186 The Mad-House. [VOL. 4 misfortune of this poor man, at least in brought us nearest the Divinity! At the cause of it. He is very ugly, as you see, but he was also very rich; and therefore it was not astonishing that he married a very handsome woman, of a rank above his own. Naturally jealous, the levity of his wife furnished him with frequent occasions of giving way to this failing. He had, or fancied he had, a rival, a young man on whom nature had prodigally bestowed every physical advantage, except on the head; some parts of which were so ill provided with hair, that he was obliged to have recourse to the industrious hand of Harmand, or Michalong. In a word, he wore those fragments of a peruke known by the name of "mouches." I will not tell you how, or in what place, this suspicious husband found the sample of a coiffure, which disturbed him so much respecting his own; but from this moment hell was in his head, his jealousy became a delirium, and his reason evaporated in the most furious paroxysms. The very sight of a woman raises him to a pitch of rage, of which it is difficult to form an idea." It was impossible for me to support the sight of these torments, and we entered the quarter of the maniacs; some of whom Monsieur C described as he passed their chambers. "This one," said he, pointing out a man who walked backward and forward, with a speaking-trumpet of paste-board in his hand, "was the captain of a privateer; after a brilliant cruize he was taken in sight of port, with all his prizemoney, by a frigate, which he fought for two hours with the greatest intrepidity. This misfortue deprived him of his reason; he believes he is still on-board his vessel, engaged in the combat that was so fatal to him; and he calls out incessantly, "Fire the magazine !" The chamber adjoining was grotesquely ornamented with strips of tinsel, and was occupied by poor T-,whom I knew formerly in society, attacked by a mania of a different kind, and much more ridiculous. When he passed for a reasonable being, he was persuaded that the soul of man resided in his heel; and that dancing, in which he excelled, was, of all perfections, the one that present, he believes himself ambassador of the Great Mogul; adorned with ribands of all colours, he pleases himself with his chimerical grandeur, and gave audience in his cell at Charenton, with a dignity very amusing, and not altogether without model. What would he gain by being cured? He is no longer of an age for dancing, and with the return of reason would lose his embassy. A little farther on dwelt a philosopher, who became mad from frequently repeating, on his own person, the experiments of Spallanzani upon frogs. His lodging place communicated with that of an old commentator, whose reason was extinguished in profound researches to discover whether the ancients wore perukes. Their neighbour was the footman of a man of quality, whose brain got out of order, because he was not admitted to the honour of a place behind the carriage of his master on a day of cere. mony. In passing across a corridor, to go to the quarter of the women, we saw a maniac on whom they were putting the straight waistcoat-"That man," said Monsieur C-, " was formerly a satirical writer; that trade is not without danger, and people in anger do not always look where they strike. In the last assault he had to sustain, his head came in contact with a cudgel, and moral alienation was the consequence; since he is mad, he has changed characters: he no longer writes against any one, but wishes to cudgel every body." Madness, among the women confined in this place, appeared to me to have, as a society, two characters very distinct love and vanity. The first we visited was a species of Aunt Aurora,* whose brain had been bewildered by melancholy romances. Seated on the foot of her bed, an old guitar, without strings, in her hand, she believed herself on the banks of a torrent, or the point of a rock; and thrilled, with an almost extinguished voice, a song, in which the "Bird of Night," and the " Wind of the Desert" were not forgotten. * The French play of Ma Tante Aurore. VOL. 4.] Manners and Customs in Modern Persia. 187 This maniac had, as a neighbour, a deprived of her reason by an excess of young girl, whose misfortunes interested mystic devotion, now experienced a me still more deeply. Abandoned by delirium of a very different nature; it is an unfaithful lover, the evening of the impossible to divine to what suggestions day fixed for her marriage, her heart she owes the ideas and images that was broken by mortification, and the necessarily present themselves to her loss of reason kindly restored the pleas- mind, for the first time, and which she ing illusions which she had lost. announces in a language she could never have had an opportunity of hearing. I expressed the astonishment I felt at seeing in that place, a woman who I was informed that Monsieur Cexhibited no other mark of maduess had sought, in concerts and scenic exhithan that of believing herself thirty bitions, executed by his