cities, which, unless built on the side of a hill, exhibit a dull and level uniformity, broken only by the trees which rise with the city, unless by a dome here and there, rising to some extent above the dead uniformity, and unless a close inspection enables the eye to trace the long line of low domes which mark the situation of the covered bazaar. The Turks, as à people, may claim little merit in this elegant. distinction of their cities, as they seem merely to have imitated and perpetuated the form of the Christian churches which they found in the fair lands which the providence of God has for a season subjected to their rule. All their principal mosques are on the model of that of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, and many of the old ones in Asia Minor, which are of the same form as those now built, bear manifest signs of having been once Christian churches. Thus in the Turkish mosque we may consider that we have the form of the churches which arose in the lands which first received the gospel of Christ; and that in fact the tidings of salvation to a ruined world, through a crucified Redeemer, were once set forth in many of the buildings which now witness the prostrations of a Christrefusing people.

In some of the principal cities, the domes of the principal mosques and mausoleums are of sufficient size to attract attention in a general view; but the effect is as nothing compared with the Turkish minars, of which there are often more than one to a single mosque, rising from a square base in one white cylindrical shaft into the sky, and the uniformity of their surface broken only by the small galleries from which the criers send forth the call to prayer. Of this appendage the Persian mosques are almost entirely destitute, in the shape described; but in some cases in great cities, round towers rise to no great height from the roof of the mosque, and are formed of bricks, the outer surfaces of which are glazed in variegated colours. They are designed only for ornamental effect, and are never applied to the same purpose as in Turkey, having indeed no galleries for the purpose, and the call to prayers being given from the roof.

In other respects the Persian mosques are, in their exterior, altogether unlike those of Turkey. Instead of being the most conspicuous objects in a city, the traveller may often pass them without observing them, or hear the call to prayer close by without being

able to discover the place from which it proceeds. The mosques sometimes open immediately upon the streets, and present the same low, bare, mud wall with the other buildings. The interior in these cases is corresponding; a low though spacious apartment, with a level ceiling, supported on plain pillars, and the whole without ornament or pretensions of any kind. The interior of a Turkish mosque, though generally plain enough according to European notions, is rich compared with those of Persia. There is no pulpit or furniture of any kind, excepting a straw mat, and a small seat for the preacher. There are no decorations, often not an inscription on the walls, a stone on which simply indicates the direction towards which the worshipper must turn in prayer.

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CHAPTER VII.

SOOFFEEISM.-ARTS AND SCIENCES.

Ir is impossible to write of Persia with the view of affording some notion of the religious, as well as social condition of the people, without noticing, however slightly, the principles of what is called Sooffeeism, which has taken a strange hold of the national mind.

The term Sooffee, which means wise," or "pious," and is metaphysically used to denote a religious man, is supposed to be derived from the term saaf, "pure," or "clear" or, from suffa, which signifies purity. Some have traced it to soof, "wool," or "wool-bearing," in allusion to the coarse woollen garments usually worn by its teachers. It is worthy of remark, that these terms are all from the Arabic; and that the accounts we have of the Sooffees are comparatively of a modern date, being all subsequent to the conquest of Persia by the caliph

Omar. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the name may have been originally adopted from the Greek term Eopoì, sophoi, " wise men."

The general ideas of the Sooffees concerning God, are not unlike those of the ancient Pythagoreans. The radical principle of their system is, the doctrine of the Infinite in the Finite; and the differences which are observable among the Sooffee teachers consist chiefly in their explanations of the mode of this manifestation. Thus, according to the theory of one of these teachers, the Infinite is expressed in the Finite, as a reflection from a mirror, or it is diffused through it as a higher life, or it is transferred to it, as when each individual is supposed to be a particle of the Divine essence. In all these, the generic idea is still retained. Deity is in some way manifested in humanity, and the principal question is, as to the mode of this manifestation.

It is currently described as a common belief of the Sooffee, that every man is an incarnation of Deity, or that, at least, all are partakers of the Divine principle. This generic idea may be traced in all the writings of the Sooffees, which prose and verse form a very large proportion of the whole literature of Persia. This idea

in