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the vizier. Noishervan, ever after, and all his suc-cessors, the Persian kings, held this book in highesteem, and took the greatest care to keep it secret.At last Abu Jaffer Munsour zu Nikky, who was thesecond caliph of the Abassi reign, by great search,got a copy of it in the Pehlavi language, and orderedImitm Hassan Abdal Mokaffa, who was the mostlearned man of the age, to translate it into Arabic. Thisprince ever after made it his guide, not only in allairsrelating to the government, but also in private life.In the year 380 of the Hegira, sultan MahmudGhazi put it into verse : and afterwards, in the yearSib, by order of Bheram Shah ben Massaud, thatwhich Abdal Mokaffa had translated was retranslatedinto Persic by Abdul Mala Nasser Alla Mustoti ;and this is that Kulila Dumna, which is now extant.As this latter had too many Arabic verses and obso-lete phrases in it, Molana Ali ben Hasseiri Vaes, atthe request of Emir Soheli, keeper of the seals tosultan Hossein Mirza, put it into a more mo-dern style, and gave it the title of Aimar Soheli.In the year 10U2 the great mogul, Jalal b DinMohammed Akbar, ordered his own secretary andvizier, the learned Abul Fazl, to illustrate the obscurepassages, abridge the long digressions, and put itinto such a style as would be most familiar to allcapacities, which he accordingly did, and gave it thename of Azar Danish, or the Criterion of Wisdom.

“ In the year 1709,” says Dr. Wilkins, “ theKulila Dumna, the Persian version of Abul MalaNasser Allan Mustofi, made in the 515th year of theHegira, was translated into French, with the title ofLcs Conseils et les Maximes de Pilpay, PhilosopheIndien sur lcs divers Elats dc la Vie. This edition re-sembles the Hitopadesa more than any other thenseen ; and is evidently the immediate original of theEnglish ‘ Instructive and entertaining Fables ofPilpay, an ancient Indian philosopher,’ which, in1775, had gone through five editions. The AimarSoheli, above mentioned, about the year 1540, wasrendered into the Turkish language ; and the trans-lator is said to have bestowed twenty years’ labourupon it. In the year 1724, M. Galland began totranslate this edition into French, and the first fourchapters were then published ; but, in the year 1778,M. Cardonne completed the work in three volumes,giving it the name of Contes et Fables Indiennes deMdpai et de Lokman; traduites rTAli Tchclehy henSaleh, auteur Turct Indian Tales and Fables ofBidpay and Lockman, translated from Aly Tchelebyben Saleh, a Turkish author.”

The Fables of Lockman w'ere published in Arabicand Latin, with notes, by Erpenius, and by the cele-brated Golius, at the end of his edition of Erperi’sArabic Grammar, with additional notes ; and also ina later edition of the same grammar, by AlbertSchultens.

Gay and La Fontaine are the most.distinguishedEnglish and French fabulists.

Fairfield. The capital of Fairfield county, Con-necticut, in America. It is a large, pleasant, and ex-cellent agricultural township. There are three har-bours, Black Rock, Mill River, and Saugatuck harbours.Black Rock is one of the best, having nineteen feetwater in the summer tides. Considerable shippingbelongs to the district, which is employed in thecoasting trade. There are four villages, Fairfield,Greenfield Hill, Saugatuck, and Mil! River. Fairfieldvillage is pleasantly situated, and Greenfield Rill is

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celebrated for its beautiful position, being situated onan elevation three miles north of Long Island SoundFairfield has about 5000 inhabitants, and is fifty-fourmiles E. N. E. of New York. Lon. 73° 9' \V |, t41° IP N. ”

Fairford. A market town in the county of Glou-cester, near the banks of the river Colne. Thecountry is here extremely pleasant; but the celebrityof Fairford has arisen more from its church, and theexquisitely painted glass of which that is a repositorythan from any other circumstance. This edifice'which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is a fine’specimen of the style of achitecture that prevailedabout the close of the fifteenth century. It consistsof a lofty nave, a chancel, and side aisle, with atower rising from the centre, but so low, in proportionto the other parts of the structure, as to lead to theconclusion that it was originally intended to terminateby a spire. The whole building is embattled, andsupported by pinnacled buttresses : the buttresses ofthe tower are somewhat peculiar, as they are flat-tened, and gradually diminished to the top, so that ata distance, their form appears to be octangular: upontheir bases are statues as large as life, rudely sculp-tured : on each side of the parapet are five escutcheonsw ith the arms of Clare, Despencer, Newburgh, Tame,and others, and round the architrave is a series of gro-tesque ornaments ; many niches, originally filled withfinely carved statues, ornamentthe exterior. The inter-nal architecture is highly embellished : the aisles aredivided from the nave by light and fluted pillars,sustaining four arches on each side, sufficiently lowto admit the insertion of a range of windows abovethem in the upper part of the nave. The aisles arecontinued parallel with the chancel, with which is acommunication by two arches of equal height. Abeautiful oak screen surrounds the chancel, orna-mented with finely carved tabernacle-work, andhaving stalls of the same style. On the north side ofthe altar are three niches, or subselHa, used in thecatholic times by the officiating priests. The pave-ment is chequered with blue and white, and, togetherwith the pews, has an extremely neat appearance.The whole length of the church is 120 feet, its breadthis fifty-five.

This elegant building owes its foundation to anopulent merchant named John Tame. About theyear 1492, this merchant is recorded to have taken avessel bound from a Flemish poTt to Italy and ladenwith painted glass, which, agreeably to the expensivepiety of the times, he determined to have it put up ina large edifice expressly built for its reception.Making choice, therefore, of Fairford, where he hadbeen some time settled, and the manor of which heafterwards purchased, he commenced the presentchurch in 1493 ; but dying in 1500, it was completedby his son.

The beautiful execution of the paintings on thewindows may at once be inferred from the testimonyof Vandyck, who is recorded to have said to CharlesI., that many of the figures were so exquisitely done,that they could not be exceeded by the best pencil.By whom they were executed is unknown, as well asthe name of the artist by whom they were designed ;though tradition has attributed them to Albert Durer;yet this will not bear the test of chronology, as hewas but little more than twenty years of age when thewindows were put up; nor is it probable that he hadthen attained to such proficiency. The imperfections