Sir William Gore Ouseley, a famous diplomat and savant, who was living at the beginning of the nineteenth century, during his long residence in India spent a fortune in the collection of ancient Persic and Arabic MSS. In 1807 he permitted them to be examined by Beloe, whose description of a few will bear repeating: "No. 1. A Koran, in the Cufi or Cufic character, said to be written by Ali, the son-in-law of Mahammed, the Arabian prophet. The substance upon which this curious manuscript is written appears to be a fine kind of asses' skin or vellum, and the ink of a red, brownish colour. The ends of verses are marked by large stars of gold. If written by Ali, it must be nearly twelve hundred years old, but at all events may be considered as very ancient, many hundred years having elapsed since the use of the Cufi character has given way to the Neskh, Suls, etc., etc. This manuscript is still in excellent preservation." "No. 4. Beharistan, 'The Garden of Spring.' A book on ethics and education, illustrated by interesting anecdotes and narratives, written both in verse and prose, in imitation of the Gulistan, or 'Rose garden' of Saadi, and like it divided into eight chapters, composed by Nuruddin, Abdurrahman Jami, ben Ahmed of the village of Jam, near Herat. He was born A. H. 817 and died at the age of 81 years (about A. D. 1492). As a grammarian, theologist and poet he was unequalled, and his compositious are as voluminous as they are excellent. The enormous expense which people have incurred to possess accurate copies of and to adorn and embellish his works, is no small proof of the great estimation in which they were held by the literati of the East."