AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

My mother and my principal instructor frequently advised me, to impress upon my memory the untoward circumstances which might befal me, that I might constantly bear in mind the goodness of God towards me. I followed their counsel, and accustomed myself to commit regularly to writing all incidents as they occurred, and thus formed a complete history of my life in the Armenian language. Several persons who were with me in the Persian campaign, and who knew me well, encouraged, nay, constrained me to translate my Armenian manuscript into Russian; and the example of many others who had done the like, induced me to publish this translation in token of my gratitude, in the first place to the Most High, for his gracious guidance and his mercy towards me, which has protected me in numberless dangers; and in the

next to the many who kindly succoured and consoled me in my deepest distress. Their memory will be cherished by me as long as I live.

The reader will find in my narrative none of the embellishments of oratory: I have given but a simple statement of what actually occurred to me, without introducing a single word that was not spoken.

There are no doubt many inaccuracies in the language and even grammatical errors in this work; these the reader will forgive in a foreigner, and take the perfect truth of my narrative, which many who know me can attest, as a compensation for those blemishes.

MEMOIRS

OF

THE LIFE

OF

ARTEMI, OF MOUNT ARARAT.

At the time when Simeon was chief patriarch of all Armenia, I was born on the 20th of April, 1774, in the town of Wagarschapat. It is situated near Mount Ararat, and belongs to an Armenian convent of the first rank, called Etschmiazyn, which signifies "The Advent of the Incarnate Son of God." My father, named Astwazatur, that is, "Given by God," (Theodore,) was a skilful cutter and polisher of precious stones; he was not rich, but was highly spoken of by all as a man of strict integrity. He died when I was only four months old, so that I am indebted for my education to my mother alone, who, besides me, was left with another son of five and a daughter of three

B

years. As I grew up and reason began to dawn, it was my greatest delight to listen to the traditional narratives delivered down, in those parts, from mouth to mouth, frequently from remote antiquity. Not children only, but grown persons also are fond of hearing these stories; and I, for my part, was quite in an extasy whenever I had an opportunity of hearing something that was new to me. It often happened that the children of rich people in our town, after the recital of the deeds of eminent men of antiquity, made up a story that their family was descended from such or such a distinguished personage; while I, on the contrary, was but too keenly reminded of my miserable condition, and made painfully sensible that my mother was a poor helpless widow, who could not gain a scanty livelihood for herself and us without great difficulty and exertion. These unpleasant returns to my own situation were the consequence of the frequent and bitter taunts of our unfeeling neighbours, on account of my inother's necessitous circumstances; and it was no uncommon thing with them, in their supreme contempt of the forlorn widow and her orphans, to aggravate our condition as far as lay in their power.

In seven hundred houses, how opulent or indigent soever were the families which inha

bited them, there were not more than ten persons who could read. I was one of these ten; for my mother, notwithstanding all the difficulties thrown in the way, not only by her poverty but also by her wealthy and unfeeling neighbours, contrived to give me the best possible education; that is to say, I learned to read and write. In the almost inexpressible misery in which she had constantly to struggle against fate, she had no other wish than that her younger and favourite son might duly qualify himself and be admitted, in her lifetime, into the circle of the servants of the temple of the Lord. Such was the end and aim of her wishes, and in this point centered, I may say, all the happiness of her soul. Her desire was fulfilled: I learned all that was requisite, and in September, 1786, I went to the church to evening service, and read, for the first time, the Psalms prescribed for the occasion by our ritual.

The malicious envy of the starschines (elders, chiefs) who were present, and whose children, unable to read, were employed in agricultural and domestic occupations, instantly burst forth. Without waiting till I had finished," Why," cried they to the priest," dost thou allow this beggar-brat to read here? he will not do what our children do give him a sound thrashing