Chapter V (6)

The reign of Gian Ben Gian over the Peris is said to have continued for two thousand years; after which, EBLIS was sent by the Deity to exile them, on account of their disorders, and confine them in the remotest region of the earth.--D'HERBELOT, p. 396. BAILLY, _Sur l'Atlantide_, p. 147.

PAGE 219. _... the talismans of Soliman_

The most famous _talisman_ of the East, and which could control even the arms and magic of the dives or giants, was _Mohur Solimani_, the seal or ring of Soliman Jared, fifth monarch of the world after Adam. By means of it the possessor had the entire command, not only of the elements, but also of demons and every created being.--RICHARDSON'S _Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations_, p. 272. D'HERBELOT, p. 820.

PAGE 219. _... pre-Adamite sultans_

These monarchs, which were seventy-two in number, are said to have governed each a distinct species of rational beings, prior to the existence of Adam. Amongst the most renowned of them were SOLIMAN RAAD, SOLIMAN DAKI, and SOLIMAN DI GIAN BEN GIAN.--D'HERBELOT, p. 820.

PAGE 219. _... beware how thou enterest any dwelling_

Strange as this injunction may seem, it is by no means incongruous to the customs of the country. Dr. Pocock mentions his travelling with the train of the governor of Faiume, who, instead of lodging in a village that was near, passed the night in a grove of palm-trees.--_Travels_, vol. i, p. 56.

PAGE 220. _... the ass of Balaam, the dog of the seven sleepers, and the other animals admitted into the paradise of Mahomet_

It was a tenet of the Mussulman creed, that all animals would be raised again, and many of them honoured with admission to paradise. The story of the seven sleepers, borrowed from Christian legends, was this: In the days of the Emperor Decius, there were certain Ephesian youths of a good family, who, to avoid the flames of persecution, fled to a secret cavern, and there slept for a number of years. In their flight towards the cave, they were followed by a dog, which, when they attempted to drive back, said, "_I love those who are dear unto God; go sleep, therefore, and I will guard you._" For this dog the Mahometans retain so profound a reverence, that their harshest sarcasm against a covetous person is, "He would not throw a bone to the dog of the seven sleepers." It is even said that their superstition induces them to write his name upon the letters they send to a distance, as a kind of talisman, to secure them a safe conveyance.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, p. 74 n. SALE'S _Koran_, chap. xviii and notes.

PAGE 220. _Rocnabad_

The stream thus denominated flows near the city of Schiraz. Its waters are uncommonly pure and limpid, and their banks swarded with the finest verdure.

PAGE 220. _Do you, with the advice of my mother, govern_

Females in the East were not anciently excluded from power. In the Story of Zeyn Alasnam and the King of the Genii, the mother of Zeyn undertakes, with the aid of his viziers, to govern Bassora during his absence on a similar expedition.

PAGE 221. _Chintz and muslin_

For many curious particulars relative to these articles, consult Mr. Delaval's _Inquiry concerning the Changes of Colours, etc._; to which may be added, LUCRETIUS, lib. iv, 5. PETRONIUS, c. 37. MARTIAL, viii, Ep. 28, 17; xiv, Ep. 150. PLUTARCH, in _Vita Catonis_. PLINY, viii, 48.

PAGE 221. _Moullahs_

Those amongst the Mahometans who were bred to the law had this title; and from their order the judges of cities and provinces were taken.

PAGE 221. _... the sacred Caaba_

That part of the temple at Mecca which is chiefly revered, and, indeed, gives a sanctity to the rest, is a square stone building called the Caaba, probably from its quadrangular form. The length of this edifice, from north to south, is twenty-four cubits, and its breadth, from east to west, twenty-three. The door is on the east side, and stands about four cubits from the ground, the floor being level with the threshold. The Caaba has a double roof, supported internally by three octangular pillars of aloes wood, between which, on a bar of iron, hangs a row of silver lamps. The outside is covered with rich black damask, adorned with an embroidered band of gold. This hanging, which is changed every year, was formerly sent by the caliphs.--SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 152.

PAGE 222. _... the supposed oratory_

The dishonouring such places as had an appearance of being devoted to religious purposes, by converting them to the most abject offices of nature, was an Oriental method of expressing contempt, and hath continued from remote antiquity.--HARMER'S _Observations_, vol. ii, p. 493.

PAGE 223. _... regale these pious poor souls with my good wine from Schiraz_

The prohibition of wine in the Koran is so rigidly observed by the conscientious, especially if they have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, that they deem it sinful to press grapes for the purpose of making it, and even to use the money arising from its sale.--CHARDIN, _Voy. de Perse_, tom. ii, p. 212. _Schiraz_ was famous in the East for its wines of different sorts, but particularly for its _red_, which was esteemed more highly than even the white wine of _Kismische_.

PAGE 224. _... the most stately tulips of the East_

The tulip is a flower of Eastern growth, and there held in great estimation. Thus, in an ode of Mesihi: "The edge of the bower is filled with the light of Ahmed; among the plants the fortunate _tulips_ represent his companions."

PAGE 224. _... certain cages of ladies_

There are many passages of the _Moallakat_ in which these _cages_ are fully described. Thus, in the poem of Lebeid:

"How were thy tender affections raised, when the damsels of the tribe departed; when they hid themselves in carriages of cotton, like antelopes in their lair, and the tents as they were struck gave a piercing sound!

"They were concealed in vehicles, whose sides were well covered with awnings and carpets, with fine-spun curtains and pictured veils."--_Moallakat_, by SIR W. JONES, pp. 46, 35. See also LADY M. W. MONTAGU, Let. xxvi.

PAGE 224. _... dislodged_

Our language wants a verb, equivalent to the French _dénicher_, to convey, in this instance, the precise sense of the author.

PAGE 225. _... those nocturnal insects which presage evil_

It is observable that, in the fifth verse of the Ninety-first Psalm, "the terror by night," is rendered, in the old English version, "the bugge by night."[1] In the first settled parts of North America, every nocturnal fly of a noxious quality is still generically named a bug; whence the term bugbear signifies one that carries terror wherever he goes. Beelzebub, or the Lord of Flies, was an Eastern appellative given to the Devil; and the nocturnal sound called by the Arabians _azif_ was believed to be the howling of demons.

