When the clock struck the hour for retiring;
And we heard the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone--
But we left him alone with his glory.




~Persian Tyranny.~


Sir R.K. Porter, in his travels in Persia, met with the sufferer from
despotic tyranny and cruelty whose story is here related. He informs us,
that the benignity of this person's countenance, united with the
crippled state of his venerable frame, from the effects of his
precipitation from the terrible height of execution, excited his
curiosity to inquire into the particulars of so amazing a preservation.

Entering into conversation on the amiable characters of the reigning
royal family of Persia, and comparing the present happiness of his
country under their rule, with its misery during the sanguinary
usurpation of the tyrant Nackee Khan, the good old man, who had himself
been so signal an example of that misery, was easily led to describe the
extraordinary circumstances of his own case. Being connected with the
last horrible acts, and consequent fall of the usurper, a double
interest accompanied his recital, the substance of which was nearly as