Page:A Grammar of the Persian Language.djvu/22

contains some good remarks, with an extensive list of very valuable examples, of which I have occasionally availed myself. It also contains a good tract on the Prosody, which appears generally to be copied from that of Saifee,^[1] and a very valuable and elaborate account of the different sorts of Persian Poetry.—3. I have made the greatest use, perhaps, of a very excellent Persian Grammar and Commentary, printed apparently at Calcutta,^[2] a few years ago, under the title of شرح قصیدةء جوهر التّركيب‎. The text is given in Persian verse from the pen of Shiva Ram, the Commentary is by Hayder Ali. This is certainly the best Eastern production on Persian Grammar that I have ever seen : and, although some of its rules do not appear universally to prevail, it is highly deserving of the attention of the Student, and I think of being reprinted, translated, and illustrated, for the sake of Oriental Literature generally. Among its rules, which appear not to be universal, are those copied into this edition (at Artt. 154, 206), stating that the Iz͏̈͏̇āfat does not take place before nouns ending in the یايُ نسبت‎, and the termination انه‎. This is one of the instances in which Doctors may be said to disagree: but, as this grammar was composed in Hindustan, it is highly probable that these rules prevail there: I have on that account, thought it advisable to give them. This work originally belonged to Mr. Lumsden, but is now deposited in the Public Library of Cambridge, (under the class marks Zz, 20, 38.)—4. Another work which I have occasionally consulted, is a small Persian Grammar, written at Calcutta at the suggestion

1. A work on Prosody, of which some use was made by Mr. Gladwin in his work on the Rhetoric and Prosody of the Persians.
2. The copy here referred to has no date or place mentioned.