1842.] General Meeting of the Asiatic Society of Paris. 419 



however, who would use it for particular researches, cannot consult it 

 but with mistrust, not knowing, whether the translator have not omit- 

 ted the very facts which they are mostly anxious to obtain. Are there 

 no readers who may regret that M. de Gayangos has rejected the first 

 chapter ? For the Spanish Musulmans who travelled in the East, un- 

 doubtedly were the most eminent men among their nation, so that their 

 lives must naturally excite our curiosity. 



The first book of the Kitab el Aghani, has been edited by Mr. Rose- 

 garten, 10 and the second is nearly completed. He has accompanied it 

 with the first part of a very curious dissertation upon the music of the 

 Arabs, in which he endeavours to prove, that they borrowed their music 

 from the Greeks. Whether his assertion be founded or not, will be as- 

 certained by the end of the dissertation, which is to appear with the 

 next book of the text, when the reasons adduced for its validity, will 

 enable the reader to form his own judgment. Great care is be- 

 stowed on the text of the Aghani, and there is perhaps no other Arabian 

 work which so much demands it as this collection of the lives of the 

 poets, as it is one of the most curious documents of the political and 

 literary history of the Arabs ; for it is generally known, how much 

 poetry had penetrated their whole life, and how almost all the informa- 

 tion we have of their social and moral condition before Islamism, is 

 derived from their poems and the commentaries on them. Mr. Lane has 

 completed his translation of One Thousand and One Nights, 11 illustrat- 

 ing it to the end with notes, derived from so intimate an acquaintance 

 with modern Egypt, as perhaps no European has ever possessed. The 

 importance of these fascinating tales in oriental literature is incal- 

 culable ; for they are even at our days the only work of Asia which has 

 become perfectly popular, and these very tales have surrounded it in the 

 eyes of the public with that poetic glory, which inspires so many with 

 the curiosity of studying more deeply the literary treasures of Asia. It 

 is especially this consideration, that every thing contributing to in- 

 crease the attractions of this book, becomes important for oriental 

 studies, and we must feel indebted to Mr. Lane for his having so well 

 attained this object. 



10. Alii Isfahanensis liber Cantilenarum Magnus. Ed. Rosegarten. Gripesvaldise, 

 1840 in 4to. 



11. The Thousand and One Nights, a new translation from the Arabic, with copious 

 notes, by E. W. Lane. London, 1839-41, 3 vols, in 8vo. 



3 K 



