F ART. VII. Perfian Claffics. Volume the Firft. The Gu liftan of Sady, with an English Tranflation. By Francis Gladwin. 4to. 337 pp. Calcutta. 1806. WE WE learn from the advertisement prefixed to this volume, that on the first inftitution of Fort William College, Mr. Gladwin, at the request of Marquis Wellesley, undertook, in conjunction with two other diftinguished Orientalifts, the temporary fuperintendance of the Perfian department. On this occafion he conceived the very laudable defign of preparing, for the ufe of ftudents, correct editions of feveral approved claffics in the Perfian language, and of illuftrating them with notes and verbal indexes. During a retirement: of four years at Patna, Mr. Gladwin has fo far fucceeded in the execution of his arduous undertaking, as to have pre-. pared for the prefs, befides the Gulistan of Sady now before us, the Baftan of the fame Poet, the Beharistan of Jamy, the Ukhlak ul mushinee of Cafhefy, with the Iyar-e-danish, and three volumes of Letters by Abulfuzl; befides Biographical Sketches and Remarks on the writings of thofe celebrated authors. It was Mr. Gladwin's intention to publish all thefe works (comprised in eight quarto volumes) as fpeedily as poffible, either in Calcutta or in England. To the Gu liftan, the first of thefe Perfian Claffics, he has added an. English verfion; the other works are accompanied only by notes and verbal indexes. : Of the Gulistan, (which fignifies "a Bed of Rofes," or, a Flower Garden,") the Perfian text, with a Latin transla tion, by the learned Gentius, has been long in the hands of every Órientalift, under the title of "Rofarium Politicum." Imperfect verfions have alfo appeared in English and French; and Olearius publifhed this work in German, with plates, (Schlefwig. 1654) in a folio volume, which he called the "Perfianifcher Rofenthal; but Mr. Gladwin feems to have been acquainted with no other translation than that of Gentius, to whofe Perfian text he allows a confiderable degree of correctness. The poet Sadi was born at Shiraz, in the year of our æra, 1175, and compofed fuch a variety of works in profe and verse, Arabic and Perfian, that they fill two large "folio volumes, printed fome years ago at Calcutta. It was not merely as a poet, that he acquired immortal fame, but as a philofopher and a moralift. His works are quoted by the Perfians on the daily and hourly occurrences of life, and his Ý BRIT, CRIT, VOL. XXIX, MARCH, 1807. tomb, tomb, adjoining the city where he was born, is ftill visited with a degree of veneration due to his character of a faint. "Yet," fays Sir William Oufeley, speaking of this author's works," I fhall not here fupprefs, that there is attributed to Sadi a fhort collection of poetical compofitions, inculating leffons of the groffeft fenfuality, and breathing all the licentioufnefs of the most unchafte imagination; thefe, in the manufcripts before me, are inconfiftently placed among the beautiful, moral, and fentimental diftichs which follow our author's Divan; and in an Arabic introduction, he declares his repentance for having compofed thofe indelicate verfes, which however he excufes, on account of their giving a relish to the other poems, "as falt is ufed in the feafoning of meat;" and, if one can allow any merit to fuch productions, it may be faid of him, as of Petronius, that he wrote the most impure things in the pureft language *." We are forry to find, that even the moral Guliftan before us, cannot be reckoned immaculate. Mr. Gladwin finds himself obliged to omit or difguife a few paffages in his verfion, which," although not offenfive to the coarfe ideas of native readers, could not poffibly be tranflated without tranfgreffing the bounds of decency." As many of our readers muft be, without doubt, already acquainted with the Guliftan of Sadi, not only through the medium of those translations abovementioned, but from the copious extracts of it, given by Chardin, Cardonne, and others, we fhall prefent a few fhort paffages only, as fpecimens of Mr. Gladwin's verfion, without any regard to the order in which they occur. "If a wife man, falling in company with mean people, 'does not get credit for his difcourfe, be not amazed; for the found of the harp cannot overpower the noife of the drum, and the fragrance of ambergris is overcome by fetid garlic. The ignorant wretch was proud of his loud voice, because he had impudently confounded the man of understanding. Are