[1] Instances are not wanted, both in the English and Greek versions, where the translators have modified the sense of the original by their own preconceived opinions. To this source may be ascribed the BUGGE of our old Bible.

PAGE 225. _... the locusts were heard from the thickets on the plain of Catoul_

The insects here mentioned are of the same species with the {tettix} of the Greeks, and the _cicada_ of the Latins. The locusts are mentioned in Pliny, b. xi, 29. They were so called, from _loco usto_, because the havoc they made wherever they passed left behind the appearance of a place desolated by fire. How could then the commentators of Vathek say that they are called _locusts_, from their having been so denominated by the first English settlers in America?

PAGE 226. _Vathek ... with two little pages_

"All the pages of the seraglio are sons of Christians made slaves in time of war, in their most tender age. The incursions of robbers in the confines of Circassia afford the means of supplying the seraglio, even in times of peace."--HABESCI'S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 157. That the pages here mentioned were _Circassians_, appears from the description of their complexion--_more fair than the enamel of Franguestan_.

PAGE 226. _... confectioners and cooks_

What their precise number might have been in Vathek's establishment it is not now easy to determine; but in the household of the present Grand Signior there are not fewer than a hundred and ninety.--HABESCI'S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 145.

PAGE 227. _... hath seen some part of our bodies; and, what is worse, our very faces_

"I was informed," writes Dr. Cooke, "that the Persian women, in general, would sooner expose to public view any part of their bodies than their faces."--_Voyages and Travels_, vol. ii, p. 443.

PAGE 228. _... vases of snow, and grapes from the banks of the Tigris_

It was customary in Eastern climates, and especially in the sultry season, to carry, when journeying, supplies of snow. These _æstivæ nives_ (as Mamertinus styles them) being put into separate vases, were, by that means, better kept from the air, as no more was opened at once than might suffice for immediate use. To preserve the whole from solution, the vessels that contained it were secured in packages of straw.--_Gesta Dei_, p. 1098. Vathek's ancestor, the CALIPH MAHADI, in the pilgrimage to Mecca, which he undertook from ostentation rather than devotion, loaded upon camels so prodigious a quantity, as was not only sufficient for himself and his attendants amidst the burning sands of Arabia, but also to preserve, in their natural freshness, the various fruits he took with him, and to ice all their drink whilst he stayed at Mecca, the greater part of whose inhabitants had never seen snow till then.--_Anecdotes Arabes_, p. 326.

PAGE 229. _... horrible Kaf_

This mountain, which, in reality, is no other than Caucasus, was supposed to surround the earth, like a ring encompassing a finger. The sun was believed to rise from one of its eminences (as over Oeta, by the Latin poets), and to set on the opposite; whence, _from Kaf to Kaf_, signified, from one extremity of the earth to the other. The fabulous historians of the East affirm, that this mountain was founded upon a stone, called _sakhrat_, one grain of which, according to Lokman, would enable the possessor to work wonders. This stone is further described as the pivot of the earth, and said to be one vast emerald, from the refraction of whose beams the heavens derive their azure. It is added, that whenever God would excite an earthquake, he commands the stone to move one of its fibres (which supply in it the office of nerves), and, that being moved, the part of the earth connected with it quakes, is convulsed, and sometimes expands. Such is the philosophy of the Koran!

The _Tarikh Tabari_, written in Persian, analogous to the same tradition, relates, that, were it not for this emerald, the earth would be liable to perpetual commotions, and unfit for the abode of mankind.

To arrive at the Kaf, a vast region,

"Far from the sun and summer gale,"

must be traversed. Over this dark and cheerless desert, the way is inextricable without the direction of supernatural guidance. Here the dives or giants were confined, after their defeat by the first heroes of the human race; and here, also, the peris, or fairies, are supposed in ordinary to reside. Sukrage, the giant, was king of Kaf, and had Rucail, one of the children of Adam, for his prime minister. The giant Argenk, likewise, from the time that Tahamurath made war upon him, reigned here, and reared a superb palace in the city of Aherman, with galleries, on whose walls were painted the creatures that inhabited the world prior to the formation of Adam.--D'HERBELOT, p. 230, etc.

PAGE 229. _... the Simurgh_

This is that wonderful bird of the East, concerning which so many marvels are told: it was not only endowed with reason, but possessed also the knowledge of every language. Hence it may be concluded to have been a dive in a borrowed form. This creature relates of itself that it had seen the great revolution of seven thousand years twelve times commence and close; and that, in its duration, the world had been seven times void of inhabitants, and as often replenished. The Simurgh is represented as a great friend to the race of Adam, and not less inimical to the dives. Tahamurath and Aherman were apprised by its predictions of all that was destined to befall them, and from it they obtained the promise of assistance in every undertaking. Armed with the buckler of Gian Ben Gian, Tahamurath was borne by it through the air, over the dark desert, to Kaf. From its bosom his helmet was crested with plumes, which the most renowned warriors have ever since worn. In every conflict the Simurgh was invulnerable, and the heroes it favoured never failed of success. Though possessed of power sufficient to exterminate its foes, yet the exertion of that power was supposed to be forbidden. Sadi, a serious author, gives it as an instance of the universality of Providence, that the Simurgh, notwithstanding its immense bulk, is at no loss for sustenance on the mountain of Kaf. Inatulla hath described Getiafrose, queen of the Genii, as seated on a golden chariot, drawn by ten simurghs; whose wings extended wide as the earth-shading bir, and whose talons resembled the proboscis of mighty elephants: but it does not appear from any other writer, that there ever was more than _one_, which is frequently called the _marvellous gryphon_, and said to be like that imaginary monster.--D'HERBELOT, p. 1017, 810, etc. _Tales of Inatulla_, vol. ii, pp. 71, 72.

