Page:Madras journal of literature and science 3rd series 1, July 1864.djvu/110

98 Of Naziri's works there are here, as we have said, two books "The Kussaid" and "The Díwán." The manuscript is in Shikasta and bears evident marks of not having been written by a Persian. If we may express an opinion without going further than the appearance of the writing, we should say that it was written somewhere about the middle of the last century in the NorthWest. Of the time at which Nazírí wrote it is hard without a thorough examination of his poems to speak with certainty. A glance at the headings of some of the Kussaid shews us first an ode in praise of God and the Prophet, next twelve odes to the twelve Imáms (Nazírí was a Shiya), and then follows an ode to Abd-ul Muzuffur Jalahl Udín Akbar Patshá, and this is followed by several odes to 'Abd-ul Rahím Khán-i Khán (the Khán of Kháns i. e. prime minister) of Akbar. This would lead us to the conclusion that this writer lived about 300 years ago; but there is little doubt that a careful perusal of his writings will easily set this point at rest.

Of the quatrains of 'Omar Khayyám which are bound up with these two books of Nazírí's it is to be remarked that the manuscript is incomplete, breaking off at the catch word of the 802nd quatrain. This fact would lead us to join issue with the Calcutta Reviewer who says of 'Omar "every other poet of Persia has written too much, even her noblest sons of genius weary with their prolixity. The language has a fatal facility of rhyme, which makes it easier to write in verse than in prose, and every author heaps volumes on volumes until he buries himself and his reader beneath their weight. Our mathematician is the one solitary exception. He has left fewer lines than Gray." We are however unwilling to differ on so hasty an inspection of this manuscript from the careful reviewer whose opinion we have quoted. The inexcusable failing of oriental copyists,