not,"
continues the khan, "understand the subject of the performances--it was
all singing, accompanied with various action, as if some story were meant
to be related; but I was also told that the language was different from
English, and that the majority of those present understood it no more than
myself." The scanty drapery and liberal displays of the figurantes at
first startled him a little; but "the beauty of those _peris_ was such as
might have enslaved the heart of Ferhad himself;" and he soon learned to
view all their _pirouettes_ and _tours-de-force_ with the well-bred
nonchalance of a man who had witnessed in his own country exhibitions
nearly as singular in their way "though the style of dancing here was of
course entirely different from what we see in India." The impression made
by the sight of the ballet on the Parsees, who invariably reduce every
thing to pounds, shillings, and pence, took a different form; and they
express unbounded astonishment, on being told that Taglioni was paid a
hundred and fifty guineas a-night, "that such a sum should be paid to a
woman to stand a long time like a goose on one leg, then to throw one leg
straight out, twirl round three or four times with the leg thus extended,
curtsy so low as nearly to seat herself on the stage, and spring from one
side of the stage to another, all which jumping about did not occupy an
hour!"

[6] The Persian princes go more into detail; but we doubt whether
their description will much facilitate the construction of a
railway from Ispahan to Shiraz. "The roads on which the coaches
are placed and fixed, are made of iron bars; all that seems to
draw them is a box of iron, in which they put water to boil;
underneath, this iron box is like an urn, and from it rises the
steam which gives the wonderful force; when the steam rises up,
the wheels take their motion, the coach spreads its wings, and the
travellers become like birds."

Astley's (which the Persian princes call the "opera of the horse") was the
Khan's next resort; and as the feats of horsemanship there exhibited did
not require any great proficiency in the English language to render them
intelligible, he appears to have been highly amused and gratified, and
gives a long description of all he saw there, which would not present much
of novelty to our readers. He was also taken by some of his acquaintance
to see the industrious fleas in the Strand; but this ex