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 RUBAIYAT 
 
 OF 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 TO A. L, 
 
 SAYER of sooth, and Searcher of dim skies! 
 Lover of Son g^ and Sun, and Summertide, 
 For whom so many roses bloomed and died; 
 Tender Interpreter, most sadly wise. 
 Of earth^s dumb, inarticulated cries I 
 
 Time's self cannot estrange us, nor divide; 
 Thy hand still beckons from the garden-side, 
 Through green vine- garlands, when the Winter dies. 
 
 Thy calm lips smile on us, thine eyes are wet ; 
 The nightingale' s full song sobs all through thine, 
 And thine in hers, — part human, part divine ! 
 
 Among the deathless gods thy place is set, 
 
 All-wise, but drowsy with Life*s mingled Wine, 
 
 Laughter and Learning, Passion and Regret. 
 
 ROSAMUND MARRIOTT WATSON. 
 
RUBAIYAT 
 OFOMARKHAYWI 
 
 RENDERED IKTO ENGLISH VERSE 
 BY EDWARD HTZGERALO 
 
 Bsrilaaid, Maine 
 
 Mdcccxcix 
 
This Sixth Edition on 
 l^an Gelder paper con' 
 sists of g2s copies. 
 
 COP f RIGHT 
 
 THOMAS B. MOSHER 
 
 1898 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Toast to Omar KhayyAm . . vii 
 
 THEODORE WATTS-DUNTON. 
 
 Edward FitzGerald . . , xi 
 
 W. IRVING WAY. 
 
 Omar KhayyAm .... 3 
 
 edward fitzgerald. 
 
 RubAiyAt : 
 
 I text of first edition (1859) 24 
 II text of fourth edition (1879) 25 
 
 III NOTES 73 
 
 IV VARIATIONS BETWEEN THE SEC- 
 
 OND, THIRD AND FOURTH 
 EDITIONS . . . . 81 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 RubAiyAt : 
 
 V QUATRAINS PRINTED IN SECOND 
 
 EDITION ONLY (1868) . 9 1 
 
 Bibliography 
 
 95 
 
 To THE Winds 
 
 THEODORE WATTS-DUNTON. 
 
 108 
 
TOAST TO OMAR KHAYYAM 
 AN EAST ANGLIAN ECHO-CHORUS 
 
 INSCRIBED TO OLD OMARIAN FRIENDS IN MEMORY OF 
 HAPPY DAYS BY OUSE AND CAM 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 IN ibis red wine, where Memory* s eyes seem glowing, 
 And days when wines were bright by Ouse and Cam, 
 And Norfolk' s foaming nectar glittered, showing 
 What beard of gold John Barleycorn was growing, 
 We drink to thee, right heir of Nature's knowing, 
 
 Omar Khayydm ! 
 
 Star-ga^er, who canst read, when Night is strowing 
 Her scriptured orbs on Time's wide oriflamme, 
 Nature* s proud blazon: "Who shall bless or damn? 
 
 Life, Death, and Doom are all of my bestowing! " 
 
 Chorus: Omar Khayydm! 
 
 11. 
 
 Toet, whose stream of balm and music, flowing 
 Through Persian gardens, widened till it swam — 
 A fragrant tide no bank of Time shall dam — 
 
 Through Suffolk meads, where gorse and may were 
 blowing. 
 
 Chorus: Omar Khai^ydm! 
 
TOAST TO OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 ///. 
 
 U^bo blent tby song xoitb sound of cattle lowing^ 
 And caw of rooks tbat percb on ewe and ranij 
 And bymn of larky and bleat of orphan lamby 
 
 And swisb of scythe in BredfieWs dewy mowing? 
 
 Chorus : Omar Khayydm ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 *Twas Fitly ^^Old Fit{'* whose knowledge, farther going 
 Than lore of Omar y "IVisdom's starry Cham,^ 
 Made richer still thine opulent epigram : 
 
 Sowed seed from seed of thine immortal sowing. 
 
 Chorus: Omar Khayydm! 
 
 In this red wine, where Metnorys eyes seem glowingy 
 
 And days when wines were bright by Ouse and Cam, 
 And Norfolk^ s foaming nectar glitter edy showing 
 What beard of gold John Barleycorn was growing, 
 We drink to thee tilly bark ! the cock is crowing ! 
 
 Omar Khayydm ! 
 
 THEODORE WATTS-DUNTON. 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
Note.— This brief sketch of Edward 
 FitzGerald is drawn mainly from his 
 Letters and Literary Remains (1889), 
 and the Letters (1894), edited by Mr. 
 William Aldis Wright; and from the 
 articles by Mr. Edmund Gosse in the 
 Fortnightly Review for July, 1889; Mr. 
 Francis Hindes Groome in Blackwood's 
 Magai^ine for November, 1889 ; and Mr. 
 Edward Clodd in the English Illustrated 
 ZMaga7;ine for February, 1894. 
 
^;v^. 
 
 I// 
 
 EDWARD FITZGERALD. 
 
 EDWARD FitzGerald was bom at Bred- 
 field House in Suffolk, England, on 
 March 31, 1809. His father was John 
 Purcell, who, marrying his cousin Mary 
 Frances FitzGerald, took her name and 
 arms upon the death of her father in 18 18. 
 Of Edward's father we know but little, and 
 that little does not concern the present 
 sketch. But as to his mother we learn 
 from her son, in a letter written to Fanny 
 Kemble, that " She was a remarkable 
 woman .... and as I constantly 
 believe in outward Beauty as an Index of 
 a Beautiful Soul within, I used sometimes 
 to wonder what feature in her face betrayed 
 what was not good in her Character. I 
 think (as usual) the Lips ; there was a twist 
 of Mischief about them, now and then, like 
 that in — the Tail of a Cat! — otherwise so 
 smooth and amiable." We must respect 
 
 »JaeiVJtei*i.TX OFCALiFOlfe^iALlOfc^^^:^ 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 FitzGerald's love for the "old Capitals for 
 Nouns " in this instance if in no other. 
 
 In 1816 Edward FitzGerald went with 
 his parents to France, and they settled for 
 a time at St. Germain. Later, the family 
 removed to Paris, and lived for a time in the 
 house once occupied by Robespierre. " Even 
 at this early period," says Mr. Wright, that 
 "vivacious humor" began to show itself 
 which afterwards led the Laureate to say he 
 had "never known one of so fine and deli- 
 cate a wit." From 182 1 to 1826 he was in 
 school at Bury St. Edmunds ; and at Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, from February, 1826, 
 till January, 1830, when, after some doubt 
 as to passing at all, he " modestly went out 
 in the Poll." 'During his school days he had 
 the good fortune to have as school fellows, 
 first, James Spedding, W. B. Donne, J. M. 
 Kemble, and later, John Allen, W. H. 
 Thompson, and W. M. Thackeray. Just 
 before leaving Cambridge, or shortly there- 
 after, he made the acquaintance of the three 
 Tennysons, of whom Frederick and Alfred 
 remained his life-long friends. The latter he 
 remembered as a " sort of Hyperion." 
 
 Very soon after leaving Trinity College he 
 went to visit an aunt in Paris, where he was 
 joined by Thackeray. The union of the 
 two friends at this time was destined to be 
 
 xU 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 of short duration, however, as Thackeray 
 returned suddenly to England, the bearer 
 of a letter from FitzGerald to John Allen, 
 one of his earliest, and at this time his 
 chief, correspondent. For this friend Allen 
 he formed a lasting regard of the warmest 
 character. Writing to him in September, 
 1834, he says: "I am an idle fellow, of a 
 very ladylike turn of sentiment, and my 
 friendships are more like loves, I think." 
 FitzGerald was " incomparable in friendship," 
 and *' his fidelity was unconditional, unobtru- 
 sive, uncomplaining;" to use the words of a 
 writer in the Edinburgh Review, "he was 
 willing to give much and receive little; he 
 consented even to be forgotten, while he 
 never forgot." In May (1830) he left France, 
 and late in the year he was at Naseby, where 
 his father had a considerable estate, Mr. 
 Wright tells us, "including the famous 
 battlefield" over which he was to take 
 Carlyle later in life when the latter was 
 preparing his Cromwell Letters for publi- 
 cation. Here he made his earliest attempt 
 in verse, which appeared anonymously in 
 the AthencBum of July 9, 1831, and excited 
 the curiosity and envy of Charles Lamb, " the 
 frolic and the gentle." On leaving Naseby 
 he made a short visit to Southampton, and 
 a little later was with Thackeray again, in 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 London. But during his visits to other 
 friends and acquaintances he never lost 
 touch with his friend Allen, for love of 
 whom he felt so "spurred on by a sort of 
 gathering up of feelings" that he vented 
 himself in a letter at least once a week. 
 He had been "lapped" in Shakespeare*s 
 sonnets — "they seem all stuck about my 
 heart," he writes, " like the ballads that used 
 to be on the walls of London." His letters 
 at this time (i 831 -1834) are sprinkled with 
 references to his reading that let one into his 
 confidence, but give no hint as to an early 
 development of his taste for the literature of 
 that country which lies "East of Suez and 
 the Ten Commandments." " Thackeray has 
 illustrated my Undine in about fourteen 
 little colored drawings — very nicely," he 
 writes to Allen in a letter dated June ^i, 
 1834. Here's a book will excite the cupidity 
 of bibliomaniacs if it ever appears in the 
 market. 
 
 In 1835-6-7 FitzGerald was living with 
 his father in Boulge Hall, Woodbridge, and 
 reading Southey*s Life of Cowper, "not a 
 book to be read by every man at the fall of 
 the leaf;" Plutarch's Lives, "one of the 
 most delightful books I ever read ; " and the 
 Idylls of Theocritus, " which harmonize with 
 the opening of the fine weather." In April, 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 1838, he was in London again, "with a kind 
 of influenza, which has blocked up most of 
 my senses, and put a wet blanket over my 
 brains," a "state of head'* which was not 
 improved by reading a book by an English- 
 man (Carlyle) on the French Revolution — 
 "written in the German style." Here he 
 received a visit from Alfred Tennyson, "very 
 droll, and very waywarc^: and much sitting 
 up of nights till two and three in the morn- 
 ing with pipes in our mouths : at which good 
 hour we would get Alfred to give us some 
 of his magic music, which he does between 
 growling and smoking; and so to bed.*' 
 Much of his time in London was spent in 
 the art galleries, "delighting in the mysteri- 
 ous charms" of Raphael's Madonnas, with 
 "faces beyond the discomposure of passion, 
 and their very draperies betoken an Elysian 
 atmosphere where wind never blew." Early 
 in 1839 he was back in the country writing 
 to his " dear Allen " that he was reading all 
 the morning "about Nero in Tacitus lying 
 at full length on a bench in the garden: a 
 nightingale singing, and red anemones eyeing 
 the sun manfully not far off." A "funny 
 mixture" he thought this, "Nero, and the 
 delicacy of Spring." Lunching on "Cam- 
 bridge cream cheese ; " riding across country ; 
 "spudding'* up weeds from the grass; he 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 would sit down to write to his friend, while 
 listening to the incessant chatter of "the 
 most delightful little girl in the world." 
 "So runs the world away. You think I 
 live in Epicurean ease, but this happens to 
 be a jolly day; one is not always well, or 
 tolerably good, the weather not always clear, 
 nor nightingales singing, nor Tacitus full of 
 pleasant atrocities. But such as life is, I 
 believe I have got hold of a good end of it." 
 And in such harmless wise, this ** peace- 
 able, affectionate, and ultra-modest man," as 
 Carlyle called him, went on living *'his inno- 
 cent far niente life " for another decade or 
 more. He had not yet reached the Persian 
 stage; he seemed to have no share in the 
 ambitions and strivings of his old friends. If 
 now and then he fell in with a celebrity who 
 was moved to wish for a closer acquaintance 
 with him, he would rarely venture out of his 
 retirement to cultivate the intimacy by con- 
 tact, preferring to remain in his hermitage, 
 and to bombard his newly made acquaintance 
 with letters that are among the most human 
 and fascinating to be found in our epistolary 
 literature. It was sufficient if he could induce 
 an old friend, or a congenial new one, to run 
 down to the country and pass a few days 
 with him: and if that friend happened to 
 be Thackeray, or the Rev. Geo. Crabbe, 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 they would discuss music (he was a com- 
 poser of no mean ability, and an excellent 
 performer on the piano), the newest books, 
 and mutual friends, with equal interest and 
 relish. Spedding's forehead and his view 
 of Bacon's virtue — "so rarified that the 
 common consciences of men cannot endure 
 it" — were unfailing sources of amusement. 
 "Thackeray and I occasionally amuse our- 
 selves with the idea of Spedding's forehead," 
 he writes to F. Tennyson; "we find it some- 
 how or other in all things, just peering out 
 of all things: you see it in a milestone, 
 Thackeray says. He also draws the forehead 
 rising with a sober light over Mont Blanc, 
 and reflected in the lake of Geneva." This 
 target bobs up in " Old Fitz's " letters repeat- 
 edly, but never without his taking a shot at 
 it. Sometimes he regretted the postage he 
 paid on these levities, as when he paid is. yd. 
 on a letter to Tennyson in Italy, which was 
 unworthy to travel as far as Hindostan at 
 that price. In a note on the difference in 
 wigs, he says the greatest was of the kind 
 worn by a famous General of the day, which 
 he "used to take off his head after the 
 fatigue of the battle, and hand over to his 
 valet to have the bullets combed out of it." 
 
 From 1838 to 1853 FitzGerald lived in 
 a little one-storey cottage, near Boulge 
 
 xvU 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 Park Gates, "with its low-pitched thatch 
 roof forming eyebrows over the brown- 
 shuttered windows." But during all these 
 years he had made no serious attempt to 
 invade the province of letters, until 1851, 
 when he published Euphranor, a Platonic 
 dialogue on chivalry. This diminutive book 
 contains a description of a boat race which 
 the late Laureate considered one of our most 
 beautiful pieces of English prose. Indeed, 
 FitzGerald himself thought it a pretty 
 specimen of "chiseird cherry stone." In 
 1852 he published Polonius, a collection of 
 wise saws, some of which are his own, others 
 from Bacon, Carlyle, etc., and all prefaced 
 with a learned and felicitous introduction by 
 FitzGerald himself. In the year following 
 appeared his Six Dramas of Calderon; and 
 in 1856, Salaman and Absal, translated from 
 the Persian of Jami — afterwards "boiled 
 down to three-fourths" and clapt on the 
 back of Omar (1879). ^^^ ^^59 came the 
 first edition of the Rubaiyat: in 1865, two 
 more plays from Calderon, without title-page 
 or date; and Agamemnon. In 1880-188 1 
 the two parts of King CEdipus were pub- 
 lished; and in 1882 he edited Readings 
 in Crabbe. Meanwhile the Rubaiyat had 
 reached a fourth edition (1879); ^^^ t^e Sea 
 Words and Phrases along the Suffolk Coast 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 had been contributed to the East Anglican 
 in 1868-1869. The Sea Words and the Six 
 Dramas are the only published works that 
 FitzGerald ever put his name to. As a 
 lifelong friend remarked, "he took more 
 pains to avoid fame than others do to 
 seek it." 
 
 None of his books ever brought him 
 any money: indeed, it was sufficient for his 
 purpose, being always in easy circumstances, 
 if he could get them printed to use as gifts 
 to friends. ** Some pretty verses" — Virgil's 
 Garden — sent to Temple Bar^ "repaid me 
 (as I deserved) with a dozen copies." So he 
 writes to Prof. C. E. Norton, 
 
 In 1855 FitzGerald was living in an 
 old farmhouse, Farlingay Hall, sometimes 
 playfully called Farthing-Cake-Hall, where 
 Carlyle visited him; and for several years 
 his time was divided between this residence, 
 Bredfield Vicarage — the home of his friend, 
 the Rev. George Crabbe — and the homes of 
 other friends in town and country. In i860 
 he removed to Woodbridge, taking lodgings 
 in the home of a Mr. Berry. But Berry, 
 who was a weak creature of diminutive 
 stature, taking as his second wife, in 1873, 
 a "buxom widow weighing fourteen stone," 
 was thereafter nicknamed by FitzGerald 
 ** Old Gooseberry," which was more than 
 
 zix 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 the wife could stand, and the lodger was 
 obliged to move. 
 
 In 1867 FitzGerald had become owner 
 of a yacht, which he named the Scandal — 
 because that "was the staple product of 
 Woodbridge," and much of his time was 
 passed cruising off the Suffolk coast, occa- 
 sionally accompanied by a friend or two, and 
 always with plenty of books. 
 
 His next removal was to Little Grange, 
 a house built some years prior to 1873, 
 where he passed his remaining years — with 
 annual visits to his friend Crabbe at Merton 
 Rectory. It was on his annual visit to this 
 friend that FitzGerald died, on the 14th of 
 June, 1883. He rarely went to London in 
 late years, as, though " no paragon " himself, 
 the wickedness of London appalled him, he 
 said. Consistent to the last, his gravestone 
 in the little churchyard at Boulge bears, by 
 his direction, this simple inscription: "It is 
 He that hath made us and not we ourselves." 
 
