husband of Fatima, the only offspring of the prophet. They conse quently consider the three first Caliphs, Aboubeker, Omar, and Osman, as usurpers, and deny all the Sunnee traditions which rest upon their authority. The Sonnites, on the other hand, acknowledge the first caliphs as the chosen companions and legitimate successors of Mahom ed, and recognise the authority of the four great lmaums or Saints, Haneefa, itIalik, Shaffei, and Hambal, who were held in reverence for their piety and learning while alive, and since their death, have been canonized as the high priests of the established orthodox doctrine. These holy men were the founders of distinct sects, who differed con siderably from each other, both in their exposition of the Koran and the traditions; but their followers, alarmed at the progress of other heresies, concurred in tolerating their respective differences, and have become consolidated into one belief. These four sects are denominated the four pillars of the Sonnec faith, and each has a separate oratory at the temple of Mecca. The Sheahs and Son nitcs observe, in general, the same festivals; but the former ha% e set aside the first ten days of the month Mohurrum to mourn o% er the cruel fate of the sons of Aly, and on this occasion the lower orders, particularly, pour out imprecations against the Sonnites and the usurping caliphs. There are, however, many other points of dif ference between these sects, both with respect to religious worship and civil usages, which render them totally irre conctleable. Their hatred to each other is open and un disguised : and this feeling, on the part of the Sheahs, has often been of essential service to the kings of Persia, who, in all their wars N%ith their Sonnite neighbours, have never failed to take advantage of the religious abhorrence of their counnymen, and the watch-word, that the Sheah faith was in danger, has always prevailed in rousing them to action.