tyS 



On the Mystical Poetry of 



" Abandoning my heart and rapt in exftafy, I ran after her, till. I 

 " came toa place, in which religion and reafon forfook me. 



" At a diftance I beheld a company, all infane and inebriated, who 

 6< came boiling and roaring with ardour from the wine of love ; 



" Wi thout cymbals, or lutes, or viols, yet all full of mirth and melody j 

 s * without wine,; or gobJet, or flafk, yet all inceflantly drinking. 



" When the cord of r.-ftraint Hipped from my han^, I defired to alk her 

 " one queftion j but ilie faid : Silence I 



** This is no fquare temple ■, to the gate of which thou canfi arrive precipi- 

 " lately : this is no mofque, to which thou canfi come with tumult* hut without 

 "* knowledge. This is the banquet-houfe of infidels, and within it all are intox- 

 H zcated ; all, from. the dawn of eternity to the day of refurreffion, lofi in ajlon- 

 44 i/hment. 



* e Depart then from- the cloy fie r and take the way to the tavern; caft off" the 

 t4 cloke of a dervfe, and wear the robe of a libertine. 



** I obeyed ; and, if thou defirefl the fame ftrain and colour with Ism AT, 

 " imitate him, and fell this world and the next for one drop of pure wine. 



Such is the itrange religion and ftranger language of the Sufis; but moft 

 of the Afiatick poets are of that religion, and* if we think it worth while to 

 read their poems, werauft think it worth while to understand them : their 

 great Maulavi allures us, that "they profefs eager defire, but with no- 

 " carnal affedtion , and circulate the cup, but no material goblet ; iince all 