 Mr. Francis Hindes Groome has given us, 
 in "An Aftermath," already referred to, what 
 is probably the most faithful portrait of the 
 English Omar we can hope to have. "His 
 simplicity dated from very early times," says 
 Mr. Groome. " For when he was at Trinity, 
 his mother called on him in her coach-and- 
 four, and sent a gyp to ask him to step down 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 to the college-gate, but he could not come-^ 
 his only pair of shoes was at the cobbler's." 
 A tall, sea-bronzed man, always careless 
 about his dress, he could be seen late in 
 life, "walking down into Woodbridge, with 
 an old Inverness cape, slippers on feet, and 
 a handkerchief, very likely, tied over his 
 hat. Yet one always recognized in him the 
 Hidalgo. Never was there a more perfect 
 gentleman. His courtesy came out even in 
 his rebukes." Eccentric he was certainly, as 
 were all his family, of whom he once said, 
 " We are all mad, but with this difference — 
 / know that I am." To a friend who had 
 complained of symptoms of heart disease 
 FitzGerald offered his congratulations, adding 
 that he had it himself, and he was glad of 
 it, for "when he came to die, he didn't want 
 to have a lot of women messing about him." 
 On the death of his mother he married the 
 daughter of his friend Bernard Barton, the 
 Quaker poet; but marriage proving incom- 
 patible with his mode of life, a separation 
 was agreed on, FitzGerald behaving in a 
 manner as honorable to himself as it was 
 generous to his wife. 
 
 In 1852, when about to depart for Amer- 
 ica, Thackeray wrote to his friend "Old 
 Fitz," as he called him: "If anything 
 happens to me, you by these presents 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 friust get ready the Book of Ballads which 
 
 you like And I should like my 
 
 daughters to remember that you are the 
 best and oldest friend their Father ever 
 
 had The great comfort I have 
 
 in thinking about my dear old boy is that 
 recollection of our youth when we loved each 
 other as I do now while I write Farewell." 
 
 FitzGerald early in life became a vegeta- 
 rian, to which fact Lord Tennyson alludes 
 in his line, 
 
 " IVbo live on milk and meal and grass; " 
 But none can say "that Lenten fare makes 
 Lenten thought" in his case. He had a 
 nice taste in art, as in music, and delighted 
 to doctor his pictures and make sketches of 
 them for his friends. In a letter to Fanny 
 Kemble begging her to sit for her " Photo," 
 he directed her, among other things, to wear 
 ♦* nothing nearer white than such material as 
 (I think) Brussels lace (?) of a yellowish or 
 even dirty hue; of which there may be a 
 fringe between dress and skin. I have 
 
 advised men friends to sit in a dirty 
 
 shirt." His taste in books was peculiar if 
 not unique. He had an original way of 
 making over a book — taking a work in two 
 volumes and cutting out what he considered 
 the padding, or useless portions, and binding 
 the remainder into one volume. Mr. Wright 
 
 xzu 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 owns a MS. volume, in which FitzGerald pre- 
 served many of his favorite readings, called 
 " ' Half Hours with the Worst Authors,' and 
 very many fine things by them." Horace, — 
 "so sensible, elegant, agreeable, and some- 
 times even grand," he never could " take up 
 with." But Lucretius was nearly always, 
 and very appropriately, the companion of his 
 cruises in the Scandal, He "never could 
 read Miss Austen, nor (later) the famous 
 George Elliot." And as he got "old and 
 dry," he was half afraid to touch Thackeray 
 as he looked at him on the shelf. But 
 Maria Edgeworth, and Crabbe, he admired 
 exceedingly; and Bums, whose "red, red 
 rose has burned itself into one's silly soul 
 in spite of all." 
 
 Ten years ago, a lawyer high in his 
 profession, a scholar familiar with much 
 that is best in English poetry, writing to 
 a friend on another matter, inquired, "Do 
 you know anything about Omar Khayyam, 
 a Persian poet, who has been translated 
 by somebody?" FitzGerald's matchless 
 quatrains were twenty-five years old at that 
 time, yet comparatively unknown. The 
 story has often been told how, in 1859, 
 " in beggarly disguise as to paper and print, 
 but magnificent vesture of verse," i appeared 
 
 I Edinburgh *J{^ewew, October, 1894. 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 what the late Laureate has distinguished as 
 the 
 
 " . . . . Golden Eastern lay. 
 Than which I know no version done 
 
 In English more divinely well; 
 A planet equal to the sun 
 
 Which cast it, that large infidel 
 Your Omar." .... 
 
 The two hundred and fifty' copies were 
 a drug in the market; and in despair, the 
 bookseller, eight years later, threw the entire 
 remainder into the box outside his door, 
 marked "all these a penny each." Here 
 Rossetti and Swinburne found them, so the 
 legend goes, and shortly the edition was 
 exhausted. To-day a London bookseller 
 asks twenty guineas and upwards for a copy. 
 
 Carlyle was twelve years finding out that 
 his friend FitzGerald was the translator of 
 Omar. To Professor Cowell, then in India, 
 (now at Cambridge), FitzGerald wrote, in 
 May, 1857, "you would be sorry too to think 
 that Omar breathes a sort of consolation to 
 me 1 Poor fellow ; I think of him and Oliver 
 Basselin, and Anacreon; lighter shadows 
 among the shades, perhaps, over which 
 Lucretius presides so grimly." 
 
 Sept. 3, 1858, he again writes to Professor 
 
 I Two hundred copies is the number usually given. 
 I believe he printed two hundred and fifty, of which 
 two hundred went to Quaritch. 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 Cowell that he had given the manuscript 
 of Omar to Parker in January, "he saying 
 Fraser was agreeable to take it. Since then 
 I have heard no more; so as, I suppose, 
 they don't care about it; and may be quite 
 right." Many of the quatrains, the translator 
 says, "are mashed together; and something 
 lost, I doubt, of Omar's simplicity." What 
 modesty! FitzGerald has crystallized the 
 five hundred quatrains of the original into 
 the one hundred and one quatrains of the 
 fourth version as reprinted in the present 
 edition. 
 
 Swinburne has expressed the wish that 
 " the soul and spirit " of Omar's thought may 
 "be tasted in that most exquisite English 
 translation, sovereignly faultless in form and 
 colour of verse, which gives to those ignorant 
 of the East a relish of the treasure and a 
 delight in the beauty of its wisdom." 
 
 Omar was finally recovered from Parker 
 and given to Mr. Quaritch; but, as we have 
 seen, it was not immediately successful, 
 and in 'another letter to Professor Cowell, 
 FitzGerald writes: "I hardly know why I 
 print any of these things, which nobody 
 
 buys I suppose very few people 
 
 have ever taken such pains in translation as 
 I have: though certainly not to be literal. 
 But at all cost a thing must live: with a 
 
EDWARD FITZGERALD 
 
 transfusion of one's own worse Life if one 
 can't retain the original's better. Better a 
 live sparrow than a stuffed eagle." One 
 who is curious to understand FitzGerald's 
 pains in translation may read quatrain XI 
 of the First, and the corresponding quatrain, 
 XII, of the Fourth version as printed in 
 the present edition. Then let him compare 
 them with the corresponding quatrain of the 
 Second version, which reads as follows : 
 
 "Hire -with a little ^read beneath the Bough, 
 A Flash of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou 
 
 Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
 Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow I " 
 
 By some, the second version of this and 
 
 several other quatrains are preferred to the 
 
 corresponding quatrains in other versions. 
 
 The interest in Omar and his translator has 
 
 been of amazing growth since June 1883. 
 
 To-day London has her Omar Khayyam 
 
 Club, which does equal honor to FitzGerald 
 
 and the Persian philosopher: and as Mr. 
 
 Richard Le Gallienne, at a recent meeting 
 
 of the club, sang of him of the east, so may 
 
 we sing of him of England : 
 
 " O Life that is so warm, 'twas Omar's too; 
 O Wine that is so red, he drank of you : 
 
 Yet life and wine must all be put away. 
 And we go sleep with Omar — yea, 'tis true." 
 
 W. IRVING WAY. 
 January, 1898. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM 
 
I can never forget my emotions when 
 I first saw FitzGerald's translations of 
 the Quatrains. . . . The exquisite 
 beauty, the faultless form, the singular 
 grace of those amazing stanzas, were 
 not more wonderful than the depth and 
 breadth of their profound philosophy, 
 their knowledge of life, their dauntless 
 courage, their serene facing of the 
 ultimate problems of life and of death. 
 . . . He will hold a place forever 
 among that limited number who, like 
 Lucretius and Epicurus — without rage 
 or defiance, even without unbecoming 
 mirth — look deep into the tangled 
 mysteries of things; refuse credence to 
 the absurd, and allegiance to arrogant 
 authority ; sufficiently conscious of falli- 
 bility to be tolerant of all opinions ; with 
 a faith too wide for doctrine and a 
 benevolence untrammeled by creed ; too 
 wise to be wholly poets, and yet too 
 surely poets to be implacably wise. 
 
 JOHN HAY. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAM, 
 
 THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. 
 
 OMAR KhayyAm was born at Naishapur 
 in Khorasan in the latter half of our 
 Eleventh, and died within the First Quarter 
 of our Twelfth Century. The slender Story 
 of his Life is curiously twined about that of 
 two other very considerable Figures in their 
 Time and Country: one of whom tells the 
 Story of all Three. This was Nizam ul Mulk, 
 Vizyr to Alp Arslan the Son, and Malik 
 Shah the Grandson, of Toghrul Beg the 
 Tartar, who had wrested Persia from the 
 feeble Successor of Mahmiid the Great, 
 and founded that Seljukian Dynasty which 
 finally roused Europe into the Crusades. 
 This Nizdm ul Mulk, in his Wasiyat — or 
 Testament — which he wrote and left as a 
 Memorial for future Statesmen — relates the 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 following, as quoted in the Calcutta RevieWy 
 No. 59, from Mirkhond*s History of the 
 Assassins. 
 
 " * One of the greatest of the wise men 
 of Khorassan was the Imam Mowaffak 
 of Naishdpiir, a man highly honoured and 
 reverenced, — may God rejoice his soul; his 
 illustrious years exceeded eighty-five, and it 
 was the universal belief that every boy who 
 read the Koran or studied the traditions in his 
 presence, would assuredly attain to honour 
 and happiness. For this cause did my father 
 send me from Tus to Naishapur with Abd- 
 us-samad, the doctor of law, that I might 
 employ myself in study and learning under 
 the guidance of that illustrious teacher. 
 Towards me he ever turned an eye of 
 favour and kindness, and as his pupil I 
 felt for him extreme affection and devotion, 
 so that I passed four years in his service. 
 When I first came there, I found two 
 other pupils of mine own age newly arrived. 
 Hakim Omar Khayyam, and the ill-fated 
 Ben Sabbah. Both were endowed with 
 sharpness of wit and the highest natural 
 powers ; and we three formed a close friend- 
 ship together. When the Imam rose from 
 his lectures, they used to join me, and we 
 repeated to each other the lessons we had 
 heard. Now Omar was a native of Naishdpur, 
 while Hasan Ben Sabbah's father was one 
 Ali, a man of austere life and practice, but 
 heretical in his creed and doctrine. One 
 day Hasan said to me and to Khajrydm, 
 * It is a universal belief that the pupils of 
 the Im^m Mowaffak will attain to fortune. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 Now, even if we all do not attain thereto, 
 without doubt one of us will; what then 
 shall be our mutual pledge and bond?' 
 We answered, *Be it what you please/ 
 *Well,* he said, 'let us make a vow, that 
 to whomsoever this fortune falls, he shall 
 share it equally with the rest, and reserve 
 no pre-eminence for himself.* ' Be it so,* we 
 both replied, and on those terms we mutually 
 pledged our words. Years rolled on, and I 
 went from Khorassan to Transoxiana, and 
 wandered to Ghazni and Cabul; and when 
 I returned, I was invested with office, and 
 rose to be administrator of affairs during the 
 Sultanate of Sultan Alp Arslan.* 
 
 "He goes on to state, that years passed 
 by, and both his old school-friends found 
 him out, and came and claimed a share in 
 his good fortune, according to the school-day 
 vow. The Vizier was generous and kept 
 his word. Hasan demanded a place in the 
 government, which the Sultan granted at 
 the Vizier's request; but discontented with 
 a gradual rise, he plunged into the maze of 
 intrigue of an oriental court, and, failing in 
 a base attempt to supplant his benefactor, 
 he was disgraced and fell. After many 
 mishaps and wanderings, Hasan became the 
 head of the Persian sect of the Ismailians^ — 
 a party of fanatics who had long murmured 
 in obscurity, but rose to an evil eminence 
 under the guidance of his strong and evil 
 will. In A. D. 1090, he seized the castle of 
 Alamiit, in the province of Rudbar, which 
 lies in the mountainous tract south of the 
 Caspian Sea; and it was from this mountain 
 home he obtained that evil celebrity among 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 the Crusaders as the OLD MAN OF THE 
 MOUNTAINS, and spread terror through 
 the Mohammedan world; and it is yet dis- 
 puted whether the word Assassin, which they 
 have left in the language of modern Europe 
 as their dark memorial, is derived from the 
 hashish^ or opiate of hemp-leaves (the Indian 
 bhang) J with which they maddened themselves 
 to the sullen pitch of oriental desperation, 
 or from the name of the founder of the 
 dynasty, whom we have seen in his quiet 
 collegiate days, at Naishapur. One of the 
 countless victims of the Assassin's dagger 
 was Nizam-ul-Mulk himself, the old school- 
 boy friend. I 
 
 " Omar Khayyam also came to the Vizier 
 to claim the share; but not to ask for title 
 or office. * The greatest boon you can confer 
 on me,' he said, ' is to let me live in a corner 
 under the shadow of your fortune, to spread 
 wide the advantages of Science, and pray for 
 your long life and prosperity.' The Vizier 
 tells us, that, when he found Omar was 
 really sincere in his refusal, he pressed him 
 no further, but granted him a yearly pension 
 of 1200 mithkdls of gold, from the treasury 
 of Naishapur. 
 
 " At Naishapur thus lived and died Omar 
 Khayyam, 'busied,' adds the Vizier, 'in 
 winning knowledge of every kind, and 
 
 I Some of Omar's Rubiiydt warn us of the danger 
 of Greatness, the instability of Fortune, and while 
 advocating Charity to all Men, recommending us to be 
 too intimate with none. Attdr makes Nizdm-ul-Mulk 
 use the very words of his friend Omar [Rub. xxviii.], 
 "When Nizdm-ul-Mulk was in the Agony (of Death) 
 he said, * Oh God ! I am passing away in the hand of the 
 Wind.' " 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 especially in Astronomy, wherein he attained 
 to a very high pre-eminence. Under the 
 Sultanate of Malik Shah, he came to Merv, 
 and obtained great praise for his proficiency 
 in science, and the Sultan showered favours 
 upon him.* 
 
 " When Malik Shah determined to reform 
 the calendar, Omar was one of the eight 
 learned men employed to do it; the result 
 was the Jaldli era (so called from Jalal-u-din, 
 one of the king's names) — *a computation 
 of time,* says Gibbon, 'which surpasses the 
 Julian, and approaches the accuracy of the 
 Gregorian style.* He is also the author 
 of some astronomical tables, entitled Zfji- 
 Malikshahf,*' and the French have lately 
 republished and translated an Arabic Treatise 
 of his on Algebra. 
 
 " His Takhallus or poetical name (Khay- 
 yam) signifies a Tent-maker, and he is said 
 to have at one time exercised that trade, 
 perhaps before Nizam-ul-Mulk*s generosity 
 raised him to independence. Many Persian 
 poets similarly derive their names from their 
 occupation ; thus we have Attdr, * a druggist,' 
 Assar, *an oil presser,* &c.i Omar himself 
 alludes to his name in the following whimsical 
 lines: — 
 
 * Khavydm, who stitched the tents of science, 
 Has fallen in griefs furnace and been suddenly burned ; 
 The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life, 
 And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing ! ' 
 
 "We have only one more anecdote to 
 give of his Life, and that relates to the 
 
 I Though all these, like our Smiths, Archers, Millers, 
 Fletchers, &c., may simply retain the Surname of an 
 hereditary calling. 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 close; it is told in the anonymous preface 
 which is sometimes prefixed to his poems; 
 it has been printed in the Persian in the 
 appendix to Hyde's Vetertini Persarum 
 Religioy p. 529; and D'Herbelot alludes to 
 it in his Biblioth^que, under Khiam : i — 
 
 " *It is written in the chronicles of the 
 ancients that this King of the Wise, Omar 
 Khayydm, died at Naishapur in the year of 
 the Hegira, 517 (a. d. 1123); in science he 
 was unrivalled, — the very paragon of his 
 age. Khwajah Nizami of Samarcand, who 
 was one of his pupils, relates the following 
 story: *I often used to hold conversations 
 with my teacher, Omar Khayyam, in a 
 garden; and one day he said to me, *My 
 tomb shall be in a spot where the north 
 wind may scatter roses over it.* I wondered 
 at the words he spake, but I knew that his 
 were no idle words.2 Years after, when I 
 
 1 "Philosophe Musulman qui a vecu en Odeur de 
 Saintet^ vers la Fin du premier et le Commencement 
 du second Si^cle," no part of which, except the " Phi- 
 losophe," can apply to our Khayyim. 
 
