Chapter XLII: Appendix: I

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS AND OF SCHOLARS ON THE "ARABIAN NIGHTS."

"To the Editor of the _Pall Mall Gazette_.

"Sir,--Your correspondent 'Sigma' has forgotten the considerable number of 'students' who will buy Captain Burton's translation as the only literal one, needing it to help them in what has become necessary to many--a masterly knowledge of Egyptian Arabic. The so-called 'Arabian Nights' are about the only written halfway house between the literary Arabic and the colloquial Arabic, both of which they need, and need introductions to. I venture to say that its largest use will be as a grown-up school book, and that it is not coarser than the classics in which we soak all our boys' minds at school.

"ANGLO-EGYPTIAN.

"September 14th, 1885."

* * * * *

The _Bat_, September 29th, 1885.

"Captain Burton, in his way, renders a gigantic service to all students of literature who are not profound Orientalists, and to many who are, by giving them a literal, honest, and accurate translation of the 'Arabian Nights.'

"The blatant buffoons who have spoken of Captain Burton's work indifferently only show their own ignorance of the literature of the East. Captain Burton's work is well worth the price he charges for it to students of Eastern literatures and Eastern manners, and Eastern customs; but the misguided lunatic who invests in it in the hope of getting hold of a good thing, in the Holywell Street sense of the term, will find indeed that the fool and his money are soon parted."

* * * * *

_Morning Advertiser_, September 15th.

"There is one work not entered in the publishers' announcements of 'new books,' though for years scholars and others have looked forward to it with an eagerness which has left far behind the ordinary curiosity which is bestowed on the greatest of contributions to current literature, and to-day the new fortunate possessors are examining it with an interest proportionate to the long toil which has been bestowed on its preparation. We refer to Captain Burton's 'Arabian Nights.' Hitherto all the editions have been imperfect, and more or less colourless versions of the original. They throw a flood of light on hundreds of features of Oriental life on which the student has failed to be informed. But the work only a few limited students can ever see, and is simply priceless to any one thus interested in the subject, and may be regarded as marking an era in the annals of Oriental translation. Burton writes: 'Many a time and oft, after the day's journey was over, I gathered the Arabs around me and read or recited these tales to them, until the tears trickled down their cheeks and they rolled on the sand in uncontrollable delight. Nor was it only in Arabia that the immortal "Nights" did me such notable service. I found the wildlings of Somali-land equally amenable to their discipline; no one was deaf to the charm, and the two women workers of my caravan on its way to Harar were incontinently dubbed by my men Shehrazade and Deenarzade.'"

* * * * *

The _Lincoln Gazette_, October 10th, 1885.

"Captain Burton's first volume in sombre black and dazzling gold--the livery of the Abassides--made its appearance three weeks ago, and divided attention with the newly discovered star. It is the first volume of ten, the set issued solely to subscribers. And already, as in the case of Mr. Payne's edition, there has been a scramble to secure it, and it is no longer to be had for love or money. The fact is, it fills a void; the world has been waiting for this _chef d'œuvre_, and all lovers of the 'Arabian Nights' wonder how they have got on without it."

* * * * *

The _Lincoln Gazette_, October 10th, 1885.

"Another speciality of Captain Burton's edition is the notes. He is celebrated for sowing the bottom of his pages with curiously illuminating remarks, and he has here carried out his custom in a way to astonish. He tells us that those who peruse his notes in addition to those of Lane would be complete proficients in the knowledge of Oriental practices and customs. Lane begins with Islam, from Creation to the present day, and has deservedly won for his notes the honour of a separate reprint. Captain Burton's object in his annotations is to treat of subjects which are completely concealed from the multitude. They are utterly and entirely esoteric, and deal with matters of which books usually know nothing. Indeed, he has been assured by an Indian officer who had been forty years in the East, that he was entirely ignorant of the matters revealed in these notes. Without these marvellous elucidations, the 'Arabian Nights' would remain only half understood, but by their aid we may know as much of the Moslems as the Moslems know of themselves."

* * * * *

_Whitehall Review_, September 17th, 1885.

