Shorter Novels, Eighteenth Century Part 38

PAGE 226. _Vathek ... with two little pages_

"All the pages of the seraglio are sons of Christians made slaves in time of war, in their most tender age. The incursions of robbers in the confines of Circa.s.sia afford the means of supplying the seraglio, even in times of peace."--HABESCI'S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 157.

That the pages here mentioned were _Circa.s.sians_, appears from the description of their complexion--_more fair than the enamel of Franguestan_.

PAGE 226. _... confectioners and cooks_

What their precise number might have been in Vathek's establishment it is not now easy to determine; but in the household of the present Grand Signior there are not fewer than a hundred and ninety.--HABESCI'S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 145.

PAGE 227. _... hath seen some part of our bodies; and, what is worse, our very faces_

"I was informed," writes Dr. Cooke, "that the Persian women, in general, would sooner expose to public view any part of their bodies than their faces."--_Voyages and Travels_, vol. ii, p. 443.

PAGE 228. _... vases of snow, and grapes from the banks of the Tigris_

It was customary in Eastern climates, and especially in the sultry season, to carry, when journeying, supplies of snow. These _aestivae nives_ (as Mamertinus styles them) being put into separate vases, were, by that means, better kept from the air, as no more was opened at once than might suffice for immediate use. To preserve the whole from solution, the vessels that contained it were secured in packages of straw.--_Gesta Dei_, p. 1098. Vathek's ancestor, the CALIPH MAHADI, in the pilgrimage to Mecca, which he undertook from ostentation rather than devotion, loaded upon camels so prodigious a quant.i.ty, as was not only sufficient for himself and his attendants amidst the burning sands of Arabia, but also to preserve, in their natural freshness, the various fruits he took with him, and to ice all their drink whilst he stayed at Mecca, the greater part of whose inhabitants had never seen snow till then.--_Anecdotes Arabes_, p. 326.

PAGE 229. _... horrible Kaf_

This mountain, which, in reality, is no other than Caucasus, was supposed to surround the earth, like a ring encompa.s.sing a finger. The sun was believed to rise from one of its eminences (as over ta, by the Latin poets), and to set on the opposite; whence, _from Kaf to Kaf_, signified, from one extremity of the earth to the other. The fabulous historians of the East affirm, that this mountain was founded upon a stone, called _sakhrat_, one grain of which, according to Lokman, would enable the possessor to work wonders. This stone is further described as the pivot of the earth, and said to be one vast emerald, from the refraction of whose beams the heavens derive their azure. It is added, that whenever G.o.d would excite an earthquake, he commands the stone to move one of its fibres (which supply in it the office of nerves), and, that being moved, the part of the earth connected with it quakes, is convulsed, and sometimes expands. Such is the philosophy of the Koran!

The _Tarikh Tabari_, written in Persian, a.n.a.logous to the same tradition, relates, that, were it not for this emerald, the earth would be liable to perpetual commotions, and unfit for the abode of mankind.

To arrive at the Kaf, a vast region,

"Far from the sun and summer gale,"

must be traversed. Over this dark and cheerless desert, the way is inextricable without the direction of supernatural guidance. Here the dives or giants were confined, after their defeat by the first heroes of the human race; and here, also, the peris, or fairies, are supposed in ordinary to reside. Sukrage, the giant, was king of Kaf, and had Rucail, one of the children of Adam, for his prime minister. The giant Argenk, likewise, from the time that Tahamurath made war upon him, reigned here, and reared a superb palace in the city of Aherman, with galleries, on whose walls were painted the creatures that inhabited the world prior to the formation of Adam.--D'HERBELOT, p. 230, etc.

