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Appointed in 1877 a teacher of Zend at the École des Hautes Études, Darmesteter obtained at last, on the 23rd January, 1885, a situation where his talent could find a suitable field of action by his nomination to the chair of Persian Language and Literature at the Collége de France. A sudden death had carried away and cut off, in the prime of life, the young and already celebrated Arabic Professor, Stanislas Guyard; the Persian Professor Barbier de Meynard, Hon. Member R.A.S., being transferred to the vacant chair, Darmesteter took his place. Darmesteter delivered his opening lecture on the 16th April, 1885: it is a general survey of the history of Persia, which embraces history, religion, literature. A few weeks before, on the 28th February, 1885, he gave at the Sorbonne, before the Scientific Association of France, a paper on the "Mahdi, from the beginning of Islam to our day."2

In order to complete his researches he visited India, where he resided from February, 1886, to February, 1887-about eleven months-of which he spent three at Bombay, seven at Peshawar and Hazára, the few remaining weeks being spent travelling from Bombay to the Punjab, from the Punjab

in 1881, the Volney Prize at the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. The other papers were first published in the Revue Critique, and in the Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique.

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L'apocalypse persane de Daniel," par James Darmesteter. (Mélanges Rénier. Pp. 405-420. Paris, 1886.)

"Les Origines de la Poésie persane," par M. J. Darmesteter. 12mo. pp. 89. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1887.-Vol. liii. of the Bibliothèque orientale elzévirienne.

"The Origin of Persian Poetry," translated from the French of Professor J. Darmesteter by Masarivánji Frámji Tamboli.-8vo. pp. 40. Bombay: printed at the Voice of India Printing-Press, 1888.

Preface: The following pages, the original French of which appeared in the evening issues of the Journal des Débats of the 20th, 21st, and 24th April, 1886, were published in parts in the India Spectator, some time back."

"La flèche de Nemrod en Perse et en Chine," par M. J. Darmesteter. (Journ. Asiat. 8o sér. v. Févr., Mars, Avril, 1885, pp. 220-228.)

"Points de contact entre le Mâhâbharata et le Shah-Nameh." (Ibid. x.

p. 6.)

"Prophètes d'Israél." 8vo. Paris, Lévy, 1892.

1 "Coup d'œil sur l'histoire de la Perse," par James Darmesteter, Professeur au Collège de France. 12mo. pp. 67. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1885.—Vol. xliv. of the Bibliothèque orientale elzévirienne.

2 "Le Mahdi, depuis les origines de l'Islam jusqu'à nos jours," par James Darmesteter, Professeur au Collège de France. 12mo. pp. 120. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1885.-Vol. xliii. of the Bibliothèque orientale elzévirienne.

to Calcutta, and thence to Bombay. In the latter place he was warmly received by the Parsi community, which, indeed, is never backward in welcoming distinguished foreigners. At a meeting in the Bai Bhikaiji Shapurji Bengali Parsi Girls' School, Fort, presided over by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, Bart., C.S.I., Darmesteter delivered a lecture on the place of Parsi-ism in History. His experiences of India have been embodied in a volume,2 dedicated to Lord Reay, Governor of Bombay, and to Lady Reay. He brought back with him fresh materials for his great translation of the Avesta, a capital work on the popular literature of the Afghans,3 and sundry Notes which appeared at intervals, chiefly in the Journal Asiatique.*

When Adolphe Régnier died (20th Oct. 1884), Ernest Renan succeeded him as president of the Société Asiatique; the secretaryship left vacant by the illustrious author of the "Life of Jesus," fell into the good hands of Darmesteter. As such he had to write the yearly reports of the progress of Oriental studies, which had done so much for the fame of Jules Mohl and Ernest Renan. It is not saying a little that he showed himself worthy of his predecessors, and that the notice he read on the life and labours of Ernest Renan at the Société Asiatique, on the 22nd of June, 1893, is second to none of the best pages of the great philosopher.5

A lecture delivered at Bombay by 8vo. pp. 32. Bombay: Printed at the Voice

"Parsi-ism: its Place in History." Professor James Darmesteter.

of India Printing-Press, 1887.

