"L I B R.AR.Y OF THE. UNIX'" R.5ITY OF I' I NOI5 616 BOOKSTACKS VATHEK TRANSLATED fftOM IF3BKN(DIBU CTjtrtr tuition, REVISED AND CORRECTED. LONDON: PRINTED FOR W. CLARKE, NEW BOND STREET. MDCCCXVI. \%\tc> La te fy Published by WILLIAM CLARKE, New Bond Street, with a Frontispiece, and Engraved Title, Price 10*. 6d. \\rill.K, iii the original French. By MR. BECK FORD. " Whenever a Literary Comet visits our hemisphere, it become* duty in us to point it out : as a phenomenon of this sort, we regard Ue History of VATHJEK. " Traits of Nature are discernible in every page, through the veil of associations and habits dissimilar from our own ; a machinery not only new, but wild and sublime, seizes on the mind, and pervades the whole composition,". Maty'* Kcw Iterate. " This is in every respect an extraordinary work. The circum- stance of its having been written by an Englishman in pure French, is nearly t group of spectres, ascended from the abyss, was approaching, they all, without ceremony, took to their heels. Vathek was, at that instant, with Nouronihar in the bath ; hearing tales, and laughing at Bababalouk, who related them : but, no sooner did the outcry of his guards reach him, than he flounced from the water like a carp ; and as soon threw himself back at the sight of Carathis; who, advancing with her negresses, upon Alboufaki, broke through the muslin awnings and veils of o o the pavilion. At this sudden apparition, Nouronihar (for she was not, at all times, free from remorse) fancied, that the mo- ment of celestial vengeance was come; and clung about the Caliph, in amorous despondence. Carathis, still seated on her camel, foamed with indignation, at the spectacle which obtruded itself on her chaste view. She thundered forth without check or mercy : " Thou double-headed and four- legged monster! what means all this wind- ( 177 ) ing and writhing? art them not ashamed to be seen grasping this limber sapling; in preference to the sceptre of the pre-ada- mite sultans? Is it then, for this paltry doxy, that thou hast violated the condi- tions in the parchment of our Giaour ! Is it on her, thou hast lavished thy precious moments ! Is this the fruit of the know- ledge I have taught thee ! Is this the end of thy journey ? Tear thyself from the arms of this little simpleton ; drown her, in the water before me ; and, instantly fol- low my guidance." In the first ebullition of his fury, Vat- hek had resolved to rip open the body of Alboufaki and to stuff it with those of the negresses and of Carathis herself, but the remembrance of the Giaour, the palace of Istakar, the sabres, and the ta- lismans, flashing before his imagination, with the simultaneousness of lightning, he became more moderate, and said to his mother, in a civil, but decisive tone ; " Dread lady ! you shall be obeyed ; N ( 178 ) but I will not drown Nouronihar. She is sweeter to me than a Myrabolan com- fit ; and is enamoured of carbuncles ; es- pecially that, of Giamschid ; which hath also been promised to be conferred upon her: she, therefore, shall go along with us ; for, I intend to repose with her upon the sofas of Soliman : I can sleep no more without her." " Be it so !" replied Carathis, alighting ; and, at the same time, committing Alboufaki to the charge of her black women. Nouronihar, who had not yet quitted her hold, began to take courage ; and said, with an accent of fondness, to the Caliph : " Dear sovereign of my soul ! I will follow thee, if it be thy will, beyond the Kaf, in the land of the afrits. I will not hesitate to climb, for thee, the nest of the Simurgh ; who, this lady excepted, is the most awful of created beings." " We have here then," subjoined Carathis, " a girl, both of courage and science!" Nouronihar had certainly both; ( 179 ) but, notwithstanding all her firmness, she could not help casting hack a thought of regret upon the graces of her little Gul- chenrouz; and the days of tender en- dearments she had participated with him. She, even, dropped a few tears ; which, the Caliph observed; and inadvertently breathed out with a sigh: " Alas! my gentle cousin! what will become of thee !" Vathek, at this apostrophe, knitted up his brows; and Carathis iinjuin-d what it could mean? " She is preposterously sigh- ing after a stripling with languishing eyes and soft hair, who loves her," said the Caliph. " Where is he?" asked Carathis. " I must be acquainted with this pretty child : for/' added she, lowering her voice, " I design, before I depart, to regain tjie favour of the Giaour. There is nothing so delicious, in his estimation, as the heart of a delicate boy palpitating with the first tumults of love." Vathek, as he came from the bath, commanded Bababalouk to collect the N2 ( 180 ) women, and other moveables of his ha- rem ; embody his troops ; and hold him- self in readiness to march within three days : whilst Carathis, retired alone to a tent, where the Giaour solaced her with encouraging visions : but, at length, wak- ing, she found at her feet, Nerkes and Cafour, who informed her, by their signs, that having led Alboufaki to the borders of a lake ; to browse on some grey moss, that looked tolerably venomous ; they had discovered certain blue fishes, of the same kind with those in the reservoir on the top of the tower. "Ah! ha!" said she, " I will go thither to them. These fish are past doubt of a species that, by a small operation, I can render oracular. They may tell me, where this little Gul- chenrouz is ; whom I am bent upon sacri- ficing." Having thus spoken, she imme- diately set out, with her swarthy retinue. It being but seldom that time is lost, in the accomplishment of a wicked enter- prize, Carathis and her negresses soon arrived at the lake ; where, after burning the magical drugs, with which they were always provided ; they stripped them- selves naked, and waded to their chins ; Nerkes and Cafour waving torches around them, and Carathis pronouncing her bar- barous incantations. The fishes, with one accord, thrust forth their heads from the water; which was violently rippled by the flutter of their fins : and, at length, finding themselves constrained, by the po- tency of the charm, they opened their piteous mouths, and said : " From gills to tail, we are yours; what seek ye to know?'' - " Fishes," answered she, " I conjure you, by your glittering scales; tell me where now is Gulchenrouz r" - " Beyond the rock," replied the shoal, in full chorus: "will this content you? for we do not delight in expanding our mouths." " It will," returned the Princess: " I am not to learn, that you are not used to long conversations: I will leave you therefore to repose, though I had other questions ( 182 ) to propound." The instant she had spoken, the water became smooth ; and the fishes, at once, disappeared. Carathis, inflated with the venom of her projects, strode hastily over the rock ; and found the amiable Gulchenrouz, as- leep, in an arbour ; whilst the two dwarfs were watching at his side, and rumina- ting their accustomed prayers. These di- minutive personages possessed the gift of divining, whenever an enemy to good Mussulmans approached: thus, they anti- cipated the arrival of Carathis; who, stop- ping short, said to herself: " How placid- ly doth he recline his lovely little head ! how pale, and languishing, are his looks ! it is just the very child of my wishes!" The dwarfs interrupted this delectable so- liloquy, by leaping, instantly, upon her ; and scratching her face, with their utmost zeal. But Nerkes and Cafour, betaking themselves to the succour of their mistress, pinched the dwarfs so severely, in return, that they both gave up the ghost ; iui- ( 163 ) ploring Mahomet to inflict his sorest ven- geance upon this wicked woman, #nd all her household. At the noise which this strange conflict occasioned in UK? valley, Gulchenrouz awoke; and, bewildered with terror, sprung impetuously and climbed an old fig-tree that rose against the acclivity of the rocks; from thence he gained their summits, and ran for two hours without once looking hack. At last, exhausted with fatigue, he fell senseless into the arms of a good old genius, whose fondness for the company of children, had made it his sole occupation to protect them. Whilst performing his wonted rounds through the air, he had pounced on the cruel Giaour, at the instant of his growling in the horrible chasm, and had rescued the fifty little victims which the impiety of Vathek had devoted to his voracity. These the genius brought up in nests still higher than the clouds, and himself fixed his abode, in a nest more capacious than the ( 184 ) rest, from which he had expelled the Rocs that had built it. These inviolable asylums were defend- ed against the dives and the afrits, by waving streamers ; on which were inscrib- ed in characters of gold, that flashed like lightning, the names of Alia and the Pro- phet. It was there that Gulchenrouz, who, as yet remained undeceived with res- pect to his pretended death, thought him- self in the mansions of eternal peace. He admitted without fear the congratulations of his little friends, who were all assembled in the nest of the venerable genius, and vied with each other in kissing his se- rene forehead and beautiful eye-lids. Remote from the inquietudes of the world ; the impertinence of harems, the brutality of eunuchs, and the incon- stancy of women ; there he found a place truly congenial to the delights of his soul. In this peaceable society his days, months, and years glided on; nor was he less happy than the rest of his companions : ( 185 ) for the genius, instead of burthening his pupils with perishable riches and vain sciences, conferred upon them the boon of perpetual childhood. Carathis, unaccustomed to the loss of her prey, vented a thousand execrations on her negresses, for not seizing the child, instead of amusing themselves with pinch- ing to death two insignificant dwarfs from which they gain no advantage. She re- turned into the valley murmuring; and, finding that her son was not risen from the arms of ISouronihar, discharged her ill- humour upon both. The idea, however, of departing next day for Istakar, and of cul- tivating, through the good offices of