Shorter Novels, Eighteenth Century Part 41

That kind of insanity called by the Arabians _Kutrub_ (a word signifying not only a _wolf_, but likewise a _male Ghoul_), which incites such as are afflicted with it to roam howling amidst those melancholy haunts, may cast some light on the nature of the possession recorded by St.

Mark, ch. v, I, etc.

PAGE 244. _... feathers of the heron, all sparkling with carbuncles_

Panaches of this kind are amongst the attributes of Eastern royalty.--_Tales of Inatulla_, vol. ii, p. 205.

PAGE 244. _... whose eyes pervade the inmost soul of a female_

The original in this instance, as in the others already noticed, is more a.n.a.logous to the French than the English idiom: "_Dont l'il penetre jusqu'a la moelle des jeunes filles._"

PAGE 244. _... the carbuncle of Giamschid_

This mighty potentate was the fourth sovereign of the dynasty of the Pischadians, and brother or nephew to Tahamurath. His proper name was _Giam_ or _Gem_, and _Schid_, which in the language of the ancient Persians denominated the sun: an addition ascribed by some to the majesty of his person, and by others to the splendour of his actions.

One of the most magnificent monuments of his reign was the city of Istakhar, of which Tahamurath had laid the foundations. This city, at present called _Gihil-_, or _Tchil-minar_, from the forty columns reared in it by Homai, or (according to our author and others) by Soliman Ben Daoud, was known to the Greeks by the name of Persepolis; and there is still extant in the East a tradition, that, when Alexander burnt the edifices of the Persian kings, seven stupendous structures of Giamschid were consumed with his palace. This prince, after having subjected to his empire seven vast provinces of Upper Asia, and enjoyed in peace a long reign (which some authors have protracted to 700 years), became intoxicated with his greatness; and, foolishly fancying it would have no end, arrogated to himself divine honours. But the Almighty raised up, even in his own house, a terrible instrument to abase his pride, by whom he was easily overcome, and driven into exile.

The author of _Giame al tavatikh_ mentions the cup, or concave mirror of Giamschid, formed of a gem, and called the cup of the sun. To this vessel the Persian poets often refer, and allegorize it in different ways. They attribute to it the property of exhibiting everything in the compa.s.s of nature, and even some things that are preternatural. The gem it consisted of appears to be the carbuncle or oriental ruby; which, from its resemblance to a burning coal, and the splendour it was supposed to emit in the dark, was called Schebgerag, or, the torch of the night. According to Strabo, it obtained its high estimation amongst the Persians, who were worshippers of fire, from its igneous qualities; and perhaps those virtues for which it hath been styled "the first of stones."

Milton had a learned retrospect to its fabulous powers, in describing the Old Serpent:

... his head Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes--

D'HERBELOT, pp. 392, 395, 780, etc. BRIGHTE, _On Melancholie_, p. 321.

_Paradise Lost_, IX, 499.

PAGE 244. _... have you false keys? Come to the dark chamber_

It was the office of Shaban, as chief eunuch, to keep the key of the ladies' apartment. In the Story of Ganem, Haroun al Raschid commands Mesrour, the chief of the eunuchs, "to take the perfidious Fetnah, and shut her up in the dark tower." That tower was within the inclosure of the palace, and commonly served as a prison for the favourites who might chance to disgust the caliph.

PAGE 246. _... their faith is mutually plighted_

When females in the East are betrothed, their palms and fingers are tinged of a crimson colour, with the herb hinnah. This is called "the crimson of consent."--_Tales of Inatulla_, vol. ii, p. 15.

PAGE 246. _... violate the rights of hospitality_

So high an idea of these rights prevails amongst the Arabians, that "a bread and salt traitor," is the most opprobrious invective with which one person can reproach another.--RICHARDSON'S _Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations_, p. 219. See also the Story of Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves, in the _Arabian Nights_, vol. iv, p. 166.

PAGE 246. _... narcotic powder_

A drug of the same quality, mixed in lemonade, is given to Zobeide, in the Story of Ganem.

