History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

XiV INTRODUCTION.

not merely interest the reader in what is to follow, but also reveal, as far as possible, the nature of this history which embraces the earliest period of mythical events and the present day of advanced civilisation. I should hesitate even on the threshold of my work did I not recall what an English poet had written about my people in the early part of the present century : “But none, of all who owned the Chief’s command, Rushed to that battle-field with bolder hand

Or sterner hate than Iran’s outlaw’d men, Her Worshippers of Fire.” !

And that passage refers to a time when the greatness of the Parsis had become a thing of the past, and when, exiles in Khorassan, they strove to make some headway against the Mahomedan invaders and conquerors of their country. It would be a pleasing theme to dwell upon the remarkable and flourishing period which preceded that calamity; but I have been compelled by practical considerations to pass over those early and glorious ages as briefly as possible. It is of the existing Parsi community that I have to speak, and little beyond a reference to the earlier Persia, of which naturally we are so proud, is either possible or attempted in the following pages. ‘Those who are curious on the subject will find ample details in Sir John Malcolm’s Mistory of Persia, and in more

! Moore’s Lalla Rookh.