Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/28

22 1708, is a transcript of the lengthy title of a succeeding volume as under:—

"Arabian Nights Entertainments: Consisting of 1,001 Stories, told by the Sultaness of the Indies, to divert the Sultan from the Execution of a bloody Vow he had made, to Marry a Lady every Day, and have her cut off next Morning; to avenge himself for the Disloyalty of his first Sultaness, &c. Containing a better Account of the Customs, Manners, and Religion, of the Eastern Nations, viz., Persians and Indians, than is to be met with by any Author hitherto published. Translated into French from the Arabian MSS., by Monsieur Galland, of the Royal Academy; and now done into English. Vol. VII. Twelves. Printed for A. Bell at the Cross Keys and Bible in Cornhill. Where may be had the other Six Volumes."

I do not know if a copy of this first edition is extant, but Mr. Arundell Esdaile, in his valuable ' List of English Tales and Prose Romances printed before 1740,' which has recently been issued by the Bibliographical Society, notes the following editions as being in the British Museum (p. 149) :

" The Second Edition. For A. Bell. 1712. 12mo. 6 or 8 vols. ? (B.M. 12410 bbb. 32. Vols. 3, 4)."

" The Fourth Edition [sic]. For A. Bell. 1713 12mo. 6 or 8 vols. ? (B.M. 12410 bbb. 32. Vols. 1, 2)."

" The Third Edition [sic]. For A. Bell. 1715. 12mo. 6 or 8 vols. ? (B.M. 12410 bbb. 32. Vols. 5, 6)."

I have in my own collection a copy of the work, which is called " The Fifth Edition " on the title-page, and is dated 1718. The title is an exact replica of that which I have copied from the ' Term Catalogues,' but the work is complete in two volumes, and it ends with ' The Story of the Three Callen- ders, Sons of Kings, and of the Five Ladies of Bagdad.' The subsequent volumes, con taining the remainder of the tales, were also probably published in pairs.

Lowndes mentions an edition in six volumes which was published in 1724 (Bindley, pt. i. 10, 18$. 6c?.), and vindicates the taste and virtue of his own day by remarking that " this old translation is not only incorrect, but coarse and vulgar in its diction." Mr. Esdaile notes that parts ix.- xii. in 2 vols. were " advertised, as com pleting the work, by D. Browne, jun., and S Chapman, in ' The Memoirs of the Baron de Brosse," 1725. Parts "5 and 6 ? " " never before in English ," " are advertised by Browne in F^nelon's * Fables.' 1723."

Since that date ' The Arabian Nights,' in its original form as presented to English readers, has been reprinted in hundreds of editions. That which was the unfailing friend and companion of my own boyhooc

was printed in 1843 by C. Whittingham of TJhiswick in three tiny tomes for the adven- turous Thomas Tegg of Cheapside. After nearly seventy years and many wanderings n the lands of its " begettings," it is still yithin easy reach of my hand, and notwith- standing its " coarseness and vulgarity," I still prefer its " diction " to the more polished and erudite phrasing of Lane, Burton, Payne, and the other scholars of more recent times whose versions do such distinguished credit to the Oriental learning and literary attainments of our countrymen* W. F. PBIDEAUX.

THE FORGED c SPEECHES AND

PRAYERS' OF THE REGICIDES.

(See 11 S. vii. 301, 341, 383, 442,502.)

VI. THE EVIDENCE ABOUT JOHN COOKED

OOKE'S case is a crucial test of the truth of the ' Speeches and Prayers.' The pamphlet devotes immensely lengthy passages to- Cooke. Long treatises in favour of Re- publicanism in the form of letters asserted, to have been written by him are set out. But whoever reads the scurrilous and semi- illiterate pamphlets published by Cooke in? 1648 and 1649 cannot fail to notice that the letters in the ' Speeches and Prayers ' were, both in thought and language, written by a more highly educated man than Cooke. Apart from this, the question is whether Cooke died penitent and praying for the King. According to the ' Speeches and Prayers,' he certainly did not, but gloried in his crime even more than Harrison. As against this there are the following witnesses :.

" Tuesday Octob. 16. This day John Cooke,. whose tryal you heard at large in our last, was executed at Charing Cross. He carried himself at his execution (as well as at his tryal) much ; better than could be expected from one that acted such a part in that horrid arraignment of our late soveraign ; for, not to wrong him, he express'd exceeding much penitence and, which best became him, heartily prayed for his Majesty that now is,, and taking notice of Hugh Peters that was exe- cuted next after him, wish'd he might be reprieved because, at present, as he conceived, he was not prepared to dye." Mercurius Publicity, 11-18 Oct., 1660.

William Smith wrote :

" On Tuesday, despairing Hugh Peters and John Cook, the only penitent, were hanged." Hist. MSS. Commission's Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 174.

The ' True and Perfect Relation of the Grand Tray tors' Execution ' (669. f. 26 [31]) also says :

" On Tuesday October 16 Mr. Cooke was drawn in a hurdle from Newgate to Charing Cross-