1869.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 259 



far as I can judge from Marsclen's plates, metrical inscriptions. His 

 readings, however, are nearly all wrong. A few examples will suffice. 



14. Marsden, p. 489. A silver coin of Shah 'Abbas II(?). The 

 first hemistich in Marsden has the metre mafaHlun (8 times), faJidun. 

 He reads — 



jitifttj u* 1 ^ ^ «-^ f^ o-vyj 

 Marsclen's facsimile does not clearly shew the words ^Ai Jj) . 



The metre of the first Hemistich, though not displeasing to the ear, 

 is not Persian, and is not to be found in any treatise on Prosody ; 

 hence Marsden's first line cannot be correct. His second line has neither 

 metre, nor sense, nor grammar : it looks as if Marsden's plate had 

 ^Jbj rabbdni, for which he read ^^fLij. Guided by a phrase below 

 (No. 17), I propose to read Marsden's facsimile — 



" By the grace of God, 'Ali's (unworthy) dog, 'Abbas the pious 

 is the man who at present stamps the coin of Lordship in the 

 world." Thus we have at least grammar and metre (the dignified 



Hazaj i sdlim, four times V ) ; but we sacrifice the rhyme, 



and use the word rabbdni in a peculiar sense. 



If rabbdni should turn out to be the correct reading, the coin would 

 belong to Shah 'Abbas L, not Abbas II. 



15. Marsden, p. 463. The first hemistich has no metre ; the 

 second is in Ramal. 



16. Marsden, p. 465. For Marsden's ^^y^^l ^j rabbulmusharrafin, 

 read i^y^lvJ rabbul mashriqain, the Lord of East and West, which 

 must rhyme with <^~^ Husain. 



17. Marsden, p. 469. A silver coin of Shah Tahmasp II. 

 For Marsden reading, substitute 



— a short Hazaj (Masnawi) metre. Translate — 



" Tahmasp II., by the grace of God, 



Struck the coin of Lordship in the world." 

 Qdhibqirdni is an abstr. noun. 



18. Marsden, p. 472. For e>ikL» read Ijouikl**, which Marsden's 

 plate clearly shews. The metre is Ramal. 



19. Marsden,^. 478 and 480. Both inscriptions are correct, the 

 former is in short Ramal, the latter is Khafif. 



