The fuller consideration of these authors (although, as will be seen, most of them were Persians by birth) belongs rather to the history of Arabic Literature, and would be out of place here, even did space admit of it; but the serious student of Persian literary history will from time to time have occasion to consult the works of most of them, for, as has been already pointed out, till the Mongol Invasion and Fall of Baghdád in the middle of the thirteenth century of our era Arabic con­tinued to hold its place in Persia as the language of science and literature, and in it the bulk of the most indispensable works of reference are composed. A few words may, however, be added about some of the authors above mentioned. I begin with one who, since he met his death in A.D. 1075, should properly have been mentioned in an earlier chapter, from which he was omitted by an oversight, I mean al-Bákharzí.

Abu'l-Qásim 'Alí b. al-Ḥasan b. Abí Ṭayyib al-Bákharzí was notable both as a poet and as a biographer of poets. In al-Bákharzí. the former capacity he is noticed at some length in vol. i of 'Awfí's Lubábu'l-Albáb (pp. 68-71 of my forthcoming edition). In the latter he continued the work begun by ath-Tha'álibí in the Yatímatu'd-Dahr, and wrote a most comprehensive work entitled the Dumyatu'l-Qaṣr, which contains notices of about 225 more or less contemporary poets and 20 notable men of letters of whom no poetry is recorded. * Unfortunately, however, he confines his attention to those who wrote in Arabic, and entirely ignores the Persian poets concerning whom he might have given us such valuable and authentic information. His own verse is partly in Arabic and partly in Persian; as 'Awfí puts it, “he became a signal in the world in both writings, and snatched the prize of pre­eminence from the literary men of his age in both languages.” In his youth he was one of the secretaries of the Seljúq Sulṭán Ṭughril, but afterwards, preferring lettered ease, resigned that position, and ended a gay and apparently somewhat dissolute life by a violent death, resulting, as it would seem, from a drinking bout. Besides his other verses, he is stated by 'Awfí (loc. cit., p. 70) and Riḍá-qulí Khán (Majma'u'l-Fuṣaḥá, vol. i, pp. 343-4) to have written a Ṭarab-náma, or “Book of Delight,” consisting of Persian quatrains arranged alphabeti­cally.

The following verses (Lubáb, vol. i, p. 69) form part of an Arabic qaṣída composed in praise of Ṭughril:—

“When we first set out, the Mirror of Time * was a disc of silvery
sheen,
But now it is darkened, hath suffered eclipse, and can be no
longer seen. *
Our camels haste to cross the waste, nor halt to let us view
The ash-strewn site of our sweetheart's camp, and revive her
image anew.
They shake their sides, and with eager strides they press and
they labour still
To bring us straight to the palace-gate of the glorious Prince
Ṭughril.”

Here is a translation of one of his Persian quatrains:—

“Night black as pitch she bids bright day bestride; *
Two sugar-plums stars two-and-thirty hide;*

O'er the red rose a musky scorpion strays, *
For which she keeps two antidotes well tried.”*

Here is another of his quatrains in praise of wine (Lubáb, vol. i, p. 70):—

“That wine which causeth joy do I desire;
Red as the jujube-fruit, the grape its sire;
Named wine, entitled ‘Alchemy of Joy’—
Strange water this, which sets the cheeks on fire!”

Lastly, here is the quatrain which (Lubáb, i, 71) he is said to have written at the moment of his death:—

“I go; come, cast on me a last long gaze:
Behold me tortured in ten thousand ways!
A stone above, my pleading hand beneath,
And there my friend, and there the sword which slays!”

A poet named 'Ayyáḍí commemorated his death in these lines (Lubáb, i, 71):—

“Poor Ḥasan 'Alí in this luckless strife
Faultless, like 'Alí's Ḥusayn, * lost his life:
A lion he, who dwelt in Culture's glen:
Small wonder for a lion slain of men!”

The most interesting thing about 'Abdu'l-Wáḥid b. Isma'íl ar-Rúyání, an eminent jurisconsult of the Sháfi'ite school,