356 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. determined to act upon the medical information he had received to the effect that the king could not possibly survive for many hours; and by thus anticipating the event he enabled his messenger to arrive at Tabreez long before any other courier could reach that town. The crown-prince was thus enabled to make timely prepara- tions for his march to the capital, and the mischievous designs of these intriguers were frustrated. The character of the deceased Shah must have been apparent to those who have perused the preceding .pages. He was just in his intentions and pure in his private life : no indulgence in any vice is laid to his charge. On the other hand, he was bigoted and cruel ; but for his bigotry he was indebted to his early education, and for his cruelty, the bodily pain under which for so many years he suffered, and which soured his temper, may be admitted as some palliation. The custom prevalent in Persia during his reign, by which the monarch was not only the judge of criminals but the witness of the execution of capital punishments, could not but deaden the royal heart to sentiments of compassion,. On the whole, Mahomed Shah's memory is entitled to the respect accorded to that of a man who, in the face of obstacles and infirmities, has consistently persevered in what he believed to be the path of duty. His obsequies were performed with the pomp and splendour usually observed at the burial of a Persian king, and his body was placed by the side of that of Fetteh Ali Shah in the mosque of Koom.
