[18]. Bakhtiar Nameh, ou le Favori de la Fortune. Conte traduit du Persan. Par M. Lescallier. Paris, 1805.
[19]. See third note, page [184], and first note, p. [195].
[20]. Mr Platt would date the work a century earlier; he writes to me, as follows, on this question: “First, be it observed, the only titles of Kings mentioned in the Persian text are, Shāh, Pādishāh, Malik, and Kaisar; nowhere do we find the sovereign title of Sultān, but it occurs in Habicht’s Arabic text. This title was first borne by Mahmood ibn Sabuktakeer, A.D. 1002 (A.H. 393), and did not exist in Egypt until A.D. 1171 (A.H. 567). At page [184] of your Notes and Illustrations reference is made to the Gulistān of Sa`dī: now that work was published A.D. 1257 (A.H. 655), and it is as well to bear in mind that the poet was born A.H. 1175 (A.H. 571), and by some said to have attained the advanced age of 102, by others 116 years. The work, therefore, is more likely to have been written towards the close of, rather than after, the 13th century. Next may be considered the arms of defence and offence, which required the appointment of an armour-bearer (see page [111], line 6), viz., bow, quiver—containing broad-bladed arrows—sword, or scimitar, mace, or bludgeon, shield, and a spear, or lance; all of which were employed by the Crusaders. Now the first of the eight crusades dates A.D. 1096 (A.H. 490), and the last A.D. 1270 (A.H. 669). These considerations are connected with the Seljukian kingdom of Rūm, of which the capital was Koniah (Iconium), founded A.D. 1074 (A.H. 467), and lasted until A.D. 1307 (A.H. 707); in all, 233 years. Much confusion arises from the Ruler of the Eastern Empire being called Kaisar-ī Rūm, a title also assumed by the Seljukian dynasty. The Kaisar-i Rūm of Chapter III may allude to any occupant of the Constantinopolitan throne between the years A.D. 1257 and 1434.”
[21]. In this entertaining book a Parrot is represented as relating stories night after night, in order to prevent a merchant’s wife from carrying on a criminal intrigue during her husband’s absence. Nakshabī’s work has not yet been wholly translated into English—see foot note, page [197]. Of Kāderī’s abridgment (which is very clumsily done) a translation, together with his Persian text, was published at Calcutta, and reprinted at London in 1801. Kāderī has certainly done Nakshabī’s literary reputation no small injury, by the manner in which he has cut down the stories, and by substituting his own inexpressive and bald style for the graceful composition of the original. It is to be hoped that ere long some competent scholar will present English readers with a fair translation of Nakshabī’s excellent work, which would prove of considerable service to those interested in tracing the migrations and transformations of popular tales.—Besides the Suka Saptati, above mentioned, there is another Indian book, in Tamul, on the same plan, entitled Hamsa Vinsati, Twenty Tales of a Hamsa, or Goose, told with the same object as that of the Parrot—to keep an amorous lady at home until her husband returns.
[22]. Arabian Nights’ Entertainments. To which is added a Selection of New Tales, now first translated from the Arabic originals; also an Introduction and Notes, by Jonathan Scott, LL.D. London, 1811. 6 vols.—This edition, says Lowndes, “was carefully revised and corrected from the Arabic,” but it is not easy to discover any of the Editor’s emendations: the sixth volume consists of Scott’s additional Tales, one or two of which had been better left in the “original Arabic.”
[23]. Evidently a misprint for “literal,” since Scott accuses Cazotte of taking “liberties” with his originals, and contrasts his work with Ouseley’s more accurate translation. It is curious to find, for once, at least, a misprint proving to be no error; for Ouseley’s translation is in fact very “liberal,” and Scott assuredly could never have compared it with the text.
[24]. As the Eleventh Day, is the Story of the Freed Slave.
[25]. In allusion to the name, compounded of Bakht, Fortune, and yār, a friend, or companion.
[26]. Bihrūz and Rūzbih are compounded of the words bih, good, excellent, and rūz, day; meaning “whose day is excellent.”—Ed.
[27]. Veti-ver, Mr Platt writes to me, “is a French word, and yet I am unable to find it in any French Dictionary. It is a kind of grass, deriving its name from the Latin words veto and vermis, as it is used when dry in keeping clothes, etc. free from moths. In the Mauritius, I believe, mats and table-covers are manufactured from it.”