"Volume XVI" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burtons Version)
ааааааааааааааааааа(Gauttier, vii. 64.)
21. ааааHistoire de Naama et de Naam.
22. ааааHistoire du d'Alaeddin.
23. ааааHistoire du d'Abou Mohammed Alkeslan.
24. ааааHistoire du d'Aly Mohammed le joaillier, ou du faux calife.
I need hardly offer any observations upon these tales, as they have been discussed in the preceding pages.
By an error of the late M. Reinaud (for which see p. 39 His toire d' 'Alт al-Din by M. H. Zotenberg, Paris, Imprimerie Na tionale, MDCCCLXXXVIII.) the MS. Supplщment Arabe, No. I7I6, in the writing of Dom Chavis has been confounded with No. 1723, which is not written by the Syrian priest but which contains the originals of the Cazotte Continuation as noted by M. C. de Perceval (Les Mille et une Nuits, etc., vol. viii. Prщf. p. I7, et seqq.) It is labelled Histoires tirщes la plupart des Mille et une Nuits | Supplщment Arabe | Volume de 742 pages. The thick quarto measures centimшtres 20 ╜ long by I6 wide; the binding is apparently Italian and the paper is European, but the filegrane or water-mark, which is of three varieties, a coronet, a lozenge-shaped bunch of circles and a nondescript, may be Venetian or French. It contains 765 pages, paginated after European fashion, but the last eleven leaves are left blank reducing the number written to 742; and the terminal note, containing the date, is on the last leaf. Each page numbers IS lines and each leaf has its catchword (mot de rappel). It is not ordered by "karrсs" or quires; but is written upon 48 sets of 4 double leaves. The text is in a fair Syrian hand, but not so flowing as that of No. 1716, by Shсwэsh himself, which the well-known Arabist, Baron de Slane, described as Bonne щcriture orientale de la fin du XVIII Siшcle. The colophon conceals or omits the name of the scribe, but records the dates of incept Kсn·n IId. (the Syrian winter month January) A.D. 1772; and of conclusion Naysсn (April) of the same year. It has head-lines disposed recto and verve, e.g.,
ааааааааааааааааааHaykсr ааааааааааааааааа--------------------аааааааа аааааааааAl-Hakэm,
and parentheses in the text after European fashion with an imperfect list at the beginning. A complete index is furnished at the end. The following are the order and pagination of the fourteen stories:--
а 1. ааааThe King of Persia and his Ten Wazirsааааpp. 1 to 62
а 2. ааааSay of the Sage Haykсrаааа140
а 3. ааааHistory of King Sab·r and the Three Wise Menаааа183
а 4. ааааThe Daughter of Kisrр the King (Al Bundukтni)аааа217
а 5. ааааThe Caliph and the Three Kalandarsаааа266
а 6. ааааJulnсr the Sea bornаааа396
а 7. ааааThe Duenna, the Linguist-dame and the King's Sonаааа476
а 8. ааааThe Tale of the Warlock and the young Cook of Baghdadаааа505
а 9. ааааThe Man in the Bэmсrэstan or Madhouseаааа538
а 10. ааааThe Tale of Attсf the Syrianаааа588
а 11. ааааThe History of Sultan Habэb and Durrat al-Ghawwсsаааа628
а 13. ааааThe Cock and the Foxаааа718
а 14. ааааThe Fowl-let and the Fowlerаааа725 to 739 (finis)
Upon these tales I would be permitted to offer a few observetions. No. i. begins with a Christian formula:--"In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost" (R·hu'l-Kudus); and it is not translated, because it is a mere replica of the Ten Wazirs (Suppl. vol. i. 55-151). The second, containing "The Sage Haykсr," which is famous in folk-lore throughout the East, begins with the orthodox Moslem "Bismillah," etc. "King Sapor" is prefaced by a Christian form which to the Trinitarian formula adds, "Allah being One"; this, again, is not translated, because it repeats the "Ebony Horse" (vol. v. 1). No iv., which opens with the Bismillah, is found in the Sabbсgh MS. of The Nights (see Suppl. vol. iii.) as the Histoire de Haroun al-Raschid et de la descendante de Chosroшs. Albondoqani (Nights lxx.-lxxvii.). No. v., which also has the Moslem invocation, is followed by the "Caliph and the Three Kalandars," where, after the fashion of this our MS., the episodes (vol. i., 104-130) are taken bodily from "The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad" (i. 82), and are converted into a separate History. No. vi. has no title to be translated, being a replica of the long sea-tale in vol. vii., 264. Nos. vii., viii., ix., x. and xi. lack initiatory invocation betraying Christian or Moslem provenance. No. viii. is the History of Sэ Mustafс and of Shaykh Shahсb al-Dэn in the Turkish Tales: it also occurs in the Sabbсgh MS. (Nights ccclxxxvi.-cdviii.). The Bэmсristсn (No. ix.), alias Ali Chalabi (Halechalbщ), has already appeared in my Suppl. vol. iv. 35. No. xii., "The Caliph and the Fisherman," makes Harun al-Rashid the hero of the tale in "The Fisherman and the Jinni" (vol. i. 38); it calls the ensorcelled King of the Black Islands Mahm·d, and his witch of a wife Sitt al-Mul·k, and it also introduces into the Court of the Great Caliph Hasan Shumсn and Ahmad al-Danaf, the prominent personages in "The Rogueries of Dalэlah" (vol. vii. 144) and its sister tale (vii. 172). The two last Histories, which are ingenious enough, also lack initial formulц.
Dr. Russell (the historian of Aleppo) brought back with him a miscellaneous collection comprising--
Al-Bundukani, or the Robber Caliph;
The Power of Destiny (Attaf the Syrian);
Ali Chelebi, or the Bimaristan;
King Sankharib and the Sage Haykar;
Bohetzad (Azсdbakht) and the Ten Wazirs; and, lastly,
Habib, or the Arabian Knight.