PAGE 248. _Funeral vestments were prepared; their bodies washed, etc._

The rites here practised had obtained from the earliest ages. Most of them may be found in Homer and the other poets of Greece. Lucian describes the dead in his time as washed, perfumed, vested, and crowned, ??a??? a??es??, with the flowers most in season; or, according to other writers, those in particular which the deceased were wont to prefer. The elegant editor of the _Ruins of Palmyra_ mentions the fragments of a mummy found there, the hair of which was plaited exactly in the manner as worn at present by the women of Arabia.

The burial dress from the days of Homer hath been commonly white, and amongst Mahometans is made without a seam, that it may not impede the ceremonial of kneeling in the grave, when the dead person undergoes examination.--HOMER, EURIPIDES, etc., _pa.s.sim_. LUCIAN, tom. ii, p. 927.

PASCHAL, _De Coron._, p. 225. _Ruins of Palmyra_, pp. 22, 23. _Iliad_, xviii, 352. _Relig. Cerem._, vol. vii, p. 117.

PAGE 248. _... all instruments of music were broken_

Thus, in the _Arabian Nights_: "Haroun al Raschid wept over Schemselnihar, and, before he left the room, ordered all the musical instruments to be broken."--Vol. ii, p. 196.

PAGE 248. _... imans began to recite their prayers_

An iman is the princ.i.p.al priest of a mosque. It was the office of the imans to precede the bier, praying as the procession moved on.--_Relig.

Cerem._, vol. vii, p. 117.

PAGE 248. _The wailful cries of La Ilah illa Alla!_

This exclamation, which contains the leading principle of Mahometan belief, and signifies _there is no G.o.d but G.o.d_, was commonly uttered under some violent emotion of mind. The Spaniards adopted it from their Moorish neighbours, and Cervantes hath used it in _Don Quixote_: "En esto llegaron corriendo con grita, LILILIES (literally _professions of faith in Alla_), y algazara los de las libreas adonde Don Quixote suspenso y atonito estava."--_Parte segunda_, cap. lxi, tom. iv, p. 241.

The same expression is sometimes written by the Spaniards, _Lilaila_, and _Hila hilahaila_.

PAGE 249. _... the angel of death had opened the portal of some other world_

The name of this exterminating angel is _Azrael_, and his office is to conduct the dead to the abode a.s.signed them; which is said by some to be near the place of their interment. Such was the office of Mercury in the Grecian mythology.--SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 101. HYDE, _in notis ad Bobov._, p. 19. R. ELIAS, in _Tishbi_. BUXTORF, _Synag. Jud. et Lexic. Talmud_. HOMER, _Odyssey_.

PAGE 250. _Monker and Nekir_

These are two black angels of a tremendous appearance, who examine the departed on the subject of his faith: by whom, if he give not a satisfactory account, he is sure to be cudgelled with maces of red-hot iron, and tormented more variously than words can describe.--_Religious Ceremonies_, vol. vii, pp. 59, 68-118; vol. v, p. 290. SALE'S _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 101.

PAGE 250. _... the fatal bridge_

This bridge, called in Arabic _al Sirat_, and said to extend over the infernal gulf, is represented as narrower than a spider's web, and sharper than the edge of a sword. Though the attempt to cross it be--

"More full of peril, and advent'rous spirit, Than to o'erwalk a current, roaring loud, On the unsteadfast footing of a spear;"

yet the paradise of Mahomet can be entered by no other avenue. Those, indeed, who have behaved well need not be alarmed; mixed characters will find it difficult; but the wicked soon miss their standing, and plunge headlong into the abyss.--POc.o.c.kE in _Port. Mos._, p. 282, etc. Milton apparently copied from this well-known fiction, and not, as Dr. Warton conjectured, from the poet Sadi, his way--

"Over the dark abyss, whose boiling gulf Tamely endured a bridge of wond'rous length, From h.e.l.l continued, reaching the utmost orb Of this frail world."

PAGE 250. _... a certain series of years_

According to the tradition from the prophet, not less than nine hundred, nor more than seven thousand.