1 Dine together.
1 To follow the 1823 text and omit the first comma in this line would be merely to add confusion where none before had existed. [K.G.]
1 Light, open boat.
2 Fine wheaten bread rolls.
3In the first two appearances of this word in the first three English-language editions (at 49:22 and 70:13) the spelling used is Istakhar. Except for two instances in the Lausanne edition, the word is spelled Istakhar consistently in the first three French-language editions. I have normalized the spelling of this word, therefore, in accordance with these indications of Beckford’s preference, ascribing the spelling, Istakar, to the unconscious repetition in successive editions of the usage introduced by Henley in the first edition. [K.G.]
1 Goats kept for milk.
1The substitution in the 1823 edition of ‘made’ for ‘heard’ corrects a slight anomaly in the text arising from the translations of ‘on entendoit un bruit sourd dans la terre’. Henley’s practice was to render constructions using on into the passive voice, hence the reading of the 1786 and 1816 editions: ‘a hollow noise was heard in the earth’. This translation introduces a problem in modification: the phrase, ‘in the earth’, appears to modify ‘heard’ rather than ‘noise’. The positioning of elements in the French sentence avoids this ambiguity. As the account of the 1816 revisions indicates, Beckford was sensitive to ambiguous modifications. In this case he made the correction by changing the focus of the narrative from those listening on the earth to those making the noise in the earth. The revision introduces a logical parallelism: the noise in the earth was made in answer to the knockings on the earth. Given the logic of the revision, its resemblance to the pattern of revision in the 1816 edition, and the authorial nature of most of the 1823 revisions, I have adopted the 1823 reading as Beckford’s final intention. [K.G.]
1Reason or opinion.
2 A state of agitation in the blood or humours due to heat.
3 See above, p. 58 n. 2.
1See above, p. 58 n. 2.
1Monks (European designation for monks or hermits among Muslims).
1 The substitution of a colon for a semicolon imposes consistency on the punctuation of this sentence. [K.G.]
2Persian priestly caste, especially skilled in astrology and magic.
1 Because the inclusion of a comma after ‘platform’ renders a straightforward sentence confusing, I have followed the lead of the Bentley edition by omitting it. [K.G.]
1In altering ‘deservest’ to ‘deserveth’ Beckford committed an error in grammar, but since the change appears to have been consciously made, I am accepting the usage as characteristic of Beckford. [K.G.]
2 Reward.
3 A wax-like substance used in perfumery.
1 See above, p. 69 n. 1.
1 The original notes to Vathek were compiled by Samuel Henley when he translated Beckford’s original French version into English for the 1786 edition. Beckford subsequently edited these notes for the 1816 edition; he always regarded them as part of the text. For a detailed comparison of notes to different editions, see Lonsdale, p. 123 ff.
2 Beckford and Henley relied heavily on B. d’Herbelot de Molainville’s Bibliothéque Orientale… (Paris, 1697) to which supplementary material was added by various oriental-ists.
1 We always strive for the forbidden. Ovid Amores, III.iv.17.
2 The first European edition appeared in French, translated by A. Galland beginning in 1704. An English pirated version appeared in 1708. Henley used the 1783 edition.
1 Water clock – measures time by discharge of water.
1A. Ghiga, trans., The Present State of the Ottoman Empire… Translated from the French Manuscript of Elias Habesci (1784).
1In southern Persia, taken by Alexander the Great in 330 BC.
2 R. Pococke, A Description of the East, and Some Other Countries, 2 Vols (London, 1743–5).
3 Roman Emperor who persecuted the Christians, AD 249–51.
4 From the Hellenistic city of Ephesus in Asia Mino
1 G. Sale, The Koran, Commonly Called The Alcoran of Mohammed, Translated into English… 1734; 2nd edn, 2 Vols (1764).
2 ‘The violet has folded up (?) its petals, like black eye salve which drinks tears on the day of departure (?) just as if it (?) were above the vessels in which gleam the first flamelets of fire in the tips (?) of sulphu.’ W. Jones, Poeseos Asiaticae Commentariorum Libri Sex (1774), p. 193.
