ancient times, and survive to the present day*, although the origin of them may probably be referred to the symbolical pageantry of the Mysteries, may, in like manner, be compared with the Grecian drama.

All poets, who derive their ideas from nature, must necessarily have sentiments, if not expressions, in common.-Some indeed make use of brighter colours in delineating the objects of their allusions, expatiate on the wings of a more vigorous fancy, or ascend to a higher range of conception; yet, notwithstanding these differences of comparative genius, those who have studied the art on the same just principles must exhibit in their writings traces of the model in which they were moulded. Supernatural agency and mythological personages were inseparable from ancient authors: the gods, demi-gods, and heroes; the Pegasus, Cerberus, and other fabulous beings of the classical page, had counterparts, perhaps, at one time in every country; nor, whilst we read of the Peris, Rustam, or the Inka in Ferdausi, and of the monstrous deified fictions of the Indian school, can we abstain from assenting to Sir W. Jones, that to this part of the globe these wild efforts of imagination are to be assigned. But, in comparing with each other poets of different nations and ages, we must make an allowance for local references, and the progress of time and civilization; we must not expect, in the ruder periods, that systematical arrangement and connexion of the several parts, which were the effects of scientific study, nor judge the abrupt transitions from one subject to another, peculiar to the oldest poets, by the severer rules of accurate criticism, and of more perfect modern taste.

One singular exception to these early defects is, however, found in the writings of Ferdausi, who is well known in the West under his title of the Homer of Persia. Many particulars concerning him have been published in a detached state; yet the majority have been withholden, probably in consequence of the contradictory accounts which different authors have transmitted to us. It must be granted, that his history has, in a great degree, the appearance of fable; yet, as it has been received as real truth, and is actually believed in the country in which he flourished, we may be excused for collecting the various statements which occur into the following summary. A great proportion is doubtless authentic, some probably false :-but to separate the one from the other, with certainty and precision, is now impossible.

* Aristophanes connects the drama with the mysteries in language not to be mistaken: and these the Greek historians derive from the East. It is almost needless to mention, that the Book of Job has been supposed the most ancient specimen of dramatic composition.

His original name was Abúlkasim, although some aver that it was Hassan Ben Ishak; and his native place was Tús in Khorásan. He is said to have been an agriculturist, and, in consequence of an injury, to have sought redress at the court of Mahmud, the first monarch of the Ghaznavian dynasty. About this period the sultan had projected a poetical history of the empire, from the earliest period to his own time, in imitation of Yezdegin, who had caused one to be compiled, which was entitled Bastan-nameh*; but, in consequence of the various revolutions which had succeeded to his era, the copies were scarcely extant, and probably almost unintelligible. Mahmud therefore resolved to preserve the records which it contained, and continue it to his own reign, dividing the undertaking into seven parts, each to be assigned to a different poet, and granting to these seven poets the title of Shaaran-i Padshah, or the Poets of the King. Hence, some writers assert, that Ferdausi repaired to court, in the hope of contributing to the undertaking, buoyed up by the fame, which he had acquired from a Divan, or collection of odest, which he wrote whilst resident in his native city.

On entering the gates of Ghazni, he remarked three officers of the palace engaged in close conversation; and, as he attempted to join himself to their society, it was determined, that he should only be permitted to do so on condition of extemporaneously repeating a verse that should be in unison with those which they, in rotation, should compose. The names of the three were Ausari, Asjedi, and Ferrohi;-the first is said to have been an eulogist of Mahmúd, to have been the chief of those appointed to the Sháhnámeh, and to have written one of the episodes ‡ before the arrival of Ferdausi :-the second was a native of Meru, and wrote a poem on the Sultan's expedition to India: the third is only known as the author of some verses on an expedition to Samarkand, in which he was way-laid and robbed. Both Asjedi and Ferrohi are called pupils of Ausari.

These conditions having been accepted and completed, Ferdausi was admitted to their company; and, being required to explain a legendary allusion which he had made in his verse, he displayed such a profound knowledge of the antiquities of his country, that Ausari introduced him to Mahmud as the

* This is also called Scyar'elmelúle.

He published these poems under the name of Sharfsháh; they are no longer extant.

The Episode of Rustam and Sohrab:-the present is from the pen of Ferdausi, in which some of Ausari's verses are retained.

only one* capable of executing his design. When he had finished a thousand verses he recited them to the Sultan, who, according to some biographers, presented him with a golden dinar for each verse :-according to others, the poet declined to receive any remuneration, until his labour should be con cluded, that he might expend the aggregate sum in the decorations of his native city.

In consequence, however, of the verses which he recited, he received the surname of FERDAUSI, or THE CELESTIAL. Shortly after this period, the independence of his spirit, and the suspicion that he was attached to the sect of Ali, raised against him a host of enemies, and his interest with Mahmúd began rapidly to decline. Some attribute his misfortunes to the Vizier Maimendi†, others to Ayaz the royal favourite ; and, from many particulars recorded of the former, as the Mecanas of his day, and the patron of the poet, we are inclined to attach the blame, exclusively, to the latter. Let the cause be what it may, after Ferdausi had expended the labour of thirty years on his undertaking, the promised sum was reduced from golden dinars to silver. As the royal messenger arrived he was leaving the bath, and, sending by him a taunting reply to the Sultan, he distributed the whole sum in his presence to the bath-keeper, his fruiterer, and the servants who bore the bags which contained it. Yet there are writers who exculpate Mahmúd from any knowledge of this transaction, mentioning, that he had ordered an elephant-load of gold to be sent, which his rapacious satellite withheld. It is also affirmed, that when the fraud was discovered, the messenger (or Vizier, according to some accounts,) was banished from the court; until, by producing passages from the Sháhnámeh, which unequivocally favoured the opinions of the sect of Ali, he not only reinstated himself in the Sultan's favour, but procured an order, that, on the following morning, Ferdausi should be trampled to death under the feet of an elephant.

