7'Q 



A brief notice of th 



[July 



TRANSLATION. 



Let the king now lend ear to my discourse, 

 And do thou, O Firdousi, take courage and exert thyself, 

 For what thou saycst will remain, in lasting remembrance of thee. 

 Therefore, commence ; not on a mean foundation, 



But depict sublime conceptions, in language better than kingly jewels 

 And beseeming Mahmud's dignity. 



I will compose a poem of past ages, 

 That shall remain a lasting history in the world. 



Dedicated to the possessor of the earth, Mahmud Shah, 

 Abiil Cassim Anfer, Dehim wa Gah. (literally crown and throne) 

 In ihe banquet, the battle, generosity and field sports, 

 Thy equal, O king, the world will never behold. 

 Lord of Ind, Lord of Chin (China), 

 Lord of the lands of Ird?i and Tuhrun ; 

 The sound of thy voice rends stones ; 

 On the water thou art a crocodile, on dry land a tiger \ 

 Thou seekest nothing save goodness and virtue, 

 And art indefatigable in administering justice. 

 As soon as the infant's lips are bathed with its mother's mil! , 

 From the cradle it first murmurs the name of Mahmud. 

 All Iran owes its prosperity to his justice, 

 The universe rejoices when he is glad ; 

 In the banquet he is a heaven of benevolence, 

 In the combat a fiery dragon j 

 In person an elephant ; in courage, Jibrail. 

 His hand graspeth the cloud of Bahman, (a J 

 His heart overfloweth with kindness like the river Nile. 



The monarch was quite satisfied — apartments in the royal palace, 

 and a handsome salary, were immediately assigned to our young poet, 

 who commenced his task with great ardour. According to the author 

 of the Sham-i-Guriban, a thousand couplets were produced, in a very 

 short space of time, and presented to Mahmud for his opinion. The mo- 

 narch was so charmed with the richness and vigour of style, in which 

 they were composed, that he ordered a thousand dinars (6) of gold 

 to be instantly presented to the author. The rest of the poem, in all 



(a) Bahman, according to Richardson, is the name of the second month of winter, 

 answering to our January. The rain, that falls from the clouds during this month, was 

 supposed by the Persians to have extraordinary fertilizing powers— hence the metaphor 

 in allusion to Mahmud's munificence. 



(b ) The term dinar is sometimes applied to money generally. A dinar of gold, accord- 

 ing to Richardson, is of equal value with a ducat : according to D' Herbeiot, it is worth a 

 little more than the old ecu d\r, and is equivalent to a sequin of Venice, and weighs one 

 piiical. 