patients, a years younger than she really was; means of operating or preparing their smiling graciously at all the young men, cure. I witnessed this double experiand being convinced that no one could ment; but it did not appear to me that see her without falling in love with her. he had any just grounds for the hopes of "If these are proofs of madness," said success, which he still appears to enI, "where could we find room to tertain. lodge all who are afflicted in the same manner?" I stopped a moment to behold a woman, whose madness is directly opposed to the cause that produced it. This lady, I returned to Paris to dine,and passed the evening in a very brilliant assembly, where I continued my remarks on fools, almost without perceiving that I had changed the place of observation. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS IN MODERN PERSIA. From the Literary Gazette, Sept. 1818. A SECOND JOURNEY THROUGH PERSIA, ARMENIA, ASIA MINOR, &c. BETWEEN THE YEARS 1810 AND 1816. BY JAMES MORIER, ESQ. &c. &c. LONDON. 1818. ON N the 7th of April, when the Em- but as the work of yesterday. The bassy reached Shiraz, they were faces of all the figures to the right of welcomed honourably, and remained the staircase are mutilated, which must there some time, during which Mr. be attributed to the bigotry of the first Morier took an opportunity of revisiting Mussulmen who invaded Persia; those Persepolis, and other gentlemen of ex- of the newly discovered figures are ploring different parts of the surrounding quite perfect, which shews that they country. The most interesting portion must have been covered before the of the ruins of Persepolis, in point of sculptured detail, is the front of the staircase which leads to the great hall of columns. Of these Mr. M. sent a quantity to England; but his greatest discovery seems to have been the commencement of the arrow-headed inscription, the termination of which Le Bruyn has given in his drawings; so if ever this character should be deciphered, we should have the whole of the inscription. Saracen invasion; the nicety of their preservation would lead one to suppose that they had been so protected for many ages before that invasion." His observations on Hamadan confirms the opinions of D'Anville and Rennel, that this place occupies the site of the ancient Ecbatana, and that the mountain of Alwend is the Orontes of ancient geography. "Another monument of positive antiquity, we discovered casually in Both Le Bruyn and Chardin have exploring the Northern skirts of the city. only given one line of figures on the left It consists of the base of a small column, of the staircase;-Mr. M. fortunately of the identical order of the large bases dug out a second row highly preserved, of the columns at Persepolis, and ap"The details of whose faces, hair, dress- pears to be of the same sort of stone. es, arms, and general character seemed This led to a discovery of some im 188 Seclusion of Females-Snake-Charmers-Shatir's Tower. [VOL. 4 portance; for adjacent to this fragment this subject. The Persians are very is a large but irregular terrace or plat- superstitious-those who had the charm form, evidently the work of art, and called the Dum, or breath, thought perhaps the ground plan of some great themselves secure against the bite of building; of the remains of which its snakes, and the sting of scorpions; and soil must be the repository. The situa- as some of them were servants attached tion of this spot agrees with that which to the Embassy, they were always put Polybius (lib. x. 24) would assign to into requisition to seize the snakes and the Palace of the Kings of Persia, scorpions found, which they did most which he says was below the citadel." courageously. This we have little doubt is the site "Not long ago lived at Shiraz a man where Alexander slew Parmenio, and greatly celebrated for his sanctity, who where Hephestion died. Would not had the reputation to possess the Dum such a place reward the labours of an to such a degree, that he communicated intelligent people more than Pompeii it to Mureeds, or disciples, who again or Herculaneum? To our minds it would furnish as interesting grounds for research as Persepolis itself, where Thais led the way To light him to his prey, And like another Helen fired another Troy. dispensed it to the multitude. A young Mirza, brother to the then acting Vizier of Shiraz, gave to the Ambassador as a great present, a knife, which he said had been charmed by this holy man, and if rubbed over the bite of a snake Great light is thrown upon the cele- would instantly cure it. One of his brated march of the Ten Thousand, in disciples was at Shiraz whilst we were other parts of Mr. Morier's tour; but there, and he willingly complied with as we must not dwell too long on an- our request, that he would communicate tiquities, we return at one stride to our his charm to us. The operation was days, when the Persians are as much simple enough. From his pocket he astonished at the sight of an English- took a piece of sugar, over which he