I think it, then, not unlikely that the story of the Odyssey travelled, one time or other, eastwards. In proof of the migration of Grecian fable, it may be mentioned that the Persian story of Sicander, or Alexander the Great, was derived from Byzantium.

Adieu to these splendid Oriental fictions, which delight youth and beguile age! The task of tracing them in their progress from Asia to Europe has been to me a source of much pleasure. I have proved, I think, that some of them reached the West centuries before the appearance of M. Galland's translation, and have so far established my theory respecting the transmission of fiction. I will now proceed to show, that tales may be very similar, and yet be quite independent of each other.

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CHAPTER IV.

THE SHAH-NAMEH-ROOSTEM AND SOOHRAB-CONLOCH AND CUCHULLIN-MACPHERSON'S OSSIAN IRISH ANTI

QUITIES.

"It must be owned," says an elegant and philosophic historian, when speaking of the British Arthur', "that the traditions of our heroic age have not the same historical value as those of other nations. The fables of Greece, for example, besides their singular beauty, have the merit of being the native produce of the soil. As pictures of manners, and indications of character, they are therefore true to nature. They may occasionally approach the inferior truth of time and place, of names and particulars, by a faint and rude outline of real occurrences."

As this is the very view which I have taken of the Grecian mythology in my Work on that agreeable subject, I feel both pleasure and confidence

1 Sir James Mackintosh, in his History of England, vol. i. p. 27. Should there be any among my readers—I hope they will not be few-who love to contemplate the exercise of a mild, charitable, and enlightened philosophy, and who would imbibe true political wisdom, and learn to view the institutions of their country with love and veneration, I would advise them to devote their hours to this valuable work. It is for this effect, and not for the narrative, that it should be read; and not merely read, but studied.

at finding this coincidence of sentiment between myself and so distinguished a man as the late Sir Jaines Mackintosh.

By other nations,' in the above passage, I apprehend could only be meant the Greeks, the Persians, and the Scandinavians; for I believe these are the only nations that have a mythic history the true growth of their own soil, unmingled with exotic productions. Of that of Scandinavia I shall bye and bye have occasion to say a few words; my present business is with that of Persia, and the book in which alone it is to be found-the noble Shah-Nâmeh', or King-book.

When the Arabian deluge poured in over Persia under the first Khalifs, it extinguished alike the literature and the religion of the conquered people. The traditions of ancient Persian renown, which had been cherished by the House of Sassan, were despised by the new lords of Irân: the original worshipers of Ormuzd, who had voluntarily or compulsively embraced the law of the Arabian prophet, gradually became negligent of the tales which narrated the deeds of their fathers; and the faithful remnant who still clung to the religion of Light, either sought a refuge in India, or led a life of obscurity in remote districts of their own country. A people whose spirit is broken are generally negligent of the fame of their ancestors,

1 These letters, á, î, ú, are equivalent to aw, ee, oo. I shall employ them indifferently; ou is to be sounded as in our.

which is, as it were, a reproach to themselves; and the legends of Persian glory seem to have been on the brink of perishing, when patriotism or poetic feeling urged a man of rank in Irân to seek to rescue them from oblivion. From the books and from the lips of the Moobeds (Magi), he collected the old traditions, and he wrote them out in the Pehlvi language. This book, which was named the Bostân Nâmeh (Old Book), became the consolation and the delight of all who loved to dwell on the glories of the olden time; and one of the monarchs of the Turkish house of the Samanee directed a poet to versify these tales of the ancient wars of Irân and Toorân. The poet commenced his task, but he shortly afterwards perished by the hand of an assassin. At length the renowned Mahmood of Ghizni imposed the task on Aboo-'l-Kasîm, the son of Ishak Sheriff Shah, a native of Toos in Khorassân, surnamed Ferdousee (Paradisal) from the beauty of his verses, or from his own or his father's occupation being gardening. At the mandate of the mighty Mahmood, Ferdousee celebrated the deeds of the ancient monarchs and heroes of Irân.

The poem, when completed, was named the Shah-Nâmeh, or King-book; and it is at the present day, and is likely ever to continue to be, the pride and glory of Persian literature. It consists

1 Paradise, originally signifying park, (a word perhaps connected with it,) is of Persian origin, and was adopted by the Greeks.