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provinciam Leicestrensem illustrandam suscepi; collegi quædam laceris chartis, et, quantum pro tam brevi temporis spatio licuit, antiquitates quasdam enodavi, insignia gentilitia et stemmata genealogica comparavi; sed vereor ne quod mihi proposueram assequi non possim; duobus enim fere abhinc annis incidi in morbum dictum phthisim sive tabem, quo nunc afficior, cujus diuturnitate continua, vires corporis ita fractæ et labefactatæ sunt, ut nec mihi facultas studendi, nec potestas investigandi aut scribendi, data sit interim tamen quibus possim viribus operam intendo, ut hic comitatus, qui a nobilibus præclarissimis, si quis in Anglia alter, et multis antiquitatibus refertur, inter reliquos emicet, caputque elevet suum, quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.'

Faxit Deus, ut in studiosorum et candidatorum gratiam, banc descriptionem, usque ad summum desiderium, quod avide cupio et aveo, perficiam et perfectis partibus absolvam. Interea temporis (amice lector) hoc opus æque acci pito, quod non sine magno labore et sumptu collectum fuit, et quantum ego pro virili comprehendere possim, mei incuria vel negligentia omissum non erit. Vale.

"Lindley, 7 Apr. 1604."

On the opposite page is the following:

"Collectio armorum, insignium gentilitiorum, tumulorum, et eorum inscriptionum, monumentorum, et cæterarum antiquitatum, in singula fere ecclesia, templo, monasterio, aliove loco memorabili, in comitatu Leicestrensi, quas ætas et tempus ad nos devenire permiserunt, hic descripta, labore et studio plerumque Will'mi Wyrley Leicestrensis.

"Accessit etiam collectio antiquitatum in quibusdam ecclesiis in comitatibus circumjacentibus, cæterisque ubi cunque labore prædicti W. Wyrley*.

"Nomina eorum, qui huic cumulo aliquid adjecerunt. "S. E. Sampson Erdeswick, de Sandon, Staff. "H. P. Humfredus Purefoy, de Barwell, Leic. "W. B. Will'mus Burton, de Lindley, Leic.

197.

Wyrley began his Survey in 1569. His original MS. containing also many churches in Staffordshire, Northamptonshire, York, Rutland, and Warwickshire, is now in the library of the Heralds college; bearing the mark V. It appears also that he afterwards accompanied Burton in his Survey of the Churches there in the years 1603, 1608, &c. In V. No. 127, in the same library, is a fair and beautiful copy of both their labours in this way, with the arms, monuments, and antiquities, well drawn. Epir.

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"H. A. Hieronimus Aston, de' Leicester.

Thomas Purefoy, de Barwell, Leic.
Will'mus Smith, Londinensis.

"T. P.

"W. S.

N. C.

Nicholaus Charles, Londinensis.

"R. C.

Robertus Cooke, Clarentius Rex Armorum.

"N. D. Nicolaus Dethick, Windsor Heraldus.

"Edmundus Gunter, Edis Christi in Oxon. scholaris. "T. I. Thomas Ingram, de Hinkley, Leic.

"W. Bel. Will'mus Belcher, de Gildesburg, Northampt." Yours, &c.

S. SHAW, jun.

P. S. The following original letter (found amongst the same MSS.) may likewise merit perpetuity.

"To his worthy friend, WM. BURTON, Esq. at Lindley, these..

"WORTHY SIR,

Aug. 5, 1639.

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"I have herewithall safely returned your deedes, which I borrowed, with many thankes; but I hope you have yet a second course for me of choiser stuffe; for I assure you, most of these are not worthye the custodye you bestow on them. I was lately at Grendon, where I had sight of some evidences of Mr. Chetwynd's; and amongst them I find the covenants betwixt Aliva, the widow of Sir Wm. Chetwynd, of Ingestre, knt. and Wm. Purefoy; viz. that William, the sonne and heire of the said Wm. Purefoy, shall marry Margaret, the daughter of the said Aliva, before the feast of the exaltation of the holy crosse next. Dat. at Churchwaven, on the feast of Bartholomew, 21 R. II. And in the church of Grendon, in a south window, there are two pictures; the one of a man in armour, the other of a woman, each havinge upon their surcotes these armes, Quarterly, i and 4, Gu. a chevron Erm. between 3 leopards' faces Or. 2d and 3d, Sa. on a fess Ar. (should be Gu. I thinke) 3 leopards' faces Or. between 3 saltires Ar. Under the man the same in a shield; the scutcheon under the woman is broken. I find likewise amongst his evidences a very fayre deede, the seale perfect in greene wax, whereby Wm. Basset grants to Robert Grendon, in frank marriage with Emma his daughter, totam terram de feodo suo in villa de Houdeby, cum homagio et servicio d'ni Steph. de Seagrave. Amongst others, Tho. de Esteley is a witnesse. I take it to be in the beginning of H. III. tyme. The armes in the seale are these, 6 piles a canton varie. I am this morninge goinge to my honoured friend

Sir Chr. Hatton, with whom I thinke I shall stay a monthe. I intreate you to see for what more deedes or other things of consequence you have to fitt me with; and after my returne I shall be bold to see you. Thus, wishing you all health and prosperitye, doe with my best respects remembered, rest, at your service,

"WM. Dugdale, Blanch Lyon."

