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ideal beings are as scrupulously preserved and discriminated, as of those who people the fairy regions of English poetry *."

The ardour and eager curiosity with which these romantic tales have ever been, and are still read by the natives of Arabia, and indeed throughout the East, have been more than once mentioned by observant travellers as truly astonishing. Colonel Capper, in his Observations on the Passage to India through Egypt, and across the Great Desert, has made some very pertinent remarks on this subject. "The Arabian Nights," he observes, "contain much curious and useful observation. They are by many people erroneously supposed to be a spurious production, and are therefore slighted in a manner they do not deserve. They were written by an Arabian †, and are universally read and admired, throughout Asia, by all ranks of men, both old and young considered, therefore, as an original work, descriptive, as they are, of the manners and customs of the East in general, and also of the Arabians in particular, they surely must be thought to merit the attention of the curious; nor

*Hole's Remarks on the Arabian Nights, p. 11, 12.

+ There is more reason to suppose they were written by various authors, and at different periods, of the best age of Arabian literature.

are they, in my opinion, destitute of merit in other respects; for although the extravagance of some of the stories is carried too far, yet, on the whole, one cannot help admiring the fancy and invention of the author, in striking out such a variety of pleasing incidents, pleasing I will call them, because they have frequently afforded me much amusement; nor do I envy any man his feelings, who is above being pleased with them. But before any person decides upon the merit of these books, he should be eye-witness of the effect they produce on those who best understand them. I have more than once seen the Arabians in the desert, sitting round a fire, listening to these stories with such attention and pleasure as totally to forget the fatigue and hardship, with which, an instant before, they were entirely overcome. In short, not to dwell any longer on this subject, they are in the same estimation all over Asia, that the adventures of Don Quixote are in Spain; and it is presumed no man of genius or taste would think of making the tour of that country, without previously reading the work of Cervantes."

Though it cannot be expected, owing to dissimilarity in manners, customs, and religion, that the same enthusiasm and interest which are so keenly felt by the natives of the East on the re

citation of these tales, should be excited in the bosom of an European, yet, notwithstanding these dissimilarities, and the disadvantages which necessarily attend a translation, it is impossible for any person of lively feelings and a warm imagination, to peruse them without having his curiosity in a high degree awakened by the stupendous nature of the incidents, and without experiencing much gratification from the rich and authentic display of oriental costume and magnificence. Such have been the impressions very generally made by their perusal upon all ranks o society; and the multiplied editions which the English version has passed through, though, until the late one by Forster, very inadequate to the merits of the original, offer the most decisive proof of its popularity. "The work has been admired," says the British Critic, "and always will, for the simplicity of its narrative, combined with all that the most luxuriant imagination can require; for the accuracy of its representation of oriental manners; and for the interest and curiosity it awakens in the learned and unlearned, the young and the old. And we have known some of the most grave and most learned men retain, with delight, the impression made by these volumes *."

* Vide Forster's Preface to the Arabian Tales, p. 12.

It is well known that Addison was peculiarly partial to the Arabian Tales. That he read them in the version of Galland is evident from No 535 of the Spectator, where he particularly mentions his translation, and has given us a fable from the collection. He appears, indeed, to have entered fully into their spirit, to have appreciated with great judgment their character and leading features, and to have imitated their chief beauties with singular taste and felicity. He it was also, who probably recommended to Phillips the translation of the Persian Tales, a genuine oriental work, from the French version of Petis de la Croix. The first volume of Phillips's Tales was published, I believe, in 1709, and the second is advertised on August 20th, 1714, at the close of N° 583 of the Spectator*; and as about this time Phillips is supposed to have resided in the same house with Addison, it is not extravagant conjecture to conceive that he might have received occasional assistance from his pen.

The introduction of oriental fiction into Eu

*The advertisement runs thus-*** Persian Tales, vol. ii. translated by Mr. Phillips, author of the Pastorals and the Distrest Mother. N. B. To prevent gentlemen being mistaken, who have bought the first volume, this is to inform them, that the edition of the Persian and Turkish Tales, this day published in 2 vols. is not translated by Mr. Phillips, but by an unknown hand.

rope, and consequently into this island, is a subject of singular curiosity; and as it will be useful, and at the same time entertaining, briefly to state its progress to the period of Addison, and previous to the consideration of his imitations of oriental fable, I shall endeavour so to arrange my materials, as, I flatter myself, to afford a clear view of the subject.

About the middle of the eighth century, the empire of the caliphs had attained prodigious power and splendour; and the court of Bagdad, shortly after the extinction of the dynasty of the Ommiades, began to cultivate with enthusiasm the arts of peace. Abou Giafar Almansor, the second caliph of the house of the Abassides, sated with conquest and the extension of dominion, commenced the patronage of literature and science with a taste and munificence which very soon excited a thirst for knowledge throughout the numerous provinces of his empire. Having established Bagdad as the metropolis of the Khaliphat, and which continued such for more than five hundred years, he invited to its magnificent palaces the most learned men from every quarter of the globe. Theology, poetry, and astronomy, were the favourite studies of Almansor; but he failed not to give liberal encouragement to every useful art, to every valuable branch of scientific pursuit.

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