As the _magic shield of Atlante_ resembles the _buckler of Gian Ben Gian_, so _his Ippogrif_ apparently came from the _Simurgh_, notwithstanding the reference of Ariosto to the veridical Archbishop:

"Non ho veduto mai, nè letto altrove,
Fuor che in Turpin, d'un si fatto animale."

PAGE 229. _... palampores, etc._

These elegant productions, which abound in all parts of the East, were of very remote antiquity. Not only are {sindonas EUANTHEIS}, _finely flowered linens_, noticed by Strabo; but Herodotus relates, that the nations of Caucasus _adorned_ their _garments_ with _figures of various creatures_, by means of the sap of certain vegetables; which, when macerated and diluted with water, communicate colours that cannot be washed out, and are no less permanent than the texture itself.--STRABO, l. xv, p. 709. HERODOTUS, l. i, p. 96. The Arabian Tales repeatedly describe these "_fine linens of India, painted in the most lively colours_, and representing _beasts_, _trees_, _flowers_, etc."--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 217, etc.

PAGE 229. _... afrits_

These were a kind of Medusæ, or Lamiæ, supposed to be the most terrible and cruel of all the orders of the dives.--D'HERBELOT, p. 66.

PAGE 229. _... tablets fraught with preternatural qualities_

Mr. Richardson observes, "that in the East men of rank in general carried with them pocket astronomical tables, which they consulted on every affair of moment." These tablets, however, were of the _magical_ kind, and such as often occur in works of romance. Thus, in Boiardo, Orlando receives, from the father of the youth he had rescued, "a book that would solve all doubts"; and, in Ariosto, Logistilla bestows upon Astolpho a similar directory. The books which Carathis turned over with Morakanabad were imagined to have possessed the like virtues.

PAGE 230. _... dwarfs_

Such unfortunate beings as are thus "curtailed of fair proportion," have been, for ages, an appendage of Eastern grandeur. One part of their office consists in the instruction of the pages; but their principal duty is the amusement of their master. If a dwarf happen to be a mute, he is much esteemed; but if he be also an eunuch, he is regarded as a prodigy, and no pains or expense are spared to obtain him.--HABESCI'S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 164, etc.

PAGE 230. _... a small spring supplies us with water for the Abdest, and we daily repeat prayers, etc._

Amongst the indispensable rules of the Mahometan faith, ablution is one of the chief. This rite is divided into three kinds. The first, performed before prayers, is called _Abdest_. It begins with washing both hands, and repeating these words: "Praised be Alla, who created clean water, and gave it the virtue to purify: he also hath rendered our faith conspicuous." This done, water is taken in the right hand thrice, and the mouth being washed, the worshipper subjoins: "I pray thee, O Lord, to let me taste of that water which thou hast given to thy prophet Mahomet in paradise, more fragrant than musk, whiter than milk, sweeter than honey; and which has the power to quench for ever the thirst of him that drinks it." This petition is accompanied with sniffing a little water into the nose. The face is then three times washed, and behind the ears; after which water is taken with both hands, beginning with the right, and thrown to the elbow. The washing of the crown next follows, and the apertures of the ear with the thumbs; afterward the neck with all the fingers, and, finally, the feet. In this last operation, it is held sufficient to wet the sandal only. At each ceremonial a suitable petition is offered, and the whole concludes with this: "Hold me up firmly, O Lord! and suffer not my foot to slip, that I may not fall from the bridge into hell." Nothing can be more exemplary than the attention with which these rites are performed. If an involuntary cough or sneeze interrupt them, the whole service is begun anew, and that as often as it happens.--HABESCI, p. 91, etc.

PAGE 230. _... reading the holy Koran_

The Mahometans have a book of stops or pauses in reading the Koran, which divides it into _seventeen_ sections, and allows of no more.--D'HERBELOT, p. 915.

PAGE 230. _... the bells of a cafila_

A cafila, or caravan, according to Pitts, is divided into distinct companies, at the head of which an officer, or person of distinction, is carried in a kind of horse-litter, and followed by a sumpter camel, loaded with his treasure. This camel hath a bell fastened to either side, the sound of which may be heard at a considerable distance. Others have bells on their necks and their legs, to solace them when drooping with heat and fatigue. Inatulla also, in his tales, hath a similar reference: "The bells of the cafila may be rung in the thirsty desert." Vol. ii, p. 15. These small bells were known at Rome from the earliest times, and called from their sounds _tintinnabulum_. Phædrus gives us a lively description of the mule carrying the fiscal moneys: _clarumque collo jactans tintinnabulum_.--Bk. ii, fabl. vii.

PAGE 230. _Deggial_

This word signifies properly a liar and impostor, but is applied by Mahometan writers to their _Antichrist_. He is described as having but one eye and eyebrow, and on his forehead the radicals of _cafer_ or _infidel_ are said to be impressed. According to the traditions of the faithful, his first appearance will be between Irak and Syria, mounted on an ass. Seventy thousand Jews from Ispahan are expected to follow him. His continuance on earth is to be forty days. All places are to be destroyed by him and his emissaries, except _Mecca_ or _Medina_, which will be protected by angels from the general overthrow. At last, however, he will be slain by Jesus, who is to encounter him at the gate of Lud.--D'HERBELOT, p. 282. SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 106.

PAGE 230. _... dictated by the blessed Intelligence_

That is, the angel _Gabriel_. The Mahometans deny that the Koran was composed by their prophet; it being their general and orthodox belief, that it is of divine original; nay, even eternal and uncreated, remaining in the very essence of God; that the first transcript has been from everlasting by his throne, written on a table of immense size, called the _preserved table_; on which are also recorded the divine decrees, past and future: that a copy was by the ministry of the angel _Gabriel_ sent down to the lowest heaven, in the month of _Ramadan_, on the night of _power_: from whence _Gabriel_ revealed it to Mahomet by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Medina.--_Al Koran_, ch. ii, etc. SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 85.

PAGE 231. _... to kiss the fringe of your consecrated robe_

This observance was an act of the most profound reverence.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 236, etc.

