The International Weekly Miscellany, Volume I. No. 9 | Page 4

one side then to
another, with the speed of lightning, so as to frustrate any aim. The
horse-soldier, armed in the usual manner, fares not much better; and wo
to him if he meets a Csikos singly! better to fall in with a pack of
ravenous wolves."
* * * * *
THE PRESENT RELIGION OF PERSIA.
An account of the Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and
Tigris, carried on by order of the British Government, in the years 1835,
1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the
regions situated between the Nile and the Indus, with fourteen maps
and charts, and ninety-seven plates, besides numerous woodcuts, has
just appeared in London, in four large volumes, from the pen of
Lieutenant-Colonel Chesney, R.A., F.R.S., &c., commander of the
Expedition. It is too comprehensive a work ever to be reprinted here, or
to be much read, even in England, but it is undoubtedly very valuable
as an authority. The following paragraphs from it describe the present
state of religion in Persia:
"The title of Múlla is conferred on a candidate by some member of the
order, after the requisite examination in theology and law; and the
person is then intrusted with the education of youth, as well as the
administration of justice, and the practice of law. The Múllas
sometimes possess sufficient power not only to influence the people at
large, but even the King himself.

"Of this class of priests, those who have been successful in life are
either placed in mosques or private families, waiting for advancement;
but a greater number are nominally attached to colleges, and live by the
practice of astrology, fortune-telling, the sale of charms, talismans, &c.
They who are not possessed of the requisite ingenuity to subsist by the
credulity of others, take charge of an inferior school, or write letters,
and draw up marriage and other engagements, for those who are
unequal to the task. They mix at the same time largely in the domestic
concerns of families. But in addition to these and other vocations, a
considerable number of the lowest priests derive a scanty support from
that charity which no one denies to the true believer. These men wander
as fakirs from place to place, carrying news, and repeating poems, tales,
&c., mixed with verses from the Koran. The heterodox religions are
very numerous; nor is Irián without her free-thinkers, as the Kamúrs
and Mu'tazelís, (Mitaulis,) who deny everything which they cannot
prove by natural reason. A third sect, the Mahadelis, or Molochadis,
still maintain the Magian belief that the stars and the planets govern all
things. Another, the Ehl el Tabkwid, (men of truth,) hold that there is
no God except the four elements, and no rational soul or life after this
one. They maintain also, that all living bodies, being mixtures of the
elements, will after death return to their first principles. They also
affirm that paradise and hell belong to this world, into which every man
returns in the form of a beast, a plant, or again as a man; and that in this
second state, he is great, powerful, and happy, or poor, despicable, and
unhappy, according to his former merits or demerits. In practice they
inculcate kindness to and respect for each other, with implicit
obedience to their chiefs, who are called Pir, (old men,) and are
furnished with all kinds of provisions for their subsistence. This sect is
found in the provinces of Irák and Fárs.
"The Táríkh Zenádikah (way of the covetous) are directly opposed to
the last on the subject of transmigration; and they believe that God is in
all places, and performs all things. They likewise maintain that the
whole visible universe is only a manifestation of the Supreme Being;
the soul itself being a portion of the Divine essence. Therefore, they
consider, that whatever appears to the eye is God, and that all religious
rites should be comprised in the contemplation of God's goodness and
greatness.

"On these various creeds the different branches of Suffeeism seem to
have been founded. One of the most extraordinary of these sects is the
Rasháníyah; the followers of which believe in the transmigration of
souls, and the manifestation of the Divinity in the persons of holy men.
They maintain likewise, that all men who do not join their sect are to be
considered as dead, and that their goods belong, in consequence, to the
true believers, as the only survivors."
* * * * *
THE "OLD DUKE OF QUEENSBURY."
Mr. Burke gives in his gossiping book about the English aristocracy,
the following anecdotes of this once famous person:
"Few men occupied a more conspicuous place about the court and town
for nearly seventy years, during the reigns of the Second and