imagined would have contained it, I consulted the persons who were versed in those matters, but could obtain no information on the subject. I then met with the following verses, the author of which was al-Farazdak (vol. III. p. 612) :

I saw other people increase in honour, day by day, whilst your honour gradually declined. (You are) like the cat which, when young, bears a high value and, when old, is cheap.

It was from these verses that Bashshâr borrowed his idea; he did not mean a particular cat, but meant to say that every cat which, when young, was sold dear, lost its value when it grew old.

(1) The manuscripts and the printed editions read Abú Amr, but I follow the excellent copy of the Tabakåt al-Kurra which is in the Bibl. imp., ancien fonds, no 742; see fol. 52.

(2) Abu Hamdûn at-Taiyib Ibn Ismail ad-Duhli, a native of Baghdad and a teacher of the Korân-readings was noted for the sanctity of his life. The date of his death is not given.—(Tab. al-Kurrð, f. 53.)

(3) Abû Shoaib Sâlih Ibn Zìâd as-Sûsi, a Korân-reader of great authority, died A. H. 261 (A. D. 874-5), aged upwards of ninety years.-(Tab. al-Kurrd, f. 53.)

(4) Abu 'l-Fath Aâmir Ibn Omar, a native of Mosul, a teacher of the Korân-readings and a Traditionist, died A. H. 250 (A. D. 864-5).—(Tab. al-Kurrd, f. 60.)

(5) Our author speaks of this chief at the end of the present article.

(6) The Arabic merely says: He placed al-Mâmûn in his lap.

(7) Abû 'l-Husain Ahmad Ibn Jaafar al-Munâdi, a celebrated Traditionist and Korân-reader, was highly esteemed for the exactitude of his information, his knowledge of history and his acquaintance with pure Arabic. He died in the month of Muharram, 336 (July-August, A. D. 947).—(Tab. al-Kurrd, f. 78.)

(8) Had the word and not been inserted, the phrase would have signified: May God not accept my life, etc. (9) Such appears to be the meaning of the expression ad-dunyâ għadda, which signifies literally: the world was flourishing.

(10) Abu Ahmad Jaafar Ibn Abd Allah al-Balkhi was a doctor of the hanefite sect and the author of some controversial works, the titles of which are given by Hajji Khalifa, in his Bibliographical Dictionary. The year of his death is not mentioned.

(11) I am unable to indicate the title of this book, the author having composed more works than one. (12) In Arabic, hubára. Dr. Shaw bas given a description of it in his Travels.

(13) Al-Kisâi meant to say that muhro, which is the last word of the verse and in the nominative case, should have been put in the accusative and pronounced muhra.-He was mistaken.

(14) For the meaning of this technical term and those which occur farther on, see de Sacy's Traité de prosodie arabe, and Freytag's Darstellung der Arabischen Verskunst.

(15) These terms of prosody have probably other significations in the ordinary language, but it is not necessary to indicate them.

(16) More despicable than a Bahilite" was a common proverb among the Arabs.

(17) For an account of the members of the Yazidi family, most of whom were distinguished literary men, see professor Flügel's Grammatische Schulen der Araber, p. 90.

:

(18) Literally who are joined to my heart and to my tongue.

(19) See vol. III, p. 443.-One of ad-Dâni's works is a manual for the student of the Koranic readings and is entitled the Mukni. Its contents have been made known to us by Mr. de Sacy, in the Notices et Extraits, t. VIII. See also t. XX, p. 456 of the same work, in the second part of my translation of Ibn Khaldûn's Prolegomena.

(20) By the term kirdt, the poet probably meant to designate the twenty-fourth part of the dirhem.

