tice and generofity, and held the dominion for eight and thirty years. Barbud and Nekifa, the o uficians, came and played before the king: after that he fent for Shireen, and the demanded of her aunt the two horfes Shebdiz and Gulgoon. Mahin Banoun delivered them to her, and the came with them to Khofru. Shireen wished to have a palace in another place, and the king granted her request. She then faid, I long fo paffionately to indulge in milk, that without it I cannot be at reft: now, fince on the mountain of Beyfitoun there is a multitude of cows and freep, I wish that fome perfon could be found, who might hollow out and dig a channel in that mountain, fo that milk being let into that channel, 1 may drink of it as of a rivuler: after that 1 fhall refide conftantly with you; but vill my wifh be gratified, you must not approach me.' When Khofru Parviz enquired for a perfon who could excavate the mountain, Shapour, the painter, prefented the ftatuary called Fer had to the king, who gave into his charge the mountain of Beyfitoun. Now, Ferhad having beheld the face of Shireen, fell fo paffionately in love with her, that he became infane. Whilt he laboured in hollowing the mountain, every time that he ftruck with the pick axe, he struck in the name of Shireen; and whilst he smoothed away the rock, he exclaimed, ́alas! Shireen!'-and then ftruck again. Thus, without forgetting one moment to call upon her name, he cut through the mountain of Beyfitoun, and the ftream of milk was let to flow. "These circumstances being related to Khofru, fome one said that Ferhad was enamoured of Shireen, and diftracted with admiration of her beauty. When the king, heard this, he asked if any perfon could be found who would fo contrive by ftratagem or fraud that Ferhad might be destroyed. A certain old woman, experienced in the ways of deceit, came before the king and faid, I will engage to trample this ftatuary under foot, fo that his life fhall quit his body.' Khofru the king having made her fore prefents, encouraged her to hope, faying, It by any contrivance or ftratagem you effect his destruction, I'n heap fo many favours and gifts upon you, that your old age and infirmities fhall be forgotten, and the cord of your poverty thall be cut,' "Then this treacherous old woman proceeded to the mountain of Beyfitoun, where the beheld Ferhad, who hewed away the rock, repeating the name of Shireen-till ftriking with his pick axe and exclaiming, Alas! Shireen!'-The old woman co.ning behind him, faid, Ŏ Ferhad! what madness is this, or why do you call on the name of Shireen? for where is he?-two weeks have now clapfed, and the third week paffes away, fince Shireen died: and Khofru the king having put on the fable robes of mourning, will grieve for her till the third week shall have paffed away.'-When Ferhad heard this from the old deceitful wretch, he uttered doleful fighs, and flung on the "Here the Perfian abridger digreffes from the Shah Namah, and introduces the epifode of Ferhad, Beyfitoun, &c. which he borrows from the poem before mentioned by Nizami. Joui-Sheer, fee the preceding article, p. 216," ground ground the mattock which he held in his hand, and precipitated himfelf from the mountain of Beyfitoun; when, in confequence of falling from the mountain, he gave up his foul to God, and as a true lover died for his beloved. Then, as it is related, the handle of the mat-. tock which he had flung upon the ground, being made of pomegranate wood, took root on that fpot, and became a flourishing young tree, and put forth branches. It is faid that this pomegranate tree is very fruitful and productive; and that if any perfon being fick fhould place himfelf beneath its fhade, the difeafe would depart from him. Then, when king Khofru heard that Ferhad had unthinkingly facrificed his sweet life for the fake of Shireen, he was pleafed with the news, and liberally rewarded the old woman, But Shireen, on hearing it, was much afflicted, wept, and lamented." P. 219. The Defcription of the Throne of King Solomon, by Captain Francklin, from a Perfian manufcript, exhibits another remarkable inftance of the wild luxuriance of an Oriental fancy. The paffion for thrones, however, compofed of birds and beafts, in jewellery, has been, in all ages, very general throughout the eart; and whoever has read Tavernier's account of the famous peacock-throne of India, which Nadir Shah broke up for the diamonds, and other precious ftones, of which it was compofed, and which the former affirms to have amounted in value to one hundred and fixty millions of French money, will be inclined to think that the great Solomon, who traded to Ophir, might have poffeffed a throne nearly as curious and as brilliant. The editor, in the next article, favours us with fome fpecimens of Turkish poetry, but confeffes himself unable to vindicate the bards of Conftantinople from the charge of being either tranflators or copyifts of Perfian originals. Nothing indeed further was to be expected from the indolent and unlettered race who now occupy the ancient Byzantium. We are forry he withholds from us his tranflation of the Sonnet, by the Turkish poet Naati; fince his verfion of the Perfian Song, in the preceding number, has led us to think it cannot be in better hands. The Letter from General Vallancey, refpecting the numerical language of the ancient Chaldæans; his intimations, concerning the Hindus of the Palli having formerly been settled in Britain; and the Perfepolitan characters, which he thinks fo fimilar to the Hibernian Ogham, would have more attention paid them by us, did we not obferve, in the fourth number of this publication, which we fhall review in the fucceeding month, a very extenfive and elaborate differtation on the fame fubjects. We are very happy to fee any new publication announced from the able pen of fo excellent a Perfian fcholar, as as the author of the Hiftory of Dekhan; but we fincerely. wifh he had chofen a fubject more worthy of his talents than the Tales of Inatulla, and the Arabian Nights. He will pardon us for hinting, on how much nobler a task he would be engaged, in obliging the world with a new correct version of Ferithta's larger hiftory; or the commentaries of Baber, writ ten by that Sultan himself. With refpect to the fpecimen here exhibited, it does him the highest credit for the accuracy and elegance of the verfion; but thefe only make us the more regret the mifapplication of his powers. But, leaving the regions of poefy and fable, let us proceed to the confideration of fomewhat more fubftantial and