156. The Supplemental Nights. 1st December 1886-1st August 1888.
The translation of the Supplemental Nights, that is to say, the collection of more or less interesting Arabian tales not included in the Nights proper, was now completed. The first volume had appeared in 1886, the last was to be issued in 1888. Although containing old favourites such as "Alaeddin," "Zayn Al Asnam," "Ali Baba," and the "Story of the Three Princes," the supplemental volumes are altogether inferior to the Nights proper. Then, too, many of the tales are mere variants of the versions in the more important work. Burton's first two supplemental volumes are from the Breslau text, and, as we said, cover the same ground as Mr. Payne's Tales from the Arabic. In both he followed Mr. Payne closely, as will be seen from his notes (such as "Here I follow Mr. Payne, who has skilfully fine-drawn the holes in the original text") [562] which, frequent as they are, should have been multiplied one hundred-fold to express anything like the real obligation he owed to Mr. Payne's translation. "I am amazed," he once said to Mr. Payne, "at the way in which you have accomplished what I (in common with Lane and other Arabists) considered an impossibility in the elucidation and general re-creation from chaos of the incredibly corrupt and garbled Breslau Text. I confess that I could not have made it out without your previous version. It is astonishing how you men of books get to the bottom of things which are sealed to men of practical experience like me." And he expressed himself similarly at other times. Of course, the secret was the literary faculty and intuition which in Burton were wanting.
Burton's Third Volume [563] consists of the tales in Galland's edition which are not in the Nights proper. All of them, with the exception of "Alaeddin" and "Zayn Al Asnam," are reproductions, as we said, from a Hindustani translation of the French text—the Arabic originals of the tales being still (1905) undiscovered.
His Fourth and Fifth Volumes [564] are from the Wortley-Montague Text. His sixth and last [565] contains the Chavis and Cazotte Text—the manuscript of which is reputed to have been brought to France by a Syrian priest named Shawish (Frenchlifted into Chavis), who collaborated with a French litterateur named Cazotte. The work appeared in 1788. "These tales," says Mr. Payne, "seem to me very inferior, in style, conduct, and diction, to those of 'the old Arabian Nights,' whilst I think 'Chavis and Cazotte's continuation' utterly unworthy of republication whether in part or 'in its entirety.' It is evident that Shawish (who was an adventurer of more than doubtful character) must in many instances have utterly misled his French coadjutor (who had no knowledge of Arabic), as to the meaning of the original."—Preface to Alaeddin, &c., xv., note. Mr. Payne adds, "I confess I think the tales, even in the original Arabic, little better than rubbish, and am indeed inclined to believe they must have been, at least in part, manufactured by Shawish." [566]