The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 10, Sir Richard Francis Burton [ebook audio reader TXT] 📗

Meloe, roman oriental, par H. B. Deblanes (1759).

4. Contes orientaux, par M. de la Dixmerie.

5. Les Cinq Cent Matin�es et une demie, contes Syriens, par le chevalier de Duclos.

6. Abass�i, conte oriental, par Mademoiselle Fault (ou Fauques) 1752.

7. Les Contes du Serail, par Mdlle. Fault (1753.) 8. Kara Mustapha, conte oriental, par Fromaget (1745).

9. Zilia et C�nie, par Francoise d’Isembourg d’Hippincourt de Graffigny.

10. Salned et Garalde, conte oriental, par A. H. De la Motte.

11. Anecdotes orientales, par G. Mailhol (2 vols. 1752).

12. Alzahel, traduit d’un manuscrit arabe, par Mdlle. Raign� de Malfontaine (Mercure, 1773).

13. Mahmoud le Gasnevide, conte oriental, par J. F. Melon.

14. Contes Orientaux, ou les recits du Sage Caleb, voyageur persan, par Mme. Mouet.

15. Nadir, par A. G. de Montdorge.

16. Lettres Persanes, de Montesquieu.

17. Les Amusements de Jour, ou recueil de petits contes, par Mme. de Mortemar.

18. Mirloh, conte oriental, par Martine de Morville (1769).

19. Ladila, anecdote turque (par la m�me) 1769.

20. Daira, histoire orientale, par A. J. J. de la Riche de la Poupelini�re (1761).

21. Cara Mustapha, par de Preschat.

22. Des trois Nations, conte oriental, par Marianne Robert (1760).

23. Contes Orientaux, tir�s des manuscrits de la Biblioth�que du Roi, 2 vols. 12mo (1749).

 

This is the same as the Count de Caylus’ Oriental Tales. Sir R.

F. Burton has received the following memorandum, respecting a copy of an earlier edition of the same work: “Contes Orientaux, tir�s des manuscrits de la Biblioth�que du Roy de France, orn�s de figures en taille douce. A la Haye, 1743, 2 vols. 12mo, polished calf gilt, gilt edges, arms in gilt on the sides.

 

“The Preface says, �M. Petit et M. Galland n’ont en aucune connaissance des manuscrits dont cet ouvrage est tir�.’

 

“The Tales are from the MSS. and translations sent by those despatched by the French Ministers to Constantinople to learn Arabic, &c., and so become fit to act as Dragomans and Interpreters to the French Embassy.”

 

There is a copy of this work in the British Museum; it proves, as I expected, to be the series of tales subsequently attributed to the Count de Caylus.

 

In addition to the above, the following, of which I can only give the names, are mentioned in the Cabinet des F�es, but not reprinted:—

 

1. Alma-Moulin, conte oriental, 1779.

2. Gengiskan, histoire orientale, par M. de St. M.

3. Almanzor et Zelira, conte arabe, par M. Bret. (1772). {From “les mercures.”}

4. Almerine et Zelima, ou les Dangers de la Beaut�, conte orientale, 1773. {From “les mercures.”}

5. Les Ames, conte arabe, par M. B––—. {From “les mercures.”}

6. Balky, conte oriental, 1768. {From “les mercures.”}

7. Mirza, ou Is necessit� d’etre utile (1774). {From “les mercures.”}

8. Zaman, histoire orientale, par M. B. {From “les mercures.”}

9. Anecdotes Orientales, par Mayol, 1752.12mo.

10. Contes tr�s moguls.

11. Foka ou les Metamorphoses, conte chinois. Derob� � M.

de V. 1777. 12mo.

12. Mahulem, histoire orientale. 12mo, 1776.

13. Mille et une heure, contes Peruviens. 4 vols. 12mo, 1733.

14. Histoire de Khedy, Hermite de Mont Ararat. Conte orientale, traduit de l’Anglais, 12mo, 1777.

15. Zambeddin, histoire orientale. 12mo, 1768.

16. Zelmoille et Zulmis et Turlableu. Par M. l’Abb� de Voisem, 12mo, 1747.

17. Roman Oriental, Paris, 1753.

 

The remaining imitations, &c., known to me I shall place roughly in chronological order, premising that I fear the list must be very incomplete, and that I have met with very few except in English and French.

