' On
seeing this, however, I wrote to him, 'that, as the comparison of his
heroine's eye to a "ruby" might unluckily call up the idea of its
being bloodshot, he had better change the line to "Bright as the jewel
of Giamschid;"' which he accordingly did in the following edition"
(Moore).
In the 'Shah Nameh', Giamschid is the fourth sovereign of the ancient
Persians, and ruled seven hundred years. His jewel was a green
chrysolite, the reflection of which gives to the sky its blue-green
colour. Byron probably changed to "ruby" on the authority of 'Vathek'
(p. 58, ed. 1856), where Beckford writes,
"Then all the riches this place contains, as well as the carbuncle of
Giamschid, shall be hers."]
[Footnote 4: Moore's reference (see 'note' 1) to John Richardson's
'Dictionary of Persian, Arabic, and English' (1777), suggests to Byron
that Moore was at work on an Oriental poem, probably 'Lalla Rookh',
which would surpass the 'Charlemagne' of Lucien Buonaparte.]
[Footnote 5: The 'Shah Nameh' is a rhymed history of Persia, in which
occurs the famous episode of Sohrab and Rustem. It was written in thirty
years by Abul Kasim Firdausi, the last name being given to him by Sultan
Mahmud because he had shed over the court at Ghizni the delights of
"Paradise." Firdausi is said to have lived about 950 to 1030. (See The
'Shah Nameh', translated and abridged by James Atkinson.)]
[Footnote 6: Jacques Cazotte (1720-1792) wrote 'La Patte du Chat'
(1741); 'Mille et une Fadaises' (1742); 'Observations sur la lettre de
Rousseau au sujet de la Musique Francaise' (1754); and other works.
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