[205] This was said by FitzGerald to his friend Frederick Spalding.
[206] Edward FitzGerald to George Borrow, in Knapp's Life, vol. ii. p. 346.
[207] The Works of Edward FitzGerald, vol. ii. p. 59 (Macmillan).
[208] FitzGerald was staying with his friends Mr. and Mrs. W. K. Browne. There is no letter other than this one to Borrow to recall that visit, which is, however, referred to in the FitzGerald Correspondence (Works, vol. ii. p. 75) by the following sentence:—'When in Bedfordshire I put away almost all Books except Omar Khayyám! which I could not help looking over in a Paddock covered with Buttercups and brushed by a delicious Breeze, while a dainty racing Filly of Browne's came startling up to wonder and to snuff about me.' The 'friend' of the letter was of course Mr. W. K. Browne, who was more of an open air man than a bookman.
[209] I am indebted to Mr. Edward Heron-Allen for the information that this is the original of the last verse but one in FitzGerald's first version of the Rubáiyát:
r 74. Ah Moon of my Delight, who knowest no wane,
The Moon of Heaven is rising once again,
How oft, hereafter rising, shall she look
Through this same Garden after me—in vain.
The literal translation is:
[Persian]
Since no one will guarantee thee a to-morrow,
[Persian]
Make thou happy now this lovesick heart;
[Persian]
Drink wine in the moonlight, O Moon, for the Moon
[Persian]
Shall seek us long and shall not find us.
[210] The Works of Edward FitzGerald, vol. ii. p. 74 (Macmillan).
[211] Letters of Edward FitzGerald, vol. ii. p. 15.