The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-09-03
TIM soesTEp oAapEh.'

s11iE 9oehIED oAHDEh"
eaAyDssssss Destr.ssssa s1s 1Ea.ssezipt
& g LSn ~ Her u.sband.
IS The late Sir Richard Burton. trans
lator Of ..The Arabian Nights,' was ono
Of tho most profound sriental scholars
Of his time. Some years Immediately
preceding his death were spent in trans:
latin1 from the Arabic another book,
"a Scented Garden" which he had ii.
most completed He left hardly any
property; but this work he felt would
provide amply for his wife. and in that
expectation he died. The manuscript
upon which he had lsvished 30 much
care and labor and which he had ex-
pected would be . monument to his
genius, never reached the printers
hands. It was burned by his wife, who
tells the story In letter to . London
paper:
3.When locked myself up in his
rooms and sorted and examined tho
manuscript I read this one. No prom
ise HAD been exacted from me, because
the end had been so unforeseen, and
remained for three days in state of
perfect torture Is to what ought to dc
about it. During that time l received
IN offer from . man of six thousand
guineas for it
II sat down on the floor before the
fire 1T dark to consult my own heart.
my own head How wanted brother!
My heart told me that sin is the only
rolling stone that gathers moss; that
what . gentleman, scholar, . man Of
the world may write when living he
would see very differently to what tho
poor soul would see standing naked be-
fore its God, with its good or evil deeds
alone to answer for, and their con-
sequences visible to it for the first mo-
ment, rolling on to the end of time
what would he care for the applause
Of one thousand five hundred men now
for the whole worlds praise-and God
offended? Ny heart said: You can
have six thousand guineas; your hus-
band worked for you, kept you in /.
happy home, with honor and respect
for thirty years How are you going to
reward him? Thaty your wretched body
may be fed and clothed and warmed for
. few miserable months or years will
you let that soul which is part of your
till the end of time, till all those sins
which may have been committed on &C.
count of reading those writing have
been expiated, or passed away perhaps
forever: Why, it would be just paral-
lel with the original thirty pieces of
Pilver!'
II fetched the manuscript and laid it
on the ground before me. Two large
volumes worth Still my thoughts
were, Was it . sacrilege" It was his
magnum opus-his last work, that he
was so proud of, that was to have been
finished on the awful morrow-that
never came. Will he rise up in his
grave and curse me or bless me? And
then said: Not only not for six thou
sand guineas, but not for six million
guineas will I risk it, Sorrowfully,
reverently, and in fear and trembling I
burnt sheet after sheet until the whole
of the volume was consumed. 1t is my
belief that by this act if my husbands
soul were weighted down, the cords
wero cut and it was left free to soar to
it, native heaven"
When the literary world of London
knew what Lady Burton had done in
dignation ran high. Here was a work
upon which one of the ablest men of his
time had spent years destroyed in an
instant utterly. Robert
Buchanan voiced the prevailing opinion
in his reply to Lady Burton's letter.
Lady Burton" saie Mr.. Buchanan,
feared that the work. if published,
would cause incalcu]able mischief and
corruption; her nature revolted against
it, and in acting as she did she felt her
self q savior of society. The destruc-
ton of the manuscript was van
dalism, pure and simple, whether
perpetrated by Torquemada
or q John Knox, by a fanatic or
gentle enthusiast by q pure, high
souled woman or the public hangman.
Excess of love in such a matter is a.
perilous as excess of hate. I put aside
here all questions of the nature of the
book; doubtless it was horrible enough
from the ordinary point of view. Sir
Richard Burton, it is well known. was
q man absolutely Indifferent intellect
ually speaking, to ordinary standards of
morality. He was a scholar and
pagan, humanist and q scientist, and
chiefly in his fearless and moral daring
consisted his claim to rank as one of
the most original men of his genera
ton. "-ChicaRo Times.