the Giaour, an intimacy with Eblis himself, at length consoled her chagrin. But fate had ordained it otherwise. In the evening as Carathis was convers- ing with Dilara, who, through her contri- vance had become of the party, and \\ hose taste resembled her own, Bababalouk came to acquaint her that the sky towards ( 186 ) Samarah looked of a fiery red, and seemed to portend some alarming disaster. Im- mediately recurring to her astrolabes and instruments of magic, she took the altitude of the planets, and discovered, by her cal- culations, to her great mortification, that a formidable revolt had taken place at Samarah, that Motavakel, availing himself of the disgust, which was inveterate against his brother, had incited commotions amongst the populace, made himself mas- ter of the palace, and actually invested the great tower, to which Morakariabad had retired, with a handful of the few that still remained faithful to Vathek. " What !" exclaimed she ; " must I lose, then, my tower ! my mutes ! my negress- es! my mummies! and, worse than all, the laboratory, the favourite resort of my nightly lucubrations, without knowing, at least, if my hair-brained son will com- plete his adventure ? No ! I will not be dupe! immediately will I speed to sup- ( 1B7 ) port Morakanabad. By my formidable art, the clouds shall pour grape-shot in the faces of the assailants and shafts of red-hot iron on their heads. I will Jet loose my stores of hungry serpents and torpedos, from beneath them ; and we shall soon see the stand they will make against snch an explosion !" Havkg thus spoken, Carathis hasted to her son who was tranquilly banqueting with Nouronihar, in his superb carnation- coloured tent. " Glutton, that thou art!" cried she, " were it not for me, thou wouldst soon find thyself the mere com- mander of savoury pies. Thy faithful sub- jects have abjured the faith they swore to thee. Motavakel, thy brother, now reigns 011 the hill of Pied Horses : and, had I not some slight resources in the tower, would not be easily persuaded to abdi- cate. But, that time may not be lost, I shall only add a few words : Strike tent to-night ; set forward ; and beware how thou loiterest again by the way. Though, ( 188 ) thou hast forfeited the conditions of the parchment, I am not yet without hope : for, it cannot be denied, that thou hast violated, to admiration, the laws of hos- pitality by seducing the daughter of the emir, after having partaken of his bread and his salt. Such a conduct cannot but be delightful to the Giaour; and if, on thy march, thou canst signalize thyself, by an additional crime ; all will still go well, and thou shalt enter the palace of Soliman, in triumph. Adieu ! Alboufaki and my ne- gresses are waiting at the door." The Caliph had nothing to offer in re- ply : he wished his mother a prosperous journey, and ate on till he had finished his supper. At midnight, the camp broke up, amidst the flourishing of trumpets and other martial instruments ; but loud in- deed must have been the sound of the tymbals, to overpower the blubbering of the emir, and his grey-beards ; who, by an excessive profusion of tears, had so far exhausted the radical moisture, that their ( 189 ) eyes shrivelled up in their sockets, and their hairs dropped off by the roots. Nouronihar, to whom such a symphony was painful, did not grieve to get out of hearing. She accompanied the Caliph in the imperial litter; where they amused themselves, with imagining the splendour which was soon to surround them. The other women, overcome with dejection, were dolefully rocked in their cages; whilst Dilara consoled herself, with antici- pating the joy of celebrating the rites of fire, on the stately terraces of Istakar. In four days, they reached the spacious valley of Rocnabad. The season of spring was in all its vigour, and the grotesque branches of the almond trees, in full blos- som, fantastically chequered with hya- cinths and jonquils, breathed forth a de- lightful fragrance. Myriads of bees, and scarce fewer of santons, had there taken up their abode. On the banks of the stream, hives and oratories were alternate- ly ranged ; and their neatness and white- ( 190 ) ness were set off, by the deep green of the cypresses, that spired up amongst them. These pious personages amused them- selves, with cultivating little gardens, that abounded with flowers and fruits; espe- cially, musk-melons, of the best flavour that Persia could boast. Sometimes dis- persed over the meadow, they entertained themselves with feeding peacocks, whiter than snow ; and turtles, more blue than the sapphire. In this manner were they occupied, when the harbingers of the im- perial procession began to proclaim : " In- habitants of Rocnabad ! prostrate your- selves on the brink of your pure waters ; and tender your thanksgivings to heaven, that vouchsafeth to shew you a ray of its glory : for, lo ! the commander of the faithful draws near." The poor santons, filled with holy en- ergy, having bustled to light up wax torches in their oratories, and expand the Koran on their ebony desks, went forth to meet the Caliph with baskets of honey- ( 191 ) comb, dates, and melons. But, whilst they were advancing in solemn procession and with measured steps, the horses, camels, and guards, wantoned over their tulips and other flowers, and made a terrible havoc amongst them. The sautons could not help casting from one eye a look of pity on the ravages committing around them; whilst, the other was fixed upon the Caliph and heaven. Nouronihar, en- raptured with the scenery of a place whih brought back to her remembrance the pleasing solitudes where her infancy had passed, intreated Vathek to stop : but he, suspecting that these oratories might be deemed, by the Giaour, an habitation, commanded his pioneers to level them all. The sautons stood motionless with horror, at the barbarous mandate ; and, at last, broke out into lamentations ; but these were uttered with so ill a grace, that Vat- hek bade his eunuchs to kick them from his presence. He then descended from the litter, with Nouronihar. They saunt- ( 192 ) ered together in the meadow ; and amused themselves with culling flowers, and pass- ing a thousand pleasantries on each other. But the bees, who were staunch Mussul- mans, thinking it their duty to revenge the insult offered to their dear masters, the santons, assembled so zealously to do it with good effect, that the Caliph and Nou- ronihar were .glad to find their tents pre- pared to receive them. Bababalouk, who, in capacity of pur- veyor, had acquitted himself with ap- plause, as to peacocks and turtles ; lost no time in consigning some dozens to the spit ; and as many more to be fricasseed. Whilst they were feasting, laughing, ca- rousing, and blaspheming at pleasure, on the banquet so liberally furnished ; the moullahs, the sheiks, the cadis, and hnans of Schiraz (who seemed not to Fiave met the santons) arrived ; leading by bridles of riband, inscribed from the Koran, a train of asses which were loaded with the choicest fruits the country could boast. ( 193 ) Having present *d their offerings to the Caliph ; they petitioned him. to honour their city and mosques, with his presence. " Fancy not," said Vathek, " that yo can detain me. Your presents I conde- scend to accept ; but heg you will let me quiet ; for, I am not over-fond of re- sisting temptation. Retire then : Yet, as it is not decent, for personages so re- verend, to return on foot ; and, as you have not the appearance of expert riders, my eunuchs shall tie you on your asses with the precaution that your backs be not turned towards me : for, they under- stand etiquette." In this deputation, were some high-stomached sheiks who, taking Vathek for a fool, scrupled not to speak their opinion. These, Bababalouk girded with double cords ; and having well dis- ciplined their asses with nettles behind, they all started, with a preternatural alert- Bess ; pkmging, kicking, and running foul of one another, in the most ludicrous man- lier imaginable. o ( 194 ) Nouronihar and the Caliph mutually contended who should most enjoy so de- grading a sight. They burst out in peals of laughter, to see the old men and their asses fall into the stream. The leg of one was fractured; the shoulder of another, dislocated ; the teeth of a third, dashed out ; and the rest suffered still worse. Two days more, undisturbed by fresh embassies, having been devoted to the pleasures of Rocnabad, the expedition proceeded ; leaving Schiraz on the right, and verging towards a large plain ; from whence were discernible, on the edge of the horizon, the dark summits of the mountains of Istakar. At this prospect, the Caliph and Nouro- nihar were unable to repress their trans- ports. They bounded from their litter to the ground ; and broke forth into such wild exclamations, as amazed all within hearing. Interrogating each other, they shouted, " Are we not approaching the radiant palace of light? or gardens, more delightful than those of Sheddad ?" In- fatuated mortals ! they thus indulged de- lusive conjecture, unable to fathom the de- crees of the Most High ! The good Genii, who had not totally relinquished the superintendence of Vat- hek ; repairing to Mahomet, in the se- venth heaven; said: " Merciful Prophet! stretch forth thy propitious arms, towards thy vicegerent ; who is ready to fall, irre- trievably, into the snare, which his ene- mies, the dives, have prepared to destroy him. The Giaour is awaiting his arrival, in the abominable palace of fire ; where, if he once set his foot, his perdition will be inevitable." Mahomet answered, with an air of indignation : " He hath too well deserved to be resigned to himself; but I permit you to try if one effort more will be effectual to divert him from pursuing his ruin." , One of these beneficent Genii, assuming, without delay, the exterior of a shepherd, more renowned for his piety than all tin- o 2 ( 196 ) derviches and santons of the region, took his station near a flock of white sheep, On the slope of a hill ; and began to pour forth, from his flute, such airs of pathetic melody, as subdued the very soul ; and, Wakening remorse, drove, far from it, every frivolous