Page:A Grammar of the Persian Language.djvu/15

 of every letter from the mouth of a native, let him peruse the grammar with attention, and commit to memory the regular inflexions of the nouns and verbs; he need not burden his mind with those that deviate from the common forms, as they will be insensibly learned in a short course of reading. By this time he will find a dictionary necessary, and I hope he will believe me, when I assert from a long experience, that, whoever possesses the admirable work of Meninski, will have no occasion for any other dictionary of the Persian tongue. He may proceed by the help of this work to analyse the passages quoted in the grammar, and to examine in what manner they illustrate the rules: in the mean time he must not neglect to converse with his living instructor, and to learn from him the phrases of common discourse, and the names of visible objects, which he will soon imprint on his memory, if he will take the trouble to look for them in the dictionary; and here I must caution him against condemning a work as defective, because he cannot find in it every word which he hears; for sounds in general are caught imperfectly by the ear, and many words are spelt and pronounced very differently.

The first book that I would recommend to him is the Gulistán, or Bed of Roses, a work which is highly esteemed in the East, and of which there are several translations in the languages of Europe: the manuscripts of this book are very common; and by comparing them with the printed edition of Gentius, he will soon learn the beautiful flowing hand used in Persia, which consists of bold strokes and flourishes, and cannot be imitated by our types. It will then be a proper time for him to read some short and easy chapter in this work, and to translate it into his native