The Life of Sir Richard Burton Part 46

Appendix X

W. F. Kirby

William Forsell Kirby, F.L.S., F.E.S., is the son of Samuel Kirby, banker, and his wife Lydia, nee Forsell; nephew of William Kirby, well-known in connection with the London Orphan Asylum; and cousin to the popular auth.o.r.esses, Mary and Elizabeth Kirby. Born at Leicester, 14th January 1844. He was a.s.sistant in the museum of Royal Dublin Society (later National Museum of Science and Art) from 1867 to 1879, and later was transferred to the Zoological Department of the British Museum. He is member of several learned societies, and has written a large number of Entomological Works. He has made a special study of the European editions of the Arabian Nights and its imitations, and has a very fine collection of books relating to this subject. To his contributions to Sir Richard Burton's translation we have already alluded. He has also written Ed-Dimiryaht and other poems (1867); The New Arabian Nights (1883); and The Hero of Esthonia (1905); and his translation of the Kalevala is in the press. Mr. Kirby married in 1866, Johanna Maria Kappel, who died in 1893, leaving one son, William E. Kirby, M.D.

Appendix 11

Genealogical Table. The Burtons of Shap

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Footnotes:

[Footnote 1: The few anecdotes that Lady Burton does give are taken from the books of Alfred B. Richards and others.]

[Footnote 2: Lady Burton to Mrs. E. J. Burton, 23rd March 1891. See Chapter x.x.xix.]

[Footnote 3: A three days' visit to Brighton, where I was the guest of Mrs. E.

J. Burton, is one of the pleasantest of my recollections.]

[Footnote 4: Mrs. Van Zeller had, in the first instance, been written to, in my behalf, by Mrs. E. J. Burton.]

[Footnote 5: It is important to mention this because a few months ago a report went the round of the newspapers to the effect that the tomb was in ruins.]

[Footnote 6: See Chapter xvii.]

[Footnote 7: It is as if someone were to write "Allah is my shepherd, I shall not want," &c., &c.,--here and there altering a word--and call it a new translation of the Bible.]

[Footnote 8: See almost any 'Cyclopaedia. Of the hundreds of person with whom I discussed the subject, one, and only one, guessed how matters actually stood--Mr. Watts-Dunton.]

[Footnote 9: Between Payne and Burton on the one side and the adherents of E.

W. Lane on the other.]

[Footnote 10: At the very outside, as before stated, only about a quarter of it can by any stretch of the imagination be called his.]

[Footnote 11: Burton's work on this subject will be remembered.]

[Footnote 12: 31st July 1905.]

[Footnote 13: See Chapters xxii. to xxix. and x.x.xv. He confessed to having inserted in The Arabian Nights a story that had no business there. See Chapter xxix., 136.]

[Footnote 14: Thus she calls Burton's friend Da Cunha, Da Gama, and gives Arbuthnot wrong initials.]

[Footnote 15: I mean in a particular respect, and upon this all his friends are agreed. But no man could have had a warmer heart.]

[Footnote 16: Particularly pretty is the incident of the families crossing the Alps, when the children get snow instead of sugar.]

[Footnote 17: Particularly Unexplored Syria and his books on Midian.]

[Footnote 18: It will be noticed, too, that in no case have I mentioned where these books are to be found. In fact, I have taken every conceivable precaution to make this particular information useless except to bona-fide students.]

[Footnote 19: I am not referring to "Chaucerisms," for practically they do not contain any. In some two hundred letters there are three Chaucerian expressions. In these instances I have used asterisks, but, really, the words themselves would scarcely have mattered. There are as plain in the Pilgrim's Progress.]

[Footnote 20: I have often thought that the pa.s.sage "I often wonder... given to the world to-day," contains the whole duty of the conscientious biographer in a nutsh.e.l.l.]

[Footnote 21: Of course, after I had a.s.sured them that, in my opinion, the portions to be used were entirely free from matter to which exception could be taken.]

[Footnote 22: In the spelling of Arabic words I have, as this is a Life of Burton, followed Burton, except, of course, when quoting Payne and others. Burton always writes 'Abu Nowas,' Payne 'Abu Nuwas,' and so on.]

[Footnote 23: Conclusion of The Beharistan.]

[Footnote 24: They came from Shap.]

[Footnote 25: Thus there was a Bishop Burton of Killala and an Admira Ryder Burton. See Genealogical Tree in the Appendix.]

[Footnote 26: Mrs. Burton made a brave attempt in 1875, but could never fill the gap between 1712 and 1750.]

[Footnote 27: Now the residence of Mr. Andrew Chatto, the publisher.]

[Footnote 28: In 1818 the Inspector writes in the Visitors' Book: "The Bakers seldom there." Still, the Bakers gave occasional treats to the children, and Mrs. Baker once made a present of a new frock to each of the girls.]

[Footnote 29: Not at Elstree as Sir Richard Burton himself supposed and said, and as all his biographers have reiterated. It is plainly stated in the Elstree register that he was born at Torquay.]

[Footnote 30: The clergyman was David Felix.]

[Footnote 31: Weare's grave is unmemorialled, so the spot is known only in so far as the group in the picture indicates it.]

[Footnote 32: He died 24th October 1828, aged 41; his wife died 10th September 1848. Both are buried at Elstree church, where there is a tablet to their memory.]

[Footnote 33: For a time Antommarchi falsely bore the credit of it.]