3 W. Jones, ‘A Persian Song of Hafiz’ Poems Consisting Chiefly of Translations from the Asiatic Languages (Oxford, 1772).
1In Southern Persia.
2 W. Jones, trans., The Moallakat, Or Seven Arabian Poems Which were suspended at the Temple at Mecca (1783).
3 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Letters… Written during her Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa 4 Vols (London 1763
1 W. Marsden, The History of Sumatra (London, 1783).
2 J. Cook, Voyages and Travels through the Russian Empire, Tartary and Part of the Kingdom of Persia, 2 Vols (Edinburgh, 1770).
1 Thomas Gray, The Progress of Poesy (1757), 1. 83.
1J. Richardson, A Dissertation on the Languages, Literature and Manners of the Eastern Nations (Oxford, 1777), p. 191.
2 M. M. Boiardo (1441–94), Italian poet, author of Orlando Innamorato an epic about Charlemagne, I.v.67.
3L. Ariosto (1474–1533), Italian poet, inspired by Boiardo, he composed Orlando Furioso, XV.xiv.
1J. Pitts, A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mohammetans (Exeter, 1704), p. 106.
2 A. Dow, Tales, Translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, 2 Vols (1768).
1‘Shaking the clear bell on his neck’, Phaedrus, Book II, Fab. VII.5.
2Plutarch (c. AD 46–120) wrote as many as fifty lives, concentrating on the moral character of his subjects. He tells how Solon abolished the Draconian Laws because he judged them to be too severe, Life of Solon, XVII.
1S. Ockley, The History of the Saracens, 2 Vols, 3rd edn (Cambridge, 1757).
2 Pliny, Natural History, XIII, i.
3 F. Hasselquist, Voyages and Travels in the Levant (Stockholm, 1766), p. 267.
1 W. Jones, ‘A Turkish Ode of Mesihi’, Poems (1772), p. 113.
1 Julian, Roman Emperor (361–3 AD) enthusiastic Hellenist.
2 Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 6 Vols (London, 1774–78). Gibbon (1737–94) was one of the English community at Geneva who shunned Beckford when he went into exile there in 1785 with Lady Margaret. Later, in an act of revenge, Beckford bought Gibbon’s library and locked it up for several years.
1‘Silenced in death’.
2 A. Sherley, His Relation of His Travels into Persia… (London, 1613).
1‘Dearer to her than her two eyes’, Catullus, Poems, III.5
2 ‘black eyes, compassionate of look, sparing of movement’, Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, VII.XII.2–3.
1Alexander the Great (356–323 BC), King of Macedon whose conquest of the East took him as far as India.
2 ‘Neither Hymen nor a Grace stands by that marriage bed; rather Eumenides held the bridal torches (snatched from a pyre), Eumenides pepared the couch’, Ovid, Metamorphoses, VI.429–31.
3 Greek epic poet (12c to 7c BC?) author of Iliad and Odyssey.
4 Philosopher and satirist (AD c115–200) born at Samosata on Euphrates, lived in Athens.
1Roman name for Hermes, messenger of the Gods and conductor of souls of the dead to Hades, the underworld.
1 From W. Jones, trans., The Moallakat, Or Seven Arabian Poems, Which were Suspended on the Temple At Mecca (1783).
2 D. Cardonne, A Miscellany of Eastern Learning, 2 Vols (1771).
3 Ibn Sina (980–1037) who taught medicine and philosophy at Ispahan. Renowned for his medical knowledge, he was nevertheless an insatiable sybarite.
4 J. S. Bailly, Histoire de L’Astronomie moderne depuis la fondation de l’école d’Alexandre, 3 Vols (Paris, 1779–82).
1Part of
Chardin’s manuscript was published in T. Harmer, Observations on Divers Passages of Scripture, 2nd edn, 4 Vols (1776).