fancy. At these energetic sounds, the sun hid himself beneath a gloomy cloud; and the waters of two little lakes, that were naturally clearer than crystal, became of a colour like blood. The whole of this superb assembly was involuntarily drawn towards the declivity of the hill. With downcast eyes, they all stood abash- ed ; each upbraiding himself with the evil he had done. The heart of Dilara palpi- tated ; and the chief of the eunuchs, with a sigh of contrition, implored pardon of the women, whom, for his own satisfaction, he had so often tormented. Vathek and Nouronihar turned pale in their litter; and, regarding each other with haggard looks, reproached them- selves the one with a thousand of the ( 197 ) blackest crimes ; a thousand projects of impious ambition; the other, with the desolation of her family ; and the perdition of the amiable Gulchenrouz. Nouronihar persuaded herself that she heard, in the fatal music, the groans of her dying fa- ther; and Vathek, the sobs of the fifty children he had sacrificed to the Giaour. Amidst these complicated pangs of an- guish, they perceived themselves impelled towards the shepherd, whose countenance was so commanding that Vatbek, for the first time, felt overawed ; whilst Nouro- nihar concealed her face with her bands. The music paused ; and the Genius, ad- dressing the Caliph, said : " Deluded prince! to whom Providence hath con- fided the care of innumerable subjects ; is it thus that thou fulfillest thy mission? Thy crimes are already completed ; and, art thou now hastening towards thy pu- nishment? Thou knowest that, beyond these mountains, Eblis and his accursed dives hold their infernal empire ; and se- ( 198 ) duced by a malignant phantom, thou art proceeding to surrender thyself to them ! This moment is the last of grace allowed thee : abandon thy atrocious purpose : re- turn : give back Nouronihar to her father, who still retains a few sparks of life : des- troy thy tower, with all its abominations : drive Carathis from thy councils : be just to thy subjects : respect the ministers of the Prophet ; compensate for thy impieties, by an exemplary life : and, instead of squandering thy days in voluptuous in- dulgence, lament thy crimes on the se- pulchres of thy ancestors. Thou behold- est the clouds that obscure the sun : at the instant he recovers his splendour, if thy heart be not changed, the time of mercy assigned thee will be past for ever." Vathek, depressed with fear, was on the point of prostrating himself at the feet of the shepherd ; whom he perceived to be of a nature superior to man : but, his pride prevailing, he audaciously lifted his head, and, glancing at him one of his terrible ( 199 ) looks, said : " Whoever thou art, with- hold thy useless admonitions: thou wouldst either delude me, or art thyself deceived. If what I have done be so criminal, as thou pretendest, there remains not for me a mo- ment of grace. I have traversed a sea of blood, to acquire a power, which will make thy equals tremble: deem not that I shall retire, when in view of the port ; or, that I will relinquish her, who is dearer to me than either my life, or thy mercy. Let the sun appear ! let him illume my career ! it matters not where it may end." On ut- tering these words, which made even the Genius shudder, Vathek threw himself in- to the arms of Nouronihar; and com- manded that his horses should be forced back to the road. There was no difficulty in obeying these orders : for, the attraction had ceased : the sun shone forth in all his glory, and the shepherd vanished with a lamentable scream. The fatal impression of the music of the ( 200 ) Genius, remained, notwithstanding, in the heart of Vathek's attendants. They view- ed each other with looks of consternation. At the approach of night, almost all of them escaped ; and, of this numerous as- sem^lage, there only remained the chief of the eunuchs, some idolatrous slaves, Di- lara, and a few other women ; who, like herself, were votaries of the religion of the Magi. The Caliph, fired with the ambition of prescribing laws to the powers of darkness, was but little embarrassed at this dereliction. The impetuosity of his blood prevented him from sleeping; nor did he encamp any more, as before. Nou- ronihar, whose impatience, if possible ex- ceeded his own, importuned him to hasten his march, and lavished on him a thousand caresses, to beguile all reflection. She fancied herself already more potent than Balkis, and pictured to her imagination the Genii falling prostrate at the foot of her throne. In this manner they advanced ( 201 ) by moon-light, till they came within view of the two towering rocks that form a kind of portal to the valley, at the extremity of which, rose the vast ruins of Istakar. Aloft, on the mountain, glimmered the fronts of various royal mausoleums, the horror of which was deepened by the shadows of night. They passed through two villages, almost deserted ; the only inhabitants remaining being a few feeble old men: who, at the sight of horses and litters, fell upon their knees, and cried out : " O Heaven ! is it then by these phantoms that we have been, for six months torment- ed! Alas! it was from the terror of these spectres and the noise beneath the moun- tains, that our people have fled, and left us at the mercy of the malificent spirits !" The Caliph, to whom these complaints were but unpromising auguries, drove over the bodies of these wretched old men; and, at length, arrived at the foot of the terrace of black marble. There he descended from his litter, handing douu ( 202 ) Nouronihar; both with beating hearts, stared wildly around them, and expected, with an apprehensive shudder, the ap- proach of the Giaour. But nothing as yet announced his appearance. A death-like stillness reigned over the mountain and through the air. The moon dilated on a vast platform, the shades of the lofty columns which reached from the terrace almost to the clouds. The gloomy watch-towers, whose number could not be counted, were covered by no roof; and their capitals, of an architecture unknown in the records of the earth, served as an asylum for the birds of night, which, alarmed at the approach of such visitants, fled away croaking. The chief of the eunuchs, trembling with fear, besought Vathek that a fire might be kindled. " No !" replied he, " there is no time left to think of such trifles ; abide where thou art, and expect my commands." Having thus spoken, he presented his hand to Nouronihar ; and, ascending the steps ( 203 ) of a vast staircase, reached the terrace, which was flagged with squares of marble, and resembled a smooth expanse of water, upon whose surface not a blade of grass ever dared to vegetate. On the right rose the watch-towers, ranged before the ruins of an immense palace, whose walls were embossed with various figures. In front stood forth the colossal forms of four crea- tures, composed of the leopard and the griffin, and though but of stone, inspired emotions of terror. Near these were dis- tinguished by the splendour of the moon, which streamed full on the place, charac- ters like those on the sabres of the Giaour, and which possessed the same virtue of changing every moment. These, after va- cillating for some time, fixed at last in Arabic letters, and prescribed to the Caliph the following words: " Vathek! thou hast violated the conditions of my parchment, and deserveth to be sent back, but in favour to thy companion, and, as the meed for what thou hast done to ob- ( 204 ) tain it ; Eblis permitteth that the portal of his palace shall be opened ; and the sub- terranean fire will receive thee into the number of its adorers." He scarcely had read these words, be- fore the mountain, against which the ter- race was reared, trembled ; and the watch- towers were ready to topple headlong up- on them. The rock yawned, and disclos- ed within it a staircase of polished marble, that seemed to approach the abyss. Upon each stair were planted two large torches, like those Nouronihar had seen in her vision ; the camphorated rapour of which ascended and gathered itself into a cloud under the hollow of the vault. This appearance, instead of terrifying, gave new courage to the daughter of Fak- reddin. Scarcely deigning to bid adieu to the moon, and the firmament ; she aban- doned, without hesitation, the pure atmos- phere, to plunge into these infernal exha- lations. The gait of those impious per- sonages was haughty, and determined. ( 205 ) As they descended, by the effulgence of the torches, they gazed on each other with mutual admiration ; and both appeared so resplendent, that they already esteemed themselves spiritual intelligences; The only circumstance that perplexed them, was their not arriving at the bottom of the stairs. On hastening their descent, with an ardent impetuosity, they felt their steps accelerated to such a degree, that they seemed not walking but falling from a precipice. Their progress, however, was at length impeded, by a vast portal of ebony which the Caliph, without difficulty, recognized. Here, the Giaour awaited them, with the key in his hand. " Ye are welcome!" said he to them, with a ghastly smile, " in spite of Mahomet, and all his dependents. I will now usher you into that palace, where you have so highly merited a place." Whilst he was uttering these words, he touched the enameled lock with his key ; and the doors, at once, flew open with a noise still louder than the ( 206 ) thunder of the dog days, and as suddenly recoiled, the moment they had entered. The Caliph and Nouronihar beheld each other with amazement, at finding themselves in a place, which, though roofed with a vaulted ceiling, was so spacious and lofty, that, at first, they took it for an immeasurable plain. But their eyes, at length, growing familiar to the grandeur of the surrounding ob- jects, they extended their view to those at a distance; and discovered rows of columns and arcades, which gradually diminished, till they terminated in a point radiant as the sun, when he darts his last beams athwart the ocean. The pave- ment, strewed over with gold dust and saffron, exhaled so subtile an odour, as almost overpowered them. They, how- ever, went on ; and