But ah! thou know'ft not in what youthful play Sweet was the draught, and fweet the blooming maid, The damfels flumber'd, but we fip'd again: The waking birds, that fung on ev'ry tree Their early notes, were not fo blithe as we. The Mahometan writers tell a ftory of this poet, which deserves to be mentioned here: it was a cuftom, it seems, among the old Arabians, for the most eminent verfifiers to hang up some chofen couplets on the gate of the temple, as a publick challenge to their brethren, who ftrove to answer them before the next meeting at Ocadh, at which time the whole affembly used to determine the merit of them all, and gave some mark of diftinction to the author of the finest verfes. Now Lebid, who, we are told, had been a violent oppofer of Mahomet, fixed a poem on the gate, beginning with the following distich, in which he apparently meaned to reflect upon the new religion: Ila cullo fheion ma khala Allah bathilon, Wa cullo naimen la mohalobo zailen. A a That That is; Are not all things vain, which come not from God? and will not all honours decay, but thofe, which He confers? Thefe lines appeared fo fublime, that none of the poets ventured to answer them; till Mahomet, who was himself a poet, having composed a new chapter of his Alcoran, (the fecond, I think,) placed the opening of it by the fide of Lebid's poem, who no fooner read it, than he declared it to be fomething divine, confeffed his own inferiority, tore his verfes from the gate, and embraced the religion of his rival; to whom he was afterwards extremely useful in replying to the fatires of Amralkeis, who was continually attacking the doctrine of Mahomet: the Afiaticks add, that their lawgiver acknowledged some time after, that no heathen poet had ever produced a nobler diftich than that of Lebid just quoted. There are a few other collections of ancient Arabick poetry; but the most famous of them is called Hamassa, and contains a number of epigrams, odes, and elegies, compofed on various occafions: it was compiled by Abu Temam, who was an excellent poet himself, and ufed to fay, that fine fentiments delivered in profe were like gems feattered at random, but that, when they were confined in a poetical measure, they resembled bracelets, and strings of pearls. When the religion and language of Mahomet were spread over the greater part of Asia, and the maritime countries of Africa, it became a fashion for the poets of Perfia, Syria, Egypt, Mauritania, and even of Tartary, to write in Arabick; and the most beautiful verses in that idiom, compofed by the brighteft genius's of those nations, are to be feen in a large mifcellany, entitled Yateima; though many of of their works are transcribed separately: it will be needlefs to fay much on the poetry of the Syrians, Tartarians, and Africans, fince most of the arguments, before-ufed in favour of the Arabs, have equal weight with respect to the other Mahometans, who have done little more than imitating their style, and adopting their expreffions; for which reafon alfo I fhall dwell the shorter time on the genius and manners of the Perfians, Turks, and Indians. The great empire, which we call Perfia, is known to its natives by the name of Iran; fince the word Perfia belongs only to a particular province, the ancient Perfis, and is very improperly applied by us to the whole kingdom: but, in compliance with the custom of our geographers, I fhall give the name of Perfia to that celebrated country, which lies on one fide between the Cafpian and Indian feas, and extends on the other from the mountains of Candahar, or Paropamifus, to the confluence of the rivers Cyrus and Araxes, containing about twenty degrees from fouth to north, and rather more from east to west. In fo vaft a tract of land there must needs be a great variety of climates: the fouthern provinces are no less unhealthy and fultry, than those of the north are rude and unpleasant; but in the interiour parts of the empire the air is mild and temperate, and, from the beginning of May to September, there is scarce a cloud to be seen in the sky: the remarkable calmness of the summer nights, and the wonderful fplendour of the moon and stars in that country, often tempt the Perfians to fleep on the tops of their houses, which are generally flat, where they cannot A a 2 but but obferve the figures of the conftellations, and the va rious appearances of the heavens; and this may in fome measure account for the perpetual allufions of their poets, and rhetoricians, to the beauty of the heavenly bodies. We are apt to cenfure the oriental style for being so full of metaphors taken from the fun and moon: this is afcribed by fome to the bad taste of the Afiaticks; the works of the Perfians, fays M. de Voltaire, are like the titles of their kings, in which the fun and moon are often introduced: but they do not reflect that every nation has a set of images, and expreffions, peculiar to itfelf, which arife from the difference of its climate, manners, and hiftory. There seems to be another reason for the frequent allufions of the Perjians to the fun, which may, perhaps, be traced from the old language and popular religion of their country: thus Mihridad, or Mithridates, fignifies the gift of the fun, and answers to the Theodorus and Diodati of other nations. As to the titles of the Eastern monarchs, which seem, indeed, very extravagant to our ears, they are merely formal, and no less void of meaning than thofe of European princes, in which ferenity and highness are often attributed to the most gloomy, and low-minded of men. The midland provinces of Perfia abound in fruits and flowers of almost every kind, and, with proper culture, might be made the garden of Afia: they are not watered, indeed, by any confiderable river, fince the Tigris and Euphrates, the Cyrus and Araxes, the Oxus, and the five branches of the Indus, are at the farthest limits of the kingdom; but the natives, who have a turn for agriculture, fupply that defect by artificial canals, which fuf ficiently ficiently temper the drynefs of the foil: but in saying they fupply that defect, I am falling into a common errour, and representing the country, not as it is at present, but as it was a century ago; for a long feries of civil wars and massacres have now destroyed the chief beauties of Perfia, by ftripping it of its most induftrious inhabitants. The fame difference of climate, that affects the air and foil of this extensive country, gives a variety alfo to the perfons and temper of its natives: in fome provinces they have dark complexions, and harfh features; in others they are exquifitely fair, and well-made; in fome others, nervous and robuft: but the general character of the nation is that softness, and love of pleasure, that indolence, and effeminacy, which have made them an easy prey to all the western and northern fwarms, that have from time to time invaded them. Yet they are not wholly void of martial fpirit; and, if they are not naturally brave, they are at least extremely docile, and might, with proper discipline, be made excellent foldiers: but the greater part of them, in the fhort intervals of peace, that they happen to enjoy, conftantly fink into a state of inactivity, and pass their lives in a pleasurable, yet studious, retirement; and this may be one reafon, why Perfia has produced more writers of every kind, and chiefly poets, than all Europe together, fince their way of life gives them leifure to purfue thofe arts, which cannot be cultivated to advantage, without the greatest calmness and ferenity of mind: and this, by the way, is one caufe, among many others, why the poems in the preceding collection are lefs finished; fince they were compofed, not in bowers and fhades, by the |