18 AUGUST 1877, Page 25

The Anwer-i-Suhaili ; or, Lights of Canopus. Translated from the

Persian, by Arthur W. Wollaston. (W. H. Allen and Co.)—The " Lights of Canopus" are described as being an adaptation of the " Fables of Bfdpilf," a semi-mythical personage, of about the same claims to reality as /Bop. Tradition, however, represents him, not as having been a slave, but as a philosopher, who largely contributed to the hap- piness of mankind by the changes which he effected in the character of a certain tyrannical King Dabsehelim, and by the prudent and bene- volent rule which he exorcised as that Minister's chief advisor. We cannot honestly say that the stories bear comparison with the more famous collection of the "Arabian Nights." They want especially the fine imagination of the latter work, and they are distinctly monotonous. The translator, however, intends his book chiefly for educational purposes. The original is used as a text-book for students of the Porsian lan- guage. The tastes of the general public are to bo gratified, at some future time, by the issue of an illustrated edition. Perhaps we may be allowed to suggest that this edition should contain a solootion rather than the whole. Five hundred octavo pages of the largest size are a very unmanageable quantity.