The course of true love never did run smooth. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason comprehends. SHAKESPEARE. JAMES ATKINSON, ESQ. OF THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S MEDICAL SERVICE EDITED BY THE REV. J. A. ATKINSON "HONORARY CANON OF MANCHESTER LONDON PUBLISHED BY DAVID NUTT IN THE STRAND 1894 Thin 1-6-1928 15885 EDITOR'S PREFACE My father's translation of Nizámi's poem, Lailí and Majnún, was published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1836. Nizāmī, Nizām-ud-din-Abu Muhammad Ilyas B. Yusuf, is said to have been born in the year of the Hegira 535, either at Tafnish, in the province of Kum, or at Ganjah, a town of Arran, now Elisabetpol. The greater part of his life was spent at Ganjah, where he died in A.H. 599 = A.D. 1202, in his 64th year. His writings are called the 'Panj Ganj,' 'The Five Treasures: = 1. Makhzan-ul-Asrar The Storehouse of Mysteries. Moral and religious maxims, illustrated by anecdotes, written about A.H. 570. 2. Khosrú and Shirin, A.H. 576. 3. Laili and Majnún, his masterpiece, written |