PAGE 231. _... and implore you to enter his humble habitation_

It has long been customary for the Arabs to change their habitations with the seasons. Thus Antara:

"Thou hast possessed thyself of my heart; thou hast fixed thy abode, and art settled there, as a beloved and cherished inhabitant.

"Yet how can I visit my fair one, whilst her family have their _vernal mansion_ in Oneizatain, and mine are stationed in Ghailem?"

Xenophon relates, in his Anabasis, that it was customary for the kings of Persia {therizein kai erizein}, to pass the _summer_ and _spring_ in Susa and Ecbatana; and Plutarch observes further, that their winters were spent in Babylon, their summers in Media (that is, _Ecbatana_), and the pleasantest part of _spring_ in Susa: {Kaitoi tousge Persôn basileas emakarizon en babylôni ton cheimôna diagonias; en de Mêdia to theros; en de Sousois, to hêdiston tou EAROS.}--_De Exil._, p. 604.

PAGE 231. _... red characters_

The laws of Draco are recorded by Plutarch, in his _Life of Solon_, to have been written in blood. If more were meant by this expression, than that those laws were of a sanguinary nature, they will furnish the earliest instance of the use of _red characters_, which were afterwards considered as appropriate to supreme authority, and employed to denounce some requisition or threatening design to strike terror. According to Suidas, this manner of writing was, likewise, practised in _magic rites_. Hence their application to the instance here mentioned. TROTZ, _In Herm. Hugonem_, pp. 106, 307. SUIDAS _sub voc._ {Thettalê gynê}.

PAGE 231. _... thy body shall be spit upon_

There was no mark of contempt amongst the Easterns so ignominious as this.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. i, p. 115.; vol. iv, p. 275. It was the same in the days of Job. Herodotus relates of the Medes, {PTUEIN antion AISCHRON esti}, and Xenophon relates, {AISCHRON esti Persais to APOPTUEIN}. Hence the reason is evident for spitting on our Saviour.

PAGE 231. _... bats will nestle in thy belly_

Bats in these countries were very abundant, and, both from their numbers and nature, held in abhorrence. See what is related of them by THEVENOT, part i, pp. 132, 133, EGMONT and HAYMAN, vol. ii, p. 87, and other travellers in the East.

PAGE 232. _... the Bismillah_

This word (which is prefixed to every chapter of the Koran except the ninth) signifies, "in the name of the most merciful God." It became not the initiatory formula of prayer till the time of Moez the Fatimite. D'HERBELOT, p. 326.

PAGE 232. _... inscription_

Inscriptions of this sort are still retained. Thus Ludeke: "Interni non solum Divani pluriumque conclavium parietes, sed etiam frontispicia super portas inscriptiones habent."--_Expositio_, p. 54. In the History of Amine, we find an inscription over a gate, in letters of gold, analogous to this of Fakreddin: "Here is the abode of everlasting pleasures and content."--_Arabian Nights_, vol. i, p. 193.

PAGE 232. _... a magnificent tecthtrevan_

This kind of _moving throne_, though more common at present than in the days of Vathek, is still confined to persons of the highest rank.

PAGE 233. _... your ivory limbs_

The Arabians compare the skin of a beautiful woman to the egg of the ostrich, when preserved unsullied. Thus Amriolkais:

"Delicate was her shape; fair her skin; and her body well proportioned: her bosom was as smooth as a mirror,--

"Or like the pure egg of an ostrich, of a yellowish tint blended with white."

Also the Koran: "Near them shall lie the virgins of Paradise, refraining their looks from beholding any besides their spouses, having large black eyes, and resembling the eggs of an ostrich, covered with feathers from dust."--_Moallakat_, p. 8. _Al Koran_, ch. 27.

But though the Arabian epithet be taken from thence, yet the word ivory is substituted, as more analogous to European ideas, and not foreign from the Eastern. Thus Amru:

"And two sweet breasts, smooth and white as vessels of ivory, modestly defended from the hand of those who presume to touch them."--_Moallakat_, p. 77.

PAGE 233. _... baths of rose-water_

The use of perfumed waters for the purpose of bathing is of an early origin in the East, where every odoriferous plant sheds a richer fragrance than is known to our more humid climates. The rose which yields this lotion is, according to Hasselquist, of a beautiful pale blush colour, double, large as a man's fist, and more exquisite in scent than any other species. The quantities of this water distilled annually at Fajhum, and carried to distant countries, is immense. The mode of conveying it is in vessels of copper coated with wax.--_Voyag._, p. 248. Ben Jonson makes Volpone say to Celia:

"Their bath shall be the juyce of gillyflowres,
Spirit of roses, and of violets."

PAGE 233. _... lamb à la crême_

No dish among the Easterns was more generally admired. The caliph Abdolmelek, at a splendid entertainment, to which whoever came was welcome, asked Amrou, the son of Hareth, what kind of meat he preferred to all others. The old man answered, "An ass's neck, well seasoned and roasted."--"But what say you," replied the caliph, "to the leg or shoulder of a LAMB _à la crême_?" and added:

"How sweetly we live if a shadow would last!"

--_MS. Laud._ No. 161. S. OCKLEY'S _History of the Saracens_, vol. ii, p. 277.

PAGE 233. _... made the dwarfs dance against their will_

Ali Chelebi al Moufti, in a treatise on the subject, held that dancing after the example of the dervishes, who made it a part of their devotion, was allowable. But in this opinion he was deemed to be heterodox; for Mahometans, in general, place dancing amongst the things that are forbidden.--D'HERBELOT, p. 98.

PAGE 233. _... durst not refuse the commander of the faithful_

The mandates of Oriental potentates have ever been accounted irresistible. Hence the submission of these devotees to the will of the caliph.--Esther, i, 19. Daniel, vi, 8. LUDEKE, _Expos. brevis_, p. 60.

PAGE 233. _... the nine hundred and ninety-ninth time_

The Mahometans boast of a doctor who is reported to have read over the Koran not fewer than twenty thousand times.--D'HERBELOT, p. 75.

