After the assassination of NADIR, one of the most formidable of the competitors for the vacant throne, was MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN, the head of the _Cadjar_ tribe, and a person of high rank among the nobles of SHAH THAMAS, the last king of the SEFFI race.[3] MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN had several sons: HOSSEIN KOOLI KHAN, the eldest, was father to the present King of Persia, and was killed in a battle with the _Turcomans_: AGA MAHOMED KHAN, the second son, was the immediate predecessor of his nephew on the throne. MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN had not long assumed the crown, when he was opposed by KERIM KHAN, a native of _Courdistan_; who, under pretence of protecting the rights of ISMAEL,[4] a lineal descendant of the SEFFI family, and then a child, secured to himself so large a share of influence and authority in the state, that he very soon supplanted virtually the pageant that he had erected; and, while he still concealed his ambition under the name of _Vakeel_ or Regent, exercised all the real powers of the sovereign of Persia. The birth of KERIM KHAN was obscure; but the habits of his early years qualified him for the times in which he lived, and the destiny to which he aspired. His family, indeed, was a low branch of an obscure tribe in _Courdistan_, that of the _Zunds_, from which his dynasty has been denominated; and his profession was the single occupation of all his countrymen, robbery,[5] which, when it thus becomes a national object, loses in reputation all its grossness. Here he acquired the talents and hardihood of a soldier; and was renowned for an effectual spirit of enterprise, and for great personal skill in the exercise of the sword, a qualification of much value among his people. The long revolutions of Persia called forth every talent and every passion; and the hopes of KERIM KHAN were excited by the partial successes of others, and by the consciousness of his own resources. He entered the field; and eventually overcame MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN, his principal competitor, who fled and was killed in _Mazanderan_. The conqueror having seized and confined the children of his rival, proceeded to quell the several inferior chiefs, who, in their turns, had aspired to the succession. His superior activity and talents finally secured the dominion: and having, in 1755, settled at _Shiraz_, he made that city the seat of his government. He beautified it by many public buildings, both of use and luxury; and their present state attests the solid magnificence of his taste. His memory is much lamented in Persia; as his reign, a reign of dissipation and splendor, was congenial to the character of the people. In his time prostitutes were publicly protected; their calling was classed among the professions; and the chief, or representative, of their numbers, attended by all the state and parade of the most respected of the _Khans_ and _Mirzas_, used daily to stand before the Sovereign at his _Durbar_.