SIRE,

HAD the following pages contained nothing more than an account given by myself of the affairs of Persia during a certain period, it would have been in me an unpardonable presumption to have solicited the high honour of a permission to prefix to them YOUR MAJESTY'S august name; but as they contain the Translation of a MS. compiled by order of the Sovereign of Persia under his own eye, a Copy of which was presented to me by His Persian Majesty's command when I left that country, I ventured to ask that I might be allowed to lay that Translation, accompanied by my own imperfect Notes, at YOUR MAJESTY'S feet.

The gracious condescension with which YOUR MAJESTY was pleased to receive that request, is an honour which I cannot too highly prize; affording me, as it does, an opportunity to declare myself, with profound respect,

YOUR MAJESTY'S

Most dutiful Subject and devoted Servant,

HARFORD JONES BRYDGES.

NOTICE

ΤΟ

THE READER.

THE Manuscript, of which some of the following pages contain the translation, was given to me by his Persian Majesty, through my old and excellent friend Mirza Bazurg, the Ka'imacam of Persia. It had been promised to me very shortly after my arrival at the Persian Court; but circumstances prevented the delivery of it, till the very eve of my departure from Teheran; and it was then in great haste copied from the original in the possession of the King.

When the Manuscript was at last* delivered to me, Mirza Bazurg thought it necessary to apologize for the little beauty of the hand-writing in which it was transcribed, as well as for the poverty of the illumination and binding; being pleased to say, that my departure from Persia taking place sooner than

*The MS. was despatched to me; and reached me at Erzeroum, on my way to England. It lay many hours under water, with some other things, when La Pomone was wrecked.

† Literally translated.

a

his Persian Majesty expected, was the only cause of his sending the work in a form so ill suited to a royal present*.

The Manuscript commences with the usual pious exordium prefixed to all Muhammedan works: it proceeds with a brief account of the origin of the Kajar Family; of the transactions of his present Majesty's uncle, Akau Muhammed Khan, who was murdered in his tent at Sheshah, in the spring of 1797, and to whom Faty Aly Shah succeeded in 1798; and it ends at my departure from Persia, in 1811.

One motive for undertaking and publishing the translation of this MS. at the present moment, after so much in all shapes has been lately put forth about Persia, is, that, from its containing an account

*The Persians, as is well known to those conversant in Oriental Literature, go to an expense in the binding and illumination of their Manuscripts which is scarcely to be credited in Europe. Mirza Muhammed Husain, who was successively Vizir to Sadik Khan, Jaafer Khan, and Lutf Aly Khan, Princes of the Zend Dynasty, was considered to possess the most valuable library then in Persia. Amongst his books were several, the covers of which were a thin plate of pure gold, beautifully enamelled, and further enriched with small jewels. The silken cord or headband at the top and bottom of the binding, to which the leaves are attached, is, in Persian, called Shirauzee; from whence it may, perhaps, be concluded that this method of binding was first practised at Shiraz. It is common also with the Persians to keep the works they most highly esteem in boxes, or caskets, profusely and richly ornamented: and this seems to have been a very ancient custom; for it appears that, amongst many other rich articles which Alexander found belonging to Darius, was a superb casket, which the Macedonian Prince afterwards destined to contain a copy of Homer's Poems.

of the transactions of that kingdom during a period at which Persia has been more concerned in the affairs of Europe and India than she had been for many years preceding, it is imagined there may perhaps be curiosity enough still left in the world to read the tale of those transactions told by the Persians themselves. There is in the Court of Persia an officer styled Wakaa neveis†, or "writer of daily public occurrences:" the labours of this officer are regularly communicated to the King; and are admitted or corrected under his Majesty's inspection. The MS. therefore now offered in translation to the public, is, as far as regards the period it embraces of his present Majesty's reign, a copy of that State Record.

†There is reason for believing such an office has existed in very early times of the Persian Monarchy, and was considered as conferring great dignity and importance. In the 2d chapter of Esdras, we find "Rathimus, the Story Writer," addressing Artaxerxes on the subject of rebuilding the Temple at Jerusalem. The Vulgate translation of the verse containing this notice runs thus: "Domine! pueri tui Rathimus ab accidentibus, et Sabellius scriba, et reliqui curiæ tuæ judices in Colesyria et Phonice." Es. cap. ii. p. 255. Paris ed. 1785. Various are the instances, in Scripture, of orders given in Persia to search the Records of the Kingdom. Kaempfer thus describes it:-" Wakaa neveis, id est,

Scriptor occurrentium rerum; vocatur etiam Vizeer e chep, id

est, Visirius sinistræ, quoniam in senaculo sedem in latere ad "sinistram regis occupat. Nobis eum appellare liceat magnum Secretarium status, quoniam Serenissimi decreta et mandata "Principum exterorum, per legatos desiderata, et epistolas, nec "minus Magistratis suæ resolutiones et responsorias, tum quæcun“que in aula, regno, et regionibus finitimis memoratu digna acci“dunt diariis consignat." Kampfer, Fascic. 1.