The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, vol 16 | Page 7

. . . .538 10. The Tale of Attáf the
Syrian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .588 11. The History of Sultan Habíb and

Durrat al-Ghawwás . . . .628 12. The Caliph and the
Fisherman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .686 13. The Cock and the
Fox. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .718 14. The Fowl-let and the Fowler . . . . . . .
725 to 739 (finis)
Upon these tales I would be permitted to offer a few observetions. No. i.
begins with a Christian formula:--"In the name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Ghost" (Rúhu'l-Kudus); and it is not translated,
because it is a mere replica of the Ten Wazirs (Suppl. vol. i. 55-151).
The second, containing "The Sage Haykár," which is famous in
folk-lore throughout the East, begins with the orthodox Moslem
"Bismillah," etc. "King Sapor" is prefaced by a Christian form which to
the Trinitarian formula adds, "Allah being One"; this, again, is not
translated, because it repeats the "Ebony Horse" (vol. v. 1). No iv.,
which opens with the Bismillah, is found in the Sabbágh MS. of The
Nights (see Suppl. vol. iii.) as the Histoire de Haroun al-Raschid et de
la descendante de Chosroès. Albondoqani (Nights lxx.-lxxvii.). No. v.,
which also has the Moslem invocation, is followed by the "Caliph and
the Three Kalandars," where, after the fashion of this our MS., the
episodes (vol. i., 104-130) are taken bodily from "The Porter and the
Three Ladies of Baghdad" (i. 82), and are converted into a separate
History. No. vi. has no title to be translated, being a replica of the long
sea-tale in vol. vii., 264. Nos. vii., viii., ix., x. and xi. lack initiatory
invocation betraying Christian or Moslem provenance. No. viii. is the
History of Sí Mustafá and of Shaykh Shaháb al- Dín in the Turkish
Tales: it also occurs in the Sabbágh MS. (Nights ccclxxxvi.-cdviii.).
The Bímáristán (No. ix.), alias Ali Chalabi (Halechalbé), has already
appeared in my Suppl. vol. iv. 35. No. xii., "The Caliph and the
Fisherman," makes Harun al-Rashid the hero of the tale in "The
Fisherman and the Jinni" (vol. i. 38); it calls the ensorcelled King of the
Black Islands Mahmúd, and his witch of a wife Sitt al-Mulúk, and it
also introduces into the Court of the Great Caliph Hasan Shumán and
Ahmad al-Danaf, the prominent personages in "The Rogueries of
Dalílah" (vol. vii. 144) and its sister tale (vii. 172). The two last
Histories, which are ingenious enough, also lack initial formulæ.
Dr. Russell (the historian of Aleppo) brought back with him a

miscellaneous collection comprising--
Al-Bundukani, or the Robber Caliph; The Power of Destiny (Attaf the
Syrian); Ali Chelebi, or the Bimaristan; King Sankharib and the Sage
Haykar; Bohetzad (Azádbakht) and the Ten Wazirs; and, lastly, Habib,
or the Arabian Knight.
The Encyclopedia Britannica (ixth edit. of MDCCCLXXVI.), which
omits the name of Professor Galland, one of the marking Orientalists in
his own day, has not ignored Jacques Cazotte, remarkable for
chequered life and noble death. Born in 1720, at Dijon, where his father
was Chancellor for the Province of Burgundy, he studied with the
Jesuits at home; and, having passed through the finishing process in
Paris, he was introduced to public life by the Administration de la
Marine. He showed early taste for poetry as well as prose, and
composed songs, tales, and an opera--"The Thousand and One
Fopperies." His physique is described as a tall figure, with regular
features, expressive blue eyes, and fine hair, which he wore long. At
twenty seven he became a commissary in the office and was presently
sent as Comptroller to the Windward Islands, including the French
Colony Martinique, which then as now was famous for successful
woman- kind. At these head-quarters he became intimate with Père
Lavalette, Superior of the S. J. Mission, and he passed some years of a
pleasant and not unintellectual career. Returning to Paris on leave of
absence he fell in with a country-woman and an old family friend,
Madame La Poissonnier, who had been appointed head nurse to the
Duke of Burgundy; and, as the child in her charge required lulling to
sleep, Cazotte composed the favourite romances (ballads), Tout au beau
milieu des Ardennes, and Commere II faut chauffer le lit. These scherzi,
however, brought him more note than profit, and soon afterwards he
returned to Martinique.
During his second term of service Cazotte wrote his heroic comic-
poem, the Roman d'Olivier, in twelve cantos, afterwards printed in
Paris (2 vols. 8vo, 1765); and it was held a novel and singular
composition. When the English first