PAGE 229. _... the Simurgh_

This is that wonderful bird of the East, concerning which so many marvels are told: it was not only endowed with reason, but possessed also the knowledge of every language. Hence it may be concluded to have been a dive in a borrowed form. This creature relates of itself that it had seen the great revolution of seven thousand years twelve times commence and close; and that, in its duration, the world had been seven times void of inhabitants, and as often replenished. The Simurgh is represented as a great friend to the race of Adam, and not less inimical to the dives. Tahamurath and Aherman were apprised by its predictions of all that was destined to befall them, and from it they obtained the promise of a.s.sistance in every undertaking. Armed with the buckler of Gian Ben Gian, Tahamurath was borne by it through the air, over the dark desert, to Kaf. From its bosom his helmet was crested with plumes, which the most renowned warriors have ever since worn. In every conflict the Simurgh was invulnerable, and the heroes it favoured never failed of success. Though possessed of power sufficient to exterminate its foes, yet the exertion of that power was supposed to be forbidden. Sadi, a serious author, gives it as an instance of the universality of Providence, that the Simurgh, notwithstanding its immense bulk, is at no loss for sustenance on the mountain of Kaf. Inatulla hath described Getiafrose, queen of the Genii, as seated on a golden chariot, drawn by ten simurghs; whose wings extended wide as the earth-shading bir, and whose talons resembled the proboscis of mighty elephants: but it does not appear from any other writer, that there ever was more than _one_, which is frequently called the _marvellous gryphon_, and said to be like that imaginary monster.--D'HERBELOT, p. 1017, 810, etc. _Tales of Inatulla_, vol. ii, pp. 71, 72.

As the _magic shield of Atlante_ resembles the _buckler of Gian Ben Gian_, so _his Ippogrif_ apparently came from the _Simurgh_, notwithstanding the reference of Ariosto to the veridical Archbishop:

"Non ho veduto mai, ne letto altrove, Fuor che in Turpin, d'un si fatto animale."

PAGE 229. _... palampores, etc._

These elegant productions, which abound in all parts of the East, were of very remote antiquity. Not only are s??d??a? ????T??S, _finely flowered linens_, noticed by Strabo; but Herodotus relates, that the nations of Caucasus _adorned_ their _garments_ with _figures of various creatures_, by means of the sap of certain vegetables; which, when macerated and diluted with water, communicate colours that cannot be washed out, and are no less permanent than the texture itself.--STRABO, l. xv, p. 709. HERODOTUS, l. i, p. 96. The Arabian Tales repeatedly describe these "_fine linens of India, painted in the most lively colours_, and representing _beasts_, _trees_, _flowers_, etc."--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 217, etc.

PAGE 229. _... afrits_

These were a kind of Medusae, or Lamiae, supposed to be the most terrible and cruel of all the orders of the dives.--D'HERBELOT, p. 66.

PAGE 229. _... tablets fraught with preternatural qualities_

Mr. Richardson observes, "that in the East men of rank in general carried with them pocket astronomical tables, which they consulted on every affair of moment." These tablets, however, were of the _magical_ kind, and such as often occur in works of romance. Thus, in Boiardo, Orlando receives, from the father of the youth he had rescued, "a book that would solve all doubts"; and, in Ariosto, Logistilla bestows upon Astolpho a similar directory. The books which Carathis turned over with Morakanabad were imagined to have possessed the like virtues.

PAGE 230. _... dwarfs_

Such unfortunate beings as are thus "curtailed of fair proportion," have been, for ages, an appendage of Eastern grandeur. One part of their office consists in the instruction of the pages; but their princ.i.p.al duty is the amus.e.m.e.nt of their master. If a dwarf happen to be a mute, he is much esteemed; but if he be also an eunuch, he is regarded as a prodigy, and no pains or expense are spared to obtain him.--HABESCI'S _State of the Ottoman Empire_, p. 164, etc.

