rians. They are called Dorouy or Duzzyyeh. They are the disciples of Hamza, son of Ali; and honour with divine worship Hakem-biamr-Allah, Caliph of Egpyt, of the family of Obaïd-Allah Mahdi.

Abridged Life of Hakem.

. Our lord Hakem, whose name be glorified, was the son of Ishmael of the race of Ali, son of Abu-Talib, and his mother was of the race of Fatima, the daughter of Mahomet. He was born at Caïro, in the year 375 of the Hegira. His father declared him his successor in the year 383. He ascended the throne in the year 386, and reigned 25 years. He disappeared on the night of the 27th of the month Shoual, in the year 411. The time of his sojourn in this world, from his birth to his disappearing, was thirty-six years and seven months. He wrote a Venerable Charter, and suspended it in the Mosques. He then disappeared. We expect his return in a short time, if it please him. He will reign over all the earth, throughout all ages. Those whom he has invited to the profession of his unity and have not obeyed, that is, the men of all other sects and religions, will be subjected to him, put in irons, and laid under an annual tribute; but as for the Unitarians, they will reign with him throughout all ages.

Copy of the Charter which was found suspended in the Mosques, at the time of the disappearance of our lord the Imâm Hakem.

In the name of God the pitying and merciful.

The future recompences are destined to those, who rouse themselves from the slumbers of the thoughtless, and retire from the folly of the senseless; to him, whose faith is firm and sincere, and who hastens to return to the Most High God; and to him, who is his Vicegerent and witness to mortals, his Vicar upon earth, to whom he has confided the care of his creatures, the Prince of the Believers.

O Men, the threatenings, the exhortations, the promises,

which till now have been made to you by your Sovereign Chief, the Imâm of your age, the successor of your prophets, the witness of your Creator, the Vicar of him who will render witness against you for the crimes which cause your perdition; in short, all the counsels and warnings which have been lavished upon you, are more than sufficient for those who have heard with submission and docility, who have entered into the right way, who have resisted their passions for the salvation of their souls, and who have preferred the future life to this present world. But, all this notwithstanding, you are still plunged in the torrent of ignorance, and wandering in the desert of error: you amuse yourselves unceasingly, till surprised by that day with which you have been threatened. Certainly you will know one day, yes, certainly you will know one day, ah, if ye were instructed in a sure knowledge.

You have had a multitude of benefits heaped upon you, in such abundance, that none of those who have preceded you have ever received the like; neither have any of the people that have been before you in past ages, neither the companions of the flight of Mahomet, nor those who received him hospitably in Medina, ever attained to a more exalted degree of prosperity.

It is not on account of your merit or good works, O Men and Women, that the Vicegerent of God has bestowed upon you these benefits: but from his kindness, goodness, tenderness, and pity for you; and in order to prove you, that he might know who among you are given to good works.

As to the exterior precious benefits which ye have received from him, they are talents heaped up of gold and silver, horses of the greatest price, all sorts of cattle, and a multitude of other gifts, as pensions, fiefs, lands, and an infinity of temporal goods. Besides, he has raised you all, generally and individually, to the most sublime honours and ranks, that ye might walk in the paths of intelligent beings. He has honoured you with the quality of Emirs, and decorated you with the most eminent titles. He has extended your power on earth, to the east and to the west, in the plains and in the mountains, by sea and by land. You have been made Kings

and Sultans. You have received tribute. By the aid of the Vicegerent of God, you have been put in full liberty. All hostile and factious parties have come to submit themselves

to you.

As to the interior gifts which you have received from him, of this number is the intercourse which you have externally seemed to have with him; intercourse, which constitutes your glory in this world, and the hope of your happiness in eternity*. Another of his internal benefits, is the having revived the laws of Islamism and of the Faith, which are in the eyes of God the true religion†.

It is thus that you have been raised since his time, in honour and purity, above all other Sects: he has distinguished you from the adorers of idols ‡: he has separated them from you, in frustrating their hopes and desires: he has overturned their Churches and their Schools for religion, although they had subsisted for a long course of ages: the partisans of these Sects, tolerated among Mussulmans, have been subjected to you, by good-will or force: they have entered in crowds into the religion of God.

