'The dynasty of the Kajars translated from the original Persian manuscript presented by His Majesty Faty Aly Shah to Sir Harford Jones Brydges ... to which is prefixed a succinct account of the history of Persia previous to that period illustarted with plates and a map of Western Persia' [‎122] (143/684)

cxxii preliminary matter.
from Lutf Aly Khan, by assurances, from interested
persons, that he had not been guilty ot this toul act,
though many persons had been witnesses of its per
petration. It was not likely that the widow of
Jaafer could stifle her feelings at so great an indig
nity offered to the head ol her late loid, and it
was as little likely that she should refrain from sift
ing to the bottom the accusation made against
Mirza Mahdy. But it was not until she had ob
tained the most clear and decisive evidence on the
subject, that she claimed from her son the punish
ment of the offender. Deceived as Lutf Aly Khan
had been in the first instance, the tears and strong
reclamation of his mother for vengeance had their
full effect; and in a moment of ungovernable pas
sion he condemned Mirza Mahdy to that death
which, under a hypothetical case put to him by the
king, he acknowledged himself to deserve. He was
burnt alive.
The king was scarcely settled in possession of
Shiraz, when Aga Muhammed Khan advanced to
besiege it. With his accustomed gallantry, Lutt
Aly Khan marched to meet his enemy in the field;
hoping thereby to save the citizens and inhabitants
of his capital from those miseries to which a large
city, when invested by an enemy, is unavoidably
exposed. The very great disproportion, in point oi
numbers, between the Kajar and Zend forces alone
gave the victory to the former. Lutf Aly fled to
Shiraz, and the Kajar immediately invested that
city. The deep fosse, the beautiful bastions, and
strong walls, with which the Vakeel had surrounded
his favourite residence, put the enemy to defiance;