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Entertainments ; ' of which Work Mr Lane observes in his introduction : — " If the English reader possessed a close translation with sufficient illustrative notes , I might almost have spared myself the labour of the present undertaking . "—Introduction , p . vi . A faithful account of such a condition of social life cannot
fail to be highly interesting , and Mr Lane has collected his materials with such laborious care , and presented them to his readers with such elaborate minuteness , that his work is a trul y valuable one . It is the result of several years' residence in Cairo , during which period he associated almost exclusively with Moslems , adopting their dress and general habits , and carefully avoiding all that might give offence ; such as the use of wine or forbidden meats , or the luxury of a knife and fork .
He also acquainted himself with their forms of worship sufficiently to be able to join in them without exciting observation , and by the use of a little evasion avoided any collision with them on matters of opinion . Under such circumstances he found them very ready to give him information on all points . Not satisfied even with all this , he employed two regular salaried tutors , professors of the Arabic and Mahommedan religion and law , whose instructions completed and corrected all he learned in other quarters : —
" ' Occasionally , ' he adds , ' I have applied to higher authorities ; having the happiness to number among my friends in this city some persons of the highest attainments in Eastern learning . '"—Introduction , p . ix .
All this is very unlike the hasty and superficial glance , after which many a tourist thinks himself entitled to announce his decisions about countries and people , and the work itself is of an uncommon class . It is a complete store-house of literal facts . There would probably be much difficulty in suggesting a single point of inquiry within the range of the subjects it
includes , which might not be satisfactorily answered by consulting his volumes , and by referring to the excellent wood-cuts by which they are amply illustrated . They will become a standard work for reference . This is their true position in literature . If read continuously , it is difficult to retain much in the memory ,
from the literal and minute character of the descriptions , Which are the reverse of graphic or effective . The style is clear and singularly simple . Before making any extracts it is necessary to explain that Mr Lane ' s mode of spelling Arabic words is one peculiar to himself . Every traveller in the East adopts some new style of orthography , but we think Mr Lane shows good cause for his : " ' Since I have been obliged / he says , * to employ a great number of
Untitled Article
84 Manners and Customs
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 1, 1837, page 84, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1828/page/37/
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