The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-10-08 00:00:00

PERSIA IN MINIATURE.

The following extrao includes an highly eplrr•
taining slid curium derctiption of the ruins of Per-
sepult,, and of the splendid embellishments of two
sopa palaces lately rarected by the reigning
Monarch.

" lit architecture, as well as sculpture, the
ancient Pervious surpassed their descendants. Such
at least is the opinion we are authorised to form by
the ruins of Persepolis, Shuster, and Kendjaver,
and the remains or the prince of Khosni. in the
ancient Ciesiirlion. The principal architectural
works of the present day are the domes and mina-
rets of the mosques. The ceilings and domes are
141 exquisitely finished as to excite astonishment.
and it is frequently the case, that more labour and
expense are bestowed on the decoration of a ceiling
than on all the rest of the edifice to which it
belomzs.

" The most magnificent of the remains of anti.
quity in Persia, fruits which some inference may be
drawn respecting the state of architecture in that
country two or three thousand years ago, are indis-
putably the ruins of Persepolis. They are situated
its the plain of Merdasht, one of the most fertile in
Prints, to the left of the road leading from Ispuhan to
Slinuit. Let the render figure to himself the side
of. mouribriii tho hardest marble, presenting au
unequal area or platform, twelve hundred feet in
length, and sixteen /wedged and ninety in depth,
cut perpendicularly, and surrounded with a wall
faced with marble, 4,000 feet in circumference._
Let the imagination place on this terrace, porticoes.
column., walls, flights of steps, the whole of marble,
without any apparent mixture or stone; edifices
vying in dimensiont and in the majesty of their de.
tails with the most perfect works of antiquity ex.
taut ; aqueducts hewn out of the solid rock ; lastly
a mountain cut perpendicularly through its whole
length, and forming its eastern wall. Such was in
past ages the general appearance of the temple or
palace of Persepolis. The genius of destruction
isiw hovers round this terrace; earthquakes have
changed the face of it ; the hand of man has asst.
duously overthrown what they have spared ; the eye
now discovers nothing but fragments of walls, de.
Inched door-ways ; columns partly in ruin ; the
ground strewed with fragments of shafts, capitals
and blacks of marble ; while heaps of send and dust
are daily covering more and snore of these struc-
tures, whose remaining masses astonish the imagi.
nation. The mosque, the caravanserai, and the
dwelling of the Persian are decorated with their
spoils ; the tonnes of the Mustilmun conqueror and
of the European traveller are placed beside tho.e
inscriptious, the origin, signification, and wedge.
like character of which will exercise to no porpore
the sagacity of the learned. The aqueducts are
become receptacles of rainwater, or the haunts of
noxious animals; the camel and the mule crop the
wild herbage that grows among the mitts; while the
stork peacefully builds her nest on the column of
the temple of the de►ty, or of the palaces of kings.
" Sufficient reinaius are yet left to prove that the
Persians had carried architecture to a high degree
of perfection long before th►e Greeks. The figures
which *dont the surface of all the wal!s, if not
sculptured according to the direct rules of design
nr perspective, nevertheless bespeak au able and ex.
prrienced hand. Their her, throughout the
whole of she ruins, is estimated at about 1,300,
The ruins of Persepolis are now knowu by *levered
denomination. as Talchli-Djentshid, Omni, of
Djervisbid ; Kuashs.L)a►a, house of Dare or Ds.
Tins; liczar-Sontown, the thousaild columns;
Tarlac!. illinar, the forty colors'''. The orieutal
lustoriatis are out agreed respecting the founder of
these magnificent stitictures : the moat generally
received opinion attributes them to Djernshid, a
Sovereign of the Pishdadtan dynasty.
" A curious specimen of the architecture or the
middle age is found at the ruinous city of Solistria,
in an unfinished building, begun by Sultan
hf►lahomed K hodabund in the fourteenth century,
as a shrine for the. remains of the Caliph Ali and
his. son Hossein, which he intended to translate
thither from their former burial-place, and thus
make Swinton a point of future pilgrimage for the
frothful of his own empire, as Medina had been fur
Mosulmaus in general. The Sultan, however, did
not live to complete his design, and his oval ashes
occupied the place.
" The centre of this once splendid but now
mooldeeirig edifice, is surmounted by a douse up-
wards of 130 fret in height. The whole interior of
the building presents one uninterrupted space; but
to the south is a large distinct chamber, choked
up with rubliish, under the floor of which, as Sir
K. Potter was informed, are three immense vaulted
'DOWN the entrance to which is hurled under the
sepensicainhent rubbish, and in one of which stands
the tomb of the founder. The Mettle of the whole
tworapie is beautifully painted, and tiled with varied
porcelain. Much gilding is yet to be seen upon
she upright mid transverse hoes of decoration,
among which it is void the whole Koren is written
iii ornamented characters. The whole building was
formerly enclave& within a square of 300 yards.
" 111 illustration of she present ►tate of archi-
tecture in Per►ia, wet ►hall subjoin a brief account
of two palaces erected within thew few years by the
!Oriel Sovereign.
w The first of these, TilitAti-Carljer, the throne of
Übe Cadja►, is situates! two miles .math-eatit of Tells..
lf st does nit display that royal magnificence
which characterises the edifices erected by the Sofia,
still it cannot be denied that We situation, and still
mare the arrangement of this sumwer•paluce, reader
tt a truly delightful ralresit.
" 'lskille-Cstijsr. whets viewed at a distance, ap-
pears to be of peodsgious height, but, us you op-
pooch it, the illusion is d►gelled, sad what you
took fur stones of one and the mime building,
are Mond to be terraces raised one above another.
The entrauce is a simple grtewey surmounted by a
pseihnii ; it lends into a spacious court, she middle
of which is occupied by o principal alley, bordered
oil cash side by young cypresses and implore,
and intersected by is ►tone canal. The prioci.
pal kali:mon, like all the Persian houses, is cow•
posed of a rpradialigular court, and whirls is a series
of halls and apartments of dittererit ifornerorions for V 4.
111,1111 purposes. But the inost agreeable part of
the Takhti•Cadjar is a pairthosi or belvedere at the
top. It is Imola in a simple style, hut highly de.
cirated, and co rands a moat delicious view,
The ablest motive artists have beers employed to
• adorn this retreat with paiulings, meanie-work, sod