observed an infini- ty of censers, in which, ambergrise and the wood of aloes, were continually burning. Between the several columns, were placed tables; each, spread with ( 207 ) a profusion of viauds ; and wines, of every species, sparkling in vases of crys- tal. A throng of Genii, and other fan- tastic spirits, of either sex, danced lasci- viously, at the sound of music, which issued from beneath. In the midst of this immense hall, a vast multitude was incessantly passing ; who severally kept their right hands on their hearts; without once regarding any thing around them. They had all, the livid paleness of death. Their eyes, deep sunk in their sockets, resembled those phosphoric meteors, that glimmer by night, in places of interment. Some stalked slowly on ; absorbed in profound reverie : some shrieking with agony, ran furiously about like tigers, wounded with poisoned arrows ; whilst others, grinding their teeth in rage, foamed along more frantic than the wildest maniac. They all avoided each other; and, though sur- rounded by a multitude that no one could u umber, each wandered at random, un- ( 208 ) heedful of the rest, as if alone on a desert where no foot had trodden. Vathek and Nouronihar, frozen with terror, at a sight so baleful, demanded of the Giaour what these appearances might mean; and, why these ambulating spec- tres never withdrew their hands from their hearts ? " Perplex not yourselves, with so much at once," replied he bluntly ; " you will soon be acquainted with all : let us haste, and present you to Eblis." They continued their way, through the multi- tude ; but, notwithstanding their confi- dence at first, they were not sufficiently composed to examine, with attention, the various perspective of halls and of galleries, that opened on the right hand and left ; which were all illuminated by torches and braziers, whose flames rose in pyramids to the centre of the vault. At length they came to a place, where long curtains bro- caded with crimson and gold, fell from all parts in solemn confusion. Here, the choirs and dances were heard no longer. ( 209 ) The light which glimmered, came from afar. After some time, Vathek and Nouroni- har perceived a gleam brightening through the drapery, and entered a vast tabernacle hung around with the skins of leopards. An infinity of elders with streaming beards, and afrits in complete armour, had pros- trated themselves before the ascent of a lofty eminence; on the top of which, upon a globe of fire, sat the formidable Eblis. His person was that of a young man, whose noble and regular features seemed to have been tarnished by malignant vapours. In his large eyes appeared both pride and despair : his flowing hair retain- ed some resemblance to that of an angel of light. In his hand, which thunder had blasted, he swayed the iron sceptre, that causes the monster Ouranbad, the afrits, and all the powers of the abyss to trem- ble. At his presence, the heart of the Caliph sunk within him ; and he fell pros- trate on his face. Nouronihar, however, ( 210 ) though greatly dismayed, could Dot help admiring the person of Eblis: for, she expected to have seen some stupendous giant. Eblis, with a voice more mild than might be imagined, but such as penetrated the soul and filled it with the deepest me- lancholy, said : " Creatures of clay, I receive you into mine empire : ye are num- bered amongst my adorers: enjoy what- ever this palace affords : the treasures of the pre-adamite sultans ; their fulminating sabres ; and those talismans, that compel the dives to open the subterranean ex- panses of the mountain of Kaf, which com- municate with these. There, insatiable as your curiosity may be, shall you find sufficient objects to gratify it. You shall possess the exclusive privilege of entering the fortresses of Aherman, and the halls of Argenk, where are pourtrayed all creatures endowed with intelligence ; and the various animals that inhabited the earth prior to the creation of that cou- ( 211 ) temptible being whom ye denominate the father of mankind." Vathek and Nouronihar feeling them- selves revived and encouraged by this harangue, eagerly said to the Giaour; " Bring us instantly to the place which contains these precious talismans." " Come," answered this wicked dive, with his malignant grin, " come and possess all that my sovereign hath promised ; and more." He then conducted them into a long aisle adjoining the tabernacle ; pre- ceding them with hasty steps, and follow- ed by his disciples with the utmost alacri- ty. They reached, at length, a hall of great extent, and covered with a lofty dome ; around which appeared fifty por- tals of bronze, secured with as many fast- enings of iron. A funeral gloom prevailed over the whole scene. Here, upon two beds of incorruptible cedar, lay recum- bent the fleshless forms of the pre-adamite kings, who had been monarchs of the whole earth. They still possessed enough i> 2 of life to be conscious of their deplorable condition. Their eyes retained a melan- choly motion : they regarded one another with looks of the deepest dejection ; each holding his right hand, motionless, on his heart. At their feet were inscribed the events of their several reigns, their power, their pride, and their crimes ; Solimau Daki ; and Soliman, called Gian Ben Gian, who, after having chained up the dives in the dark caverns of Kaf, became so presumptuous as to doubt of the Su- preme Power. All these maintained great state; though not to be compared with the eminence of Soliman Ben Daoud. This king, so renowned for his wisdom, was on the loftiest elevation ; and placed immediately under the dome. He appear- ed to possess more animation than the rest. Though, from time to time, he la- boured with profound sighs ; and, like his companions, kept his right hand on his heart ; yet his countenance was more com- posed, and he seemed to be listening to ( 213 ) the sullen roar of a cataract visible in part through one of the grated portals. This was the only sound that intruded on the silence of these doleful mansions. A range of brazen vases surrounded the ele- vation. " Remove the covers from these cabalistic depositaries," said the Giaour to Vathek ; " and avail thyself of the ta- lismans which will break asunder all these gates of bronze ; and not only render thee master of the treasures contained within them, but also of the spirits by which they are guarded." The Caliph, whom this ominous prelimi- nary had entirely disconcerted, approach- ed the vases with faltering footsteps \ and was ready to sink with terror when he heard the groans of Soliman. As he pro- ceeded, a voice from the livid lips of the prophet articulated these words : " In my life-time, I filled a magnificent throne; having, on my right hand, twelve thousand seats of gold, where the patriarchs and the prophets heard luy doctrines ; 011 my ( 214 ) left, the sages and doctors, upon as many thrones of silver, were present at all my decisions. Whilst I thus administered jus- tice to innumerable multitudes, the birds of the air, hovering over me, served as a canopy against the rays of the sun. My people flourished ; and my palace rose to the clouds. I erected a temple to the Most High, which was the wonder of the universe : but, I basely suffered myself to be seduced by the love of women, and a curiosity that could not be restrained by sublunary things. I listened to the coun- sels of Aherman, and the daughter of Pharaoh ; and adored fire, and the hosts of heaven. I forsook the holy city, and commanded the Genii to rear the stupend- ous palace of Istakar, and the terrace of the watch towers ; each of which was con- secrated to a star. There, for a while, I enjoyed myself in the zenith of glory and pleasure. Not only men, but superna- tural beings were subject also to my will. I began to think, as these unhappy mo- ( 215 ) uarclis around had already thought, that the vengeance of Heaven was asleep ; when, at once, the thunder burst my struc- tures asunder, and precipitated me hither: where, however, I do not remain, like tin- other inhabitants, totally destitute of hope; for, an angel of light hath revealed that in consideration of the piety of my early youth, my woes shall come to an end, when this cataract shall for ever cease to flow. Till then I am in torments, ineffable torments ! an unrelenting fire preys on my heart." Having uttered this exclamation, Soli- man raised his hands towards heaven, in token of supplication ; and the Caliph discerned through his bosom, which was transparent as crystal, his heart enveloped in flames. At a sight so full of horror, Nouronihar fell back, like one petrified, into the arms of Vathek, who cried out with a convulsive sob; " O Giaour! whi- ther hast thou brought us! Allow us to depart, and I will relinquish all thou hast promised. O Muhomet! remains there no more mercy !" " None ! none !" replied the malicious dive. " Know, miserable prince ! thou art now in the abode of ven- geance and despair. Thy heart, also, will be kindled like those of the other votaries of Eblis. A few days are allotted thee previous to this fatal period : employ them as thou wilt; recline on these heaps of gold ; command the infernal potentates ; range, at thy pleasure, through these im- mense subterranean domains : no barrier shall be shut against thee. As for me, I have fulfilled my mission : I now leave thee to thyself." At these words he van- ished. The Caliph and Nouronihar remained in the most abject affliction. Their tears were unable to flow, and scarcely could they support themselves. At length, tak- ing each other, despondingly, by the hand, they went faltering from this fatal hall ; in- different which way they turned their steps. Every portal opened at their approach. The dives fell prostrate before them. ( 21? ) Every reservoir of riches was disclosed to their view : but they no longer felt the incentives of curiosity, of pride, or ava- rice. With like apathy they heard the chorus of Genii, and saw the stately ban- quets prepared to regale them. They went wandering on, from chamber to chamber; hall to hall ; and gallery to gal- lery; all without bounds or limit; all dis- tinguishable by the same louring