of Eastern tales. The East is the ancient and native country of fabulous histories. The ever-active fancy of the people, their love of adventures, their belief in spirits, and their fondness for lively stories, are attested by numerous travellers. This character appears in the amusements of their coffee-houses and caravansaries. It gave rise (perhaps first in India and Persia) to those thousand fables, which, contrary to Mohammed's express command, found in Arabia a second home, and were spread, with alterations and improvements, first separately, and afterwards in large collections, through all Europe. Many of them found their way thither in the time of the crusades or sooner. They were the inexhaustible fountains which supplied the writers of the French fabliaux, and the story-tellers and fabulists of Germany. In the beginning of the 18th century (1704), the collection which had long existed in the East, under the above title, was introduced to the literary men of Europe, and, in a short time, to the public generally, by means of the translation of Ant. Galland, a distinguished French Orientalist. Its appearance was hailed with universal delight, and it became one of the most popular works in all Europe. The manuscript of Galland, now in the royal library at Paris, was incomplete. The interest inspired by the work led to more careful investigation; and, in the year 1788, appeared at Paris the New Thousand and one Nights, by Chaois and Cazotte, from a manuscript deposited in the royal library by the former, who was a native Arab. The genuineness of the book was, at first, suspected, on account of the freedom which the editors used with the original; but the suspicion was afterwards proved to be without foundation. Much is due, however, to Caussin de Perceval, the successor of Galland in the chair of the Arabic professorship, who made a new version, in 1806, from the original text, and to the improved copy of Galland added the conclusion of the whole. But many defects still remained, and many lost passages were yet to be found. The work, however, was not rendered complete by the improved translation of Jonathan Scott, in 1811, nor by the last edition of Galland's Mille et une Nuits, prepared by Gautiers, aided by Langlés, and published in 1822. It was reserved for the German literati to put a finishing stroke to this rich collection, by the use of manuscripts before unknown. In 1823-4, appeared a German translation, superintended by

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Zinserling, of a splendid collection of new tales, which had been found at Rosetti, in Egypt, and a French translation of which had been unaccountably lost. The German translation was ushered into the world by Mr. von Hammer. Still more valuable was a Tunisian manuscript in the possession of professor Habicht, of Breslau, by the assistance of which every defect was corrected, and, with the advice of two other learned men, a German translation was made, far excelling every previous one-Tausend und eine Nacht, vollständig übersetzt, von Max. Habicht, v. der Hagen und K. Schall, (the Thousand and one Nights, translated in full, by Max. Habicht, v. der Hagen and K. Schall), 15 vols. 12mo. Breslau, 1825; also the original Arabic was published by doctor Habicht, with a glossary, in 1 vol., Breslau, 1825. A Danish translation of the Arabic text, printed in Calcutta, in 1814, has been published by Rasmussen, professor of Oriental languages at Copenhagen (1st vol., Copenhagen, 1824). With these exertions to restore to its original beauty and value one of the most remarkable monuments of Eastern manners, inquiries into the origin of the Arabian Nights were also prosecuted with success. It was easy to show that the position maintained by Caussin, that the work was a production of the 16th century, was untenable, and every other hypothesis which considers them as all composed at the same time. Von Hammer certainly took a more correct view of the subject. It was his opinion, that these fables sprung up in the soil of India, were afterwards transplanted to Persia, and finally made Arabian property by a translation into that language, in the time of the caliph Al Mansur, about 30 years before the time of Haroun al Raschid, the contemporary of Charlemagne. After a time, new branches, native and exotic, were grafted upon this original stock, which soon sent forth new shoots, like the parent tree. And no one can doubt the reasonableness of this opinion, who knows that stories of this sort allow of the introduction of every circumstance and every event in any way connected with the subject of the tale; and, in fact, it is plain, that many of these fables have a later origin and another home. cording to Jonathan Scott, no two manuscripts in different countries agree; the copies found in every nation are corrupted by the traditions of the people. The story which forms the point of union among the Thousand and one Nights is

