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    Vathek
    Vathek
    Vathek
    Ebook163 pages2 hours

    Vathek

    By William Beckford

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    A Dark tale of the Original Caliph
    “Woe to the rash mortal who seeks to know that of which he should remain ignorant, and to undertake that which surpasseth his power!” ― William Beckford, Vathek
    Valthek by William Beckford is a gothic novel and fictionalized account of the Caliph Al-Wathiq. This novel chronicles the fall from power of the Caliph Vathek, who renounces Islam and engages in a series of licentious and deplorable activities designed to gain him supernatural powers. At the end of the novel, instead of attaining these powers, Vathek descends into a hell ruled by the demon Eblis where he is doomed to wander endlessly and speechlessly.
    This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This eBook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.

    Xist Publishing is a digital-first publisher. Xist Publishing creates books for the touchscreen generation and is dedicated to helping everyone develop a lifetime love of reading, no matter what form it takes



    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherXist Publishing
    Release dateMar 26, 2015
    ISBN9781623958695
    Vathek
    Author

    William Beckford

    William Thomas Beckford (1760–1844) was a novelist, an art collector, a critic, a composer, a travel writer, and a politician. Born the son of a lord mayor of London, Beckford was extremely wealthy from a young age, and was once the wealthiest commoner in England. Beckford wrote Vathek, his most well-known work, in 1786. He later gained fame for his impressive art collection, with pieces that are still on display in the world’s greatest museums today.

