who is called by Sir William Jones, "a learned and elegant," and by others, "the most elegant" writer that the East has produced, was Vizier and Historiographer to the Great Mogul, Akber. We have not been able to discover the year of his birth, but his death took place in 1604, when he was assassinated on his return from a mission to the Decan. According to some writers, this foul act was perpetrated at the instigation of the heir apparent to the throne, who had become jealous of the minister's influence with the emperor. Akber greatly lamented the loss of a man who was not only an able minister of state, but of such talents as a writer, as to make it a common saying in the East, "that the neighbouring monarchs stood more in awe of his pen than of the sword of his master." He wrote, by the emperor's command, a history of his reign, which came down to the forty-seventh year, in which he was assassinated. In connection with this, he also compiled a volume, intended to exhibit a geographical and statistical view of the empire, and of the revenue, household, and expenses of the sovereign. It likewise embraces an account of the religion of the Hindoos, of their sacred books, and their several sects in religion and philosophy. This work, which is fraught with much curious and valuable information, is known under the name of the Ayeen Akbery. It has been translated into English with great accuracy by Mr Francis Gladwin. The translation was undertaken and published at Calcutta, under the intelligent patronage of Mr Hastings. "Such a work," he said, in a minute of council, "could not but prove peculiarly useful; as it comprehends the original constitution of the Mogul Empire, described under the immediate inspection of its founder, and will serve to assist the judgment of the Court of Directors on many points of importance to the first interests of the company."—The Calcutta edition, published in 1783-6, in three volumes quarto, is a splendid book, and the most valuable in every respect, as the London reprints are by no means accurate.

ABU-TÉMAN, an Arabian poet, of whom, though but little can be said, it would be improper altogether to omit, because he was held to be the Prince of Arabian poets, during the best periods of Arabian literature. He was born about the year 787; and, happily for him, under sovereigns whose love and patronage of literature, made poetical eminence an unfailing road to wealth and honour. Part of his early life was passed in Egypt, in the servile capacity of administering drink to those who frequented a mosque. It is also said, that he was for sometime employed in the trade of a weaver at Damascus. But his talents for poetry soon lifted him from this humble sphere, and removed him to Bagdad, where the Caliphs loaded him with presents, and treated him with the greatest respect. If we are to believe the Arabian historians, a single poem sometimes procured for him many thousand pieces of gold. So highly was he esteemed by his countrymen, that it was said "no one could ever die, whose name had been praised in the verses of Abu-Téman!" His own life was very short, for he died in his fortieth year; "the ardour of his mind," says one of his contemporaries, "having wasted his body, as the blade of an Indian scymeter destroys its scabbard." Besides being a great original poet, he was the compiler of three collections of select pieces of the poetry of the East; the most esteemed of which collections is that called the Hamasa. Sir William Jones speaks of it as a very valuable compilation. Many of the elegant specimens of Arabian poetry contained in Professor Carlyle's well-known work, were translated from pieces contained in this miscellany. A large portion of it, with a Latin version, was annexed by Schultens to his edition of Erpenius's Arabic Grammar published at Leyden in 1748; and there are also many extracts from it in the collection entitled Anthologia Arabica, published at Jena in 1774.