PAGE 230. _... a small spring supplies us with water for the Abdest, and we daily repeat prayers, etc._

Amongst the indispensable rules of the Mahometan faith, ablution is one of the chief. This rite is divided into three kinds. The first, performed before prayers, is called _Abdest_. It begins with washing both hands, and repeating these words: "Praised be Alla, who created clean water, and gave it the virtue to purify: he also hath rendered our faith conspicuous." This done, water is taken in the right hand thrice, and the mouth being washed, the worshipper subjoins: "I pray thee, O Lord, to let me taste of that water which thou hast given to thy prophet Mahomet in paradise, more fragrant than musk, whiter than milk, sweeter than honey; and which has the power to quench for ever the thirst of him that drinks it." This pet.i.tion is accompanied with sniffing a little water into the nose. The face is then three times washed, and behind the ears; after which water is taken with both hands, beginning with the right, and thrown to the elbow. The washing of the crown next follows, and the apertures of the ear with the thumbs; afterward the neck with all the fingers, and, finally, the feet. In this last operation, it is held sufficient to wet the sandal only. At each ceremonial a suitable pet.i.tion is offered, and the whole concludes with this: "Hold me up firmly, O Lord! and suffer not my foot to slip, that I may not fall from the bridge into h.e.l.l." Nothing can be more exemplary than the attention with which these rites are performed. If an involuntary cough or sneeze interrupt them, the whole service is begun anew, and that as often as it happens.--HABESCI, p. 91, etc.

PAGE 230. _... reading the holy Koran_

The Mahometans have a book of stops or pauses in reading the Koran, which divides it into _seventeen_ sections, and allows of no more.--D'HERBELOT, p. 915.

PAGE 230. _... the bells of a cafila_

A cafila, or caravan, according to Pitts, is divided into distinct companies, at the head of which an officer, or person of distinction, is carried in a kind of horse-litter, and followed by a sumpter camel, loaded with his treasure. This camel hath a bell fastened to either side, the sound of which may be heard at a considerable distance. Others have bells on their necks and their legs, to solace them when drooping with heat and fatigue. Inatulla also, in his tales, hath a similar reference: "The bells of the cafila may be rung in the thirsty desert."

Vol. ii, p. 15. These small bells were known at Rome from the earliest times, and called from their sounds _tintinnabulum_. Phaedrus gives us a lively description of the mule carrying the fiscal moneys: _clarumque collo jactans tintinnabulum_.--Bk. ii, fabl. vii.

PAGE 230. _Deggial_

This word signifies properly a liar and impostor, but is applied by Mahometan writers to their _Antichrist_. He is described as having but one eye and eyebrow, and on his forehead the radicals of _cafer_ or _infidel_ are said to be impressed. According to the traditions of the faithful, his first appearance will be between Irak and Syria, mounted on an a.s.s. Seventy thousand Jews from Ispahan are expected to follow him. His continuance on earth is to be forty days. All places are to be destroyed by him and his emissaries, except _Mecca_ or _Medina_, which will be protected by angels from the general overthrow. At last, however, he will be slain by Jesus, who is to encounter him at the gate of Lud.--D'HERBELOT, p. 282. SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 106.

PAGE 230. _... dictated by the blessed Intelligence_

That is, the angel _Gabriel_. The Mahometans deny that the Koran was composed by their prophet; it being their general and orthodox belief, that it is of divine original; nay, even eternal and uncreated, remaining in the very essence of G.o.d; that the first transcript has been from everlasting by his throne, written on a table of immense size, called the _preserved table_; on which are also recorded the divine decrees, past and future: that a copy was by the ministry of the angel _Gabriel_ sent down to the lowest heaven, in the month of _Ramadan_, on the night of _power_: from whence _Gabriel_ revealed it to Mahomet by parcels, some at Mecca, and some at Medina.--_Al Koran_, ch. ii, etc.

SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 85.

PAGE 231. _... to kiss the fringe of your consecrated robe_

This observance was an act of the most profound reverence.--_Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 236, etc.

PAGE 231. _... and implore you to enter his humble habitation_

It has long been customary for the Arabs to change their habitations with the seasons. Thus Antara: