from the
Koran." The work consists of stories and verses--two or three of which
will be found in our Appendix--pleasantly intermingled; but as Rehatsek,
the translator, made no attempt to give the verses rhythmical form, only
an inadequate idea is conveyed of the beauty of the original. It would
require an Edward FitzGerald or a John Payne to do justice to Jami's
jewelled verses.

118. The Gulistan, 1888.

The Gulistan of Sadi, [409] which was the next book issued, is best
known in England from the translations by James Ross (1823) and Edward
B. Eastwick (1852). Sadi's aim was to make "a garden of roses whose
leaves the rude hand of the blast of Autumn could not affect."
[410] "The very brambles and rubbish of this book," says an ancient
enthusiastic admirer, "are of the nature of ambergris." Men treasured
the scraps of Sadi's writing "as if they were gold leaf," and The
Gulistan has attained a popularity in the East "which has never been
reached in this Western world." The school-boy lisps his first lessons
in it, the pundit quotes it, and hosts of its sayings have become
proverbial. From end to end the "unity, the unapproachable majesty, the
omnipotence, the long-suffering and the goodness of God" are nobly set
forth--the burden of every chapter being:

"The world, my brother! will abide with none,
By the world's Maker let thy heart be won."

119. The Nigaristan.

The third of the great trio, Jawini's Nigaristan, did not reach the
press owing to Arbuthnot's death. The manuscript, however, in Rehatsek's
hand-writing, is still in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society,
22, Albermarle Street, and we trust to see it some day suitably edited
and published. Arbuthnot, who contributes the preface, points out that
it contains 534 stories in prose and verse, and that it abounds "in pure
and noble sentiments, such as are to be found scattered throughout the
Sacred Books of the East, the Old and New Testaments and the Koran." A
few citations from it will be found in our Appendix.

120. Letters to Payne, 19th January 1884.

On January 19th, Burton, after asking for the remaining volumes of Mr.
Payne's Nights, says "A friend here is reading them solemnly and with
huge delight: he would be much disappointed to break off perforce half
way. When do you think the 9 vols. will be finished? Marvellous weather
here. I am suffering from only one thing, a want to be in Upper
Egypt. And, of cours