"Lettres sur l'Inde. A la frontière afghane," par James Darmesteter. 12mo. pp. xxix. and 355. Paris, A. Lemerre, 1888.

"Chants populaires des Afghans, recueillis," publiés et traduits par J. Darmesteter, précédés d'une introduction sur la langue, l'histoire, et la littérature des Afghans. 8vo. 1890.

"Afghan Life in Afghan Songs." (Reprinted from the Contemporary Review, Oct. 1877.) Pamph. 8vo. pp. 24.-"Inscriptions de Caboul. Epitaphes de l'Empereur Baber et d'autres princes mongols," par M. J. Darmesteter. (Extrait du Journal Asiatique.) Pamph. 8vo. pp. 15. Paris, Imp. nat. 1888: these inscriptions were given to Darmesteter in 1886 by Col. Pratt, who had them copied at Cabul in 1879.-"La grande inscription de Gandahâr," par M. James Darmesteter. (Extrait du Journal Asiatique.) 8vo. pp. 40. Paris, Imp. nat. 1890.-"Souvenirs bouddhistes sur l'Afghanistan."** (Jour. Asiat. 8e sér. xv. p. 105.)

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Notice sur la vie et l'œuvre de M. Renan," par M. James Darmesteter. Lue à la Séance annuelle de la Société asiatique le 22 juin, 1893. (Extrait du Journal Asiatique.) Pamph. 8vo. pp. 56. Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1893.

The field of Oriental studies was hardly large enough for Darmesteter's activity. If nature did not make an orator of him, certainly with his pen Darmesteter had much of the temper of a debater and of a polemist, and periodical literature could not fail to fascinate him somewhat. For several years he was one of the Editors of the Revue Critique, to which he gave a great many critical notices on works like Spiegel's "Iranian Antiquity," Delattre's "Peuple et empire des Mèdes jusqu'à le fin du règne de Cyaxare,' Oppert's "Peuple et langue des Mèdes," Evers' " Avénement de la puissance perse sous Cyrus," Justi's "Histoire de la Perse ancienne," Nöldeke's "Histoire d'Ardeshir," Keiper's "Les Perses d'Eschyle," Gibb's "Gudrun, Beowulf, and Roland," Shairp's "Essays on Poetry," Elze's "Lord Byron," G. Herbert's "The Temple," etc. He made his début on the 16th August, 1882, in the Journal des Débats, to which he contributed, besides his Oriental essays, a number of articles on various subjects" Criticism," "Ireland," "Formosa," "India," etc. His "Coup d'œil sur l'histoire du peuple juif," published in the Nouvelle Revue, created a stir by its warmth and its eloquence. When last year Calmann Lévy offered him and Louis Ganderax the editorship of the Revue de Paris, I feel pretty sure that the great publisher's proposal gave satisfaction to a secret craving of my late friend. Nor did he fail to take to heart his new task, and to contribute himself to the new Review some of the best papers which have appeared in its pages.

But the great work of his life was the translation of the Avesta. When Prof. F. Max Müller undertook his collection of the "Sacred Books of the East," he entrusted

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1 He has contributed to Capitales du Monde, a handsome volume published by Hachette, in 1892; edited a new edition of Macbeth," with a Commentary, etc. 2 "Annales de Formose." Par James Darmesteter. (Journal des Débats, 1884, Oct. 10, 20, et 21.)

3 Reprinted in: "Essais orientaux," par James Darmesteter, "L'Orientalisme en France." "Le Dieu suprême des Aryens,' "Les Cosmogonies Aryennes," "Prolégomènes de l'histoire des religions,' "Mélanges de mythologie et de linguistique,' "La Légende d'Alexandre," Coup d'œil sur l'histoire du peuple juif." 8vo. pp. 279. Paris, A. Lévy, 1883. (Dedicated to Ernest Renan.)