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    Reviews for Vathek

    3/5

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    • 2/5
      Vathek is an Arabian Caliph whose kingdom is marked by violence, even though Vathek has lived for many years in his 5 palaces; one for each of the senses. Of course, Vathek can not be happy for what he has, and he goes in search of the "dark" treasure; which is knowledge. One of the things he has to do to obtain this is to sacrifice 50 children. He does this and his people turn against him. Vathek finds out that he can not outrun his eternal damnation. This really is one of the most boring books I have read! Why did I read it? It was short and on the 1001 books list. Not recommended. 141 pages
    • 4/5
      Good story. For the time it was written in, it could be a story right out of The Arabian Nights. Vathek is despicable as is his mother.
    • 1/5
      The best part was the last 2 chapters. Just couldn't get into this one. The imagery is wonderful, but all I got from this was a bit of preaching at the end and a seemingly endless feast of food, which was fine but made me hungry.
    • 3/5
      A very Gothic late 18th century book. Caliph Vathek and his mother Catharis rule a middle eastern caliphate (?). They want power and riches, and the Genie Giaour promises it to them. There is clearly something evil going on, as Vathek gives some of the best children of his ruling to the Giaour. He then meets and falls for Nouronihar (and she for him), an emir's daughter, on a trip. He separates her from her dear cousin Gulchenrouz.Nouronihar follows Vathek. They get what they want, and so does Catharis, but it is not what they were expecting. A story about what unrestrained passions, atrocious actions, and blind ambition get you in the end.
    • 3/5
      Certainly one the odder books I've had the pleasure of reading, I can say that for it. Mostly just didn't manage to keep my interest very well, but there were some brief moments that shone through. The introduction in the edition I read, by Roger Lonsdale, was quite good, but I disliked how the annotations were handled.
    • 1/5
      After reading this book, I have to question why it was selected as one of the 1001 books to read before you die. I read this in online installments - maybe it would have been better in audio or paper... I could see how the whole plot was farcical, but unlike other books of that genre like Candide, I didn't see the point. Definitely could have used some Cliff Notes to accompany this one...
    • 1/5
      Almost works as a self-parody. Almost. And it's clear that this wasn't intentional on the part of Beckford.
    • 4/5
      William Beckford wrote "The History of Caliph Vathek" in French in 1784, but it was first published in an English translation by Samuel Henley in 1786. Widely regarded as one of the seminal works of Gothic literature, this strange, unclassifiable novel recounts its eponymous protagonist's quest for esoteric knowledge and carnal pleasure, a quest which ultimately leads to his damnation. "Vathek" combines exotic descriptions of the Orient with passages of grotesque comedy and a dollop of supernatural derring-do. Indeed, one of the challenges for modern sensibilities (and possibly its original readers as well) is to determine when Beckford should is being earnest and when he ventures into self-parody. Even allowing for the genre's excesses, episodes such as that of a wizard being turned into a ball and being kicked over Vathek's kingdom are clearly intended as black comedy. But what about Vathek's damnation, described in language of poetic intensity? Is the moralistic ending to be taken at face value or is Beckford being ironic? The author's letters suggest the former to be the case - which is rather surprising considering the atmosphere of decadence which permeates the novel.If read purely for narrative pleasure, Vathek might disappoint. The plot is episodic, there are too many changes of gear, and the novel's ultimate message - if it does have one - is elusive and unclear. Yet, for anybody interested in early Romanticism, Orientalism, supernatural fiction or, for that matter, unusual literary fare, this is a must-read.The Oxford World Classics text follows the 1816 English language version, prepared by Beckford himself. It includes an informative introduction by Roger Lonsdale which, interestingly, makes the case for *not* considering Vathek a Gothic novel. Also included are the erudite endnotes which Beckford included in the 1816 edition of Vathek (although first-time readers might prefer just reading through it and then consulting the notes on subsequent readings).
    • 4/5
      Rating 3.6Vathek : An Arabian Tale by William Beckford, written when he was just 21 in 1782. It is a combination of a Gothic novel and Orientalism. The 18/19century was noted for an obsession of all things Oriental. Vathek is the 9th Caliph of Abassides and is addicted to the pursuit of pleasures for all his senses. His major sin is gluttony. Carathis is his evil mother who is knowledgeable in science and occult. Vathek meets up with a Indian merchant called Giaour who is really a Jinn. From that point Vathek engages in all kinds of horrors and eventually goes on a quest of of the throne of Soliman. During this quest he mistreats a host, Emir Fakreddin by taking his daughter Nouronihar. They finally arrive and find that the quest has led them to a place of great loss -- the loss of hope. A quick read that is strongly influenced by literature such as Paradise Lost and has also influence other works of literature.
    • 2/5
      Vathek is an Arabian Caliph whose kingdom is marked by violence, even though Vathek has lived for many years in his 5 palaces; one for each of the senses. Of course, Vathek can not be happy for what he has, and he goes in search of the "dark" treasure; which is knowledge. One of the things he has to do to obtain this is to sacrifice 50 children. He does this and his people turn against him. Vathek finds out that he can not outrun his eternal damnation. This really is one of the most boring books I have read! Why did I read it? It was short and on the 1001 books list. Not recommended. 141 pages
    • 4/5
