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A CATACHETICAL EXPLANATION of the
11 Growl& and chief Precepts of the CHRISTIAN DOC-
TRINE, front the first Principles of Natoral Ittligion to its
Cottioletion inider the G .spcl Covenant. Designed principally
fur the Smior Clit:ses of Schools, 4:woodier% of riper Year.; g and
for all Churches and *Sects who "bow the truce to Jesus:'
Phil. ii. 10.
By the Rev. WILLIAM SANDFORD, •
Vicar of t.i4tlprea, in the Diocese of Elphin.
" Be ready At all times to give an answer to every man
that a,keth you a re.von of the hope that is in you." I Vet.
iii. 13.
" And vindicate the ways of God to man." Pope.
Bath : 'Painted and ,old by S Huard,- Cheap-street PIM
al.° by Cadell and Davies Straw!, Loud in; in Dublin, by
Porter, Grafton,strect ; and Dugdale, Dame-street.
4
• LITER4TURE.
Eel opera fwelium cog/ware. Holt.
ARABIAN NIGHTS—IN FIVE. VOLUMES.
ARANSLATED BY THF. REF. EDWARD TORSTEII•
Thigh this work belongs to the publications of
the lait year, it has a claim upon our attention,
which it is not easy for us to resist. When we notice
it, therefore, rather out of its place, our condua, as
we trust, will be ascribed to a venial partiality, and
will readily be admitted to pardon. In the spring-
time of our existence, these efforts of Arabian fic-
tion have supplied us with the most delightful en-
ertainmant, and have led us, for many a cheated
hour; into foreign regions, over which our recol-
leetion still fondly hovers, and from which our fan-
cy, eacaping from the fiat or the gloomy realities of
life, still endeavours to recover some glimpsesof that
ideal ansi golden world, in which she has once so
rapturously sported. For some time subsequent to
:4. Gall find's translation of these Eastern Tales, their
authenticity was made the subjea of suspicion ; and by
many, they were regarded as the produaions only of
a modern pen, to which the delineation of Eastern
scenery and manners imparted an air and resem-
blance of truth. Their credit, however, as orien-
tal originals, has, for some time, been Lily estab-
lished ; and they have been ascertained to be only a
selea part of an Arabian colleaion, written, as it is
conieaured, by different authors, and at different
periods. So generally known is the character of these
stories, that it asks not for our explanation. They
may be considered, with reference to the itnaF,itia-
tion, what the Principia of Newton are to the intel-
lea, and are as intimately conneaed with fiaion as
these are with truth. While chained to inexorable

demonstration, the mind of the mathematician pa-
tiently attends on its steps, and cannot for an instant
desert them, that of the reader of Arabian romance
is luxuriating in the wildness of liberty, indulging its
vision with the most beautiful piaures, and enjoying
an universe, of which, as of the Poet's Elysium, it
may be said—

" targior hie compos mther, et lumine vestit
" Purim' eu ; sulentque suum sua sidera norunt."

But, associated thus licentiously with fiftion, the
Tales under our review possess a species of truth,
which instrufts us while it enhances our gratification.
They exhibit a faithful representation of the manners
of those interesting regions and times to which their
aftion is assigned, and they admit us to a closer in-
timacy with the people of the East, during the clas-
sic reigns of the first Abbassian Caliphs than can be
indulged to us by history. In the " Arabian Nights,"
we become present with these remote nations, and
our curiosity may observe their dresses and their ce-
remonies ; may penetrate to the interior of their fa-
milies and their harams ; may cony! se with them
in their work-shops or their palaces ; at their tables,
or in their chambers.

The present translation of this most amusing
work is made immediately from the French of M.
Galland, and is consequently confined to the same
selation of fables, with which the English reader is
acquainted. The style, however, of the new work
is of a superior order ; and the volumes derive much
ornament from designs, which reflea honour on the
pencil of Mr. Smirke.
As the length even of the shortest of these stories
would exceed the limits of our article, we must con-
tent ourselves with giving an extraa from the trans-
lator's preface, as a specimen of his style ; and we
shall conclude with a translation, by Professor Car-
lyle, of an old Arabian Elegy, which will be grati-
fying (as we persuade ourselves,) to every reader of
taste.
" The Augustan age of Arabian literature may be
considered to have been about the time that the
power of the Caliphs was at its height, and this was
about the 170th year of the Hegira, and the 701st
year of the Christian Tra, and during the reign of Ha-
rouu Alraschid, who bears so conspicuous a part in
these volumes, and of his immediate successors.
"the monarchs themselves," says' Professor Car-
lyle, " loved and cultivated the sciences; the mini-
.sters followed their example ; and men of get:
flocked to the court of Bagdad, ;loin all parts of the

[PRICE SIXPENCE.