1J. Richardson, A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic & English, 2 Vols (Oxford, 1777–80).
1‘It was one of the four springs which Merlin had created in France. It was surrounded by fine, shining marble which was polished and whiter than milk. Here Merlin had, with divine workmanship, carved images – you would say they breathed, and if they were not mute, that they were alive. Here a beast appeared coming out of the forest; a cruel, hateful and ugly sight, having ass’ ears and the head, thin with hunger and teeth of a wolf; it has lions claws and for the rest was all fox,’ Ariosto, Orlando Furioso XXVI xxx–xxxi.
2 Figure of Greek mythology who had a son by Odysseus.
3 ‘to tear, cut oneself in a circular fashion, whence the idea of circular motion, then gyration and thence from a whirling movement, betwitches, enchants.’
1She is there/present, for those who have nothing else (source in Thales cannot be found).
2.
‘THROUGH me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.
Justice the founder of my fabric moved:
To rear me was the task of power divine
Supremest Wisdom, and primeval Love.
Before me things create were none save things
Eternal and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon, ye who enter here.’
A. Dante, Inferno, Canto III, 1–9, H. F. Cary trans., The Vision; or Hell, Purgatory and Paradise by Dante Alighieri, 1814 2nd edn, 3 Vols (London, 1819), 1:20–1.
1A fictitious name.
2 Eyck, Jan van (c.1390–1441) and Hubert (d. 1426) early Netherlands painters famous for their clarity and realism.
3The apostle’s feast day is 28th October.
4 A variant of Hans Memling (c. 1433–94) painter born at Frankfurt but member of the Netherlands school and resident in Bruges.
1Long, ornamental hair-pins.
2 There is an echo here of Beckford’s own experience of being prevented from pursuing his favourite Arabian themes in literature by his guardians.
1Possibly George of Podebrady (1420–71) who became King of Bohemia in 1458.
2 Small, private room.
3Salmacis was the water nymph who loved Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes. Her embrace led to a fusion of their bodies according to Greek mythology.
4 Daughters of Hesperides guarded the apple tree helped by the dragon, Ladon, according to Greek mythology.
1Nymphs of the woods and trees in Greek mythology.
2 A city, probably Babylon, where according to Genesis the builders of a great tower could not understand one another as a punishment for their vanity.
3 See above p. xxviii ff on the picturesque in travel accounts.
4 Og, King of Basan, Deuteronomy 3.
1Unanimously.
2 Bundle.
3From the German words for rascal (lump) and wit (witz).
4 John Ogilby (1600–76), Scottish author and translator.
1‘The painter Aldovandrus has the claim to fame of Alexander;
The painter was great; great was the Macedonian.
The cause of death for the two was similar, so the story goes:
The one ran out of kingdoms, but the other of canvasses.’
2 It is remarkable that the learned Professor Clod Lumpewitz ever maintained that this renowned Conqueror was cruelly aspersed, by those who have killed him by drinking; and instead of merely crying for more worlds to conquer, he insisted that he died solely on that account. The critical reader will observe, that the admirable Ogilby, in conformity with the general opinion, has taken a small liberty with his author. [Beckford’s note]
3 Sugar-water.
4 Insignificant, petty.
1Arcadia, a region in the centre of the Peloponnese, associated in Greek mythology with the home of the gods.
2 Probably Russian noble family of Dolgorukov.
3 Three goddesses who personify beauty and ugliness according to Greek mythology.
4 God of love in Roman religion.
5 Primeval beings, represented as winged women with snakes about them.
1 The sweet painter.
2 Sauercrout – a German dish of cabbage.
3 Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1487–1576), Venetian painter whose art, in the grand style, dominated the school.