"The publication of the first volume of Captain Burton's translation of the 'Alf Layla' enriches the world of Oriental investigation with a monument of labour and scholarship and of research. The book is advisedly, and even inevitably, printed for private circulation, and is intended, as Captain Burton says in his preface, only for the eyes of such persons as are seriously students of Oriental life and manners, and are desirous of making a more complete acquaintance with the great masterpieces of Eastern literature than has hitherto been possible, except to finished Arabic scholars. In the name of the whole world of Oriental scholarship, we offer our heartfelt thanks and congratulations to Captain Burton upon the appearance of this first volume; and we look forward with the keenest interest for its successors."

* * * * *

_Nottingham Journal_, September 19th, 1885.

"To scholars and men who have sufficient love of the soul of these sweet stories to discern the form in its true proportions, the new edition will be welcome. From an Oriental point of view the work is masterly to a degree. The quatrains and couplets, reading like verses from Elizabethan mantels, and forming a perfect rosary of Eastern love, the constant succession of brilliant pictures, and the pleasure of meeting again our dear old friend Shahrázád, all these combine to give a unique charm and interest to this 'perfect expositor' of the mediæval Moslem mind."

* * * * *

JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS, Am Hof, Davos Platz, Switzerland.

_Academy_, October 3rd, 1885.

"The real question is whether a word-for-word version of the 'Arabian Nights,' executed with peculiar literary vigour, exact scholarship, and rare insight into Oriental modes of thought and feeling can, under any shadow of pretence, be ignored."

* * * * *

_Lincoln Gazette_, November 2nd, 1885.

"In announcing the issue of the first volume of Captain Burton's long-expected edition of the 'Arabian Nights,' the _Standard_ reminds its readers that the book is printed for subscribers only, and is sold at a price which is not likely to be paid by any save the scholars and students for whose instruction it is intended. Many of those who know the ordinary epitome prepared for the nursery and drawing-room have little idea of the nature of the original. Galland's abridgment was a mere shadow of the Arabic. Even the editions of Lane, and Habricht, and Torrens, and Payne, represented but imperfectly the great corpus of Eastern folklore, which Captain Burton has undertaken to render into English. To Captain Burton the preparation of these volumes must have been a labour of love. He began them in conjunction with his friend, Steinhaüser, soon after his return from the Mecca pilgrimage, more than thirty years ago, and he has been doing something to them ever since. In no other work of the same nature is Eastern life so vividly portrayed. We see the Arab knight, his prowess and his passion for adventure, his love and his revenge, the craft of his wives and the hypocrisy of his priests, as plainly as if we had lived among them. Gilded palaces, charming women, lovely gardens, caves full of jewels, and exquisite repasts, captivate the senses and give variety to the panorama which is passing before our eyes. Indeed there is a tinge of melancholy pervading the preface in which the Editor refers to his 'unsuccessful professional life,' and to the knowledge of which his country has cared so little to avail itself. When the great explorer discovered the African lakes he was a captain. He is a captain still. No University has thought fit to make him a Doctor; and while knighthoods have been distributed with a profusion which has gone far to lower the value of these distinctions, the foremost of English travellers and the greatest of European Arabists is still untitled.[1] Even in the recent Egyptian troubles--which are referred to somewhat bitterly--his wisdom was not utilized, though after the death of Major Morrice, there was not an English official in the camps before Suakin capable of speaking Arabic. On this scandal, and on the ignorance of Oriental customs which was everywhere displayed, Captain Burton is deservedly severe.

"There is only one 'Arabian Nights' in the world, and only one Captain Burton. The general tone of the London Press has been distinctly favourable, the _Standard_ leading the way and other journals following suit. The 'Thousand Nights and a Night' offers a complete picture of Eastern peoples. But the English reader must be prepared to find that the manners of Arabs and Moslems differ from his own. Eastern people look at things from a more natural and primitive point of view, and they say what they think with the unrestraint of children. At times their plain speaking is formidable; it is their nature to be downright, and to be communicative on subjects about which the Saxon is shy or silent, and it must be remembered that the separation of the sexes adds considerably to this freedom of expression.

"It is only knowledge that knows how to observe; and it is satisfactory that Captain Burton's amazing insight into Eastern peculiarities has been put to its best use in giving a true idea of the people of the Sun and a veritable version of their book of books. The labour expended on this edition has been enormous. The work could only have been completed by the most excessive and pertinacious application. All the same we are told it has been 'a labour of love,' a task that has brought its exceeding great reward. There is only one regret, the circulation is limited. We cannot help hoping, at some future time, a selection may be made from the ten volumes. If the public cannot have the whole work, at least it might have a part, and not be entirely shut out from a masterpiece unparalleled."

