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"PORTRAIT OF MEHDI ALI GULI KHAN, COMMANDER OF FORTRESS, BY RAMDAS"—A.D. 1630

SILK FABRIC—A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE KIND PRODUCED BY THE ROYAL LOOMS AT ISPAHAN, WHICH FLOURISHED UNDER THE DIRECT PATRONAGE OF SHAH ABBAS THE GREAT (A.D. 1588-1629)

"Oct. 18th, 1666.—To Court. It being ye first time his Maty (Charles II of England) put himself solemnly into Eastern fashion of vest, changeing doublet, stiff collar, bands and cloake, into a comley dress, after ye Persian mode. I had sometime before presented an invective against our so much affecting the French fashion, to his Majesty, in which I took occasion to describe the comelinesse and usefulness of the Persian clothing, in ye very same manner his Maty now clad himself."—John Evelyn (A.D. 1666), celebrated historian and diarist.

which is but One, reveals itself through countless phenomena which are but reflections of One. "The Phantasmal is the Bridge to the Real," says the mystic, and the immortal lines of J'ami read:

"Though in this world a hundred tasks thou tryest,
'Tis Love alone which from thyself will save thee.
Even from earthly love thy face avert not,
Since to the real it may serve to raise thee.
Ere A, B, C, are rightly apprehended,
How canst thou con the pages of the Qur'an?
A sage (so heard I) unto whom a scholar
Came craving counsel on the course before him,
Said, 'If thy steps be strangers to love's pathways,
Depart, learn Love, and then return before me,
For, shouldst thou fear to drink wine from form's Flagon,
Thou canst not drain the draughts of the Ideal.
But yet beware, Be not by form belated,
Strive rather with all speed the bridge to traverse.
If to the bourn thou fain wouldst bear thy baggage,
Upon the bridge let not thy footsteps linger."[10]