Ferdausi, receiving his sentence, lost no time in hurrying into the royal presence; where, throwing himself at Mahmúd's feet, and eulogizing the glories of his reign, and victories of his troops, in an extemporaneous burst of verses, he succeeded in effecting a revocation of the order. Still, however, the

* A poet named Dakiki, who was assassinated by his slave, finished twenty thousand verses of a poetical history of the Kings:-it does not, however, appear that Ferdausi availed himself of his work. He is indeed said to have been indebted to a book called the History of the Kings of Persia ; but this I suspect to have been another title of the work already cited, under the name of Bastan-námeh.

+ So called from the place of his birth: his name was Ahmed Ibne El Hassan.

sense of injury remained, and, giving way to his indignation, he composed that bitter satire against Mahmúd, which, if no other part of his writings remained, would elevate him to the first rank of poets. Having given circulation to it, he fled into Kohistan, where he was honourably received, until the monarch's persecutions rendered his retreat unsafe. From thence he directed his course to Mazenderán, where a similar reception and similar pursuit awaited him; from thence he went to Baghdad, of which Kader Billahi (or according to others, Kayīm Abbasi,) was Khalif. Here he was fated to enjoy some period of ease, and here he found leisure to annex to the Shahnameh a thousand encomiastic verses, as well as to compose his poem called the Loves of Joseph and Zuleikka, which in the present day is only known under the name of Jami, its editor.

This part of his history is sadly interrupted by varying accounts, some stating that Mahmúd dismissed an embassy with a threatening message, enjoining Kader Billahi to send him as a prisoner to Ghazni ; to which the Khalif replied, in the words of the first verse of the one hundred and fifth chapter of the Koraùn,

σε Hast thou not understood what thy God did to the leaders of the elephants ?" and with this answer, taking leave of the embassy, he advised Ferdausi to betake himself for shelter to the deserts of Arabia. But advanced in years, worn with fatigue and disappointment, Ferdausi preferred to return to Tùs, and there to abide his fate. Others, however, state, that Mahmúd sent to Baghdad for the purpose of reinstating him in his honours, and awarding to him the promised remuneration of his labour.

Be this how it may, it is certain that about this period some change took place in the Sultan's sentiments, and that it was in consequence of his propensity to tedbir or sortilége, on which particular occasion Maimendi quoted verses from Ferdausi's great work, which happening to be precisely adapted to Mahmud's political situation, induced the Monarch to reflect upon his past injustice, and no longer tarnish the glories of his reign by his continued series of persecutions.

Previously to the arrival of the royal envoys at Baghdad, the poet had reached Tùs, whither they followed him with khalaats or robes of honour, the 60,000 golden dinars *, and

* Some writers mention, that twelve camel-loads of indigo were a part of the presents; but I should suspect some mistake in the text, and conjecture that indigo was an error of the transcriber.

other presents. Ferdausi, a short time before, had been listening in the bázár to a boy, who was reciting verses of the Sháhnámeh, during which recital he fell down in a fit, and almost immediately expired; and as the embassy entered with their presents at one of the gates, his body was carried out of another to the place of its interment. The presents, therefore, which were destined for the father, were tendered to his daughter, who is said, by Jami, to have refused them in these memorable words:" I have wealth and riches, which abundantly suffice to me for the purposes of life. I choose them not." The sultan, however, true to Horace's observations,

Virtutem incolumem odimus,

Sublatam ex oculis quærimus invidi,

expended the sum in erecting a mausoleum and other public buildings at Tùs, in honour of Ferdausi; and his daughter built from her own private purse a stone staircase on the banks of the river, because it was one of the improvements which her father had planned before his death. Other particulars of trivial import are narrated by Devletsháh, but those now adduced are all in which he appears to be supported by other biographers.

Notwithstanding his reverses of fortune, Ferdausi augured his own immortality, in words nearly analogous to those of Ovid and Horace: "Henceforth I shall not die, since I have lived and dispersed abroad the presents of my words. Let him who has understanding, judgment, and religion, give me a blessing before his death!" Various poets indulged in epigrams on this subject, of which this has been accounted the most famous in the east:

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Happy is he who knows another's worth! for when heaven closed the days of Mahmud his glory departed, nor did any other remembrance of him survive, except this historical fact, that he knew not the worth of Ferdausi."

It is said and believed, that Assadi assisted Ferdausi in his poem; and it is known, from the concurrent testimony of all writers, that the latter composed sixty thousand distichs: but it would be impossible to assign to either of them from the whole mass those particular parts which each exclusively wrote. Detached portions of the Sháhnámeh have been edited and translated, but the whole is only to be found in manuscripts, of which the copies are so vitiated that many are required to obtain a correct text. Dr. Lumsden attempted, in 1811, to edite the whole work at Calcutta ; but after the production of the first volume, which is entirely ruined by an inelegant and almost illegible type, he desisted from his undertaking.