ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES [Illustration: Cover] _Three Vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra, 7s. 6d. each._ THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS: Commonly called, in England, "THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS." A New Translation from the Arabic, with copious Notes, by EDWARD WILLIAM LANE. Illustrated by many hundred Engravings on Wood, from Original Designs by WILLIAM HARVEY. A New Edition, from a Copy annotated by the Translator, edited by his Nephew, EDWARD STANLEY POOLE. With a Preface by STANLEY LANE-POOLE. _CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY, W._ ARABIAN SOCIETY IN THE MIDDLE AGES STUDIES FROM _THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS_ BY EDWARD WILLIAM LANE HON. DOCTOR OF LITERATURE, LEYDEN CORRESPONDANT DE L'INSTITUT DE FRANCE EDITED BY HIS GRANDNEPHEW STANLEY LANE-POOLE B.A., M.R.A.S., LAUREAT DE L'INSTITUT [Illustration] London CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY 1883 [_All rights reserved_] PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. TO THE MEMORY OF E. H. PALMER, THE TRUE SUCCESSOR OF EDWARD WILLIAM LANE, IN HIS INSIGHT INTO EASTERN CHARACTER AND THOUGHT AND HIS GENIUS FOR THE ARABIC LANGUAGE, THIS BOOK IS SORROWFULLY DEDICATED. PREFACE. When Mr. Lane translated the "Thousand and One Nights," he was not content with producing a mere rendering of the Arabic text: he saw that the manners and ideas there described required a commentary if they were to become intelligible to an unlearned reader. At the end of each chapter of his translation, therefore, he appended a series of explanatory notes, which often reached the proportions of elaborate essays on the main characteristics of Mohammadan life. These notes have long been recognized by Orientalists as the most complete picture in existence of Arabian society--or rather of those Arab, Persian, or Greek, but still Mohammadan, conditions of life and boundaries of the mental horizon which are generally distinguished by the name of Arabian. Their position and arrangement, however, scattered as they were through three large volumes, and inserted in the order required not by their subjects but by the tales they illustrated, rendered them difficult to consult, and cumbrous, if not impossible, to read consecutively. It has often been suggested that a reprint of the principal notes, in a convenient form and in natural sequence, would be a welcome addition to the scholar's as well as to the general library. The publication of a new impression of the "Thousand and One Nights" presented an opportunity for discussing the project; and the result is the present volume.