I think that your well-read correspondent J. W. Thomas will agree with me that the bonâ fide authorship of the beautiful lines alluded to must be ascertained, not by a single expression, but by the whole of the charming poem. The striking expression of Mohammed, quoted by J. W. Thomas, is quite common amongst the Easterns even at the present day. I remember, when at Malta, in March, 1848, whilst walking in company of the most accomplished Arabian of the day, the conversation turned upon a certain individual who had since acquired a most unenviable notoriety in the annals of British jurisprudence, my companion abruptly turned upon me, whilst at the shore of the Mediterranean, and said, in his fascinating Arabic, "Behold this great sea! were all its water turned into ink, it would be insufficient to describe the villany of the individual you speak of."
Rabbi Mayir ben Isaac's poem corresponds not merely in a single expression, but in every one. The Chaldee hymn has the ink and ocean, parchment and heavens, stalks and quills, mankind and scribes, &c. Pray do me the favour to insert the original lines. I assure you that they are well worthy of a place in "N. & Q." Here they are:
גְּבוּרָן עָלְמִין לֵיה וְלָא סִפֵּק פְּרִישׁוּתָא׃
גְּוִיל אִלּוּ רְקִיעֵי קְני כָּל חוּרְשָׁתָא׃
דְּיוֹ אִלּוּ יַמֵּי וְכָל מֵי כְנִישׁוּתָא׃
דַּיְרֵי אַרְעָא סַפְרֵי וְרַשְׁמֵי רַשְׁוָתָא׃