you ignorant that the mufical mode of Hijaz is confounded by the noife of the warrior's drum? If a jewel falls into the mud, it is ftill the fame precious ftone; and if duft flies up to the sky, it retains its original basenefs; a capacity, without education, is deplorabie; and education, without capacity, is thrown away. Athes, although of high origin, (fire being of a noble nature) yet having no intrinfic worth, are no better than duft. Sugar obtains not its value from the cane, but from its innate quality. Mufk has the fragrance in * Perfian Mifcellanies, p. 58. In another place Sir WilliamQufeley ftyles this work of Sadi, "the Book of Impurities." itfelf, and not from being called a perfume by the druggift. The wife man is like the druggift's cheft, filen., but full of virtues: and the block head refembles the warrior's drum, noify, but an empty prattler. A wife man, in the company of thofe who are ig norant, has been compared by the fages to a beautiful girl, in the company of blind men; or to the Koran in the houfe of an infidel, when the land of Canaan was without virtue, the birth of Jofeph did not increase its dignity. Shew your virtue if you poffefs nobility; for the rofe fprang from the thorn, and Abraham from Azor." P. 312. "I never complained of the viciffitudes of fortune, nor mur. mured at the ordinances of Heaven, excepting once, when my feet were bare, and I had not the means of procuring myself shoes. I entered the great Mofque at Cufats with a heavy heart, when I beheld a man who had no feet. I offered up praife and thankf giving to God for his bounty towards men, and bore with patience the want of fhoes.". P. 158. "A pupil complained to his fpiritual guide, of being much dif turbed by impertinent vifitors, who broke in upon his valuable time, and he asked how he could get rid of them. The fuperior replied, "to fuch of them as are poor lend money, and from those that are rich afk fomething, when you may depend on not feeing one of them again." P. 130. "Bruife the ferpent's head with the hand of your enemy, which cannot fail of producing one of these two advantages: if the enemy fucceeds, you have killed the fnake, and if the latter prevails, you have got rid of your enemy. P. 297. "On a certain year I was travelling from Balkh, with fome people of Damafcus, and the road was infefted with robbers. There was a young man of our party, an expert handler of the fhield, a mighty archer, a brandifher of all weapons, so strong, that ten men could not draw his bowftring, and the most powerful wrestler on the face of the earth had never brought his back to the ground: but he was rich, and had been nurfed in the fhade, was inexperienced in the world, and no traveller. The thunder. ing found of the martial drum had never reached his ear, neither had his eyes feen the lightning of the horfemen's fwords. He had never been made prifoner by the enemy, nor had the arrows fallen in showers around him. It happened that I and this young man were running together; every wall that came in his way he pulled down, and every large tree that he faw, by the force of his arm, he tore up by the roots. He was boating, faying, "where is the elephant, that you may behold the fhoulders of the hero? Where is the lion, that you may fee the fingers and palm of the brave man ?" We were in this fituation, when two Indians lifted up their heads from behind a rock, with intention to kill us-one had a stick in his hand, and the other a fling under his arm. I faid to the young man, "Why do you ftop?"-"Shew your ftrength and valour, for here is the enemy within a foot of his grave." I faw the bow and arrows drop from the hand of the young man, and a trembling feized all his joints. Not every one who can split a hair with an arrow that will pierce a coat of mail, is able to stand against the warrior in the day of battle. We faw no other remedy for ourselves, but to leave our accoutrements, furrender our arms, and efcape with our lives. On an affair of importance, employ a man of experience, who will bring the devouring lion into his trammels. A young man, though he has ftrength of arm, and is powerful as an elephant, will feel his joints quaking with fear in the day of battle. A man of experience is as well qualified to act in war as the learned man is to expound a cafe of law." P. 269. "A certain perfon who performed gratis the office of Mowuzzin, in the Mofque of Saujaryah, had such a