gloojn; all adorned with the same awful grandeur; all traversed by persons in search of re- pose and consolation ; but, who sought them in vain ; for every one carried with- in him a heart tormented in flames. Shun- ned by these various sufferers, who seem- ed by their looks to be upbraiding the partners of their guilt, they withdrew from them to wait, in direful suspense, the mo- ment which should render them to each other the like objects of terror. " What!" exclaimed Nouromhar ; " will the time come when I shall snatch my hand from thine!" " Ah!" said Vathck, " and ( 218 ) shall my eyes ever cease to drink from thine long draughts of enjoyment ! Shall the moments of our reciprocal ecstasies be reflected on with horror ! It was not thou that broughtest me hither ; the principles by which Carathis perverted my youth, have been the sole cause of my perdition ! it is but right she should have her share of it." Having given vent to these pain- ful expressions, he called to an afrit, who was stirring up one of the braziers, and bade him fetch the Princess Carathis from the palace of Samarah. After issuing these orders, the Caliph and Nouronihar continued walking amidst the silent croud, till they heard voices at the end of the gallery. Presuming them to proceed from some unhappy beings, who, like themselves, Avere awaiting their final doom ; they followed the sound, and found it to come from a small square chamber, where they discovered, sitting on sofas, four young men, of goodly figure, and a lovely female, who were holding a ( 219 ) melancholy conversation by the glimmer- ing of a lonely lamp. Each had a gloomy and forlorn air ; and two of them were embracing each other with great tender- ness. On seeing the Caliph and the daughter of Fakreddin enter, they arose, saluted, and made room for them. Then he who appeared the most considerable of the group, addressed himself thus to Vat- hek : " Strangers ! who doubtless are in the same state of suspense with ourselves, as you do not yet bear your hand on your heart, if you are come hither to pass the interval allotted, previous to the infliction of our common punishment, condescend to relate the adventures that have brought you to this fatal place; and we, in return, will acquaint you with ours, which de- serve but too well to be heard. To trace back our crimes to their source, though we are not permitted to repent, is the only employment suited to wretches like us !" The Caliph and Nouronihar assented to ( 220 ) the proposal ; and Vathek began, not without tears and lamentations, a sincere recital of every circumstance that had passed. When the afflicting narrative was closed, the young man, who first address- ed him, began in the following manner: " The history of the princes and friends, Alasi and Firouz, confined in the palace of subterraneous fire." The next was : " The history of Prince Barkiarokh, con- fined in the palace of subterraneous fire." Then : " The history of Prince Kalilah and Princess Zulkais, confined in the palace of subterraneous fire." The third prince had reached the midst of his adventures, when a sudden noise interrupted him, which caused the vault to tremble and to open. Immediately a cloud descended, which gradually dissipating, discovered Carathis on the back of an afrit, who grievously complained of his burden. She, instantly springing to the ground, advanced towards her son, and said, " What dost thou here, ( 221 ) in this littlo square chamber? As the dives are become subject to thy beck, I expect- ed to have found thee on the throne of the pre-adainite kings." " Execrable woman !" answered the Caliph ; " cursed be the day thou gavest me birth ! Go, follow this afrit ; let him conduct thee to the hall of the Prophet Soliman: there thou wilt learn to what these palaces are destined, and how much I ought to abhor the impious knowledge thou hast taught me." " Has the height of power, to which thou art arrived, turned thy brain?" an- swered Carathis : " but I ask no more than permission to shew my respect for Soliman the prophet. It is, however, pro- per thou shouldest know that (as the afrit has informed me neither of us shall re- turn to Samarah) I requested his per- mission to arrange my affairs; and he politely consented. Availing myself, there- fore, of the few moments allowed me, I ( 222 ) set fire to the tower, and consumed in it the mutes, negresses, and serpents, which have rendered me so much good service : nor should I have been less kind to Mo- rakanabad, had he not prevented me, by deserting at last to thy brother. As for Bababalouk, who had the folly to return to Samarah, to provide husbands for thy wives, I undoubtedly would have put him to the torture ; but being in a hurry, I only hung him, after having decoyed him in a snare, with thy wives : whom I buried alive by the help of my negresses; who thus spent their last moments greatly to their satisfaction. With respect to Dilara, who ever stood high in my favour, she hath evinced the greatness of her mind, by fix- ing herself near, in the service of one of the magi ; and, I think, will soon be one of our society. Vathek, too much cast down to ex- press the indignation excited by such a discourse, ordered the afrit to remove Ca- ( 223 ) ratliis from his presence, and continued immersed in thoughts which his compa- nions durst not disturb. Carathis, however, eagerly entered the dome of Soliraan, and, without regarding in the least the groans of the prophet, un- dauntedly removed the covers of the vases, and violently seized on the talismans. Then, with a voice more loud than had hitherto been heard within these mansions, she compelled the dives to disclose to her the most secret treasures, the most pro- found stores, which the afrit himself had not seen. She passed, by rapid descents, known only to Eblis and his most fa- voured potentates; and thus penetrated the very entrails of the earth, where breathes the sansar, or the icy wind of death. Nothing appalled her dauntless soul. She perceived, however, in all the inmates who bore their hands on their heart, a little singularity, not much to her taste. As she was emerging from one of the ( 224 ) abysses, Eblis stood forth to her view ; but, notwithstanding he displayed the full effulgence of his infernal majesty, she pre- served her countenance unaltered ; and even paid her compliments with consider- able firmness. This superb monarch thus answered : " Princess, whose knowledge, and whose crimes, have merited a conspicuous rank in my ^mpire; thou dost well to avail f me leisure that remains: for, the flames and torments, which are ready to sieze on thy heart, will not fail to pro- vide thee soon with full employment." He said, and was lost in the curtains of his ta- bernacle. Carathis paused for a moment with sur- prise; but resolved to follow the advice of Eblis, she assembled all the choirs of genii, and all the dives, to pay her homage. Thus marched she, in triumph, through a vapour of perfumes, amidst the accla- mations of all the malignant spirits ; with most of whom she had formed a previous ( 225 ) acquaintance. She even attempted to de- throne one of the Solimans, for the pur- pose of usurping his place; when a voice, proceeding from the abyss of death, pro- claimed : " All is accomplished!" In- stantaneously, the haughty forehead of the intrepid princess became corrugated with agony : she uttered a tremendous yell ; and fixed, no more to be withdrawn, her right hand upon her heart, which was become a receptacle of eternal fire. In this delirium, forgetting all ambi- tious projects, and her thirst for that know- ledge which should ever be hidden from mortals, she overturned the offerings of the genii ; and, having execrated the hour she was begotten and the womb that had borne her, glanced off in a rapid whirl that ren dered her invisible, and continued to re- volve without intermission. Almost at the same instant, the same voice announced to the Caliph, Nouroni- har, the four princes, and the princess, the awful, and irrevocable decree. Their ( 226 ) hearts immediately took fire, and they, at once, lost the most precious gift of hea- ven: HOPE. These unhappy beings re- coiled, with looks of the most furious dis- traction. Vathek beheld in the eyes of Nouronihar nothing but rage and ven- geance; nor could she discern ought in his, but aversion and despair. The two princes who were friends, and, till that moment, had preserved their attachment, shrunk back, gnashing their teeth with mutual and unchangeable hatred. Kali- lah and his sister made reciprocal gestures of imprecation ; all testified their horror for each other by the most ghastly convul- sions, and screams that could not be smo- thered. All severally plunged themselves into the accursed multitude, there to wander in an eternity of unabating an- guish. Such was, and such should be, the pu- nishment of unrestrained passions and at- rocious deeds ! Such shall be, the chas- tisement of that blind curiosity, which would transgress those bounds the wis- dom of the Creator lias prescribed to hu- man knowledge ; and such the dreadful disappointment of that restless ambition, which, aiming at discoveries reserved for beings of a supernatural order, per- ceives not, through its infatuated pride, that the condition of man upon earth is to be humble and ignorant. Thus the Caliph Vathek, who, for the sake of empty pomp and forbidden power, had sullied himself with a thousand crimes, became a prey to grief without end, and remorse without mitigation : whilst the humble, the despised Gulchenrouz passed whole ages in undisturbed tran- quillity, and in the pure happiness of childhood. u '2 NOTES. PAGE I. Caliph. This title amongst the Mahometans implies the three characters of Prophet, Priest, and King: it signifies, in the Arabic, Successor, or Vicar ; and, by appropriation, the Vicar of God on Earth. It is, at this day, one of the titles of the Grand Signior, as successor of Mahomet ; and of the Sophi of Persia, as successor of Ali. HabescCs State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 9. D'llerbelot, p. 985. PAGE 1. one of his eyes became so terrible. The author of Nighiaristan hath preserved a fact that supports this account ; and there is no history of Vathek, in which his terrible eye is not mentioned. PAGE 2. Omar Ben Abdalaziz. This Caliph was eminent above all others for temperance and self-denial ; insomuch, that, ac- ( 230 ) cording to the Mahometan faith, he was raised to Mahomet's bosom, as a reward for his abstinence in an age of corruption. D'Herbelot^ p. 690. PAGE 2. Samarah. A city of the Babylonian Irak ; supposed to have stood on the site where Nimrod erected his tower. Khondemir relates, in his life of Motas- sem, that this prince, to terminate the disputes which were perpetually happening between the inhabitants of Bagda and his Turkish slaves, withdrew from thence, and, having fixed on a situation in the plain of Catoul, there founded Samarah. He is said to have had in the stables of this city, a hundred and thirty thousand pied horses ; each of which carried, by his order, a sack of earth to a place he had chosen. By this accumulation, an elevation was formed that com- manded a view of all Samarah, and served for the foundation of his magnificent palace. D'Herbelotj p. 752. 