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 CONCLUSION. 465 throughout his wide dominions, it would be unfair to deny. It will be the lot of some future writer to tell the English students of Oriental story that another name has been added to the list of exceptional Eastern monarchs ; but it is not my intention to attempt to trace the course of Persian history through the years that have elapsed since the downfall of the late Sedr-Azem. In conclusion, I shall only state that if the picture presented in these pages of the condition of Persia be not an inspiriting one, it is at least drawn with im- partiality. It would have been a gratifying task to tell of a prospect of the coming triumph of civilization throughout Central Asia, but had I ventured to hold out so delusive a hope to the reader, I should have been guilty of paltering with that truth which ought to be as jealously watched over by the historian as was the Ark of God by the Jewish priest of old. THE END. 30