formable to my own inclinations; for the only road to the highest stations in this country is that of the law, and I need not add, how ambitious and laborious I am. Behold me then become a lawyer, and expect in future, that my correspondence will have somewhat more of public business in it. But if it ever should be my fortune to have any share in administration, you shall be my Atticus, the partner of my plans, the confidant of my secrets. Do not however suppose, that I have altogether renounced polite literature. I intend shortly to publish my English poems, and I mean to bring my tragedy of Soliman on the stage, when I can find proper actors for the performance of it. I intend also composing an epic poem, on a noble subject, under the title of Britanneïs: but this I must defer until I have more leisure, with some degree of independence. In the mean time I amuse myself with the choicest of the Persian poets; and I have the good fortune to possess many manuscripts, which I have either purchased or borrowed from my friends, on various subjects, including history, philosophy, and some of the most celebrated poetry of Persia.

I am highly delighted with Jami's poem of Yusef and Zuleika; it contains somewhat more than four thousand couplets, each of which is a star of the first brilliance. We have six copies of this work at Oxford, one of which is correct; it has the vowel points, and is illustrated with the notes of Golius. I also possess a copy, which, as soon

as

as I have leisure, I will print. Let me ask, in the mean time, how you are employed? Do you continue your occupation of elucidating your favourite Hafez? I will most willingly give all the assistance in my power to the publication of your work, if you will have it printed in London; but I scarcely think that any printer will undertake it at his own expence, unless the poems are accompanied with an English or French translation, for you cannot conceive how few English Gentlemen understand Latin. Let me recommend to you therefore to give a literal version of Hafez in French, with annotations in the same language; and this I think will be more acceptable even to your own countrymen, than a Latin translation; though indeed you may annex to your work such odes as you have translated into that language. The new edition of Meninski goes on tolerably well. I inclose a specimen of the new Arabic types, and earnestly beg your opinion upon them, that any defects may be corrected as soon as possible. I have had a copper-plate engraving made of one of the odes of Hafez, and may perhaps, when my circumstances afford it, print an edition of Jami's whole poem in the same manner. in the same manner. A work of this kind on silken paper, would, I doubt not, be very acceptable to the Governor of Bengal, and the other principal persons in India. I cannot conceive what is become of the book which I sent to you, but I will take the first opportunity of transmitting a fairer and more correct copy, toge

ther

ther with my little Treatise on the Literature of Asia, and my Grammar of the Persian Language, which is printed with some degree of elegance; and I earnestly entreat you to tell me, if any thing is wrong in it, or any thing omitted, that the next edition may be more perfect. Ionly wait for leisure to publish my Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry.

Do not however imagine that I despise the usual enjoyments of youth; no one can take more delight in singing and dancing than I do, nor in the moderate use of wine, nor in the exquisite beauty of the ladies, of whom London affords an enchanting variety; but I prefer glory, my supreme delight, to all other gratifications, and I will pursue it through fire and water, by day and by night. Oh! my Charles, (for I renounce all ceremony, and address you with ancient simplicity) what a boundless scene opens to my view! If I had two lives, I should scarcely find time for the due execution of all the public and private projects which I have in mind!

Mr. BATES to W. JONES, Esq.

SIR;

March 27, 1771.

Last night, I received from Mr. Williams your most ingenious and satisfactory letter, for which my heartiest thanks are due. If you have no objection to it, as I think you cannot, I propose to embellish my MS. with it, by sticking it into the book; in like manner as I have done my own account of it. It will be no small addition to the curiosity of the book; for I can easily

foresee,

foresee, that in times to come, a piece of your hand-writing will be looked upon as a curiosity by virtuosi yet unborn.

In the mean time, I hope this letter does not preclude your fulfilling your promise of obliging me with another visit (and I hope still more) after your return from Oxford, at the end of the holidays. I assure you, I wait for the end of those holidays, as impatiently as most schoolboys dread and abhor it. Therefore I beg you would favour me with a line to apprise me of your return back to town, that in case I should, in the dialect of Deptford, be moored head and stern by the gout, I may let you know as much to save you the trouble of a visit, that will answer no end; but if I keep clear from that malady as I am at present, I shall beg you to take a nightcap here, that we may spend one entire morning in Oriental speculation, without the interruption of other company for I have still many queries which you must resolve. I heartily wish you a pleasant journey; and hope that for the good of the Literari, you'll be blessed with life and health to go on with the noble undertaking you are engaged in, and that you'll meet with the merited success.

has a copy exactly like yours, and he describes it in his usual manner, that is, inelegantly, and in miserable Latin. From his description, you may however estimate the real excellence of your book. I shall beg leave to say something more about it myself, and as a poet, venture to affirm, that the six most beautiful poems in the volume are far more valuable for their intrinsic merit, than for the elegance of the characters in which they are written, or for the glowing tints of the pictures. which adorn them.

The author of these poems was the very celebrated Nezami, who assumed the name of Kenjavi: he flourished towards the close of the twelfth century, and was the favourite of that illustrious warrior, and patron of literature, Togrul, the son of Erslan.

The book comprises five poems, the last of which is divided into two parts; the first, which is intitled The Treasury of Secrets, contains many fables, and various discourses on moral duties and human affairs: Nushirovan, King of Persia, who, towards the end of the sixth century, waged a successful war against the first Justin, and Justinian, are frequently introduced in it; Mohammed, the legislator of Arabia, was born during his reign, and praises him for his justice in the Coran. The Persian poets Sadi, Hafez, Jami, and others, frequently extol his virtues, and one of them has this couplet; For ages mingled with his parent dust,

Fame still records Nushirován the Just.

The second poem commemorates the lives of a

most