808. 985. Anecdotes Arabes, p. 413. PAGE 3. in the most delightful succession. The great men of the East have been always fond of music. Though forbidden by the Ma- ( 231 ) horoetan religion, it commonly makes a part of every entertainment. Nitimur in vetitum semper. Female slaves are generally kept to amuse them, and the ladies of their harems. PAGE 3. A/am. This artist, whom Inatulla of Delhi styles the far'famed, lived in the reign of Schabur, or Sapor, the son of Ardschir Babegan ; and was, by profes- sion, a painter and sculptor. It appears, from the Arabian Nights, that Haroun al Raschid, Vathek's grandfather, had adorned his palace and furnished his magnificent pavilion, with the most capital performances of the Persian artists. PAGE 5. Jfouris. The virgins of Paradise, called, from their large black eyes, Jfur al oyun. An intercourse with these, according to the institution of Ma- homet, is to constitute the principal felicity of the faithful. Not formed of clay, like mortal women, they are adorned with unfading charms, and deemed to possess the celestial privilege of an eternal youth. Al Koran; passim. ( 232 ) PAGE 6. Mahomet in the seventh heaven. In this heaven, the paradise of Mahomet is supposed to be placed contiguous to the throne of Alia. Hagi Khalfah relates, that Ben lat- maiah, a celebrated doctor of Damascus, had the temerity to assert, that, when the Most High erected his throne, he reserved a vacant place for Mahomet upon it. PAGE 6. Genii. It is asserted, and not without plausible rea- sons, that the words Genn, Ginn Genius, Genie, Gian, Gigas, Giant, Geant proceed from the same themes, viz. r>), the earth, and Taw to produce ; as if these supernatural agents had been an early production of the earth, long before Adam was modelled out from a lump of it. The Hv-fc and Ewn- of Plato, bear a close analogy to these supposed intermediate creatures between God and man. From these premises arose the con- sequence that, boasting a higher order, formed of more subtile matter and possessed of much greater knowledge than man, they lorded over this planet and invisibly governed it with superior intellect. From this last circumstance, they ob- ( 2S3 ) tained in Greece, the title of Aa/*oi-*c, Demons, from Aar/iiwi', Sciens, knowing. The Hebrew word D^>33 Nephilim. ((Jen. Cap. vi. 4.) trans- lated by Gigantcs, giants, claiming the same etymon with N^iX*/ a cloud, seems also to in- dicate that tln'-- intellectual beings inhabited the void expanse of the terrestrial atmosphere. Hence the very ancient fable of men of enormous strength and size revolting against the Gods, and all the mythological lore relating to that mighty conflict; unless we trace the origin of this impor- tant event to the ambition of Satan, his revolt against the Almighty and his fall with the angels. PAGE 6. Assist him to complete the tower. The genii were famous for their architec- tural skill. The pyramids of Egypt have been ascribed to Gian Ben Gian their chief, roost likely, because they could not, from records, be attributed to any one else. According to the Koran, ch. 34, the genii were employed by So- lomon in the erection of his temple. The reign of Gian Ben Gian, over the Peris, is said to have continued for two thousand years; after which, EBLIS was sent by the Deity to exile them, on account of their disorders, and ( 234 ) confine them in the remotest region of the earth. D'Herbelot, p. 396. Bailly sw V Allan- tide^ p. 147. PAGE 9. the stranger displayed such rarities as he had never before seen. That such curiosities were much sought after in the days of Vathek, may be concluded from the encouragement which Haroun al Raschid gave to the mechanic arts, and the present he sent, by his ambassadors, to Charlemagne. This consisted of a clock, which, when put into mo- tion, by means of a clepsydra, not only pointed out the hours, but also, by dropping small balls on a bell, struck them ; and, at the same instant, threw open as many little doors, to let out an equal number of horsemen. Ann. Reg. Franc. Pip. Caroli, Sfc. ad ann. 807. Weidler, p. 205. PAGE 17. their beards to be burnt. The loss of the beard, from the earliest ages, was accounted highly disgraceful. An instance occurs, in the Tales of Inatulla, of one being singed off, as a mulct on the owner, for having failed to explain a question propounded ; and, in the Arabian Nights, a proclamation may be seen ( 235 ) similar to this of Vathek. Vol. I. p. 268. Vol. II. p. 228. PAGE 26. Giaour means infidel. PAGE 30. the Divan. This was both the supreme council and court of justice, at which the caliphs of the race of the Abassides assisted in person, to redress the injuries of every appellant. U'JIerbelot, p. 298. PAGE 31. the prime vizir. Vazir, vezir, or as we express it, vizir, literally signifies a porter; and, by metaphor, the minis- ter who bears the principal burthen of the state, generally called the sublime Porte. PAGE 35. The Meuzins and their minarets. Valid, the son of Abdalmalek, was the first who erected a minaret, or turret ; and this he placed on the grand mosque at Damascus; for the meuziny or crier, to announce from it, the hour of prayer. This practice has constantly been kept to this day. D'JIerbelot, p. 576. ( 236 ) PAGE 41. Soliman Ben Daoud. The name of David in Hebrew is composed of the letter ] Vau between two i Daleths "in ; and according to the Massoretic points ought to be pronounced David. Having no u consonant in their tongue, the Septuagint substituted the letter B for v, and wrote Aa/3t?, Dabid. The Syriac reads Dad or Dod; and the Arabs articu- late Daoud. PAGE 49. with the grin of an ogre. Thus, in the history of the punished vizir : " The prince heard enough to convince him of his danger, and then perceived that the lady, who called herself the daughter of an Indian king, was an ogress , wife to one of those savage de- mons^ called ogre, who stay in remote places, and make use of a thousand wiles to surprize and devour passengers." Arab. Nights, vol. I. p. 56. PAGE 54.- mutes. It has been usual, in eastern courts, from time immemorial, to retain a number of mutes. These are not only employed to amuse the monarch, but also to instruct his pages, in an art to us little known, that of communicating their thoughts by signs, lest the sounds of their voices should disturb the sovereign. HabescCs State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 16-1. The mutes are also the secret instruments of his private ven- geance, in carrying the fatal string. PAG E 57. Prayer announced at break of day. The stated seasons of public prayer, in the twenty-four hours, were five : day-break, noon, mid-time between noon and sun-set, immediately as the sun leaves the horizon, and an hour and half after it is down. PAGE 58. mummies. Moumia (from mourn, wax and tallow) sig- nifies the flesh of the human body preserved in the sand, after having been embalmed and wrapt in cerements. They are frequently found in the sepulchres of Egypt ; but most of the Oriental mummies are brought from a cavern near Abin, in Persia. D'Herbelot, p. G47. PAGE G7. a parchment. Parchments of the like mysterious import are frequently mentioned in the works of the East- ( 238 ) ern writers. One in particular, amongst the Ara- bians, is held in high veneration. It was written by Ali, and Giafar Sadek, in mystic characters, and is said to contain the destiny of the Maho- metan religion, and the great events which are to happen previous to the end of the world. This parchment is of earners skin. PAGE 68. Istakhar. This city was the ancient Persepolis and ca- pital of Persia, under the kings of the three first races. The author of Lebtarikh writes, that Kischtab there established his abode, erect- ed several temples to the element of fire, and hewed out, for himself and his successors, se- pulchres in the rocks of the mountain contigu- ous to the city. The ruins of columns and broken figures which still remain, defaced as they were by Alexander, and mutilated by time, plainly evince that those ancient potentates had chosen it for the place of their interment. PAGE 68. the talismans of Soliman. The most famous talisman of the East, and which could control even the arms and magic of the dives, or giants, was Mohur Solimani, the ( 239 ) seal or ring of Soliman Jarcd, fifth monarch of the world after Adam. By means of it, the possessor had the entire command, not only of the elements, but also of demons, and every created being. Richardson's Dissertat. p. 272. D'Herbelot, p. 820. PAGE C8. pre-adamitc sultans. These monarch-, which were seventy-two in number, are said to have governed each a dis- tinct species of rational beings, prior to the ex- istence of Adam. PACE 68. be&are how thou enterest any dwelling. Strange as this injunction may seem, it is by no means incongruous to the customs of the country. Dr. Pocock mentions his travelling with the train of the Governor of Faiume, who, instead of lodging in a village that was near, preferred to pass the night in a grove of palm- trees. Travels, vol. I. p. 56. PAGE 68. erery bumper he ironically quaffed to the health of Mahomet. There are innumerable proofs that the Grecian custom, w^n-mr >>a0i.,/. 