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Kay's Originals Vol. 2

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306 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. from her servitude by his Excellency the Persian Ambassador, during his residence in that city on his way to England. Embracing the Mohammedan faith, her creed enjoins her to observe the strictest privacy ; and on no account to expose her features, or even her figure, to any of the male sex, excepting to particular individuals by the special permission of her lord or protector. * “I am constrained to confess that her conntenance is far more lovely and interesting than really beautiful ; and it is a mistaken notion that the Circassian women are the most celebrated for beauty of any of the inhabitants in the countries round the Caucasus, as it is the Georgian women who are entitled to this distinction. To attempt a description of the female in question, we may say with great truth, that her eyes are black and remarkably fine, adorned with arched black eyebrows, and fringed with long eyelashes of the same colour ; and her whole countenance is expressive of peculiar modesty and a becoming a d e n c e , that is very pleasing ; and, joined with a natural and easy politeness, and a sweetness of disposition, renders her altogether a most interesting young creature. Her teeth are beautiful, and her mouth good, though her lips are rather thick than otherwise. Her nose is far from handsome. Her hair is a fine, soft, and glossg jet, which she arranges in a very tasteful manner, and highly becoming her countenance, which, indeed, is of no ordinary description, and particularly when enlivened with a smile. Her complexion is brunette, but by no means of 80 dark a hue as the pictures in the Print-shops exhibit to the public eye ; yet several ladies have asserted that her skin is very soft and clear, and that a Mush has been frequently seen to mantle over her cheek. She is rather below the middle stature, and is considered a remarkably good figure for a Circassian, who by art acquire a very slender waist, which makes them broader about the shoulders than is pleasing to the eye of a European, and destroys the contours of proportionable beauty. She appeared to be,:about twenty years of age, though it is said she has only arrived at eighteen. Her dialect is Turkish, which indeed is the general language of Persia, particularly in the northern parts ; the pure Persian being considered as the language of the Court of Tehran. She has, however, some knowledge of this, as well as of the English tongue. The name by which she is:distinguished is Dill Arurn, which are two Persian words, signifying hean! and quiet; but the more general and appropriate application corresponds with the small and favourite flower called “Heart’# Ease.” The writer then goes on to state that ‘‘ it proves the superiority of Dil2 Amcm. as much as it bespeaks the noble and generous disposition of Mirza Aboul Hassan Khan, that he not only released her from vassalage, but faithfully adopted her as the partner of his bosom.” To his Excellency’s affection and anxiety for her safety the writer attribntes her departure by sea, and considers it “particularly honourable to his feelings that he would rather forego the pleasures of her society,” than subject her to the unavoidable constraints and fatigues of an overland journey. The vessel engaged for her conveyance was a new coppered brig, the Lord Exmouth, fitted up in a comfortable manner for the voyage. The fair Circassian was accompanied by the Ambassador‘s two nephews, Mirza Abul Tallib, and Abbas Begg (the latter of whom was in England with his Excellency on the former embassy), and other confidential servants. “ At eight o’clock on Monday morning, the 30th September, three carriages mere in attendance in the immediate vicinity of the residence of the Ambassador, in Charles Street, Berkeley Square ; and shortly after the first coach was occupied by three of the Persians who were to accompany her to Persia. In the second coach was seated the Circassian lady, with three other Persians, two of whom were the Ambassador’s nephews, and a Persian attendant mounted the coach-box. The last coach contained Lieut.-Colonel DArcy, of the Royal Artillery, who was a resident in Persia for five years, aud commanded the military party of the embassy under Sir Gore Ouseley ; and who, for his eminent and extensive services in that country, was elevated by the Shah to the rank of Khan, with the title of Alijah or Honourable, and invested with the Persian order of the Lion and Sun. He was accompanied by Captain George Willock (who is attached to the present embassy from Persia, and is brother to the British Charge d’Affaires at Tehran), and also by Mr. Percy, the Persian accountant, who likewise acts as a confidential secretary. They proceeded along the principal streets on their way to the Artichole Tavern,
Volume 9 Page 407
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