The Encyclopedia Britannica (ixth edit. of MDCCCLXXVI.), which omits the name of Professor Galland, one of the marking Orientalists in his own day, has not ignored Jacques Cazotte, remarkable for chequered life and noble death. Born in 1720, at Dijon, where his father was Chancellor for the Province of Burgundy, he studied with the Jesuits at home; and, having passed through the finishing process in Paris, he was introduced to public life by the Administration de la Marine. He showed early taste for poetry as well as prose, and composed songs, tales, and an opera--"The Thousand and One Fopperies." His physique is described as a tall figure, with regular features, expressive blue eyes, and fine hair, which he wore long. At twenty seven he became a commissary in the office and was presently sent as Comptroller to the Windward Islands, including the French Colony Martinique, which then as now was famous for successful woman-kind. At these head-quarters he became intimate with Pшre Lavalette, Superior of the S. J. Mission, and he passed some years of a pleasant and not unintellectual career. Returning to Paris on leave of absence he fell in with a country-woman and an old family friend, Madame La Poissonnier, who had been appointed head nurse to the Duke of Burgundy; and, as the child in her charge required lulling to sleep, Cazotte composed the favourite romances (ballads), Tout au beau milieu des Ardennes, and Commere II faut chauffer le lit. These scherzi, however, brought him more note than profit, and soon afterwards he returned to Martinique.
During his second term of service Cazotte wrote his heroic comic-poem, the Roman d'Olivier, in twelve cantos, afterwards printed in Paris (2 vols. 8vo, 1765); and it was held a novel and singular composition. When the English first attacked (in 1759) Saint Pierre of Martinique, afterwards captured by Rodney in 1762, the sprightly littщrateur showed abundant courage and conduct, but over-exertion injured his health, and he was again driven from his post by sickness. He learned, on landing in France, that his brother, whilome Vicar-General to M. de Choiseul, Bishop of Chтlons-sur-Marne, had died and left him a fair estate, Pierry, near Epernay; he therefore resigned his appointment and retired with the title "Commissary General to the Marine." But presently he lost 50,000 щcus--the whole fruit of his economies--by the speculations of Pшre Lavalette, to whose hands he had entrusted his estates, negroes, and effects at Martinique. These had been sold and the cheques had been forwarded to the owner: the S. J., however, refused to honour them. Hence the scandal of a law-suit in which Cazotte showed much delicacy and regard for the feelings of his former tutors.
Meanwhile Cazotte had married Elizabeth Roignon, daughter to the Chief Justice of Martinique; he returned to the Parisian world with some щclat and he became an universal favourite on account of his happy wit and humour, his bonhomie, his perfect frankness, and his hearty amiability. The vogue of "Olivier" induced him to follow it up with Le Diable Amoureux, a continuation or rather parody of Voltaire's Guerre civile de Genшve: this work was so skilfully carried out that it completely deceived the world; and it was followed by sundry minor pieces which were greedily read. Unlike the esprits forts of his age, he became after a gay youth-tide an ardent Christian; he made the Gospel his rule of life; and he sturdily defended his religious opinions; he had also the moral courage to enter the lists with M. de Voltaire, then the idol-in-chief of the classes and the masses.
In later life Cazotte met Dom Chavis, who was translating into a curious jargon (Arabo-Franco-Italian) certain Oriental tales; and, although he was nearing the Psalmist's age-term of man, he agreed to "collaborate." The Frenchman used to take the pen at midnight when returning from "social pleasures," and work till 4-5 a.m. As he had prodigious facility and spontaneity he finished his part of the task in two winters. Some of the tales in the suite, especially that of "Maugraby," are attributed wholly to his invention; and, as a rule, his aim and object were to diffuse his spiritual ideas and to write treatises on moral perfection under the form of novelle.
Cazotte, after a well-spent and honourable life, had reason to expect with calmness "the evening and ending of a fine day." But this was not to be; the Great Revolution had burst like a hurricane over the land, and he was doomed to die a hero's death. His character was too candid, and his disposition too honest, for times which suggested concealment. He had become one of the Illuminati, and La Harpe ascribed to him the celebrated prophecy which described the minutest events of the Great Revolution. A Royalist pur sang, he freely expressed his sentiments to his old friend Ponteau, then Secretary of the Civil List. His letters came to light shortly after the terrible day, August IO, 1792: he was summarily arrested at Pierry and brought to Paris, where he was thrown into prison. On Sept. 3, when violence again waxed rampant, he was attacked by the patriot-assassins, and was saved only by the devotion of his daughter Elizabeth, who threw herself upon the old man crying, "You shall not reach my father's heart before piercing mine." The courage of the noble pair commanded the admiration of the ruffians, and they were carried home in triumph.
For a few weeks the family remained unmolested, but in those days "Providence" slept and Fortune did not favour the brave. The Municipality presently decreed a second arrest, and the venerable littщrateur, aged seventy two, was sent before the revolutionary tribunal appointed to deal with the pretended offences of August 10. He was subjected to an interrogatory of thirty-six hours, during which his serenity and presence of mind never abandoned him and impressed even his accusers. But he was condemned to die for the all-sufficient reason:--"It is not enough to be a good son, a good husband, a good father, one must also prove oneself a good citizen." He spent his last hours wit'. his confessor, wrote to his wife and children, praying his family not to beweep him, not to forget him, and never to offend against their God; and this missive, with a lock of his hair for his beloved daughter, he finally entrusted to the ghostly father. Upon the scaffold he turned to the crowd and cried, "I die as I have lived, truthful and faithful to my God and my King." His venerable head, crowned with the white honours of age, fell on Sept. 25, 1792.
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