44* Literary Intelligence. [No. 1. 



It is to Mr. Elliot that we owe the preservation of a great part of 

 the literature of the Upanishads, and I take this opportunity of 

 publicly acknowledging to him my most grateful thanks for the 

 ready generosity with which he has, upon several occasions, placed 

 at my disposal MSS. of infinite importance to my labours in this 

 field of research. 



Literary Intelligence. 



Extract from a letter of Dr. A. Sprengek, dated Damascus, De- 

 cember 24tth, lS54i. 



And now I come to bibliography. In my opinion the most impor- 

 tant book that I have yet seen is one, of which probably no one else 

 would have taken notice. It has the title of *+& A^oj *-^iSJ| plja 

 *i|a|j (j"^l and contains instructions of a Pyr to his pupil. The 

 Pyr is the celebrated Abu 'abd Allah al-/iarith b. Asad Mohasiby- 

 died in 243. His biography is in the JNafa7*at in Qoshayzy, in 

 Asnawy's Tabaqat, &c. and the disciple is the not less celebrated 

 Qiify A^mad b. 'acim Avitazy. The first fifty pages contain ques- 

 tions of the pupil and answers of the Pyr on moral and metaphysical 

 questions. The dialogue is managed with great skill and perspicuity. 

 The rest of the book, about 400 pages, contains traditions of Moham- 

 mad as well as of other great persons of the first century of the Islam, 

 and abounds in historical anecdotes, most of which are very valu- 

 able, for the history of civilization. The moral sentiments ex- 

 pressed in the work are sound and what struck me most is the 

 democratic tendency of the author, which we find in no other work 

 of the Musalmans. This is the most ancient book on Sufism known, 

 and in so far very valuable, for the history of this science ; the copy 

 is dated A. H. 486. Bound with it and written in the same hand 

 and consequently also of A. H. 486 is a translation from the Greek 

 of four small books ascribed to Enoch. I do not know whether 

 they are identical with those lately translated from the Coptic. 

 They contain exhortations to a pious life, invective against the rich 



