with the hero to the
mysteries the Persian harem or _anderun_, and its petty existence,
inane frivolity, open jealousy, and clandestine intrigue. The death and
funeral of the old barber provide an opportunity for a valuable account
of Persian customs upon those occasions.

Similarly the story of Yusuf and Mariam is utilised to furnish an
equally interesting description of the Armenian ritual in cases of
betrothal and marriage. Incidentally the return of the poet Asker from
his captivity among the Turcomans acquaints us with the curious habit of
bringing back a person supposed to be dead, not by the door, but through
the roof; and when Hajji Baba, from the terrace of the doctor's house,
listens to 'the distant din of the king's band, the crash of the drums,
and the swell of the trumpets, announcing sunset,' he is alluding to a
custom that has prevailed for centuries in all the Mohammedan courts
of Central Asia and India, that is supposed to be a relic of extinct
sun-worship, and that is still observed in seats of royal or princely
rule, alike at Tehran, Ispahan and Kabul.

Mention should not be omitted, in passing, of the perfect familiarity
of the author both with cultured and colloquial Persian and with the
Persian classics. An Oriental metaphor, however hyperbolical, slips as
easily from his lips as though it had always rested there. Quotations
from Hafiz and Saadi play as large and as apposite a part in his
dialogue as they do to this day in the conversation of any well-educated
Asiatic who has been brought up in countries where Persian is the
language of literature and fashion. No one who has not been in the East
can fully appreciate the talent for self-detachment and for successful
assimilation of an alien mode of thought and expression which such an
exercise demands.

Nor, though this is beside the main purpose of the work, should we shut
our eyes to the side-lights which are thrown upon foreign nations;
and which, while they lend additional testimony to the insight of the
writer, are invaluable as showing the point of view from which European
institutions and customs were then and are still for the most part
regarded by the Asiatic Mussulman. How amusing is the description,
placed in chapter xix., in the mouth of the Chief Physician, of the main
external differences between Persians and Europeans, and in the ensuing
chapter, of the contemporary costume, regarded by the Persians as so
improper, of the English