monished, and may consider the history of people of preceding ages, and of all that hath befallen them ; and be restrained."
"
Extolled be the perfection of Him who hath thus ordained the history of
former generations to be a lesson to those which follow! Such are the Tales of a Thousand and one Nights, with their romantic stories, and their fables." This recital of a Thousand and one Nights, was
originally derived from a Persian, or perhaps, an Indian, source, and
was most probably translated in the time of the Caliph Mansour, who
came to the throne, a.d. 754
: that is to say, thirty years before the reign of the Caliph Haroun
Alraschid (786-809), who was afterwards made to play so large a part in
the histories. " In reading these fascinating Tales, which abound so
sumptuously with Eastern magnificence, luxury, wealth, splendour,
priceless gems, costly banquets, and every possible refinement which
boundless riches might produce,—it may be thought that they are thus
embellished to an extravagant, and impossible extent. Nevertheless the
tales were written by an author of the country which they so
graphically depict; and (except as to the Enchantments, which are
flights of Oriental fancy, and imagination), they are a true
representation of Persian manners, and doings, at the time supposed."
I
Quite worthy of reference as corroborative of the statement thus
advanced is the following extract from the Diary of Lady Mary Wortley
Montague (1720)— (who first introduced inoculation against small-pox)—
in which she gives an account of her visit to the Sultana Hafiten, who
became the favourite of Sultan Mastapha, after the death of Fatima.
This highly descriptive
