In the beneficent reign of the Sovereign Lord*
of the nations, the King of kings who is like unto Alexander in pomp, the Remembrancer of Kisrá and Jamshíd, the Monarch of monarchs, the Shadow of God in the lands, by the regards of whose weighty mind all the sciences and arts enjoy the fullest ascendency, and the votaries of every sort of craft and cunning possess the most brilliant position, the King, son of a king and grandson of a king, and the Prince, son of a prince and grandson of a prince, SHÁH NÁṢIRU'D-DÍN QÁJÁR (may God prolong his Power, and extend his Life and his Reign!)—
“O King, who resemblest the Angels in exaltation,
Whose name is held in fair renown by the Supreme Host!”
By the auspicious traits of his nature the treatises of
men of culture, which had been clothed in the raiment
of oblivion, have become adorned with the ornament of
print, while the dust of desolation has been removed from
the senses of men of learning. Amongst such treatises is
this Chahár Maqála of 'Arúḍí, whereof, until this time,
the virgin sentences were hidden behind the curtain of
concealment, and the maiden anecdotes lay latent and
unknown in the leaves. This servant of the Heaven-high
Court and house-bred slave of this Immortal Dynasty,
Muḥammad Báqir Khán, son of the late Hájí Muḥammad
Báqir Khán, Begler-begí, the Qájár, who has devoted most
of his time to the transcription of written pages, undertook,
at the desire of his High Reverence Mullá 'Alí Khwánsárí,
to transcribe this also. Two manuscripts were examined, of
which the one had been copied from the other. In the
one there were bad mistakes, and in the other worse. It
was as though a heap of gold had been acquired, but filled
with alloy and dross. Thus, amongst other errors,
At the time of concluding, a chronogram expressing the date [of publication] occurred to me, and is here submitted:*
By the desire of Ákhúnd-i-Mullá 'Alí Khwánsárí, A.H. 1305, and by the care of His Reverence Abu'l-Qásim, the noble heir of Ákhúnd-i-Mullá Muḥammad.