April, 1873.] REVIEW. 119 most importance, or in greatest danger of deface¬ ment by the hand of time. A similar register is stated to have been made in the reign of Chikka Deva R&ja (1672—1704); but the collec¬ tion was unfortunately either lost or destroyed when the Province came under Muhammadan rule. At Sr&vana Bellagola, famous for its colossal statue of the Jain god G6matesvara, there are several inscriptions cut in the rock, on the top of the smaller of the two hills. The character is a very ancient form of Kanarese, fac-similes of which have been submitted to Pandits through the Editor of the Indian Antiquary. The follow¬ ing stones, with inscriptions of a similar character, have recently been discovered in the Nandidurg Division,—two stones at Betmangala, which have been converted into village deities; two large slabs on the site of "the ancient city of Aralkdtu, near 6riniv&spura, probably intermediate between the £r&vana Bellagola and Begdru inscriptions; and a large slab of a more recent date on the site of old Bidal&ru, near G6ribidanuru. Some burrows of considerable dimensions have also been discovered in the Hassan District, but none have yet been opened. REVIEW. Th* Prosody of the Persians according to Saifl, J&mi, and other writers. By H. Blochmann, M.A.— Calcutta, 1872. Professor Blochmann has given a new proof of his accurate scholarship, not merely by editing Saifi’s Prosody and Jdmi’s QAfiyah, but by correct¬ ly translating and enriching them with his own notes. “The Prosody of the Persians” is no doubt intended for a school book, to be explained by competent teachers. The Hints and Exercises (pp. 94-101) are most excellent, but it is to be feared insufficient for any, except very bright students, if read without a master. The solutions are merely references to the various metres according to which the examples given are to be scanned, but if each example of these metres had itself been fully explained, the scansion of the exercises from the GulistAn would have been easy to the dullest. A metre, if it is to serve as a model, ought to be treated nearly in this way:—The feet of which it consists are to be written as usual, and also the line or lines to be scanned. Beneath this the feet are to be written with their constituent parts sa- bob, watad,fafilah, properly marked as moved or quiescent, and the line to be written under them expressly for the purpose of scansion ; dislocating the words to suit the feet, omitting the letters elided, and writing those which must be pro¬ nounced and scanned. Something of this kind is done only in one instance (on p. 6). This manner will perhaps not be considered too pedantic if it be remembered how intricate scanning appears to beginners, and that writers on scansion are on some points themselves like doctors—who dis¬ agree, as Professor Blochmann has himself had occasion to observe and point out; although, after all, Persian poetry, like English, is scanned accord¬ ing to sound rather than orthography; henoe the ear is in reality the best guide. Sir W. Jones expressly states {Works, Vol. VI. p. 437, ed. 1799) that the measure of the Leila voa Majnun of Hatefy, which enabled him to correct a number of lines in it, was embodied in the words Lex bmni- bus imperare debet. It is not merely interesting, but proper and very necessary, that students should know accu¬ rately to what metre a piece of poetry belongs and it may be presumed that the minute way of marking out the feet with their constituent parts hinted at above would materially aid correct scansion, without which the whole science of pro¬ sody is nothing. It would not give much trouble to present some idea to Orientals of the man¬ ner of scanning by means of long and short marks, and to show them that numerous as their feet are, they have all their equivalents in Latin and Greek prosody. Perhaps it would be sufficient to give those only which correspond to the eight original feet of the Arabs, thus:—Bacchius, iambo-spon- deus, iambo-anapaestus, trochaeo-spondeus, am- phimacrus, spondeo-iambus, anapaesto-iambus, and spondeo-trochaeus. As far as Europeans are concerned, Professor Blochmann has supplied a real want, since the few works which have been written on this sub¬ ject are now mostly out of print, and he has done a very great service to all the lovers of the sweet tongue of Eran.—E. R.