* * * * *

_Home News_, September 18th, 1885.

"Captain Burton has begun to issue the volumes of his subscription translation of the 'Arabian Nights,' and its fortunate possessors will now be able to realize the full flavour of Oriental feeling. They will now have the great storehouse of Eastern folklore opened to them, and Captain Burton's minute acquaintance with Eastern life makes his comments invaluable. In this respect, as well as in the freeness of the translation, the version will be distinguished from its many predecessors. Captain Burton's preface, it may be observed, bears traces of soreness at official neglect. Indeed it seems curious that his services could not have been utilized in the Soudan, when the want of competent Arabic scholars was so severely felt."

* * * * *

_Daily Exchange_, September 19th, 1883.

"The first volume of Captain Burton's 'Thousand Nights and a Night,' printed at Benares by the Kamashastra Society, for private subscribers only, has been delivered to the latter. If the other nine portions equal the first, English literature will be the richer by a work the like of which is rare. The English is strong and vitally idiomatic. It is the English of Shakespeare and Jeremy Taylor, the English of Robert Browning, with a curiously varied admixture of modern colloquial phraseology. I confess that I was not prepared, familiar as I was with Captain Burton's other work, to find so perfect a command of clear and vigorous style on the part of the great traveller and Oriental scholar. I must say that the tone of the work is singularly robust and healthy. What a treasurehouse Captain Burton has opened! Until he turned the key we knew little or nothing of the 'Nights,' and the notes which he has added to the work have a value that is simply unique."

* * * * *

_Standard_, September 12th.

"The first volume of Captain Burton's long-expected edition of the 'Arabian Nights' was issued yesterday to those who are in a position to avail themselves of the wealth of learning contained in this monumental labour of the famous Eastern traveller. The book is printed for subscribers only, and is sold at a price which is not likely to be paid by any save the scholars and students for whose instruction it is intended.

"Moreover, no previous editor--not even Lane himself--had a tithe of Captain Burton's acquaintance with the manners and customs of the Moslem East. Hence, not unfrequently, they made ludicrous blunders, and in no instance did they supply anything like the explanatory notes which have added so greatly to the value of this issue of 'Alf Laylah wa Laylah.'

"On the other hand, apart from the language, the general tone of the 'Nights' is exceptionally high and pure. The devotional fervour, as Captain Burton justly claims, often rises to the boiling point of fanaticism, and the pathos is sweet and deep, genuine and tender, simple and true. Its life--strong, splendid, and multitudinous--is everywhere flavoured with that unaffected pessimism and constitutional melancholy which strikes deepest root under the brightest skies. The Kazi administers poetical justice with exemplary impartiality; and so healthy is the morale that at times we descry vistas of a transcendental morality--the morality of Socrates and Plato.

"In no other work is Eastern life so vividly pourtrayed. This work, illuminated with notes so full of learning, should give the nation an opportunity for wiping away that reproach of neglect which Captain Burton seems to feel more keenly than he cares to express."

* * * * *

_St. James's Gazette_, September 12th.

"One of the most important translations to which a great English scholar has ever devoted himself is now in the press. For three decades Captain Burton has been more or less engaged on his translation of the 'Arabian Nights,' the latest of the many versions of that extraordinary story which has been made into English, the only one at all worthy of a great original."

* * * * *

_South Eastern Herald_, October 31st.

"At Mr. Quaritch's trade sale the other day, Captain Burton made an interesting speech regarding the 'Thousand and One Nights,' of which the gist was to show that his translation performs a double office. It is not only a faithful and racy version of the true original, but it also represents a better text than any which has been hitherto accessible in print or manuscript. He, in fact, produced for his own use, and by collation of the existing materials, a careful, critical recension of the original; and his rendering may, therefore, claim to stand towards the 'Alf Laylah' in the same manner as the Latin version of Plato, by Marsilius Ficinus, towards the Greek text."

* * * * *

_Morning Advertiser_.

"Captain Burton, thirty-three years ago, went in the disguise of an Indian pilgrim to Mecca and Al-Medinah, and no one capable of giving the world the result of his experience has so minute, so exhaustive a knowledge of Arab and Oriental life generally. Hence the work now begun--only a limited number of students can ever see--which is simply priceless to any one who concerns himself with such subjects, and may be regarded as marking an era in the annals of Oriental translation."

