The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan | Page 7

Hafiz and Saadi play as large and as apposite a part in his
dialogue as they do to this day in the conversation of any well-educated
Asiatic who has been brought up in countries where Persian is the
language of literature and fashion. No one who has not been in the East
can fully appreciate the talent for self-detachment and for successful
assimilation of an alien mode of thought and expression which such an
exercise demands.
Nor, though this is beside the main purpose of the work, should we shut
our eyes to the side-lights which are thrown upon foreign nations; and
which, while they lend additional testimony to the insight of the writer,
are invaluable as showing the point of view from which European
institutions and customs were then and are still for the most part
regarded by the Asiatic Mussulman. How amusing is the description,
placed in chapter xix., in the mouth of the Chief Physician, of the main
external differences between Persians and Europeans, and in the
ensuing chapter, of the contemporary costume, regarded by the Persians
as so improper, of the English doctor who came in the train of Sir
Harford Jones. In those days the only Feringhis known to the Persians
were the English, the Russians, and the French; and it no doubt was a
matter of genuine surprise to the Persian ambassador to find when he
arrived at Constantinople that the Franks consisted of many nations
with as many kings. The Persians were particularly concerned to find
out the truth about ‘the infidel Boonapoort,’ whose career they much
admired from its supposed resemblance to that of their own hero Nadir
Shah. Nor is there less humour in Hajji Baba’s attempt to make
progress in the study of their language by writing down the words that
he heard most frequently in the conversation of the French envoys, viz.
sacré, Paris, and l’Empereur. That the Persian Court was thoroughly
alive to the jealous and interested struggle of the two Powers, England
and France, to acquire political ascendency at Tehran, is sufficiently
evident from the history of the period, but is admirably illustrated by
the diplomatic argument placed in chapter lxxvi in the mouth of Fath
Ali Shah. Finally, can a pupil of Party Government, and much more a
member of the House of Commons, read without a delicious emotion
this description of the system under which is conducted the government
of the greatest empire in the world?--

‘Then they have certain houses full of madmen, who meet half the year
round for the purpose of quarrelling. If one set says white, the other
cries black; and they throw more words away in settling a common
question than would suffice one of our muftis during a whole reign. In
short, nothing can be settled in the state, be it only whether a rebellious
Aga is to have his head cut off and his property confiscated, or some
such trifle, until these people have wrangled.’
Such are among the many merits of this admirable, and, I would fain
add, immortal book. Even were the Persians be blotted out of existence
as a nation, even though Tehran, and Meshed, and Shiraz were to share
the fate of Persepolis and Susa, it would yet remain as a portrait of
unrivalled humour and accuracy of a people who, though now in their
decadence, have played an immense and still play a not wholly
insignificant part in the complex drama of Asiatic politics. It is the
picture of a people, light-hearted, nimble-witted, and volatile, but
subtle, hypocritical, and insincere; metaphysicians and casuists,
courtiers and rogues, gentlemen and liars, hommes d’esprit and yet
incurable cowards. To explain the history and to elucidate the character
of this composite people great tomes have been written. I am conscious
myself of having added no inconsiderable quota to their bulk; but if all
this solid literature were to be burned by an international hangman
to-morrow, and were “Hajji Baba” and the “Sketches” of Sir John
Malcolm alone to survive, I believe that the future diplomatist or
traveller who visited Persia, or the scholar who explored it from a
distance, would from their pages derive more exact information about
Persian manners, and acquire a surer insight into Persian character, than
he would gain from years of independent study or months of local
residence. Together the two works are an epitome of modern and
moribund Iran.
GEORGE N. CURZON.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I

Of Hajji Baba’s birth and education.
CHAPTER II
Hajji Baba commences his travels--His encounter with the Turcomans,
and his captivity.
CHAPTER III
Into what hands Hajji Baba falls, and the fortune which his razors
proved to him.
CHAPTER IV
Of his ingenuity in rescuing his master’s money from the Turcoman,
and of his determination to keep it.
CHAPTER