A literary history of Persia

viiiPREFACEmyself ever more rather than less unprepared, had I notreceived almost simultaneously two separate invitations tocontribute a volume on PersianLiterature or Literary Historyto a series which in each case was of conspicuous merit,though in plan, scope, and treatment the difference betweenthe two was considerable. In choosing between the two, Iwas less influenced by priority of appeal, extent of remuneration,or personal predilection, than by the desire to secure formyself the amplerfield and the broader I had almost said themore philosophical plan. The model placed before me inthe one case was Jusserand'scharming Literary History of theEnglish People, the conception and execution of which (forreasons more fully explained in the Introductory chapter ofthe following work) so delighted me that I thereupon decidedto make for the series to which it belonged the effort which Ihad long contemplated. For it was the intellectual historyotthe Persians which I desired to write, and not merely thehistory of the poets and authors who expressed their thoughtsthrough the medium of the Persian language the manifesta-;tions of the national genius in the fields of Religion,and Science interested me at least as much asPhilosophy, those belonging to the domain of Literature in the narrowersense ;while the linguistic vehicle through which they soughtexpression was, from my point of view,indifferent. I trustthat my readers will realise this at the outset, so that they maynot suffer disappointment, nor feel themselves aggrieved,because in this volume more is said about movements thandown to thebooks, and less about books written in Persian than about thosewritten in Pahlawi, Arabic, or some other language.It was originally intended that the work should be completedin one volume, carrying the historypresent day. But I soon convinced myself (and, with moredifficulty, my publisher) that this was impossible withoutgrave modification (and, from my point of view, mutilation)of my original plan. At first I hoped to carry this volume