* * * * *

_Whitehall Review_, October 29th, 1885.

"The second volume of Captain Burton's translation of the 'Arabian Nights' has just been issued to the subscribers, who had already become impatient for a second instalment of this great and fascinating contribution to literature. The new volume is, if possible, of even greater interest than the first. It contains the whole of the fantastic semi-chivalrous story of King Omar Bin al-Nu'uman and his sons Sharrkan and Zau al-Makan, a knowledge of which has hitherto been confined chiefly to Oriental scholars, as Lane only admitted an episode from it into his version of 'Alif Laila.' Some of Sharrkan's adventures will remind students of other Eastern stories of some of the adventures recorded of the hero of Persian romance, Hatim Taī. As usual, Captain Burton's notes are rich, varied, and copious, of the greatest service to all serious students of Arabic manners and customs, and of Oriental life in general."

* * * * *

_Montreal Daily Herald_, September 21st, 1885.

"Captain Burton has translated the 'Arabian Nights,' but will only publish it for private distribution. A correspondent says that 'all these years we have been reading Lane's turgid emasculated selections we have been kept in the dark as to their singular beauty and vitally human strength. I have been amazed at the "Nights" as Englished by Captain Burton in strong, vital, picturesque prose. The stories, instead of being pieces of wild extravagance, unreal and theatrically tinselly, with the limelight instead of daylight, and paste instead of diamonds, are full of abounding life.'"

* * * * *

"JEHU JUNIOR," _Vanity Fair_, October 24th, 1885.

"As a bold, astute traveller, courting danger, despising hardship, and compelling fortune, Captain Burton has few equals; as a master of Oriental languages, manners, and customs he has none. He is still very young, very vigorous, very full of anecdote and playful humour, and, what is remarkable in a linguist, he has not disdained even his own mother tongue, which he handles with a precision and a power that few can approach. He has recently crowned his literary labours by the most complete, laborious, uncompromising, and perfect translation of that collection of stories known to us as the 'Arabian Nights,' but more correctly called 'A Thousand Nights and a Night.' He is a wonderful man."

* * * * *

_Morning Post_, January 19th, 1886.

"Everything comes to him who waits--even the long-promised, eagerly expected 'Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights,' by Richard F. Burton. It is a whole quarter of a century since this translation of one of the most famous books of the world was contemplated, and we are told it is the natural outcome of the well-known pilgrimage to Medinah and Mecca. Of Captain Burton's fitness for the task who can doubt? It was during that celebrated journey to the Tomb of the Prophet that he proved himself to be an Arab--indeed, he says, in a previous state of existence he was a Bedouin. Did he not for months at a stretch lead the life of a Son of the Faithful, eat, drink, sleep, dress, speak, pray, like his brother devotees, the sharpest eyes failing to pierce his disguise? He knows the ways of Eastern men--and women--as he does the society of London or Trieste. How completely at home he is with his adopted brethren he showed at Cairo, when, to the amazement of some English friends who were looking on at the noisy devotions of some 'howling' Dervishes, he suddenly joined the shouting, gesticulating circle, and behaved as if to the manner born. He has qualified as a 'howler,' he holds a diploma as a master Dervish, and he can initiate disciples. Clearly, to use a phrase of Arabian story, it was decreed by Allah from the beginning--and fate and fortune have arranged--that Captain Burton should be the one of all others to confer upon his countrymen the boon of the genuine unsophisticated 'Thousand Nights and a Night.' In the whole of our literature no book is more widely known. It is spread broadcast like the Bible, Bunyan, and Shakespeare: yet although it is in every house, and every soul in the kingdom knows something about it, nobody knows it as it really exists. We have only had what translators have chosen to give--selected, diluted, and abridged transcripts. And of late some so-called 'original' books have been published, containing minor tales purloined bodily from the 'Nights.'"

* * * * *

_Whitehall Review_, May 24th, 1886.

