2. Nothing certain, concerning Persia, is recorded till the age of Cyrus, about six hundred years before Christ. Cyrus was the son of Cambyses, a Persian, and Mandane, a princess of Media, a country adjacent to Persia. The Per sians were, at the birth of Cyrus, a small nation, consisting of little more than one hundred thousand men, and inhabiting only a small province of the country now called Persia. The history of Cyrus is interesting, separately from the history of Persia. When Cyrus was about forty years old, he was called into Media to assist his uncle, the king of that country.

3. The king of Armenia was dependant on the king of Media, but he refused to pay the tribute required of him. Cyrus, therefore, marched against him, and compelled him to submit to the king, his sovereign. Other nations of Asia confederated, or joined together against Media, and chose Cræsus, king of Lydia, to be their general. Cyrus, at the head of an army composed of Medes, Persians, and their allies, subdued this formidable force.

4. The king of Babylon was equally hostile to Media. Cyrus next turned his arms against him, and after a siege of two years, became master of the city of Babylon. On the death of Cyaxares, king of Media, he left his kingdom to Cyrus. Including Persia, the dominions of Cyrus extended from the river Indus to the Mediterranean, and from the Persian gulf to the Euxine sea. Cyrus died at the age of seventy years, leaving behind him the character of one of the wisest princes that ever lived.

5. In the Bible history has been told the man

ner in which Cyrus permitted the Jews to return from Babylon to Judea; and under the article Greece, is related the formidable but unsuccessful attempts of the Persians, against the Grecians. In the same history is mentioned the conquest of Persia, by Alexander of Macedon.The death of Darius, who was king at that time, happened two hundred and six years after the accession of Cyrus to the throne.

6. In the age of Cyrus, the Persians were a temperate and valiant people, but the great wealth they acquired, and the luxury and indolence into which they fell, made them an easy prey to the Greeks, when they invaded their country.

7. On the north of Persia lay the country of Parthia. The people of this country were hardy, enterprising, and bold, and after the death of Alexander, they became masters of Persia; but Parthia, and all the provinces included in the Persian empire, fell into the power of the Romans. After Persia had been subject to these successive conquerors four hundred and seventyfive years, Artaxares, a native Persian, excited a revolt from the Roman governor of Persia, A. D. 230.

8. From this time till A. D. 630, a period of four hundred years, the Persians and the Roman emperors kept up a contest for the sovereignty, though the Persians, for the most part, sustained the dignity of a powerful and independent kingdom.

9. Then the Saracens, who carried the religion of Mahomet, and the victorious banner of the crescent, from Spain on the Atlantic, to the easternmost countries of Asia, brought their armies

into Iran, or Persia; and about the middle of the seventh century, abolished the ancient institutions of the country, and established the faith and political despotism of the Arabian impostor.

1. The monarchs of Persia, during the four centuries preceding the Saracen conquest, were of one family-the Sassanian. Under the Sassanians the Persians professed the religion of Zoroaster. History does not determine at what time this philosopher lived. His doctrines are contained in a book called the Zendavesta. The Zendavesta had the same authority over the followers of Zoroaster, as the Koran has over the Mahommedans.

2. The sect of Zoroaster was not exterminated by the Saracens. Some who remained attached to it, and their descendants, have cherished this faith, in obscure and safe retreats, to the present time. These are the Guebres or FireWorshippers. Zoroaster taught that fire, and the sun particularly, were emblems of God, and under these figures the Guebres worship the supreme deity.

3. This doctrine, and the faithfulness of the Guebres, are described by Mr. Moore in his beautiful poem, the Fire-Worshippers.

"And see-the Sun himself!-on wings Of glory up the East he springs.

Angel of light! who from the time

Those heavens began their march sublime,

Hath first of all the starry choir
Trod in his Maker's steps of fire!

Where are the days, thou wondrous sphere, When Iran, like a sun-flower, turn'd To meet that eye where'er it burn'd?— When from the banks of Bendemeer To the nut-groves of Samarcand Thy temples flam'd o'er all the land? Where are they? ask the shades of them Who, on Cadesia's bloody plains, Saw fierce invaders pluck the gem From Iran's broken diadem,

And bind her ancient faith in chains :-
Ask the poor exile, cast alone

On foreign shores, unlov'd, unknown,
Beyond the Caspian's Iron Gates,

fountains!

Or on the snowy Mossian mountains,
Far from his beauteous land of dates,
Her jasmine bowers and sunny
Yet happier so than if he trod
His own belov'd but blighted sod,
Beneath a despot stranger's nod!-
Oh! he would rather houseless roam
Where Freedom and his God may lead,

Than be the sleekest slave at home

That crouches to the conqueror's creed!"

4. Cadesia, was the place where the last victorious battle of the Saracens was gained, and the "There is," final conquest of Persia achieved.

says Mr. Morier, a British traveller in Persia, "no place in the world where those things which are esteemed riches among men, abound more than in the Persian gulf. Its bottom is studded with pearls, and its coasts with mines of precious ore."

5. The Persian Gulf, is sometimes called the Green Sea; Bahreen and Kishma, are islands, and Cape Selama, sometimes called Cape Musseldom, is a headland, at the entrance of the Gulf. "The Indians, when they pass the promontory, throw cocoa-nuts, fruits, or flowers into the sea, to secure a propitious voyage."

6. The following is Moore's description of this favoured region.

"The morn hath risen clear and calm,
And o'er the Green Sea palely shines,
Revealing BAHREIN's groves of palm,
And lightning KISHMA's amber vines.
Fresh smell the shores of ARABY,
While breezes from the Indian sea
Blow round SELAMA'S sainted cape,
And curl the shining flood beneath,-
Whose waves are rich with many a grape,
And cocoa-nut and flowery wreath,
Which pious seamen as they pass'd,
Had tow'rd that holy head-land cast-
Oblations to the Genii there

For gentle skies and breezes fair!"

7. The present government of Persia is under a king. The country is divided into provinces, each having a prince, who is the governor, and who administers the laws. The city of Shiraz contains the tombs of Hafez, and of Sadi, the most celebrated of the Persian poets.