University of Virginia Library

INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST VOLUME.

The Translator of "The History of Antar"
being out of England, it is not in the
Editor's power to give to the reader much
preliminary information on the contents
or nature of the Epic Tale, which is now
for the first time in part submitted to the
European Public.

Antar is no imaginary personage. He
was the son of an Arab Prince of the tribe
of Abs, by a black woman, whom his father
had made captive in a predatory excursion:
and he raised himself by the heroic qualities
which he displayed from his earliest

youth, and by his extraordinary genius for
poetry, from the state of slavery in which
he was born, to the confidence of his king,
and to a pre-eminence above all the Chiefs
of Arabia. He flourished during the close
of the sixth, and the early part of the
seventh century, of the Christian æra;
there is, consequently, little or no allusion
to the customs or institutions of Islamism
throughout the work; though the Hero is
frequently designated as "He by whom
God organized the earth and the world for
the appearance of the Lord of slaves."

The following Romance, as it may be
called, was first put together, probably
from traditionary tales current at the time,
by Osmay, one of the eminent scholars
who adorned the courts of Haroun-al-Raschid,
and of his two learned successors,
Al-Amyn, and Al-Mamoun; and
it still continues to be the principal source

whence the story-tellers of the coffeehouses
in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, draw
their most interesting tales: but, notwithstanding
its general circulation in the Levant,
the name of Antar is hitherto only
known to us in Europe as that of the
Author of one of the seven poems, suspended
in the temple of Mecca, and from
that circumstance called The Moallakat.

The Author of this poem, and the Hero
of our history, are identified, as well by the
similar names which occur in both, as by
the insertion of the poem itself in the body
of the history, when, after much persecution
and opposition, Antar at length
succeeds in suspending the poem within
the Holy Sanctuary which surrounds the
Kaaba.

There is reason to believe that this is
the first attempt to transpose into an
European language a real Arabian story,

depicting the original manners of the Arabs
of the desert, uncorrupted by the artificial
and refined customs of the neighbouring
cities in Syria, Egypt, and Persia.

The characteristics of the real Arabs or
Bedowins are here presented in their native
simplicity. An eager desire for the
property of their neighbour; an unconquerable
fondness for strife and battle; a
singular combination of profuse hospitality
with narrow economy—quick perception
—deep cunning—great personal courage,
a keen sense of honour, respect for their
women, and a warm admiration and ready
use of the poetical beauties of their unrivalled
language.

The supposition of the learned orientalist
Mons. Langles, that the Thousand and
One Nights were originally composed in
the Pehlevi, or the old Persian, and from
that language translated into Arabic, appears

still more probable, when we observe
the rich and gorgeous descriptions of the
works of art and nature which abound in
them—their enchanted palaces—their sultans
and viziers, and all the attendant
magnificence of a court; their genii and
magicians—their want of individual character
in the leading personages;—and when
we contrast with those details the simple
manners of the Kings and Chieftains of the
desert, portrayed in this Romance; their
rudetents; the familiarity with which they
live amongst each other, controlled only
by the rules of patriarchal authority; the
almost total absence of supernatural agents;
and above all, the striking distinctions of
character, which mark the whole progress
of the story. In this work indeed, The
Subordination of the warriors and others,
whether of high or low rank, to the irresistible
Antar; in undaunted courage; in
active prowess; in intellectual acquirements;
in public spirit; in the ardour of
his love; in the excellence of his poetry;
and in acts of private generosity and benevolence,
is strictly consistent with the
best rules which the Critics have derived
from the Homeric writings, for the conduct
of the Heroic poem.

In an adherence to these rules indeed,
the early European writers of Romantic Adventures,
who followed the age of Charlemagne,
and to whom, perhaps, Antar was
better known than to their successors, did
not follow the steps of their prototype.
But whether he really deserve that appellation,
that is, whether from the frequent intercourse
between the Eastern and Western
kingdoms of the Roman world, in the
8th, 9th and 10th centuries, our Romance
writers imbibed their taste for the adventures
of Chivalry from this singular Tale,

is a question, to the solution of which we
may look forward, when the whole of it
shall be before the public. It may be observed,
however, that little more was wanting,
in order to compose the Romances
of the middle age, than to engraft on the
war, love, and courtesy of the Arabs, the
splendid and soft luxuries of the other
countries of the East, the witchcraft of
Africa, the religious fervour of the South
of Europe, and the gloomy superstitions of
the North.

The Editor abstains from adding any
further observations at present upon this
subject. It had been his intention to request
the indulgence of the reader for the
oriental phraseology which frequently occurs
in the following pages; but he prefers
leaving the public to form their own opinion
how far the Translator has rightly
judged, in presenting a literal translation

of his original, by which the Arabic idioms
might be best preserved, rather than (by
giving to it a strictly English dress, and
thereby destroying its native freshness), to
have been led into an indulgence of ornament,
which would have been equally remote
from the nice refinement of the languages
of Europe, and from the copious
simplicity of that of the desert.