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as follows:-The sultan Schahriar, exasperated by the faithlessness of his bride, made a law, that every one of his future wives should be put to death the morning after marriage. At length one of them, named Sheherazade, the generous daughter of the grand vizier, succeeded in abolishing the cruel custom. By the charm of her stories, the fair narrator induced the sultan to defer her execution every day till the dawn of another, by breaking off in the middle of an interesting tale which she had begun to relate. Thus passed a thousand and one nights,-two years and nine months,—and, in the course of this period, Sheherazade became the mother of three children. These she led before the throne of her husband. The stern monarch was melted by her tears; he clasped his wife and children to his bosom, gave Sheherazade her life, and required of her no return, but the frequent relation of some of those tales, which had often kept him fascinated with delight at her side. Only a part of this story was known to the first French translator of the work; the conclusion was unknown till von Hammer discovered the circumstances just related, and laid them before the world. The delight felt by Schahriar has been felt by thousands more of his own faith, and still continues in the greatest part of Asia, in Egypt, and along the southern shores of the Mediterranean. It has been spread by the translations through the countries of Christian Europe, and will continue as long as men delight in the phenomena of a mysterious world, summoned up by the magic of an innocent and playful imagination. Most of the Arabian tales aim merely to delight the fancy, yet many of them contain much knowledge of mankind, and sometimes acute delineations of the hidden passions and vices of man's heart, and much practical wisdom. They are doubly interesting to the European reader, because they place before us, in a far more striking light than travellers can do it, all the peculiarities of the Eastern nations. The fearless courage of the Arab knight, his propensity to bold adventures, his dexterity and skill, his love and his revenge, the cunning of the women, the hypocrisy of the priests, the venality of the judges, all stand before us in full relief. Golden palaces, beautiful women, splendid gardens and rich banquets captivate our senses, and fetter us to a soil in which we delight to view the shadowy forms of a foreign world of fancy. Besides this, the poetical language of many

passages, and the great naïveté of the whole, cannot but interest the reader. If we were to give an idea of the Arabian Nights by pointing out its very antipode in literature, we would mention Dante's Divina Commedia. Both are creations of the boldest fancy; but the latter is grave, sometimes harsh, reflective, and speaks design throughout; the former, playful, naif, sometimes childish, exhibiting the natural flow of a lively imagination. There are, however, some truly and deeply tragical tales among them; we only mention that of Ali Ebn Becar and Schemselnihar.-The pleasure inspired by the Arabian Nights soon gave rise to numerous imitations and changes. We ought to mention, among the first, the Thousand and one Days; an imitation, in Persian, of the Thousand and one Nights. It is less artless than the pattern, and executed with more apparent design. It attempts to remove the prejudices of a king's daughter against men, by recounting numerous examples of honor and faithfulness in that sex. Of the ancient French and German paraphrases, we have already spoken incidentally. Among modern paraphrases, we will mention only Oehlenschläger's Aladdin, which is founded on one of the Arabian tales.

ARABIAN SEA; a part of the Eastern ocean, on the southern coast of Arabia.

ARABICI; a sect of Christian teachers who arose in Arabia, in the first half of the 3d century. Their distinguishing doctrine was, that the human soul dies, decays, and rises again, at the same time with the body. Origen refuted and converted them, A. D. 246. Their error took its rise from the opinion, at that time prevalent, of the materiality of the soul.

ARAC, or ARRAC. (See Arack.)

ARACATSCHA; a plant; a native of the chain of the Andes, and first discovered in Santa Fé de Bogota (New Grenada, in Spanish South America). It is more nourishing and prolific than the potatoe (solanum tuberosum), which grows wild in this country, in the woods of Santa Fé de Bogota, in Peru and Chile. In taste and solidity, the aracatscha resembles the Spanish walnut. The soil requires no greater degree of warmth or moisture than is afforded by Europe. In Germany, it was first cultivated successfully in Bamberg or Würzburg. In the 19th page of the Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and the Arts (Oct. 1820), Mr. Lambert gives an account of the aracatscha (heracleum tuberosum Molina), and

its cultivation in England. James Grey Jackson, in the 20th page of the same journal, asserts that this plant grows also in the country of Sus, on the south side of the Atlas, and is called, by the Arabians, aracatscha, or atschu, i. e. dry root. How did it find its way to America, and maintain its original name there? Had the old Arabians more knowledge of navigation than is commonly supposed? Or shall we believe that a former continent, by name Atlantis, has sunk below the ocean, which, before its destruction, formed a connexion between Africa and South America?

