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PRECIOUS STONES.
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conveys
a useful lesson, though seldom is this perceived by the ordinary
readers of the well-known stories) we may gather profitable
instruction, besides being delightedly amused by all the glamour, and
fascination of Fairy Legends. To somehow teach these lessons to the
youngsters at Christmastime, when the splendid pantomimes are
produced, year after year, each magnificent show being designed to
illustrate one or another of the " Arabian Nights' " entertainments,
would vastly enhance the value of these occasions. Though, of course,
for the mummers to prove didactic, (like good Mr. Barlow, in Sandford and Merton:—Thomas
Day, 1795)—or for the Clown to preach a sermon, in place of " Hot
Codlins," or " Tippitywitchet," would lamentably spoil all the fun of
the Fair!
The most charming edition extant of The Thousand, and One Nights, commonly called The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, is
the rare set of three volumes translated from the Arabic, by Edward
William Lane; having been published by Charles Knight, in the year
1841. It is, moreover, delightfully illustrated with several hundred
wood engravings, by William Harvey. The Introduction runs this : " In
the name of God, the Compassionate; the Merciful." " Praise be to God,
the Beneficent King, the Creator of the Universe, who hath raised the
heavens without pillars, and spread out the earth as a bed !—and
blessing, and peace be on the lord of Apostles, our lord, and master,
Mohammed, and his Family; blessing, and peace, enduring, and constant,
unto the day of judgment."'
"The
lives of former generations are a lesson to posterity ; that a man may
review the remarkable events which have happened to others, and be ad-
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