_Such was the painful exercise which Maghmud undertook in January this year; and for this purpose he chose a subterraneous vault. In the beginning of the next month, when he came forth, he was so pale, disfigured, and emaciated, that they hardly knew him. But this was not the worst effect of his devotion. Solitude, often dangerous to a melancholy turn of thought, had, under the circumstances of his inquietude, and the strangeness of his penance, impaired his reason. He became restless and suspicious, often starting_.--In one of these fits he determined to put to death the whole family of his predecessor, Sha Hussein; among whom were several brothers, three uncles, and seven nephews, besides that prince's children. All these, in number above an hundred, the tyrant cut to pieces with his own hand in the palace yard, where they were assembled for that bloody purpose. Two small children only escaped by the intervention of their father, who was wounded in endeavouring to screen them. [Illustration: Pl. III. Petra, Mithra or Temple of Mithras from Thevenot. Part 2.] The reverence paid to caves and grottos arose from a notion that they were a representation of the [713]world; and that the chief Deity whom the Persians worshipped proceeded from a cave. Such was the tradition which they had received, and which contained in it matter of importance. Porphyry attributes the original of the custom to Zoroaster, whoever Zoroaster may have been; and says, that he first consecrated a natural cavern in Persis to Mithras, the creator and father of all things. He was followed in this practice by others, who dedicated to the Deity places of this [714]nature; either such as were originally hollowed by nature, or made so by the art of man. Those, of which we have specimens exhibited by the writers above, were probably enriched and ornamented by the Achaimenidæ of Persis, who succeeded to the throne of Cyrus. They are modern, if compared with the first introduction of the worship; yet of high antiquity in respect to us. They are noble relics of Persic architecture, and afford us matter of great curiosity. * * * * * OF THE OMPHI, AND OF THE WORSHIP UPON HIGH PLACES.