RECORDS OF MEETINGS. 



467 



On behalf of The Omar Khayyam Club of America, its President, 

 Mr. Lanman, presented to each one of the Delegates a copy of 

 Mr. Burrage's three volumes, to wit: 1. his "Twenty Years of The 

 Omar Khayyam Club of America," (Boston, 1921) ; 2. his " Exact 

 Facsimile of the rare and famous first edition of Edward Fitz- 

 Gerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-poet of 

 Persia. Translated into English verse. London: Bernard Qua- 

 ritch. Castle Street, Leicester Square, 1859"; and 3. his miniature 

 edition of "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam of Naishapur." ^ 

 In presenting these gifts, the speaker said, for substance, somewhat 

 as follows: 



It would indeed be a doubtful compliment to give to you, in 

 the House of this venerable Academy, the works of a sot and a 

 materialist. Such a one, as Mr. Burrage observes,^ many people 

 suppose that Omar was. This belief is far from the truth. Like 

 Demokritos of Abdera, Omar was one of the most learned men of 

 his day, and with that learning went a deep religious conviction and 

 feeling which we may not lightly deny. If any incline to doubt it, 

 we may well ask them. Why did Co well, who was the Professor of 

 Sanskrit at Cambridge and Edward FitzGerald's teacher and 

 friend, — Why did Cowell urge his pupil to the work of translating 

 the Quatrains and aid him in the doing? For Cowell was one of 

 the most devout Christians that ever combined learning with 

 unaffected piety. 



You, gentlemen, who, representing the Asiatic Societies, are 

 today here present as duly accredited Delegates to the American 

 Academy, are the guests of the Omar Club. It would ill comport 

 with the dignity of the Academy if she should turn you over to the 

 hospitality of a Club organized for mere conviviality. Happily, 

 such is not the case. Its members do indeed set store by good- 

 fellowship; but they have endeavored, — notably through the 



1 This last is about 1 inch by 2 1 in size, and is an edition of twenty copies 

 bound in full blue morocco, hand-tooled in gold, with inlays of red and green 

 morocco, with jade jewel inset, and put in a case, and privately printed by the 

 Rosemary Press for the Omar Club. A leaf following the title reads: "Dedi- 

 cated by The Omar Khayyam Club Of America to its guests, the Delegates of 

 the Societe Asiati-que, Royal Asiatic Society, Societd Asiatica Italiana, and 

 American Oriental Society, as a souvenir of their Joint-meeting with the Ameri- 

 can Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston, in October, 1921." 



2 "Twenty Years," page 17. 



