Part 25 (2/2)
Cotton, of Academy has just sent ht it was our old friend the sailor, but find out(in my review) your style in the 1001 as that he should have taken for a ain on September 9th (1884): ”On return here I found Vol
ix, with the dedication which delightedthe Clouston treatise I had not your express pered to be very careful in theseunawares Of course I shall speak of your translation in ive reater 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 o 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 mass 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 Septehts were almost ready for print, and Burton asked himself how many copies would suffice the public He are 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 forthcohts, 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 uinea 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 welco 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 dis for advice Several letters passed 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 ties, [416] with nuical Of ”The Queen of Weapons” he ever spoke glowingly ”The best of calisthenics,” he says, ”this energetic educator teaches the yth and activity, dexterity, and rapidity oftool for the consensus of eye and hand, for the judgment of distance and opportunity, and, in fact, for the practice of coenders 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 Caed from the letters already quoted, he had been assisted by Mr John Payne, as also a Portuguese scholar and a lover of Ca 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 th and skill that wield thehts”
125 More Letters to Payne, 1st October 1884
On October 1st 1884, Burton wrote to thank Mr Payne for a splendid and cohts He says, ”I ahted with it, especially with the dedication [417] To ue with a notice beginning, 'The only absolutely true translation of the [Arabian Nights], &c' My wife telegraphed to hi it not to be printed All in vain I notice this only to let you know that the iainst my will Life in Trieste is not propitious to work as in the Baths; yet I get on tolerably Egypt is beco 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 drealishlish 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 illustrated 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