Oriental Literaiure. 7S 



work is spurious/ and that it was compiled long 

 posterior to the time in which Zoroaster lived; 

 yet it is, on several accounts, an interesting pub- 

 lication, and a rich source of instruction to the 

 student of Persian literature/ 



About the time in which M. Anquetil pub- 

 lished this work, the study of the Persian language 

 began to receive much attention, and to become 

 fashionable among some of the literati of Great- 

 Britain. Warren Hastings, under whose au- 

 spices, when afterwards Governor of India, ori- 

 ental literature was cultivated with so much zeal, 

 became, early in life, fond of this language, and ex- 

 erted himself to diffuse a knowledge of it in his own 

 country. Sir William Jones, also, while yet a 

 youth, discovered much of that enthusiastic attach- 

 ment to eastern learning, in which he afterwards 

 made such astonishing progress/ In 1773 he pub- 



b Sir William Jones, on the appearance of this work, immediately 



decided that it was spurious. See his Lettre a M. A du P dan* 



taquelle est comprls V Examen, de sa traduction des livres attribues a ZoROASTRE. 

 1771. 



c Zend-Avesta, Owvrage de ZoROASTRE, Iffc. 3 tom. 4tO. 1771. 



d Sir Willi am Jones was one of the brightest ornaments of the eighteenth 

 century, and in some respects one of the most wonderful men that ever 

 existed. He died in 1 794, after having lived a little mo*e than 47 years. 

 In this short period he had acquired an extent of learning, and a variety 

 and elegance of accomplishments, which seldom fall to the lot of an indi- 

 vidual. There were few sciences in which he had not made considera- 

 ble proficiency, and in most his knowledge was profound. His capacity 

 for the acquisition of languages has probably never been excelled. In Greek 

 and Roman literature his early proficiency was the subject of admiratioa 

 and applause ; and knowledge of whatever nature once obtained by him 

 was ever afterwards progressive. The more elegant dialects of modem 

 Europe, the French, the Spanish, and the Italian, he spoke and wrote witf» 

 the greatest fluency and precision ; and the German and Portuguese were 

 familiar to him. At an early period of life his application to oriental li- 

 terature commenced ; he studied the Hebrew with ease and success, and 

 many of the most learned Asiatics have the candour to avow that his 

 knowledge of Arabic and Persian was as accurate and extensive as their 

 own. He was also conversant in the Turkish idioms, and even the Chinese 

 had attracted his notice so far as to induce him to learn the radical cha- 

 racters of that language, with a view perhaps to further improvements. 

 It was to be expected, after his arrival in India, that he would eagerly em- 

 brace the opportunity of making himself master of the Sanscrit ; and the 

 VOL. ill I, 