man's wig, as their ancestors would mumbled some words, breathed upon have been when Darius was defeated. it, and then required that we should eat We shall select a few notices illustrative it, in full belief that neither serpent nor of modern manners. scorpion could ever more harm us. He then pulled some snakes out of a bag, which some of us, whose confidence was strong, ventured to handle and flourish in the air." The Mehmander at Shiraz treated the Embassy with "A concert, performed by four musicians; one of whoin played on the Kamounché; a second sang, fanning his mouth with a piece Snake-charm is, however, too wellof paper to aid the undulations of his known an art to excite much surprise. voice; the third was a tambourine The following legend of superstition atplayer; and the last beat two little tached to the Mil Shatir, or pillar of the drums placed on the ground before him." running footman,near Ispahan, to which A whimsical picture of these, the best Chardin tells us that those who wished musicians of Shiraz, is given. The to enter the King's service in that capaauthor once shewed a miniature picture of his mother to an Ethiopian eunuch, who was quite incredulous of the account given him of the liberty enjoyed by European women. "After looking at it for some time, he exclaimed, Then I suppose your father is a painter?" When I answered, No,' in great astonishment he said, Then who could have painted this picture?" " city, were required to run from the palace gate twelve times within twelve arrows, between sun-rise and sun-set, as a proof of activity and strength-the distance would be 120 miles in about 14 hours. But the tradition related to the Embassy is more romantic: "In former days a King of Persia promised his daughter in marriage to any one who would run before his horse all the way from Shiraz to Ispahan. Thus in a few words giving an insight One of his Shatirs nearly accomplished into the whole of eastern feelings upon the task, having reached to the eminence VOL. 4.] The Land Mermaid-Persian Superstition. 189 marked by the tower, when the King, "Zohak had two serpents growing fearful that he should be obliged to out of his shoulders, which it was nekeep his promise, dropt his whip. The cessary to feed daily with human braius ; ligatures which encompassed the and two men of Demawend were every Shatir's body were such, that in the morning killed for this odious purpose: state he then was, he knew for certain, at length, a youth resolving to rid his that if he stooped to the ground to pick country of such a scourge, went to slay up the whip, his death would imme- him; and informed his townsmen, that diately follow; therefore he contrived if he succeeded he would light a fire on to take up the whip with his foot, carried the top of the neighbouring mountain, it to his hand, and so presented it to the as a signal of the tyrant's death and of King. This trick having failed, the his triumph. Zobak was living near King then dropped his ring, upon which the mountain of Demawend, whither the Shatir, who saw that his fate was the youth repaired and slew him: and decided, exclaimed, "O 'King, you the illuminations (to this day) are intenhave broken your word, but I'll show ded to commemorate the promised fire you my submission to the fast." Upon which he lighted." which he stooped, picked up the ring, and died. In commemoration of this event, the Shatir was buried on the spot, and this tower, now called the Shatir's Tomb, was built over his remains." It is probably, however, the commemoration of the flight to the mountains of those whose escaped from the oppression of this despot, and there became the founders of this Courdish people. But superstition is not confined to The Goule, a sort of Land Mermaid, Persia: at Echmiatzin, during Mr. Mowhich entices travellers by its cries, and rier's stay there, the Armenian Pathen tears them to pieces by its claws, triarch, in mercy to the inhabitants of is an object of peculiar dread to the Per- Tefflis, who sent a deputation to him, sians in a district through which our allowed "the head of the very spear countrymen passed-without seeing any with which the Roman sold er pierced of thein! Their companions affirmed, the side of our Saviour" (and which is that the goule had the faculty of chang- preserved theref) to visit Tefflis, where ing itself into different shapes and co- its entrance at one gate drove out the lours; sometimes that it came in a plague, which was desolating the city camel's form, sometimes as a cow, then in the shape of a cow, at the other!! as a horse; and when of a sudden they discovered something on the horizon of the desert, which they could not make out, they all at once cried it is a Goule.' When pointed out to be the stump of a reed, they still thought it might be a finesse of the goule; and many declared, with grave faces, they had seen them on crossing the desert, and only kept them off by spells, the most efficacious of which was loosening the string of their shalwars, or riding trowsers. At Ispahan there is