Page:Beckford - Vathek (1816).djvu/269

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Page 105.made the dwarfs dance against their will.

Ali Chelebi al Moufti, in a treatise on the subject, held that dancing, after the example of the derviches, who made it a part of their devotion, was allowable. But in this opinion he was deemed to be heterodox; for Mahometans, in general, place dancing amongst the things that are forbidden. D'Herbelot, p. 98.


Page 105.durst not refuse the commander of the faithful.

The mandates of Oriental potentates have ever been accounted irresistible. Hence the submission of these devotees to the will of the Caliph. Esther i. 19. Daniel vi. 8. Ludeke Expos, brevis, p. 60.


Page 106.properly lubricated with the balm of Mecca.

Unguents, for reasons sufficiently obvious, have been of general use in hot climates. According to Pliny, "at the time of the Trojan war, they consisted of oils perfumed with the odours of flowers, and, chiefly, of roses."—Hasselquist speaks of oil, impregnated with the tuberose and