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4
At this time the indolence and effeminacy of the Persian Court had passed all limits of morality. Shah Hussein spent most of his time in the company of eunuchs and concubines and was a mere tool in the hands of his favourites. Contrary to the policy of his predecessors, when he learnt that the Afghans were inclined to take up arms against him, he made up his mind to extinguish by force once for all those sparks of national awakening, which, in his opinion, might ere-long blaze into flame.
At this time there was at Isfahan, the Persian capital, a Georgian prince of Bagrathioni family, Gurgin by name. He was supposed to be an administrator of unusual ability. Having been raised to the dignity of a Wali (governor) of his province, he revolted with a view to make his people free. He made a bold stand against the Shah's army in Tiflis, the capital of the province, but being deserted by most of his adherents, who were bribed by the King, he not only submitted, but embraced Islam for political reasons. The Shah was so pleased with this that he forgave him for raising the standard of revolt and loading
Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.