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is holy to the Jews, and Moses vanquished the magi-
cians and enchanters who are subservient to Saturn;
Jesus worshipped the sun, on which account Sun-
day was sanctified by him, and finally his soul united
with the sun; Muhainmed worshipped Venus, where-
fore he fixed upon Friday as a sacred day: as he
would not reveal this meaning to the common peo-
ple, he kept.it secret; but it is evident from the
prophet's customs that he held Venus in great vene-
ration ; one of these was his passion for perfumes
and the like.' We find in the histories of the Per-
sians, that Ferhosh was a king in the time of Abad,
and had poets without number about Mm; out of
them all he chose seven; each of them, on one day
of the week, recited his verses to the king. On
Sunday, which was consecrated to the great lumi-
nary, the monarch used to go to the Kermdbah, and
on his return from thence, having approached the
august image of the great fire, and there performed
his worship, he betook himself to his palace. The
chief of the speech-adoring bards, called Shedosh,
came then into the royal presence. As the King
professed the religion of the Yezdanian, who never
hurt an harmless animal, they brought, on this day

1 Muhammed used to say: " I like.of your world but women and per-
«* fumes, and God has placed the refreshment of my eyes in prayers."
—(Baron Hammer.)

2 This word, not in the Dictionary, means perhaps '• assembly of the
'* nobles."