a Dominican Catholic Church, but in sore decay. The priest was a little, smart, cheerfullooking man, called Padie Yusuf, a Roman by birth, and the last of the missionaries of the Propaganda, who had long been established in Persia. He had been 15 years at Ispahan, and his flock is about as numerous as his years of residence. There were formerly several other Catholic Churches here, but they have long ceased to exist. A tradition at Demawend may well We trust more success will attend a be classed with the description of these translation of the New Testament into imaginary beings. At Demawend they Persian, by Mr. Martyn, the Chaplain have an annual festival, or rejoicing for to the Embassy. This gentleman the death of Zohak, a renowned Persian having had many controversies with tyrant, whose seat of government it was. the Mollahs, who wished to convert The resemblance to a portion of the him, threw his arguments in favour of heathen mythology is curious: +Among other relics, including the arm of St. Gregory, and the scalp of St. Repsime, so incased They bind themselves all over tightly by way in gold and ornaments, that neither can be distinctof support to the body. ly seen. 190 New Discovery in Optics-Process of Crystallizing Tin. [VOL. 4 Christianity into a tract, which obtained for several days, and expressed thema wide circulation in Persia. "A Mollah selves much edified by its contents. The of high fame was ordered to answer it, Mollahs (or Scribes,) however, reviled which he performed, after the lapse of him for undertaking such a work. On a year, so lamely, that even his coun- reading the passage where our Saviour trymen were ashamed of his work. is called the " Lamb of God," they Another answer was ordered, but never scorned and ridiculed the simile, as if produced; and Mr. Morier observes, exulting in the superior designation of that "We may infer from this circum- Ali, who is called Sheer Khoda, the stance, that if, in addition to the Scrip- Lion of God. Mirza Baba observed tures, some plain treatises of the eviden- to them," The lion is an unclean beast, ces of Christianity, accompanied by he preys upon carcases, and you are not strictures upon the falsehood of, the allowed to wear his skin, because it is doctrines of Mahomed, were translated impure; he is destructive, fierce, and into Persian, and disseminated through- man's enemy. The Lamb, on the out that country, very favourable effects contrary, is in every way halal, or lawwould be produced. Mr. Martyn ful. You eat its flesh, you wear its caused a copy of his translation to be skin on your head, it does no harm, beautifully written, and to be presented and is an animal beloved. Whether by the Ambassador to the King, who is it best then to say the Lamb of God, was pleased to receive it very graciously, or the Lion of God?" A copy of it was made by Mirza Baba, The reflections to which these facts a Persian, who gave us lessons in the are calculated to give rise, we shall not Persian language; and he said, that impair or confuse by adding any thing many of his countrymen asked his per- to our present Number. In our next mission to take Mr. Martyn's transla- we shall resume lighter matters. tion to their homes, where they kept it USEFUL ARTS. From the New Monthly Magazine, Sept. 1818. WE or, for his new method of ornamenting LESTER'S NEW DISCOVERY IN OPTICS. japanned metal work by efflorescence E understand that this patent resembling the appearance produced by Light-Projector, as it is called, is frost upon glass windows, called moire exceedingly recommended by its excel- metallique. The Society of Arts and lence in an economical view. The small Sciences at Paris, have also presented one, when applied to a candle, produces him with a gold medal for this discoveso great a degree of heat, as to render it ry. extremely useful in cold weather; and it In addition to what we have already not only increases the heat to a high de- stated on this subject, we shall observe gree, but produces light driven forward that the moire metallique is produced by into a large deep space, so as to illumi- sulphuric acid, diluted in from seven to nate more powerfully than can be conceived without occular demonstration. The apparatus is now getting up in an article that will possess all the beautiful effects of the most finished mirror, without the liability to tarnish, and it is supposed to be capable of producing many more important advantages than have yet been developed. CRYSTALLIZATION OF TIN. M. ALLARD, of Paris, has obtained a patent from the Minister of the Interi nine parts of water, and then laid on the sheet of metal with a sponge or rag. The tin must be heated, so as to form an incipient fusion on the surface, when the acid is applied; after which the crystallization ensues. The phrase moire is borrowed from the word used to designate watered silk, (soie moirée) The citric acid, it is said, answers better than any other. By employing the blow pipe before the acid, small and beautiful spots are formed on the tin. See p. 483, Vol. 3. |