BABYLON AND PERSIA

8 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.contradictions, but always with reverence, asonecoupled with much holiness and mystery.It was,therefore, generally understood among the learned :1st. That the Parsis must possess sacred books ofgreat antiquity, containing and expounding the lawsDfone of the oldest and most remarkable religionsin the world; 2d. That it would be extremely desira¬ble, in the interests of historical and religious re¬search, to gain access to these books, and, if possi¬ble, to secure copies of them for the great Europeanlibraries.8. Both these points were partially settled by thehappy chance which, in the beginning of the lastcentury, put an English traveller and scholar,George Bourchier, in possession of a manu¬script, which he obtained from Parsi priests dur¬ing a visit to Surat.It contained the VENDIDADoSadEH, i. e., a compilation of prayers and hymns, inthe order in which they are recited at religious ser¬vices, and was deposited at Oxford.More manu¬scripts followed, until towards the middle of thecentury that great university owned a nearly com¬plete collection.But what was the use, when therewas no one to read them? The very characterswere unknown, and there seemed but little prospectthat the puzzle should ever be solved.9. Fortunately four pages traced from one of theOxford manuscripts found their way to Paris, andthere happened to meet the eye of a young Orientalstudent, ANQUETIL DUPERRON.Ainbitious, eagerminded,and scarcely twenty-two, he saw in this ahint of fate, a great work, worthy of all his energies