ed Burton, when parting, "Would that
I could share your troubles with you!" [438]

But poor Lord Houghton was too far gone to appreciate the jest. Indeed,
he was on the brink of the grave. A few days later he left for Vichy,
where he died on August 11th. His remains were brought to Fryston, and
Burton and Arbuthnot were present at his funeral.

In October, while he was the guest of Lord Salisbury at Hatfield, Burton
solicited the consulate of Morocco, and as his application was supported
by fifty men of prominence he felt almost certain of obtaining it.

Apparently, it was during this visit to England, too, that Burton
committed the frightful sin of contradicting Mr. Gladstone. At some
great house after dinner, Mr. Gladstone, who was the guest of the
evening, took it upon himself, while every one listened in respectful
silence, to enlarge on Oriental matters.

After he had finished, Burton, who had been fidgeting considerably,
turned to him and said, "I can assure you, Mr. Gladstone, that
everything you have said is absolutely and entirely opposite to fact."

The rest of the company were aghast, could scarcely, indeed, believe
their ears; and one of them, as soon as he had recovered from the shock,
was seen scribbling like mad on a menu card. Presently Burton felt the
card tucked into his hand under the table. On glancing at it he read
"Please do not contradict Mr. Gladstone. Nobody ever does."

133. A Brief Glance through the Nights.

By this time Burton had finished the first volume of his translation of
The Arabian Nights, which left the press 12th September 1885. The book
was handsomely bound in black and gold, the colours of the Abbaside
caliphs; and contained a circular "earnestly requesting that the work
might not be exposed for sale in public places or permitted to fall
into the hands of any save curious students of Moslem manners." The
last volume was issued in July 1886. Let us turn over the pages of this
remarkable work, surrender ourselves for a few moments to its charms,
and then endeavour to compare it calmly and impartially with the great
translation by Mr. Payne.

What a glorious panorama unfolds itself before us! Who does not know the
introduction--about the king who, because his wife was unfaithful, vowed
to take a new wife every evening and slay her in the morning! And
all about the vizier's daughter, the beautiful Shahrazad, who, with a
magnificent scheme in her head, voluntarily came