A literary history of Persia

DOWN TO A.D. 1000 451throw of his former patron by the latter in A.H. 625( = A.D. 1228). Besides the Lubab he was the author ofa vast collection of stories entitled the yawamPul-Hlkayat,consisting of four books, each comprising twenty-five chapters.The Lubab^ notwithstanding its age, is in some ways a disappointingbook, owing to the undue prominencewhich itgives to the poets of Khurasin, and the almost complete lackof biographical particulars. Indeed,it is rather to be regardedas a vast anthology than as a biography. It is divided asfollows into twelve chapters, of which the first seven makeup vol. i, and the last five the larger and more interestingvol. ii :ChapterI. On the Excellence of Poetry.II. Etymology of the word shi'r (Poetry).III. Who firstcomposed poetry.IV. Who firstcomposed poetry in Persian.V. Kings and nobles who wrote verse.VI. Ministers and officials who wrote verse.VII. Theologians, doctors, and scholars who wroteverse.VIII. Poets of the Tahiri, Saffarf, and Samani dynasties.IX. Poets of the Ghaznawi dynasty.X. Poets of the Seljuq dynasty.XI. Poets contemporary with the Author.XII. Courtiers contemporary with the Author whowrote verses.The first volume, which deals with those who were notpoets by profession, contains about 122 notices; and thesecond, dealing with poets by profession, about 164 notices:in all,about 286 notices of poets who lived before A.H. 625(A.D. 1228). The credit of making known to Europeanscholars the contents of this valuable compilation belongsprimarily to Nathaniel Bland, who, under the title of TheAfost Ancient Persian Biography of Poets^ described at considerablelength the manuscript which belonged successively to