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turn, and they were ever in harmony each with other, while on similar wise their wives continued in the love of Allah Almighty and in thanksgiving to Him; and the peoples and the provinces were at peace, and the preachers prayed for them from the pulpits, and their report was bruited abroad and the travelers bore tidings of them to all lands. In due time King Shahryar summoned chronicles and copyists, and bade them write all that had betided him with his wife, first and last; so they wrote this and named it "The Stories of the Thousand Nights and A Night." The book came to thirty volumes, and these the King laid up in his treasure. And the two brothers abode with their wives in all pleasaunce and solace of life and its delights, for that indeed Allah the Most High had changed their annoy into joy; and on this wise they continued till there took them the Destroyer of delights and the Severer of societies, the Desolator of dwelling-places, and Garnerer of grave-yards, and they were translated to the ruth of Almighty Allah; their houses fell waste and their palaces lay in ruins, and the Kings inherited their riches. Then there reigned after them a wise ruler, who was just, keen-witted, and accomplished, and loved tales and legends, especially those which chronicle the doings of Sovrans and Sultans, and he found in the treasury these marvellous stories and wondrous histories, contained in the thirty volumes aforesaid. So he read in them a first book and a second and a third and so on to the last of them, and each book astounded and delighted him more than that which preceded it, till he came to the end of them. Then he admired what so he had read therein of description and discourse and rare traits and anecdotes and moral instances and reminiscences, and bade the folk copy them and dispread them over all lands and climes; wherefore their report was bruited abroad and the people named them "The marvels and wonders of the Thousand Nights and A Night." This is all that hath come down to us of the origin of this book, and Allah is All-knowing. So Glory be to Him Whom the Shifts of Time waste not away, nor doth aught of chance or change affect His sway! Whom one case diverteth not from other case, and Who is sole in the attributes of perfect grace. And prayer and the Peace be upon the Lord's Pontiff and Chosen One among His creatures, our Lord MOHAMMED, the Prince of mankind, through whom we supplicate Him for a goodly and a godly end.

438

ARABIC POETRY.

(Translation of C. J. Lyall)

PATIENCE.

(From Ibrahim, Son of Kunaif of Nabhan.)

Be patient: for free-born men to bear is the fairest thing,
And refuge against Time's wrong or help from his hurt is none;
And if it availed man aught to bow him to fluttering Fear,
Or if he could ward off hurt by humbling himself to Ill,
To bear with a valiant front the full brunt of every stroke
And onset of Fate were still the fairest and best of things.
But how much the more, when none outruns by a span his Doom,
And refuge from God's decree nor was nor will ever be,

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And sooth, if the changing Days have wrought us their wonted

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A lot mixed of weal and woe, yet one thing they could not do:
They have not made soft or weak the stock of our sturdy spear;
They have not abased our hearts to doing of deeds of shame.
We offer to bear their weight, a handful of noble souls:
Though lader beyond all weight of man, they uplift the load.
So shield we with Patience fair our souls from the stroke of Shame;
Our honors are whole and sound, though others be lean enow.

ABU SAKHR.

(On a lost love. From the "Hamásah.")

By Him who brings weeping and laughter | who deals Death and Life as He wills

she left me to envy the wild deer | that graze twain and twain

without fear!

Oh, love of her, heighten my heart's pain, | and strengthen the pang every night;

oh, comfort that days bring, forgetting the last of all days be

thy tryst!

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I marvelled how swiftly the time sped | between us, the moment we

met;

but when that brief moment was ended how wearily dragged he

his feet!

AN ADDRESS TO THE BELOVED.

(By Abu l-'Ata of Sind. From the “Hamásah.”)

Or thee did I dream, while spears between us were quivering — and sooth, of our blood full deep had drunken the tawny shafts! I know not by Heaven I swear, and here is the word I say!— this pang, is it love-sickness, or wrought by a spell from thee? If it be a spell, then grant me grace of thy love-longingif other the sickness be, then none is the guilt of thine!

A FORAY.

(By Ja'far ibn 'Ulbah. From the "Hamásab.")

