322
NOTES AND QUEEIES. [io> s. n. OCT. 22, im.
'OMAR KHAYYAM.
IT may be interesting to note the earliest
appearance of any text or translation of
'Omar Khayyam in Europe. Hitherto the
earliest mention of him recorded has been in
Von Hammer Purgstall's ' Geschichte der
Schonen Redekunste Persiens' (Vienna, 1818),
in which translations of twenty-five quatrains
occur at pp. 80-83. From that time until
Prof. E. B. Cowell "introduced" 'Omar to
FitzGerald nothing was heard of him, and
nothing appeared in print until FitzGerald's
first edition in 1859, if we except Garcin de
Tassy's ' Note,' printed from information
supplied to him by FitzGerald in 1857 (Paris).
I have recently had my attention called to
p. 137 of vol. v. (1816) of that interesting
collection published in Vienna by a society
of amateurs (of whom Baron Von Hammer
Purgstall was one), and entitled 'Fund-
gruben des Orients/ Here I find the Persian
text of the quatrain which is No. 411 in the
Lucknow Lithographs of 1878 and 1894, and
No. 89 in the Bodleian MS. from which
FitzGerald worked. To it is appended :
A FRAGMENT OF OMAR KIIIAM.
By H. G. Keene.
'Twas yesterday, I chanced to stop
In passing, at a potter's shop.
The churl was stript, and in a heat
Working some fresh clay with his feet ;
While at each kick, methought the clay,
In gentle accents, seemed to say,
" Not quite so rough ; for, lately, mine Was the same form, my friend, as thine." This is the quatrain which FitzGerald ren- dered in his first edition :
For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day,
I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet clay: And with its all obliterated Tongue
It murmur' d : *' Gently, Brother, gently, pray."
Baldly and literally translated, the quatrain reads :
I saw a potter in the bazar yesterday, he was violently pounding the fresh clay, and that clay said to him in mystic language, " I was once like thee, so treat me well." The Persian text in the 'Fundgruben' is identical with that of the Bodleian MS., the Lucknow Lithograph haying gararm, " reve- rently," for riiku, "well," in the fourth line.
It is further interesting to note that this H. G. Keene was Professor of Arabic and Persian, and Registrar, of Haileybury College, where, in 1825, was born to him the H. G. Keene who became an Indian judge, and wrote his autobiography in ' A Servant of John Com- pany' (London, 1897). This latter, in an article in Macmillaris Magazine for November, 1887, entitled 'Omar Khayyam, 7 attacks the literalness of FitzGerald, and says, " These
quatrains give no accurate representation of
the original in any of their versions," a state-
ment whose gross and glaring inaccuracy ha&
been clearly demonstrated within the last
ten years.
Apart from 'Omar Khayyam, this " potter and the pot" story has been told by Ferid-ud- dm 'Attar in his 'Mantik-ut-tair ' (the 'Par- liament of Birds '), 11. 2345-59, FitzGerald's beautiful translation of which is to be found at p. 467 of vol. ii. of his ' Literary Remains * (Macmillan, 1889).
EDWARD HERON-ALLEN.
EPITAPHIANA.
IN Whitchurch Graveyard, Dorsetshire, is a tomb bearing the following strange conca- tenation of names (I quote from memory) :
Arabella JennerennaRaquetenria Amabel Grunter,, daughter of John Grunter.
This I saw for myself and can vouch for, but not for that which is said to be in Axminster Churchyard or in its neighbourhood, and which runs :
Anna Maria Matilda Sophia Johnson Thompson- Kettleby Rundell.
It sounds like a csesuraless hexameter rur* mad, and I shall never forget the uncon- trollable fits of laughter with which I first heard it from the late Rev. Edward Peck, of Lyme Regis.
In Southwell (Notts) there is also said to- be a sepulchral inscription on the death of a young mother :
Twelve years I was a maid,
One year I was a wife ; Half an hour I was a mother, And then I lost my life.
FKANCIS KING.
The following epitaphs, none of which I have seen in print, were all copied oil the spot. At Snibston, Leicestershire, date 1771 :
A neighbour good, a prudent wife,
A tender parent while she had life,
Always good-natured to the poor,
And freely gave them of her store.
We hope these virtues will her comfort be
When she her dearest Saviour comes to see.
At Dorchester, Oxfordshire, date 1811 : Death spyed these new sprung flowers, which find- ing fit
For blessed Abram's bosom gather'd it. The souls of Babes perfume th' Almighty's Throne Rose Buds are far more sweet than Roses blown.
At All Saints' Church, Hastings- date 1820 :
Here lies an only darling Boy
Who was his widow'd Mother's joy;