The Three Princes of Serendip course, there is a happy ending. The fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip" is based upon the life of Persian King Bahram V, who ruled the Sassanid Empire (420–440). Stories of his rule are told in epic poetry of the region (Firdausi's "Shahnameh" of 1010, Nizami's "Haft Paykar" of 1197, Khusrau's Hasht Bihisht of 1302), parts of which are based upon historical facts with embellishments derived from folklore going back hundreds of years to oral traditions in India and "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights". With the exception of the well-known camel story, English translations are very
Horace Walpole anonymous pamphlet, " A Letter from Xo Ho, a Chinese Philosopher at London, to his Friend Lien Chi at Peking", the first of his works to be widely reviewed. Early in 1757 old Horace Walpole of Wolterton died and was succeeded in the peerage by his son, who was then an MP for King's Lynn, thereby creating a vacancy. The electors of King's Lynn did not wish to be represented by a stranger and instead wanted someone with a connection to the Walpole family. The new Lord Walpole therefore wrote to his cousin requesting that he stand for the seat,