the year 1618, a spacious town which contained few inhabitants, and which was chiefly devoted to gardens. From the chenars which shaded nearly all the streets, he called it the city of plane-trees. In the time of the Sefaveean Shahs it was the chief city of a province, and it was at different epochs honoured by being the place of a temporary residence of those kings. It did not lie along the routes frequented by the chief caravans, and its industry was purely agricultural. Shah Tahmasp, the son of Hussein, took refuge with his harem at Tehran, during the Affghan invasion. That prince there received an embassy from the Ottoman Porte. The city was besieged by the Affghans, and was almost entirely destroyed by those ruthless invaders; but Tahmasp, whom they wished to secure, was able to effect his escape. From this period onwards the name of Tehran[1] appears frequently in the annals of Persia. Nadir Shah, on his return from India, ordered the priests of all the professions of faith of the peoples of his dominions, to meet him at Tehran,[2] in order that he might come to an understanding with his subjects regarding the adoption of a reasonable religion. It was at Tehran that that tyrant caused his son Reza to be deprived of his eyesight; and the unfortunate prince was subsequently massacred in the same town, by order of his cousin, Adel Shah. It was to Tehran that Kereem Khan retreated with the remnant of his shattered forces after his first defeat by Mahomed Hassan Khan.[3] It was from Tehran that the