PAGE 234. _... black eunuchs, sabre in hand_

In this manner the apartments of the ladies were constantly guarded. Thus, in the Story of the Enchanted Horse, Firouz Schah, traversing a strange palace by night, entered a room, "and by the light of a lantern saw that the persons he had heard snoring were black eunuchs with naked sabres by them, which was enough to inform him that this was the guard-chamber of some queen or princess."--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 189.

PAGE 234. _... to let down the great swing_

The swing was an exercise much used in the apartments of the Eastern ladies, and not only contributed to their health, but also to their amusement.--_Tales of Inatulla_, vol. i, p. 259.

PAGE 235. _... melodious Philomel, I am thy rose_

The passion of the nightingale for the rose is celebrated over all the East. Thus Mesihi, as translated by Sir W. Jones:

"Come, charming maid, and hear thy poet sing,
Thyself the rose, and he the bird of spring:
Love bids him sing, and love will be obey'd,
Be gay; too soon the flowers of spring will fade."

PAGE 236. _... calenders_

These were a sort of men amongst the Mahometans who abandoned father and mother, wife and children, relations and possessions, to wander through the world, under a pretence of religion, entirely subsisting on the fortuitous bounty of those they had the address to dupe.--D'HERBELOT, _Suppl._, p. 204.

PAGE 236. _... santons_

A body of religionists, who were also called abdals, and pretended to be inspired with the most enthusiastic raptures of divine love. They were regarded by the vulgar as _saints_.--OLEARIUS, tom. i, p. 971. D'HERBELOT, p. 5.

PAGE 236. _... dervishes_

The term _dervish_ signifies a _poor man_, and is the general appellation by which a religious amongst the Mahometans is named. There are, however, discriminations that distinguish this class from the others already mentioned. They are bound by no vow of poverty, they abstain not from marriage, and, whenever disposed, they may relinquish both their blue shirt and profession.--D'HERBELOT, _Suppl._, 214. It is observable, that these different orders, though not established till the reign of Nasser al Samani, are notwithstanding mentioned by our author as coeval with Vathek, and by the author of the _Arabian Nights_ as existing in the days of Haroun al Raschid; so that the Arabian fabulists appear as inattentive to chronological exactness in points of this sort as our immortal dramatist himself.

PAGE 236. _... Brahmins_

These constituted the principal caste of the Indians, according to whose doctrine _Brahma_, from whom they are called, is the first of the three created beings by whom the world was made. This Brahma is said to have communicated to the Indians four books, in which all the sciences and ceremonies of their religion are comprised. The word Brahma, in the Indian language, signifies _pervading all things_. The Brahmins lead a life of most rigid abstinence refraining not only from the use, but even the touch, of animal food; and are equally exemplary for their contempt of pleasures and devotion to philosophy and religion.--D'HERBELOT, p. 212. BRUCKERI _Hist. Philosoph._, tom. i, p. 194.

PAGE 236. _... fakirs_

This sect were a kind of religious anchorets, who spent their whole lives in the severest austerities and mortification. It is almost impossible for the imagination to form an extravagance that has not been practised by some of them, to torment themselves. As their reputation for sanctity rises in proportion to their sufferings, those amongst them are reverenced the most, who are most ingenious in the invention of tortures, and persevering in enduring them. Hence some have persisted in sitting or standing for years together in one unvaried posture, supporting an almost intolerable burden, dragging the most cumbrous chains, exposing their naked bodies to the scorching sun, and hanging with the head downward before the fiercest fires.--_Relig. Ceremon._, vol. iii, p. 264, etc. WHITE'S _Sermons_, p. 504.

PAGE 237. _... Visnow and Ixhora_

Two deities of the East Indians, concerning whose history and adventures more nonsense is related than can be found in the whole compass of mythology besides. The traditions of their votaries are, no doubt, allegorical; but without a key to disclose their mystic import, they are little better than senseless jargon.

PAGE 237. _... talapoins_

This order, which abounds in Siam, Laos, Pegu, and other countries, consists of different classes, and both sexes, but chiefly of men.--_Relig. Ceremon._, vol. iv, p. 62, etc.

PAGE 237. _... small plates of abominations_

The Koran hath established several distinctions relative to different kinds of food, in imitation of the Jewish prescriptions; and many Mahometans are so scrupulous as not to touch the flesh of any animal over which, _in articulo mortis_, the butcher had omitted to pronounce the _Bismillah_.--_Relig. Ceremon._, vol. vii, p. 110.

PAGE 238. _... fish which they drew from a river_

According to Le Bruyn, the Oriental method of fishing with a line, is by winding it round the finger, and when the fisherman feels that the bait is taken, he draws in the string with alternate hands: in this way, he adds, a good dish of fish is soon caught. Tom. i, p. 564. It appears, from a circumstance related by Galand, that Vathek was fond of this amusement.--D'HERBELOT, _Suppl._, p. 210.

PAGE 238. _Sinai_

This mountain is deemed by Mahometans the noblest of all others, and even regarded with the highest veneration, because the divine law was promulgated from it.--D'HERBELOT, p. 812.

PAGE 238. _Peris_

The word _Peri_, in the Persian language, signifies that beautiful race of creatures which constitutes the link between angels and men. The Arabians call them _Ginn_, or genii, and we (from the Persian, perhaps) _Fairies_: at least, the peris of the Persian romance correspond to that imaginary class of beings in our poetical system. The Italians denominate them _Fata_, in allusion to their power of charming and enchanting; thus the _Manto fatidica_ of Virgil is rendered in _Orlando_, _La Fata Manto_. The term ginn being common to both peris and dives, some have erroneously fancied that the peris were female dives. This appellation, however, served only to discriminate their common nature from the angelic and human, without respect to their qualities, moral or personal. Thus, the dives are hideous and wicked, whilst the peris are beautiful and good. Amongst the Persian poets, the beauty of the peris is proverbial: insomuch that a woman superlatively handsome, is styled by them, _the offspring of a Peri_.