264, &c. White's Sermons, p. 504. PAG E 1 -U. some that cherished vermin. In this attachment they were not singular. The Emperor Julian not only discovered the same partiality, but celebrated, with visible com- placency, the shaggy and populous beard, which he fondly cherished ; and even " The Historian of the Roman Empire," affirms "that the little animal is a beast familiar to man, and signifies love." Vol. II. p. 343. PA c E 115. Visnoio and Ixhora. Two deities of the Hindoos. The traditions of their votaries are, probably, allegorical; but without a key to disclose their mystic import, they are little better than senseless jargon ; and, with the key, downright nonsense. ( 265 ) PAGE 116. talapoins. This order, which abounds in Siam, Laos, Pe- gu, and other countries, consists of different classes, and both sexes, but chiefly of men. Relig- (Jeremon. vol. IV. p. 62, &c. PAGE 116. objects of pity zcere sure to swarm around liim. Ludeke mentions the practice of bringing those who were suffering under any calamity, or had lost the use of their limbs, SvC. into public, for the purpose of exciting compassion. On an occasion, therefore, of this sort, when Fakrcddin, like a pious Mussulman, was publicly to distribute his alms, and the commander of the faithful to make his appearance, such an assemblage might well be expected. The Eastern custom of regaling a convention of this kind is of great antiquity, as is evident from the parable of the king, in the Gos- pels, who entertained the maimed, the lame, and the blind ; nor was it discontinued when Dr. Po- cock visited the East. Vol. I. p. 182. PAGE 117. small plates of abominations. The Koran hath established several distinc- tions relative to different kinds of food, in imi- ( 266 ) tation of the Jewish prescriptions ; and many Ma- hometans are so scrupulous as not to touch the flesh of any animal over which, inartkulo mortis, the butcher had omitted to pronounce the Bis- millah. Relig. Cerem. vol. VII. p. 110. PAGE 118. Sinai. This mountain is deemed by Mahometans the noblest of all others, and even regarded with the highest veneration, because the divine law was promulgated from it. JD' Herbelot, p. 812. PAGE 119. Peries. The word Peri, in the Persian language, sig- nifies that beautiful race of creatures which con- stitutes the link between angels and men. See note to page 6. PAGE 120. butterflies ofCachemire. The same insects are celebrated in an unpub- lished poem of Mesihi. Sir Anthony Shirley re- lates, that it was customary in Persia " to hawke after butterflies with sparrows, made to that use, and stares." It is, perhaps, to this amusement that our Author alludes in the context. ( 267 ) PAGE 1 23. Megnoun and Ltilah. These personages are esteemed amongst the Arabians as the most beautiful, chaste, and im- passioned of lovers ; and their amours have been celebrated with all the charms of verse in every Oriental language. The Mahometans regard them, and the poetical records of their love, in the same light as the Bridegroom and Spouse, and the Song of Songs are regarded by the Jews. D'JIerbtlot, p. 573. PAGE 124- . dart the lance in the chace. Throwing the lance was a favourite pastime with the young Arabians ; and so expert were they in this practice (which prepared them for the mightier conflicts, both of the chace and war) that they could bear oft' a ring on the points of their javelins. Richardson s Dissertat. p. 198. 281. PAGE 121. The tico brothers had mutually en- gaged their children to each other. Contracts of this nature were frequent amongst the Arabians. Another instance occurs in the Story of Noureddin Ali and Benreddin Hassan. ( 268 ) PAGE l2.Nouronihar loved her cousin, more than her own beautiful eyes. This mode of expression not only occurs in the sacred writers, but also in the Greek and Roman. Thus Catullus says : Quern plus ilia oculis suis amabat. PAGE 124. the same long languishing looks. So Ariocto : negri occhi, Pietcsi a riguardare, a mover parchi. PAGE 125. Shaddukian and Ambreabad. These were two cities of the Peries, in the imaginary region of Ginnistan, the former sig- nifies pleasure and desire, the latter the city of Ambergris. See Richardson's Dissertat. p. 169. PAGE 129. a spoon of cocknos. The cocknos is a bird whose beak is much esteemed for its beautiful polish, and sometimes used as a spoon. Thus, in the History of Atal- mulck and Zelica Begum, it was employed for a similar purpose : " Zelica having called for re- ( 269 ) freshment, six old slaves instantly brought in and distributed Mahramas, and then served about in a great bason of Martabam, a salad made of herbs of various kinds, citron juice, and the pith of cucumbers. They served it first to the Prin- cess in a cocknos' beak : she took a beak of the salad, eat it, and gave another to the next slave that sat by her on her right hand ; which slave did as her mistress had done." PAGE 139. Goules. Goul, or ghul, in Arabic, signifies any terri- fying object, which deprives people of the use of their senses. Hence it became the appellative of that species of monster which was supposed to haunt forests, cemeteries, and other lonely places ; and believed not only to tear in pieces the living, but to dig up and devour the dead. Richardson's Dissert, p. 174. 274. PAGE 134. -feathers of the heron, all sparkling carbuncles. Panaches of this kind are amongst the attri- butes of Eastern royalty. Talcs of Inalulta, vol. ii. p. 205. ( 270 ) PAGE 135. the carbuncle of Giamschid. This mighty potentate was the fourth sove- reign of the dynasty of the Pischadians, and brother or nephew to Tahamurath. His pro- per name was giam or gem, and sched, which in the language of the ancient Persians denomi- nated the sun : an addition, ascribed by some to the majesty of his person, and by others to the splendour of his actions. One of the most mag- nificent monuments of his reign was the city of Istakhar, of which Tahamurath had laid the foundations. This city, at present called Gihil-, or Tchil-minar, from the forty columns reared in it by Homai, or (according to our author and others) by Soliman Ben Daoud, was known to the Greeks by the name of Persepolis : and there is still extant in the East a tradition, that, when Alexander burnt the edifices of the Per- sian kings, seven stupendous structures of Giam- schid were consumed with his palace. PAGE 135. the torches were extinguished. To the union here prefigured, the following lines may be applied : Non Hymenaeus adest illi, non gratia lecto ; Eumenides tenuere faces de funere raptas : Eumenides stravere torum. ( 271 ) PAGE 135. She clapped her hands. This was the ordinary method in the Cast of calling the attendants in waiting. See Arabian Nights, vol. I. p. 5. 106. 193, &c. PAGE 145. Funeral vestments tzerc prepared; their bodies zcashed, $c. The rites here practised had obtained from the earliest ages. Most of them may be found in Homer and the other poets of Greece. Lu- cian describes the dead in his time as washed, perfumed, vested, and crowned, with the flowers most in season ; or, according to other writers, those in particular which the deceased were wont to prefer. PAGE 146. all instruments of music were broken. Thus, in the Arabian Nights : " Haroun al Raschid wept over Schemselnihar, and, before he left the room, ordered all the musical in- struments to be broken." Vol. II. p. 196. PACE 146. Imans began to recite their prayers. An iniaii is the principal priest of a mosque. It was the office of the iwans to precede the ( 272 ) bier, praying as the procession moved oiu Re- lig. Cerem. vol. VII. p. 117. PAGE 150. the angel of death had opened the portal of some other world. The name of this exterminating angel is Az- rael, and his office is to conduct the dead to the abode assigned them ; which is said by some to be near the place of their interment. Such was the office of Mercury in the Grecian Mythology. Sale's Prelim. Disc. p. 101. Hyde in notis ad Bobov. p. 19. R. Elias, in Tishbi. Buxtorf Sy- nag. Jud. et Lexic. Talmud. Homer. Odj/ss. PAGE 150. Monker and Neldr. These are two black angels of a tremendous appearance, who examine the departed on the subject of his faith : by whom, if he give not a satisfactory account, he is sure to be cudgelled with maces of red-hot iron, and tormented more variously than words can describe. Relig. Ce- remon. vol. VII. p. 59. 68. 118. vol. V. p. 290. Sale's Prelim. Disc. p. 101. PAGE 150. the fatal bridge. This bridge, called in Arabick al Siral } and said to extend over the infernal gulph, is repre- sented as narrower than a spider's web, and sharper than the edge of a sword. Yet the pa- radise of Mahomet can be entered by no other avenue. Those indeed who have behaved well need not be alarmed ; mixed characters will find it difficult ; but the wicked soon miss their stand- ing, and plunge headlong into the abyss. Po- cock i/i Port. Mos. p. 282, &c. PAGE 151. a certain series of years. According to the tradition from the Prophet, not less than nine hundred, nor more than seven thousand. PAGE 151. the sacred camel. It was an article of the Mahometan creed, that all animals would be raised again, and some of them admitted into paradise. The animal here mentioned appears to have been one of those zchite-icinged CAMELS caparisoned with gold, which AH affirmed would be provided to con- vey the faithful. Relig. Cer. vol. VII. p. 70. Sale's Prelim. Disc. p. 112. Al Janheri. Ebno'l Athir, &c. ( 274 ) PAGE 154. the Caliph presented himself \to the emir in a new light. The propensity of a vicious person, in afflic- tion, to seek consolation from the ceremonies of religion, is an exquisite trait in the character of Vathek. PAGE 166. wine hoarded up in bottles, prior to the birth of Mahomet. The prohibition of wine by the Prophet mate- rially diminished its consumption, within the limits of his own dominions. Hence a reserve of it might be expected, of the age here speci- fied. The custom of hoarding wine was not unknown to the Persians, though not so often practised by them, as by the Greeks and the Romans. " I purchase" (says Lebeid) " the old liquor, at