24 Life and Writings 
distinguished object. It is the great store- 
house whence succeeding poets have drawn 
their images and fables, and it has certainly 
had a very considera!:Je influence on the lite- 
rary productions of the country which gave 
it birth. Ferdoosee has the rare merit of ha- 
ving identified himself with the feelings and 
associations of his countrymen. His poems 
still continue to form the delight of the orien- 
tal world, and must endure as long as the lan- 
guage in which they are written. ‘To sucha 
man, in the strength of conscious genius it 
may without much imputation of vanity be 
permitted to exclaim, as he has done at the 
conclusion of his great undertaking, ‘‘ Hence- 
forward, I shall never die: and every one, 
who has knowledge and understanding, will, 
after my death, shower praises upon me.”’ (12) 
(12) So Ovid, 
Jamque opus exegi, &c. 
And Horace, 
Exegi monumentum aere perennius, &c. 
To me there is something fine in this proud consciousness of genius, 
relying on its own internal strength, not on the weak and mutable opi- 
nion of others,—in these confident anticipations of immortal fame, the 
richest reward of the poet. Who that has read the pathetic com- 
plaint of Camoens, at the end of the 5th. Canto of the Lusiad, does 
not rejoice to know, that aniidst poverty and neglect, he was yet 
cheered with the hope that justice would one day be done to his injured 
merit. 
