A letter to Major-General John Briggs, Honorary Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society, on the discovery of part of the second volume of the Jámi al Tawáríkh of Rashíd al Dín / by William Morley.

  • Morley, William H. (William Hook), 1815-1860.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Major-General John Briggs, Honorary Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society, on the discovery of part of the second volume of the Jámi al Tawáríkh of Rashíd al Dín / by William Morley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Art. II.—A Letter to Major General John Briggs, ^c. (^c. 4'C., Honorary Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society^ on the discovery of part of the Second Volume of the “ Jami al Taicartkhf of Rashid al Dm, My dear Sir, Whilst I was engaged last year in making a catalogue of the Oriental MSS. comprised in the libraries of the Society and the Oriental Translation Committee, I met with the historical MS. which is the subject of the following letter*. I, at that time, applied to the Council of the Society for permission to forward a description of the MS. to M. Quatremhre, who is employed in editing the only portion of the work hitherto known, in the hope that he would re- present the matter to the French Government, and cause our MS. to be published in the “ Collection Orientale,” as a sequel to his “ Histoire des Mongols.” The council acceeded to my request, and I accord- ingly wrote to M. Quatremfere on the subject, but whether on account of my letter not having reached its destination or from the press of business, he has not as yet returned any answer to my communication. In the mean time, I think it desirable that the existence of this important volume should be made known to the public, and I have accordingly drawn up the following account of the MS. for insertion in the Journal of the Society. Before describing the work, it may not be uninteresting to devote a few lines to the life of the author, one of the most extraordinary men of his age, and one who is surpassed by few Asiatics, either in his literary or political talents. I have taken most of my materials from the admirable preface to Quatremfere’s work ; the costliness of the “ Collection Orientale, and the scarcity of the copies that have as yet reached this country, render it inaccessible to a large class of the reading public, and I think will make the following account accept- able to the readers of the Journal. Fadhl Allah Rashid, or Rashid al Din Ibn Imdd al Daulah Abd al Khair Ibn Mowafhk al Daulah, was born at Hamadan, about the year of the Flight 645 (a. d. 1247). He was by profession a physician, and it was probably from his skill in the science of medi- cine, that he procured otRce under the Mongol Sultdns of Persia. We learn from his own testimony that he passed a portion of his life in the * It is numbered 13 in my catalogue. B 2