This great Antiquary was also visiting his said friend in May preceding, as appears by his neat copy of a curious deed before me, thus inscribed: "Ex autographo, penes Chr. Hatton, miln. baln. Maij. 3°, 1639." It is Robert Earl of Leicester's grant to the monastery of Alcester, in Warwickshire, as printed in the Monasticon, tom. I. p. 471. This copy contains several explanatory notes, by Burton, of places in Leicestershire, &c.

1798, Dec.

S. S.

CXIII. On the Authenticity of the Arabian Tales, by Dr. Russell.

MR. URBAN,

HAVING remarked that several of your correspondents have solicited information concerning the Arabic MSS. of the Arabian Nights Entertainments now in England, and finding my name occasionally introduced with that of Mr. Professor White, I sit down to communicate what I know of the matter, in hopes that the learned Professor, as well as others who have it in their power, may be induced to answer the queries of your correspondent in a manner much more satisfactory.

In a note, in the last edition of the Natural History of Aleppo, I have asserted, "that the Arabian Tales, a Thousand and One Nights, is a scarce book at Aleppo; that, after much inquiry, I found only two volumes, containing 280 Nights, and with difficulty obtained leave to have a copy taken. I was shewn (1771) more than one complete copy in the Vatican library; and one at Paris in the King's libra ry, said also to be complete." It may be proper to add here, that what is said of the Vatican and Parisian MSS. of which I had only a transient view, rests on the authority of the librarians.

The first three volumes of M. Galland's translation contaius 238 Nights; in the succeeding three volumes, each

story proceeds uninterruptedly. The repetition of the Dialogue between the two sisters at the beginning and conclusion of each Night, which is continued throughout the MS. was intentionally omitted by M. Galland, after the first volume.

From the beginning to the 75th Night, with some slight variation in the division of Nights, the MS. and the translation agree. The story of the three Calenders terminates in the MS. in the 75th Night; in the translation, in the 69th.

The story of Sinbad, which occupies from the 70th to the 91st Night in the translation, is entirely wanting in my MS. the story of three Apples following immediately that of the Calenders, and terminating in the 79th Night; whereas in the translation, the story of the Apples terminates in the 93d Night, on account of the intervening story of Sinbad.

From the 93d Night in the translation (MS. 80) to the 210th (MS. 200) the stories, with little variation, proceed in the same series; but after that there is a total deviation from the order preserved in the MS.; for, the story of Noureddin Aly, which in the MS. is continued from Night 200 to 229, does not appear in the French translation till the beginning of the 4th volume, and is followed by the story of BiderPrince of Persia, which in the MS. commences in the 229th Night, and ends in Night 272. Part of the story of Camaralzaman, from Night 272 to 281, finishes the MS. while that story, in the translation, is found in the 3d volume, comprehended in 17 Nights, from 211 to 228. The stories related in the other ten Nights of that volume are not in the MS.

From the foregoing detail, there seems no ground to doubt that M. Galland translated from a copy similar to the MS. now in my possession. In the conduct of the principal incidents, as well as in the termination of the tales, there is no material disagreement. The variation remarked in the division of the Nights, and arrangement of the stories, may easily be accounted for.

In general, with respect to the translation, no doubt great liberty, in accommodation to French manners, has been taken with the original. A reason for omitting the stanzas and elegies, which occur so frequently throughout the MS. has been assigned in M. Galland's Preface; and a few scenes, too licentiously described in the original, have with propriety been softened or suppressed: but other descriptions, though expressive of Oriental costume, have with less reason been omitted, particularly two Nights in vol. II. p. 155. It may be remarked also, that M. Galland is sometimes exuberant

far beyond the original, and inserts in the narrative what is rather a commentary for the European reader, than suitable to the characters of the drama.

Mr. Richardson, in his excellent Grammar, has observed, respecting the story of the barber's fifth brother, "that the deviation from the original is greater than even a free translation seemed to require;" a remark which may justly be extended to many other parts of the translation, after every

allowance is made for variation in the MSS.

The MS. from which Mr. Richardson translated the story of Alnaschar, must, like mine, have wanted the story of Sinbad, the story of Alnaschar beginning in both --MSS. in the 162d Night; but in M. Galland's translation (on account, as before observed, of Sinbad's adventures intervening) it begins in the 176th Night.

In a considerable number of separate tales which I collected in the East, I find but few contained in M. Galland's translation. Among these are the first eight Nights of the Arabian Nights, with this variation, that the fable of the ass, the ox, and the labourer, in Galland's, vol. I. p. 25, is related by the third old man, instead of a story in favour of the merchant. These eight Nights stand under the title of the Merchant and the Genie; but the narrative is uninterrupted, and without any intimation whence it was borrowed. There is another story, under the title of the Khalif and the Fisherman, a fragment much abridged and mutilated, evidently also from the Arabian Nights; without any acknowledgment. There is one more," The story of the fair Persian" (Galland, vol. IV.); which, though rather more full, agrees in general with the MS. of the Arabian Nights; but is remarkable on account of its mention of coffee, which I do not recollect meeting with in any part of the Arabian Nights; the genuine tales being probably of an older date than the introduction of the use of coffee into Arabia.

I suspect, therefore, this last circumstance, as well as some introduced by way of amplification in other places, to be modern additions; and this the rather, from having remarked that, in copies made from my own MS. the scribes were little scrupulous in abridging descriptions, changing words, and adding decorations, as fancy happened to lead; a licence not assumed in MSS. of serious import, which are always carefully compared and corrected.

In respect to the continuation of the Arabian Nights, published in 1792, I find, in my miscellaneous collection abovementioned, the three first stories in the first volume; the third story in the second; and the first and thirteenth of

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