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Darmesteter with Zoroastrian literature, and the result was a translation of the Vendidâd and the Sirôzahs, Yasts, and Nyâyis; the Yaçna and the Gâthâs being left out. Urged in 1884 by Max Müller to complete his translation, Darmesteter, thinking himself unprepared for the task, declined the offer; but after his journey to India, urged by his wife, he resumed the work in 1888, and brought it last year to a successful end. This translation of the Zend - Avesta comprises three huge quarto volumes of the "Annales du Musée Guimet "2; it is Darmesteter's magnum opus, and this very year the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres awarded it the prize of twenty thousand francs.

I suppose that the biographer was thinking of this work when, writing about Darmesteter in the Athenæum (No. 3496, Oct. 27th, 1894), he said: "In him was realized the perfect ideal of scholarship, that happy blending of profound learning, daring originality, and transparent clearness of expression which, save for rare exceptions, France alone seems able to produce; and by his premature death science has suffered a loss which may well be called irreparable." This, his last great labour, seems to have exhausted his feeble constitution.

Darmesteter had married a graceful English lady, Miss Mary Robinson, well known for her poetical talent, and so far versed in French literature as to be able to give us a new book on the famous chronicler Froissart.3 The last years of the life of Darmesteter passed away in the happiness

1 "The Sacred Books of the East," edited by F. Max Müller. Vols. iv. and xxiii. "The Zend-Avesta." Part i. The Vendidâd; Part ii. The Sirôzahs, Yasts, and Nyâyis. Translated by James Darmesteter. Two vols. 8vo.

2 "Annales du Musée Guimet "Le Zend-Avesta, traduction nouvelle avec commentaire historique et philologique," par James Darmesteter, Professeur au Collége de France. Three vols. 4to. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1892-1893: I. La Liturgie (Yasna et Vispéred); II. La Loi (Vendidâd). L'Epopée (Yashts). Le Livre de prière (Khorda Avesta). III. Origines de la littérature et de la religion zoroastriennes. Appendice à la traduction de l'Avesta (fragments des Nasks perdas et index).

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Les grands écrivains français-Froissart," par Mary Darmesteter. 8vo. pp. 174. Paris, Hachette, 1894. Also "Marguerites du temps passé." 12mo. 1892.

of a cheerful home, and his death has left a bereaved and broken-hearted widow. Indeed, France has lost a profound scholar, with a touch of genius.

Paris, 27th November, 1894.

HENRI CORdier.

III. NOTICES OF BOOKS.

CHRESTOMATHIA BAIDAWIANA, THE COMMENTARY OF ELBAIDAWI ON SURA III. Translated and explained for the use of Students of Arabic by D. S. MARGOLIOUTH, M.A. Pp. xvi. and 216. London: Luzac & Co., 1894.

This book is as scholarly as it is useful. Al-Baiḍawi's work, although not one of the easiest, is one of the most popular commentaries of the Qoran, and should be read by every student of Arabic. Of particular importance are the numerous grammatical annotations which give the beginner an insight into the method of the Arabic national grammarians, and which form an excellent preparatory study for the perusal of these works in the original. The rather concise scholia also form a good introduction, not only into the criticism of the Qoran, but in particular into the early history of Moslim dogmas and the development of the sects.

Prof. Margoliouth chose Sūra iii., which, although one of the longest, is not so tedious as Sūra ii., and is of great interest from theological, polemical, and historical points of view. A selection of smaller Suras, representing the chief phases of the Qoran, would perhaps have been more commendable, but this unimportant circumstance in no way diminishes the value of the book. The translation also of the text of the Qoran is thoroughly original and clear. The introduction and the remarks in particular, which form one-third of the book, show how well Mr. Margoliouth has mastered the immense literatures of Moslim Tradition, Grammar, and Kalām.

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