This kind of memoria technica was never in much use in Europe, although the Roman system of notation admits of it. In ancient literature it seems to have been altogether unknown, and even in modern times, when, in the middle of the sixteenth century, the taste for anagrammatic trifling was so strong, it was seldom applied to this more useful purpose.

The following instances will show to the European reader the use and application of a chronogram, by combining the numerical values attached to the capital letters according to the Roman system:

gloria lausque Deo sæCLorVM in sæcVla sunto, but this is a very lame instance, as some letters, which have a value assigned to them, are omitted from the computation.

A better example is to be found in the distich composed by Godart, on the birth of Louis XIV., in the year 1638, on a day wherein there happened to be a conjunction of the Eagle with the Lion's Heart:

eXorIens DeLphIn aqVILæ CorDIsq Ve LeonIs

Congress V gaLLos spe LætItIaq Ve refeCIt.

In the Persian system, which is called Jummal (Addition), the letters of the alphabet have a numerical value assigned to them, according to a particular scale styled Abjad, because the first four units are represented by that word; a being equal to 1, b to 2, j to 3, d to 4. The sentence which contains the date should always be significant: the consequence is, that awkward methods are sometimes resorted to in order to combine both sense and chronology.

There are four principal modes of using the scale.

1st. Mutlak, in which all the letters are requisite to the formation of the date. There is an inferior kind of Mutlak, in which only some of the letters of the text are used.

2nd. Ta'miya-dákhili, in which the numerical value of the letters used is less than the date required; in which case we are told that some other word or letter will complete the date.

3rd. Ta'miya-kháriji, the contrary of the preceding, in which

the numerical value is excessive, and we are therefore told that we must deduct some word or letter.

4th. Taushik, an acrostic, in which the initial or final letter

of each verse composes the date.

All these kinds are illustrated in various parts of this work, and we may suppose that, under the licence granted in the second and third instances, some of them are very ill-constructed. Many however, exhibit, to say the least, great inventive faculty.

Take, for instance, the example at p. 309, where in thirty-one distichs the first line throughout represents the date of Akbar's accession, and the second line throughout represents the date of Jahángír's birth. Or take the following from p. 219:

بادشاه و هر بابر باکمال عدل بود واقف احسان عالم مصدر لطف آل

سال جان او گزیدن جا بفردوش بگو جای فردوس آبد بگزید بابر بادشاه

This quatrain represents the death of Bábar in eight different ways; each hemistich by itself represents the date: they therefore give the date four times. The fifth is obtained by combining the unpointed letters of the first hemistich with the pointed letters of the second hemistich. The sixth, by taking the unpointed letters of the second hemistich. The seventh, by taking the pointed letters of the second line, and the eighth, by combining the unpointed letters of the second line.

I have a chronogrammatical treatise in my possession which evinces even more labour than this. In it the events of Bengal in 1170 A.H. are related in prose, and each separate sentence gives the date of 1170, and the number of sentences amounts also to 1170. The narrative runs in so easy a flow that it would be difficult, without knowing it, to surmise that there was anything artificial about its construction.

There are other works of a similar nature to this which have

been written in India, such as the Tárikh-náma, and a few others with like names, but none so copious or so well arranged as this.

The Miftahu-t Tawarikh was lithographed at Agra in 1849. The outer margin very conveniently contains a column, in which is inserted each date in numerals, and in regular chronological succession. It possesses other advantages, besides giving the mere dates. It gives short notices of each Asiatic dynasty, and a brief account of each reign, as well as several biographical notices of distinguished individuals who have shone in the politics and literature of the Muhammadan world.

The Miftahu-t Tawarikh is divided into thirteen Sections, each representing a Century of the Hijra.

CONTENTS.

Preface, p. 1; First Century, p. 7; Second, p. 23; Third, p. 31; Fourth, p. 41; Fifth, p. 46; Sixth, p. 64; Seventh, p. 79; Eighth, p. 114; Ninth, p. 158; Tenth, p. 203; Eleventh, p. 288; Twelfth, p. 429; Thirteenth, p. 542.

Some of the most conspicuous Indian dynasties and reigns occur at the following pages :-Ghaznívide Dynasty, p. 51; Ghorian Dynasty, p. 79; Tímúr, p. 159; Sultáns of Málwá. p. 185; Sultáns of the Dakhin, p. 190; Sultáns of Gujarát, p. 202; Bábar, p. 215; Sher Sháh, p. 226; Humáyún, p. 237; Akbar, p. 245; Jahángír, p. 308; Sháh-Jahán, p. 344; Aurangzeb, p. 394; Bahadur Sháh, p. 446; Muhammad Sháh, p. 459; Shah Alam, p. 516; Akbar II., p. 565.

SIZE-Quarto, containing 609 pages of 25 lines each.

END OF VOL. VIII.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INDEX.