the Persians and Hindus. 



177 



taphors End ccmparifons, fhould be genera! only, not minutely exacl:, ; h 

 'dlminiihed, if not deihoyed, by an attempt at particular and diflinch refem- 



blances; and that the fly le itfelf is open to dangerous mifinterpretatfon, 

 Tivhileit fupplies real infidels with a pretext for laughing at religion itfelf. 



On this occafion I cannot refrain from producing a mofl extraordinary 

 ode by a Sufz of Bokhara, who affumed the poetical furname of Ism at : a 

 ■more modern poet, by prefixing three lines to each couplet, which rhyme 

 with the firft hemiftich, has very elegantly and ingeniouily converted the 

 Kajidab into a Mokhammes, but I prefent yeu only with a literal verfion of 

 ;the original diflichs; 



" Yesterday, half inebriated, I paffed by the quarter, where the 

 *** vintners dwell, to feek the daughter of an infidel, who fells wine. 



* s At the end of the ftreet, there advanced before me a damfel with a 

 tc fairy's cheeks, who, in the manner of a pagan, wore her treffes defhe- 

 " veiled over her moulder, like the facerdotal thread. 1 faid : thou, to 

 " the arch of whofe eye-brow the. new moon is ajlave, what quarter is this, and 

 " where is thy manjion ? 



"She anfwered : Cajl. thy rofary on the .ground ; .hind on thy fhoulder the 

 " thread of ' paganifm; throw flones at the glafs of 'piety ; and quaff 'wine from 

 " ajall goblet ; 



" After that come before me, that I may tohifper a word in thine ear : thou , 

 •** wilt ace omplijli thy journey i if 'thou liflen to my difcourfe. 



