which purports to be a translation from the Persian, although no original is known to scholars.[76] From these Soirees Voltaire took the material for his Zadig.[77] In most cases, however, all that was Oriental about such stories was the name and the costume.  So popular was the Oriental costume that Montesquieu used it for satirizing the Parisians in his Lettres Persanes (1721).  Through French influence the Oriental story came to Germany, and so we get such works as August Gottlob Meissner’s tales of Nushirvan, Massoud, Giaffar, Sadi and others,[78] or Klinger’s Derwisch.  Wieland used the Eastern costume in his Schach Lolo (1778) and in his politico-didactic romance of the wise Danischmende.  This fondness for an Oriental atmosphere continues even into the nineteenth century and may be seen in such works as Tieck’s Abdallah and Hauff’s Karawane.  But this brings us to the time when India and Persia were to give up their secrets, and when the influence of their literature begins to be a factor in the literature of Europe.

FOOTNOTES: 

[49] See Kunstmann, Die Fahrt der ersten Deutschen nach dem portugiesischen Indien in Hist. pol.  Blaetter f. d.  Kath.  Deutschl., Muenchen, 1861, vol. 48, pp. 277-309.

[50] For title see Panzer, Annalen d. aelteren deutsch.  Litt., Nuernb. 1788.

[51] See Graesse, op. cit. ii. 2. pp. 773, 774.

[52] Des Welt-beruehmten Adami Olearii colligirte und viel vermehrte Reise-Beschreibungen etc., Hamb. 1696, chap. xxv.

[53] Ibid. chap. xxviii. p. 327 seq.

[54] Olearius, op. cit., Preface to the Rosenthal.  Full title of Ochsenbach’s book in Buch der Beispiele, ed.  Holland, p. 258, n. 1.

[55] Proverbiorum et Sententiarum Persicarum Centuria, Leyden, 1644.  In the preface the author says that he undertakes his work, “cum e genuinis Persarum scriptis nihil hactenus in Latinam linguam sit translatum.”

[56] Iversen in op. cit. chap. xi. p. 157 seq.  Cf.  Jackson, Die iranische Religion in Grdr. iran.  Ph. iii. pp. 633, 634, 636.

[57] Sanson in op. cit. pp. 48, 49.

[58] Fr. Schlegel, Weisheit der Indier, Heidelb. 1808, Vorrede, p. xi.

[59] See preface to op. cit.

[60] Ideen zur Phil. d.  Gesch. der Menschheit, chap. iv. ed.  Suphan, vol. 13, p. 415.

[61] The story is given in Chardin’s book, though this was not the source.  See Andreas Gryphius Trauerspiele, ed.  Herm.  Palm, BLVS. vol. 162, pp. 138, 139.

[62] See Zoroasters Telescop oder Schluessel zur grossen divinatorischen Kabbala der Magier in Das Kloster ed.  J. Scheible, Stuttg. 1846, vol. iii. p. 414 seq., esp. p. 439.

[63] Widmann’s Faust in Das Kloster, vol. ii. p. 296; Der Christlich Meynende, ibid. ii. p. 85.

[64] Christoph.  Wagners Leben, ibid. vol. iii. p. 78.