      Vathek does a credible job of capturing the Arabian Nights tone and lush descriptive passages, based on my faint recollection. Anything mixing this and the Gothic is liable to turn incredible in places - and it does - testing a reader's patience if it's taken too seriously. But the story is still very determined to take itself seriously, notwithstanding. It never descends into comedy, and the drama can take some very dark turns as Vathek seeks out power above and beyond what he already enjoys as caliph. Given that he already has it all, and yet he's still tempted by infernal means of acquiring more, it's practically impossible to find any sympathy for him. His intermittent episodes of remorse are so impromptu and brief, and his chances to recant so many, he can't even be viewed as a victim of irresistible circumstance (or of his mother). Beckford was writing at the height (circa 1790 to 1800) of the gothic period, while Anne Radcliffe was enjoying her throne as England's pre-eminent author before modern fiction began to take over. Even so, Vathek arguably does not fit completely into the gothic genre. It's more clearly bent towards adopting an Oriental storytelling tradition, which it is said to do remarkably well. It's an oddity among English literature and it continues to stand out today accordingly. Whether it's actually still enjoyable to read without knowing this context is another question given its preposterous plotting, unlikely events and too-plain moral. I had to drag myself through it, but I'd still take this over Radcliffe any day.
    • 1/5
      Four years have passed since I read “Vathek” and I remember very little about it.What I do recall is that it was slow, tedious, and neither characters nor plot engaged me at all.
    • 3/5
      William Beckford, the author of “Vathek,” led a rather remarkable life – so remarkable, in fact, that reviewers and critics are left baffled at how to interpret it other than reading it as a sort of fantastic confabulation of his life. He was born in 1760, son of the two-time Lord Mayor of London; at the tender age of ten years, his father died and left him one of the richest men in the entire country. This allowed him to pursue his interests in art, architecture, and travel, all of which he did on grand scales. His tastes were just as spectacular as his wealth, acquiring over the course of his life Giovanni Bellini’s “Agony in the Garden,” Raphael’s “Saint Catherine of Alexandria,” and Velazquez’s “Philip IV in Brown and Silver.” He took music lessons from Mozart. After very possibly having an affair with his cousin’s wife, as well as another with a boy who just happened to be the son of William Courtenay, Ninth Earl of Devon, he exiled himself to the Continent, where he lived most of his life. Vathek was written in 1781 or 1782, while Beckford was in his early twenties. It has heavy Gothic influences, but is very recognizable as one of the “Oriental tales” of which the English reading public could hardly get enough of at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Beckford originally wrote the book in French, only later to have it translated into English by Samuel Henley in 1786 and published by Oxford World Classics. However grotesque and bizarre the story, two of its central characters are historical. Vathek is based on al-Wathiq, an Abbasid caliph and grandson of Harun al-Rashid, and his mother Carathis is based on al-Wathiq’s mother, Qaratis. That’s where all historical resemblances end, however. Goaded on by his mother, Vathek seeks out occult learning in the sciences, astronomy, and other “black arts” that shock some of his fellow Muslims, including his counselor-vizier Morakanabad and the eunuch Bababalouk. He is tempted by a demon named Giaour who promises him riches beyond belief in a Palace of Subterranean Fire, and does a number of heinous things to please Giaour, including tossing fifty beautiful boys to appease its bloodlust. Vathek then meets the kind, pious Emir Fakreddin, and quickly falls in love with his daughter Nouronihar, who is already betrothed to her young cousin Gulchenrouz. Vathek’s infatuation excites Nouronihar, however, and seems equally greedy for the treasures in the Palace of Subterranean Fire. They eventually reach the Palace, ruled by Iblis (the Devil of Islamic mythology), but it turns out to be something that more resembles Dante than any kind of heavenly reward. Carathis soon joys them there, explicitly having abandoned all Hope, one assumes for eternity.Because of all the action that takes place in an extremely short novel (this version clocks in right at 120 pages), its pace can seem hurried, confused, and frantic. This is understandable since, in several places, Beckford cites having written it in either two or three days. “Vathek” mostly seems to be a vehicle for Beckford to bandy about his criticisms of middle-class English mores and sexual morality (Nouronihar’s love interest, Gulchenrouz, is often referred to as “feminine” and “effete.”) It can just as easily be read as a very young Beckford trying to come to terms with how he sees himself and his ambitions in relation to those of society less forgiving of thoroughgoing aesthetes. Because of its length, I would recommend this for anyone interested in the ever-popular Georgian-era Oriental tale mixed with high Gothic romance. I don’t think anyone has ever accused Beckford of being a great writer – but it is not without interest, even if it is only the interest of the fascinating eccentric who wrote it.
    • 3/5
      This book is considered to be the 1,002 fable in the Arabian Nights Tales. It was interesting but fantasy is not one of my favorite genres. The narrative of Vathek uses a third person, omniscient, in the sense that he knows what is happening everywhere. The novel, while it may lend itself to be divided into chapters, is one complete manuscript without pause. It's humor is entertaining in some parts but it does drag in the middle. If you like fantasy type fables then I would recommend this book for you.
    • 3/5
      What an unusual book. One of the first Gothic novels. Very orientalist.
    • 2/5
      Imagine a Heironymous Bosch painting with Caliphs and harem girls instead of the usual tortured Christians. Imagine this painting is a cautionary tale about how a debauched Caliph follows riches all the way to Castle Eblis (the devil). Yup, you've got Vathek - but Vathek isn't a painting, and it wasn't written by Bosch. It doesn't have the Bosch spark of genius that makes us wanted to look at the tortured freaks being tortured freakishly.
    • 5/5
      Surely few stranger works of fiction exist in the annals of Romantic literature than William Beckford’s dreamy, opulent, and hypnotically weird Vathek. An undeniable and outrageous breed of almost slapstick comedy mingles like wine in water with scenes of utter blasphemy and perversion. Our eponymous Caliph Vathek, tempted by the sprawling subterranean riches of Eblis (the Islamic demon par excellence), wanders a one-way path to absolute damnation in one of the most meandering and scandalous journeys of self-destruction ever penned. Supreme destination: a climax of hearts exploding into smokeless fire. A parade of phantasmagoria smatters the narrative with strange and delightful diversions: pious dwarves bearing baskets of fruit and chirping incessantly, to the great annoyance of our Caliph, their Qur’anic verses; saucy women tricking eunuchs into flinging about on swings in a perfumed harem; great feasts, examined in exacting detail, of everything from roasted wolves and boiled thistles to pistachio-stuffed lamb and drugged sherbets; an entire city kicking about a goblin who has curled into a ball and taken to rolling about through the streets of Samarra and eventually over a cliff; a woman burning bits and pieces of mummies, rhinoceros horns, and human beings on a pyre atop a dizzyingly high tower to placate the forces of evil; divining fish; one-eyed deaf mutes getting lusty with ghouls who have risen drowsily from the grave to feast on fresh corpses. This is definitely not Aladdin.Like so many other curiosities in literature, from Byron to Melmoth the Wanderer, Vathek is all the more entrancing when its unique and sometimes uncomfortably personal relationship with its author is taken into account. Its influence on the Gothic genre as a whole is evident from the first paragraph, where we are introduced to our naughty Caliph’s ability to strike men dead with a single ‘terrible’ gaze. This absurd and yet ultimately captivating sense of wonder pervades Vathek like the cloying, and yet rapturous, odor of heady rosewater. A treat for reflective minds and those interested in literary theatrics both, I count myself an ardent admirer.