Richard Hole and the 'Merchant's' and 'Squire's Tales': an Unrecognized Eighteenth-Century (1797) Contribution to Source and Analogue Study

Author / Editor
DiMarco, Vincent.

Title
Richard Hole and the 'Merchant's' and 'Squire's Tales': an Unrecognized Eighteenth-Century (1797) Contribution to Source and Analogue Study

Published
Chaucer Review 16 (1981): 171-80.

Description
Hole's "Remarks on the Arabians Nights' Entertainments" contains speculations about the sources of the pear-tree motif and the magical objects in the two tales. While many of his guesses are without substantiation, he does suggest a pear-tree analogue to be found in the "Bahar-i Danish" of Inayat Allah Kanbu (1608-71). A likely source for the healing-sword motif is Pliny's "Natural History."

Chaucer Subjects
Merchant and His Tale
Squire and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.