74 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [Kebvwa,ry y 1914. 



For the material description which I made of The Lives of 

 the Apostles I am indebted to the help of Aga Muhammad 

 Kazim Shirazi, the Persian Instructor of the Board of Exam- 

 iners, Calcutta It is also he who passed through the press 

 the Persian text of the preface, and pointed out the textual 

 errors. (Cf Appendix B.) 



As for the translation of the preface from the Persian (cf. 

 Appendix A), it was kindly undertaken by Mr. H. Beveridge 

 at my request. It is not the only service which Mr. Beveridge 

 has rendered me. His letters on a variety of historical subjects 

 connected with my researches have been accumulating to the 

 size of a volume during the past six or seven years, and they 

 will be invaluable guides to me in the future as they have been 



in the past 



/ 



Apostles^ he notes that the text is not always correct, and that 

 the transitions from one subject to another are rather abrupt. 



APPENDIX A. 



Preface of the Lives of the Apostles, translated 



from the Persian by H. Beveridge. 



Story of the Apostles of Hazrat Jesus, and description 



of their virtues. 



Praise be to God! My physical body and my mental 

 faculties have again become fit for service. In a fortunate 

 hour, I have commenced the good design. May Almighty God 

 grant its completion, and may the work find acceptance at His 



glorious Court ! 



Qads) 



of Hazrat Jesus our Lord, taken from the Gospels and other 

 books. It happened, however, that though many wondrous 

 doings of His were recorded therein, one marvel^n'ch, per- 

 haps, may be called the greatest of all, was left unnoticed by 

 me. This was due either to shortness of time, or because the 

 lips of H.M. the Shadow of God (Akbar) were athirst for the 

 new Learning, 1 or because the marvel in question was, from 

 its greatness, deserving of a separate book. Now then, I desire 

 that by the Divine help and by the Fortune of H M. the 

 Shahinshah I may write of the marvel, and so complete " The 

 Holy Mirror." The marvel in question is that, at a time 



1 [The new learning means, probably, the doctrine to be derived 

 from the ■ Holy Mirror.' In that case, Akbar would be represented as 00 

 anxious to get a look at the " Holy Mirror " that the author had no time 

 to complete it as he intended.— H. H.] 



