Excerpt from Miscellanies of Edward Fitzgerald Thus far - without fear of trespass - from the Calcutta Review. Though the Sultan showered favours upon him, Omar's epicurean audacity of thought and speech caused him to be regarded askance in his own time and country. He is said to have been especially hated and dreaded by the Sufis, whose practice he ridiculed, and whose faith amounts to little more than his own when stript of the mysticism and formal compliment to Islamism which Omar would not hide under. Their poets, including Hafiz, who are (with the exception of Firdt'isi) the most considerable in Persia, borrowed largely, indeed, of Omar's material, but turning it to a mystical use more convenient to themselves and the people they addressed; a people quite as quick of doubt as of belief; quite as keen of bodily sense as of intellectual; and delighting in a cloudy element com pounded of all, in which they could float luxuriously be tween heaven and earth, and this world and the next, on the wings of a poetical expression, that could be recited indifferently whether at the mosque or the tavern. Omar was too honest of heart as well as of head for this. Having failed (however mistakenly) of finding any Providence but Destiny, and any world but this, he set about making the most of it preferring rather to soothe the soul through the senses into acquiescence with things as they were, than to perplex it with vain mortifications after what they might be. It has been seen that his worldly desires, however, were not exorbitant and he very likely takes a humorous pleasure in exaggerating them above that intellect in whose exercise he must have found great pleasure, though not in a theological direction. However this may be, his worldly pleasures are what they profess to be without any pretence at divine allegory his wine is the veritable juice of the grape his tavern, where it was to be had his Saki, the flesh and blood that poured it out for him all which, and where the roses were in bloom, was all he professed to want of this world or to expect of Paradise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.