PAGE 239. _... butterflies of Cashmere_

The same insects are celebrated in an unpublished poem of Mesihi. Sir Anthony Shirley relates, that it was customary in Persia, "to hawke after butterflies with sparrows, made to that use, and stares." It is, perhaps, to this amusement that our author alludes in the context.

PAGE 240. _Megnoun and Leilah_

These personages are esteemed amongst the Arabians as the most beautiful, chaste, and impassioned of lovers; and their amours have been celebrated with all the charms of verse, in every Oriental language. The Mahometans regard them, and the poetical records of their love, in the same light as the Bridegroom and Spouse, and the Song of Songs, are regarded by the Jews.--D'HERBELOT, p. 573.

PAGE 240. _... they still detained him in the harem_

Noureddin, who was as old as Gulchenrouz, had a similar indulgence of resorting to the harem, and no less availed himself of it.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iii, pp. 9, 10.

PAGE 240. _... dart the lance in the chase_

Throwing the lance was a favourite pastime with the young Arabians; and so expert were they in this practice (which prepared them for the mightier conflicts, both of the chase and of war), that they could bear off a ring on the points of their javelins.--RICHARDSON'S _Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations_, pp. 198, 281.

PAGE 240. _Shaddukian and Ambreabad_

These were two cities of the peris, in the imaginary region of _Ginnistan_: the former signifies _pleasure_ and _desire_, the latter, _the city of Ambergris_.--See RICHARDSON'S _Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations_, p. 169.

PAGE 242. _... a spoon of cocknos_

The cocknos is a bird whose beak is much esteemed for its beautiful polish, and sometimes used as a spoon. Thus, in the _History of Atalmulck and Zelica Begum_, it was employed for a similar purpose: "Zelica having called for refreshment, six old slaves instantly brought in and distributed _Mahramas_, and then served about in a great basin of Martabam, a salad _made of herbs of various kinds, citron juice, and the pith of cucumbers_. They served it first to the Princess in a _cocknos beak_: she took a beak of the salad, ate it, and gave another to the next slave that sat by her on her right hand; which slave did as her mistress had done."

PAGE 243. _Ghouls_

Ghoul, or _ghul_, in Arabic, signifies any terrifying object, which deprives people of the use of their senses. Hence it became the appellative of that species of monster which was supposed to haunt forests, cemeteries, and other lonely places; and believed not only to tear in pieces the living, but to dig up and devour the dead.--RICHARDSON'S _Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations_, pp. 174, 274.

That kind of insanity called by the Arabians _Kutrub_ (a word signifying not only a _wolf_, but likewise a _male Ghoul_), which incites such as are afflicted with it to roam howling amidst those melancholy haunts, may cast some light on the nature of the possession recorded by St. Mark, ch. v, I, etc.

PAGE 244. _... feathers of the heron, all sparkling with carbuncles_

Panaches of this kind are amongst the attributes of Eastern royalty.--_Tales of Inatulla_, vol. ii, p. 205.

PAGE 244. _... whose eyes pervade the inmost soul of a female_

The original in this instance, as in the others already noticed, is more analogous to the French than the English idiom: "_Dont l'oeil pénètre jusqu'à la moelle des jeunes filles._"

PAGE 244. _... the carbuncle of Giamschid_

This mighty potentate was the fourth sovereign of the dynasty of the Pischadians, and brother or nephew to Tahamurath. His proper name was _Giam_ or _Gem_, and _Schid_, which in the language of the ancient Persians denominated the sun: an addition ascribed by some to the majesty of his person, and by others to the splendour of his actions. One of the most magnificent monuments of his reign was the city of Istakhar, of which Tahamurath had laid the foundations. This city, at present called _Gihil-_, or _Tchil-minar_, from the forty columns reared in it by Homai, or (according to our author and others) by Soliman Ben Daoud, was known to the Greeks by the name of Persepolis; and there is still extant in the East a tradition, that, when Alexander burnt the edifices of the Persian kings, seven stupendous structures of Giamschid were consumed with his palace. This prince, after having subjected to his empire seven vast provinces of Upper Asia, and enjoyed in peace a long reign (which some authors have protracted to 700 years), became intoxicated with his greatness; and, foolishly fancying it would have no end, arrogated to himself divine honours. But the Almighty raised up, even in his own house, a terrible instrument to abase his pride, by whom he was easily overcome, and driven into exile.

The author of _Giame al tavatikh_ mentions the cup, or concave mirror of Giamschid, formed of a gem, and called the cup of the sun. To this vessel the Persian poets often refer, and allegorize it in different ways. They attribute to it the property of exhibiting everything in the compass of nature, and even some things that are preternatural. The gem it consisted of appears to be the carbuncle or oriental ruby; which, from its resemblance to a burning coal, and the splendour it was supposed to emit in the dark, was called Schebgerag, or, the torch of the night. According to Strabo, it obtained its high estimation amongst the Persians, who were worshippers of fire, from its igneous qualities; and perhaps those virtues for which it hath been styled "the first of stones."

Milton had a learned retrospect to its fabulous powers, in describing the Old Serpent:

... his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes--

D'HERBELOT, pp. 392, 395, 780, etc. BRIGHTE, _On Melancholie_, p. 321. _Paradise Lost_, IX, 499.

PAGE 244. _... have you false keys? Come to the dark chamber_

It was the office of Shaban, as chief eunuch, to keep the key of the ladies' apartment. In the Story of Ganem, Haroun al Raschid commands Mesrour, the chief of the eunuchs, "to take the perfidious Fetnah, and shut her up in the dark tower." That tower was within the inclosure of the palace, and commonly served as a prison for the favourites who might chance to disgust the caliph.

PAGE 246. _... their faith is mutually plighted_

When females in the East are betrothed, their palms and fingers are tinged of a crimson colour, with the herb hinnah. This is called "the crimson of consent."--_Tales of Inatulla_, vol. ii, p. 15.

PAGE 246. _... violate the rights of hospitality_

So high an idea of these rights prevails amongst the Arabians, that "a bread and salt traitor," is the most opprobrious invective with which one person can reproach another.--RICHARDSON'S _Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations_, p. 219. See also the Story of Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves, in the _Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 166.

