97 



On two Manuscripts of 'Omar Khayydm's Quatrains. 

 By J. H. Arthur Branson, Esq., Barrister -at-law. 



WE have much pleasure in calling the attention of 

 those to whom the poetry of the Lucretian Khayyam 

 may be a subject of interest to two manuscripts now in 

 the possession of our Honorary Secretary. One of these 

 is peculiarly well worthy the attention of Persian 

 scholars, inasmuch as it contains two books of the Poems 

 of Naziri (^j^dai ) a poet whose works are rarely to be 

 met with and of whom consequently very little is at pre- 

 sent knownf a ). Had the manuscripts come earlier to our 

 possession we should have been glad to have thrown 

 on this almost unknown poet and his works what new 

 light we could have gathered from the perusal of the 

 two books of his poems in Mr. Stokes's manuscript. 

 We are anxious however to lose no time in bringing to 

 the notice of those who may have greater capabilities and 

 more leisure the MSS. now under consideration. Such re- 

 marks as a necessarily hasty inspection suggest to us, we 

 here place before our readers. 



In the first of these MSS. we find the two books of 

 Naziri which, as well as the quatrains of 'Omar Khayyam, 

 are on paper and bound together in one volume measuring 

 5 J inches by 10 and containing 217 leaves. 



On the flyleaf is a note in Persian to the effect that the 



volume was bought at the Naw^b's auction on 29 th Rajib 



1275 Hijra, and on the first page of the manuscript is the 



mohur of the unfortunate 'AH Hussain Kh6n Thaj ul Umra, 



the son of Umdut ul Umra and grandson of Wallajah. 



(a) Is this ' Nasser Khosrou' of whom D'Herbelot (ed. 1697) writes 

 1 ancien Poete Persien, dont les Yers spirituels and devots, sont souvcut 

 citez par les Contemplatifs. II en a fait de tr6s beaux sur ia Retraitc and 

 sur la solitude/-— 



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