(A brief note on translations: Vathek was originally written, despite Beckford’s English heritage, in French. Quite fitting, really. As it stands, this is not Les Miserables, and translations of Vathek are not dramatically varying in terms of quality. That said, the translation widely available in paperback from Penguin or Oxford is admirable and a great read, but if you can track down a copy of The Folio Society’s reprint of the 1929 Grimsditch translation, you will do yourself even better. The differences are quite subtle, but they might be the difference between appreciating the novel and ‘not getting it.’ Best not to take any chances, because, and I’ll say it one last time, this is gloriously weird stuff and well worth your time.)
    • 3/5
      Although fascinating as a document of its time and British preoccupations with fantasies of the orient, I don't think this can be considered great literature. The prose is, at its best, serviceable.
    • 4/5
      Strange Arabian fantasia that tells the story of a caliph who overthrows all that is sacred in the pursuit of dark powers and entry into the underworld. Basic morality tale told with beautiful passages and great imagination.
    • 4/5
      The novel Vatek was an 18th century "cult classic," revered by Byron and later Poe, Mallarme, and Swinburne. It is a fantastical tale originally written in French by William Beckford -- "England's wealthiest son" -- at the age of twenty-one.Beckforth, inspired by the Arabian Nights and the idea of oriental exoticism, created Vatkek as an homage to Persian folk tales and as a self-indulgent escapist fantasy.Filled with splendid palaces, treasures beyond price, vengeful demons, dark magic, eroticism, and wild adventure, "Vatek" is an over-wrought confection. It's long description passages and jumbled plot make it a dizzying read -- inducing both confusion and enchantment. Whether pleasure or frustration takes the upper hand for you will depend on your personal taste.
    • 4/5
      What? This novel is enchantingly bizarre, and the episodes in hell are brilliant, but too much of the first part of the novel is wrapped up in over descriptive paragraphs of the sublime, which quickly bored me. It is however, an at times outlandishly evocative novel, and one that I enjoyed.
    • 5/5
      Vathek was Caliph in the area of approximately present-day Iraq, at some unknown time in the past. He was generally a fair person, but woe unto him who got Vathek angry. He lived in an immense castle, with the absolute finest of everything. One day, a very strange, and very ugly, man stood before his throne. He had a hideous laugh, but didn’t speak. He showed Vathek all manner of rare and exotic items, including sabers inscribed in an unknown language, inscriptions which kept changing from day to day. The stranger was thrown in prison for his unwillingness to speak. The next morning, finding the stranger gone, Vathek totally blows his top.Finding himself outside the castle, at the foot of the nearby mountains, Vathek hears a voice coming out of a huge crevasse. It is the stranger, called a giaour, who promises Vathek all the powers of heaven in exchange for the blood of fifty young boys. Vathek provides the boys, through the guise of a sporting competition, then the giaour reneges on its part of the deal. When the people, especially the parents, understand what’s happened, Vathek has to get back to the castle and lock the doors, until the anger subsides.Later, Vathek commands the creation of a great caravan to a place called Rocnabad, home of famous springs. For various reasons, he needs to get away from the castle for a while. This is going to be the biggest, and grandest, caravan ever. On the journey, the caravan is attacked by wild animals, with a number of casualties. Vathek, his wives and senior advisers, can no longer be carried the rest of the way, because of lack of personnel, but actually have to walk to Rocnabad.At Rocnabad, there is a castle as big or bigger than the one that Vathek left behind. He meets a young woman named Nouronihar, who he wants as one of his wives (as Caliph, what Vathek wants, Vathek gets). She is promised to a man named Gulchenrouz. The lovers drink a potion that will make them look dead for several days, then, the idea is that they go and live somewhere else, away from Vathek.This is one of the very few novels set in the world of the Arabian Nights, a world of eunuchs, slaves and harem girls. It was first published over 200 years ago (in the 1780s), so the style of writing is very different than what is normal for a modern reader. Therefore, it will take some patience on the part of the reader. If you can find a copy, it is time, and money, very well spent.
    • 4/5
      Before there was Clark Ashton Smith, there was William Beckford. Without him, Oscar Wilde would have been nothing...Even Byron rode on Beckford's coat-tails. (Well--maybe)
    • 3/5
      The other stories were better than the original Vathek. It's hard to get into a story where you hate the main character. But it was very colorful and exotic. The writing was a bit purple but I like that.
    • 4/5
      An interesting tale, Vathek is the story of the Caliph of the same name, who is tempted by a demon named the Giaour. Vathek had been well liked by his subjects and left the occult dabbling to his mother up until this time. The Giaour came to Vathek's palace one day promising him wealth & power & secret talismans by which to rule the world. All of this temptation was too much for the poor Caliph; with his mother offering agreement, Vathek is told to travel to a place called Istakar where he would receive his reward. Along the way he picks up a young woman named Nouronihar, whose greed & desire for power matches his own. This book tells of their adventures.A very moralistic tale, and one for which many others have made comments since its writing, I thought it was quite good. A very brief read (this edition, the Oxford World's Classics, tells the tale in 120 pages), it is a classic.