a dear rate, in dark leathern bottles, long re- posited ; or in casks black with pitch, whose seals I break, and then fill the cheerful goblet." Moallakat, p. 53. PAGE 166. excavated ovens in the rock. As substitutes for the portable ovens, which were lost. ( 275 ) PACE 172. the confines of some cemetery. Places of interment in the East were com- monly situated in scenes of solitude. We read of one in the history of the first calender, abound- ing with so many monuments, that four days were successively spent in it without the in- quirer being able to find the tomb he looked for : and, from the story of Ganem, it appears that the doors of these cemeteries were often left open. Arabian Nights, vol. II. p. 112. PAGE 178. a Myrabolan conifil. The invention of this confection is attributed by M. Cardonne to Avicenna, but there is abun- dant reason, exclusive of our author's authority, to suppose it of a much earlier origin. Both the Latins and Greeks were acquainted with the balsam, and the tree that produced it was indi- genous in various parts of Arabia. PAGE 180. blue fshes. Fishes jot the same colour are mentioned in the Arabian Nights ; and, like these, were en- dowed with the gift of speech. r2 ( 276 ) PAGE 186. astrolabes. The mention of the astrolabe may be deemed incompatible, at first view, with chronological exactness, as there is no instance of any being constructed by a Mussulman, till after the time of Vathek. It may, however, be remarked, to go no higher, that Sinesius, bishop of Ptolemais, invented one in the fifth century ; and that Ca- rathis was not only herself a Greek, but also cultivated those sciences which the good Mussul- mans of her time all held in abhorrence. Bailly, Hist, de VAstronom. Moderne, torn. I. p. 563. 573. PAGE 189. On the banks of the stream, hives and oratories. The bee is an insect held in high veneration amongst the Mahometans, it being pointed out in the Koran, " for a sign unto the people that understand." It has been said, in the same sense : " Go to the ant, thou sluggard," Prov. vi. 6. The santons, therefore, who inhabit the fertile banks of Rocnabad, are not less famous for their hives than their oratories. D'Herbelot, p. 717. ( 277 ) PAGE 192. Snicks, cadis. Shieks are the chiefs of the societies of der- viches : cadis are the magistrates of a town or city. PACE 192. Asses in bridles of riband inscribed from the Koran. As the judges of Israel in ancient days rode on white asses, so amongst the Mahometans, those that affect an extraordinary sanctity, use the same animal in preference to the horse. Sir John Chardin observed in various parts of the East, that their reins, as here represented, were of silk, with the name of God, or other inscrip- tions upon them. Ludeke E.rpos. brevis, p. 49. Cbardin's MS. cited by Harmer. PACK \97.-Eblis. D'Herbelot supposes this title to have been a corruption of the Greek Ao/3Aoc diabofa*. It was the appellation conferred by the Arabians upon the prince of the apostate angels, and ap- pears more likely to originate from the Hebrew "T3n> hebel, vanity, pride. See belotc the note 210, 44 creatures nf clay" ( 278 PA OB 198. compensate for thy impieties by an exemplary life. It is an established article of the Mussulman creed, that the actions of mankind are all weighed in a vast unerring balance, and the future condi- tion of the agents determined according to the preponderance of evil or good. This fiction, which seems to have been borrowed from the Jews, had probably its origin in the figurative language of scripture. Thus, Psalm Ixii. 9. Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie : to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity : and, in Daniel, the sentence against the King of Ba- bylon, inscribed on the wall : Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting. PAGE 200.Balkis. This was the Arabian name of the Queen of Sheba, who went from the south to hear the wis- dom and admire the glory of Solomon. The Koran represents her as a worshipper of fire. So- lomon is said not only to have entertained her with the greatest magnificence, but also to have raised her to his bed and his throne. Al Ko- ( 279 ) ran, ch. XXVII. and Salc't notes. IfHcrbelot, p. 18?. PAGE 2Q9.Ouranbad. This monster is represented as a fierce flying hydra, and belongs to the same class with the rakshe whose ordinary food was serpents and dragons ; the so/iam, which had the head of a horse, with four eyes, and the body of a flame- coloured dragon ; the sy/, a basilisk with a face resembling the human, but so tremendous that no mortal could bear to behold it; the ejder, and others. See these respective titles in Rich- ardson's Persian, Arabic, and English Dictio- nary. PAGE 210. Creatures of clay. Nothing could have been more appositely ima- gined than this compellation. Eblis, according to Arabian mythology, had suffered a degradation from his primeval rank, and was consigned to these regions, for having refused to worship Adam, in obedience to the supreme command : alledging in justification of his refusal, that him- self had been formed of etherial fire, whilst Adam was only a creature of clay. Al Koran, c. 55, &c. ( 280 ) PAGE 210. the fortress of Aherman. In the mythology of the easterns, Aherman was accounted the Demon of Discord. The an- cient Persian romances abound in descriptions of this fortress, in which the inferior demons as- semble to receive the behests of their prince ; and from whom they proceed to exercise their malice in every part of the world. D'Herbelot, p. 71. PAGE 210. the halls of Jrgenk. The halls of this mighty dive, who reigned in the mountains of Kaf, contained the statues of the seventy-two Solimans, and the portraits of the various creatures subject to them ; not one of which bore the slightest similitude to man. Some had many heads ; others, many arms ; and some consisted of many bodies. Their heads were all very extraordinary, some resembling the elephant's, the buffalo's and the boar's; whilst others were still more monstrous. D'Herbelot, p. 820. Some of the idols worshipped to this day in the Hindostan answer to this description. Ariosto, who owes more to Arabian fable than his commentators have hitherto supposed, seems ( 281 ) to have been no stranger to the halls of Argenk, when he described one of the fountains of Mer- lin :- Era una delle font! di Merlino Delle quattro di Fruncia da lui fatte; D'intorno cinta di bel marmo lino, Lucido, e terso, e bianco pi u che hit to. Quivi (I intaglio con lavor divino Avea Merlino immagini ritratte. Direste che spiravano, e se prive .Non fossero ai voce, ch' eran vive. Quivi una Bestia uscir della foresta Parea di crudel vista, odiosa, e brutta, Che avea le orecchie d'asino, e la testa Di lupo, e i denti, e per gran fame asciutta ; Branche avea di Icon ; 1 altro, che resta, Tutto era volpe. PAGE 212. holding his right hand motionless on his heart. Sandys observes, that the application of the right hand to the heart is the customary mode of eastern salutation ; but the perseverance of the votaries of Eblis in this attitude, was intended to express their devotion to him both heart and hand. PAGE 213. In my life-time, I filed, fc. This recital agrees perfectly with those in the Koran, and other Arabian legends. ( 282 ) PAGE 220.Carathis on the back of an afrit. The expedition of the afrit in fetching Cara- this, is characteristic of this order of dives. We read in the Koran that another of the fraternity offered to bring the Queen of Saba's throne to Solomon, before he could rise from his place, c. 27. PAGE 225. Glanced off in a whirl that ren- dered her invisible. It was extremely proper to punish Carathis by a rite, and one of the principal characteristics of that science in which she so much delighted, and which was the primary cause of Vathek's perdition and of her own. The circle, the emblem of eternity, and the symbol of the sun, was held sacred in the most ancient ceremonies of incantations; and the whirling round deemed as a necessary operation in magical mysteries. Was not the name of the greatest enchantress in fabulous antiquity, Circe, derived from KtpKoc, a circle, on account of her magical revolutions and of the circular appear- ance and motion of the sun her father ? The fairies and elves used to arrange themselves in a ring on the grass; and even the augur, in the ( 283 ) liturgy of the Romans, whirled round, to encom- pass the four cardinal points of the world. It i remarkable, that a derivative of the Arabic word (which corres|K>nds to the Hebrew "VTD, and ii interpreted scindere sccare sc in orftem, inde no- tio circinandi, inox gyrandi ct hinc a motu rersa- ////. /'ax ami it. inanitniit ) signifies, in the Koran, the glimmering of twilight; a sense deducible from the shapeless glimpses of objects, when hur- ried round with the velocity here described, and very applicable to the sudden disappearance of Carathis, who, like the stone in a sling, by the progressive and rapid increase of the circular mo- tion, soon ceased to be perceptible. Nothing can impress a greater awe upon the mind than does this passage in the original. PAGE 226. They at once lost the most precious gift of heaven Jfope. It is a soothing reflection to the bulk of man- kind, that the commonness of any blessing is the true test of its value. Hence, Hope is justly styled " the most precious of the gifts of heaven," because, as Thales long since observed o*c oAAo uncir, ai/rtj Tro/wTii- it abides with those who are destitute of every other. Dante's inscription over the gate of hell was written in the same ( 284 ) sense, and perhaps in allusion to the saying of the Grecian sage : Per me si va nella citta dolente : Per me si va nell' eterno dolore : Per me si va tra la perduta gente. Giustizia mosse '1 mio alto fattore : Fecemi la divina potestate, La somma sapienza, e '1 primo amore. Dinanzi a me non fur cose create, Se non eterne, ed io eterno duro : Lasciate ogni speranza, voi che 'ntrate. CANTO III. Strongly impressed with this idea, and in order to complete his description of the infernal dun- geon, Milton says, where hope never comes That comes to all. Paradise L. 1. 66. THE END. J. F. Dove, Printer, St. John's Square.