cation. It is almost impossible for the imagination to form an extravagance that has not been practised by some of them to torment themselves; as their reputation for sanctity rises in proportion to their sufferings, those amongst them are reverenced the most who are most ingenious in the invention of tortures, and persevering in enduring them; hence some have persisted in sitting or standing for years together in one unvaried posture, supporting an almost intolerable burden, dragging the most cumbrous chains, exposing their naked bodies to the scorching sun, and hanging with the head downward before the fiercest fires. Relig. Ceremon. vol. iii. p. 264, &c.; White's Sermons, p. 504. Some that cherished vermin. In this attachment they were not singular; the Emperor Julian not only discovered the same partiality, but celebrated with visible complacency the shaggy and populous beard which he fondly cherished; and even the historian of the Roman empire affirms "that the little animal is a beast familiar to man, and signifies love." Vol. ii. p. 343. P. 62. Visnow and Ixhora. Two deities of the East Indians, concerning whose history and adventures more nonsense is related than can be found in the whole compass of mythology besides; the traditions of their votaries are no doubt allegorical, but without a key to disclose their mystic import they are little better than senseless jargon. Talapoins. This order, which abounds in Siam, Laos, Pegu, and other countries, consists of different classes and both sexes, but chiefly of men. Relig. Ceremon. vol. iv. p. 62, &c. Objects of pity were sure to swarm round him. Ludeke mentions the practice of bringing those who were suffering under any calamity, or had lost the use of their limbs, &c., into public for the purpose of exciting compassion; on an occasion therefore of this sort when Fakreddin, like a pious Mussulman, was publicly to distribute his alms, and the Commander of the faithful to make his appearance, such an assemblage might well be expected. The eastern custom of regaling a convention of this kind is of great antiquity, as is evident from the parable of the king in the Gospels, who entertained the maimed, the lame, and the blind; nor was it discontinued when Dr. Pococke visited the East. Vol. i. p. 182. P. 63. Horns of an exquisite polish. Jacinto Polo de Medina, in one of his epigrams has as unexpected a turn on the same topic: Cavando un sepulcro un hombre Small plates of abominations. The Koran hath established several distinctions relative to different kinds of food; and many Mahometans are so scrupulous as not to touch the flesh of any animal over which in the article of death the butcher had omitted to pronounce the Bismillah. Relig. Cerem. vol. vii. p. 110. Fish which they drew from a river. According to Le Bruyn, the Oriental method of fishing with a line is by winding it round the finger, and when the fisherman feels that the bait is taken he draws in the string with alternate hands; in this way, he adds, a good dish of fish is soon caught. Tom. i. p. 564. It appears from a circumstance related by Galand that Vathek was fond of this amusement. Herbelot, Suppl. p. 210. Sinai. This mountain is deemed by Mahometans the noblest of all others, and even regarded with the highest veneration, because the divine law was promulgated from it. Herbelot, p. 812. P. 64. Peries. The word peri in the Persian language signifies that beautiful race of creatures which constitutes the link between angels and men. The Arabians call them ginn, or genii, and we (from the Persian, perhaps) fairies; at least the peries of the Persian romance correspond to that imaginary class of beings in our poetical system. The Italians denominate them fata, in allusion to their power of charming and enchanting; thus the Manta fatidica of Virgil is rendered in Orlando La fata Manto. The term ginn being common to both peries and dives, some have erroneously fancied that the peries were female dives; this appellation, however, served only to discriminate their common nature from the angelic and human, without respect to their qualities, moral or personal; thus the dives are hideous and wicked, whilst the peries are beautiful and good. Amongst the Persian poets the beauty of the peries is proverbial, insomuch that a woman supcrlatively handsome is styled by them the offspring of a peri. Butterflies of Cashmere. The same insects are celebrated in an unpublished poem of Mesihi, another of the MSS. mentioned in the preface. Sir Antony Shirlie relates that it was customary in Persia "to hawke after butterflies with sparrows made to that use, and stares." It is perhaps to this amusement that our author alludes in the context. I had rather that his teeth should mischievously press my finger. These molles morsiunculæ remind one of Lesbia and her sparrow: Passer deliciæ meæ puellæ, Quicum ludere, quem in sinu tenere, In the story of the sleeper awakened (which the Induction to the Taming of the Shrew greatly resembles) Abon Hassan thus addresses the lady that was brought him: "Come hither, fair one, and bite the end of my finger,* that I may feel whether I am asleep or awake." Arab. Nights, vol. iii. p. 137. Lady Percy, with all the fondness of insinuation, practises on her wayward Hotspur a blandishment similar to that here instanced by Nouronihar: Come, come, you paraquito, answer me In faith I'll break thy little finger, Harry, P. 66. Megnoun and Leileh. These personages are esteemed amongst the Arabians as the most beautiful, chaste and impassioned of lovers; and their amours have been celebrated with all the charms of verse in every Oriental language; the Mahometans regard them and the poetical records of their love in the same light as the Bridegroom and Spouse, and the Song of Songs are regarded by the Jews. Herbelot, p. 573. • Αλλ' επι λεκρον ιων, ακρον δακτυλον καλαδακνω.-Homer. Βatrach. v. 45. They still detained him in the harem. Noureddin, who was as old as Gulchenrouz, had a similar indulgence of resorting to the harem, and no less availed himself of it. Arab. Nights, vol. iii. pp. 9, 10. Dart the lance in the chase. Throwing the lance was a favourite pastime with the young Arabians; and so expert were they in this practice (which prepared them for the conflicts both of the chase and of war) that they could bear off a ring on the points of their javelins. Richardson's Dissertat. pp. 198, 281. Though the ancients had various methods of hunting, yet the two which chiefly prevailed were those described by Virgil,* and alluded to by Solomon,+ Prov. vii. 22. * Dum trepidant alæ, saltusque indagine cingunt.—Æn. iv. 121. Notwithstanding the explanations of alæ which have been given by Servius, Burman and others, there can scarce be a doubt but that Virgil referred to the custom of scaring deer into holts, with feathers fastened on lines; a practice so effectual to the purpose, that Linnæus characterized the dama or fallow deer, from it, arcetur filo horizontali. The same stratagem is mentioned in the Georgics (iii. 371). Puniceæve agitant pavidos formidine pinnæ: and again in the Æneid (xii. 749) Inclusum veluti si quando flumine nactus Cervum, aut punicea septum formidine pinnæ. It is observable however that the poet, in these instances, hath studiously varied his mode of expression; the sportsmen of Italy used pinion feathers, which, the better to answer their purpose, they dyed of a Lybian red; but as Africa abounded in birds whose wings were impregnated with the spontaneous and glossy tincture of nature, such an expedient in that country must have been needless. If we advert then to the scene of Dido's chase, the reason will be obvious why Virgil omitted puniceæ, and for pinnæ substituted alæ. There is a passage in Nemesianus which will at once confirm the interpretation here given, and illustrate the judgment of the poet in the choice of his terms: Hinc [sc. ex Africa] mage puniceas nativo munere sumes: Invenies avium, suavique rubescere luto. Cynegeticon, v. 317. + The wide region of conjectural emendation cannot produce a happier instance of critical skill than was discovered by that accurate and Lybice fucantur sandyce pinnæ.-Gratii Cyneg. v. 86. Nor curb the steeds. Though Gulchenrouz was too young to excel in horsemanship, it nevertheless was an essential ac-. complishment amongst the Arabians; hence the boast of Amriolkais: "Often have I risen at early dawn, while the judicious scholar, the late Dr. Hunt,* who, when the sense of the passage referred to had for ages been lost, sagaciously restored it by curtailing a letter. Proverbs vii. 22. As an hart (" for ") boundeth into the toils, till a dart strike through his liver. When the game driven together were either circumvented, as described by Virgil, or ensnared by the foot (wodospain) as alluded to by Solomon, the hunters dispatched them with their missile weapons. Thus Xenophon (as cited in Dr. Hunt's Dissertation (Xρη δ' εαν ε ως ελεαν μεν η αξῥην μη προσιέναι εγίύς τοις γαρ κερασι παιεί, και τοις ποσιν αποθεν εν ακοντιζειν. "When the animal is thus caught, you must not, if it be a male, advance within his reach, for they are apt to strike with their horns and their heels; it will be proper therefore to pierce him at a distance. *The correction with the context is this: 22. He goeth after her straightway, As an ox goeth to the slaughter; 23. Or as an hart boundeth into the toils, "Till a dart strike through his liver; 24. As a bird hasteth to the snare, And knoweth not that it is for his life. Dr. Jubb well imagined (though he hath ill rendered in the 21st verse, Irretivit illum) that the heedless haste of the bird towards the snare might be caused by the lure of a female's call, and adduced from Oppian an apposite example: Ως δε τις οιωνοισι μύρον δολοενία φυλεύων Halieut. iv. 120. As when the fowler to the fields resorts, Jones. |