contains fourteen fections in profe and verse, and a very elegant introduction, and an entertaining preface. I may justly affert, that it comprises all the beauties of the Turkish language; but it is fo mixed with Perfian and Arabic phrafes, that a Turk of no education would not be able to read a page of it. A beautiful copy of this book is preferved in the British Museum, among the manuscripts of Sir Hans Sloane*: and it would be highly useful to any perfon, who had accefs to that collection, and wished to learn Turkish; elpecially as part of it has been translated into French, and part very elegantly into Spanish, by the help of which translations he might pursue his study with incredible ease, providéd that he had a moderate knowledge of Arabic, which may truly be called the basis and groundwork of Eastern learning.

This is the principal fyftem of Ethics among

* No. 3586. In the same collection, No. 5456, is a very agreeable romance, intitled, the Life of Abu Sina, by Hassan, preceptor to Morad the Third.. Both these books, as well as the rest, which follow, are often cited by Meninski.

the Turks, if we except, perhaps, a moral work on the duties of man, intitled, Icsîri devlet, which feems alfo to be written in a very polished style. The Tales of the Forty Visirs, compofed by a preceptor of Morad the Second, are amufing and ingenious; but as they are not remarkable for any beauty of language, they do not deserve to be mentioned as a claffical work; fince an elegance of diction, as well as a loftiness of fentiment, are neceffary to constitute a fine piece of writing.

The noblest historical work in the Turkish language was compofed by Saadeddin, who was Mufti of Conftantinople in the reign of Morad the Third. It contains the hiftory of the Othmans, from the founder of that family to Selim I. This elegant work has been tranflated into Italian by a very able interpreter of the Eastern languages; and the excellent prince Cantemir has inserted the substance of it in his history of the Turks.

There are a great number of other histories in Turkish, fome of the whole Othman family, and fome only of diftinct reigns; as Solimám

Nâmeh, the Life of Solimán; Selím Nâmeh, the Life of Selim; and many more, which are highly esteemed by the Turks themselves: yet it must be confeffed, that the style of these writers, and principally of Saadedḍîn, by no means answers to our ideas of the simple and graceful diction, the kind of writing which Cicero commends, diffufed, expanded, and flowing with a natural fmoothness; on the contrary, moft of their figures are fo extravagant, and many of their expreffions fo ridiculously bombaft, that an European must have a very fingular tafte, who can read them either with pleasure or patience*: but fuch is the genius of the nation; and we can no more wonder, that their rules of compofition are different from ours, than that they build their palaces of wood, and fit on fofas instead of chairs.

*Thus a Turkish historian, instead of saying that a prince was just and pious, tells us that the footstool of his sovereignty was decked with the ornament of piety, and the throne of his dignity embellished with the rich mantle of justice ;-Rutbeti khilafetleri zineti tekwa ileh arásteh, we seriri seltanetleri hilyei maadilet ileh pirasteh; the two members of which sentence end like a poetical couplet, with similar sounds.

The Byzantine hiftorians cannot be so easily excufed; they had the finest models of compofition before them, which they neglected: but the Turks cannot be condemned for departing from a standard of taste, of which they were wholly ignorant.

It is by no means true, however, that the Afiatic hiftories are no more than chronicles, and contain no fenfible remarks on the conduct of princes, whom they confider, we are told, as fomething more than mortal; there are, indeed, many dull compilations in the languages of Afia, as well as in thofe of Europe; but the most approved historians of the East interfperfe their narratives with excellent maxims, and boldly interpofe their judgment on the counfels of minifters, and the actions of monarchs, unless when they speak of very recent events, and living characters, on which occafions they are more circumfpect: and probably Saadeddîn continued his history no lower than the reign of Selim, that he might not be restrained in his reflections by any fear of giving offence.

I have not yet been fortunate enough to meet with the valuable work of Ali Efendi, containing the hiftory of the lives of Mohammed II. Bayazid II. Selim, and Solimán, of which Prince Cantemir gives fo high an encomium; "This book, (fays he,) which is ex

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tremely fcarce, contains every quality of an "excellent history; a noble fimplicity of style, a "warm love of truth, and an abhorrence of flat

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tery. I am indebted to this author, (conti"nues the Prince,) for many striking passages "in my own piece."

The Turks have also many treatises on their government, laws, and military inftitutions, which, if they were tranflated into fome European language, would throw a wonderful light on the manners of this extraordinary nation, and prefent us with a full view of their real character.

4

One of the most curious manuscripts that I have seen in the Turkish language, is a very long roll of filky paper*, containing, as it were, a map of the Afiatic history from the earliest times to Selim the Second: the names * Bodl. Marsh. 196.