Sore griev❜d each warrior, and with anguish tore,

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Loudly lamenting on the sounding shore."

The king to Eritch's garden bends his way,

Once the gay scene, resplendent as the day!
Where Eritch's hours in pleas'd amusement flow'd,
Where social pleasure innocently glow'd:
His father, tott'ring with a weight of grief,
Bears the pale head of the love-murder'd chief.
To the high throne he casts his swollen eyes,

No Eritch there, once favor'd by the skies!
O'er all the garden lucid fountains play'd,

goes

And choicest trees spread round their verdant shade.
Here gay pavilions, and here cool retreats,
Once pleas'd its lord. The mournful father
To where the edifice of Eritch rose,
And in his hand the pallid head he bore;
Grief sunk his soul, and all his bosom tore.
His loud laments and agonizing cries
Resound to Saturn, to the farthest skies;
He fires the garden, tears his aged hair,
Rends his wan cheek, sad picture of despair;
Large drops of blood ran streaming down his eyes,
He dips his belt in sanguinary dyes:

On the lone earth he sat, and all around

The flames arise, and scorch the smoking ground.
Hope fled for ever; oft the head he views,

And oft to God his pious prayer renews.
Ah God! divine Director! Power august!
View this pale head, now mouldering into dust,
Murder'd without a cause, while tygers wild*

Howl o'er the body of my darling child.

* Heu terra incognita canibus data præda Latinis
Alitibusque jaces!

Oh may these impious feel the woes I know!
May all their days in anguish'd sorrow flow!
Let their whole frame be pierc'd by venom'd darts!
Let the voracious reptile tear their hearts!

Oh grant my prayer! Oh let from Eritch spring
A vengeful hero-who, with martial wing,
Will headlong hurl them to the gates of hell,
Revenge his sire, these murd'ring fiends expel!
Him let me view triumphant, wise, and brave,
Then sink with pleasure in the lonely grave.
"Twas thus he spoke, still groaning as he lay,
No higher sorrows nature could display.

Champion's Shah Namu.

Feridoon marries the daughter of Eritch to one of Jumshyd's descendants, and Munokchere is the offspring of this marriage. He is educated with infinite pains; and, upon his arrival at manhood, is placed at the head of the army, for the purpose of revenging his grandfather's murder. He entirely defeats the armies of Tooran and China, and slays, with his own hand, both Soolm and Toor. Feridoon now becomes sensible of the danger of prosecuting revenge, abdicates the throne in favour of Munokhchere, and, after a reign of five hundred years, dies.

Munokhchere commences his reign with much applause. The poet now introduces the story of the birth of Zal, the father of Roostum. This beautiful episode stands unrivalled among the compositions of the Persian poets, and is certainly one of the most admirable parts of the Shah Namu.

Sam, the father of Zal, had been long anxious for the birth of a son; and his hopes are at length gratified. But his joy is soon converted into sorrow and indignation; for, as his son was born with white hair, he conceives him to be spurious. He resolves on making

1

away with his innocent offspring. The child is exposed upon Mount Elboorz, the Olympus or Ida of the Persians, where he is fostered by a Seemoorgh, a fabulous bird of antiquity. The existence of Zal is revealed to his father in a dream, who regrets his cruelty, and sets out in the hope of discovering him. The Seemorgh delivers over her charge to the rejoiced father, who endeavours to obliterate from the mind of Zal a sense of his former cruelty.

Zal is appointed to the government of Cabool and Zabool, where he continues while his father carries his arms into Gurgsaran. Zal meets the king of Cabool, who invites him to his royal residence ; but which he is obliged to refuse, on account of Mihrab's being related to the house of Zohak. The king returns to Cabool; and the description he gives of Zal's person captivates the heart of his daughter Roodavu,

The description of Zal's person is laboured with infinite pains ; and as the fairest possible manner of drawing a comparison between Asiatic and European writers is by comparing their descriptions upon the same subject, I shall adopt this rule in some few instances; it will mark the difference of Asiatic and European notions, the extent and justness of their imagination.*

Mihrab, in reply to the enquiries of Seendokht, gives the following account of Zal's person:

چنین داد پاسخ مهراب بدوي به کيتي در از پهلوانان کرد

که اي سرو سیمین برد خوب روي

بي زال را کس نیاید سپرد

به بینید بر زیر چین یک سوار چودست و عنانش به ایوان نکار

One or two instances are not sufficient; they might be greatly enlarged were this the proper place. Compare the description of Orpheus with that of Mujnoon; the Caledonian boar with the Goorgs of Firdousee,

بزین اندرون نیز چنگ اژدها ست بگین اندرون چون نهنگ بلاست نشانده خاک و رکین به خون بگوید سخن مردم عيب جوي از اهو همان کش سفید است موي

سفيدي مويش نبزيبد همي

فشاندهء خنجر آب گون

توگويي که دلها فريبد همي

Mihrab replies, he like the cypress rears
His head on high, and like a god appears;
No warrior equals his immortal beams,
His amber crown, his scientific themes.

When his fierce courser furious paws the ground,
No mortal rides him with such active bound;
His lion soul, his elephantine frame,

Resistless in the battle, seize on fame:

Not with more violence the Nile o'erflows,
And levels all that dare its course oppose.
His ruddy cheeks hang on the wing of youth,
Great is his wealth, magnanimous his truth.
When, like a dragon, in the bloody field,

He dares the fray, the boldest warriors yield,
White is his hair, which some a fault esteem ;

Tho' long, tho' flowing, beauteous tho' they seem.

Champion.

Shakspeare or Milton's description may be put in comparison with that of Firdousce:

See what a grace was seated on his brow,
Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars, to threaten or command;
A station like the herald Mercury,
New lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
A combination and a form indeed,
Where every God did seem to set his seal
To give the world assurance of a man.

Hamlet.

His fair large front, and eye sublime, declared
Absolute rule ; and hyacinthin locks *
Round from his parted forelock hung

Clustering, but not beneath his shoulder broad.

طره اش سنبلیست پر بیحان

• Her locks in ringlets like the hyacinth, giving fresh life to the wounded.”

چوسنبل طره اش درهم شکسته بچشمه آب حیوان نقش بسته

'Her tresses, like the hyacinth, falling in curls, and concealing her lovely face."

: The picture of Yoosoof, the Adonis of Persia, is finished, perhaps, with more pains, but with less success, than the description of Zal:

دقن چون سیب از غبغب مطوق زسیب آويخته آبي معلق

به گل خال رخش از مشک داغي گرفته اشيان زاغي به باغي

"A beauteous youth, who eclipses the charms and graces of the Hoories of Paradise.

"His form polished as the box-tree, erect as the cypress; his locks falling in ringlets, sealing

“ the mouth of wisdom, and arresting the feet of discretion.

"His forehead shining with immortal beams, surpassing both the sun and moon.