BOOKS OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 247, 6 July 1918, Page 11

BOOKS OF THE DAY

TH'E LATEST "LUCAS." : "A" now Lucas" is an event in (lie lit- i erary world, which, very happily- for llr. i lAicttss admirers, is not of infrequent : occurrence. As ,i matter of fact., there,, are generally-br at least in pre-war > tunes there wcre-lhree new Lucas books i per year. One is a iiovel-"cntertain-menls" the author calls them-and. already the series which commenced with i "Listeners' Lime" and was continued liv the delightful "Over JSomorton's" and '-Mr. Ingtaido," numbers six volumes. A book ot collected essays is usually due every year—one of thoso pleasant ' mixtures of travel gossip and guide book which begun with "A Wanderer iu Loudon," and included books on Paris, on Holland, on Venice and Florence. To many, readers Air. Lucas is best known by his anthologies, of which 1 specially treasure '"I'ho Ojiun .Koad" nnd "The J'rioiu'ly Town." In one way or other this wonderfully industrious gentleman— for besides writing books, lio is a wellknown contributor to "Punch" and "The Sphere," as well as being, I believe, "literary adviser"'to a leading firm cf publishers—is (onstantly adding to I ho debt of gratitude whichall owe him who admire genial philosophy, kindly satire, and delicate and charming literary fancy. The "latest Liiea.;," "A Jtoivcll of Bagdad" '.(Jfelhucn and Co., per Whitcombe and Tombs), is a collodion of essays and sketches dealing with a great variety of subjects, mostly of a topical character. The exjsption is the title essay in which Mr Lucas introduces us to a Persian, litterateur and philosopher, one Ibn Xhalikan, who lived in the thirteenth century, and whose chief work. was a Biographical Dictionary. I confess Unit when L iread on the opening page that Ibti Khalikan's irork was "trans--lated from. I ho Arabic by Dn. JlacGuokiu do Shane, and printed in Paris for the Oriental Translations .Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, 161MW1," I had some suspicion that llr. Lucas's "find" might be a mere joke, llutmost. curious coincidence—there lay tn my desk as I opened the book a recent catalogue of the great antiquarian bookseller, Quarilch, of London, .-.ml-a yet more curious coincidence--the catalogue lay open <it a page whereon were set forth a number of publications issued bv the Oriental Translations Fund, the first of these items being this very samo Biographical Dictionary, with ihe translator's curious name set forth in full, as Brian MacOuekin de Sim lie. Co Ibn Ivhalikan was a real man, and bis Dictionary and the quaint name of its translator do not, after all. owe their existence to Mr. Li.cas's fertile imagination. Those who recall. "Over Tioinerloirs will remember' what a -rich storo of philosophy and quaint humour }lr. Lu.cas drew from the apparently unpromising mine of Giles's "Chinese Bio?raphical Dictionary." A yet richer slore reposes in tlio pages 01 the Persian biographer, he whom Mr. Lucas playfully—and with an «}'", no doubt, to a eatc'hv alliteiativo title-styles "A Boswell of "Bagdad" v • . Ibn Khalikan's acquaintance with the Persian Court, with khalifs, viziers, poets, and philosophers, seems to li.-ito heen as "extensive and peculiar" as Unit of Mr. Weller with London. His biographies are models of brevity, and seem also to suggest the possession on iha part of (lie biographer of a gift of irony which, T arii afraid, would not. lave been favourably viewed bad ho been n contributor i'o Sir Sidney Lee's famous "Dioiionnrv of National Piograpby." Tho. Court'poet .of. Ibn Khalikan's day was sometimes bountifully rewarded. In other eases,.alas! when his genius took an indiscreetly satiric form,- he ran t' o risk of being bowstrnng. One of tiio lucky ones was a certain Aim Tammam At Tai, who recited to the Emir Aim Dolad tho following lines-. "At the sight; of dwellings abandoned like these, and places of joyous meetings, now deserted, our tears, ion;; treasured up, were shed iu torrents." To modern oars theso lines nitty scareely suggnst transcendent poetic genius, but the Emir., wo are told, so admired I he piece that "no gavo tho poet fifty thousand dirhems. Mr. f.ucas appends the following comment! "Surely the palmy, days of poett'y have passed away. Ttow ono would like in think of Mr. Kipling, say, being summoned to Buckingham Pubic? to 'speak a piece,' and retiring with a cheque for .01(12-", which is what fifty thousand dirhouis come to." "We read in Mr. Lucas's transcription from Tbn Khsilikan (per medium of tho erudite Brian Mucfluckiii.de Shane aforesaid), of other and yet mora munificent gifls to Court pools. Alfred Austin nnd Pobori Bridges should have lived in ancient Persia, for in these degenerate days the post of Poet Laureate is, I belieyp, purely an honorary one. But woe betide tho Persian poet who dared to poke fun at a khalif or even at a vizier. Head of the sad fate of the poet I.lm Ar-liumi. Up had made certain satirical attacks on the Vizier of AI Motadid. This exalted personage, who did not appreciate satire--when directed against himscli'-suborned a person called Ibn Firas, who gave the poet-satirist a poisoned biscuit whilst ho was sitting in company with tho vizier. When Ibn Ar-Uimu had eaten it, he perceived that lie was D oison«l. and. ho rose to withdraw, on which the Vmcr saw lio him: "Where are you soinij?' . ' "To the place," replied Ibn Ar-Kumi, I "where you have tent me." "Well." observed tho Vizier, you will present my respects to my father. [ "I am not taking 'he road to hell, I retorted the poet. Another unfortunate was Khalid Ibn Safwau. who, being reproached by the Emir Bilnl with .using bad grammar, went to the mosque and studied grammar with such assiduity that, he lost his '■yesighl. Henceforth, vhen the Pniir liilal rode by in state, the victim of. i" grammatical study used to ask who it , was. On being answered it.to the Emir, [ ho would sav, "There goes a summer cloud, soon to'bo dispelled. When this was told to liilal he exclaimed, "By Allah! It shall not bo dispelled till he get a full.shower from it," and he then ordered him a whipping of two hundred strokes. They were a bloodthirsty lot, these khalifs nnd viziers. One of tho greatest men iu Ibn Khalikan's rages is .Lutfur, called Jaal'ar the Barmecide, vizier to the Khalif Horun Al Kaschid (our old friend, I presume, of "The Arabian "Nights"). Mr. Lucas quotes tho following example of Jafaar's sardonic, shrewdness:— Having learned that M Haschid was in licit depressed iu consequence of a Jewish astrologer huvingr predicted to him that he would <!ie within a year, lie interviewed the .few, who ha-d been detained as a prisoner by the Khalifs orders. Jaal'ar addressed him in these terms: "You pretend that the Khalif is to die in the space of bo many days?" "Ye..:." said the Jew. "And how long are you yourself to live?" said Jaal'ar. ' "So many years," replied tho other, mentioning a, great number. Jaafar then said to the Khalif: "I'nt him to death, and you will be thon assured that ho is equally mistaken reßpectinc tho length of your life and that of his own." This advice was followed by the Khalif, who then thanked Jaafar for having dispelled liis Badness. .hiatal- himself was fated (o suffer the fickleness of. princes, and to meet bis end by treachery. He was killed by tho Khalifs orders! by ono Yasir. This worthy having put .Tanfar to death, duly carried in the.head and presented it lo the potenta'-e. The Khalif looked at the hcjid for some time, and then ordered Yaiiir to bring in two persons yvhoin he mimed. When they came ho said to them: 'Strike off Yasir's head, for I caunol hear the sight of Jaatar's murderer." Evidently, to bo a court functionary at Bagdad was to be what in insurance circles is called, 1 believe, "a bad life." N'ot all these old Persian stories are of treachery and blood. Ibn Khalikan's Dictionary shows us Ilia I: love was just as all potent » factor in life- in tho