inftructive that may be met with in these pages, which we shall find in the continuation of Mr. Penn's learned Conjectures on the Egyptian Origin of the Word P. We have already fully af fented to his general propofition, that the pyramidical form was originally confecrated to the SUN, from its refembiance to a flame of fire; we found it neceffary to dillent from him in certain points of etymological deduction, and candidly and amply flated our reafons for that diffent; we probably thall have occafion, hereafter, to object to some other pofitions of this writer, on the fame ground of argument; than which, we may add, nothing can in general be more delufive or fallacious. It cannot be denied, however, by any perfon acquainted with the ancient dialects of Cornwall, Wales, and Ireland, that with the falar fuperftition introduced by the first colonifts from the Eaft, many words, defcriptive of, or appropriated to, that fuperfti tion, were alfo imported into thefe weltern regions; of which, whoever will confult the publications of Borlafe, Lhuyd, and Vallancey, on the fubje&t, will find abundance of proofs. The words tine, tan, and aur, immediately referring, in Afiatic languages, to the folar light and heat, and derived to the weftern nations, through a Celtic medium, as Titan, bealtine, or fire lighted in honour of Belus, Aurora, aurum, (to which add the AURUNA, or day-ftar, of the Indians) are pro-, perly adduced as examples of preceding affertions in refpect to the extent in which this fpecies of worship, and the terms allufive to it, were diffofed over the earth. Mr. Penn contends, that this fire-adoration (that is, according to his fyftem, which derives the Greek πυρ from PIRA, an Egyptian word, fignifying exclufively THE SUN," (p. 270) the adoration of the folar fire) commenced in Egypt, and that the ramids bear lafting teftimony to its exiftence there beyond any æra known in hiftory, or by tradition. There are writers of fome diftinction, however, who are of an opinion directly contrary, and contend, that the prefumption is more rational ་་་ py of of its having commenced in regions not fo immediately parched by the tropical beam; that the privation of the fun's genial ray, in a more northern region, first rendered it the object of idolatrous worthip; that men travelled thence to eaftern climes in queft of his rifing light, and finally established, in those eastern regions, the fplendid fuperftition in queftion. The extremes of the argument thould perhaps be avoided, and the refult will then lead us to Chaldæa; where the hißory of mankind has fixed the establishment of the primitive and pure religion, as well as the first adulteration of it. Whatever opinion be formed on that fubject, and whether the word up were in reality first applied to defignate the folar orb, there can be no doubt but that s was almoft as early applied by the Greeks to denote that orb, nor that this term alfo was of eastern, we do not fay of Egyptian, derivation; its radix being the Syriac and Hebrew EL, God. We also agree with this author, that was a term applied by the Greeks to the moon before that of ; and that μ is a word of Oriental origin; but Coftard, an excellent aftronomer, a good linguift, and, confequently an able judge in thefe matters, derives the latter term from a Chaldaic root, mene, computare*; and manach in Hebrew has the same signification. Hence, probably, the Arabian aftronomers formed their word al manach, or the calendar of the moon's viciffitudes; and, from them, the term Almanac has been adopted into the English vocabulary. However all this may fupport Mr. Penn's fyftem of the eaftern derivation of Greek words, it certainly does not corroborate the hypothefis that deduces them immediately from Egypt. Much credit, however, is due to him, for an investigation into a fubject of literature fo dry and difcouraging as this mult prove to a man of genius; and we fhall, with pleafure, follow him to his conclufions, in a future number of this publication. Of that beautiful Perfian Ode of Hafiz, which Sir William Jones has tranflated with fuch fpirit and elegance, the next article exhibits a literal verfion (p. 279) by Major Oufeley. It demonftrates, that no fmall portion of the excellence of the English poem is derived from the tafte and talents of the tranflator, whofe chemical hand has highly refined even the gold of Hafiz. The Obfervations on the Perfian Language, by Mr. Gerrans, Teacher of the Oriental Languages (p. 278) come from a fource whence his profeflion induces us to believe genuine information Coftard's Aftronomy. mult must be derived, relative to the fubjects under difcuffion. We agree with him in opinion, that the Perfic enters very largely into the other languages of the globe, as muft indeed be evident to thofe who have read the Prolegomena to Walton's Polyglot, and Sir William Jones's Differtation on the Perfians; for the latter makes that country the central region whence the ancestors of all the nations of the earth were difperfed over its furface. We alfo know, that the early Greek writers have greatly corrupted and confounded molt of the Afiatic names of places and perfons, with whom they had any connection by conqueft or commerce; and we are convinced, from the manner in which this author proves the word Enatrus, in the paffage of Virgil alluded to, to have been formed, that the fame mode of analyfing, applied to other Greck and Latin words of dubious fignification, by himself and other Oriental scholars. not too much indulging an Oriental fancy, would in a high degree tend to elucidate ancient geography and hiftory. The remaining articles are curious and entertaining, but not fufficiently important for particular notice here; and therefore we fhall, in our next, proceed to the confideration of the fourth number of this ingenious work, which contains the months October, November, and December; thus concluding the volume for the year 1797. (To be concluded in our next.) ART. VII. The Gardens, a Poem. Tranflated from the French of the Abbe de Lille. 4to. 15s. Bentley. 1799. THE original work, of which this is a tranflation, has obrained a confiderable thare of popularity, and is defervedly admired for much power of imagination, elegance of fentiment, and harmony of numbers. The Englith verfion, which comes recommended by all the adventitious aids of the beautiful typography of Benfley, and many good engravings by Bartolozzi, is entitled to the highest praife. The following lines are particularly elegant and animated. "But chief-let motion ev'ry fcene pervade, |