PAGE 246. _... narcotic powder_

A drug of the same quality, mixed in lemonade, is given to Zobeide, in the Story of Ganem.

PAGE 248. _Funeral vestments were prepared; their bodies washed, etc._

The rites here practised had obtained from the earliest ages. Most of them may be found in Homer and the other poets of Greece. Lucian describes the dead in his time as washed, perfumed, vested, and crowned, {hôraios anthesin}, with the flowers most in season; or, according to other writers, those in particular which the deceased were wont to prefer. The elegant editor of the _Ruins of Palmyra_ mentions the fragments of a mummy found there, the hair of which was plaited exactly in the manner as worn at present by the women of Arabia.

The burial dress from the days of Homer hath been commonly white, and amongst Mahometans is made without a seam, that it may not impede the ceremonial of kneeling in the grave, when the dead person undergoes examination.--HOMER, EURIPIDES, etc., _passim_. LUCIAN, tom. ii, p. 927. PASCHAL, _De Coron._, p. 225. _Ruins of Palmyra_, pp. 22, 23. _Iliad_, xviii, 352. _Relig. Cerem._, vol. vii, p. 117.

PAGE 248. _... all instruments of music were broken_

Thus, in the _Arabian Nights_: "Haroun al Raschid wept over Schemselnihar, and, before he left the room, ordered all the musical instruments to be broken."--Vol. ii, p. 196.

PAGE 248. _... imans began to recite their prayers_

An iman is the principal priest of a mosque. It was the office of the imans to precede the bier, praying as the procession moved on.--_Relig. Cerem._, vol. vii, p. 117.

PAGE 248. _The wailful cries of La Ilah illa Alla!_

This exclamation, which contains the leading principle of Mahometan belief, and signifies _there is no God but God_, was commonly uttered under some violent emotion of mind. The Spaniards adopted it from their Moorish neighbours, and Cervantes hath used it in _Don Quixote_: "En esto llegáron corriendo con grita, LILILIES (literally _professions of faith in Alla_), y algazara los de las libreas adonde Don Quixote suspenso y atónito estava."--_Parte segunda_, cap. lxi, tom. iv, p. 241.

The same expression is sometimes written by the Spaniards, _Lilaila_, and _Hila hilahaila_.

PAGE 249. _... the angel of death had opened the portal of some other world_

The name of this exterminating angel is _Azrael_, and his office is to conduct the dead to the abode assigned them; which is said by some to be near the place of their interment. Such was the office of Mercury in the Grecian mythology.--SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 101. HYDE, _in notis ad Bobov._, p. 19. R. ELIAS, in _Tishbi_. BUXTORF, _Synag. Jud. et Lexic. Talmud_. HOMER, _Odyssey_.

PAGE 250. _Monker and Nakir_

These are two black angels of a tremendous appearance, who examine the departed on the subject of his faith: by whom, if he give not a satisfactory account, he is sure to be cudgelled with maces of red-hot iron, and tormented more variously than words can describe.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, pp. 59, 68-118; vol. v, p. 290. SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 101.

PAGE 250. _... the fatal bridge_

This bridge, called in Arabic _al Sirat_, and said to extend over the infernal gulf, is represented as narrower than a spider's web, and sharper than the edge of a sword. Though the attempt to cross it be--

"More full of peril, and advent'rous spirit,
Than to o'erwalk a current, roaring loud,
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear;"

yet the paradise of Mahomet can be entered by no other avenue. Those, indeed, who have behaved well need not be alarmed; mixed characters will find it difficult; but the wicked soon miss their standing, and plunge headlong into the abyss.--POCOCKE in _Port. Mos._, p. 282, etc. Milton apparently copied from this well-known fiction, and not, as Dr. Warton conjectured, from the poet Sadi, his way--

"Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf
Tamely endured a bridge of wond'rous length,
From hell continued, reaching the utmost orb
Of this frail world."

PAGE 250. _... a certain series of years_

According to the tradition from the prophet, not less than nine hundred, nor more than seven thousand.

PAGE 250. _... the sacred camel_

It was an article of the Mahometan creed, that all animals would be raised again, and some of them admitted into paradise. The animal here mentioned appears to have been one of those _white-winged_ CAMELS _caparisoned with gold_, which Ali affirmed had been provided to convey the faithful.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, p. 70. SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 112. AL JAUHERI. EBNO'L ATHIR, etc.

PAGE 251. _... basket-making_

This sort of basket work hath been long used in the East, and consists of the leaves of the date-bearing palm. Panniers of this texture are of great utility in conveying fruits, bread, etc., whilst heavier articles, or such as require a more compact covering, are carried in bags of leather, or skin.--HASSELQUIST'S _Voyage_, p. 26.

PAGE 251. _... the caliph presented himself to the emir in a new light_

The propensity of a vicious person, in affliction, to seek consolation from the ceremonies of religion, is an exquisite trait in the character of Vathek.

PAGE 255. _... the waving of fans_

These fans consisted of the trains of peacocks or ostriches, whose quills were set in a long stem, so as to imbricate the plumes in the gradations of their natural growth. Fans of this fashion were formerly used in England.

PAGE 256. _... wine hoarded up in bottles, prior to the birth of Mahomet_

The prohibition of wine by the Prophet materially diminished its consumption within the limits of his own dominions. Hence a reserve of it might be expected of the age here specified. The custom of hoarding wine was not unknown to the Persians, though not so often practised by them as by the Greeks and the Romans.

"I purchase" (says Lebeid) "the old liquor, at a dear rate, in dark leathern bottles, long reposited; or in casks black with pitch, whose seals I break, and then fill the cheerful goblet."--_Moallakat_, p. 53.

PAGE 256. _... excavated ovens in the rock_

As substitutes for the portable ovens, which were lost.

PAGE 257. _... her great camel Alboufaki_

There is a singular and laboured description of a camel in the poem of _Tarafa_; but Alboufaki possessed qualities appropriate to himself, and which rendered him but little less conspicuous than the deformed dun camel of Aad.

