OF ASIATICK WORDS. O 



and Perjia : yet, though his orthography will be found 

 lefs defective than that of other writers on fimilar 

 fubjefts, without excepting the illuftrious Prince Kan- 

 temir, ft ill it requires more than a moderate know- 

 ledge of Perfian, Arabick, and TurkifJi, to compre- 

 hend all the characters quoted by him in European 

 characters; one inftance of which I cannot forbear giv- 

 ing. In the account of Ibnu Zaidiin, a celebrated 

 Andalufian poet, the fir ft couplet of an elegy in Arabick 

 is praifed for its elegance, and expreffed thus in Roman 

 letters : 



Iekad hei'n tenagikom dhamairna; 

 Iacdha alai'na alalia laula taflina. 



u The time," adds the tranflator, " will foon come, 

 " when you will deliver us from all our cares : the re- 

 " medy is allured, provided we have a little patience." 

 When Dr. Hunt, of Oxford, whom I am bound to 

 name with gratitude and veneration, together with two 

 or three others, attempted, at my requeft, to write the 

 fame diftich in Arabian characters, they all wrote it dif- 

 ferently, and all, in my prefent opinion, erroneoudy. I 

 was then a very young ftudent, and could not eafily have 

 procured Ibnu Zai dun's works, which are, no doubt, 

 preferved in the Bodiey Library, but which have not 

 fince fallen in my way. This admired couplet, there- 

 fore, I have never feen in the original characters, and 

 confefs myfelf at a lofs to render them with certainty. 

 Both verfes are written by D'Herbelot without attention 

 to the grammatical points : that is, in a form which no 

 learned Arab would give them in recitation. But, al- 

 though the French verfion be palpably erroneous, it is 

 by no means eafy to correct, the error. If dldsd, or a 

 remedy, be the true reading, the negative particle 

 muft be abfurd; fince iadjjaind fignifies we are pa- 

 tient, and not we defpair : but if dldfay, or affliction, 

 be the proper word, fome obfcurity muft arife from the 



B 2 verb, 



