AFTER praise and supplication to the majesty of the most high God ruler of the people of glory and excellence; and after the salutation and veneration of the Prophet ??ect, the Lord of the righteous, MAHOMMED; whereas the shattered and soul-afflicted servant, the sinful, poor, contemptible, ignorant, most infirm of the slaves of the eternal God, HERKERN, son of MUTRADAS a Kumboh of Multan, sat one day at the seat of Empire in the city of Mutra, in the company of his agreeable companions and chosen friends. Some of his friends said to him you were a long time Moonshy in the service of the benevolent Nabob, the high-titled, the asylum of forgiveness, the seat of pleasantness, the Hatim of the time, the Nushirvan of the age, Yitibar Khan; and spent your life in the art of composing; write something by way of memorandum, that a person may derive improvement in reading and writing it. At the instigation of these dear friends I have brought into writing some lines of broken and imperfect language, which may be useful to the studious of this art in writing the daily practice. This book comprehends seven chapters.

My request from the learned of time, and the ripened of ages is this. Wherever there shall occur in the style an omission or error, cover it with the mantle of generosity and hold the pen of correction running over it.