III.

From C. Reviczki.*

SIR,

London, Feb. 24, 1768.

I RECEIVED your learned and obliging letter on the same day on which I wrote to you; and I read it with the greatest pleasure, though I could have wished that it had been more just to your own merit, and less flattering to me. I will not, however, take your expressions literally; and notwithstanding your declarations, the taste and judgment which you have displayed in the passages quoted by you, evidently prove that you have advanced far in Oriental literature. I must however beg quarter for the Greek and Latin; for, admitting what I am not disposed to deny, the perfection, and even the superiority of the Orientals, particularly the Persians, in some species of poetry, I would, without hesitation, renounce all knowledge of the three Eastern languages for that of the Greek alone. I rejoice that you have made so much progress in your work, and that I may hope soon to see it published; but how to assist you with my advice I know not, as I have not with me a single treatise

*Written in French.

upon the subject of Oriental prosody. It is in truth an ocean; and such are the abundance and variety of measures used by the Orientals, that no memory can retain them.

I am very anxious to learn under what head you class the Kasidah, a species of composition highly admired by the Arabs, and very successfully cultivated by them: it has a nearer resemblance than any other kind of poetry to the Latin elegy, but its construction partakes of that of the Gazel,* with this difference, that the latter is restricted to thirteen couplets, whilst the number of those in the Kasidah is unlimited; and secondly, that in each distich of the Gazel, the sense must be complete and finished, whilst in the Kasidah, the sentiment is continued through successive lines.

Of this species of composition I do not know a more perfect specimen, than the poem on the death of Mohammed, so celebrated throughout the East, that every man of letters can repeat it. It is one continued allegory, but admirable and pathetic; and begins, if I rightly remember, thus:

Does memory recall the blissful bowers

Of Solyma, the seat of many a friend;

That thus thy grief pours forth such copious showers,
And bursting sighs thy labouring bosom rend?

With respect to your doubts on the supposed allegory of Hafez, much may be said. I am rather inclined to believe, that the mystical exposition

Amatory poem; it is not restricted to thirteen couplets, as Reviczki writes, but to seventeen, and generally contains about seven or eight.

of this great poet, by the Mohammedans, may be imputed to their veneration and respect for his memory, and that their object in it is to justify his conduct as a poet, by representing him equally irreproachable in his morals and compositions. Most of the commentators, as Shemy, Surury, and others, labour to give a mystical interpretation of his verses on wine, youth, pleasures, and a contempt for religion, so discreditable to a good Mussulman; but the ablest of them all, the learned Sadi, disclaims this mode of illustration, and professes to give a literal exposition of the text of Hafez, in opposition to the opinions of other commentators, and without questioning the purity of their intentions. It may not be amiss to communicate to you an anecdote,which I have read somewhere respecting Hafez.* After the death of this great man, some of the religious were disposed to deny his body the right of sepulture, alleging, in objection, the licentiousness of his poetry; after a long dispute, they left the decision to a divination in use amongst them, by opening his book at random, and taking the first couplet which occurred: it happened to be this:

Turn not away from Hafez' bier,

Nor scornful check the pitying tear;
For though immersed in sin he lies,
His soul forgiven to heaven shall rise.

This anecdote is quoted by sir William Jones, in the ninth chapter of his Commentaries on Asiatic poetry, where he states the respective arguments in support of a literal or mystical interpretation of it. Without pronouncing a positive decision, he gives an opinion in favour of a literal interpretation as the most probable.

This passage was deemed a divine decision; the religious withdrew their objections, and he was buried in Mosella, a place rendered famous by his own verses. This anecdote, I think, is related by Kaleb Celebi. As to myself, although I am disposed to believe that when Hafez speaks of love and wine, he has no recondite meaning, I am equally willing to declare, that his writings are not disgraced by those obscenities, nor those gross and filthy expressions, which so frequently occur in Sadi. Nor can I avoid considering him a free-thinker: and a hundred passages might be quoted, in which the poet ridicules the prophet and his Coran; as for instance, when he says,

Wine, that our sober seer proclaims
Parent of sin, and foul misnames,

With purer joy my soul beguiles,

Than beauty's bloom, or beauty's smiles.

As to the Turkish poets, I confess I do not read them with the same pleasure, although I am willing to allow that some of them have merit. In my opinion, Ruhi of Bagdat is the most agreeable of them all : he has written some admirable satires. Perhaps you are not acquainted with him. The Turkish poets, in general, are no better than slavish imitators of the Persians, and often deficient in taste and harmony. I am, with the greatest esteem and veneration,

sir, &c.

IV.

From C. Reviczki.*

I

London, March 7, 1768. I AM at a loss to determine whether your letter has afforded me most pleasure or instruction; it is indeed so admirable, that I must point out the only fault which I find in it, that of brevity, although you seem apprehensive of being thought tedious. I suspect that I am indebted to your partiality and politeness only, for the excessive encomiums which you have bestowed upon my translation of the two odes which I sent to you, as well as for the favourable opinion which you entertain of my trifles. am, however, seriously obliged to you for your animadversions upon my inaccuracies, though, when I consider their number, I must impute it to your indulgence, that you have been so sparing in your corrections. Without wishing to lessen my obligations to your kindness, I cannot avoid mentioning, by way of apology, that it is only three months since I resumed the task of writing verses, which I re- ~ nounced when I left school; and not from any motive of vanity, or desire of reputation, but merely as

* Written in Latin.