n, or the British Museum. Says Mr. Kirby: "At the British
Museum, Burton seemed more inclined to talk than to work. I thought him
weak in German [419] and when I once asked him to help me with a Russian
book, he was unable to do so." Thus even a Burton has his limitations.
"He told me," continues Mr. Kirby, "that he once sat between Sir Henry
Rawlinson and a man who had been Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and he
spoke to one in Persian, and the other in Russian, but neither of them
could understand him. I have never, however, been able to make up my
mind whether the point of the story told against him or against them.
[420] Although Burton was a student of occult science, I could never
lead him to talk about crystals or kindred subjects; and this gave me
the idea that he was perhaps pledged to secrecy. Still, he related his
experiences freely in print." Oddly, enough, Burton used to call Mr.
Kirby "Mr. Rigby," and he never could break himself of the habit.
"Apparently," says Mr. Kirby, "he associated my name with that of his
old opponent, Colonel, afterwards Major-General Rigby, [421] Consul at
Zanzibar." In a letter of 25th March 1885, Burton asks Mr. Kirby to
draw up "a full account of the known MSS. and most important European
editions, both those which are copies of Galland and (especially)
those which are not. It will be printed in my terminal essay with due
acknowledgment of authorship." [422] On April 8th (1885) he says, "I
don't think my readers will want an exhaustive bibliography, but they
will expect me to supply information which Mr. Payne did not deem
necessary to do in his excellent Terminal Essay. By the by, I shall
totally disagree with him about Harun al Rashid and the Barmecides,
[423] who were pestilent heretics and gave rise to the terrible
religious trouble of the subsequent reigns. A tabular arrangement of the
principal tales will be exceedingly useful."

Chapter XXVII. May 1885-5th Feb. 1886, A Glance through "The Arabian
Nights"

Bibliography:

71. The Thousand Nights and a Night. 1st Vol. 12th September 1885. 10th
Vol. 12th July 1886. 72. Il Pentamerone. (Translated--not published
till 1893). 73. Iracema or Honey Lips; and Manoel de Moraes the Convert.
Translated from the Brazilian. 1886.

128. Slaving at the Athenaeum, May 1885.

In May 1885, Burton obtained leave of absence, and on arriving in
England he made various arrangements about the printing of The Arabian
Night