 2 The Rashness of the Words, according to D'Her- 
 belot, consisted in being so opposed to those in the 
 Kordn: "No Man knows where he shall die." — 
 This Story of Omar reminds me of another so 
 naturally — and, when one remembers how wide of 
 his himible mark the noble sailor aimed — so 
 pathetically told by Captain Cook — ^not by Doctor 
 Hawkesworth— in his Second Voyage. When leaving 
 Ulietea, "Oreo's last request was for me to return. 
 When he saw he could not obtain that promise, 
 he asked the name of my Marai — Burying-place. 
 As strange a question as this was, I hesitated not a 
 moment to tell him 'Stepney,' the parish in which 
 I live when in London. I was made to repeat it 
 several times over till they could pronounce it; and 
 then 'Stepney Marai no Toote' was echoed through 
 a hundred mouths at once. I afterwards found the 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 chanced to revisit Naishapur, I went to his 
 final resting-place, and lo! it was just outside 
 a garden, and trees laden with fruit stretched 
 their boughs over the garden wall, and 
 dropped their flowers upon his tomb, so as 
 the stone was hidden under them.' " 
 
 Thus far — without fear of Trespass — 
 from the Calcutta Review. The writer of 
 it, on reading in India this story of Omar's 
 Grave, was reminded, he says, of Cicero's 
 Account of finding Archimedes' Tomb at 
 Syracuse, buried in grass and weeds. I 
 think Thorwaldsen desired to have roses 
 grow over him; a wish religiously fulfilled 
 for him to the present day, I believe. 
 However, to return to Omar. 
 
 Though the Sultan "shower'd Favours 
 upon him," Omar's Epicurean Audacity 
 of Thought and Speech caused him to be 
 regarded askance in his own Time and 
 Country. He is said to have been espe- 
 cially hated and dreaded by the Siifis, 
 whose Practice he ridiculed, and whose 
 Faith amounts to little more than his own 
 when stript of the Mysticism and formal 
 recognition of Islamism under which Omar 
 would not hide. Their Poets, including 
 
 same question had been put to Mr. Forster by a man 
 on shore; but he gave a different, and indeed more 
 proper answer, by saying, 'No man who used the sea 
 could say where he should be buried.' " 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 Hafiz, who are (with the exception of 
 Firdausi) the most considerable in Persia, 
 borrowed largely, indeed, of Omar's mate- 
 rial, but turning it to a mystical Use more 
 convenient to Themselves and the People 
 they addressed; a People quite as quick 
 of Doubt as of Belief; as keen of Bodily 
 Sense as of Intellectual; and delighting in 
 a cloudy composition of both, in which 
 they could float luxuriously between Heaven 
 and Earth, and this World and the Next, 
 on the wings of a poetical expression, that 
 might serve indifferently for either. Omar 
 was too honest of Heart as well as of 
 Head for this. Having failed (however 
 mistakenly) of finding any Providence but 
 Destiny, and any World but This, he set 
 . about making the most of it; preferring 
 rather to soothe the Soul through the 
 Senses into Acquiescence with Things as 
 he saw them, than to perplex it with vain 
 disquietude after what they might be. It 
 has been seen, however, that his Worldly 
 Ambition was not exorbitant; and he very 
 likely takes a humorous or perverse pleasure 
 in exalting the gratification of Sense above 
 that of the Intellect, in which he must 
 have taken great delight, although it failed 
 to answer the Questions in which he, in 
 common with all men, was most vitally 
 interested. 
 
 10 
 
OMAR KHAYYXm 
 
 For whatever Reason, however, Omar, 
 as before said, has never been popular in 
 his own Country, and therefore has been 
 but scantily transmitted abroad. The MSS. 
 of his Poems, mutilated beyond the average 
 Casualties of Oriental Transcription, are so 
 rare in the East as scarce to have reacht 
 Westward at all, in spite of all the acqui- 
 sitions of Arms and Science. There is 
 no copy at the India House, none at the 
 Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris. We know 
 but of one in England: No. 140 of the 
 Ouseley MSS. at the Bodleian, written at 
 Shiraz, A. D. 1460. This contains but 158 
 Rubaiyat. One in the Asiatic Society's 
 Library at Calcutta (of which we have 
 a Copy), contains (and yet incomplete) 
 516, though swelled to that by all kinds 
 of Repetition and Corruption. So Von 
 Hammer speaks of his Copy as containing 
 about 200, while Dr. Sprenger catalogues 
 the Lucknow MS. at double that number.^ 
 The Scribes, too, of the Oxford and Calcutta 
 MSS. seem to do their Work under a sort 
 of Protest ; each beginning with a Tetrastich 
 (whether genuine or not), taken out of its 
 
 I " Since this Paper was written " (adds the Reviewer 
 in a note), "we have met with a Copy of a very rare 
 Edition, printed at Calcutta in 1836. This contains 
 438 Tetrastichs, with an Appendix containing 54 others 
 not found in some MSS." 
 
 II 
 
 "• '-''■'■-^^^i^^ii^i^kmjj^j^^i 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 alphabetical order; the Oxford with one of 
 Apology; the Calcutta with one of Expost- 
 ulation, supposed (says a Notice prefixed 
 to the MS.) to have arisen from a Dream, in 
 which Omar*s mother asked about his future 
 fate. It may be rendered thus : — 
 
 " Oh Thou who bum'st in Heart for those who burn 
 " In Hell, whose fires thyself shall feed in turn ; 
 " How long be crying, * Mercy on them, God ! ' 
 "Why, who art Thou to teach, and He to learn?" 
 
 The Bodleian Quatrain pleads Pantheism 
 by way of Justification. 
 
 " If I myself upon a looser Creed 
 " Have loosely strung the Jewel of Good deed, 
 " Let this one thing for my Atonement plead : 
 " That One for Two I never did mis-read." 
 
 ' The Reviewer,! to whom I owe the 
 Particulars of Omar's Life, concludes his 
 Review by comparing him with Lucretius, 
 both as to natural Temper and Genius, 
 and as acted upon by the Circumstances 
 in which he lived. Both indeed were men 
 of subtle, strong, and cultivated Intellect, 
 fine Imagination, and Hearts passionate 
 for Truth and Justice; who justly revolted 
 from their Country's false Religion, and 
 false, or foolish. Devotion to it; but who 
 fell short of replacing what they subverted 
 
 I Professor Cowell. 
 
 12 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 by such better Hope as others, with no 
 better Revelation to guide them, had yet 
 made a Law to themselves. Lucretius, 
 indeed, with such material as Epicurus 
 furnished, satisfied himself with the theory 
 of a vast machine fortuitously constructed, 
 and acting by a Law that implied no 
 Legislator; and so composing himself into 
 a Stoical rather than Epicurean severity 
 of Attitude, sat down to contemplate the 
 mechanical Drama of the Universe which 
 he was part Actor in; himself and all 
 about him (as in his own sublime descrip- 
 tion of the Roman Theatre) discoloured 
 with the lurid reflex of the Curtain 
 suspended between the Spectator and the 
 Sun. Omar, more desperate, or more 
 careless of any so complicated System as 
 resulted in nothing but hopeless Necessity, 
 flung his own Genius and Learning with 
 a bitter or humorous jest into the general 
 Ruin which their insufficient glimpses only 
 served to reveal; and, pretending sensual 
 pleasure as the serious purpose of Life, only 
 diverted himself with speculative problems 
 of Deity, Destiny, Matter and Spirit, Good 
 and Evil, and other such questions, easier 
 to start than to run down, and the pursuit 
 of which becomes a very weary sport at 
 lastl 
 
 13 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 With regard to the present Translation. 
 The original Rubaiyat (as, missing an 
 Arabic Guttural, these Tetrastichs are more 
 musically called) are independent Stanzas, 
 consisting each of four Lines of equal, 
 though varied, Prosody; sometimes all 
 rhyming, but oftener (as here imitated) 
 the third line a blank. Sometimes as in 
 the Greek Alcaic, where the penultimate 
 line seems to lift and suspend the Wave 
 that falls over in the last. As usual with 
 such kind of Oriental Verse, the Rubaiyit 
 follow one another according to Alphabetic 
 Rhyme — a strange succession of Grave and 
 Gay. Those here selected are strung into 
 something of an Eclogue, with perhaps a less 
 than equal proportion of the "Drink and 
 make-merry," which (genuine or not) recurs 
 over-frequently in the Original. Either 
 way, the Result is sad enough: saddest 
 perhaps when most ostentatiously merry: 
 more apt to move Sorrow than Anger 
 toward the old Tentmaker, who, after 
 vainly endeavouring to unshackle his Steps 
 from Destiny, and to catch some authentic 
 Glimpse of To-morrow, fell back upon 
 To-day (which has outlasted so many 
 To-morrows ! ) as the only Ground he got to 
 stand upon, however momentarily slipping 
 from under his Feet. 
 
 14 
 
OMAR KHAYYXm 
 
 II 
 (FROM THE THIRD EDITION.) 
 
 While the second Edition of this version 
 of Omai- was preparing, Monsieur Nicolas, 
 French Consul at Resht, published a very 
 careful and very good Edition of the Text, 
 from a lithograph copy at Teheran, com- 
 prising 464 Rubaiyat, with translation and 
 notes of his own. 
 
 Monsieur Nicolas, whose Edition has 
 reminded me of several things, and 
 instructed me m others, does not consider 
 Omar to be the material Epicurean that I 
 have literally taken him for, but a Mystic, 
 shadowing the Deity under the figure of 
 Wine, Wine-bearer, &c., as Hafiz is sup- 
 posed to do; in short, a Siifi Poet like 
 Hafiz and the rest. 
 
 I cannot see reason to alter my opinion, 
 formed as it was more than a dozen years 
 ago I when Omar was first shown me by 
 one to whom I am indebted for all I 
 know of Oriental, and very much of other, 
 literature. He admired Omar's Genius so 
 much, that he would gladly have adopted 
 any such Interpretation of his meaning as 
 Monsieur Nicolas* if he could.2 That he 
 
 1 This was written in 1868. W. A. W. 
 
 2 Perhaps would have edited the Poems himself 
 
 IS 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 could not, appears by his Paper in the 
 Calcutta Review already so largely quoted; 
 in which he argues from the Poems them- 
 selves, as well as from what records remain 
 of the Poet's Life. 
 
 And if more were needed to disprove 
 Monsieur Nicolas' Theory, there is the 
 Biographical Notice which he himself has 
 drawn up in direct contradiction to the 
 Interpretation of the Poems given in his 
 Notes. (See pp. 13-14 of his Preface.) 
 Indeed I hardly knew poor Omar was so 
 far gone till his Apologist informed me. 
 For here we see that, whatever were the 
 Wine that Hafiz drank and sang, the veri- 
 table Juice of the Grape it was which Omar 
 used, not only when carousing with his 
 friends, but (says Monsieur Nicolas) in order 
 to excite himself to that pitch of Devo- 
 tion which others reached by cries and 
 "hurlemens." And yet, whenever Wine, 
 Wine-bearer, &c., occur in the Text — which 
 is often enough — Monsieur Nicolas carefully 
 annotates "Dieu," "La Divinite," &c. : so 
 carefully indeed that one is tempted to think 
 that he was indoctrinated by the Siifi with 
 whom he read the Poems. (Note to Rub 
 
 some years ago. He may now as little approve of 
 my Version on one side, as of Monsieur Nicolas' 
 Theory on the other. 
 
 16 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 ii. p. 8.) A Persian would naturally wish to 
 vindicate a distinguished Countryman; and 
 a Sufi to enrol him in his own sect, which 
 already comprises all the chief Poets of 
 Persia. 
 
 What historical Authority has Monsieur 
 Nicolas to show that Omar gave himself up 
 " avec passion k I'etude de la philosophie des 
 Soufis " ? (Preface, p. xiii.) The Doctrines of 
 Pantheism, Materialism, Necessity, &c., were 
 not peculiar to the Siifi; nor to Lucretius 
 before them; nor to Epicurus before him; 
 probably the very original Irreligion of 
 Thinking men from the first; and very 
 likely to be the spontaneous growth of a 
 Philosopher living in an Age of social and 
 political barbarism, under shadow of one of 
 the Two and Seventy Religions supposed to 
 divide the world. Von Hammer (according 
 to Sprenger's Oriental Catalogue) speaks 
 of Omar as "a Free-thinker, and a great 
 opponent of Sufism ;^^ perhaps because, while 
 holding much of their Doctrine, he would 
 not pretend to any inconsistent severity of 
 morals. Sir W. Ouseley has written a Note 
 to something of the same effect on the 
 fly-leaf of the Bodleian MS. And in two 
 Rubaiyat of Monsieur Nicolas' own Edition 
 Siif and Siifi are both disparagingly named. 
 
 No doubt many of these Quatrains seem 
 
 17 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 unaccountable unless mystically interpreted; 
 but many more as unaccountable unless 
 literally. Were the Wine spiritual, for 
 instance, how wash the Body with it when 
 dead? Why make cups of the dead clay 
 to be filled with — " La Divinit^ " — by some 
 succeeding Mystic ? Monsieur Nicolas him- 
 self is puzzled by some "bizarres" and . 
 "trop Orientales" allusions and images — 1 
 "d'une sensualite quelquefois revoltante" 
 indeed — which "les convenances" do not 
 permit him to translate; but still which the 
 reader cannot but refer to " La Divinite." i 
 No doubt also many of the Quatrains in 
 the Teheran, as in the Calcutta, Copies, are 
 spurious; such Rubdiydt being the common 
 form of Epigram in Persia. But this, at 
 best, tells as much one way as another; nay, 
 the Siifi, who may be considered the Scholar 
 and Man of Letters in Persia, would be far 
 
 I A Note to Quatrain 234 admits that, however 
 clear the mystical meaning of such Images must be to 
 Europeans, they are not quoted without "rougissant" 
 even by laymen in Persia — "Quant aux termes de 
 tendresse qui commencent ce quatrain, comme tant 
 d'autres dans ce recueil, nos lecteurs, habitues main- 
 tenant d I'^tranget^ des expressions si souvent employes 
 par Kh^yam pour rendre ses pens^es sur I'amour divin, 
 et i la singularity des images trop orientales, d'une 
 sensuality quelquefois revoltante, n'auront pas de peine 
 k se persuader qu'il s'agit de la Divinity, bien que cette 
 conviction soit vivement discutee par les moullahs 
 musulmans, et mSme par beaucoup de laiques, qui 
 lougissent v^ritablement d'une pareille licence de leur 
 compatriote k I'^gard des choses spirituelles." 
 
 18 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 more likely than the careless Epicure to 
 interpolate what favours his own view of the 
 Poet. I observe that very few of the more 
 mystical Quatrains are in the Bodleian MS. 
 which must be one of the oldest, as dated 
 at Shiraz, a. h. 865, A. D. 1460. And this, 
 I think, especially distinguishes Omar (I 
 cannot help calling him by his — no, not 
 Christian — familiar name) from all other 
 Persian Poets : That, whereas with them the 
 Poet is lost in his Song, the Man in Allegory 
 and Abstraction ; we seem to have the Man 
 — the Bonhomme — Omar himself, with all 
 his Humours and Passions as frankly before 
 us as if we were really at Table with him, 
 after the Wine had gone round. 
 
 I must say that I, for one, never wholly 
 believed in the Mysticism of Hafiz. It does 
 not appear there was any danger in holding 
 and singing Siifi Pantheism, so long as the 
 Poet made his Salaam to Mohammed at 
 the beginning and end of his Song. Under 
 such conditions Jelaluddin, Jami, Attar, and 
 others sang; using Wine and Beauty indeed 
 as Images to illustrate, not as a Mask to 
 hide, the Divinity they were celebrating. 
 Perhaps some Allegory less liable to mistake 
 or abuse had been better among so inflam- 
 mable a People: much more so when, as 
 some think with Hafiz and Omar, the 
 
 19 
 
OMAR KHAYYAm 
 
 abstract is not only likened to, but identified 
 with, the sensual Image; hazardous, if not 
 to the Devotee himself, yet to his weaker 
 Brethren; and worse for the Profane in 
 proportion as the Devotion of the Initiated 
 grew warmer. And all for what? To be 
 tantalized with Images of sensual enjoyment 
 which must be renounced if one would 
 approximate a God, who, according to the 
 Doctrine, is Sensual Matter as well as Spirit, 
 and into whose Universe one expects uncon- 
 sciously to merge after Death, without hope 
 of any posthumous Beatitude in another 
 world to compensate for all one's self-denial 
 in this. Lucretius' blind Divinity certainly 
 merited, and probably got, as much self- 
 sacrifice as this of the Siifi ; and the burden 
 of Omar's Song — if not "Let us eat" — is 
 assuredly — "Let us drink, for To-morrow we 
 die ! '* And if Hafiz meant quite otherwise 
 by a similar language, he surely miscalculated 
 when he devoted his Life and Genius to so 
 equivocal a Psalmody as, from his Day to 
 this, has been said and sung by any rather 
 than spiritual Worshippers. 
 
 However, as there is some traditional 
 presumption, and certainly the opinion of 
 some learned men, in favour of Omar's 
 being a Siifi, — and even something of a 
 Saint — those who please may so interpret 
 
^ 
 
 OMAR KHAYYXm 
 
 his Wine and Cup-bearer. On the other 
 hand, as there is far more historical certainty 
 of his being a Philosopher, of scientific 
 Insight and Ability far beyond that of the 
 Age and Country he lived in; of such 
 moderate worldly Ambition as becomes a 
 Philosopher, and such moderate wants as 
 rarely satisfy a Debauchee; other readers 
 may be content to believe with me that, 
 while the Wine Omar celebrates is simply 
 the Juice of the Grape, he bragg*d more than 
 he drank of it, in very Defiance perhaps of 
 that Spiritual Wine which left its Votaries 
 sunk in Hypocrisy or Disgust. 
 
