The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1891-09-03
"rnE SCENTED GARDEN"
lady Burton's Destruction of ManuscriI
Left by Her Husband.

lady Burton's Destruction of . Manuscript
Left by Her Husband.
The late Sir Richard Burton, trans
lator of THE Arabian Nights" was one
of the most profound oriental scholars
of his time. Some years immediately
preceding his death were spent in trans
lating from the Arabic another book,
"A Scented Garden" which he had al.
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 lavished so much
care and labor and which he had ex-
pected would be. a monument to his
genius, never reached the printers
hands. 1t was burned by his wife, who
tells the story in letter to London
paper:
when 1 locked myself up in his
rooms and sorted and examined the
manuscript read this one. No prom
Use had been exacted from me, because
the end had been so unforeseen, and I
remained for three days in state of
perfect torture as to what ought to dc
about it. During that time l received
an offer from a man of six thousand
guineas for it
II sat down on the floor before the
fire at dark to consult my own heart,
my own head. How l wanted a brother!
My heart told me that sin is the only
rolling stone that gathers moss; that
what gentleman, a scholar, man of
the world may write when living he
would see very differently to what the
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? My heart said: You can
have six thousand guineas; your hus-
band worked for you, kept you in a
happy home, with honor and respect
for thirty years How are you going to
reward him? That your wretched body
may be fed and clothed and warmed for
a few miserable months or years will
you let that soul which is part of your
soul be left out in cold and darkness
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
silver
Il fetched the manuscript and laid it
on the ground before me. Two large
volumes worth. Still my thoughts
were, Was it sacrilege?' 1t 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 1 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
burnt sheet after sheet until the whole
of the volume was consumed. 1t is nv
belief that by this act if my husband S
soul were weighted down, the cords
were cut and it was left free to soar to
its native heaven"
When the literary world of London
knew what Lady Burton had done in
dignation ran high. Here was work
upon which one of the ablest men of his
time had spent years destroyed in an
Observation-Disclosures utterly Robert
Buchanan voiced the prevailing opinion
in his reply to Lady Burton's letter.
Lady Burton said Mr.. Buchanan,
feared that the work, if published,
would cause incalculable mischief and
corruption; her nature revolted against
it, and in acting as she did she felt her
self a savior of society. The destruc-
ton of the manuscript was van
dalism, pure and simple, whether
perpetrated by Torquemada
or John Knox by fanatic or a
gentle enthusiast, by pure, high
souled woman or the public hangman.
Excess of love in such a matter is as
perilous as excess of hate. 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
a man absolutely Indifferent intellect
ually speaking, to ordinary standards OF
morality. He was a scholar and a
pagan, humanist and 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. chicago Times.