AT-TIBRIZI

Abû Zakariya Yahya Ibn Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Bistàm as-Shaibânî at-Tibrîzi (a member of the tribe of Shaiban and native of Tauriz), generally known by the title of al-Khatib (the preacher), was one of the great masters in (the science of Arabic) philology, and possessed a perfect knowledge of polite literature, such as grammar and philology. He made his studies under Abû 'l-Alâ al-Maarri (vol. I. p. 94), Abû 'l-Kâsim Obaid Allah Ibn Ali ar-Rakki (1), Abû Muhammad adDahhân the philologer (2), and other literary men. He heard Traditions delivered, in the town of Sûr (Tyre), by the legist Abù 'l-Fath Sulaim Ibn Aiyûb ar-Râzi (vol. I. p. 584), Abû 'l-Kâsim Abd al-Karîm Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abd Allah Ibn Yusuf ad-Dallâl as-Sâwi (3), Abû 'l-Kasim Obaid Allah Ibn Ali Ibn Obaid Allah arRakki and others. Traditions were delivered on his authority by the khatib and hafiz Abu Bakr Ahmad Ibn Ali Ibn Thâbit (vol. I. p. 75), the author of the History of Baghdad, by the hafiz Abu 'l-Fadl Muhammad Ibn Nâsir (4), Abû Mansûr Mauhûb Ibn Ahmad al-Jawâlîki (vol. III. p. 498), Abû 'l-Hasan Saad al-Khair Ibn Muhammad Ibn Sahl al-Andalusi (5) and other distinguished men. A great number of students commenced and finished their education under him. The hâfiz Abû Saad as-Samâni (vol. 11. p. 156) speaks of him in the Zail and in the Ansab; he enumerates his merits and says: "I heard Abû Mansûr Muhammad Ibn Abd alMalik Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Khairûn (6), the teacher of the Korân-readings, state that “Abû Zakariya Yahya Ibn Ali at-Tibrîzi did not hold a satisfactory conduct; he then "related some things respecting him and said: 'I asked the hâfiz Abû 'l-Fadl Mu

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hammad Ibn Nâsir his opinion of what Ibn Khairûn had said (concerning at"Tabrizi's character), but he kept silent as if he would not contradict what had been said (7), but he at length declared that at-Tibrîzi, as a philologer, was a "sure authority and that the information which he handed down was worthy of "credit.'"-At-Tibrîzi composed some instructive works on literature, such as a commentary on the Hamâsa (vol. I. p. 348), a commentary on al-Mutanabbi's (vol. I. p. 102) poems, a commentary on Abû 'l-Alâ el-Maarri's (vol. I. p. 95) Diwan entitled Sikt az-Zand (8), a commentary on the seven Moallakas, a commentary on the Mufaddaliyát (9), a Tahdîb (or remodeling) of the Gharib al-Hadith (10), a Tahdîb of the Islâh al-Mantik (11). He is the author of a good introduction to grammar, having for object the elucidation of the secrets of that art; this work is very rare. He composed also a treatise on prosody and rhyme, entitled al-Kâfi (the sufficient), a treatise on the parsing of the Korân, to which he give the title of al-Mulakhkhas (the summary), and a copy of which I saw in four volumes. His commentary on the Hamása forms three works, the greater commentary, the middle and the less (12). Other works also were composed by him. We have related in our article on the Khatîb Abû Bakr Ahmad Ibn Ali what passed between that historian and at-Tabrîzi, when the latter was studying under him at Damascus and to that article we refer the reader (13). He (at-Tibrîzi) studied polite literature at the Nizâmiya college in Damascus. The motive which induced him to go to Abû 'l-Alâ al-Maarri was, that, having procured a copy of Abû Mansûr al-Azhari's (vol. III. p. 48) Kitab al-Tahdib, in four small volumes, he wished to verify the correctness of its text under the direction of some person well versed in philology, and Abû 'l-Alâ was indicated to him as the fit man. He put the volumes into a bag and carried them on his back from Tauris to al-Maarra, not having the means of hiring whereon to ride. The transpiration penetrated from his back into the books and left on them marks of humidity. They are now in a wakf (14) at Baghdad and, when a person not acquainted with what happened, sees them, he thinks that they must have remained for some time under water; these stains are, howewer, nothing else that the sweat of at-Tibrîzi. So I find it related in the history of the grammarians composed by al-Kâdi al-Akram Ibn al-Kifti, the vizir of Aleppo (vol. II. p. 494). God knows if his account be true! At-Tibrîzi went to Egypt when a young man and had there for a pupil the shaikh Abù 'l-Hasan Tâhir Ibn Bâbshâd, the grammarian (vol. I. p. 647), to whom he communicated some

philological information. He then returned to Baghdad and continued to reside there till the day of his death. He taught from memory a great number of poems which he had learned from the author, Abù 'l-Hasan Muhammad Ibn al-Mozaffar Ibn Muhairîz (15) al-Baghdadi; such, for instance as the following piece, given by as-Samâni in that article of the Zail which treats of the Khatib at-Tabrizi. It is the best known of that poet's productions:

O my two friends! how sweet were the morning draughts which I took on the bank of the Tigris and yet sweeter were those of evening at as-Sarât (16). Near these two streams I drank the liquor of a vine; it was like melted cornelian, and they were like liquid pearls. Two moons were then present; one, that the heavens and the other a moon (a young beauty) of the earth; one inspiring desire for the sweets of love, the other enamoured. I kept filling the cup (for that earthly moon) and sipping nectar from her lips whilst she kept filling for me and drinking from my lips. I said to the full moon (of heaven): "Do you know who is this?" and she answered: "I do; it is my twin sister (17).”

