Transcriber’s Note: The page numbering in the original book wasmisprinted: page numbers 177-180 were omitted, but no pages are actuallymissing.
ANTAR,
A BEDOUEEN ROMANCE.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC.
BY TERRICK HAMILTON, ESQ.
ORIENTAL SECRETARY TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY
AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1819.
London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co.
Cleveland Row, St. James’s.
The Translator of “The History of Antar”being out of England, it is not in theEditor’s power to give to the reader muchpreliminary information on the contentsor nature of the Epic Tale, which is nowfor the first time in part submitted to theEuropean Public.
Antar is no imaginary personage. Hewas the son of an Arab Prince of thetribe of Abs, by a black woman, whomhis father had made captive in a predatoryexcursion: and he raised himself by theheroic qualities which he displayed fromhis earliest youth, and by his extraordinary[ii]genius for poetry, from the state ofslavery in which he was born, to the confidenceof his king, and to a preeminenceabove all the Chiefs of Arabia. He flourishedduring the close of the sixth, and theearly part of the seventh century, of theChristian æra; there is, consequently, littleor no allusion to the customs or institutionsof Islamism throughout the work;though the Hero is frequently designatedas “He by whom God organized theearth and the world for the appearance ofthe Lord of slaves.”
The following Romance, as it may becalled, was first put together, probablyfrom traditionary tales current at thetime, 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 itstill continues to be the principal sourcewhence the story-tellers of the coffee-houses[iii]in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, drawtheir most interesting tales: but, notwithstanding,its general circulation in theLevant, the name of Antar is hithertoonly known to us in Europe, as that ofthe Author of one of the seven poems, suspendedin the temple of Mecca, and fromthat circumstance called, The Moallakat.
The Author of this poem, and the Heroof our history, are identified, as well by thesimilar names which occur; in both; as bythe insertion of the poem itself in the bodyof the history, when, after much persecutionand opposition, Antar at length succeedsin suspending the poem within theHoly Sanctuary which surrounds theKaaba.
There is reason to believe that this isthe first attempt to transpose into anEuropean language, a real Arabian story,depicting the original manners of theArabs of the desert, uncorrupted by the[iv]artificial and refined customs of the neighbouringcities in Syria, Egypt, and Persia.
The characteristics of the real Arabsor Bedowins are here presented in theirnative simplicity. An eager desire for theproperty of their neighbour; an unconquerablefondness for strife and battle;a singular combination of profuse hospitality,with narrow economy—quick perception—deepcunning—great personalcourage, a keen sense of honour, respectfor their women, and a warm admirationand ready use of the poetical beauties oftheir unrivalled language.
The supposition of the learned orientalistMons. Langlès, that the Thousand andOne Nights