The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 14 | Page 5

curious reader has but to compare any one of
Scott's "translations" with the original or, for that matter, with the
present version.
I determined to do that for Scott which Lane had done partly and
imperfectly, and Payne had successfully and satisfactorily done for
Galland. But my first difficulty was about the text. It was impossible to
face without affright the prospect of working for months amid the
discomforts and the sanitary dangers of Oxford's learned atmosphere
and in her obsolete edifices the Bodleian and the Radcliffe. Having
ascertained, however, that in the so-called "University" not a scholar
could be found to read the text, I was induced to apply for a loan--not
to myself personally for I should have shunned the responsibility--but
in the shape of a temporary transfer of the seven-volumed text, tome by
tome, to the charge of Dr. Rost, the excellent Librarian of the India
Office.
My hopes, however, were fated to be deferred. Learned bodies,
Curators and so forth, are ponderous to move and powerless to change
for
The trail of the slow-worm is over them all.
My official application was made on September 13th, 1886. The
tardiest steps were taken as if unwillingly and, when they could no
longer decently be deferred, they resulted in the curtest and most
categorical but not most courteous of refusals, under circumstances of
peculiar disfavour, on November 1st of the same year. Here I shall say
no more: the correspondence has been relegated to Appendix A. My
subscribers, however, will have no reason to complain of these "Ineptiæ
Bodleianæ." I had pledged myself in case of a loan "not to translate
Tales that might be deemed offensive to propriety:" the Curators have
kindly set me free from that troublesome condition and I thank them
therefor.
Meanwhile I had not been idle. Three visits to Oxford in September
and October had enabled me to reach the DIVth Night. But the
laborious days and inclement evenings, combined with the unsanitary

state of town and libraries--the Bodleian and the Rotunda--brought on a
serious attack of "lithiasis" as it is now called, and prostrated me for
two months, until it was time to leave England en route for my post.
Under these circumstances my design threatened to end in failure. As
often befalls to men out of England, every move ventured by me
menaced only check-mate. I began by seeking a copyist at Oxford, one
who would imitate the text as an ignoramus might transcribe music: an
undergraduate volunteered for the task and after a few days dropped it
in dumb disgust. The attempt was presently repeated by a friend with
the unsatisfactory result that three words out of four were legible. In
London several Easterns were described as able and willing for the
work; but they also were found wanting; one could not be trusted with
the MS. and another was marriage-mad. Photography was lastly
proposed, but considerations of cost seemed to render it unavailable. At
last, when matters were at the worst, the proverbial amendment
appeared. Mr. Chandler, whose energetic and conscientious opposition
to all "Bodleian loans," both of books and of manuscripts, had mainly
caused the passing of the prohibitory statute, came forward in the most
friendly and generous way: with no small trouble to himself he
superintended the "sun- pictures," each page of the original being
reduced to half-size, and he insisted upon the work being done wholly
and solely at his own expense. I know not how to express my gratitude.
The process was undertaken by Mr. Percy Notcutt, of Kingsbury and
Notcutt, 45, St. George's Place, Knightsbridge, and the four hundred
and odd pages were reproduced in most satisfactory style.
Being relegated to a port-town which never possessed even an Arabic
lexicon, I have found some difficulty with the Wortley Montague MS.
as it contains a variety of local words unknown to the common
dictionaries. But I have worked my best to surmount the obstacle by
consulting many correspondents, amongst whom may be mentioned the
name of my late lamented friend, the Reverend George Percy Badger;
and, finally, by submitting my proofs to the corrections and additions
of the lexicologist Dr. Steingass.
Appendix B will require no apology to the numerous admirers of Mr. E.

J. W. Gibb's honest and able work, "The History of the Forty Vezirs"
(London, Redway, MDCCCLXXXVI). The writer in a book intended
for the public was obliged to leave in their original Turkish, and
distinguished only by italics, three "facetious" tales which, as usual, are
some of the best in the book. These have been translated for me and I
offer them to my readers on account of their curious analogies with
many in The Nights.
Richard F. Burton.
TRIESTE, April 10th, 1888.

Supplemental Nights To The Book Of The Thousand Nights