Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-11-28
The Bagdad of the "Arabian Nights"
New Quarterly Magazine.

Bagdad, in the reign of Err Reshld,
seems TO have been prominently q city
of pleasure. Thither flocked from all
parts of the oriental world the most
noted and capable poets, musicians and
arLilcers of the time; and the first
thought of the Arabian or Persian crafts
man who had completed especially Gu
rious or attractive specimen of his art
was to repair to the capital of the Mos
lem world to submit it TO the command
er Of the faithful, from whom he rarely
failed to receive rich reward for his
labors. Surrounded by pleasure gar
dens and groves Of orange, tamarlsk and
myrtle, refreshed by an unfailing luxu-
rance Of running streams, supplied
either by art or nature, the great city of
the Tigris is the theme OF many an adj
mring ode or laudatory ghazel; and the
poets of the time all agree in describing
il as being under the rule of the great
caliph, sort Of terrestrial paradise OF
"idlesse" and luxury, where to use their
own expressions, the ground was lrri-
gated with rose-water, and the dust of
the roads was musk, where flowers and
verdure overhung the ways, and the air
was perpetually sweet with the many
voiced song of birds, and where the
chirp of lutes, the dulcet able of
flutes, and the silver sound of singing
hours rose and fell in harmonious Ca
denCe from every corner Of the streets
Of palaces that stood i'll vast succession
in the midst of their gardens and or
an l. tutH tnI ~ NV
the silver abundance of the Tlgris, as 1t
sped in its arrowy flight through the
thricc-blest town. B,gdad, indeed, was
in many respects, emuhntlcallya "citta
cortigiana," u sort of Vienna or bucha-
rest of the oden time, carried to the
highest evolution correspondent with
the more sensuous Influences of the lux
urous east: and the state OF public
morality there was naturally of the lax
est Especially was this the case among
the higher classes. Drunkenness and
debauchery of the most uncompromis.
ing kind prevailed among them in spite
Of the precepts Of the koran; and men
and women seemed to vie with each
other in refinements of luxury and dis
sipatlon. As was the case in period
Shat oilers no small analogy to that of
which speak, the epoch OF the Roman
decadence, the women Of the upper
classes, to whom was apparently allow
ed an amount Of liberty, or rather Of
license, clrinusly at variance with our
western ideas of eastern domestic poll
81. appear to have been especially cor
rupt; and many are the tales Of their
acentious habits and adventures that
are 10 be found in "The Thousand and
one Nights" reminding ua OF the Me
uoirs OF Casanova" although almost
always redeemed by touches of pathos,
poetry or romance, which do not exist
in the latter's somewhat dry and unat-
,ractiye record Of ordinary qaidnterie.
The story Of "rhe Porter and the Three
Ladies of Bagdad," that Of "The Bar
ber's brother BAcbarah," and the sever
al others contained in the old version,
give some idea of the license of the
time, and examples are still more album
dant and circumstantial in the tales that
compose the comparatively unknown
portion Of the collection.