context.
91. Megnoun and Leilah These personages are esteemed amongst the Arabians as the most beautiful, chaste, and impassioned of lovers; and their amours have been celebrated with all the charms of verse, in every Oriental language. The Mahometans regard them, and the poetical records of their love, in the same light as the Bridegroom and Spouse, and the Song of Songs, are regarded by the Jews.—D’Herbelot, p. 573.
92. ... they still detained him in the harem Noureddin, who was as old as Gulchenrouz, had a similar indulgence of resorting to the harem, and no less availed himself of it.—Arabian Nights, vol. iii, pp. 9, 10.
93. ... dart the lance in the chase Throwing the lance was a favourite pastime with the young Arabians; and so expert were they in this practice (which prepared them for the mightier conflicts, both of the chase and of war), that they could bear off a ring on the points of their javelins.—Richardson’s Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations, pp. 198, 281.
94. Shaddukian and Ambreabad These were two cities of the peris, in the imaginary region of Ginnistan: the former signifies pleasure and desire, the latter, the city of Ambergris.—See Richardson’s Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations, p. 169.
95. ... a spoon of cocknos The cocknos is a bird whose beak is much esteemed for its beautiful polish, and sometimes used as a spoon. Thus, in the History of Atalmulck and Zelica Begum, it was employed for a similar purpose: “Zelica having called for refreshment, six old slaves instantly brought in and distributed Mahramas, and then served about in a great basin of Martabam, a salad made of herbs of various kinds, citron juice, and the pith of cucumbers. They served it first to the Princess in a cocknos beak: she took a beak of the salad, ate it, and gave another to the next slave that sat by her on her right hand; which slave did as her mistress had done.”
96. Ghouls Ghoul, or ghul, in Arabic, signifies any terrifying object, which deprives people of the use of their senses. Hence it became the appellative of that species of monster which was supposed to haunt forests, cemeteries, and other lonely places; and believed not only to tear in pieces the living, but to dig up and devour the dead.—Richardson’s Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations, pp. 174, 274. That kind of insanity called by the Arabians Kutrub (a word signifying not only a wolf, but likewise a male Ghoul), which incites such as are afflicted with it to roam howling amidst those melancholy haunts, may cast some light on the nature of the possession recorded by St. Mark, ch. v, I, etc.
97. ... feathers of the heron, all sparkling with carbuncles Panaches of this kind are amongst the attributes of Eastern royalty.—Tales of Inatulla, vol. ii, p. 205.
98. ... whose eyes pervade the inmost soul of a female The original in this instance, as in the others already noticed, is more analogous to the French than the English idiom: “Dont l’œil pénètre jusqu’à la moelle des jeunes filles.”
99. ... the carbuncle of Giamschid This mighty potentate was the fourth sovereign of the dynasty of the Pischadians, and brother or nephew to Tahamurath. His proper name was Giam or Gem, and Schid, which in the language of the ancient Persians denominated the sun: an addition ascribed by some to the majesty of his person, and by others to the splendour of his actions. One of the most magnificent monuments of his reign was the city of Istakhar, of which Tahamurath had laid the foundations. This city, at present called Gihil-, or Tchil-minar, from the forty columns reared in it by Homai, or (according to our author and others) by Soliman Ben Daoud, was known to the Greeks by the name of Persepolis; and there is still extant in the East a tradition, that, when Alexander burnt the edifices of the Persian kings, seven stupendous structures of Giamschid were consumed with his palace. This prince, after having subjected to his empire seven vast provinces of Upper Asia, and enjoyed in peace a long reign (which some authors have protracted to 700 years), became intoxicated with his greatness; and, foolishly fancying it would have no end, arrogated to himself divine honours. But the Almighty raised up, even in his own house, a terrible instrument to abase his pride, by whom he was easily overcome, and driven into exile. The author of Giame al tavatikh mentions the cup, or concave mirror of Giamschid, formed of a gem, and called the cup of the sun. To this vessel the Persian poets often refer, and allegorize it in different ways. They attribute to it the property of exhibiting everything in the compass of nature, and even some things that are preternatural. The gem it consisted of appears to be the carbuncle or oriental ruby; which, from its resemblance to a burning coal, and the splendour it was supposed to emit in the dark, was called Schebgerag, or, the torch of the night. According to Strabo, it obtained its high estimation amongst the Persians, who were worshippers of fire, from its igneous qualities; and perhaps those virtues for which it hath been styled “the first of stones.” Milton had a learned retrospect to its fabulous powers, in describing the Old Serpent:
... his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes—
D’Herbelot, pp. 392, 395, 780, etc. Brighte, On Melancholie, p. 321. Paradise Lost, IX, 499.
100. ... have you false keys? Come to the dark chamber It was the office of Shaban, as chief eunuch, to keep the key of the ladies’ apartment. In the Story of Ganem, Haroun al Raschid commands Mesrour, the chief of the eunuchs, “to take the perfidious Fetnah, and shut her up in the dark tower.” That tower was within the inclosure of the palace, and commonly served as a prison for the favourites who might chance to disgust the caliph.
101. ... their faith is mutually plighted When females in the East are betrothed, their palms and fingers are tinged of a crimson colour, with the herb hinnah. This is called “the crimson of consent.”—Tales of Inatulla, vol. ii, p. 15.
102. ... violate the rights of hospitality So high an idea of these rights prevails amongst the Arabians, that “a bread and salt traitor,” is the most opprobrious invective with which one person can reproach another.—Richardson’s Dissertation on the Languages, etc., of Eastern Nations, p. 219. See also the Story of Ali Baba and The Forty Thieves, in the Arabian Nights, vol. iv, p. 166.
103. ... narcotic powder A drug of the same quality, mixed in lemonade, is given to Zobeide, in the Story of Ganem.
104. Funeral vestments were prepared; their bodies washed, etc. The rites here practised had obtained from the earliest ages. Most of them may be found in Homer and the other poets of Greece. Lucian describes the dead in his time as washed, perfumed, vested, and crowned, ὡραιος ανθεσιν, with the flowers most in season; or, according to other writers, those in particular which the deceased were wont to prefer. The elegant editor of the Ruins of Palmyra mentions the fragments of a mummy found there, the hair of which was plaited exactly in the manner as worn at present by the women of Arabia. The burial dress from the days of Homer hath been commonly white, and amongst Mahometans is made without a seam, that it may not