"The sixth volume of Sir Richard Burton's 'Arabian Nights,' which has just been issued to subscribers, is one of the most interesting of the series to Anglo-Orientalists. For it contains that story--or set of stories--which is, perhaps, of all the tales of the 'Arabian Nights,' the dearest to legend-loving mankind, whether Oriental or Occidental--the story of the voyages of 'Sindbad the Sailor,' or of 'Sindbad the Seaman,' as Sir Richard Burton prefers to call him. Perhaps the only tale which at all competes in popularity with the wandering record of the 'Eastern Odysseus' is the story of 'Ali Baba,' and that, unfortunately, does not belong to the 'Arabian Nights' at all, and can only, as far as we know, be traced to a modern Greek origin. Lovers of the story of 'Sindbad the Sailor' will be pleased to learn that their old friend remains to all intents and purposes the same in Sir Richard's literal Translation as he was in the fanciful adaptation of Galland, and the more accurate rendering of Lane. He does not 'suffer a sea change,' but remains, what he has always been, the most wonderful wanderer in the whole range and region of romance. Sir Richard Burton's sixth volume contains, besides, that story of the 'Seven Viziers,' which in so many forms is a favourite in all the languages of the East."

* * * * *

The _Bat_, July 7th, 1886.

"As regards his translation, however, Captain Burton is certainly felicitous in the manner in which he has Englished the picturesque turns of the original. One great improvement in this version over that of Mr. Lane will be found in the fact that the verses so freely interspersed throughout the 'Nights' are here rendered in metre, and that an attempt also has often been made to preserve the assonants and the monorhyme of the Arabic. Mr. Lane frankly stated that he omitted the greater part of the poetry as tedious, and, through the loss of measure and rhyme, 'generally intolerable to the reader,' as, in truth, the specimens inserted mostly proved to be on account of the bald literalism of the rendering. Captain Burton has naturally inserted the poetry with the rest; and has often shown much skill in doing into English verse the rippling couplets of the original. Take as an instance, the verses which Mr. Lane renders:--

'Tell him who is oppressed with anxiety that anxiety will not last.
As happiness passeth away, so passeth away anxiety.'

"Almost equally literal, and certainly more poetical, is Captain Burton, who gracefully turns this:--

'Tell whoso hath sorrow, Grief never shall last;
E'en as Joy hath no morrow, so Woe shall go past.'

"And since, in proverbs and epigrams, so much depends on the form, the spirit of the original is well observed, when, for instance, we read in a certain chronicle the lines of one Ibn al Sumam:--

'Hold fast thy secret, and to none unfold:
Lost is a secret when that secret's told.
And fail thy breast thy secret to conceal,
How canst thou hope another's breast shall hold?'

"Doubtless, too--and in this not following Mr. Lane--Captain Burton is right in retaining the original division into Nights: for, as he justly observes, 'Without the Nights, no Arabian Nights!' And, besides this being a prime feature of the original, a grateful pause is thereby introduced into these intricate and interminable stories. In the translation, Captain Burton's English is generally picturesque and always fluent. As it is frankly stated, too, he has 'never hesitated to coin a word when wanted.' Captain Burton, who has passed the greater portion of his life in Arab-speaking countries, mixing freely in Moslem society, and often passing--as during his pilgrimage--himself for a True Believer, is naturally well qualified to translate this 'Great Eastern Saga Book.' Also, since the scene of the stories is laid successively in every country of Islam, from Tangier to India, and beyond, the translator's intimate acquaintance, made during his wanderings, with all these peoples and places, stands him in good stead in elucidating peculiar manners and customs, and in this gives him the advantage over Mr. Lane, who had only seen Islam as domiciled in Egypt."

* * * * *

_Court Society_, March 4th, 1886.

"Not a little disgust has been excited by the vulgar sneer which a morning paper has indulged in at the expense of Sir Richard Burton. Long neglected by successive Governments, Captain Burton received, after forty-four years, a tardy recognition of his services. Straightway, it was suggested that he is made a knight because he translated the 'Arabian Nights.' It need scarcely be said that his translation has nothing to do with the distinction conferred upon him; but, as it is the habit in a certain quarter to denounce the literal translation of the 'Nights,' it cannot be too distinctly understood that Captain Burton never meant his work to fall into any hands save those of a thousand students."

* * * * *

The _Sporting Life_, July 17th, 1886.

"The more I see of this splendid translation, the more do I feel that we are indebted to the translator for the first real idea in English of the immortal original, and to him alone, for a complete reflection of the 'Arabian Nights.' The lustre and vigour of the English compel one's admiration at every step.... It is palpable enough that, until Sir Richard Burton's wonderful work first saw the light, _we had no 'Arabian Nights_.'"

