“For, in and out, above, below, ’Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show, Play’d in a box whose Candle is the Sun Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.”

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As altered later, it assumed the following more familiar form:—

“We are no other than a moving row Of Magic-Shadow shapes that come and go Round with the Sun-illumin’d Lantern held In Midnight by the Master of the Show.”

All who have read the published letters of Edward FitzGerald will have been struck by the infinite pains which he took to make this highest effort of his genius, the translation of Omar, as perfect as possible. His correspondence with his friend Professor Cowell teems with allusions to, and innumerable discussions on, minute points of meaning in the Persian.

Therefore it will not surprise us to find that the figure of the Fanus i Khiyal (literally the lanthorn[32] of fancy), here made use of in so masterly a manner, had its characteristics and peculiarities carefully considered.

[32] It is a not uninteresting fact that the old English spelling of the word “lantern” used above is due to the mistaken association of the word with the plates of transparent horn formerly used in place of glass.

By the kindness of Mrs. Edwin Edwards and the late Professor Cowell, I am enabled to give extracts from an unpublished letter written by the {185} latter to FitzGerald in the year 1868, dealing somewhat exhaustively with the matter. This letter appears to have been forwarded by FitzGerald to Edwin Edwards, the artist, by way of inspiration for an etched frontispiece to the edition of The Ruba’iyat which was to be published by Quaritch in 1871, not, I think, in 1872, as Colonel Prideaux has it.

From Professor Cowell to Edward FitzGerald.

MY DEAR E. F. G.—I have sent off one letter to you to-day, but I did not answer a question of yours in it, after all, which you remind me of in your letter just received by this evening’s post.

First as to the famous Fanus i Khiyal—you will find it explained in a note by the editor at the end of my Calcutta Review Paper. I have often seen them in Calcutta. The lantern is about a foot and a half high—and nearly a foot in diameter, and it moves round with a slow and slightly vibratory motion. The candle is placed inside, and the draught sends it round. The editor in his note explains how the draught is produced:—They are made of a talc[33] cylinder with figures of men and animals cut out of paper and pasted on it. The cylinder, which is very light, is suspended on an axis, round which it easily turns. A hole {186} is cut near the bottom, and the part cut out is fixed at an angle to the cylinder so as to form a vane. When a small lamp or candle is placed inside, a current of air is produced which keeps the cylinder slowly revolving. (Here is a small drawing.)

I cannot recollect how it was suspended, the reviewer says, “on an axis.” I think it was hung by a string from the top over a candle. I remember seeing it go round one evening in our dining-room—the Khánsamah brought one to show me. . . .

Nicolas’s Fanus[34] is more elaborate than our Calcutta one, but on the same principle. He says the figures move round from right to left or vice versa—as may be. His fanal[35] is like mine, only it has a metal top and bottom—the cylindrical sides being of waxed cloth and painted; it has a handle fixed on the top which the man holds; the candle is placed inside on the metal floor. . . .

(Here is another small drawing.) . . .

Yours affectionately,

EDW. B. COWELL.

CAMBRIDGE,

January 16, 1868.

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