The American Monthly Magazine (Volume 2) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: combined the peculiarities of the palmer and minstrel of former ages. Clothed in the simple robe of the dervish, the badge of poverty and lowliness, he passed from city to city, and from region to region; now suffering the extremes of danger and distress, and now the cherished companion at the assemblies of the great. Indeed, the honors which he received in his lifetime, and the intimacy in which he was held by the most powerful of his age, cannot be rightly estimated without some knowledge of the particular constitution of Persian society. In this country ?at least in the more civilized parts of it ? the distinctions of hereditary rank are almost entirely unknown; with the exception of the king's relatives, most of those in high office at the court have risen from the lowest stations. The slave of to-day may be the vizier of to-morrow; and the converse of the change is by no means uncommon. It is stated, on good authority, that one of the late sovereigns of Persia was wont to realize no inconsiderable income from the sale of his prime ministers ! The delinquent officer was exposed in the market-place to the highest bidder. This was generally either himself or one of his relatives, by whom the price was delivered into the royal treasury; and after a few days of servitude, the ransomed minister returned to his duties as though nothing extraordinary had happened. It follows, as a consequence of this peculiar state of society, that much more respect is paid in the East to simple personal merit than in many countries of Europe, where the separation of the different ranks is more marked; and thus a sort of practical republicanism is maintained even in the most despotic of monarchies. Poets, artists, and philosophers, whatever the humility of their extraction, are seen mingling a...