The history of the life of Nader Shah, King of Persia. Extracted from an Eastern manuscript, which was translated into French by order of His Majesty the King of Denmark ... / With an introduction ... and an appendix ... By William Jones, esq.

  • Mahdī Khān Astarābādī, active 1733-1759.
Date:
1773
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of the life of Nader Shah, King of Persia. Extracted from an Eastern manuscript, which was translated into French by order of His Majesty the King of Denmark ... / With an introduction ... and an appendix ... By William Jones, esq. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “ in order to retaliate the intuit offered to the Perpmns by a fovereign of the lower A/ia, who had treated Shapor, King of Per pa, in c‘ the fame manner; that he intended to carry him in this confinement into Tartary, but that the miferable prince died in Syria, at ^ a place called Akfhehr/ This faCt is not tne more true, for being afferted by Pbn Arab- Juab; but it teems ftrange, that the judicious M, d Herbelot fliould have overlooked this paf- lage, and fliould fpeak fo pofitively of a book, which he had read with fo little attention : nor is the point itfelf of any great confequence ; but it may fhow, how cautious we fliould be, in relying upon the authority of illuftrious names. In this cblcurity of human affairs, nothing remains for a wife hiftorian, but to confine himfelf to great and notorious events, in which the true and inconteftable part of all Hiflory c.o mi ft s ; for, whenever he defcends to parti¬ cular characters, and minute deferiptions, or attempts to relate the very words, and unfold the lentiments, of princes, he will run into ivildnefs ana uncertainty, and lead his readers .uiio a kind or fairy land, while they expedt to /be conducted through the paths of real know¬ ledge. Since in Hiflory, as in Philofophy, we can only catch the general and finking features or ‘lruth% it is a folly to deck her picture with our own imperfeCt colours, and to drefs up a phan-