4.

A POEM.

Nizami

FROM THE ORIGINAL PERSIAN OF NAZÁMI.

BY

JAMES ATKINSON, ESQ.

OF THE HONORABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S BENGAL MEDICAL SERVICE:

AUTHOR OF

SOHRAB, A POEM; AN ABRIDGMENT IN PROSE AND VERSE OF THE
SHAH-NAMEH OF FIRDAUSI; LA SECCHIA RAPITA,
FROM THE ITALIAN OF TASSONI, &c. &c.

The course of true love never did run smooth.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies that apprehend,
More than cool reason comprehends.

He will not be commanded.

SHAKSPEARE.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE ORIENTAL
TRANSLATION FUND OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

M. DCCC.XXXVI.

PREFACE.

THE story of the loves of Lailí and Majnún is one of the most popular in the East. There are several poems on the same subject by different authors, but that by Nazámi is considered the best; and I believe this is the first time it has appeared in the European language.

Every nation has its favourite tales of love as well as chivalry. France and Italy have their Abelard and Eloisa, their Petrarch and Laura ; and Arabia has its Lailí and Majnún, the beautiful record of whose sorrows is constantly referred to, throughout the East, as an immortal example of the most faithful love. The reader