    Book preview

    Vathek - William Beckford

    Questions

    MEMOIR.

    BY WILLIAM NORTH.

    William Beckford, the author of the following celebrated Eastern tale, was born in 1760, and died in the spring of 1844, at the advanced age of eighty-four years.  It is to be regretted, that a man of so remarkable a character, did not leave the world some record of a life offering points of interest different from that of any of his contemporaries, from the peculiarly studious retirement and eccentric avocations in which it was chiefly passed.  Such a memoir would have formed a curious contrast with that of the late M. de Chateaubriand, who, born nearly at the same period, outlived but by a few years, the strange Englishman, whose famous romance forms a brilliant ornament to French literature, which even Atala is unlikely to outlive in the memory of Chateaubriand’s countrymen.  All men of genius should write autobiographies.  Such works are inestimable lessons to posterity.  As it is, there are few men, of whom it is more difficult to compose an elaborate and detailed history than the author of Vathek.  From such scanty sources as are open to us, the reader must be content with a few striking facts and illustrations, which may serve to convey some idea of the idiosyncrasy of a man, whose whole life was a sort of mystery, even to his personal acquaintances.

    His great-great-grandfather was lieutenant-governor and commander of the forces in Jamaica; and his grandfather president of the council in the same island.  His father, though not a merchant, as has been represented, but a large landed proprietor, both in England and the West Indies, was lord mayor of London, and distinguished himself in presenting an address to the king, George the Third,—by a spirited retort to his majesty,—who had the ill-breeding to treat discourteously a deputation which the lord mayor headed.  The portraits of Alderman Beckford, and his more celebrated son, were painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.  The former died in 1770, leaving the subject of this memoir the wealthiest commoner in England.

    No pains were spared on the education of the young Croesus—the lords Chatham and Camden being consulted by his father on that subject.  Besides Latin and Greek, he spoke five modern languages, and wrote three with facility and elegance.  He read Persian and Arabic, designed with great skill, and studied the science of music under the great Mozart.

    At the age of eighteen he visited Paris, and was introduced to Voltaire.  On taking leave of me, said Beckford, he placed his hand on my head, saying, ‘There, young Englishman, I give you the blessing of a very old man.’  Voltaire was a mere skeleton—a bony anatomy.  His countenance I shall never forget.