 

A.—French

 

1. Zadig, ou la Destin�e, par Voltaire[FN#473] probably partakes of classes 2 and 6; said to be partly based on Gueulette’s “Soir�es Bretonnes,” published in 1712. The latter is included in Cabinet des F�es, Vol. 32.

 

2. Vathek, an Arabian Tale, by William Beckford. I include this book here because it was written and first published in French.

Its popularity was once very great, and it contains some effective passages, though it belongs to Class 2, and is rather a parody than an imitation of Oriental fiction. The Caliph Vathek, after committing many crimes at the instance of his mother, the witch Carathis, in order to propitiate Eblis, finally starts on an expedition to Istakar. On the way, he seduces Nouronihar, the beautiful daughter of the Emir Fakreddin, and carries her with him to the Palace of Eblis, where they am condemned to wander eternally, with their hearts surrounded with flames.

 

This idea (which is certainly not Oriental, so far as I know) took the fancy of Byron, who was a great admirer of Vathek, and he has mixed it with genuine Oriental features in a powerful passage in the Giaour, beginning:

 

“But thou, false infidel! shalt writhe Beneath avenging Monkir’s scythe; And from its torment ‘scape alone To wander round lost Eblis’ throne; And fire unquenched, unquenchable, Around, within thy heart shall dwell; Nor ear can hear, nor tongue can tell The tortures of that inward hell!” &c.

 

How errors relative to Eastern matters are perpetuated is illustrated by the fact that I have seen these lines quoted in some modern philosophical work as descriptive of the hell in which the Mohammedans believe!

 

Southey, in Thalaba, b. 1., speaks of the Sarsar, “the Icy Wind of Death,” an expression which he probably borrowed from Vathek.

 

3. The Count of Hamilton’s Fairy Tales. Written shortly after the first publication of Galland’s work. There is an English Translation among Bohn’s Extra Volumes.

 

4. Les Mille et un Fadaises, par Cazotte. Class 1. I have not seen them.

 

5. La Mille et deuxi�me Nuit, par Theophilus Gautier (Paris, 1880). Probably Class 1 or 2; I have not seen it.

 

B.—English.

 

1. The Vision of Mirza (Addison in the “Spectator”). Class 3.

 

2. The Story of Amurath. Class 3. I do not know the author. I read it in a juvenile book published about the end of last century, entitled the Pleasing Instructor.

 

3. The Persian Tales of Inatulla of Delhi. Published in 1768, by Colonel Alexander Dow at Edinburgh. A French translation appeared at Amsterdam in two vols. and in Paris in one vol.

(1769). Class 6. Chiefly founded on a wellknown Persian work, of which a more correct, though still incomplete, version was published in 3 vols. by Jonathan Scott in 1799, under the title of Bahar Danush, or Garden of Knowledge.

 

5. Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson. Class 3. Too well known to need comment.

 

6. Almoran and Hamet, by Dr. Hawksworth. Class 3. Very popular at the beginning of the present century, but now forgotten.

 

7. Oriental Fairy Tales (London, 1853). Class 4. A series of very pretty fairy tales, by an anonymous author, in which the scene is laid in the East (especially Egypt).

 

8. The Shaving of Shagpat, by George Meredith (London, 1855).

Class 5. I prefer this to most other imitations of an Oriental tale.

 

9. The Thousand and One Humbugs. Classes 1 and 2. Published in “Household Words,” vol. xi. (1855) pp. 265-267, 289-292, 313-316.

Parodies on Nos. 1, 195, 6d, and 6e,f.

 

10. Eastern Tales, by many story-tellers. Compiled and edited from ancient and modern authors by Mrs. Valentine, author of “Sea Fights and Land Battles,” &c. (Chandos Classics.) In her preface, the authoress states that the tales “are gathered from both ancient and modern French, Italian and English sources.”