ARACHNE, daughter of Idmon, a dyer of purple, at Colophon, in Ionia, had learned from Pallas the art of weaving, and ventured to challenge her teacher to a trial of skill. In vain did the goddess, in the form of an old woman, forewarn her of the consequences of her folly. The contest began, and A. prepared, with much skill, a web which represented the amours of Jupiter. This irritated Pallas, who tore the web in pieces, and struck A. on the head with the shuttle. A. hung herself in despair. The goddess restored her to life, but changed her into a spider. ARACHNOLOGY, or ARANEOLOGY; the art of deciding on the changes of the weather from the motions and works of spiders. Intimations of it appear even in Pliny (H. N., book xi., sect. 28). It is also treated of in the Ewigwahrenden Practica (Things of everlasting Value), which appeared at Gorlitz in 1588. In later times, Quatremère Disjonval, once member of the academy of sciences at Paris, during an 8 months' imprisonment, in which some spiders were his only companions, made various observations on the subject, and, in 1797, at Paris, made known his discovery of the close connexion existing between the appearance or disappearance, the labor or rest, the greater or less circumference of the webs and fibres, of spiders of different sorts, and the atmospherical changes from fair weather to rain, from dry to wet, and particularly from hot to cold, and from frost to a milder temperature.

ARACK, or RACK; a strong spirituous liquor, distilled from rice, sugar-cane, or the juice of the cocoa-nut. The last, which is the best, comes from Batavia; the others, from Goa. At Goa, there are 3 kinds-single, double, and treble-distilled. The double is most sought, although weaker than the Batavian.

ARAFAT, or GIBEL EL ORPHAT (the mountain of knowledge or of gratitude), in Arabia, near Mecca. The Mohammed

ans say that it was the place where Adam first received his wife, Eve, after they had been expelled from Paradise, and separated from each other 120 years. On the summit is a chapel ascribed to Adam, rifled, in 1807, by the Wahabees. The mountain not being large enough to contain all the devotees that come annually on pilgrimage to Mecca, stones are set up round it, to show how far the sacred limits extend. The latest description of a celebration is by the indefatigable traveller Burckhardt (q. v.), who visited the place in July, 1814. He estimates the num ber present at 70,000. The camp cov ered a space of between 3 and 4 miles long, and from 1 to 2 broad, containing 300 tents and 25,000 camels. In this Babel, he reckoned about 40 languages, and had no doubt there were many more. The sermon delivered on the mount constitutes the main ceremony of the Hadj, and entitles the hearer to the name and privileges of a Hadjy. The hill is about 200 feet high, with stone steps reaching to the summit. After concluding the ceremonies at A., the pilgrims set out for Mecca, passing through the valley of Muna, on their return, in which they spend some time in stoning the devil. This ceremony consists in throwing stones against small pillars set up at each end of the valley. Each completes 63 jaculations. 6 or 8000 sheep and goats are then sacrificed. The third day brings them back to Mecca, where some further ceremonies finish the festival.

ARAGO, Dominique-François, born at Estagel, in Perpignan, Feb. 28, 1786, as early as 1804, was an instructer in the polytechnic school. In 1805, he became secretary of the bureau des longitudes. With Biot, and the Spanish commissaries Chaix and Rodriguez, after Delambre and Méchain had measured the arc of the meridian between Dunkirk and Barcelona, he continued the measurement to the island Formentera. When the French army entered Spain, A. was imprisoned by the Spanish officers, and remained several months in Rosas. Attempting to return to France by sea, he was taken and carried to Algiers by a corsair. In 1809, the then French consul procured his freedom. He had, fortunately, preserved his apparatus, and all his observations and calculations. The latter formed a continuation of the Base du Système métrique, published before, by the insti tute, under the following title: Recueil d'Observations géodésiques, astr. et phys., exécutées par Ordre du Bureau des Longi

tudes, en Espagne, pour déterminer la Variation de la Pesanteur et des Degrés terrestres sur le Prolongement du Méridien de Paris; réd. p. Biot et Arago; 4to. A. took the place of Lalande in the national institute, and, in 1816, became a member of the 3d class of the academy of sciences. At present, he is principally devoted to physics, particularly to investigations relating to the theory of light and galvanism.

