Contains 456 pages, extending from Night cccvi. (instead of Night
clxvii.) to cdxxv. and thus leaving an initial hiatus of 140
Nights (cxvi.-cccvi. C. de Perceval, vol. viii. p. 14). Thus the
third of the original eight volumes is lost. On this subject Dr.
White wrote to Scott, "One or two bundles of Arabic manuscript,
of the same size and handwriting as the second volume of the
Arabian Tales, were purchased at the sale by an agent for Mr.
Beckford of Fonthill, and I have no doubt whatever but that the
part deficient in your copy is to be found in his possession." If
such be the case, and everything seems to prove it, this volume
was not No. iii. but No. iv. The MS. begins abruptly with the
continuation of the tale. There is no list of contents, and at
the end are two unimportant "copies of verses" addressed to the
reader, five couplets rhyming in�mu (e.g. ta'dimu) and two
in--af (e.g. Salaf).