514 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Aug. 



The volumes of Mackenzie papers in our library might advantageously be 

 added to the other documents for the proposed scrutiny*, so that the whole might 

 be published continuously ; but these details will naturally come under consi- 

 deration hereafter, should the Government agree in the view taken by the 

 Asiatic Society, and resolve to entrust the undertaking to the individual 

 pointed out, either directly or through the medium of the Society, (here or at 

 Madras,) which might exercise its judgment as to the final publication, should 

 Mr. Taylor consent to labour under its auspices. 



(Signed) J. Prinsep, Sec. 



For the Committee of Papers. 



20th August, 1836. 



Resolved, That the Society concur in the view taken by the Committee 

 of Papers, particularly as to the expediency of engaging the eminent ser- 

 vices of Mr. W. Taylor, for the examination of the Mackenzie MSS., 

 and that the Secretary be empowered respectfully to communicate this 

 opinion, in reply, to the Government. 



Mr. Charles Brownlow submitted to the Society the following pro- 

 position, relative to a complete copy of the Alif Leila, or Arabic original 

 of the 1001 nights entertainments, lately purchased by him from the 

 estate of Major Macan, well known as the Editor of the Shah Nameh. 



To James Prinsep, Esq., Secretary Asiatic Society, 8fC. 8fc. 

 Sir, 



Having become the possessor of the original of the complete Arabian Nights 

 Entertainments, formerly the property of Major Macan, apparently the first 

 that has ever reached India ; I am desirous of adding to oriental literature a 

 work which has long been a desideratum with Eastern scholars, by its imme- 

 diate publication. I trust that my views regarding the importance of this 

 work are not unreasonable ; at least T am not alone in my opinion, for no 

 book extant has ever enjoyed such universal popularity as this, even in 

 its translated form. Much of its narrative depicts, with miraculous fide- 

 lity, that most difficult class of incidents to describe with interest — the 

 incidents of common life ; and, beneath even its most grotesque and im- 

 possible circumstances, there is a moral beauty — a knowledge of humanity 

 discoverable, which comes home to all, and throughout, a vivid power of descrip- 

 tion, which is unequalled in any other production, and addresses itself to the 

 mind with an effect almost pictorial. It is the remark of an orientalist of high 

 repute, speaking of this unique and extraordinary work, that " we here behold 

 a genuine portrait of the spirit and character, the common life and domestic 

 manners, of a once powerful nation, which excelled in arts as well as in arms, 

 in three quarters of the globe ; in these tales we see the Arabs, depicted by 

 themselves, in the tents of the desert, and in the courts of the Caliphs. We 

 mingle among their merchants, join them iu their travelling caravans, visit 

 them in their social circles, and even penetrate into their harems." 



If the book appeal thus powerfully to the European reader, whose sympathies 

 are weakened by distance and difference of habit, how much more emphatically 

 must it address itself to the inhabitants of the East, in the overflowing and 

 beautiful language in which it was originally written ! 



My chief object in this paper is to draw public attention to the document, 

 and to give such evidence regarding its authenticity as I havf been able to collect, 

 under the very difficult and embarrassing condition of having no other com- 

 plete copy to refer to. My attention has been directed, in the first instance, to 

 the MS. alone, which contains the unbroken series of one thousand and one 

 nights ; next, to its quality, which is reported on by competent persons to be 

 clear, and remarkably free from literal errors. 



* See printed catalogue of the Library Asiatic Society. 



