PREFACE

FOURTEEN years have elapsed since the second
volume of my Literary History of Persia^, of which
the present work is in fact, if not in name and form, a con¬
tinuation, was published. That the appearance of this
continuation, which comprises the period between Sa'di and
Jami, and extends from the death of Hulagu the Mongol to
the rise of the Safawi dynasty (A.D. 1265-1502), has been so
long delayed is due to a variety of causes, at one of which,
operative for five or six years (A.D. 1907-12), I have hinted
in the Preface (p. xx) to my Persian Revolution of 1905-9.
While Persia was going through what repeatedly appeared
to be her death-agony, it was difficult for anyone who loved
her to turn his eyes for long from her present sufferings to
her past glories. Often, indeed, I almost abandoned all
hope of continuing this work, and that I did at last take up,
revise and complete what I had already begun to write was
due above all else to the urgency and encouragement of my
wife, and of one or two of my old friends and colleagues,
amongst whom I would especially mention Dr T. W. Arnold
and Mr Guy le Strange.

The delay in the production of this volume has not,
however, been altogether a matter for regret, since it has
enabled me to make use of materials, both printed and
manuscript, which would not have been available at an earlier
date.    In particular it has been my good fortune to acquire

^ Of these two volumes, published by Mr T. Fisher Unwin in the
" Library of Literary History," the full titles are as follows : A Literary
History of Persia from the earliest times until Fir daw si (pp. xvi + 521),
1902 ; and A Literary History of Persia from Firdawsi to Sa^di
(pp. xvi+ 568), 1906. In the notes to this volume they are referred to
as Lit. Hist, of Persia^ vol. i or vol. ii.