Out of a thousand picked scholars it is something to be able to assert that all the men whose good opinion is worth having, are loud in its praise. I think a man who gives years of study to a great work, purely with the motive that the rulers of his country may thoroughly understand the peoples they are governing by millions, and who gives that knowledge freely and unselfishly, and who while so doing runs the gauntlet of abuse from the vulgar, silly Philistine, who sees what the really pure and modest never see, deserves great commendation. To throw mud at him because the mediæval Arab lacks the varnish of our world of to-day, is as foolish as it would be not to look up because there are a few spots on the sun.
TO RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON.
"The Thousand Nights and a Night."
Adown the welkin slant the snows and pile
On sill and balcony; their feathery feet
Trip o'er the landscape, and pursuing sleet,
Earth's brow beglooming, robs the lift of smile:
Lies in her mourning-shroud our Northern Isle,
And bitter winds in battle o'er her meet;
Her world is death-like, when, behold! we greet
Light-gleams from morning-land cold grief to guile:
A light of golden mine and orient pearl,
Vistas of fairy-land, where Beauty reigns
And Valiance revels; cloudless moon, fierce sun,
The wold, the palm-tree; cities; hosts; a whirl
Of life in tents and palaces and fanes:
The light that streams from "Thousand Nights and One."
——Isabel Burton.
Tangier, Morocco, February 19."Captain Burton's 'Arabian Nights.'
"A friend lately asked Captain Burton why he was bringing out his translation so soon after another and a most scholarly one. He answered, 'Orientalists are anxious to have the real Eastern work. I had received sundry letters saying—Let us know what the mediæval Arab was. If he was exalted and good, let us see it. If he was witty, let us hear it. If he was uncultivated and coarse, still let us have him to the very letter. We want once for all the real thing. We want a mediæval Arab, telling the tales and legends of his own country, and showing the world what he has remained whilst the West has progressed in culture and delicacy.—Now, I will do this by notes and a running commentary, enabling the student to read between the lines, and perfectly to understand much of what he would otherwise pass over without understanding. I am determined subscribers shall learn from my work what they cannot find in any other, and to make it a repertory of Eastern knowledge, by no means intended for the many-headed, but for the few who are not too wise to learn, or too omniscient to acquire knowledge. I regret more than I can say the coarseness of the Arabic, but I consider it not less my duty to translate it word for word. My Oriental renderings will make it quite different from all the other translations, and I shall leave nothing for any other man in the future to do.'"
R. F. B.
"Pantagruelism or Pornography?
"To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.
"Sir,—Your correspondent 'Sigma' has forgotten the considerable number of 'students' who will buy Captain Burton's translation as the only literal one, needing it to help them in what has become necessary to many—a masterly knowledge of Egyptian Arabic. The so-called 'Arabian Nights' are about the only written halfway house between the literary Arabic and the colloquial Arabic, both of which they need, and need introductions too. I venture to say that its largest use will be as a grown-up school-book, and that it is not coarser than the classics in which we soak all our boys' minds at school. The Arabic classics are not in Egyptian-Arabic, which varies much from Syrian and other branches of the language, and a thorough knowledge of the daily customs and family life of Egypt is a knowledge, however repulsive, to be conscientiously sought by all who are either administrators or philanthropists in Egypt.
"I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
"Anglo-Egyptian.
"September 14th."
Glasgow Times, 24th November, 1888.
(Anent the Bodleian refusal and the biography of his book.)
The Glasgow Times says, "But the chapter is something more than that. It is a remarkable addition to the history of the 'Quarrels of Authors.' Sir Richard Burton, as we have before indicated, is a good hater, and he smites his enemies hip and thigh. The enemies are rather numerous, and some of them, it must be admitted, were scarcely worth powder and shot, but the way in which the old fighting man and traveller (he still seems to retain all the energy characteristic of both) 'goes for' them is refreshing in the extreme. But though Sir Richard has a good many enemies, he has also a large number of friends, and if he is liberal and forcible in retort, he is lavish in acknowledgment of kindly words and of help however slight."
