420 ROYAL SEAL AND FIRMAN. "In the name of God, lofty in exaltation: The Almighty God! the arbiter of crown ** In the name of the Almighty God! The command to be obeyed by the world! It is this; The high in station, quick of understanding; the noble; the perfection of intelligence and dignity, and the fulness of exaltation and grandeur, the greatest of christian priests and the highest of the perfect followers of Jesus, Mr. Perkins, who has labored with incalculable devotedness for the weal of the high and refulgent king of kings: For the purpose of gratifying and exalting him [Mr. P.], let him know, that in accordance with a memorial to his refulgent and fortunate Majesty, by his beloved and exalted uncle, Malek Kâsem Meerza, stating that the said "high in station," in accordance with his calling and inclination, has established a school in the country of Oróomiah, and has been, with the most assiduous care and attention, engaged in the instruction of children and the education of the young and the diffusion of science and knowledge: These are the reasons of the manifestation of the graciousness and favor of the king of kings to the said "high in station." And it is that the abundant graciousness of the king of kings may be displayed, to exalt and honor him, that this auspicious command is issued. It is requisite that the said "high in station," increase his efforts and instruction among the young; and that, with even greater zeal than hitherto, he teach them the science of history, geography, geometry and mathematics. And in the performance of these services, His Majesty's graciousness and favor will continue to rest upon him. Written on the 27th day of Rabbeeà-ül-evvel, 1255. The king's auspicious seal hath reached this; The reader, by this time, knows enough of Persian style, to appreciate its pompous flowers, figures and epithets. With all due abatement for these, however, the real design of this firmân was to protect and encourage us in our labors, and it cannot fail to contribute much to that object, which was the more important, in the absence of the English embassy. My name only is used in this document, as in preceding ones, because most familiar to the au TITLES-STYLE-FOLDING LETTERS-SEAL. 421 thorities. It was intended, however, as the prince himself stated, for the benefit of all the members of our mission. The strong disposition of the king, and others, high in rank and authority, in Persia, to encourage the introduction of light and knowledge, should be thankfully recognized, as a very cheering sign of the times, betokening that the set time to favor Zion here is at hand. The missionary, however, and his patrons, must never for a moment forget, that borne on the full tide of external prosperity, and fanned even by the breath of royal approbation, (which is precarious enough in the East,) without Christ, we can do nothing. The titles by which the king is usually addressed and spoken of, are, Shah (king), Shâhân Shah (king of kings), and Kübla Além (centre of the world). In speaking of other monarchs, the Persians make a distinction between king and emperor, by applying Shah, to the former, and Shâhân Shâh, to the latter. Of the grandiloquent character of official documents among the Persians, the foregoing is a very good illustration; and the same general trait characterizes all their written communications. In letters on business, the first page is commonly almost filled with flowery epithets, the metléb, (business,) occupying a few lines, perhaps a single line, at the bottom, upon which the person addressed always casts his eye on opening the document, without even looking at the long string of titles and compliments which precede, unless his relish for that light food is unusually strong. And however disagreeable may be the design and the matter of the communication, it is still gorgeously, if not mellifluously, prefaced in the same way. Such was, doubtless, true of the document in which our worthy governor was threatened by the king, that if he failed to execute a certain order, he should "receive a kick from which he would never recover in this world." Letters and other documents, instead of being folded, for transmission, are closely rolled, and are sealed by means of a narrow strip of strong paper, like a piece of riband or tape, wound tightly around the middle of the roll, and attached by a species of wax or gum. A seal, bearing the name or titles of the writer, is sometimes instamped with ink upon the roll, where it is fastened. The superscription is written with the pen near one end. The seal, with ink, is used within, instead of the written signature of the author, though sometimes both are inserted. The extensive use and high importance of the seal in the East, forcibly illustrates the figures of Scripture, which attach to it such sacred solemnity and authority. The profession of the Meerzas (scribes), is an extensive one, the higher classes in Persia eschewing the drudgery of using the pen, and the peasants being too ignorant to do their own writing. The lower class of merchants usually keep their accounts, write their own letters, and use their own seal; but not the principal ones. Copy * The principal merchants carry on their business with a cipher, and every person has a different one. For in a country where there are no regular posts, their letters must be trusted to couriers, whom a small sum would 422 BUSINESS OF MEERZAS-FINE WRITING. ing manuscripts also opens a wide field of labor for the Meerzas, as well as for the lower orders of the Moollâhs. The Persian pen is a small hollow reed, instead of a quill; the latter would be likely to cut the paper, in the heavy hand of Eastern characters. "We don't trouble the goose," said Mar Yohannan, when the value of his vegetable pen was once subjected to a comparison with the quill, by a Yankee utilitarian. The beauty of Persian manuscripts has long been celebrated. Sir William Jones was so enraptured with them, that he almost wished the art of printing had never been invented. And few can inspect them and compare them with printed copies, without participating in a measure of the same feeling, at least, till they remember the inestimable blessings, so much richer and higher than all the elegance of caligraphy, which the press is beginning to pour upon Eastern nations. The Persians are able to write with a fineness and distinctness that utterly defy imitation with type. I have seen the whole of the Korân, written on two strips of fine Chinese paper, three inches wide and perhaps ten feet long,-written, not “within and without," but only on one side,-which, when rolled up, made a roll a little larger than the finger; and still, every letter was fully formed and perfectly legible. The Persians now usually write their manuscripts in the form of volumes, rather than rolls. And the art of printing is rapidly superseding the profession of copyists, in any form. Some of the Nestorians are also able to use the pen with great elegance; and the bolder stroke and square form of the Syriac character, which they use, appear in even finer relief than the Persian letters. We need good paper and type to compete with these copyists in matters of taste, sufficiently to meet the fastidiousness of "old school" men, and particularly, of the copyists themselves, whose "craft" is so much endangered by the innovation of printing. The process of writing by hand, in this elegant style, is of course very slow; and such manuscripts are highly prized and very difficult to be procured. Says my worthy fellow-laborer, Mr. Breath, our printer, in a letter recently received, "I wish I could send you some handsomely written books, but you know how diffibribe to betray their secrets to commercial rivals; and it is of great consequence that they should have the first intelligence of political changes, about which they would fear to write openly. The authenticity of a merchant's letters, as of his bills, depends entirely upon the seal. It is not usual to sign either; and they are not often written in the hand of the person who sends them; so that it is the seal which is of importance. Engraven upon it is the name and title, if he has one, of the person it belongs to, and the date when it was cut. The occupation of seal-cutter is one of much trust and some danger; he keeps a register of every seal he makes, and if one is stolen or lost, by the party to whom he sold it, his life would answer for the crime of making another exactly the same. The person to whom it belongs, if in business, is obliged to take the most respectable witnesses of the occurrence, and to write to his correspondents, declaring all accounts and business with his former seal, null from the day upon which it was lost.-Hist. of Persia, Vol. II. p. 421. |