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THE

BRITISH CRITIC,

For JANUARY, 1796.

Animadvertatur quanta illa res fit quam efficere velimus, ut neve major, neve minor cura et opera fufcipiatur, quam caufa poftulat." CICERO.

Obferve how difficult the object is which we endeavour to accomplish; that neither more nor lefs exertion fhould be made than the caufe requires.

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ART. I. Perfian Mofcellanies; or, an Effay to facilitate the reading of Perfian Manufcripts, with engraved Specimens, philological Obfervations, and Notes, critical and hiftorical, By William Oufeley, Efq. 4to. 11. 1s. Richard White. 1795.

THE importance of the work, now prefented to the Eastern fcholar by Mr. Oufely, will be evident to our readers, when it is confidered that, as he himfelf remarks, "the great mass of Afiatic literature yet remains in manufcript;" and that no progrefs can be made towards obtaining the treafures, thus lying dormant on the fhelves of our public libraries, till the varied characters in which they are written fhall be more generally understood. It is too much to be lamented, that the manuscripts in our public collections containing those treasures, are rather viewed as objects of curiofity, than ftudied as fources

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BRIT. CRIT. VOL. VII. JAN. 1795.

of

of information; the enlightening of the mind is forgotter amid the fplendid illuminations that adorn the volume. For this indifference shown by claffical scholars to the languages of Afia, the apology generally made is, that little folid or fcientific inftruction can be gleaned after the immenfe toil of acquiring them; that little genuine historical truth is to be obtained even from the great epic poem of Ferdufi, fo blended, in cvery page, is the narration with the romantic fictions of the eaft; and that neither religion, nor morality, would be promoted by the myftic rhapsodies, or voluptuous defcriptions of Hafez; that fublime but defultory bard, who mingles the zeal of the devotee with the orgies of the Bacchanal.

Undoubtedly the genius of the Eaft, and the luxurious manners of the Afiatics, attached to delicious gardens, and black-eyed beauties, as well as their fuperftitious prejudices, will ever be deeply incorporated with all the productions of the Mufe of Afia. Still, however, through the glare of allegory, and the flights of romance, fragments of the genuine history of a great and wife nation, for fuch the ancient Perfians were, are every where difperfed; and were the ruins of Perfepolis more fully explored, who can fay what monuments of the fublime learning of the venerable magi might not yet be brought to light? A more general ftudy of the characters used by the Perfians, and a diligent comparison of them, with those in ufe in the most diftant æras, may finally lead to the decyphering of thofe ancient infcriptions which ftill adorn the walls of the palace of Darius: open to us new and wonderful avenues of knowledge, and render us acquainted with events that happened in the very earliest periods of their empire. In fome degree to facilitate the attainment of this defirable end, the author of the publication before us has undertaken what he denominates the humble, but, in fact, the laborious and honourable task of explaining the principles of the Graphic Art, as cultivated among the Perfians; at the fame time illuftrating his obfervations by numerous and elegantly engraved fpecimens, of the varieties in ufe among the scribes of that ingenious people.

Thofe varieties are finally reducible, (p. 3,) to three principal modes, viz. the Nifkhi, a word which fignifies a transcript; the Talik, or hanging; and the Shekefteh, or broken, character. Of thefe the first, or Nifkhi character, is the most common, being that in which the alphabet given in the Arabic and Perfian grammars, and Perfian books in general, are compofed; while the greater number of hands in lefs general ufe, as the Kirma, the Chulf, the Dewani, and others enumerated by our author, are only variations of the Nifkhi, and may be easily

learned

learned by thofe acquainted with it. The third, or Shekefteh hand, is-feldom used but in familiar correfpondence; in rough drafts, or extracts from larger works, copied rapidly, and intended to be re-transcribed in that more elegant and graceful character, the numerous combinations of which, this treatise is in a more particular manner intended to explain. That character is the Talik in which all the more esteemed and elegant productions of the Perfian Mufe are written; and not thofe of Perfia only, but also those of India and Turkey. This beautiful character, which Mr. Oufeley, after Jones, calls hanging, Richardson, in his Arabic Grammar, more intelligibly, at least to an English reader, denominates oblique. It bears the fame analogy to the Niskhi as our Italic does to the Roman, and the ftrokes ufed in this form of writing are extremely fine. The reader who may not chufe to go to the experice of purchafing this volume, may fee a fpecimen of the Tálik, as well as the two other predominant kinds of writing, at the end of Jones's Perfian Grammar; but he who adds to his library the work under confideration, will poffefs a regular history of the variations in Perfian Calligraphy or penmanship, and find here in detail what is there only in miniature. It may be proper to inform the reader on this occafion, from other authority, that the inftrument ufed by the Perfians for. writing, is formed of the Egyptian reed, calculated much better than our pens to make thofe exquifitely fine ftrokes and flourishes in which eastern manufcripts fo greatly abound; that the matter of the manufcript itfelf is a fine filky paper, the ground of which is often powdered with gold or filver duft, with fplendid illuminations in the initial pages. They are often alfo perfumed with effence of rofes. One of the finest manuscripts in the world is in the public library at Oxford, the hand writing is elegant in the highest degree; the margins throughout are fuperbly gilt, and adorned with garlands of flowers. The fubject is the "Loves of Jofeph and Zuleica," and it is marked No. I. in the late learned Mr. Greaves's noble collection of Oriental MSS. Penmanship is, in fact, a diftinguishing part of the education of the Perfian nobles, and they prefer their own manufcripts to our best printed books. The elegant Tálik character is not calculated for European types, which fuit better the broad Nifkhi, or that in which Dr. White's Inftitutes of Timour are published. Con cerning the laboured decorations of the Perfians in this line of

* Perfian Grammar, page 150.

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science,

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