world, with an assurance of receiving those honours
and rewards which theilf• abilities merited. The
empire of the Caliphs was at this time one of the
most powerful that has ever existed; it extended, in
Asia, from the gulph of Persia and the confines of
Tartary to the Mediterranean and Indian Seas. and
comprehended all the habitable part of Africa,
from the isthmus of Suez to the Atlantic Ocean."
And it was probably not long after this that most
of these tales were written, for I believe it is ge-
nerally supposed, that they were not all the pro-
dation of one author, or of one age.
(tithe Tales themselvo6, I ao not mean to en-
ter into a long and minute investigation, although
such an investigation would be, if well conclueled,
highly amusing, and, at the same time, instruc-
tive. But to carry on an enquiry of this sort to the
extent it ought, would require great research and
labour, and would in itself form atsseparate wnrk.
Mr. Hole has even produced a sm4 oolume in the •
illustration only of one story, which occupies not
more than the fifth part of one volume of the pre-
sent tales. All the peculiarities and *customs' which
are mentioned in the Arabian Nights, might be il-
lustrated by similar peculiarities and customs, which
are not only known to have existed amongst the
very people of whom this Work delineates the man-
ners, 4 the very time when the work itself was com-
posed, but which also still exist among the same
nations. Such an enquiry too would tend to ex-
plain some parts of the present work, which must, .
without it, now 'appear, if not absurd, at least un-
accountable.

" To• sliew, however, that even the Isaost common
things arc not inserted without a motive, and to
illustrate what might be otherwise considered as Ai.
diculotis, I shall give one or two instances of
manner of investigation, and sort of illustration
proposed.
" In the story of the Merchant and Genius, Vol. I. •
p. 37, the latter says,—" I have sworn to kill thee as
thou bast killed my son ; for whilst thou wart throw-
ing about the stones of the datesthouhadst eaten, my
sonpassed by,and one of them struck him in the eye,
and caused his death." Now this, at first sight,
seems a singular, if not a ridiculous thing; but
even this has its foundation in an Eastern custom.
There are accounts (and I speak upon the autho-
rity of W arren Hastings, Esq. than whom no one
is better acquainted with oriental manners and his-
tory, and whose name is almost reverenced through-
out that quarter of theworld)—There arc accounts of
people having been killed by date-stones, which
were shot at them in a particular manner, with both
bands. Those persons who are .in the, habit of
doing this, will send the stone with such velocity,
as to give a most violent blow. And it is in this
manner that prisoners are sometimes put to death :
a min sts down at a little distance from the objet
he intends to destroy, and then attacks him by re-
peatedly shooting at .him with the stone of the date,
thrown from his two fore-fingers ; and in this way
puts an end to his life.
" The former translation, by calling these stones
the " shells" of the date, besides totally mistaking
the fad,- (dates having no shells but only stones,)
makes complete nonsense."

Thcse dear eh, la:, which once contatn'd the fair,
Amidst Mitata's wilds, seek: in rain !
Nor towers, nor tents, nur cintagics are there,
liut scatter d ruins, and a silein plain.

The proud canals, that onca Ravana greed,
Their coursa neglz and their waters gene,
Among the levell'il sauds are diwly trac'd,
Like inws-growu letters on a ruoulihing stone

Ravaria, sly, how many a tedious Tear
Its hallow'd circle o'er our heads hath roll'd,
Since to my vows thy tender maids gave ear,
And fondly listeri'd to the tale I told ?

How oft since then, the star of spring, that po!tr;
A never-failing streatn, hath drencled thy head ?
I low ott, the summer's cloud, in copious showers,
Or gentle drops, its genial inHuence shed
How oft, since then, the hovering mist of morn,
Has caus'd thy locks with glittering gems to glow
How oft bath eve her dewy tr...asures borne
To fall responsive to the breeze below ?

The matted thistles, bending to the gale,
Now clothe th meadows, once with verdure gay
Amidst the winding; of that lonely vale,
The teeming Aut.:lope and Ostrich stray.

The large-ey'd mother of the herd, that flies
. Man's noisy haunts, here finds a sure retreat.
Here tends her c!ustering young, till age suppii,.;
Strength to their limbs and swiftness to their feet.

Save where the swelling stream hash swept :hose
And tin their deep foundations to the light—
(A: the retouching pencil that recall
A long-lost pifture to the raptured s!ght).

Save where the rains have waih'd the gather'd sand.;
And bared the scanty fragments to our view,
(Ai tho dust sprinkled on a punilued hand, •
Bids the faint tints resume their azure hue.)

inciasy record of those once-I°lod seas
Pointe out the mansion to inquiring eyes;
No tottering wall, in echoing sounds, repeats
Our mournful questions and our bursting sighs.

Yet midst those ruin'd heaps, that naked plain
Can faithful memory former scenes restore,
Real the busy throng, the jocund train,
And pi lure all that charml us there before.

Ne'er shall my heart the eat al morn forget,
That bor.:" the fair-ones from those seats 4) dear—i
I set-, I see the eruuded litters yeti
And yet the tent-poles rattle in my eat !
I see the maids with timid steps ascend,
The streamers wave pi all their paintei prid
The floating curtains every fold extend,
Anil vainly strive the charms within to hide.
What graceful forms those envious folds enclose
What melting glances thro' those curtains play !
Sure Weira's antelopes, or Tudah's roes,
Through yonder veils their sportive young survey.
The band maid on—to trace their steps I strove,
I saw them urge the camel's hastening flight,
Till the white vapour, like a rising grove,
Suatch'il them fur ever from my aching sight.
Nor since that morn have I Nawara seen—
The band; are burst which held us once so fist;
:Memory but tells me, that such things have been,
And sad redelion edds, that they are past !