ARAGON, Tullia d', a poetess of the 16th century, descended from an illegitimate branch of the royal family of Spain. Her father, Pietro Tagliava, cardinal d'Aragon, whose natural daughter she was, placed her first at Ferrara, and afterwards at Rome, where her fine talents received the highest degree of cultivation. Her works which remain are, "Rime," in one Evo vol. printed in 1547; Dialogo dell' infinito d'Amore, which appeared in the same year; and Il Meschino o il Guerino, 4to., in 1560. Her beauty and accomplishments were the theme of several poets. She died, near Florence, at the end of the 16th century.

ARAGON, kingdom of. (See Arragon.) ARAL; next to the Caspian sea, the largest inland collection of water in Asia. It was unknown to the ancients. It lies amid the plains of the Turcomans and Kirghises. Its length is estimated at 250 miles, and its greatest breadth at 120. Its water is salt, like all standing collections without an outlet. It receives the Oxus and the Jaxartes, and contains a multitude of sturgeons and seals. It is encircled by desert, sandy heaths, and its sandy shores are without harbors. Evaporation, as there is no outlet, seems to draw off its water. It lies very low, and is surrounded by many small lakes and morasses, but no hills. It was once, probably, united with the Caspian sea, the eastern coast of which is separated from the western coast of the A. only by 80 miles of low, sandy and marshy lands. Both ends of these seas, where they approach each other, are very shallow. The A. is full of islands, which, like its banks, are without inhabitants.

and also became acquainted with the Oriental and Celtic tongues. The most extraordinary event of his life was the murder of Daniel Clark, a shoemaker, with whom he had been before concerned in some fraudulent practices. The murder was concealed 14 years, and was then accidentally discovered. His wife, from whom he was separated, was the principal witness against him; and, after an abie defence, which he read to the court, he was found guilty. After his conviction, he confessed the justice of his sentence, and alleged his suspicion of an unlawful intercourse between Clark and his wife, as his motive for the commission of the murder. He attempted to end his life, while in prison, by bleeding, but was revived and executed.

ARANDA (don Pedro Pablo, Abarca de Bolea) count of; born 1719, of a distinguished family in Arragon. He devoted himself to military pursuits; but, as he discovered a remarkably penetrating spirit, Charles III appointed him his minister at the court of Augustus III king of Poland, an office which he held 7 years. After his return, he became governorgeneral of Valencia. In 1765, the king recalled him, in consequence of an insurrection that broke out in Madrid, and appointed him president of the council of Castile. A. not only restored order, but also effected the expulsion of the Jesuits from the kingdom. The influence of Rome and the priests, however, succeeded in inducing the king to send him on an embassy to France. In Paris A. lived 9 years; then returned to Madrid, as counsellor of state, and lived in a sort of disgrace, till the queen, not contented with the count Florida Blanca, in 1792, gave his place to A. Some months after, he was succeeded, greatly to the displeasure of the court and nation, by don Manuel Godoy. (q. v.) A. continued president of the council of state till he declared his opinion respecting the war against France, when he was banished to Arragon. He died here, A. D. 1794, leaving a young widow, and no children. Madrid was obliged to him, in a great degree, for its security, good order, and the abolition of many abuses.