voice as difgufted all who heard it. The intendant of the Mofque, an Umeer, a good, humane man, being unwilling to offend him, faid, "My lad, this Mofque has Mowuzzins of long standing, each of whom has a monthly stipend of five dinars; now I will give you ten dinars to go to another place." He agreed to this propofal, and went away. Some time after, he came to the Umeer, and faid, "O, my lord, you injured me, in fending me away from this ftation for ten dinars: for, where I went they will give me twenty dinars to remove to another place, to which I have not confented." The Umeer laughed, and faid, "Take care, don't accept of the offer, for they may be willing to give you fifty; no one, with a mattock, can fo effectually fcrape off clay from the face of a hard ftone, as your difcordant voice harrows up the foul." P. 197. "I was hefitating about concluding a bargain for a houfe, when a Jew faid, "I am an old houfe-holder in that quarter, inquire of me the defcription of the house and buy it, for it has no fault." I replied, "excepting that you are one of the neighbours--a houfe from being in your neighbourhood would be worth ten dinars of bad coin; but we may entertain hopes, that after your death, it may fetch a thoufand." P. 192. "I faw an Arab fitting in a circle of jewellers at Bofra, and relating as follows:-"Once on a time, having miffed my way in the defart, and having no provifion left, I gave myself up for loft, when I happened to find a bag full of pearls, I never fhall forget the relish and delight that I felt on fuppofing it to be fried wheat; nor the bitterness and defpair which I fuffered on difcovering that the bag contained pearls. In the parched defart of quick fands, pearls or fhells in the mouth of the thirsty traveller are alike unavailing. When a man, deftitute of provifions, is fatigued, it is the fame thing to have in his girdle gold or pot-herds." P. 156. Every one thinks his own wifdom perfect, and his own child beautiful. A Jew and a Mahommedan were difputing in a manner that made me laugh. The Mahommedan faid in wrath, "If this deed of conveyance is not authentic, may God caufe me to die a Jew." The Jew faid, "I make oath on the Pentateuch, and if I fwear falfely, I am a Mahommedan like you.'' If wisdom were to ceafe throughout the world, no one would fufpect himself of ignorance." P. 300. That this work will prove highly ufeful to the Perfian fcholar, and entertaining to the general reader, there cannot be a doubt. The ingenious tranflator has probably by this time (as we may conclude from the advertisement) published his Arabic and Perfian Dictionary; a grand defideratum in the prefent ftate of Eaftern Lexicography. Mr. Gladwin has long been defervedly celebrated as one of the most able and voluminous Orientalifts, and we fincerely hope that he may enjoy a recompence for his labours, much more fubftantial than mere literary fame, ART. VIII. Confiderations on the Alliance between Chrif tianity and Commerce, applied to the prefent State of this Country. 8vo. 88 pp, 2s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1806. TH HE ingenious and fenfible author of this tract has taken up a fubject, which, though not altogether new, he has illuftrated and enlivened by many original arguments. The following feems a fair analyfis of its contents. He begins with confidering our fyftem of commerce, as allied to the profeffion of chriftianity, qualified with the obfervation, that as in ancient times fo at prefent, there is great reafon to apprehend that a corruption of morals unavoidably accompanies an extenfive traffic. This, in modern times, was certainly the cafe with the Dutch; and it is much to be feared that the Americans are fomewhat in a fimilar predicament. It is, however, well worthy of remark, that the mariner's compafs and the art of printing were not difcovered, till christianity was prepared to counteract the evils which might have arifen from thefe powerful engines in the hands of untutored agents. The author proceeds to obferve, that commercial intercourfe favours the right interpretation of the Gofpel; but that from the felfifh qualities of our nature, ill confequences might have arifen, if the Gofpel had directly and exprefsly encouraged commerce. At p. 23, it is afferted, that no commerce can be advantageous which is adverfe to the principles of chriftianity, and that every precept of the Gospel actually interpreted, con Y 3 tributes |