    His first literary production, Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters, was written at the early age of seventeen.  It would appear, that the old housekeeper at Fonthill, was in the habit of edifying visitors to its picture gallery by a description of the paintings, mainly derived from her own fertile imagination.  This suggested to our author, the humorous idea of composing a catalogue of suppositious painters with histories of each, equally fanciful and grotesque.  Henceforward, the old housekeeper had a printed guide (or rather, mis-guider) to go by, and could discourse at large on the merits of Og of Bashan! Waterslouchy of Amsterdam! and Herr Sucrewasser of Vienna! their wives and styles!  As for the country squires, etc., they, Beckford tells us, took all for gospel.

    Vathek,—the superb Vathek, which Lord Byron so much admired, and on which he so frequently complimented the author,—Vathek, the finest of Oriental romances, as Lallah Rookh is the first of Oriental poems, by the pen of a Frank, was written and published before our author had completed his twentieth year, it having been composed at a single sitting!  Yes, for three days and two nights did the indefatigable author persevere in his task.  He completed it, and a serious illness was the result.  What other literary man ever equalled this feat of rapidity and genius?

    Vathek was originally written in French, of which its style is a model.  The translation which follows, is not by the author himself, though he expressed perfect satisfaction with it.  It was originally published in 1786.  For splendour of description, exquisite humour, and supernatural interest and grandeur, it stands without a rival in romance.  In as thoroughly Oriental keeping, Hope’s Anastasius, or Memoirs of a Modern Greek, which Beckford himself highly admired, can alone be compared with it.

    Much of the description of Vathek’s palace, and even the renowned Hall of Eblis, was afterwards visibly embodied in the real Fonthill Abbey, of which wonders, almost as fabulous, were at one time reported and believed.

    Fonthill Abbey, which had been destroyed by fire, and re-built during the life-time of the elder Beckford, was on account of its bad site demolished, and again re-built under the superintendence of our author himself, assisted by James Wyatt, Esq., the architect, with a magnificence that excited the greatest attention and wonder at the time.  The total outlay of building Fonthill, including furniture, articles of virtu, etc., must have been enormous, not much within the million, as estimated by the Times.  A writer in the Athenæum mentions £400,000 as the sum.  Beckford informed Mr. Cyrus Redding, that the exact cost of building Fonthill was £273,000.

    The distinguishing architectural peculiarity of Fonthill Abbey, was a lofty tower, 280 feet in height.  This tower was prominently shadowed forth in Vathek, and shows how strong a hold the idea had upon his mind.  Such was his impatience to see Fonthill completed, that he had the works continued by torchlight, with relays of workmen.  During the progress of the building, the tower caught fire, and was partly destroyed.  The owner, however, was present, and enjoyed the magnificent burning spectacle.  It was soon restored; but a radical fault in laying the foundation, caused it eventually to fall down, and leave Fonthill a ruin in the life-time of its founder.

    Not so much his extravagant mode of life, which is the common notion, as the loss of two large estates in a law suit (the value of which may be inferred from the fact, that fifteen hundred slaves were upon hem) induced our author to quit Fonthill, and offer it and its contents for public sale.  There was a general desire to see the interior of the palace, in which its lord had lived in a luxurious seclusion, so little admired by the curious of the fashionable world.  He is fortunate, says the Times of 1822, who finds a vacant chair within twenty miles of Fonthill; the solitude of a private apartment is a luxury which few can hope for. . . .  "Falstaff himself could not take his ease at this moment within a dozen leagues of Fonthill. . . . The beds through the county are (literally) doing double duty—people who come in from a distance during the night must wait to go to bed until others get up in the morning. . . . Not a farm-house, however humble,—not a cottage near Fonthill, but gives shelter to fashion, to beauty, and rank; ostrich plumes, which, by their very waving, we can trace back to Piccadilly, are seen nodding at a casement window over a depopulated poultry-yard."

    The costly treasures of art and virtu, as well as the furniture of the rich mansion, were scattered far and wide; and one of its tables served the writer of this memoir to scribble upon, when first stern necessity, or yet sterner ambition, urged him to add his mite to the Babel tower of literature.  At that table I first read Vathek.  I have read it often since, and every perusal has increased my admiration.