PAGE 257. _... to set forward, notwithstanding it was noon_

The employment of woodfellers was accounted of all others the most toilsome, as those occupied in it were compelled to forgo that mid-day cessation with which other labourers were indulged. Inatulla speaks proverbially of "woodmen in the meridian hour, scarce able to raise the arms of languor." The guides of Carathis being of this occupation, she adroitly availed herself of it to urge them forward, without allowing them that repose during the mid-day fervour which travellers in these climates always enjoyed, and which was deemed so essential to the preservation of their health.

PAGE 258. _... the confines of some cemetery_

Places of interment in the East were commonly situated in scenes of solitude. We read of one in the History of the First Calender, abounding with so many monuments, that four days were successively spent in it without the inquirer being able to find the tomb he looked for; and, from the story of Ganem, it appears that the doors of these cemeteries were often left open.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. ii, p. 112; vol. iii, p. 135.

PAGE 260. _... a Myrabolan comfit_

The invention of this confection is attributed by M. Cardonne to Avicenna, but there is abundant reason, exclusive of our author's authority, to suppose it of a much earlier origin. Both the Latins and Greeks were acquainted with the balsam, and the tree that produced it was indigenous in various parts of Arabia.

PAGE 261. _... blue fishes_

Fishes of the same colour are mentioned in the _Arabian Nights_; and, like these, were endowed with the gift of speech.

PAGE 262. _... waving streamers on which were inscribed the names of Allah and the Prophet_

The position that "there is no God but God, and Mahomet is his Prophet," pervades every part of the Mahometan religion. Banners, like those here described, are preserved in the several mosques; and, on the death of extraordinary persons, are borne before the bier in solemn state.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, pp. 119, 120.

PAGE 263. _... astrolabes_

The mention of the astrolabe may be deemed incompatible, at first view, with chronological exactness, as there is no instance of any being constructed by a Mussulman, till after the time of Vathek. It may, however, be remarked, to go no higher, that Sinesius, bishop of Ptolemais, invented one in the fifth century; and that Carathis was not only herself a Greek, but also cultivated those sciences which the good Mussulmans of her time all held in abhorrence.--BAILLY, _Hist. de l'Astronom. Moderne_, tom, i, pp. 563, 573.

PAGE 264. _On the banks of the stream, hives and oratories_

The bee is an insect held in high veneration amongst the Mahometans, it being pointed out in the Koran, "for a sign unto the people that understand." It has been said, in the same sense, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard."--Proverbs, vi, 6. The santons, therefore, who inhabit the fertile banks of Rocnabad, are not less famous for their hives than their oratories.--D'HERBELOT, p. 717.

PAGE 265. _... sheiks ... cadis_

Sheiks are the chiefs of the societies of dervishes; cadis are the magistrates of a town or city.

PAGE 265. _Asses in bridles of riband inscribed from the Koran_

As the judges of Israel in ancient days rode on white asses, so, amongst the Mahometans, those that affect an extraordinary sanctity use the same animal in preference to the horse. Sir John Chardin observed, in various parts of the East, that their reins, as here represented, were of silk, with the name of God, or other inscriptions, upon them.--LUDEKE, _Expos. brevis_, p. 49. CHARDIN'S MS. cited by Harmer.

PAGE 266. _One of these beneficent genii, assuming the exterior of a shepherd, etc., began to pour from his flute, etc._

The flute was considered as a sacred instrument, which Jacob and other holy shepherds had sanctified by using.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, p. 110.

PAGE 266. _... involuntarily drawn towards the declivity of the hill_

A similar instance of attraction may be seen in the Story of Prince Ahmed and the Peri Parabanou.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 243.

PAGE 267. _Eblis_

D'Herbelot supposes this title to have been a corruption of the Greek {Diabolos}, _diabolos_. It was the appellation conferred by the Arabians upon the prince of the apostate angels, whom they represent as exiled to the infernal regions, for refusing to worship Adam at the command of the Supreme, and appears more likely to originate from the Hebrew \HBL\ _hebel_, vanity, pride.--See below, the note, p. 305, "_Creatures of clay._"

PAGE 267. _... compensate for thy impieties by an exemplary life_

It is an established article of the Mussulman creed, that the actions of mankind are all weighed in a vast unerring balance, and the future condition of the agents determined according to the preponderance of evil or good. This fiction, which seems to have been borrowed from the Jews, had probably its origin in the figurative language of Scripture. Thus, Psalm lxii, 9: "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity"; and in Daniel, the sentence against the King of Babylon, inscribed on the wall, "Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting."

PAGE 268. _Balkis_

This was the Arabian name of the Queen of Sheba, who went from the south to hear the wisdom and admire the glory of Solomon. The Koran represents her as a worshipper of fire. Solomon is said not only to have entertained her with the greatest magnificence, but also to have raised her to his bed and his throne.--_Al Koran_, ch. xxvii, and SALE'S notes. D'HERBELOT, p. 182.

PAGE 270. _The pavement, strewed over with saffron_

There are several circumstances in the Story of the Third Calender, that resemble those here mentioned; particularly a pavement strewed with saffron, and the burning of ambergris and aloes-wood.

PAGE 271. _Ouranbad_

This monster is represented as a fierce-flying hydra, and belongs to the same class with the _rakshe_, whose ordinary food was serpents and dragons; the _soham_, which had the head of a horse, with four eyes, and the body of a flame-coloured dragon; the _syl_, a basilisk with a face resembling the human, but so tremendous that no mortal could bear to behold it; the _ejder_, and others. See these respective titles in RICHARDSON'S _Persian, Arabic, and English Dictionary_.

PAGE 272. _Creatures of clay_

Nothing could have been more appositely imagined than this compellation. Eblis, according to Arabian mythology, had suffered a degradation from his primeval rank, and was consigned to these regions, for having refused to worship Adam in obedience to the supreme command; alleging, in justification of his refusal, that himself had been formed of ethereal fire, whilst Adam was only a creature of clay.--_Al Koran_, c. lv, etc.