A literary history of Persia

42 HISTORY OF PERSIAN PHILOLOGYuntil the publication of Anquetil du Perron's epoch-makingmemoirs (1763-1771), of which we shall shortly have to speak.A brief statement, therefore, of Hyde's views may appropriatelyform the starting-point of this survey ; for his industry,hisscholarship, and his linguistic attainments, added to the facilitieswhich he enjoyed as Librarian of the Bodleian, rendered hiswork as complete and comprehensive an account of the ancientPersian religionas was possible with the materials then available.Hyde not only used the works of his predecessors, such asBarnaby de Brisson's De Regio Persarum 'Principatu Libri Tres(Paris, 1606) a book based entirely on the statements ofGreek and Latin authors, Henry Lord's Religion oftheParsees z (1630), Sanson's T)e hodierno statu Persia (1683),and the narratives of the travellers Pedro Texeira (1604), PereGabriel de Chinon (1608-1650), Tavernier (1629-1675),Olearius (1637-1638), Thevenot (1664-1667), Chardin(1665-1677), Petits de la Croix (1674-1676), and SamuelFlower (1667), but also a number of Arabic, Persian, Turkish,Hebrew, and Syriac manuscripts, which he manipulated with askill deserving of the highest praise ;and the knowledge thusacquired was supplemented in some cases by informationverbally obtained by his friends in India from the Parsees.His work, in short, is a monument of erudition, most remarkablewher* we consider the time at which it was written andthe few facilities then existingfor research of this kind ;and insome cases his acumen anticipated discoveries not confirmed 'tilla much later date. Thus he recognised the name of Media in1The full title of this tract (for itcomprises but 53 pages) is TheReligion of tlie Persees, as it was Compiled from a Booke of theirs, contayningthe Forme of their Worshippe, written in the Persian Character,and by them called their Zundavastaw, wherein is shewed the SuperstitiousCeremonies used amongst them, more especially their Idolatrous Worshippe ofFire. The author's information was derived from a Parsi of Surat " whoselong employment, in the Companies service, had brought him to amediocrity in the English tongue." The book contains but meagre informationconcerning the Zoroastrian tenets, and indicates not even an indirectknowledge of the contents of the Avesta.