* * * * *

The _Bat_, July 7th, 1886.

"Book-lovers will be glad to learn that Sir Richard Burton's 'Thousand and One Nights' will shortly be reprinted, and that also with revision which will remove it from the top shelf of a library to the drawing-room. Lady Burton is to be congratulated on her enterprise in taking up the matter, for, unquestionably, so admirable, and, indeed, instructive a work should be placed within the reach of all. A copy of the privately printed edition is now worth £25, and undoubtedly its reappearance as revised will be hailed with satisfaction by all lovers of Orientalism."

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM SCHOLARS.

_Mr. Floyer, at the Telegraphic Conference, has secured Egypt telegraphic independence, and an annual gain of_ £7000.

"Government Telegraphs, Berlin, September 16th, 1885.

"MY DEAR CAPTAIN BURTON,

"I cannot tell you how delighted I am with the translation. The language is wonderful. Only you in the world could have written it. How did you find out 'ensorcelled,' instead of the vulgar 'bewitched'? And how did you find out a hundred other words equally graceful and exact? It is the most wonderful translation in the whole of literature. In accuracy, in swing, it breathes Egypt to me. I could take it and read it straight out to my Effendis almost word for word. But the language is wonderful. As compared with Eastwick's _Anw'ar i Suhayli_ it is Tennyson to Gladstone. My sense of the feelings inspired by the first pages of the Foreword it is impossible to express, and I congratulate you most sincerely on your absolutely unique achievement.

"Yours very truly,

"(Signed) ERNEST A. FLOYER."

* * * * *

"October 24th.

"DEAR SIR,

"I do not know whether a letter which I wrote to the _Academy_ about your 'Arabian Nights' has come under your notice. If so, I beg you to excuse the chary words I used in commendation of a work which now, from the literary point of view, I regard as one of great original excellence."

* * * * *

"November 13th.

"I wish you _had_ issued more numbers of your book, as you well deserve to be rewarded for such an admirable work. I delight in the vigour and Oriental character of the language. Even a few months in India were enough to make me appreciate and perhaps better understand the charm of the 'Arabian Nights.'"

* * * * *

"DEAR CAPTAIN,

"The joy which your volume has occasioned me I will not attempt to express in a short letter. Let us meet soon, and talk of nothing else."

* * * * *

"DEAR BURTON,

"This is merely a line of greeting in appreciation of your first volume, which I have been reading, just to say how pleased I am with everything--intrinsic and extrinsic."

* * * * *

"September 25th.

"DEAR CAPTAIN BURTON,

"I have received the first volume of the 'Nights,' and beg you to accept my most heartfelt and sincere thanks for the valuable gift. I cannot express the pleasure which it affords me to see this wonderful book reproduced in a form which is as faithful a rendering of the original as it will remain an admirable '_monumentum aere perennius_' of the English language.

"Moreover, I am not ashamed to acknowledge that in reading again the text, together with your translation, I have learned more Arabic in a few months than in as many years of former toilsome study."

* * * * *

"I want to tell you how thoroughly I have enjoyed your 'Arabian Nights,' and how greatly they have contributed to making life endurable during these months. Your 'Arabian Nights' is a revelation of Orientalism, and the finest study of words that I have ever met with. It will remain a literary text-book as long as the English language lasts."

* * * * *

"Volume I. awaiting me.

"I congratulate Captain Burton heartily. The book looks very handsome, and the notes are most valuable. Altogether a great success."

* * * * *

"Your 'Nights' are admirable, fascinating--the true thing at last! I delight in my volume.

"I can hardly express to you how highly I appreciate the 'Nights,' the first two volumes of which are at hand. The work is interesting, too, and permits another edition."

* * * * *

"September 26th.

"I have been devouring your first volume of the 'Nights,' and cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the book, and how anxiously I am looking for the next volume."

* * * * *

EDWARD PEACOCK, Bottesford Manor, Brigg, October 3rd, 1885.

"I have read every word of the first volume of Captain Burton's 'Arabian Nights,' and, as I am not an Arabic scholar, _am very grateful to him for having given us_ an English version."

[1] This was written some weeks before the author was made a K.C.M.G.

THE END