RUBAIYAT 
 
 PARALLEL TEXTS OF THB FIRST AND 
 FOURTH EDITIONS 
 
RUBAIYAT 
 
 OF 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR 
 
 FIRST EDITION I859. 
 
 I 
 
 AWAKE ! for Morning in the Bowl of Night 
 Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: 
 And Lo ! the Hunter of the East has caught 
 The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light. 
 
 Dreaming, when Dawn's Left Hand was in the Sky 
 I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, 
 
 " Awake, my Little ones, and fill the Cup 
 " Before Life's Liquor in its Cup be dry." 
 
 And, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
 The Tavern shouted — " Open then the Doorl 
 " You know how little while we have to stay, 
 " And, once departed, may return no more." 
 
RUBAIYAT 
 
 OF 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM OF NAISHAPUR 
 FOURTH EDITION 1879. 
 
 WAKE 1 For the Sun who scattered into flight 
 The Stars before him from the Field of Nighty 
 Drives Night along with them from Heaven ^ and strikes 
 The Sultdn's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 
 
 II 
 
 Before the phantom of False morning died,^ 
 Methought a Voice within the Tavern cried, 
 " IVben all the Temple is prepared within, 
 "IVbjf nods the drowsy IVor shipper outside?** 
 
 I 
 III 
 
 tAnd, as the Cock crew, those who stood before 
 The Tavern shouted — " Open then the Door ! 
 " You know how little while we have to stay, 
 **v^nd, once departed, may return no more!* 
 
 25 
 
RUBXiyXt [i ED. 
 
 IV 
 
 Now, the New Year reviving old Desires, 
 The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires, 
 
 Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
 Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires. 
 
 Iram indeed is gone with all its Rose, 
 
 And Jamsh;^d*s Sev*n-ring*d Cup where no one knows; 
 
 But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields, 
 And still a Garden by the Water blows. 
 
 And David's Lips are lock*t ; but in divine 
 
 High piping Pehlevi, with " Wine ! Wine 1 Wine ! 
 
 ^■^ Red Wine! " — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
 That yellow Cheek of her*s to* incarnadine. 
 
 Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring 
 The Winter Garment of Repentance fling : 
 
 The Bird of Time has but a little way 
 To fly — and Lol the Bird is on the Wing. 
 
 26 
 
TV ED.] RUBXiyXt. 
 
 IV 
 
 "Now the New Year reviving old Desires^^ 
 The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires^ 
 
 Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough 
 Tuts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.i 
 
 Iram indeed is gone with all his Rose,4 
 Andjamshyd^s Sev^n-ring'd Cup where no one knows; 
 
 But still a Ruby kindles in the Vine, 
 tAnd many a Garden hv the Water blows. 
 
 tAnd David* s lips are lockt; hut in divines 
 High-piping Tehlevi, with "Wine! Wine! Wine! 
 '^Red Wine!" — the Nightingale cries to the Rose 
 That sallow cheek ^ of her* s to* incarnadine. 
 
 VII 
 
 Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring 
 Your Winter- garment of Repentance fling : 
 
 The Bird of Time has but a little way 
 To flutter — and the Bird is on the Wing, 
 
 VIII 
 
 Whether at Naishdpiir or Babylon, 
 Whether the Cup with sweet or bitter run, 
 
 The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, 
 The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one. 
 
 27 
 
RUBAiyXt [I ED 
 
 VIII 
 
 And look — a thousand Blossoms with the Day 
 Woke — and a thousand scatter'd into Clay : 
 
 And this first Summer Month that brings the Rose 
 Shall take Jamsh;^d and Kaikobad away. 
 
 IX 
 
 But come with old Khayyam, and leave the Lot 
 Of Kaikobad and Kaikhosrii forgot : 
 
 Let Rustum lay about him as he will, 
 Or Hatim Tai cry Supper — heed them not. 
 
 With me along some Strip of Herbage strown 
 That just divides the desert from the sown, 
 
 Where name of Slave and Sultan scarce is known, 
 And pity Sultan Mahmud on his Throne. 
 
 XI 
 
 Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, 
 A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou 
 
 Beside me singing in the Wilderness — 
 And Wilderness is Paradise enow. 
 
 "How sweet is mortal Sovranty! " — think some: 
 Others — "How blest the Paradise to come! " 
 
 Ah, take the Cash in hand and wave the Rest ; 
 Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum ! 
 
 28 
 
IV ED.] RUBXiyXt 
 
 IX 
 
 Each Morn a thousand Roses hringSyyou say; 
 YeSi hut where leaves the Rose of Yesterday ? 
 
 And this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
 Shall take Jamshyd and Kaikohdd away. 
 
 Welly let it take them ! IVhat have we to do 
 With Kaikohdd the Great, or Kaikhosrii? 
 
 Let Zdl and Rustum bluster as they will,7 
 Or Hdtim call to Supper — heed not you. 
 
 With me along the strip of Herbage strown 
 That just divides the desert from the sown. 
 
 Where name of Slave and Sultdn is forgot — 
 iAnd Peace to Mahmdd on his golden Throne ! 
 
 XII 
 
 tA Book of Verses underneath the Bough, 
 tAJug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou 
 
 Reside me singing in the Wilderness — 
 Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow ! 
 
 Some for the Glories of This World; and some 
 Sigh for the Prophefs Paradise to come; 
 
 tAh, take the Cash, and let the Credit go, 
 Nor heed the rumble of a distant Drum!^ 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Look to the Rose that blows about us — " Lo, 
 " Laughing," she says, " into the World I blow : 
 
 " At once the silken Tassel of my Purse 
 " Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 
 
 XIV 
 
 The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
 Turns Ashes — or it prospers; and anon, 
 
 Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 
 Lighting a little Hour or two — is gone. 
 
 And those who husbanded the Golden Grain, 
 And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain, 
 
 Alike to no such aureate Earth are tum*d 
 As, buried once. Men want dug up again. 
 
 Think, in this battered Caravanserai 
 
 Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day, 
 
 How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp 
 Abode his Hour or two, and went his way. 
 
 XVII 
 
 They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 
 
 The Courts where Jamsh^d gloried and drank deep: 
 
 And Bahram, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
 Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep. 
 
 30 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyXt 
 
 XIV 
 
 Look to the blowing Rose about us — " Loy 
 ^^ Laughing'* she says, " into the world I bloWj 
 
 "c^t once the silken tassel of my Purse 
 "Teart and its Treasure on the Garden throw,** 9 
 
 XV 
 
 tAnd those who husbanded the Golden grain^ 
 tAnd those who flung it to the winds like Rain, 
 
 tAlike to no such aureate Earth are turn'd 
 <As, buried onc-e. Men want dug up again. 
 
 XVI 
 
 The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon 
 Turns Ashes — or it prospers ; and anon^ 
 Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face, 
 Lighting a little hour or two — was gone. 
 
 Think, in this battered Caravanserai 
 Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day, 
 
 How Sultdn after Sultdn with his Pomp 
 v/lbode his destined Hour, and went his way. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 They say the Lion and the Lizard keep 
 
 The Courts where Jamsbvd gloried and drank deep : 'o 
 
 i^lnd Bahrdm, that great Hunter — the Wild Ass 
 Stamps o'er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep, 
 
 31 
 
RUBXiyAt [I ED. 
 
 XVIII 
 
 I sometimes think that never blows so red 
 The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled ; 
 
 That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
 Dropt in its Lap from some once lovely Head. 
 
 XIX 
 
 And this delightful Herb whose tender Green 
 Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean — 
 
 Ah, lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
 From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen ! 
 
 Ah, my Beloved, fill the Cup that clears 
 To-day of past Regrets and future Fears — 
 To-morrow ? — Why, To-morrow I may be 
 Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n Thousand Years. 
 
 Lo ! some we loved, the loveliest and best 
 That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest. 
 
 Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
 And one by one crept silently to Rest. 
 
 And we, that now make merry in the Room 
 They left, and Summer dresses in new Bloom, 
 
 Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
 Descend, ourselves to make a Couch — for whom ? 
 
 3* 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 XIX 
 
 / sometimes think that never blows so red 
 The Rose as where some buried Ccesar bled; 
 
 That every Hyacinth the Garden wears 
 T>ropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. 
 
 XX 
 
 t/Ind this reviving Herb whose tender Green 
 Fledges the River -Lip on which we lean — 
 
 tAhj lean upon it lightly ! for who knows 
 From what once lovely Lip it springs unseett ! 
 
 tAhy my Belovedy fill the Cup that clears 
 To-day of past Regret and future Fears : 
 
 To-morrow ! — IVhyj To-morrow I may be 
 Myself with Yesterday's Sev'n thousand Years.^^ 
 
 XXII 
 
 For some we loved, the loveliest and the best 
 That from his Vintage rolling Time hath pr est, 
 Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before, 
 o^nd one by one crept silently to rest. 
 
 tAnd we, that now make merry in the Room 
 They left, and Summer dresses in new bloom, 
 
 Ourselves must we beneath the Couch of Earth 
 Descend — ourselves to make a Couch — for whom? 
 
 33 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, 
 Before we too into the Dust descend; 
 
 Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie, 
 Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and — sans End! 
 
 Alike for those who for To-day prepare. 
 And those that after a To-morrow stare, 
 
 A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries 
 ** Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There ! ' 
 
 Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd 
 Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust 
 
 Like foolish Prophets forth ; their Words to Scorn 
 Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 Oh, come with old Khayyam, and leave the Wise 
 To talk ; one thing is certain, that Life flies ; 
 One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies; 
 The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 
 
 Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
 Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument 
 
 About it and about : but evermore 
 Came out by the same Door as in I went. 
 
 34 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyXt 
 
 fj4b^ make the most of what we yet may spends 
 Before we too into the Dust descend; 
 
 T>ust into Chistf and under Dustj to lie^ 
 Sans Winey sans Song^ sans Singer ^ and — sans End I 
 
 tAlihefor those who for To-t>ky prepare y 
 tAnd those that after some To-morrow stare, 
 
 t/l Mue^^in from the Tower of Darkness cries, 
 ** Fools ! your Reward is neither Here nor There** 
 
 IVhy, all the Saints and Sages who discussed 
 Of the Two IVorlds so wisely — they are thrust 
 
 Like foolish Prophets forth ; their fVords to Scorn 
 Are scattered, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust. 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN LXIII.) 
 
 XXVII 
 
 Myself when young did eagerly frequent 
 Doctor and Saint y and heard great argument 
 
 t/ibout it and about : but evermore 
 Came out by the same door where in I went. 
 
 H 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, 
 And with my own hand labour'd it to grow : 
 
 And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd — 
 " I came like Water, and like Wind I go." 
 
 Into this Universe, and why not knowing, 
 Nor whence^ like Water willy-nilly flowing : 
 And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
 I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing. 
 
 What, without asking, hither hurried whence ? 
 And, without asking, whither hurried hence I 
 
 Another and another Cup to drown 
 The Memory of this Impertinence ! 
 
 Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate 
 I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate. 
 
 And many Knots unravel'd by the Road ; 
 But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate. 
 
 There was a Door to which I found no Key : 
 There was a Veil past which I could not see : 
 
 Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee 
 There seemed — and then no more of Thee and Me. 
 
 36 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 fVttb them the seed of IVisdom did I soWy 
 
 tAnd with mine cnmi hand wrought to make it grow ; 
 
 And this was all the Harvest that I reaped — 
 " / came like Water ^ and like Wind I go.** 
 
 Into this Universe, and Why not knowing 
 U^or Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing ; 
 
 tAnd out of it, as Wind along the Waste, 
 I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing. 
 
 What, without asking, hither hurried Whence ? 
 And, without asking, Whither hurried hence ! 
 
 Oh, manv a Cup of this forbidden Wine 
 Must drown the memory of that insolence ! 
 
 XXXI 
 
 up from EartVs Centre through the Seventh Gate 
 I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,^^ 
 
 And many a Knot unraveVd hy the Road; 
 But not the Master-knot of Human Fate. 
 
 XXXII 
 
 There was the Door to which I found no Key; 
 There was the Veil through which I might not see: 
 
 Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee 
 There was — and then no moie of Thee and Me.is 
 
 37 
 
RUBXiyAt [I ED. 
 
 Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried, 
 Asking, " What Lamp had Destiny to guide 
 
 " Her little Children stumbling in the Dark ? " 
 And — " A blind Understanding! " Heav'n replied. 
 
 Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn 
 My lip the secret Well of Life to learn : 
 
 And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — " While you live 
 " Drink 1 — for once dead you never shall return." 
 
 I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
 Articulation answered, once did live, 
 
 And merry-make ; and the cold Lip I kissed 
 How many Klisses might it take — and give 1 
 
 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, prayl" 
 
 38 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyXt 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 Earth could not answer ; nor the Seas that mourn 
 Inflowing Purple y of their Lord forlorn; 
 
 Nor rolling Heaven, with all his Signs reveaVd 
 tAnd hidden by the sleeve of Night and Morn. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
 The Veil, I lifted up my hands to find 
 
 fA Lamp amid the Darkness ; and I heard. 
 As from Without — "The Me within Thee blind I" 
 
 Then to the Lip of this poor earthen Urn 
 I leatCd, the Secret of my Life to learn : 
 
 And Lip to Lip it murmured — " While you live, 
 " T>rink! — for^ once dead, you never shall return^ 
 
 I think the Vessel, that with fugitive 
 ^Articulation answered, once did live, 
 
 tAnd drink; and Ah! the passive Lip I kiss'' d, 
 How many Kisses might it take — and give ! 
 
 For I renumber stopping by the way 
 
 To watch a Potter thumping his wet Clay : 
 
 %And with its all-obliterated Tongue 
 It murmur' d—'' Gently, Brother, gently, pray / " '4 
 
 39 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 Ah, fill the Cup : — what boots it to repeat 
 How Time is slipping underneath our Feet : 
 
 Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday, 
 Why fret about them if To-day be sweet! 
 
 40 
 
IV ED.] RUBXiyXt 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN LVII.) 
 
 %And has not such a Siory from of Old 
 Down Man^s successive generations rolVd 
 
 Of such a clod of saturated Earth 
 Cast bjf the Maker into Human mould? 
 
 And not a drop that from our Cups we throw '5 
 For Earth to drink ofy hut may steal below 
 
 To quench the fire of AngtUsh in some Eve 
 There hidden — far beneath, and long ago. 
 
 XL 
 
 tAs then the Tulip for her morning sup 
 Of Heavenly Vintage from the soil looks up, 
 
 T>oyou devoutly do the like, till Heav'n 
 To Earth invert you — like an empty Cup, 
 
 Terplext no more with Human or Divine, 
 To-morrow* s tangle to the winds resign, 
 
 tAnd lose your fingers in the tresses of 
 The Cyprus-slender Minister of Wine, 
 
 41 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN XLVII.) 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN XLVIII.) 
 
 [FROM PREFACE. 
 
 Oh, if my Soul can fling his Dust aside, 
 And naked on the Air of Heaven ride, 
 
 Is *t not a Shame, is 't not a Shame for Him 
 So long in this Clay Suburb to abide ! 
 
 Or is that but a Tent, where rests anon 
 A Sultan to his Kingdom passing on, 
 
 And which the swarthy Chamberlain shall strike 
 Then when the Sultan rises to be gone?] 
 
 4a 
 
IV KD.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 XLII 
 
 tAndiftle Wine you drink, the LipyoupresSy 
 End in what /ill begins and ends in — Yes; 
 
 Think thenyou are To-day what Yesterday 
 You were — To-morrow ^'ow shall not be less. 
 
 So when the Angel of the darker Drink 
 xAt last shall find you by the river -brinks 
 xAndy offering his Cup, invite your Soul 
 Forth toyour Lips to quaff— you shall not shrink,^^ 
 
 fVfy, if the Soul can fling the Dust aside ^ 
 tAnd naked on the Air of Heaven ride^ 
 
 WerH not a Shame — werH not a Shame for him 
 In this clay carcase crippled to abide ? 
 
 ' TVs but a Tent where takes his one day's rest 
 tA Sultdn to the realm of Death addrest; 
 The Sultdn rises, and the dark Ferrdsh 
 Strikes, and prepares it for another Guest, 
 
 tAndfear not lest Existence closing your 
 tAccounty and miney should know the like no more; 
 
 The Eternal Sdkifrom that Bowl has pour'd 
 Millions of Bubbles like ms, and will pour. 
 
 43 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, 
 
 One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste — 
 
 The Stars are setting and the Caravan 
 Starts for the Dawn of Nothing — Oh, make haste! 
 
 44 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 XLVII 
 
 lyhen You and I behind the Veil are pasty 
 
 Ob, hut the long, long while the World shall last, 
 
 IVhich of our Coming and Departure heeds 
 %As the Sea^s self should heed a pehhle-cast. 
 
 XLVIII 
 
 tA Moment* s Halt — a momentary taste 
 Of Being from the IVell amid the Waste — 
 
 t^nd Lo! — the phantom Caravan has reacht 
 The Nothing it set out from — Oh, make haste! 
 