ARANJUEZ; a village and palace, with splendid gardens, beautiful walks shaded with elms, and a park for hunting, in the Spanish province of Toledo, in a charming shady vale of the Tagus, which receives here the waters of the Xarama; 30 miles from Madrid, to which a Roman road, built by Ferdinand VI., leads; every

mile of which cost 3,000,000 reals, about 147,000 dollars. A. lies in lon. 3° 36′ W., lat. 41° 5 N. The court usually resides here from Easter till the close of June, when the number of people increases from 2600 to about 8000. Charles V marked out this vale as the seat of a royal residence. Philip II founded the palace and garden. His successors, particularly Ferdinand VI, Charles III, and Charles IV, improved and greatly enlarged it. The village is built in the Dutch style, and has broad and straight streets, which cut each other at right angles. The palace has marble stairs, superb mirrors from the manufactory of St. Ildefonso, rich works of art; and both the church and the monastery are adorned with many fine paintings by Spanish and Italian masters. The casa del labrador was designed by Charles IV with great richness and splendor. The palace of A. has been often celebrated by Spanish poets, and is renowned for its gardens, shaded walks and water-works. The gardens are in the form of a star. The chief walk, overshadowed by elms, is 600 or 700 paces long, 12 feet wide, and is bordered by a quick-set hedge. Every 70 or 80 paces, there are resting-places, in the form of a hexagon, cooled with fountains. 12 passages, shaded by elm-trees, unite in forming a large, round area. The royal stud, the herds of mules and buffaloes, the grounds under tillage, the orchards and gardens here, were formerly in a good condition. There is a fountain in the neighborhood, from which a sort of Glauber's salts is obtained. A. has become celebrated, of late years, by the revolution of March 18, 1808. (See Spain.)

ARARAT; a mountain in Armenia, in the pachalic of Erzerum. It stands on an extensive plain, and is connected by low hills with mount Taurus. Its summit, covered with perpetual snow, in the form of a sugar-loaf cut into 2 peaks, presents a formidable appearance with its craggy cliffs and deep precipices. Its highest peak, Mazis, is in the Persian province of Iran, rising to the height of about 9500 feet. It is the greatest elevation in the whole region, whence sacred history affirms that Noah's ark settled upon it.

ARARAT, or PILOT MOUNTAIN; a mountain of North Carolina, on the N. side of the Yadkin, about 16 miles N. of Salem. It is about a mile in height, and rises in the form of a pyramid, with an area of an acre at top, on which is a stupendous rock 300 feet high. From the summit of this 28

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rock there is an extensive, variegated and delightful prospect. It is seen at the distance of 70 miles, and served as a beacon or pilot to the Indians in their routes.

ARATUS; a Greek poet, born at Soli (Pompeiopolis), in Cilicia. He flourished about 270 B. C., was a favorite of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and a firm friend to Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes. We know him only from his poem Phænomena, in which he has given us, in correct and elegant verse, all that was then known of the heavens, with their signs and appearances, although there is reason to believe that he was not himself an astronomer. The esteem which the ancients had for this work, appears from the fact that it was translated by Cicero, Cæsar Germanicus and Avienus. Eratosthenes, with many other great astronomers, wrote commentaries on it. The best editions are by Fell, Oxford, 1672; by Buhle, Leipsic, 1793-1801, 2 vols.; and by Matthiae, Frankfort, 1817-18. It has been translated into German by J. H. Voss, Heidelb., 1824, and published with the Greek text and illustrations.

ARATUS of Sicyon, son of Clinias, was born 273 B. C His father fell in a tumult excited by Abantidas, and A. fled, without knowing it, into the house of the tyrant's sister, who, struck with the circumstance, saved the life of the boy, then 7 years old. Afterwards he was sent to Argos, and the exiles from Sicyon expected in him their future restorer. When he had scarcely reached his 20th year, he delivered Sicyon from the tyrant Nicocles. He would not stain the liberty of his native city with the blood of any citizen, but met with much difficulty in the administration of affairs, as, besides a large party in the city, the king of Macedon also espoused the cause of the deposed Nicocles. Under these circumstances, he deemed it best to join Sicyon to the Achæan league,-the only remaining support of freedom in Greece. By his influence with Ptolemy, king of Egypt, he obtained a sum of money sufficient to settle the various claims of the returned citizens, and, being vested with the supreme constitutional power in Sicyon, he governed with justice and moderation. In due time, being made general of the Achæan league, he recovered the almost inaccessible fortress of Corinth from the king of Macedon, by a plan which is one of the most admired instances of ancient military stratagem. In the end, however, owing to a hostile league against the Achæans between the Etolians and Spartans, A., in opposition