'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎396] (451/714)

PERSIA
foh/t, and his short, jerky sentences resembled a forensic cross-
examination rather than a conversation. He is extremely affable
and well-disposed towards Europeans, and few foreigners leave
his capital without the honour of an audience with the sovereimi
In earlier life he was more partial to show and pomp ; but his tastes
appear to have grown simpler with advancing years. The renre
eentative of a monarchy that has long been one of the most gorgeous
in the hast, the heir of sovereigns whose court ceremonial, up till
the last fifty years, was a blaze of splendour, and the possessor of
jewels unnumbered, he now affects a simplicity of costume ia
striking contrast to his predecessors. The bediamonded sword
and the flashing aigrette, which were so familiar on his first visit
to England m 1873, had disappeared in 1889 ; and in Teheran I
have seen him walking in the streets in a braided frock coat, with
prodigious skirts (a speciality of the Persian Court), holding a
walking stick in his hand. Upon other occasions he either appears
on horseback, or, more commonly, is driven through the streets of
the town m a sort of coach with glass panels, not unlike the
carriage of a City sheriff, drawn by six or eight white horses with
henna-dyed tails. In front and behind ride a small detachment of the
royal bodyguard, or gholams, whose full number stands at 2,000,
oi two c<)!p> ot 1,000 apiece, and who are recognisable by their
gold-braided tunics and by the muskets, wrapped up in red cases,
which they wear slung across their shoulders. A number of the
iveried hailequins, or royal runners, whom I have previously
described, are also in attendance to clear a way, while the less
ornamental femshes, with their long switches, keep back the crowd.
u Shah docs not allow of any redundant zeal on the part of the
fei ashes, and i^ accessible to any one of his subjects who may press
forward to offer him a petition.
AV hilt Heir Apparent and when resident at Tabriz, Nasr-ed-Din
Miiza rect i\ed the usual education of Persian princes. In other
inteilec- words, he was taught to read, write, pray, ride and shoot,
tainments j S overnors hip of Azerbaijan, though nominally vested
111 ^ ie ^ ali-Ahd, being as a rule exercised by some
minister oi w eight and years, the heir to the throne has few other
occupations except those of the harem and the chase. Accordingly,
^ I need scaicelj explain that when Mirza succeeds a proper name it signifies
Frmce (being a contraction of .W -^A-descendant of an Amir\ but that
when it precedes it means a person in civil employment or a secretary.