When has three points above it, the Persians give it the sound of g in the word gay, as gulistán a bed of roses; but these points are very feldom written in the Persian manuscripts; fo that the diftinction between Sk and g can be learned only by use: thus they often write rofe-water, and pronounce it gulab. See the remark on These letters are the liquids l, m, n, r. ୪ is a slight aspiration, and is often redundant, as behár the Spring, ☺l هرات ୪ بهار: which is pronounced almost like beár; Herat a city in the province of Corafan, which the Greeks call Aria: therefore is the h of the French in honnête, whence came our honest without an aspiration. At the end of a word it frequently founds like a vowel, as ake, which has the fame fenfe and pronunciation as the Italian che which. OF VOWELS. ي و ا ora to him, THE long vowels are and may be pronounced as a, o, ce, in the words call, stole, feed ; as khán a lord, 1 neez alfo; but the fhort vowels are expreffed by small which are placed above the letter, and one below it, as be or bi, bo or bu; thus, نیز marks, two of as ba or be, ب اكَر أَنْ تُرَكَ شِيرازي بدست آرد دل صَارَاءِ دِلِ بخال هندویش بخشم سمرقند و بخارا را Egher Egher ân turki Shirázi bedest âred dili mára Bekháli hinduish bakshem Samarcand u Bokhárára. The mark placed above a confonant shows that the fyllable ends سمرقندي with it, as a Sa-mar-can-di a native of Samarcand; the first of which fyllables is fhort, the fecond and third long by position, and the last long by nature: but this belongs to the profody. These short vowels are very feldom written in the Perfian books; and the other orthographical marks are likewise usually fuppreffed except Medda ~, Hamza, and Teshdid "; the two first of which are most common. Medda above an I gives it a very broad found, as aun: Hamza fupplies the place of in words that end in ; it therefore fometimes reprefents the article, as a nameï a book, or denotes the former of two substantives, asali náfeï mushk a bag of musk; or, lastly, it marks the second perfon fingular in the compound preterite of a verb, as ʊʊ dádéï, which would regularly be rol al آن dádeh i thou haft w turreh a lock طره given. Tefhdid fhews a confonant to be doubled, as of hair. The omiffion of the fhort vowels will at firft perplex the ftudent; fince many words that are compounded of the fame confonants, have . different fenfes according to the difference of the vowels omitted: but until he has learned the exact pronunciation of every word from a native, he may give every fhort vowel a kind of obfcure found very English, as in the words fun, bird, mother, which a Mahometan would write without any vowel, fn, brd, mthr; thus the Perfian word bd be pronounced like our bud. may common in و Vau and Ya S are often used as confonants, like our v and ین javan juvenis, giovane, young جوان : Van a town in Armenia وان Yemen, that province of Arabia which we call the happy; julas Khodayár, a proper name fignifying the friend of God. often lofes its found, as Olga khán a table. before | I would not advise the learner to study the parts of speech until he can read the Perfian characters with tolerable fluency; which he will foon be able to do, if he will spend a few hours in writing a page or two of Persian in English letters, and restoring them after a short interval to their proper characters by the help of the alphabet. I shall close this section with a piece of Persian poetry written both in the Afiatick and European characters: it is an ode by the poet Hafiz, the first couplet of which has been already quoted; and a translation of it shall be inferted in its proper place. بده ساتي می باتي که در جنت نخواهي يافت کنار آب رکناباد و گلگشت مصلارا Bedéh fákée meï bákée ke der jennet nekháhi yaft, Kunári âbi rucnabád va gulghfhéti musellára. فغان كين لوليان شوخ شیرینگار شهرآشوب چنان بردند صبر از دل که ترکان خوان یغمارا Fugán keïn lulián shokhi fhiringári shehrâshob Chunán berdendi fabr az dil ke turkan khani yagmára. عشق ناتمام ما جمال یار مستغنیست بآب و رنگ و خال و خط چه حاجت روي زيبارا Ze eshki nátemámi má jemáli yári mustagnist حدیث از مطرب و ميگو و راز دهر کمتر جو که کس فکشود و نکشاید بحکمت این معمارا Hadís az mutreb u mei gú va rázi dehri kemter jú نصیحت گوش کن جانا که از جان دوستتر دارند. وانان سعادتمند پند پیر دانارا Nasihet gofhi kun ána ke az jân dostiter darend Juvánáni faádetmendi pendi péeri danára بدم تفتی و خرسندم عفاك الله نکو گفتی جواب تلخ میزیبد لب لعل شکر خوارا Bedem Bedem gufti va khurfendem afák alla neku gufti غزل گفتی و در سفتی بیا و خوش بخوان حافظ که بر نظم تو افشاند فلک عقد ثریارا Gazel gufti va durr fufti beá va khofh bukhán Hafiz Ke ber názmi to affháned felek ikdi furiára. In this fpecimen of Persian writing the learner will obferve a few combinations of letters, which he must by no means forget; as lamelif, com pounded of land I a, in the word combinations are formed with mofella: but the most usual which have the fingular pro perty of caufing all the preceding letters to rise above the line, as nakchéer, cede تصحیح ,nakhara m are alfo fometimes raised. tas-héeh. The letters that pre The Arabick characters, like those of the Europeans, are written in a variety of different hands; but the most common of them are the She شکسته Talik, or banging, and the تعليق Nikhi, the نسخ kesteh, or broken. Our books are printed in the Niskhi hand, and all Arabick manufcripts, as well as moft Perfian and Turkish hiftories, are written in it; but the Perfians write their poetical works in the Tâlik, which answers to the most elegant of our Italick hands. As to the Shekefteh, it is very irregular and inelegant, and is chiefly used by the idle Indians, who will not take time to form their letters perfectly, or even to infert the diacritical points; but this hand, however difficult VOL. II. U and |