Persian Poets, 



$73 



Nezdri Kohistan, 



Kohistan excelled in compositions on wine, in its mystic signification. 

 He lived in the reign of Akbar. 



Nizdmi Wrozi, 



Namesake and contemporary of the celebrated Nizdmi, author of the 

 Majma-un-nuwddir, collection of wonders. The Sultan Toghral one 

 day asked Wv 6zi whether there was not another poet named 

 Nizdmi. He answered that there was, and in an extempore stanza 

 confessed his own inferiority. 



Nizdmi, 



Or Sheikh Nizdmi Gangiah, a celebrated poet, lived during the reign 

 of Sultan Toghral Bin Arselan Seljuki,m the 6th century of the Hejira. 

 He was the author of five very justly celebrated poems, entitled, collec- 

 tively, the Khamseh, from the Arabic word Khams {j**^ five ; in 

 imitation of which those eminent poets, Mir Khosro, Hdtifi, Kdtebi 

 and J ami composed theirs. 



Of these the Makhzcn-al-asrar is a poem on ethics and the doctrines 

 of the Sufis. The Sldnn-wa-khosro, the Leila wa majnun, the Herft 

 Paiker, are all love tales well known in Persian poesy. The fifth and 

 last is the Secunder or Sheref Narneh, the history of Alexander the 

 Great, a poem of great merit. It commences with the narration of his 

 birth and education under Nikermas, father of Aristo, or Aristotle, and 

 goes on to relate in successive chapters his victories over the armies 

 of Buss and Zangbar (an island supposed to be in the Indian seas) — 

 the construction of his famous mirror—his victory over the Persians 

 under Ddra, Darius, and the death of that monarch—the destruction 

 of the temples of the Magi or fire-worshippers— his visit to the 

 Kaabah, and to the cave of Kai-khosro ; who, according to Sir William 

 Jones was the Cyrus the Great of the Greeks— his expedition to 

 India and China— his subsequent wars with the armies of Russ ; and 



