[564]. See vol. iv. p. 245.
[565]. i.e. tempt not Providence unless compelled so to do by necessity.
[566]. The youth was taking a “Fál” or omen: see vol. v. 136.
[567]. In text “Hasal,” for which I would read “Khasal.”
[568]. A wiser Sprichwort than those of France and America. It compares advantageously with the second par. of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) by the Representatives of the U.S., which declares, “these truths to be self-evident:—that all men are created equal,” etc. It is regretable that so trenchant a state-paper should begin with so gross and palpable a fallacy. Men are not born equal, nor do they become equal before their death-days even in condition, except by artificial levelling; and in republics and limited monarchies, where all are politically equal, the greatest social inequalities ever prevail. Still falser is the shibboleth-crow of the French cock, “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité,” which has borrowed its plumage from the American Bird o’ Freedom. And Douglas Jerrold neatly expressed the truth when he said,—“We all row in the same boat but not with the same sculls.”
[569]. Sayf Kunúzí = a talismanic scymitar: see “Kanz,” ix. 320.
[570]. In Arab. “Al-Kutb al-Ghauth” = lit. The pole-star of invocation for help; or simply “Al-Ghauth” is the highest degree of sanctity in the mystic fraternity of Tasawwuf. See v. 384; and Lane (A. N.) i. 232. Students who would understand these titles will consult vol. iii. chapt. 12 of The Dabistán by Shaw and Troyer, Paris and London, 1843. By the learned studies of Dr. Pertsch the authorship of this work of the religious eclecticism of Akbar’s reign, has been taken from the wrongful claimant and definitively assigned to the legitimate owner, Mobed Shah. (See Z. d. M. G. xvi. 224). It is regretable that the index of the translation is worthless as its contents are valuable.
[571]. Arab. “Su’ubán” = cockatrice, etc., vols. i. 172; vii. 322. Ibn Khaldun (vol. iii. 350) tells us that it was the title of a famous and fatal necklace of rubies.
[572]. In Ar. “Anakati-h.” [This is a very plausible conjecture of the translator for the word written in the text: “’Anfakati-h” = the hair between the lower lips and the chin, and then used for the chin itself.—St.]
[573]. In the text “Tisht” (a basin for the ewer), which I have translated tray: these articles are often six feet in diameter.