husband was always
talking about and trying to obtain an Arabic manuscript of this chapter
(See chapter 35).

All this, of course, proved indubitably that Lady Burton actually knew
next to nothing about the whole matter. Perhaps it will be asked, What
has been lost by this action of Lady Burton's? After carefully weighing
the pros and cons we have come to the conclusion that the loss could not
possibly have been a serious one. That Burton placed a very high value
on his work, that he considered it his masterpiece, is incontrovertible,
but he had formed in earlier days just as high an opinion of his
Camoens and his Kasidah; therefore what he himself said about it has not
necessarily any great weight. We do not think the loss serious for four
reasons: First, because the original work, whatever its claims on the
anthropologist, has little, if any, literary merit; [660] secondly,
because Sir Richard Burton's "old version" [661] of The Scented Garden
is public property, and has been reprinted at least three times;
thirdly, because only half was done; and fourthly, because the whole
of the work has since been translated by a writer who, whatever his
qualifications or disqualifications, has had access to manuscripts that
were inaccessible to Sir Richard Burton. Practically then, for, as
we have already shown, Sir Richard did not particularly shine as a
translator, nothing has been lost except his notes. These notes seem to
have been equivalent to about 600 pages of an ordinary crown octavo book
printed in long primer. Two-thirds of this matter was probably of such a
character that its loss cannot be deplored. The remainder seems to have
been really valuable and to have thrown light on Arab life and manners.
Although the translation was destroyed in October 1890, the public were
not informed of the occurrence until June 1891--nine months after.

Copies of the Kama Shastra edition of The Scented Garden issued in 1886
[662] are not scarce. The edition of 1904, to which we have several
times referred, is founded chiefly on the Arabic Manuscript in the
Library at Algiers, which a few years ago was collated by Professor
Max Seligsohn with the texts referred to by Burton as existing in the
Libraries of Paris, Gotha and Copenhagen.

175. The Fate of the Catullus.

The fate of the Catullus was even more tragic than that of The Scented
Garden. This work, like The Scented Garden, was left unfinished. Burton
had covered his La