 XLIX 
 
 Would you that spangle of Existence spend 
 tAhout THE SECRET — quick obout it, Friend! 
 
 tA Hair perhaps divides the False and True — 
 tAnd upon what, prithee, does life depend} 
 
 vA Hair perhaps divides the False and True; 
 Yes ; and a single Mif were the clue — 
 
 Could you hut find it — to the Treasure-house, 
 And per adventure to The Master too; 
 
 Whose secret Presence, through Creation* s veim 
 *J{unning Quicksilver-like eludes your pains ; 
 
 Taking all shapes from Mdh to Mdhi; '7 and 
 They change and perish all — hut He remains; 
 
 45 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 How long, how long, in infinite Pursuit 
 Of This and That endeavour and dispute ? 
 Better be merry with the fruitful Grape, 
 Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit. 
 
 You know, my Friends, how long since in my House 
 For a new Marriage I did make Carouse : 
 
 Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
 And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse. 
 
 For " Is " and " Is-not " though with Rule and Line. 
 And " Up-and-down " withouty I could define, 
 
 I yet in all I only cared to know, 
 Was never deep in anything but — Wine. 
 
 46 
 
IV ED.] RUBXIyXt 
 
 LII 
 
 A moment guessed — then hack behind the Fold 
 Immerst of Darkness round the Drama rolVd 
 
 IVhichyfor the Pastime of Eternity ^ 
 He doth Himself contrive i enacts behold. 
 
 LIII 
 
 But if in vainy down on the stubborn floor 
 Of Earth, and up to Heav'n^s unopening Door, 
 
 You ga^e To-day, while You are You — how then 
 To-morrow, You wheti shall be You no more ? 
 
 IVaste not your Hour, nor in the vain pursuit 
 Of This and That endeavour and dispute ; 
 better be jocund with the fruitful Grape 
 Than sadden after none, or bitter, Fruit, 
 
 You know, my Friends, with what a brave Carouse 
 I made a Second Marriage in my house ; 
 
 THvorced old barren Reason from my Bed, 
 And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse, 
 
 LVI 
 
 For " Is " and " Is-not " though with Rule and Line,^^ 
 tAnd " Up-and-down " by Logic I define. 
 Of all that one should care to fathom, I 
 IVas never deep in anything but — Wine. 
 
 47 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN XXXVII.) 
 
 XLII 
 
 And lately, by the Tavern Door agape. 
 
 Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape 
 
 Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder ; and 
 He bid me taste of it ; and *t was — the Grape ! 
 
 XLIII 
 
 The Grape that can with Logic absolute 
 The Two-and- Seventy jarring Sects confute: 
 
 The subtle Alchemist that in a Trice 
 Life's leaden Metal into Gold transmute. 
 
 The mighty Mahmud, the victorious Lord, 
 That all the misbelieving and black Horde 
 
 Of Fears and Sorrows that infest the Soul 
 Scatters and slays with his enchanted Sword. 
 
 But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me 
 The Quarrel of the Universe let be : 
 
 And in some comer of the Hubbub coucht, 
 Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee. 
 
 48 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 LVII 
 
 y4b, but my Computations^ People say, 
 T{edticed the Year to better reckoning ? — Nay, 
 
 * Twas only striking from the Calendar 
 Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday, 
 
 tAnd lately, by tbe Tavern Door agape, 
 
 Came sbining tbrougb tbe Dusk an Angel Shape 
 
 'Bearing a Vessel on bis Sboulder ; and 
 He bid me taste ofit; and Hwas — tbe Grape! 
 
 LIX 
 
 Tbe Grape tbat can witb Logic absolute 
 
 Tbe Two-and-Seveniy jarring Sects confute : ^9 
 
 Tbe sovereign Alcbemist tbat in a trice 
 Lifers leaden metal into Gold transmute : 
 
 Tbe migbty Mabmtid, Allab-breatbing Lord, 
 Tbat all tbe misbelieving and black Horde "^^ 
 Of Fears and Sorrows tbat infest tbe Soul 
 Scatters before him witb bis whirlwind Sword, 
 
 49 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN XXVI.) 
 
 SO 
 
IV ED.] RUBXiyXT 
 
 IVb^y he this Juice the growth of God, who dare 
 Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare ? 
 
 tA Blessing, we should use it, should we not ? 
 t^nd if a Curse — whjy, then, IVbo set it there ? 
 
 Lxn 
 
 / must ahjure the Balm of Life, I must. 
 Scared by some After-reckoning ta^en on trust. 
 Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink, 
 To fill the Cup — when crumbled into Dust! 
 
 LXIII 
 
 O threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise ! 
 One thing at least is certain — This Life flies; 
 
 One thing is certain and the rest is Lies ; 
 The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. 
 
 LXIT 
 
 Strange, is it not ? that of the mj^riads who 
 'Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through, 
 
 Not one returns to tell us of the Road, 
 IVbicb to discover we must travel too, 
 
 LXV 
 
 The Revelations of Devout and Learned 
 iVbo rose before us, and as Prophets burned, 
 
 ^re all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep 
 Tbi^ told their comrades, and to Sleep returned. 
 
RUBAIYAt [i ED. 
 
 For in and out, above, about, below, 
 'T is nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, 
 
 Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun, 
 Round which we Phantom Figures come and go. 
 
 XLVII 
 
 And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press. 
 End in the Nothing all Things end in — Yes — 
 
 Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what 
 Thou shalt be — Nothing — Thou shalt not be less. 
 
 WhUe the Rose blows along the River Brink, 
 With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink : 
 
 And when the Angel with his darker Draught 
 Draws up to Thee — take that, and do not shrink. 
 
IV ED.] RUBXiyAT 
 
 / sent my Soul through the Invisible, 
 Some letter of that After-life to spell: 
 
 tAnd hy and hy my Soul returned to me, 
 tAnd answered " / Myself am Heaven and Hell : " 
 
 LXVII 
 
 Heav*n hut the Vision of fulfilled Desire, 
 v/lnd Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire 
 
 Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves^ 
 So late emer^dfrom, shall so soon expire, 
 
 LXVIII 
 
 IVe are no other than a moving row 
 
 Of Magic Shadow-shapes that coine and go 
 
 T{ound with the Sun-illumin' d Lantern held 
 In Midnight hy the Master of the Show;^^ 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN XLII.) 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN XLII I.) 
 
 53 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 T is all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days 
 Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays : 
 
 Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays. 
 And one by one back in the Closet lays. 
 
 The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
 But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes ; 
 
 And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field, 
 He knows about it all — He knows — HE knows! 
 
 LI 
 
 The Moving Finger writes ; and, having writ, 
 Moves on : nor all thy Piety nor Wit 
 
 Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, 
 Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. 
 
 And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
 Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die. 
 
 Lift not thy hands to It for help — for It 
 Rolls impotently on as Thou or I. 
 
 LIII 
 
 With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man's knead. 
 And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed : 
 
 Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote 
 What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 
 
 54 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 LXIX 
 
 Bui helpless Pieces of the Game He plays 
 Upon ibis Cbeq-uer-hoard of Nights and Days ; 
 
 Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays, 
 v^nd om hy one hack in the Closet lays. 
 
 LXX 
 
 The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes, 
 'But Here or There as strikes the Player goes; 
 %And He that tossed you down into the Field, 
 He knows about it all — he knows — HE knows I '^'^ 
 
 LXX I 
 
 The Mooing Finger writes ; and, having writ, 
 CMoves on : nor all your Piety nor Wit 
 
 Shall lure it hack to cancel half a Line, 
 Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. 
 
 LXXII 
 
 tAnd that inserted Bowl they call the Sky, 
 Whereunder crawling cooped we live and die. 
 Lift not your hands to It for help — for It 
 As impotently moves as you or L 
 
 With EartFs first Clay They did the Last Man knead, 
 tAnd there of the Last Harvest sow^d the Seed: 
 
 And the first Morning of Creation wrote 
 What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read. 
 
 » 
 
RUbAiYAT [I ED. 
 
 LIV 
 
 I tell Thee this — When starting from the Goal, 
 Over the shoulders of the flaming Foal 
 
 Of Heav*n Parwin and Mushtari they flung, 
 In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul 
 
 The Vine had struck a Fibre ; which about 
 If clings my Being — let the Sufi flout; 
 
 Of my Base Metal may be filed a Key, 
 That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 
 
 And this I know : whether the one True Light, 
 Kindle to Love, or Wrath-consume me quite. 
 
 One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught 
 Better than in the Temple lost outright. 
 
 S6 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 Yesterday This Days Madness did prepare; 
 To-MoRROw's Silence, Triumph, or Despair : 
 
 'Drink! for you kftow not whence you came, nor why : 
 Think ! for you know not why you go, nor where. 
 
 I tell you this — IVhen, started from the Goal, 
 Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal 
 
 Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung,^z 
 In my predestined Plot of Dust and Soul 
 
 The Vine bad struck a fibre : which about 
 If clings my Being — let the Dervish flout; 
 
 Of my Base metal may be filed a Key, 
 That shall unlock the Door he howls without. 
 
 LXXVII 
 
 t/fnd this I kftow : whether the one True Light 
 Kindle to Love, or IVrath-consume me quite, 
 One Flash of It within the Tavern caught 
 'Better than in the Temple lost outright. 
 
 LXXVIII 
 
 IVbai! out of senseless Nothing to provoke 
 A conscious Something to resent the yoke 
 
 Of unpermitted Pleasure, under pain 
 Of Everlasting Penalties, if broke ! 
 
 57 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 LVII 
 
 Oh, Thou, who didst with Pitfall and with Gin 
 Beset the Road I was to wander in, 
 
 Thou wilt not with Predestination round 
 Enmesh me, and impute my Fall to Sin ? 
 
 Oh, Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make 
 And who with Eden didst devise the Snake ; 
 For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
 Is blacken'd, Man*s Forgiveness give — and take I 
 
 « « « « 
 
 KtJZA-NAMA 
 
 LIX 
 
 Listen again. One Evening at the Close 
 Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose, 
 In that old Potter's Shop I stood alone 
 With the clay Population round in Rows. 
 
 fi 1 
 
IV ED.] RUBXiyAT 
 
 IVbat ! from bis helpless Creature he repaid 
 Ture Gold for what he lent him dross-allay d- 
 
 Sue for a Debt we never did contract ^ 
 And cannot answer — Ob the sorry trade! 
 
 Ob Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin 
 "Beset the Road I was to wander in^ 
 
 Thou wilt not with Predestined Evil round 
 Enmesh t and then impute my Fall to Sin! 
 
 LXXXI 
 
 Ob ThoUf who Man of baser Earth didst make^ 
 tAnd ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake : 
 
 For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man 
 Is blackened — Man's forgiveness give — and take! 
 
 tAs under cover of departing Day 
 Slunk hunger-stricken Rama^dn away^ 
 
 Once more within the Potter's bouse alone 
 I stoodf surrounded by the Shapes of Clay, 
 
 59 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 LX 
 
 And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot 
 Some could articulate, while others not : 
 
 And suddenly one more impatient cried — 
 " Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot ? " 
 
 Then said another — " Surely not in vain 
 
 *' My Substance from the common Earth was ta'en, 
 
 " That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 
 ** Should stamp me back to common Earth again." 
 
 Another said — ♦* Why, ne'er a peevish Boy, 
 
 " Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy ; 
 
 *' vShall He that made the Vessel in pure Love 
 " And Fansy, in an after Rage destroy ! " 
 
 None answered this ; but after Silence spake 
 A Vessel of a more ungainly Make : 
 
 "They sneer at me for leaning all awry; 
 "What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?' 
 
 60 
 
IV ED.] RUBAIyAt 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN LXXXVII.) 
 
 LXXXIII 
 
 Shapes of all Sorts and Si^es, great and smalls 
 That stood along the floor and by the wall; 
 
 t/Ind some loquacious Vessels were ; and some 
 Listened perhaps, but never talked at all. 
 
 LXXXIV 
 
 Said one among them — " Surely not in vain 
 ** <My substance of the common Earth was ta^en 
 
 " And to this Figure moulded, to be broke, 
 " Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again^ 
 
 LXXXV 
 
 Then said a Second — " "Ne'er a peevish Boy 
 
 " Would break the Bowl from which he drank in joy ; 
 
 "tAnd He that with his hand the Vessel made 
 " IVill surely not in after Wrath destroy. ^^ 
 
 tAfter a momentary silence spake 
 Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make ; 
 
 " They sneer at me for leaning all awry : 
 *' What ! did the Hand then of the Potter shake ? " 
 
 .^l 
 
RUBAiyAt [I KD. 
 
 (SEE QUATRAIN LX.) 
 
 Said one — " Folks of a surly Tapster tell, 
 
 " And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell ; 
 
 " They talk of some strict Testing of us — Pish ! 
 " He 's a Good Fellow, and *t will all be well." 
 
 Then said another with a long-drawn Sigh, 
 ** My Clay with long oblivion is gone dry : 
 
 "But, fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
 " Methinks I might recover by-and-bye 1 " 
 
 So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
 One spied the little Crescent all were seeking : 
 
 And then they jogg'd each other, " Brother! Brother! 
 " Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a-creaking ! " 
 
 63 
 
IV ED.] RUBXiyAt 
 
 LXXXVII 
 
 Whereat some one of the loquacious Lot — 
 / think a Sufi pipkin — waxing hot — 
 
 ''All this of Pot and Potter— Tell me then, 
 " IVho is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot ? " 24 
 
 " IVhyT said another, ''Some there are who tell 
 " Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell 
 
 " The luckless Pots he marred in making — Pish! 
 " He's a Good Fellow, and 7 will all be wellJ* 
 
 " JVell,'* murmured one, " Let whoso make or buy, 
 " (My Clay with long Oblivion is gone dry : 
 " But fill me with the old familiar Juice, 
 " Methinks I might recover by and by,'* 
 
 xc 
 
 So while the Vessels one by one were speaking, 
 The little Moon look' din that all were seeking :^S 
 
 t/Jnd then they jogg'd each other, "Brother! Brother! 
 " Now for the Porter's shoulder-knot a-creaking!" 
 
 63 
 
RUBAiyAT [I ED. 
 
 Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide, 
 And wash my Body whence the Life has died, 
 And in the Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt, 
 So bury me by some sweet Garden-side. 
 
 LXVIII 
 
 That ev'n my buried Ashes such a Snare 
 Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air, 
 
 As not a True Believer passing by 
 But shall be overtaken unaware. 
 
 Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 
 
 Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong: 
 
 Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup, 
 And sold my Reputation for a Song. 
 
 Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
 I swore — but was I sober when I swore? 
 
 And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
 My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 
 
 LXXI 
 
 And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel, 
 And robb*d me of my Robe of Plonour — well, 
 
 I often wonder what the Vintners buy 
 One half so precious as the Goods they sell. 
 
 64 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 y^i&, with the Grape tny fading Life provide ^ 
 And wash the Body whence the Life has died, 
 
 And lay me, shrouded in the Jiving Leaf 
 'By some not unfrequented Garden-side. 
 
 That ev^n my buried Ashes such a snare 
 Of Vintage shall fling up into the Air 
 
 iAs not a True-heliever passing hy 
 But shall he overtaken unaware. 
 
 Indeed the Idols I have loved so long 
 
 Have done my credit in this World much wrong : 
 
 Have drowned my Glory in a shallow Cupy 
 And sold my Reputation for a Song. 
 
 Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before 
 I swore — but was I sober when I swore ? 
 
 And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand 
 My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore. 
 
 xcv 
 
 lAnd much as Wine has played the Infidel, 
 And robb'd me of my Robe of Honour — Well, 
 
 I wonder often what the Vintners buy 
 One half so precious as the stuff they sell. 
 
 6s 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose ! 
 That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close ! 
 
 The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, 
 Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows ! 
 
 Ah Love ! could thou and I with Fate conspire 
 To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
 Would not we shatter it to bits — and then 
 Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire ! 
 
 66 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 Yet j4bt that Spring should vanish with the Rose! 
 That YoutVs sweet-scented manuscript should close ! 
 
 The Nightingale that in the branches sang, 
 Ah whence, and whither flown again, who knows! 
 
 tVould but the Desert of the Fountain yield 
 One glimpse — if dimly, yet indeed, reveaVd, 
 
 To which the fainting Traveller might spring. 
 As springs the trampled herbage of the field! 
 
 XCVIII 
 
 H^ould but some wingSd Angel ere too late 
 Arrest the yet unfolded Roll of Fate, 
 
 And make the stern Recorder otherwise 
 Enregister, or quite obliterate! 
 
 xcix 
 
 tAh Love! could you and I with Him conspire 
 To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, 
 IVouldnot we shatter it to bits — and then 
 T^e-mould it nearer to the Heart* s Desire ! 
 
RUBAiyAt [I ED. 
 
 Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane, 
 The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again ; 
 How oft hereafter rising shall she look 
 Through this same Garden after me — in vain! 
 
 And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass 
 Among the Guests Star-scatter'd on the Grass, 
 
 And in thy joyous Errand reach the Spot 
 Where I made one — turn down an empty Glass ! 
 
 tamAm shud. 
 
IV ED.] RUBAiyAt 
 
 Yon rising Moon that looks for us again — 
 How oft hereafter will she wax and wane; 
 
 How oft hereafter rising look for us 
 Through this same Garden — and for one in vain ! 
 
