of ordinary learning. Several of these have come back to Persia, but they are looked on with an eye of distrust by the majority of their less instructed countrymen, who take care to do all in their power to prevent them from having the opportunity of putting in practice anything they may have learned, and thereby throwing others into the shade. Whether any material results will in time follow this movement no one can as yet pretend to have sufficient grounds for knowing.
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The national religion of Persia is Mahomedanism of the Sheeah sect. The Persians maintain the inalienable right of Ali to the immediate succession to the throne and mantle of Mahomed. The ministers of religion enjoy great influence amongst all classes of the people, and it may be observed, as being illustrative of the respect felt by Persians for the Mahomedan religion, that, though they are notoriously untruthful, they do not dare to take a false oath if it be administered by a Mujtehed, or high priest. Indeed, these functionaries are very loth to administer oaths, for fear of entangling a true believer in falsehood. The peculiar feature with regard to the religion of the Persians is the extreme veneration which they feel for the memory of Hussein, the son of Ali. That Imam does not seem to have done anything which merited the honours that are yearly paid to his shade. Ten successive representations are devoted to the exhibition of his sufferings and death, and each year, on the first day of the month of Mohurrem, most Persians appear clad in the sombre garments of mourning. During that month each quarter of a Persian town has a theatre for this religious representation, in which the
