'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎340] (389/714)

340 PERSIA
sidering that it is at some distance. I will refrain from reflections
about the ' vanished peals of laughter and the songs once warbled
by ruby lips,' leaving such flights of the fancy to the late American
Minister in Persia, who was well qualified to bear the vacant mantle
of Sir II. K. Porter. 1
Outside the walls the most conspicuous eminences and the
most advantageous sites have likewise been monopolised by the
Kasr-i- palace-building craze of the Kajar dynasty. Of these
Rajar edifices the most prominent in any view of Teheran is
that known as the Kasr-i-Kajar (Castle of the Kajars, irreverently
transliterated by the English sergeants who came to Persia in the
first quarter of the century to instruct the native army, as 'Castle
Cadger'), or Takht-i-Kajar—i.e. Throne of the Kajars. It is
situated upon an elevation about two miles to the north of the
modern walls. From a distance this building has a most imposing
appearance, for it rises from a base of foliage in a number of white
tiers, one above the other, culminating in a sort of castle at the
top. 2 The Persians entertain the most grotesque notions of its
architectural importance, and have been known to assert its supe
riority to Windsor Castle or Versailles. A nearer approach dissi
pates the fond but foolish illusion. It is then seen to merit com
parison with a European palace, whether of sovereign or of subject,
about as appositely as might a harbour bumboat with a man-of-
war ; the successive tiers consisting only of earthen terraces faced
with brick, and once adorned with lakes and fountains, which, like
most such things in Persia, have gone to ruin. The palace at the
top contains a variety of pictures of scenes and persons dating from
the time of Path Ali Shah, and in one of the pavilions in the
grounds is, or was, a portrait of the English ' Beau Brummel of
Persia, Istarji, or Strachey, who accompanied Sir John Malcolm's
Mission, and created such an impression as an Adonis that Fath
Ali Shah composed an ode in his honour and had his picture
painted for most of his palaces here and at Isfahan. In the Kasr-
i-Kajar he was framed between the mythic heroes, Zal and
Afrasiab—an apotheosis which I am not aware that any other
Englishman has ever attained. When the King moved with the
1 Persia and the Persians, p. 78.
2 Illustrations of the Kasr-i-Kajar appear in the works of Malcolm, Morier,
Ouseley, etc.; but by far the best are a number of plates in P. Coste's sumptuous
work, Monnments Modernes de la Perse, PI. Iviii., lix., Ix.