 CI 
 
 ^nd when like her, oh Sdki, you shall pass 
 c/Jmong the Guests Star-scattered on the Grass, 
 
 And in your joyous errand reach the spot 
 Where I made One — turn dotvn an empty Glass! 
 
 tamAm. 
 
NOTES 
 
 VARIATIONS 
 
 OMITTED QUATRAINS 
 
NOTES. 
 
 1 The "False Dawn;" Subbi Kd:(ib, a transient Light 
 on the Horizon about an hour before the Subbi sddik, or 
 True Dawn ; a well-known Phenomenon in the East. 
 
 2 New Year. Beginning with the Vernal Equinox, it 
 must be remembered ; and (howsoever the old Solar Year 
 is practically superseded by the clumsy Lunar Year that 
 dates from the Mohammedan Hijra) still commemorated 
 by a Festival that is said to have been appointed by the 
 very Jamshyd whom Omar so often talks of, and whose 
 yearly Calendar he helped to rectify. 
 
 "The sudden approach and rapid advance of the 
 Spring," says Mr. Binning, "are very striking. Before 
 the Snow is well off the Ground, the Trees burst into 
 Blossom, and the Flowers start from the Soil. At Naw 
 Roo^ {their New Year's Day) the Snow was lying in 
 patches on the Hills and in the shaded Vallies, while the 
 Fruit-trees in the Garden were buddmg beautifully, and 
 green Plants and Flowers springing upon the Plains on 
 every side — 
 
 * And on old Hyems' Chin and icy Crown 
 ' An odorous Chaplet of sweet Summer buds 
 ' Is, as in mockery, set — ' — 
 
 73 
 
NOTES 
 
 Among the Plants newly appear'd I recognized some 
 Acquaintances I had not seen for many a Year: among 
 these, tw« varieties of the Thistle; a coarse species of 
 the Daisy, like the Horse-gowan; red and white Clover; 
 the Dock; the blue Corn-flower; and that vulgar Herb the 
 Dandelion rearing its yellow crest on the Banks of the 
 Water-courses." The Nightingale was not yet heard, 
 for the Rose was not yet blown: but an almost identical 
 Blackbird and Woodpecker helped to make up something 
 of a North-country Spring. 
 
 3 "The Whitb Hand of Moses." Exodus iv. 6; 
 where Moses draws forth his Hand — not, according to 
 the Persians, "leprous as Snow/* — but white, as our 
 May-blossom in Spring perhaps. According to them also 
 the Healing Power of Jesus resided in his Breath. 
 
 4 Iram, planted by King Shaddid, and now sunk some- 
 where in the Sands of Arabia. Jamshyd's Sevcn-ring'd 
 Cup was typical of the 7 Heavens, 7 Planets, 7 Seas, &c., 
 and was a Divining Cup. 
 
 5 'Pehlevi, the old Heroic Sanskrit of Persia. Hifiz also 
 speaks of the Nightingale's Pehlevi, which did not change 
 with the People's. 
 
 6 I am not sure if the fourth line refers to the Red Rose 
 looking sickly, or to the Yellow Rose that ought to be 
 Red ; Red, White, and Yellow Roses all common in Persia. 
 I think that Southey, in his Common-Place Book, quotes 
 from some Spanish author about the Rose being White 
 till 10 o'clock; "Rosa Perfecta" at 2; and "perfecta 
 incarnada" at 5. 
 
 7 Rustum, the "Hercules" of Persia, and Zi\ his 
 Father, whose exploits are among the most celebrated in 
 the Shih-nima. Hdtim Tai, a well-known type of Oriental 
 Generosity. 
 
 8 A Dnmi — beaten outside a Palace. 
 
 9 That is, the Rose's Golden Centre. 
 
 74 
 
NOTES 
 
 lo Persepolis: call'd also Takbt-i-Jamsbyd — Thb 
 Throne of Jamshyd, " King Splendid,*' of the mythical 
 Peshdddian Dynasty, and supposed (according to the 
 Shih-ndma) to have been founded and built by him. 
 Others refer it to the Work of the Genie King, Jdn Ibn 
 Jdn — who also built the Pyramids — before the time of 
 Adam. 
 
 BahrAm Gur — Bahrain of the Wild Ass — a Sassanian 
 Sovereign — had also his Seven Castles (like the King of 
 Bohemia!) each of a different Colour: each with a Royal 
 Mistress within; each of whom tells him a Story, as told 
 in one of the most famous Poems of Persia, written by 
 Amfr Khusraw: all these Sevens also figuring (according 
 to Eastern Mysticism) the Seven Heavens; and perhaps 
 the Book itself that Eighth, into which the mystical Seven 
 transcend, and within which they revolve. The Ruins of 
 Three of those Towers are yet shown by the Peasantry ; as 
 also the Swamp in which Bahrdm sunk, like the Master of 
 Ravenswood, while pursuing his Gur. 
 
 The Palace that to Heav'n his pillars threw, 
 And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew — 
 
 I saw the solitary Ringdove there. 
 And " Coo, coo, coo," she cried ; and " Coo, coo, coo." 
 
 This Quatrain Mr. Binning found, among several of 
 Hdfiz and others, inscribed by some stray hand among the 
 ruins of Persepolis. The Ringdove's ancient Peblevi 
 Coo, Coo, Coo, signifies also in Persian " Where ? Where ? 
 Where ? " In Attdr's " Bird-parliament " she is reproved 
 by the Leader of the Birds for sitting still, and for ever 
 Iiarping on that one note ef lamentation for her lost 
 Yiisuf. 
 
 Apropos of Omar's Red Roses in Stanza xix, I am 
 reminded of an old English Superstition, that our Anemone 
 Pulsatilla, or purple "Pasque Flower," (which grows 
 plentifully about the Fleam Dyke, near Cambridge), grows 
 only where Danish Blood has been spilt 
 
 75 
 
II A thousand years to each Planet. 
 13 Saturn, Lord of the Seventh Heaven. 
 
 13 Mk-and-Thee : some dividual Existence or Person- 
 ality distinct from the Whole. 
 
 14 One of the Persian Poets — Attdr, I think— has a 
 pretty story about this. A thirsty Traveller dips his hand 
 into a Spring of Water to drink from. By-and-by comes 
 
 ' another who draws up and drinks from an earthen Bowl, 
 and then departs, leaving his Bov/1 behind him. The first 
 Traveller takes it up for another draught ; but is surprised 
 to find that the same Water which had tasted sweet from 
 his own hand tastes bitter from the earthen Bowl. But 
 a Voice — from Heaven, I think — tells him the clay from 
 which the Bowl is made was once Man; and, into what- 
 ever shape renew'd, can never lose the bitter flavour of 
 Mortality. 
 
 15 The custom of throwing a little Wine on the ground 
 before drinking still continues in Persia, and perhaps 
 generally in the East. Monsieur Nicolas considers it "un 
 signe de lib^ralit^, et en meme temps un avertissement que 
 le buveur doit vider sa coupe jusqu'^ la derniere goutte." 
 Is it not more likely an ancient Superstition; a Libation 
 to propitiate Earth, or make her an Accomplice in the 
 illicit Revel? Or, perhaps, to divert the Jealous Eye by 
 some sacrifice of superfluity, as with the Ancients of the 
 West? With Omar we see something more is signified; 
 the precious Liquor is not lost, but sinks into the ground to 
 refresh the dust of some poor Wine-worshipper foregone. 
 
 Thus Hdfiz, copying Omar in so many ways: "When 
 thou drinkest Wine pour a draught on the ground. 
 Wherefore fear the Sin which brings to another Gain?" 
 
 16 According to one beautiful Oriental Legend, Azrael 
 accomplishes his mission by holding to the nostril an Apple 
 from the Tree of Life. 
 
 76 
 
NOTES 
 
 This, and the two following Stanzas would have been 
 withdrawn, as somewhat de trop, from the Text, but for 
 advice which I least like to disregard. 
 
 X7 From Mih to Mihi; from Fish to Moon. 
 
 i8. A Jest, of course, at his Studies. A curious mathe- 
 matical Quatrain of Omar's has been pointed out to me; 
 the more curious because almost exactly parallel'd by 
 some Verses of Dr. Donne's, that are quoted in Izaak 
 Walton's Lives! Here is Omar: "You and I are the 
 image of a pair of compasses; though we have two heads 
 (sc. our feet) we have one body; when we have fixed the 
 centre for our circle, we bring our heads (sc. feet) together 
 at the end." Dr. Donne : 
 
 If we be two, we two are so 
 
 As stiff twin-compasses are two ; 
 Thy Soul, the fixt foot, makes no show 
 
 To move, but does if the other do. 
 
 And though thine in the centre sit, 
 
 Yet when my other far does roam, 
 Thine leans and hearkens after it, 
 
 And grows erect as mine comes home. 
 
 Such thou must be to me, who must 
 
 Like the other foot obliquely run ; 
 Thy firmness makes my circle just, 
 
 And me to end where I begun. 
 
 19 The Seventy-two Religions supposed to divide the 
 World, including Islamism, as some think : but others not. 
 
 20 Alluding to Sultan Mahmud's Conquest of India and 
 its dark people. 
 
 21 Fdnusi khiydl, a Magic-Iaothom still used in India; 
 the cylindrical Interior being painted with various Figures, 
 and so lightly poised and ventilated as to revolve round the 
 lighted Candle within. 
 
 77 
 
NOTES 
 
 22 A very mysterious Line in the Original : 
 
 O ddnad O ddnad O ddnad O 
 
 breaking off something like our Wood-pigeon's Note, which 
 she is said to take up just where she left off. 
 
 23 Parwfn and Mushtarl — The Pleiads and Jupiter. 
 
 24 This Relation of Pot and Potter to Man and his Maker 
 figures far and wide in the Literature of the World, from 
 the time of the Hebrew Prophets to the present; when 
 it may finally take the name of "Pot theism," by which 
 Mr. Carlyle ridiculed Sterling's " Pantheism." My Sheikh 
 whose knowledge flows in from all quarters, writes to me — 
 
 "Apropos of old Omar's Pots, did I ever tell you the 
 sentence I found in 'Bishop Pearson on the Creed'? 
 * Thus are we wholly at the disposal of His will, and our 
 present and future condition framed and ordered by His 
 free, but wise and just, decrees. Hath not the potter power 
 over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto 
 honour, and another unto dishonour? (Rom. ix. 21.) And 
 can that earth-artificer have a freer power over his brother 
 Potsherd (both being made of the same metal), than God 
 hath over him, who, by the strange fecundity of His 
 omnipotent power, first made the clay out of nothing, and 
 thenhimout of that?'" 
 
 And again — from a very different quarter — "I had to 
 refer the other day to Aristophanes, and came by chance 
 on a curious Speaking-pot story in the Vespse, which I had 
 quite forgotten. 
 
 (1. 1435) 
 ^CkoK\^(jjv. "AkovCj fjLT] <p€vy' iv ^v^dpei yvvfi 
 
 TTore Kar^a^* ix^vov. 
 Kari/jyopos. TaOr' iyca iiapripo^aL. 
 $t. Ovx^vos odv €X<^v Tf-v^ iirefutpr^paTO' 
 
 ET^' 7] SujSa/otrts etirev it val rav Kbpav 
 tt)v fiapTvplav TaiJT7}v idjas^ kv rdxct 
 iirldea-fioy iirplu), vovv &v cTxes irXefofa. 
 
 78 
 
" The Pot calls a bystander to be a witness to his bad 
 treatment. The woman says, * If, by Proserpine, instead of 
 all this * testifying * ( comp. Cuddie and his mother in ' Old 
 Mortality!') you would buy yourself a rivet, it would show 
 more sense in you!' The Scholiast explains echinus as 
 <S770J TL iK Kepdfiov.*^ 
 
 One more illustration for the oddity's sake from the 
 " Autobiography of a Cornish Rector," by the late James 
 Hamley Tregenna. 1871. 
 
 "There was one old Fellow in our Company — he was 
 so like a Figure in the 'Pilgrim's Progress' that Richard 
 always called him the 'Allegory,' with a long white 
 beard — a rare Appendage in those days — and a Face the 
 colour of which seemed to have been baked in, like the 
 Faces one used to see on Earthenware Jugs. In our 
 Country-dialect Earthenware is called ' Clome' ; so the 
 Boys of the Village used to shout out after him — * Go back 
 to the Potter, Old Clome-face, and get baked over again.' 
 For the * Allegory,' though shrewd enough in most things, 
 had the reputation of being ' saift- baked/ L e., of weak 
 intellect." 
 
 25 At the Close of the Fasting Month, Ramazdn (which 
 makes the Mussulman unhealthy and unamiable), the first 
 Glimpse of the New Moon (who rules their division of the 
 Year), is looked for with the utmost Anxiety, and hailed 
 with Acclamation. Then it is that the Porter's Knot 
 may be heard— toward the Cellar. Omar has elsewhere 
 a pretty Quatrain about the same Moon — 
 
 "Be of Good Cheer— the sullen Month will die, 
 " And a young Moon requite us by and by : 
 
 " Look how the Old one meagre, bent, and wan 
 " With Age and Fast, is fainting from the Sky ! " 
 
 FINIS. 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 BETWEEN THE SECOND, THIRD AND FOURTH 
 EDITIONS OF 
 
 OMAR KHAYYAM. 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 I. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Wake ! For the Sun behind yon Eastern height 
 Has chased the Session of the Stars from Night ; 
 
 And, to the field of Heav'n ascending, strikes 
 The Sultdn's Turret with a Shaft of Light. 
 
 In the first draught of ed. 3 the first and second lines 
 stood thus : 
 
 Wake ! For the Sun before him into Night 
 A Signal flung that put the Stars to flight. 
 
 If. In ed. 2 : 
 
 " Why iagfs the drowsy Worshipper outside ? " 
 V. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 But still a Ruby gushes from the Vine, 
 IX. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 Morning a thousand Roses brings, you say ; 
 
 81 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 X. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Let Rustura cry " To battle ! " as he likes, 
 Or Hdtim Tai "To Supper!"— heed not you. 
 
 In ed. 3 : 
 
 Let Zi\ and Rustum thunder as they will. 
 
 XII. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Here with a little Bread beneath the Bough, 
 
 A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou etc. 
 
 XIII. lued. 2: 
 
 Ah, take the Cash, and let the Promise go, 
 Nor heed the music of a distant Drum ! 
 
 XX. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And this delightful Herb whose living Green 
 
 XXII. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 That from his Vintage rolling Time has prest, 
 
 XXVI. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust 
 
 XXVII. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Came out by the same door as in I went. 
 
 XXVIII. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 And with my own hand wrought to make it grow : 
 
 XXX. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Ah, contrite Heav'n endowed us with the Vine 
 To drug the memory of that insolence ! 
 
 XXXI. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And many Knots unravel'd by the Road ; 
 
 82 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 XXXII. In edcL 2 and 3 : 
 
 There was the Veil through which I could not see : 
 xxxiii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Nor Heaven, with those eternal Signs reveal'd 
 
 XXXIV. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Then of the Thee in Me who works behind 
 The Veil of Universe I cried to find 
 
 A Lamp to guide me through the darkness ; and 
 Something then said— "An Understanding blind." 
 
 XXXV. In ed. 2 : 
 
 I lean'd, the secret Well of Life to learn: 
 
 XXXVI. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And drink; and that impassive Lip I kiss'd, 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 In ed. 2 the only difference is " For" instead of 
 "And" in the first line; but in the first 
 draught of ed. 3 the quatrain appeared thus : 
 
 For in your Ear a moment — of the same 
 
 Poor Earth from which that Human Whisper came, 
 
 The luckless Mould in which Mankind was cast 
 They did compose, and call'd him by the name. 
 
 XXXVIII. In ed. 3 the first line was altered to 
 Listen— a moment listen! — Of the same etc. 
 
 XXXIX. In ed. 2 : 
 
 On the parcht herbage but may steal below 
 XL. In ed. 2 : 
 
 As then the Tulip for her wonted sup 
 Of Heavenly Vintage lifts her chalice up, 
 
 Do you, twin offspring of the soil, till Heav*n 
 To Earth invert you like an empty Cup. 
 
 83 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 XL. In the first draught of ed. 3 the stanza is the same 
 as in add. 3 and 4, except that the second 
 line is 
 Of Wine from Heav'n her little Tass lifts up. 
 
 XLi. In ed. 2 and the first draught of ed. 3 : 
 
 Oh, plagued no more with Human or Divine, 
 To-morrow's tangle to itself resign, 
 
 XLii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And if the Cup you drink, the Lip you press. 
 End in what All begins and ends in — Yes ; 
 
 Imagine then you are what heretofore 
 You -were — hereafter you shall not be less. 
 
 The first draught of ed. 3 agrees with edd, 3 and 4 
 except that the first line is 
 And if the Cup, and if the Lip you press. 
 
 XLiii. Ined. 2: 
 
 So when at last the Angel of the drink 
 Of Darkness finds you by the river-brink, 
 
 And, proffering his cup, invites your Soul 
 Forth to your Lips to quaff it — do not shrink. 
 
 In the first draught of ed. 3 the only change made 
 was from "proffering" to "offering," but in 
 ed. 3 the stanza assumed the form in which 
 it also appeared in ed. 4. The change from 
 " the Angel " to " that Angel " was made in 
 MS. by FitzGerald in a copy of ed. 4. 
 