 

Contains 14 tales, some genuine, others imitations, One, “Alischar and Smaragdine,” is a genuine story of The Nights (No.

41 of our Table), and is probably taken from Tr�butien. Three tales, “Jalaladeen,” “Haschem,” and “Jussuf,” are Grimm’s imitations, taken probably from the composite English edition of 1847, and with the same illustrations. “The Seven Sleepers” and the “Four Talismans” are from the Count de Caylus’ tales; “Halechalbe” and “Bohetzad” (our No. 174) are from Chavis and Cazotte; “The Enchanters” and “Urad” are from the “Tales of the Genii”; and “The Pantofles” is the wellknown story of the miser Casem and his slippers, but I know not where it first appeared.

The remaining three tales are unknown to me, and as I have seen no volume of Italian Oriental tales, some, no doubt, are derived from the Italian sources of which the authoress spoke. They are the following: “The Prince and the Lions,” “The City of the Demons” (a Jewish story purporting to have been written in England) and “Sadik Beg.”

 

11. New Arabian Nights, by R. L. Stevenson (London, 1882).

 

12. More New Arabian Nights. The Dynamiter. By R. L. Stevenson and Vander Grift (London, 1882). Class 4.

 

Of these tales, Sir R. F. Burton observes, “The only visible connection with the old Nights is in the habit of seeking adventures under a disguise. The method is to make the main idea possible and the details extravagant. In another �New Arabian Nights,’ the joint production of MM. Brookfield, Besant and Pollock, the reverse treatment is affected, the leading idea being grotesque and impossible, and the details accurate and lifelike.”

 

C.—German.

 

It is quite possible that there are many imitations in German, but I have not met with them. I can only mention one or two tales by Hauff (the Caliph turned Stork, and the Adventures of Said); a story called “Ali and Gulhindi,” by what author I do not now remember; and some imitations said to be by Grimm, already mentioned in reference to the English composite edition of 1847.

They are all European fairy tales, in an Eastern dress.

 

CONCLUSION.

 

Among books specially interesting to the student of The Nights, I may mention Weil’s “Biblische Legenden der Muselm�nner, aus arabischen Quellen zusammengetragen, und mit j�dischen Sagen verglichen” (Frankfort-on-Main, 1845). An anonymous English translation appeared in 1846 under the title of “The Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud,” and it also formed one of the sources from which the Rev. S. Baring-Gould compiled his “Legends of Old Testament Characters” (2 vols., 1871). The late Prof. Palmer’s “Life of Haroun Al-Raschid” (London, 1881), is not much more than a brief popular sketch. The references to The Nights in English and other European literatures are innumerable; but I cannot refrain from quoting Mark Twain’s identification of Henry the Eighth with Shahryar (Huckleberry Finn, chap. xxiii).

 

“My, you ought to have seen old Henry the Eighth when he was in bloom. He was a blossom. He used to marry a new wife every day, and chop off her head next morning. And he would do it just as indifferent as if he was ordering up eggs. “Fetch up Nell Gwynn,”

he says. They fetch her up. Next morning, “Chop off her head.”

And they chop it off. “Fetch up Jane Shore,” he says; and up she comes. Next morning, “Chop off her head.” And they chop it off.

“Ring up Fair Rosamun.” Fair Rosamun answers the bell. Next morning, “Chop off her head.” And he made every one of them tell him a tale every night, and he kept that up till he had hogged a thousand and one tales that way, and then he put them all in a book, and called it Domesday Book—which was a good name, and stated the case. You don’t know kings, Jim, but I know them, and this old rip of ourn is one of the cleanest I’ve struck in history. Well, Henry, he takes a notion he wants to get up some trouble with this country. How does he do it—give notice?—give the country a show? No. All of a sudden he heaves all the tea in Boston Harbour overboard, and whacks out a declaration of independence, and dares them to come on. That was his style—he never give anybody a chance. He had suspicions of his father, the Duke of Wellington. Well, what did he do?—ask him to show