These verses are the finest and the most elegant which poetry can Toffer. The idea expressed in the second verse is borrowed from Abu Bakr ad-Dâni Ibn Labbâna (vol. III. p. 192), who said, in a long kasida which he composed in praise of alMotamid Ibn Abbâd (vol. III. p. 182), the sovereign of Seville:

I asked his brother, the (bountiful) ocean, what he thought of al-Motamid, and he answered : He is my brother; but he is always tranquil and sweet.

It was not sufficient for the poet to represent that prince as the brother of the ocean, but he must add that he was tranquil and sweet, whereas, the ocean is agitated and salt. This is an example of pure and original eulogium. The kasida itself begins thus:

She wept on bidding me farewell, and, her fellow-travellers knew not whether those tears were drops of dew or pearls fresh (from the shell). She was followed by a band (of maidens),— Nay! I am wrong;-the word band cannot be said of stars shining through the darkness of night.

This poem is of considerable length, and I therefore abstain from giving it all, lest I should be drawn away from my subject.-The Khatib (at-Tibrîzi) related that the following lines were recited to him by the author, who was the Ibn Muhairîz above mentioned:

Maidens of the tribe of Modar! (your companion) Salma is sister to the moon (in beauty O may Salma never afflict me (with her disdain)! she has abandoned my eyes to unceasing

wakefulness. Whether she turn away from me or towards me, my heart's blood is equally in peril. I have lodged the whiteness of her teeth in the black (core) of my heart and (the pupil) of my eye.

He himself composed some poetry, such, for instance, as the following lines:

Some persons are surfeited with a day's travelling, but I am surfeited with dwelling in the same place. I have resided in Irâk amongst the vilest of men, descendants of the vile.

He related also that al-Imâd al-Faiyâd wrote to him as follows:

Say to Yahya, the son of Ali, though discourse assumes various characters, yet, mine contains neither falsehood nor deception; (say to him): You are merit in person, when the eyes of men are turned towards merit; true merit has obtained, through you, its real value. All those who once existed are surpassed by you, and those who now exist are fatigued in following your footsteps. You were born under one of those conjunctions which occur after a lapse of many centuries. Other men, compared with you, are as cloudy weather compared to a clear sky. When inquiries are made respecting them, the accounts received are various; from what we have heard and seen, (some are like) level plains and (others like) rugged ground. If we weighed against you all who ever existed, (we would find you to be) a king (and them mean) artisans. What are now (the tribes of) Shaibân and Azd? all said respecting them is mere conjecture. You are the stem of (the tree of) learning and other men are only its branches. You are the ocean, and the men most distinguished for their merit are mere springs of water. The sword, if put (J) to the test, is far superior to scabbards. The moalla is not equal to the fadd, neither is Hajûn to be compared with Mekka's temple (18). Mirth and levity may amuse, but serious affability is far above them. White females and brown are not on an equality in beauty. A married female may please, but nothing is so charming as a young virgin. I said to the envious: "Be whatever you wish to be; he who shoots farthest obtains the prize, "whether you be proud or humble. "May your life endure as long as the definition of motion differs from that of rest! May your wishes be accomplished as long as birds dwell in nests! My affection for you has been carefully preserved from all admixtures which alter affection; in me its exterior manifestation is not in disaccord with the interior; nay, the love which my heart bears towards you is formed of sincerity. Make a wager (about it), for wagers are sometimes made on love-matters; if one man be deceitful, another is sincere.

Ibn al-Jawâliki (vol. III. p. 498) relates that his shaikh the Khatib Abû Zakariya (at-Tibrizi) said to him: I then wrote to al-Imâd al-Faiyâd these verses:

Say to al-Imâd, the brother of high eminence: I am but a drop of water from your overflowing ocean. You have raised me to honour and gained me high renown, in bestowing on me so ample a vestment of eulogium. Out your gracious bounty you have clothed me in a raiment of poetry, and I, proud of that attire, have marched about in the height (of glory) and in the gardens (of delight). I here give you a pebble in return for a pearl which was the produce of a cultivated mind. My genius would be at a stop, did it attempt any thing similar;

VOL. IV.

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