 XLiv. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Is't not a shame — is't not a shame for him 
 So long in this Clay suburb to abide ! 
 
 XLV. In ed. 2 : 
 
 But that is but a Tent wherein may rest 
 
 84 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 XLVi. Ined. a: 
 
 And fear not lest Existence closing ^o»r 
 Account, should lose, or know the type no more ; 
 
 XLVii. In ed. a : 
 
 As much as Ocean of a pebble-cast. 
 
 Ined. 3: 
 
 As the Sbv'n Sbas should heed a pebble-cast. 
 
 XLviii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 One Moment in Annihilation's Waste, 
 One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste — 
 
 The Stars are setting, and the Caravan 
 Draws to the Dawn of Nothing — Oh make haste I 
 
 In the first draught of ed. 3 the third line originally 
 stood : 
 Before the starting Caravan has reach'd 
 the rest of the quatrain being as in edd. 3 and 4. 
 XLix. In ed. 2: 
 
 A Hair, they say, divides the False and True — 
 The change from " does " to " may " in the last line 
 was made by FitzGerald in MS. 
 L. In ed. 2 : 
 
 A Hair, they say, divides the False and True ; 
 Lii. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 He does Himself contrive, enact, behold. 
 Liii. In the first draught of ed. 3 : 
 
 To-morrow, You when shall be You no more? 
 Liv. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Better be merry with the fruitful Grape 
 
 8s 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 Lv. In ed. 2 : 
 
 You know, ray Friends, how bravely in my House 
 For a new Marriage I did make Carouse : 
 
 Lvii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Have squared the Year to human compass, eh? 
 If so, by striking from the Calendar 
 
 Lxii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 When the frail Cup is cnunbled into Dust ! 
 Lxiii. Ined.2: 
 
 The Flower that once is blown for ever dies. 
 Lxv. In edd. 2 and 3 : 
 
 They told their fellows, and to Sleep retum'd. 
 Lxvi. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And after many days my Soul return'd 
 And said, "Behold, Myself am Heav'n and Hell:" 
 
 Lxvii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And Hell the Shadow of a Soul on fire, 
 
 Lxviii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Of visionary Shapes that come and go 
 Round with this Sun-illumin'd Lantern held 
 
 Lxix. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Impotent Pieces of the Game He plays 
 Lxx. In ed. 2 : 
 
 But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes ; 
 Lxxii. In ed. 2 and the first draught of ed. 3 : 
 
 And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky, 
 
 86 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 Lxxii. In edA 2 and 3 : 
 
 As impotently rolls as you or I. 
 
 Lxxix. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Pure Gold for what he lent us dross-allay'd — 
 
 Lxxxi. In ed. 2 : 
 
 For all the Sin the Face of wretched Man 
 Is black with — Man's Forgiveness give — and take ! 
 
 Lxxxiii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And once again there gather'd a scarce heard 
 Whisper among them ; as it were, the stirr'd 
 Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue, 
 Which mine ear kindled into living Word. 
 
 Lxxxiv. In ed. 2 : 
 
 " My Substance from the common Earth was ta'eu, 
 
 " That He who subtly wrought me into Shape 
 " Should stamp me back to shapeless Earth again?" 
 
 Lxxxv. In ed. 2 • 
 
 Another said — " Why, ne'er a peevish Boy 
 
 " Would break the Cup from which he drank in Joy 
 
 " Shall He that of his own free Fancy made 
 "The Vessel, in an after-rage destroy " 
 
 Lxxxvi. In ed. 2 : 
 
 None answered this ; but after silence spake 
 
 Lxxxvii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Thus with the Dead as with the Living, ^bat 7 
 And Wby 7 so ready, but the Wherefor not, 
 
 One on a sudden peevishly exclaira'd, 
 " Which is the Potter, pray, and which the Pot? " 
 
 87 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 Lxxxviii. In ed 2 : 
 
 Said one — " Folks of a surly Master tell, 
 " And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell ; 
 ** They talk of some sharp Trial of us — Pish ! 
 " He's a Good Fellow, and 'twill all be well." 
 
 Lxxxix. In ed. 2 : 
 
 " Well," said another, " VHioso will, let try,'* 
 
 xc. In ed. 2 : 
 
 One spied the little Crescent all were seeking : 
 
 xci. In ed. 2 : 
 
 And wash ray Body whence the Life has died, 
 
 XCI 11. Ined. 2: 
 
 Have done my credit in Men's eye much wrong : 
 
 xcv. In ed. 2 : 
 
 One half so precious as the ware they sell. 
 
 xcvii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Toward which the fainting Traveller might spring, 
 
 xcviii. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Oh if the World were but to re-create, 
 
 That we might catch ere closed the Book of Fate, 
 
 And make The Writer on a fairer leaf 
 Inscribe our names, or quite obliterate ! 
 
 xcix. In ed. 2 : 
 
 Ah Love I could you and I with Fate conspire 
 
 88 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 QUATRAIN 
 
 c. In ed. 2 : 
 
 But see ! the rising Moon of Heav'n again 
 Looks for us, Sweet-heart, through the quivering 
 Plane : 
 How oft hereafter rising will she look 
 Among those leaves— for one of us in vain! 
 
 CI. In ed. 3 : 
 
 And when Yourself with silver Foot shall pass 
 
 In the first draught of ed. 3 " Foot " is changed to 
 "step." 
 
 In ed. 3 : 
 And in your blissful errand reach the spot 
 
 Of late it has become the fashion to refer to z fifth edition 
 of FitzGerald's text ; a mere book maker's raison d'Hre for 
 casting doubt upon the already sufficiently reliable editions 
 extant, thereby bringing into prommence a new and quite 
 possibly unnecessary re-issue. As a matter of fact the 
 Fourth edition is the last that FitzGerald lived to see in 
 type. The variants in the so-called fifth edition are 
 absurdly unimportant. They were first printed by William 
 Aldis Wright in the Letters and Literary Remains, (1889), 
 and are taken from a copy of the Fourth edition which 
 undoubtedly contained a few minor changes in FitzGerald's 
 handwriting. They are as follows : 
 
 Quatrain xvi read "is gone" for '^was gone ; " xxi read 
 "^2A\ Regrets" for "^z&t Regret ;" xlviii read "has reach^d^* 
 for "has reacht ;" xlix read "may life" for "does life;" 
 Lxvii read "emerged from" for "emerg'd from;" lxxix 
 read "he never" for "tu* never;" lxxx read "Predestined 
 Evil" for "Predestin'd Evil." 
 
 89 
 
VARIATIONS 
 
 In quatrain i, line i, after "Sun" comma is inserted ; in 
 quatrain xxiv, line 3, after "under Dust" comma is omitted ; 
 and in quatrain lvi, line i, after "Line" comma is omitted. 
 Let us hope to be no more troubled with textual variations. 
 The words italicised are the only changes observable. 
 
 A far more interesting variant occurs in a letter from 
 FitzGerald to his "dear Cowell," dated 3 July, 1857, {Letters 
 and Literary Remains, Vol. I, p. 264). He introduces it by 
 sapng "I send a poor Sir W. Jones' sort of Parody which 
 came into my mind walking in the Garden here ; where the 
 Rose is blowing as in Persia ? . . I will not stop to make 
 the Verse better : " 
 
 I long for wine ! oh Sdki of my Soul, 
 Prepare thy Song and filj[ the morning Bowl ; 
 For this first Summer month that brings the Rose 
 Takes many a Sultan with it as it goes. 
 
QUATRAINS 
 
 PRINTED IN THB SECOND EDITION ONLY (x868). 
 
 WERE it not Folly, Spider-like to spin 
 The Thread of present Life away to win — 
 What ? for ourselves, who know not if we shall 
 Breathe out the very Breath we now breathe in ! 
 
 The Palace that to HeaVn his pillars threw, 
 And Kings the forehead on his threshold drew — 
 
 I saw the solitary Ringdove there. 
 And " Coo, coo, coo," she cried ; and " Coo, coo, coo." 
 
 (This quatrain is quoted in the Note to quatrain 
 XVIII in the Third and Fourth editions.) 
 
 Another Voice, when I am sleeping, cries, 
 
 "The Flower should open with the Morning skies." 
 
 And a retreating Whisper, as I wake — 
 " The Flower that once has blown for ever dies." 
 
 Do you, within your little hour of Grace, 
 The waving Cypress in your Arms enlace, 
 
 Before the Mother back into her arms 
 Fold, and dissolve you in a last embrace. 
 
 If but the Vine and Love-abjuring Band 
 Are in the Prophet's Paradise to stand, 
 
 Alack, I doubt the Prophet's Paradise 
 Were empty as the hollow of one's Hand. 
 
 91 
 
OMITTED QUATRAINS 
 
 For let Philosopher and Doctor preach 
 
 Of what they will and what they will not — each 
 
 Is but one Link in an eternal Chain 
 That none can slip, nor break, nor over-reach. 
 
 Nay, but, for terror of his wrathful Face, 
 I swear I will not call Injustice Grace ; 
 
 Not one Good Fellow of the Tavern but 
 Would kick so poor a Coward from the place. 
 
 And once again there gathered a scarce heard 
 Whisper among them ; as it were, the stirr'd 
 Ashes of some all but extinguisht Tongue, 
 Which mine ear kindled into living Word. 
 
 (In the Third and Fourth editions quatrain lxxxiii 
 takes the place of this.) 
 
 Whither resorting from the vernal Heat 
 
 Shall Old Acquaintance Old Acquaintance greet, 
 
 Under the Branch that leans above the Wall 
 To shed his Blossom over head and feet. 
 
 Better, oh better, cancel from the Scroll 
 Of Universe one luckless Human Soul, 
 
 Than drop by drop enlarge the Flood that rolls 
 Hoarser with Anguish as the Ages roll. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
Note. This Bibliographical List is 
 concerned only with the English versions 
 and editions of the Rubdiydt. At the 
 head of all possible versions stands the 
 translation by Edward FitzGerald. 
 The attempts of other men to retranslate 
 what has been already accomplished 
 so magnificently cannot but remind us 
 of Franklin's unhappy suggestion, (with 
 a specimen) of an improved rendering 
 of the book of Job. Nor is it a question 
 of scholarship in the least. The unique 
 thing is FitzGerald's blend of modem 
 Agnosticism with Oriental fatalism ; this 
 it is, a living English graft upon the 
 stock of Omar dead and turned to clay, 
 that compels our attention and will hold 
 it against all new-comers, — the bald and 
 unconvincing literality of Mr. John 
 Payne, or the mild erotics and senti- 
 mentalisms read into the incomparable 
 old Persian singer by his latest versifier. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 LIST OF ENGLISH VERSIONS AND EDITIONS OF TUB 
 RUBXiyAt OF OMAR KHAYyAm. 
 
 FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION. 
 
 A. ENGLISH EDITIONS. 
 
 I. First Edition. 
 
 RubXiyXt||of||Omar KhayyXm||the Astronomer- 
 PoET of Persia II Translated into English Versh.|| 
 
 London || Bernard Quaritch, || Castle Street, 
 Leicester Square || 1859. 
 
 Small 4to. Brown paper wrappers. Pp. xiii-}-2i. 
 " It was printed as a small quarto pamphlet, bearing the 
 publisher's name but not the author's; and although 
 apparently a complete failure at first,— a failure which 
 Mr. FitzGerald regretted less on his own account than 
 on that of his publisher, to whom he had generously 
 made a present of the book, — received, nevertheless, a 
 sufficient distribution by being quickly reduced from the 
 price of five shillings and placed in the box of cheap 
 books marked a penny each. Thus forced into circula- 
 tion, the two hundred copies which had been printed 
 
 95 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 were soon exhausted." (Works of Edward FitzGerald, 
 
 1887, vol. I, pp. xvii, xviii.) 
 
 A copy of this First edition was bought by Mr. Quaritch 
 
 in February, 1898, for £^\. Since then Mr. S. B. 
 
 Luyster, Jr., of New York City, has sold what is believed 
 
 to be an unique uncut copy for J 140.00 
 
 I a. Thb Samb. (50 copies only), octavo, cloth, Madras, 
 
 1862. 
 
 "This was privately reprinted at Madras (Adiyar) in 
 
 1862, . . . with a few additional quatrains translated." 
 
 (Dole's Variorum [1898] vol. 11, p. 467.) 
 
 Priced at ;^io, los. in a recent English catalogue. 
 
 II. Second Edition. 
 
 RubaiyAt II OF II Omar KhayvXm || the Astronomer- 
 Poet OF Persia H Rendered into English Verse || 
 Second Edition || London: || Bernard Quaritch, || 
 Piccadilly |I 1868. 
 
 Small 4to. Wrappers. Pp. xviii-f 30. 
 "After the first edition had disappeared, inquiries for 
 the little book became frequent, and in the year 1868 he " 
 (FitzGerald) "gave the MS. of his second edition to Mr. 
 Quaritch, and the Rubi'iydt came into circulation once 
 more, but with several alterations and additions by 
 which the number of stanzas was somewhat increased 
 beyond the original seventy-five." (Works, vol. i, p. xix.) 
 As a matter of fact this edition contained no 
 quatrains. 
 
 At the Bierstadt sale, (Bangs, April, 1897) ^ copy in 
 the original wrappers brought ^14.00. 
 
 III. Third Edition. 
 
 RubAiyAt n OF II Omar KhayyXmjH the Astronomer- 
 Poet OF Persia, |I Rendered into English Verse H 
 Third Edition I| London : I| Bernard Quaritch, || 
 Piccadilly. || 1872. 
 
 96 
 
 I 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Quarto. % Roxburghe. Pp. xxiv+36. 
 
 " A third edition appeared in 1872, with some further 
 
 alterations, and this may be regarded as virtually the 
 
 author's final revision, for it hardly differs at all from 
 
 the text of the fourth edition, which appeared in 1879." 
 
 (Works, vol. I, p. XX.) 
 
 There were loi quatrains in this edition. 
 
 Priced at £2,, los. in a recent English catalogue. 
 
 IV. Fourth Edition. 
 
 RubXiyXt U of U Omar KhavvXm j| and the SalX- 
 mAn and AbsAl II of II JXMf ; || Rendered into English 
 Verse II Bernard Quaritch; 15 Piccadilly, London, 
 1879. 
 
 Fcap 4to. J^ Roxburghe. Pp. xvi-|-ii2. 
 
 "This last" (edition) "formed the first portion of a 
 
 volume entitled " as above. (Works, vol. i, p. xx.) 
 None of the preceding editions bear the name of the 
 
 translator, but were issued anonymously. 
 
 V. Fifth Edition. 
 
 Letters || and || Literary Remains H of || Edward 
 
 FiTzGeRALD n EDITED BY || WiLLIAM AlDIS WrIGHT || In 
 
 Three Volumes. || London : |1 Macmillan and Co. || and 
 New York. || 1889. || AIL Rights reserved. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 3 vols. (Issued at iJ 10.00.) 
 
 The text of Omar, with additional matter, is contained 
 
 in vol. Ill, pp. 333-396. 
 
 VI. Sixth Edition. 
 
 RubXiyXt n OF II Omar KhayyXm H the Astronomer- 
 Poet OF Persia || Rendered into English Verse || 
 London H Macmillan and Co. H and New York || 1890.II 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 97 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Crown 8vo. Pp. iv+112. (Issued at $3.00.) 
 Mr. Dole calls this the fifth edition. It is, indeed, a 
 mere reprint of the fifth ; but being dated a year later, 
 and a book by itself must be counted as a distinct edition. 
 That at least is the purport of the bibliographical note 
 printed on reverse of title-page. 
 
 VII. The Quilter Edition. 
 
 Omar KhayyAm, The RubAiyAt, translated into 
 English Verse. Royal 4to. Title printed on the covers. 
 Bds. iQS. London, John Campbell, Jun. mdccclxxxiii. 
 "A pirated edition; the first leaf bears the following 
 inscription: — 'To the Translator, with the Printer's 
 thanks and apologies. Henry Quilter.' It is word for 
 word an exact reprint of Mr. FitzGerald's edition." 
 (Extract from one of Quaritch's Catalogues of Oriental 
 Books, [1887?] quoted by Justin Huntly McCarthy in 
 the Introduction to his Prose Version of the Rubdiydt.) 
 
 VIII. Latin Translation. 
 
 RubAiyAt of Omar KhayyAm, the Astronomer- 
 Poet OF Persia: Rendered into English Verse by 
 Edward FitzGerald, and into Latin Verse by 
 Herbert Wilson Greene. Privately printed (100 copies), 
 Oxford, 1893. 
 
 See American editions, xviii. 
 
 IX. The Ashendene Press Edition. 
 
 RubAiyAt of Omar KhayyAm |! of NaishApur, the 
 
 ASTRONOMERiiPOETOF PeRSIA ! RENDERED INTO EnGLISH 
 
 Verse.j! [Device : engraved book-plate with legend: Les 
 hommcs sont ntescbants mats Uurs livres sont tons. C. H. 
 St. John Hornby.] II Ashendene Press, mdcccxcvi. 
 Small 4to. Pp. xl+48. 
 
 50 copies printed on hand-made paper, for private 
 circulation only. " The text here printed is not that of 
 
 98 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 any one of the four editions ; but the printer has selected 
 from each those readings which seemed to him best, and 
 combined them into one whole." This reprint ends 
 with a bibliography "taken, with apologies, from the 
 edition published at Portland, Me., U. S. A., in the year 
 1895." (See Dole's Variorum, I1898] vol. 11, pp. 557-563.) 
 