    Nearly fifty years after the publication of Vathek, in 1835, Mr. Beckford published his Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaca and Batalha, which he had taken in 1795, together with an epistolatory record of his observations in Italy, Spain and Portugal, between the years 1780 and 1794.  These are marked, as he himself intimates, with the bloom and heyday of youthful spirits and youthful confidence, at a period when the older order of things existed with all its picturesque pomps and absurdities; when Venice enjoyed her Piombi and sub-marine dungeons; Prance her Bastille; the Peninsula her Holy Inquisition.  With none of those subjects, however, are the letters occupied—but with delineations of landscape, and the effects of natural phenomena.  These literary efforts appear to have exhausted their author’s productive powers; in a word, he seems soon to have been used-up, and then to have discontinued his search after new sensations, or to have been content to live without them.

    After the sale of Fonthill, our author lived a considerable time in Portugal, and hence Lord Byron, who was fond of casting the shadow of his own imagination over every object, penned the well-known lines at Cintra:

    "There thou, too, Vathek, England’s wealthiest son,

       Once formed thy paradise; as not aware

       Where wanton wealth her mightiest deeds hath done,

    Meek peace, voluptuous lures, was ever wont to shun.

       Here didst thou dwell; here scenes of pleasure plan,

       Beneath yon mountain’s ever beauteous brow;

    But now, as if a thing unblest by man,

       Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou! 

       Here giant weeds a passage scarce allow

       To halls deserted; portals gaping wide

       Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom; how

       Vain are the pleasaunces on earth supplied,

    Swept into wrecks anon by time’s ungentle tide."

    These sombre verses contrast strangely with Beckford’s saying to Mr. Cyrus Redding, in his seventy-sixth year, that he had never felt a moments’ ennui in his life.

    Beckford was in person scarcely above the middle height, slender, and well formed, with features indicating great intellectual power.  He was exactly one year younger than Pitt, the companion of his minority.  His political principles were popular, though it is recorded, that at a court ball on the Queen’s birth-day, in 1782, he, with Miss North, led up a country dance.  He sat in parliament, in his early years, both for Wells and Hendon, but retired on account of bad health.  This, however, he overcame by careful diet and exercise, as testified by his great bodily activity almost to the last.  He was a man of most extensive reading, and cultivated taste.

    The last years of his life were passed at Bath—where he united two houses in Lansdown Crescent, by an arch thrown across the street, and containing his library, which was well selected, and very extensive.  Not far off, he again erected a tower, 180 feet high, of which the following description was given at the time of his decease, by a correspondent of the Athenæum:—

    "Mr. Beckford, at an early period of his residence there, erected a lofty tower, in the apartments of which were placed many of his choicest paintings and articles of virtu.  Asiatic in its style, with gilded lattices and blinds, or curtains, of crimson cloth, its striped ceilings, its minaret, and other accessories, conveyed the idea that the being who designed the place and endeavoured to carry out the plan, was deeply imbued with the spirit of that lonely grandeur and strict solitariness which obtains through all countries and among all people of the East.  The building was surrounded by a high wall, and entrance afforded to the garden in which the tower stood, by a door of small dimensions.  The garden itself was Eastern in its character.  Though comparatively circumscribed in its size, nevertheless were to be found within it, solitary walks and deep retiring shades, such as could be supposed Vathek, the mournful and the magnificent, loved, and from the bowers of which might be expected would suddenly fall upon the ear, sounds of the cymbal and the dulcimer.  The building contained several apartments crowded with the finest paintings.  At the time I made my inspection the walls were crowded with the choicest productions of the easel.  The memory falls back upon ineffaceable impressions of Old Franks, Breughel, Cuyp, Titian, (a Holy Family), Hondekooter, Polemberg, and a host of other painters whose works have immortalized Art.  Ornaments of the most exquisite gold fillagree, carvings in ivory and wood, Raphaelesque china, goblets formed of gems, others fashioned by the miraculous hands of Benvenuto Cellini, filled the many cabinets and recherché receptacles created for such things.  The doors of the rooms were of finely polished wood—the windows of single sweeps of plate glass—the cornices of gilded silver; every part, both within and without, bespeaking the wealth, the magnificence, and the taste of him who had built this temple in dedication to grandeur, solitariness, and the arts."

    From the summit of this tower, Mr. Beckford, and he alone without a telescope,—could behold that other tower of his youthful magnificence, Fonthill; on which he loved to gaze, with feelings which it

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