Sir Richard Burton says, "All this is utterly unfair. It allows the unfortunate public no chance of learning the truth. The narrator may be honest and honourable, but he dare not state the facts, nor has he the courage of his own opinions. If he did, 'Society' would turn upon him with the usual 'Oh no, we never mention him,' and his name never would be heard unless accompanied by a snarl or a sneer. The fact is, England's chronic disease is Religiosity in the few, and Hypocrisy in the many.
"Richard F. Burton.
"Hôtel Meurice, Paris, July 17th, 1888."
"Reprints of the 'Arabian Nights.'
"The Granville, Ramsgate, August 13th, 1888.
"I have given to the public, under my wife's superintendence and name, the pure unadulterated article. But the tastes of civilization ever incline to the worked-up, which has the advantage of art applied to nature. At Trieste we often offer our English friends a petit verre of real gin distilled from the juniper berry, and now unprocurable at home; and we enjoy the wry mouths made by those who are accustomed to Hollands and Old Tom.
"The main difficulty, however, is to erase the popular impression that the 'Nights' is a book for babies, a 'classic for children;' whereas its lofty morality, its fine character-painting, its artful development of the story, and its original snatches of rare poetry, fit it for the reading of men and women, and these, too, of no puerile or vulgar wit. In fact, its prime default is that it flies too high.
"Richard F Burton."
A literary friend writes to Lady Burton: "The omissions are so deftly done, and the pruning so slight, that the book ought to be read in every English house, in every English-speaking land. The English alone is an education. If I wanted young folk to learn a good style, I would train them on the 'Nights.' I would give passages to the Board Schools."
As soon as Richard arrived, in June, 1885, he put himself under Dr. Foakes, in South Street, for gout. On the 29th of June there was a meeting at the University of London. Richard and Mr. James, the African traveller, spoke. On the 1st of July we went to the Hermetic Society, where Anna Kingsford lectured on "The Communion of Saints." We worked very hard at our "Arabian Nights," and all our time over and above we went into Society, were very gay, and enjoyed ourselves very much; we also went to see the Mikado several times, which we enjoyed extremely. We often went to the "Inventories," as we knew the Chief of the Electric light, Sir Francis Bolton, and we used to go up into his station, and see the lights turned off and on. Richard thought the trees and lights very pretty, and especially the electric lilies under the water, and the moon prettier still.
On the 21st of July we had a very merry family party for my father's eighty-sixth birthday. He made a speech, and after dinner sang a little song of which he was very fond. He had a lovely tenor voice even then—true and sweet. It was the last happy family meeting, for on the 25th, at nine o'clock in the morning, he had a paralytic stroke without any warning of ill health.
This year I made a long speech in St. James's Hall, concerning appealing to the Pope for a circular letter for the Protection of Animals (9th of July).
The following was not my speech, but my sentiments, which I mean to quote.
"I thought that his Holiness might be induced graciously to concede such an order for the benefit of mankind. The man who begins by so small a thing as kindness to the beast who is working by his side the livelong day, acquires habits of mildness with his wife and children. Having patience, he loses the habit of oaths and blasphemies. It is fury that makes men drink. From drink follows spending money, cards, and low company. If a man is kind to his beast he lets it rest on Sunday. That means that he is keeping the Sunday holy and free from servile work. That day's rest saves his health and prolongs his life, besides benefiting his soul. If a man is kind to his beast it lasts longer, and enables him to do more work, and earn more wages. Not only is he able to feed it better (its only reward), but he can keep his wife and family respectably. They rise in the world's esteem, and to a higher position. Hence kindness to animals is a small beginning of great things, and is not unworthy even of a Pope's patronage."
On the 3rd of July we went to Lady Hooker's garden-party at Kew, and there met, amongst others, the Gordons, who were so kind to us in the Brazilian mines. She died soon after.