 X. Thb Macdougall Edition. 
 
 The RubXiyXt of Omar KhayyX.m, the Astron- 
 
 OMBR-POBT OF PERSIA. RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VeRSE 
 
 BY Edward FitzGerald. Decorated by W. B. 
 
 Macdougall. London, 1898. 
 
 The borders of this decorated edition (dedicated to 
 members of the Omar Khayydm Club) have been 
 engraved on wood by Octave Lacour, and the book is 
 printed from the original blocks on special antique 
 paper. An Edition de luxe limited to 1,000 copies. 
 
 Heron-Allen, Edward 
 
 Some Side-lights upon Edward FitzGerald's Poem " The 
 Rubdiyit of Omar Khayydm." Being the Substance of 
 a Lecture delivered at the Grosvenor Crescent Club 
 and Woman's Institute, on the 22nd March, 1898. By 
 Edward Heron- Allen. 
 
 Octavo. Grey wrapper. Pp. iv-f32. London, 1898. 
 Copies of this most interesting little book should be in 
 the hands of every student of Omar, — every lover of 
 FitzGerald. 
 
 Scott, Temple 
 
 A Bibliography of Omar Khayydm. With a Prefatory 
 Note by Edward Clodd. 
 
 Fcap 8vo. Buckram. (5s. net.) London: Grant 
 Richards, 1899. 
 
 This work was announced for 1898, but date of publica- 
 tion has been put forward to the spring of 1899. 
 
 99 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 B. AMERICAN EDITIONS. 
 
 I. First Edition. 
 
 RubAivAt II OF II Omar KhayyX.m,|| the Astronomer- 
 Poet OF Persia. || Rendered into English Verse.|| 
 First American Jj From the Third London Edition || 
 [Monogram] Boston : II James R. Osgood and Company, U 
 Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood & Co.|| 
 1878. [1877?] 
 
 Square 1 6mo. Pp.78. Versos blank ; red line. ($1.00). 
 
 The 26th edition, (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.) is dated 
 
 1896. 
 
 II. The Grolier Club Edition. 
 
 RubAiyAt II OF II Omar KhayyAm |I the Astronomer- 
 Poet OF Persia || Rendered into English Verse byI| 
 Edward FitzGerald || [Club device in colors.] The 
 Grolier Club of New York || mdccclxxxv. 
 
 " Medium octavo, leaf untrimmed, 6x9 inches, pp. xx-}-62. 
 Printed from old style types of the size known as 
 English. . . . Ornamental head-bands in gold and 
 colors. Covers of Japan paper beautifully ornamented 
 in blue and gold from an Oriental design. 
 The edition consisted of 150 copies on Japan paper 
 and 2 copies on vellum. Printed May, 1885. The 
 subscription price was $3.00." 
 
 {Transactions of the Grolier Club : Part IF, 1894) 
 Copies of this edition have sold in New York at Bangs's 
 at the following prices: April 15, 1896, ^200.00; May 
 18, 1896, $208.00; Dec. 7, 1896, $210.00; Feb. 10, 1897, 
 $200.00; Nov., 1897, $174.00; Feb., 1898, $185.00. 
 
 III. The Memorial Edition. 
 
 Works of || Edward FitzGerald U Translator of 
 Omar KhayyAm |I Reprinted |I from the original 
 
 impressions, with some corrections II DERIVED FROM 
 his own ANNOTATED COPIES || IN TWO VOLUMES.|| 
 
 100 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 New York and Boston : London : 
 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Bernard Quaritch. 
 
 1887. 
 2 vols, octavo. (^10.00.) A few large paper copies, 
 (Royal octavo), were issued at 525.00. 
 
 IV. The Comparative Edition. 
 
 RubXivXt of II Omar KhavvXm || in English Verse|| 
 Edward FitzGerald || The text of the fourth edition, 
 followed by that of the first; with notes showing the 
 extent of his indebtedness to the Persian original; and 
 biographical preface. 
 
 i2mo. % vellum. Boston, 1888. (^1.50.) 
 
 V. The Vedder Illustrated Editions: 
 
 1. RubXivXt of Omar KhayvXm. With ornamental 
 title-page and 56 full-page drawings by Elihu Vedder. 
 Folio, (unpaged) cloth, gilt top. Boston, 1884. (1^25.00 
 net.) 
 
 I a. A small quarto of the text alone, printed on one 
 side of strips of paper, like a Japanese book, Pp. 45, 
 without title page, imprint or date. 
 
 2. The Same. Edition de luxe, 100 copies on Japan 
 vellum, full morocco, satin linings. ($100.00 net) 
 
 3. The Same. Phototype edition, (reduced plates.) 
 Quarto, cloth, gilt top. Boston, 1886. ($12.50.) 
 
 4. The Same. Popular edition. With comparative 
 texts, Life of the Author, and Sketch of FitzGerald. 
 Small 4to, cloth, gilt top. Boston, 1894. ($5.00.) 
 
 VI. Pamphlet Edition. 
 
 RubXivXt of Omar KhavvAm. 
 
 i2mo. Green paper wrapper. Pp. 48. San Francisco, 
 1 89 1. (20 cents.) 
 
 IQI 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 VIT. Selections from the RubAiyXt. 
 
 Octavo. Pp. 21. Boston, Dec. 8, 1893. loo copies 
 privately printed in pamphlet form by John L. Stoddard 
 for circulation among his friends. 
 In a prefatory note Mr. Stoddard says : 
 " The following verses have been selected out of many 
 which appear in the four different editions of the 
 *Rubiiydt of Omar Khayydm,' in order that I might 
 have my favorite stanzas arranged by themselves as I 
 best love to read them. In cases where I preferred a 
 word or a line in one edition to its substitute in a later 
 one, I have not hesitated to adopt it, but all these 
 quatrains are the work of the great Persian poet, as 
 interpreted and versified by Edward FitzGerald." 
 
 VIII. The Bibelot Edition. 
 
 RuBiCiYAT OF Omar KhayyAm. 
 Narrow Fcap Svo. Pp. 80. Portland, Me., 1894. 725 
 copies on Van Gelder hand-made paper, and 25 copies 
 (numbered) on Japan vellum. 
 
 IX. St. Paul Edition. 
 
 1. RubAiyAt of Omar KhayyAm. 
 
 Square i2mo. Bds. Uncut. Pp. 93. (750 numbered 
 copies on hand-made paper.) St. Paul, (Minn.) 1895. 
 ($1.25 net.) Frontispiece. 
 
 2. The Same. i2rao. Cloth. Gilt top. Pp. 93. St. 
 Paul, (Minn.) 1897. ($1.00). Evidently printed from 
 electrotypes of the previous edition, on imitation 
 hand-made paper, and omitting frontispiece. 
 
 X. The Multi- Variorum Editions. 
 
 I. RubAiyAt of Omar KhayyXm. English, French 
 and German Translations comparatively arranged in 
 accordance with the text of Edward FitzGerald's 
 version. With further selections, notes, biographies, 
 
 103 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 bibliographies and other material, collected and edited 
 by Nathan Haskell Dole. 
 
 iimo. 3 vols. Cloth. Gilt top. Boston, 1896. Also 
 250 large paper copies (numbered). 
 2. The Same. Second edition. With additional 
 Italian and Danish translations, also "additions to 
 bibliography for edition of 1898." Crown Svo. Illus- 
 trated. 2 vols. Cloth. Gilt top. Boston, 1898. [1897.] 
 It would be difficult to over-estimate the obligations 
 all lovers of Omar and of FitzGerald are under to 
 Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole for this splendid specimen 
 of his editorial ability. 
 
 XI. Pamphlet Edition. 
 
 1. RubXivXt op Omar KhavvXm. 
 
 Square i2mo. Green corrugated paper wrapper. Pp. 
 60. San Francisco, n. d. [1896.] 25 cents. 
 Some de luxe copies were issued, printed on one side 
 of leaf only. ($1.50.) 
 
 2. Thb Samb. New edition. Pp. 72. 1898. 
 
 XII. The Crowell Editions. 
 
 RubXivXt of Omar KhavvXm and the SalXmXn 
 and AbsXl of JXMf, Rendered into English Verse 
 BY Edward FitzGerald. New York and Boston, 
 N. d. [1896.] 
 
 Sqxiare i2mo. Pp. 288. [Issued in various electrotype 
 editions, — " Handy volume," " Faience," etc.] 
 
 XIII. RubXivXt of Omar KhavvXm. 
 
 Square i2mo. Bds. Pp. 64. Published for Will 
 Bradley by R. H. Russell, New York, n. d. [1897.] 
 
 XIV. Williams (Talcott.) 
 
 Thb RubXivXt of Omar KhavvXm, edited bv 
 Talcott Williams. 
 
 Square i2mo. Gilt top. Pp. lxxii-4-76. Philadelphia, 
 
 1898. (11.25.) 
 
 103 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 XV. The "Lark Classics" Edition. 
 
 Square i6mo. Pp. 114. Cloth. San Francisco, n. d. 
 I1898.] 
 
 XVI. Pamphlet Edition. 
 RubXiyXt of Omar KhayyXm. 
 
 Fcap 4to. The text printed on left side of leaf in red 
 abd black, on manilla wrapping paper; the right side 
 blank, presumably "for pencil notes and comments." 
 Brown wrapper. Pp. 70. San Francisco, n. d. [May, 
 1898.] 
 
 XVII. New RubXiyAt by Condi^ Benoist Pallbn. 
 Square i6mo. Pp. 62. Cloth. St. Louis, Missouri, 
 1898. The text of FitzGerald's First edition is reprinted 
 on pp. 49-62. (50 cents.) 
 
 XVIII. RubXiyXt of Omar KhayyXm. 
 
 Rendered into English verse by Edward FitzGerald, 
 and into Latin by Herbert Wilson Greene. Privately 
 printed by Nathan Haskell Dole, Boston, 1898. 
 32mo. Pp. 64, 950 copies on hand-made paper (jli.oo 
 net); 50 numbered copies on Japan vellum ($5,00 net). 
 
 XIX. The Roycroft Edition. 
 
 Oblong 8vo. Pp. 60. East Aurora, N. Y. (June, 1898.) 
 920 copies printed from the t3rpe in colors. (I2.00.) 
 
 XX. The "Triple" Edition. 
 
 Edited by Nathan Haskell Dole. Illustrated by Gilbert 
 
 James and Edmund H. Garrett. 
 
 i2mo. Cloth. Boston, 1899 [1898]. (J2.00.) 
 
 XXI. RubX-iyXt of Omar KhayyAm. 
 
 Being a Reprint of Edward FitzGerald's 4th English 
 Translation. With page decorations from original 
 designs by Blanche McManus. 
 
 104 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Contains the Text only, FitzGerald's Introduction and < 
 
 Notes being omitted. 
 
 Fcap 4to. Pp. 23, not paged. Bds. New York, 1898. 
 
 XXII. Los Angblks Edition. 
 
 An edition of FitzGerald's text "with a prose translation 
 from the French on the opposite page" is announced by 
 Mr. Ernest K. Foster, Los Angeles, California. (Oct., 
 1898.) 
 
 XXIII. Thb Old World Edition. 
 
 RubXiyXt op Omar KhayyXm. 
 
 Narrow Fcap 8vo. Vellum bds. Uncut. Portland, 
 
 Maine. 
 
 First edition, October, 1895 » second edition, December, 
 
 1895; third edition, September, 1896; fourth edition. 
 
 May, 1897; fiftli edition, February, 1898: sixth edition, 
 
 November, 1898. Each edition limited to 925 copies 
 
 printed from type on Van Gelder hand-made paper, 
 
 (Ji.oo net) and 100 numbered copies on Japan vellum 
 
 ($2.50 net). 
 
 IL 
 
 OTHER TRANSLATIONS. 
 
 I. Whinfibld (E. H.) 
 
 1. The Quatrains of Omar KhayyXm. Translated 
 into English Verse. (253 quatrains.) 
 
 Octavo. Pp. viii-}-9i. London, 1882. 
 
 2. The Same. Second edition revised (267 quatrains). 
 Octavo. Pp. 124. London, 1893. 
 
 3. The Quatrains of Omar KhayyXm. The 
 Persian Text with an English verse translation (500 
 quatrains). 
 
 Octavo. Pp. xxxii+33S. London, 1883. 
 
 105 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 . II. Garner (John Leslie) 
 
 1. The Strophes of Omar KhayyAm. Translated 
 from the Persian, with an introduction and notes. (142 
 quatrains.) 
 
 Square i2mo. Pp. xii-j-76. Milwaukee, 1888. 
 
 2. The Stanzas of Omar KhayyAm translated 
 from the Persian. Second edition with introduction 
 and notes. (154 quatrains.) 
 
 Square lamo. Gilt top. Pp. 80. Printed on one side 
 of leaf only. Philadelphia, 1898 [1897]. 
 
 3. An English edition has been done at the Chiswick 
 Press for George Bell & Sons, London, 1898. 
 
 III. McCarthy (Justin Huntly) 
 
 1. RubXiyAt of Omar KhayyAm. (Prose version.) 
 Fcap 8vo. Bds. Pp. Ixii+clvi. London : D. Nutt, 1889. 
 550 copies on small paper, and 60 on large paper were 
 issued, printed in capital letters throughout. Copies 
 also exist printed on vellum. 
 
 2. Second edition. Re\ased and abridged. London : 
 D. Nutt, 1898. 
 
 3. The Same. The Bibelot Edition. 
 Narrow 8vo. Pp. cxxxi. Portland, Maine, 1896. 
 This is a reprint of Mr. McCarthy's first edition, with 
 the 466 quatrains numbered consecutively. 
 
 925 copies printed on Van Gelder hand-made paper, and 
 100 numbered copies on Japan vellum. 
 
 IV. Le Gallienne (Richard) 
 
 1. RubAivAt of Omar KhayyAm. A Paraphrase 
 from several Literal Translations. 
 
 Narrow 8vo. Pp. xvi-|-88. London, 1897. A few 
 copies were also issued on Japan vellum, numbered and 
 signed by the author. 
 
 2. The Same. Octavo. Bds. Pp. 112. New York. 
 1897. 1250 copies numbered and signed by the author, 
 
 106 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 on hand-made paper (I2.50); also 50 copies on Japan 
 
 vellum. 
 
 Selections from this paraphrase appeared in Tbe 
 
 Cosmopolitan for July and August, 1897. 
 
 3. Cheaper edition, with cover design by Will Bradley. 
 
 New York, 1898. (|i.oo.) 
 
 V. Heron-Allen (Edward) 
 
 The n RubX'ivXt H of || Omar KhayvXm | Being U A 
 Facsimile of the Manuscript in the Bodleian 
 Library at Oxford, H with a Transcript into 
 Modern Persian Characters, {| Translated, with 
 AN Introduction and Notes, |i and a Bibliog- 
 raphy, 11 BY Edward Heron-Allen. H London, || H. S. 
 Nichols Ltd. 39 Charing Cross Road W. C. I1 
 mdcccxcviii. 
 
 Royal octavo. White leather. Pp. xlii+287. 
 Of this edition there are 1000 small paper copies, 20 
 large paper copies, and 2 copies on vellum. 
 An American edition with a two-page Preface by Mr. 
 N. H. Dole has been issued. Boston, 1898. ^3.50. 
 
 VL Payne (John) 
 
 The Quatrains of Omar KhayyXm, the Astron- 
 omer-Poet OF Persia, now first completely done 
 into English verse in the original forms. (In all about 
 840 quatrains.) 
 
 Octavo. Vellum. Gilt top. The Villon Society 
 London, 1898. 675 numbered copies on hand-made 
 paper issued to subscribers at one guinea net ; 75 large 
 paper copies at two guineas net. 
 
TRAY BR TO THE IVINDS, 
 
 On planting at the head of FitzGerald's 
 grave two rose-trees whose ancestors had 
 scattered their petals over the tomb of 
 Omar KhayvAm. 
 
 **%My tomb shall be on a spot where the north' 
 wind may strow roses upon it." — Omar KhayyXm 
 to KwXjah NizAml 
 
 HEAR tiSfj^e winds / 
 From where the north-wind strows 
 'Blossoms that crown " the King of IVisdom^s '* tomb, 
 The trees here planted bring remembered bloom^ 
 T)r earning in seed of Love's ancestral rose. 
 To meadows where a braver north-wind blows 
 O'er greener grass, o'er hedge-rose, may, and broom, 
 tAnd all that make East England^ s field-perfume 
 T>earer than any fragrance Persia knows. 
 
 Hear us, ye winds. North, East, and West and South, 
 This granite coders him whose golden mouth 
 Made wiser ev'n the Word of Wisdom's King : 
 Blow softly over Omar*s Western herald 
 Till roses rich of Omar's dust shall spring 
 From richer dust of Suffolk's rare Fit^Gerald. 
 
 THEODORE WATTS-DUNTON. 
 
Here ends Rubaiyat of 
 Omar Khayyam .rendered 
 into English Verse by 
 Edward FiUGerald^-^iDe- 
 signs and Headbands by 
 Charles M, Jenckes, -^ 
 Printed by Smith & Sale» 
 for Thomas B» Mosher, and 
 published by him at XLV 
 Exchange Street^ Portland, 
 Maine, MDCCCXCDC-^