and a very small amount of
merit. The proportion of the forms is, indeed, fairly good, the heads
and hands are well drawn, and there is some grace in certain of
the figures, but the general effect is tame and somewhat heavy; the
attitudes are stiff, and present little variety, while, nevertheless,
they are sometimes impossible; there is a monotonous repetition of
identically the same figure, which is tiresome, and a want of grouping
which is very inartistic. If Persia had produced nothing better than
this in sculpture, she would have had to be placed not only behind
Assyria, but behind Egypt, as far as the sculptor's art is concerned.

Processional scenes of a more attractive character are, however,
tolerably frequent. Some exhibit to us the royal purveyors arriving at
the palace with their train of attendants, and bringing with them the
provisions required for the table of the monarch. Here we have some
varieties of costume which are curious, and some representations
of Persian utensils, which are not without a certain interest.
Occasionally, too, we are presented with animal forms, as kids, which
have considerable merit.

But by far the most interesting of the processional scenes, are those
which represent the conquered nations bringing to the monarch those
precious products of their several countries which the Lord of Asia
expected to receive annually, as a sort of free gift from his subjects,
in addition to the fixed tribute which was exacted from them. Here we
have a wonderful variety of costume and equipment, a happy admixture of
animal with human forms, horses, asses, chariots, sheep, cattle, camels,
interspersed among men, and the whole divided into groups by means of
cypress-trees, which break the series into portions, and allow the eye
to rest in succession upon a number of distinct pictures. Processions of
this kind occurred on several of the Persepolitan staircases; but by far
the most elaborate and complete is that on the grand steps in front of
the Chehl Minar, or Great Hall of Audience, where we see above twenty
such groups of figures, each with it own peculiar features, and all
finished with the utmost care and delicacy. The illustration [PLATE LV.,
Fig. 2], which is taken from a photograph, will give a tolerable idea
of the general character of this relief; it shows the greater portion of
six groups, whereof two are much injured by the fall of the parapet-wall
on which they were represented, while the