32 CEYLON BRANCH— ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



lations from the Persian, Arabic and Hindu poets have 

 abundantly proved ; and if we do not find in their prose equal 

 excellence, let us remember the trammels by which they 

 were enchained, and the social system in which they moved. 

 Accustomed to regard that system of philosophy which they 

 learned in youth as the ne plus ultra of excellence, and 

 taught to consider the customs of their forefathers, as the 

 dictates of wisdom's self, can we wonder that they search 

 their minds rather for pompous adulation of existing institu- 

 tions, than for the scheme of a better order of things. The 

 " Eepublic" of Plato, and the " Utopia" of fMore, would 

 have been as inconsistent with eastern ideas as the mild and 

 bloodless system of Bucldhu would have been at variance with 

 the lawless ideas of the violent hordes of Northern Europe. 

 " Before a decisive criticism ought to be hazarded on these 

 "compositions" (says Mr. Richardson,* writing of Persian 

 poetry) (< regard should be had to the genius of the eastern 

 " nations, to local and temporary allusions, to their religion 

 " and laws, their manners and customs, their histories and 



traditions ; which if not properly understood must involve 

 " the whole in obscurity ; and it must consequently be equally 

 " improper to sit in judgment on these poems, and try them 

 " by the laws of the' European ode as to decide on Shake- 

 " spear e according to the mechanical system of the French 



drama, or to condemn a fine Gothic building, because irre- 

 " concileable with the principles of Grecian architecture." 



In the Persian and Arabic poetry, however, and doubtless 

 in that of most Eastern nations, there are pieces which require 

 no aids to understand their beauties but the judgment of 

 the reason and the imagination, such as the following lines 

 of Hafiz ; — ■ 



" As on thy mother's knee a new born child, 



Weeping thou sat'st ; whilst all around thee smil'd, 



So live that sinking into death's long sleep, 



Calm thou may'st smile, whilst all around thee weep. — " 



* " In his Specimen of Persian Poetry." London 1802. 