THAT even when, under Sábhal's twin peaks, upon us drave the horsemen, troop upon troop, and the foeman pressed us

sore

They said to us, "Two things lie before you; now must ye choose the points of the spears couched at ye; or if ye will not, chains!" We answered them, "Yea this thing may fall to you after the fight, when men shall be left on ground, and none shall arise again; But we know not, if we quail before the assault of Death,

how much may be left of life the goal is too dim to see." We rode to the strait of battle; there cleared us a space, around the white swords in our right hands which the smiths had fur

bished fair.

On them fell the edge of my blade, on that day of Sabhal date;
And mine was the share thereof, wherever my fingers closed.

FATALITY.

(By Katari, ibn al-Fujâ'ah, ibn Ma'zin. From the "Hamásah.")

I SAID to her, when she fled in amaze and breathless
before the array of battle, "Why dost thou tremble?
Yea, if but a day of Life thou shouldst beg with weeping,
beyond what thy Doom appoints, thou wouldst not gain it!
Be still, then; and face the onset of Death, high-hearted,
for none upon earth shall win to abide forever.

No raiment of praise the cloak of old age and weakness;
none such for the coward who bows like a reed in the tempest.
The pathway of death is set for all men to travel.

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the crier of Death proclaims through the earth his empire. Who dies not when young and sound, dies old and weary cut off in his length of days from all love and kindness; And what for a man is left of delight of living,

past use

flung away

a worthless and worn-out chattel?"

IMPLACABILITY.

(By al-Fadl, ibn al-Abbas, ibn Utbah. From the "Hamásah.")

SONS of our uncle, peace! Cousins of ours, be still!

drag not to light from its grave the strife that we buried there. Hope not for honor from us, while ye heap upon us shame,

or think that we shall forbear from vexing when ye vex us. Sons of our uncle, peace! lay not our rancor raw;

walk now gently awhile, as once ye were wont to go. Ay, God knows that we, we love you not, in sooth!

and that we blame ye not that ye have no love for us. Each of us has his ground for the loathing his fellow moves: a grace it is from the Lord that we hate yeye us!

PARENTAL AFFECTION.

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(A poem by Hittân ibn al-Mu'allà of Tayyi. From the "Hamásah.")
FORTUNE has brought me down-her wonted way
from stature high and great, to low estate;
Fortune has rent away my plenteous store;
of all my wealth, honor alone is left.

Fortune has turned my joy to tears - how oft
did Fortune make me laugh with what she gave!
But for these girls, the kata's downy brood,

unkindly thrust from door to door as hard
Far would I roam, and wide, to seek my bread,
in earth, that has no lack of breadth and length.
Nay, but our children in our midst, what else

but our hearts are they, walking on the ground?
If but the breeze blow harsh on one of them,

mine eye says "no" to slumber, all night long!

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DOMINIQUE FRANÇOIS ARAGO.

ARAGO, DOMINIQUE FRANÇOIS, an eminent French statesman, astronomer and physicist; born near Perpignan, February 26, 1786; died in Paris, Oct. 2, 1853. His biographical notices of distinguished men of science hold a high place in literature for clearness of thought and beauty of style. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies after the revolution of 1830, he eloquently took part with the advanced republicans. After the fall of Louis Philippe in 1848, he effected, as Minister of War and of Marine, many salutary reforms, such as the abolition of flogging in the navy and of negro slavery in the colonies. His scientific observations and discoveries were numerous and important. English translations of separate portions of his works have been published, notably his " Autobiography;" "Popular Lectures on Astronomy; ""Meteorological Essays; " and " Biographies of Scien

tific Men."

FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

THE members of the Institute were always presented to the Emperor after he had confirmed their nominations. On the appointed day, in company with the presidents, with the secretaries of the four classes, and with the Academicians who had special publications to offer to the Chief of the State, they assembled in one of the saloons of the Tuileries. When the Emperor returned from mass, he held a kind of review of these. savants, these artists, these literary men, in green uniform.

I must own that the spectacle which I witnessed on the day of my presentation did not edify me. I even experienced real displeasure in seeing the anxiety evinced by members of the Institute to be themselves noticed.

"You are very young," said Napoleon to me on coming near me; and without waiting for a flattering reply, which it would not have been difficult to find, he added, "What is your name?" And my neighbor on the right, not leaving me time to answer the certainly simple enough question just addressed to me, hastened to say:

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