re is
somewhat powerless.

While the 'Arabian Nights' are supposed to treat more of the
inhabitants of the towns, the romance of Antar deals more with the
inhabitants of the desert. To the student of the Arabic language both
works are interesting, as they occupy a prominent and standard place
in Arabian literature, and afford much information about the manners
and customs, ideas and peculiarities of an ancient and interesting
race of people. It must be admitted that both Antar and the 'Arabian
Nights' are so long that they rather try the patience of readers not
particularly interested in them. Nowadays in England the daily press
supplies such a mass of information of all sorts in connection with
every branch of society, that a constant and persistent reader of our
daily and weekly newspapers can find in them quite an 'Arabian Nights
Entertainment' without going further afield. Indeed, the stories
concerning the cures effected by certain patent medicines are as
wonderful as anything one ever reads in the 'Nights' themselves.

And in addition to the realities and actualities of life, as daily
told in our newspapers and law reports, many of which do certainly
prove that fact is stranger than fiction, there are numerous writers
who keep the public supplied with tales and stories of every kind and
description. And from the great demand for such productions, whether
issued as the penny dreadful, the thrilling story, or the regulation
romance in three volumes, one conclusion can only be drawn, which
is--that the human mind, everywhere in the East, West, North and South,
is always anxious to be fed or amused with something startling or
romantic, dreadful or improbable, exciting or depressing.

It is to be presumed, then, that the 'Nights' filled the vacuum in the
minds of the people of that day in the East, much the same as the
books and newspapers of our time satisfy the cravings of the
humanities of the West, who still seem to be ever in search of
something new, even if not true; something original, even if not
trustworthy. Human nature appears to be much the same in all ages and
at all times, and the scandals connected with high persons, the
memoirs and reminiscences of celebrated ones, and the good sayings of
witty ones, have always found much favour with the public generally,
whether told as stories, published as books, or printed in the papers.
Arabic literature abounds with biographical details and stories about
cele