In Philological explanations I have used a variety of manuscripts; to enu­merate which, would extend this Work beyond the limits prescribed: the principal of these, however, are the dictionaries or Ferhungs, intitled Jehangeeri, <Arabic> Borhan Katea—<Arabic> Kashf al Loghat—<Arabic> Sururi—<Arabic> Reshidi—<Arabic> Lutayef al Loghat—<Arabic> Bahr-al-Jouahir, &c. Many curious Philological Remarks I have likewise found in mis­cellaneous works, such as the Behari Sekhun, <Arabic>—Sherah Sekander Namah, <Arabic>—the Nefaias al Akhbar, <Arabic>— <Arabic> Sherah Khakani—the <Arabic> Zekhiret al Molouk— the <Arabic> Ahklak Nasseri— the <Arabic> Wakaat Matoul— the <Arabic> Negaristan of Jouini— a most excellent work of the same title, by Al Ghuffari (author of the Jehan Ara); and a third Negaristan, by Ali ben Taifour Bustami. I must also acknowledge my frequent obli­gations to the Lyrick and Soufi Poets, for assistance in my Historical and Antiquarian Researches. The allusions of Anvari, Hafiz, Saieb, Naziri, Oorfi, Helali, Firokhi, Shems Tabrizi, Kemal addein Isfahani, and a multiplicity of others, to anecdotes of ancient History and Mythology, have sometimes served to illustrate the most obscure passages of the prose writers; even the dull and voluminous commentaries on the Koran, and unwieldy folios of Mohammedan Law, have not been with­out their use; and something has been extracted from the numerous works of fiction and romance, which often exhibit very pleasing representations of Asiatick manners; I allude to such as the <Arabic> Anvar Soheily— the <Arabic> Khawer Nameh—the <Arabic> Kisseh Emir Hamzeh— <Arabic> Chehar Derveish, the Four Dervishes—the <Arabic> Bakhtyar Nameh—the <Arabic> Bostan-i-Kheyal—the <Arabic> Negar Ziba, &c.

Many topographical notes, and incidental references to the ancient History of Persia, are scattered through some of those Tarikhs which contain the Annals of modern Mohammedan Princes; among these are the Aulum Arai, <Arabic> an History of the Abbassides, in three large volumes— the <Arabic> Tarikh Ausim Cufi—the <Arabic> Akber Nameh—the <Arabic> Timour Nameh —the <Arabic> Tebcat Timouri, &c. also in Biographical works and collections of Anecdotes, the various <Arabic> Tuzkerreh al Shoara, or Lives of the Poets—the Tarikh ebn Khalkan, <Arabic>—the <Arabic> Tarikh Barmekian— the <Arabic> Mujalis al Momenin, &c.

There is another class of Manu­scripts which I have attentively perused, yet sparingly quoted; because, though numerous, they afford but little, and even that little is of ques­tionable authority: I mean those feeble compositions in modern Per­sick, said to be translations from the ancient Zend and Pehlavi, which European travellers procure from the Parsis of Surat, and of which the learned Dr. Hyde and M. Anquetil du Perron have given us sufficient specimens.

Had I not hopes of discovering some works of infinitely greater value than the Sadder, Erdaviraf Nameh, or the Zend-a-vesta, (as we have it in French) of Zoroaster himself, I should consider any further attention to the ancient dialects of Persia, as a misap­plication of study, and a waste of time: these, however, have contributed, with the various manuscripts before men­tioned, materials for my future work, of which the title will be nearly as follows: “Illustrations of Persian His­tory and Antiquities—or an attempt to reconcile the Ancient History and Chronology of Persia (according to the dates and traditions, preserved in manuscripts of that country) with the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Records.”

This work will comprise,

I. An introductory essay on the study of Persian history, antiquities, and romance.

II. A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts which have furnished materials for the work.

III. That section of the Leb al Towarikh which contains the ancient History of Persia, from Caiumuras to Yezdejerd; given in the original Per­sian, with an English translation on the opposite pages.

IV. The Illustrations, &c.; in which are collected from all the manuscripts before enumerated, the various tra­ditions and anecdotes of each king’s reign; collated with those preserved in the Old Testament, and in the works of Greek and Latin writers; chronological, geographical, and philological observations, &c.

V. An Appendix, consisting of several miscellaneous articles, chrono­logical tables, extracts from rare and ancient manuscripts, remarks on the antiquities of Persepolis, examination of Zend and Pehlavi manuscripts, funeral rites, fire worship, Manichean and Mazdakian heresies, archery and horsemanship of the Persians, musick, painting, sculpture, vestiges of Hebrew and Greek in the Persian lan­guage, &c.

Such are the outlines of my future Work, which, if I can judge by the materials already collected, will form two large quarto volumes, each con­taining at least 400 pages, besides maps and views, plates of inscriptions, medals and gems, engraved alphabets of ancient characters, and specimens of writing, fac similes from miniatures in manuscripts, &c.

I shall not here enumerate the Greek and Latin works which I have examined and collated; but I must acknowledge my frequent obligations to the Authors of Hebrew Scripture, —obligations, indeed, more frequent than those can possibly imagine who have only skimmed the surface of Oriental Literature, or plucked its flowers without gathering the fruits: I was myself surprised to find the most ancient and authentick of the Persian historians, prove, unconsciously, no despicable commentators on the Bible.

Of these historians, many allude to, and describe as still visible in their days, various stupendous and interesting monuments of antiquity, unnoticed by Europeans. To ascertain whether they exist at present, and to satisfy some doubts on the subject of those already described by travellers, I have resolved to visit Persia (if Providence continue to bless me with life and health) whenever some necessary domestick arrangements, and the Works on which I am now employed, shall have been completed.

London, August, 1799.

The Tarikh Jehan Ara, <Arabic> which has furnished materials for the following Work, is an octavo manuscript, purchased at Shiraz in the year 1787, by my ingenious friend, Captain William Francklin, author of the Tour to Persia, in which he has quoted it on the subject of Persepolis. During his residence in Bengal, it accidentally fell from a boat into the Ganges, and a few words have been rendered illegible by the wet; where such occur in the following extract, they are expressed by asterisks. On his return to England in 1797, Cap­tain Francklin obligingly gave me this, with many other valuable manuscripts. The author is Cazi Ahmed al Ghuffari, <Arabic> of Caz­vin; who, according to the Tarikh Bedaooni, died on his return from the pilgrimage to Mecca, when setting out from Daibul, Anno Hegiræ 975, (A. D. 1567.)

He was also author of the Negaristan; a most excellent compilation of historical anecdotes, of which I am so fortunate as to possess a fine copy, written by his own hand, and replete with his marginal notes; it is a large octavo manuscript, and was brought to Europe by Jonathan Scott, Esq.

From the Jehan Ara, which contains a general History of Asia, Patriarchs, Prophets, Jews, Ara­bians, Persians, Kings of Tartary, Hindoostan, &c. from the earliest times till the year of the Hegira 972, (of Christ 1564), I shall have occasion to give various extracts in a future Work.