1870.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 141 



left a clear and faithful impression on the cloth. The painter took 

 it to Edessa, and gave it to his king, who preserved it rejoicingly, 

 and shewed it every honor and adoration. By its means he 

 conquered all his difficulties. 



This story I have, not without reason, put in the beginning of my 

 work. Your Majesty has heard an account of Christ's sublimeness 

 and greatness according to authorities* which differ in their 

 evidence ; and as you expressed a desire to have a truthful account, 

 you were pleased, in your search for truth and love of wisdom, to 

 order me, the meanest of your servants, Padri JeromeXavier,f 

 whom you have graciously admitted to Court, to write in Persian 

 a history, containing everything done and said by Christ, as we 

 find it in our books. Having been engaged in this calling for forty 

 years, and studied Persian for seven or eight years, I now eagerly 

 and zealously fulfil your Majesty's command. I have thrown my 

 whole heart into this work, and girdled myself with the waistband 

 of zeal ; I have spent many days in completing this book, and 

 denied myself the comforts, and even the necessaries of life, in 

 order to carry out the wishes of your Majesty, who is God's shadow 

 on earth. Royal orders cannot in a less degree be honoured, 

 especially in matters which to conceal would do men harm, and 

 which to promulgate is an act of worshipping God,]: as the angel 

 Raphael said to T o b i a s — { To guard the secrets of kings is 

 good ; but to make God's hidden wisdom known to men, is laudable 

 and approved of by all.' 



If in presenting this book and portrait of Christ to your Ma- 

 jesty I have been late, the truth is, that I made several attempts, 

 thinking after my own fashion that I had completed it ; but as often I 

 made a clean copy of my rough notes, and compared the Persian with 

 the features of the Latin (er!^> latin) original, I was dissatisfied, 

 and what I had looked upon as complete, appeared deficient and 

 defective, so much so that I, too, was ashamed of my work, and 



* J. Xavier evidently means the numerous Muhammadan histories of the 

 Prophets. Thus the Rauzatugqafd, a work which Akbar prized, contains a rich 

 collection of Eastern tales regarding Christ. 



f The text has «->•..& ***J*«!3 Zeron-tmo Shavir. 



% Akbar's favourite phrase ; vide my Am translation, p. 11. 



