The Chahar Magala (" Four Discourses" of Nizami-i-Arudi of Sarnargand).
Revised translation by Edward G. Browne. (Luzac. 15s. net.)—In this volume, printed for the Trustees of the " E. J. W. Gibb Memorial," Professor Browne has made a new version of a famous Persian prose treatise, written about '1150, which contains the only contemporary account of Omar Khayyam and the oldest account of Firdausi. The four dis- courses deal with secretaries, poets, astrologers and physicians. Omar is mentioned not as a poet but as an astrologer. In the year 1112-13 the author heard him say : " My grave will be in a spot where the trees will shed their blossoms on me twice a year." When Niza,mi visited Omar's grave at Nishapur in 1135-36, he found it covered with the blossoms of peach and pear trees growing in an adjacent garden. Nizami adds that he did not observe that Omar " had any great belief " in astrological predictions.
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