i 1 I I old world Persian times as it is to-day. c Also. Mr. Lucas gives us many amusing ' examples of Persian humour aud good ( nature—which, in the East, as in the. ' West, arc not always found in tombiu- , ution. This Persian Biographical Die- j lioniiiy of Ibn Klutlikati is a decided ( iind. Its discovery must have come on ( one of ilr. Lucas's "lucky days"—lo use t an expression which all who haunt book- • shops, will well understand. ' The "new Lucas" also contains a ' nuiuher of essays and sketches on genor- { al subjocU—"diversions," they are styled , on (ho title page.' There is a very jolly j little essay—delightful to oldsters like myself, who can remember certain Vie- ] torian music hall song's—entitled "Tho |'Two Perkinses, 3 ' A Dorothy Perkins rose in the essayist's garden suggests | "pretty little Dolly Perkins," which ; in its turn remind? Mr. Lucas of tho ; Victorian ditty, "Pretty Polly Perkins , of Paddington Green. ; As beautiful as a butterfly, As fair as a queen, Was pretty little Polly Perkins, Of I'addingtou Clreeu. And then comes a pleasant if discursive gossip on .Harry Clifton, who sang "Polly Perkins" and so many oilier popular ditties, such as "Paddle Your Own Canoe," and "A Moilo fur Every Man;" The final section of the honk, entitled "On lieilona's Hem," consists of war sketches, some pathetic, some quietly humorous. The last item, and perhaps the best there is iu the book, deals with a ■ French war book which has had an immense circulation,, in which is depicted the arrival of a poilu in Heaven. It is a perfectly charming little essay. Everything that Mr. Lucas writes is worth leading. Here anil (here in this volume the wine is of an inferior cm, just a little thin and i.nsalisfactory. But these are exceptional days, anda ropiilar writer can well bo pardoned being a little jaded at times.. The new Lucas is well worthy of a place alongside.its predecessors,