4 Sweet mouth.
5 Daughter of King Herod who danced for the head of St John the Baptist.
6 Mountainous area of coastal Yugoslavia.
1 In later years at Fonthill, Beckford had a wall built around his estate to keep the hunters out.
1Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet whose Sistine Chapel frescoes were begun in 1508.
2 Books published in Leiden until 1712, renown for editions in small format.
3 Later Beckford was to give Caliph Vathek a terrifying look. See above, pp. 29 and 98.
4 Legendary character condemned to roam the world until Doomsday.
1Joseph Porta (Salviati the Younger) (1520–70), Venetian painter who also worked in
2 Chiaroscuro: light and shade.
3 Affording great pleasure.
1 Old Dutch for boiled fish.
2 Candles costing a farthing each.
1Aesop, composer of Greek fables about animals, was said to have lived in the middle of the sixth century BC.
2 Francis Van Cuyck de Mierhop (1640–89), Dutch still-life painter.
1 Gerard Dou (1613–75), Dutch painter with an ultra-realist style.
2 Robert Gemmett has identified this passage as being taken from J. B. Descamps’ book La vie des peintres flamands, allemands, et hollandois…, 4 Vols (Paris, 1753–64), 2:217-18; see Gemmett, Memoirs, p. 4.
1 Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Flemish painter who made his home in Antwerp.
1Mr Kiss-the-hand.
2 Canals for shipping.
3 Attachments to waist belt for carrying a sword.
1 Hooped petticoats.
2 Franz van Mieris the Elder (1635–81), Dutch portrait painter and engraver, famous for his treatment of silks, satins and jewelry.
3 Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), Dutch painter.
4 Giulio Romano (1492–1546), pupil of Raphael, Mannerist painter.
1 Johann Andreas Graff (1637–1701), painter and engraver of landscapes and figure subjects.
2 Albrecht Durer (1471–1528), German painter, engraver and designer of woodcuts, also from Nuremburg.
3 Cornelius van Poelenburgh (c. 1586–1667), Dutch landscape painter who also worked in England and Rome.
4 Adam Elsheimer (1580–1610), a German painter who lived in Rome and influenced the development of landscape painting.
1 Jan Gossaert (c.1470–1533) (also known as Mabuse), Flemish painter who visited Rome and was influenced by the Italian style.
2 Boar.
1 Showed up.
1 See Vies des Paintres Flamands, vol. 2, 217. [Beckford’s note]
1Rustic person, shepherd.
1In Greek mythology Goddesses of literature and the arts.
2 In Greek mythology, Goddesses embodying beauty and loveliness.
1Mrs de Malthe is probably a satirical sketch of Hester Lynch Piozzi (1741–1821) (Mrs Thrale from her first marriage), a lively, intelligent woman, friend of Dr Johnson and author of anecdotes about him.
2 She subscribed to the Tory theory of passive obedience to the monarch.
1Birthmark.
2 Of her daughter.
3 Stone-cutter, engraver, polisher.
1 William Pitt the Younger. See above p. xi n. 2.
2 Members of the administration.
3 i.e. The House of Commons.
1Ironic in view of Beckford’s life long ambition, never realized, to obtain a peerage. See above p. xxiv and below p. 234 n. 2.
2
A pro-Pitt magazine said to be financed by secret service funds. See V. Sage, ed., The Gothick Novel (London, 1990), p. 15. See below p. 189 n. 1.
1Probably Traitorous Correspondence Act (making it treasonable to reside in enemy territory) and the suspension of habeas corpus.
2 France had declared war on England in 1793. By 1797 Pitt’s administration was in serious trouble with war failures and bad harvests.
1Furious denunciations, curses.
2 Peter of Alcántara (1499–1562), founder of reformed Franciscan order; retired as a hermit in Arrábida near Lisbon.
1Penal establishment in Australia.
1Beckford had direct experience of social ostracism at Fonthill in later years.
2 Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1715.
1 Wooden panelling of wall.
1See above, p.164 n.2.
Vathek and Other Stories Page 50
