ALADDIN'S CARPET.
[To TBN EDITOR 07 TYE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Most guide-books invite the correction of errors. Surely a small slip has crept into Mr. Alfred Cochrane's delightful Italian " Guide-book " poem in your issue of August 16th. He speaks of "Aladdin's carpet." But Aladdin did all his magic moving by a lamp or a ring. Solomon, according to the Koran, owned a travel-carpet of green silk, large enough for all his court to stand on. Another, called " the magic carpet of Tango," belonged to Prince Housain (like Aladdin, an "Arabian Nights" hero). It would transport anyone who sat on it to any part of the world in a moment. Perhaps the best authenticated of wishing-carpets is that of Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, portrayed on their well-known poster. May not this have suggested the comparison made by the
poet am, Sir, &c., F. ETHEL MINNS. The Cliff, Weston, Southampton.
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