1836.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society . 515 



My next step was to examine the MS. with the printed edition of the " Two 

 Hundred Nights," published some years since in Calcutta, whence it appears 

 that the latter is a set of excerpts merely, made, in many instances, without 

 regard to the literary value of the selection, and in some, overlooking even the 

 integrity of the tales. These fragments have been arbitrarily renumbered as 

 the " first two hundred nights." 



1 have been fortunate enough to obtain a copy of that edition of the original 

 now in the course of publication at Breslau, by Professor HABrcHT, an orien- 

 talist of high attainments ; he has devoted his life (and it had need be a long 

 one to enable him to fulfil his task), to the publication of a complete edition 

 of this work ; he has procured copies of the MS., perfect and imperfect, from 

 Tunis, from Cairo, and from the library of the Baron Silvestre de Sacy, and 

 is proceeding with the publication, subject to the critical collation of these MSS. 

 I find, on comparing the MS. in my hands, with the edition of Habicht, as far 

 as published, i. e. to upwards of three hundred and fifty nights, that no important 

 discrepancies occur, though, in transcripts of this length, there will always be 

 found considerable differences. This fact is curiously illustrated by the German 

 Professor, who has carefully set forth the variations, omissions, redundancies, 

 and inversions of order, found on comparison of his various MSS. It is like- 

 wise stated by M. Trebutien, in his preface to a recent French translation of 

 this work, (published in 1329,) that he collated twelve manuscripts, and among 

 them those of the King's Library at Paris, and the Bodleian copy, which pre- 

 sented continual discrepancies, both as to style and the order of the tales, which 

 every copyist had arranged according to his own taste. These differences, though 

 they would be important in a historical paper, are of little consequence in a se- 

 ries of fictions. They have manifestly resulted from the carelessness or caprice 

 of the transcriber, and do not affect the value of the work. All that can be 

 done, under these circumstances, is to adopt the reading most consistent with 

 the context. 



Beyond the print to which Habicht's edition extends, there exist here no 

 means of continuous comparison. The evidence of genuineness is strengthened, 

 however, by finding, that the portion of the original already known in the Cal- 

 cutta edition, is found in the manuscript in my possession, except that the 

 stories, in the latter, staud in their natural and proper connexion with the re- 

 mainder of the text. The tales generally correspond in their order with those 

 found in Scott's translation of 1801, taking into account those contained in the 

 supplementary volume, (translated from Wortley Montague's MS.) and al- 

 lowing for the omission of those which the translator has deemed it best, from 

 motives which he assigns, to pass over. 



A remark made by the Baron Purgstall (Von Hammer) on the sub- 

 ject of Galland's translation, is another strong proof of the authenticity 

 of the manuscript before me. He says, " the MS. used by Galland* was far 

 from complete ; and if he published no more stories, it was not because the re- 

 mainder were less deserving of translation, but because he had no more in his 

 possession. The imperfection of his manuscript compelled him also to invent, 

 as he has done, a conclusion to that story of the Sultan of the Indies : — we shall 

 find that Sheherzadi was saved from death, neither by her many amiable qua- 

 lities, nor by her inexhaustible tales, but by her having, during the ' thousand 

 and one nights,' borne the Sultan three children !" Trebutien's translation, 

 the result of the collation of twelve of the best manuscripts in Europe, confirms 

 this ; it is a literal translation of the one now under consideration ; the passage 

 occurs at the thousand and first night, and is unquestionably one of the most 

 pathetic and beautiful in the whole work 1 To the above may be added the 

 strong internal evidence deducible from the uniform character of the style 

 throughout. The manuscript is open for general examination, and I shall grate- 

 fully appreciate the opinion and advice of competent orientalists. 



With reference to my intention of publishing, we have great advantages in the 

 mechanical facilities, which we can so readily command, in printing oriental 



* Trebutien has since examined the MS. used by Galland, and finds that 

 he possessed only two hundred and eighty-four nights. 



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