Part 25 (2/2)

for review. I thought it was our old friend the sailor, but find out my mistake. You will have no objection to my naming (in my review) your style in the 1001 as that he should have taken for a model.”

He writes again on September 9th (1884): ”On return here I found Vol.

ix., with the dedication which delighted me hugely. I did not notice your fine work in reviewing the Clouston treatise. I had not your express permission. Living so far from the world I am obliged to be very careful in these matters: one never knows what harm one may be doing unawares. Of course I shall speak of your translation in my preface, as it deserves to be spoken of. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to look over your proofs; in fact, I should be sorry not to do so. I have not yet found Ganneau's Nights, but I hope to do so. My Turkish Edition was burnt many years ago in a fire at Grindlay's; but you will easily find a copy. I suppose you read Turkish; [414] and if you do not you will in three months; the literary style is a ma.s.s of Persian and Arabic. You must find out which is the best Turkish Edition. My copy had evidently been translated from a MS. very unlike the Calcutta and Bulak.... I have told Quartich to send you a cop of Camoens (Lyrics), which will be out in a few days.”

122. Burton's Circulars, September 1884.

By September 1884 the first volumes of Burton's Arabian Nights were almost ready for print, and Burton asked himself how many copies would suffice the public. He was aware that 1,500 persons were disappointed of being able to obtain copies of Mr. Payne's Edition, but it did not necessarily follow that all these 1,500 would subscribe to his. Finally he decided upon 1,000, and he had three circulars printed respecting the work.

The first began ”Captain Burton, having neither agent nor publisher for his forthcoming Arabian Nights, requests that all subscribers will kindly send their names to him personally (Captain Burton, Trieste, Austria), when they will be entered in a book kept for the purpose.” It was then mentioned that there would be ten volumes at a guinea apiece, [415] each to be paid for on delivery, that 1,000 copies would be printed, and that no cheaper edition would be issued. The second dealt with the advantages of the work to students of Arabic. The third consisted of an article welcoming the work from The Daily Tribune, New York, written by G. W. S(malley). Burton posted about 20,000 of these circulars at an expense of some 80, but received only 300 favourable replies. Lady Burton, in dismay, then wrote to Mr. Payne begging for advice. Several letters pa.s.sed between them, and Mr. Payne sent her the names of the subscribers to his own book and lists of other likely persons. A second shower of circulars effected the desired purpose.

Indeed it did far more, for the number of favourable replies ultimately rose to 2,000. But as we have seen, Burton had restricted himself to the issue of 1,000. So he found that he had made precisely the same mistake as Mr. Payne. However, it could not be remedied.

123. The Book of the Sword.

This year was published Burton's The Book of the Sword, which he dedicated, appropriately, to the memory of his old friend Alfred Bates Richards, who had died in 1876. It is a history of the sword in all times and countries down to the Middle Ages, [416] with numerous ill.u.s.trations, the interest being mainly archaeological. Of ”The Queen of Weapons” he ever spoke glowingly. ”The best of calisthenics,” he says, ”this energetic educator teaches the man to carry himself like a soldier. A compendium of gymnastics, it increases strength and activity, dexterity, and rapidity of movement. The foil is still the best training tool for the consensus of eye and hand, for the judgment of distance and opportunity, and, in fact, for the practice of combat. And thus swordsmans.h.i.+p engenders moral confidence and self-reliance, while it stimulates a habit of resource.”

124. The Lyrics of Camoens, 1884.

This same year, too, he published his translation of the Lyrics of Camoens, in which, as will have been judged from the letters already quoted, he had been a.s.sisted by Mr. John Payne, who was also a Portuguese scholar and a lover of Camoens. ”The learning and research of your work,” wrote Mr. A. C. Swinburne, in reference to Burton's six Camoens volumes, ”are in many points beyond all praise of mine, but not more notable than the strength and skill that wield them. I am hungrily antic.i.p.ating the Arabian Nights.”

125. More Letters to Payne, 1st October 1884.

On October 1st 1884, Burton wrote to thank Mr. Payne for a splendid and complete set (specially bound) of his edition of the Nights. He says, ”I am delighted with it, especially with the dedication. [417]... To my horror Quaritch sent me a loose vol. of his last catalogue with a notice beginning, 'The only absolutely true translation of the [Arabian Nights], &c.' My wife telegraphed to him and followed with a letter ordering it not to be printed. All in vain. I notice this only to let you know that the impertinence is wholly against my will. Life in Trieste is not propitious to work as in the Baths; yet I get on tolerably. Egypt is becoming a comedy.” Then follows the amazing remark: ”I expect to see Gordon (who is doubtless hand in hand with the Mahdi) sent down to offer to guide Wolseley up to Khartum.”

126. Death of Gordon, January 1885.

Burton little dreamt that the days of the heroic Englishman were numbered. Sent by the English Government to the Soudan, Gordon had been at Khartum hardly a month before it was invested by the Mahdi. The relief expedition arrived just two days too late. Gordon was slain! This was in January 1885. The shock to Burton was comparable only to that which he received by the death of Speke. In one of the ill.u.s.trated papers there was a picture of Gordon lying in the desert with vultures hovering around. ”Take it away!” said Burton. ”I can't bear to look at it. I have had to feel like that myself.”

127. W. F. Kirby, [418] 25th March 1885.

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