Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/426

406 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. solved to observe each anniversary of the Ameer's death as a day of fasting and humiliation ; and the two infant daughters of the great Minister were betrothed to two sons of the Shah. Each year that has elapsed since the death of Meerza Teki Khan has gradually added to his fame, by showing how vain is the expectation of finding another Vizeer capable of completing the work of reformation in Persia which was begun by him. The short period of his administration is now looked back upon as having been the golden era of modern Persia ; and the traveller from the west, as he pursues his tedious way across the plains of Irak, or through the lonely passes of the Elburz, if he converse with his muleteers as to the condition of the country, is sure to be told that everything now goes badly, but that things were otherwise in the time of the Ameer-i-Nizam.