The funerals of the Persians are conducted with great pomp, especially among the rich. The procession is ac companied by the favourite charger of the departed war rior, carrying his arms and clothes; his boots are laid across the saddle; his cap is placed on the pique; and the or cloth with which he girded his loins, is hound round the horse's neck. Those who desire to show their respect, send a led horse, with arms upon the saddle, to swell the mourning train of the deceased ; and his memory is preserved by the erection of a splendid tomb.
To Persia belongs the disgrace of having introduced the use of eunuchs, and of having employed them as guardians of the purity of the haram. It is at least cer tain that they were as numerous and powerful at the an cient court of Persepolis as at the modern courts of Ispahan and Teheran. They were promoted to the first stations in the kingdom. They exercised a command ing influence in the state, and though, since the acces sion of the reigning family, they are very seldom em ployed beyond the walls of the haram, yet such as are in situations of trust are treated with uncommon attention and deference.
Among all ranks, illuminations, fire-works, musicians, dancing-boys, wrestlers, jugglers, buffoons, and puppet shows, are the prevailing amusements at public feasts; and riding upon horseback, walking in gardens, and sit ting in groups in their houses, or under the shade of a tree, listening to a tale or a poem, are the usual occupa tions of their idle hours. Dancing girls were formerly introduced at every entertainment for the amusement of the guests ; but at present they are not allowed at court, and are seldom seen except in the provinces at a distance from the capital.
The higher classes in Persia never walk on foot ; and as there are no wheeled carriages among them, except one or two, in the possession of the royal family, which are kept merely as specimens of European manufacture, their usual mode of travelling is upon horseback. Their women are conveyed in portable pavillions, placed on ca mels, or suspended between two mules. A Persian in a manner lives upon horseback, and cannot make a visit of ceremony without his charger, however inconsiderable the distance; and thus, by constant practice, he acquires a firm scat, a dexterity in the management of his horse, and a fearlessness of danger, that appears extraordinary to strangers. He rides without the least apprehension over any country, climbs the most dangerous steeps over rock and shrub, and keeps his way in defiance of every obstacle of ground. Indeed, he holds it as a fact, that a horse will find footing wherever a man can do the same. The present heir-apparent, who is governor of Aderbijan, will, at full gallop, shoot a deer with a single ball ; or with an arrow from his bow, hit a bird on the wing.
Perhaps no country has undergone so many revolutions as Persia, yet the nature of its government has never changed. From the most early ages, the word of the king has been deemed a raw, and no monarch in the world rules with more arbitrary sway. He is absolute master of the lives and property of his subjects, and is under no re straint in the exercise of his powers, but what arises from his regard for religion, his respect for established usages, his desire of reputation, and his fear of exciting an op position that might be dangerous to his power or his life.
His family, ministers, judges, and officers of every rank, he can punish without examination, or formal procedure of any kind whatever. The general maxim is, that the king is completely exempt from responsibility; and it would be treason to affirm that he is amenable to any check, but what may be imposed by his own prudence or conscience. But though the monarch may be considered as vested with authority independent of all law, yet in all capital cases among his subjects in general, where he dots not personally decide, or delegate his arbitrary authority to another, the forms prescribed by law and custom are observed ; and he only confirms the sentence, or pardons the criminal. The character of the Persian monarchs has often been exhibited by travellers as most tyrannical, and as reckless of the rights and lives of others. But if we consider the circumstances of their situation, and the manner in which they are educated, we should be surpris ed to find them possessed of mercy and humanity, though these were their natural dispositions. Ruling over reluc tant tributaries, who acknowledge their authority only by compulsion, and mountain tribes who subsist chiefly by plunder; and surrounded by ambitious nobles, eager to establish their independence, their power, to be efficient, must be dreaded, and the impression of terror is necessa ry to secure submission. Besides, the princes of this country are accustomed, from their infancy, to the sight of human suffering. Their instructors, as if apprehen sive that an indulgence in tender feelings should interfere with the performance of their future duties, carry them to witness scenes at which most men would shudder. These early lessons are uniformly successful. The habit of directing and witnessing executions must, in the course of time, harden the heart ; and there is hardly one in stance, in the history of this country, of a Persian king showing any uncommon degree of humanity, while there are many to prove that, by a brutal indulgence in the shedding of blood, human beings appear to lose that rank and character which belong to their species. In general they have recognised no limit to their oppressions, but the apprehension of revolt ; and have only measured their indulgence in pleasure by their power of enjoying it. A sovereign of Persia considers nothing as obligatory upon hirn but his religion; and all of them have been punctual observers of the forms of the faith which they professed. His personal duties are numerous and burdensome. He appears in public from six to seven bours every day; and is accessible to a great number of his subjects of all ranks. Early in the morning he is attended by the principal mi nisters and secretaries, who make reports upon what has occurred, and receive his commands. He next proceeds to his public levee, which continues about an hour and a half, and at which all affairs which are wished to be made public, are transacted. When this is over, he adjourns to the council-chamber, where one or two hours are given to his personal favourites and ministers ; and then retires to his inner apartments. In the evening he transacts bu siness with his ministers and principal officers of state.