varnishing and it it worthy of remark, that here
are to be seen the portraits of seteral European
ladies among those of Peisiau female.. The trig_
doses are admirabh• painted ; the door., of exqui.ite
workwiamillip, are hued wit iinotations from lite
poets engraved upon ivory. On the walla of the
other apartment are to he teen portraits of the
Sovereign and his female favourites.
'• The Negisuristan is soother royal palace in the
same direction, but only half a mile distant fiont
the city. Its proximity, as well as in. superior
beauty, often induces the Shah to walk thither to
enjoy relaxation from the cares and cerernoine. of
state. The general character of the g.ifileit is like
that of Cadjar, only the grand ;scour us much
wider, and is terminated at the higher rxtrcmity by
a view of the palace, while a temple appears here
also between the spacious arcade of trees. Narrow
secluded walks, shaded above and enamelled with
lowers below, with cuts of Cirlir and spas kling
water, ►ilvering the ground and cooling the air, vary
the scene from p.mg which neglect or taste slimm-
ing graceful negligence, has left in a state of ro-
mantic wildness.

" On my first entering this bower of fairy land
(says Sir Robert Porto), I was struck with the ap-
pearauce of two rose tree., NH fourteen feet high,
laden with thousands of flowers, in every degree
of expansion, and of a bloom and delicacy of scent
that imbued the whole atmosphere with exquisite
perfume. But in this delicious garden of IStegau-
ristan, the eye and the smell are not the only senses
regaled by the presence of the ruse. The ear is
enchanted by the wild and beautiful notes of mul-
titudes of nightingales, whose wirblings seem to
increase in nielodv and softness with the unfolding
of their favourite flowers. At the upper end of the
garden is a small finitsslicully-built palace, enclosed
in a little paradise of sweets. This building is of
light architecture, newly circular, full of elegant
apartments, brilliantly adorned with gilding, ara-
besques, looking-glass, and flowers, natural and
paroled iu every quarter. Some of the largest sa-
loons are satlitiouilly ornamented with pictures,
portraits of the Shah and his sons, of the chief per.
sonages at Court, anti also of foreign Minister.
The carpets and nurnutuds of there epirtmeute ate
of the most delicate Nbrtc.

" But the place of greatest attraction to an
orients' taste, is Cite stammer bath. This bulls-
saloon, or court, is circular, with a rust basin in the
centre, of pure white marble, of the ssnue shape,
and about sixty or seventy fret in diameter. This is
filled with the clearest water, sparkling in the sun,
for its only canopy is the vault of Heaven ; but
rose trees, with other pendent shrubs, bearing
flowers, cluster near it, and at times, their waving
branches throw a beautifully quivering ►hade over
the excessive brightness of the water. Round the
sides of the court air two ranges, one above an-
other, of little clistnbers looking towards the bath,
and furnished with every refinement of the Harem.
These are fur the ueciiiiimadistion of the Woes who
accompany the Shah dining his oceastionsl sojourns
at the Negsuristim. The royal master ft/qui-101y
takes his noontide repose in one of the upper cham-
ben which encircle the saloon of the brill ; slid if
he be inclined, he lids o ily to turn his eyes to the
scene below, to behold the lowliest objects of his
tenderness spoititig like Naiads its the crystal
stream, and glowing in all the bloom Dud bril-
liancy which belong io Asiatic youth."