But you have hated knowledge and wisdom: you have despised his benefits, and cast them behind your back: you have preferred the good of this world, as did before you the Children of Israel in the time of Moses (upon whom be peace!) The Vicegerent of God was unwilling to compel you against your choice: he has shut the door of his preaching §: he has caused you to be taught wisdom: out of his palace he has opened a school of science, where were to be had all

*This intercourse between Hakem and his subjects, and all the actions of his humanity, are, according to the doctrine of Hamza, merely appearances designed to veil his Divinity and incomprehensible nature." (Note by De Sacy: p. 373.)

† "That is to say, according to the doctrine of the Druses, all the precepts of the literal and the allegorical doctrine, that is of İslamism and the Faith, have their true explication only in the Unitarian Religion." (Note by De Sacy.)

"These adorers of idols are the Jews and the Christians.". (Note by De Sacy.)

"That is, he has destroyed the Monastery named Deir-alkasr." (Note by De Sacy: page 374 referring to page 79.)

instruction concerning religion, the jurisprudence of the Alcorân upon things permitted or forbidden, decisions and judgments conformably to the books of the Ancients and the books of Abraham and Moses. (May the favours of God repose on all of them!) He has given you paper and pensions, ink and pens, in order that you might attain to that which might render you happy, opening your eyes and delivering you from your foolishness.

The Blessed and Most High God hath said-" If my servants ask you concerning me, tell them that I am near; and that I hear the prayers of those who call upon me." Up, then, O Men! If you keep yourselves in these desert and uncultivated places*, your eyes will trace the commencement of that route, which was taken by the Emir of the Believers at the moment when he was concealed. Assemble yourselves, therefore, with your children: purify your hearts: render your intentions pure before God, the Lord of the Universe: be sincerely converted to him: avail yourselves of the most powerful mediation with him, that he may pardon you, and grant you the return of his Vicegerent. But take good heed that none of you inquire into the course taken by the Emir of the Faithful (on whom be the peace of God!) or endeavour to learn what has become of him. Cease not to reiterate your prayers, all of you together, at the entering of the way, saying, "Behold our abiding place!" and, when the moment of mercy is come for you, the Vicegerent of God, satisfied with your conduct, will, of his own choice and free will, appear at your head-he will shew himself in the midst of you.

De

* This passage has an allusion to a curious piece of history respecting the disappearance of Hakem; who, according to the account of some, died a violent death-some pretending that his sister caused him to be murdered. (Chrestomathie, 11. 87.) Sacy, in his Note on this passage, observes, that these desert places refer to a part of the city of Caïro situated to the south-east, and the Mount Mokattam. "It was hither," he remarks, "that Hakem used to go out for his evening walks; and, the night when he perished, he had gone out this way, and reached the Mount Mokattam, where he was killed. The next morning, the principal officers of the palace, with a numerous train, went out by the same route to seek for the Caliph, whose body was found in a well near Holwan." (Note by De Sacy, Chrestomathie Arabe: Vol. II. p. 376.)

The servant of the empire of the Prince of the Believers (on whom be the peace of God!) wrote this in the year 411. May God be propitious to Mahomet, the Prince of Apostles, the Seal of Prophets!

Care shall be taken for the security of those religious persons, who shall observe what is written in this document; and none shall be hindered from copying and reading it. May God render it profitable and useful to those, to whom he shall grant grace to observe its contents!

Anathema, Anathema to whomsoever shall not copy it, and shall not read it to the penitents in a low Chapel t.

Anathema, Anathema to whomsoever shall have the opportunity of copying it, and shall neglect to do so. Praise be to God alone.

The Oath, by which the initiated Druses are admitted, is given by the Baron De Sacy, according to the following Translation:

Form of Engagement to the Vicegerent of this Age. I put my confidence in our lord Hakem, the sole, the one, the eternal, exempt from all association, and all number.

Such an one, son of such an one, being of sound mind and body, in full liberty and acting by an obedience perfectly voluntary, without violence or constraint, does, by the present act of submission, to which he binds his soul and body, confess and declare that he renounces all Sects, Professions, Religions, and Creeds, and acknowledges no other obedience than that to our lord Hakem (whose name be glorified!); obedience which consists in serving and adoring him-that he will serve none other with him, past, present, or to come-that he gives over his soul, his body, his goods, his children, and all that he

+"It seems probable to me, that this piece was to be read only by those who were initiated into the doctrine of Hamza; and it is doubtless with this view, that the promise is given of watching over the security of those who conform to the orders made to them. It is in this view, also, that the reading of this document is commanded to be in some retired and subterraneous place, which should serve as a Chapel for the assembling of the initiated." (Note by De Sacy: p. 377.)