[APPENDIX I.]
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS AND OF SCHOLARS ON THE "ARABIAN NIGHTS."
"To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette.
"Sir,—Your correspondent 'Sigma' has forgotten the considerable number of 'students' who will buy Captain Burton's translation as the only literal one, needing it to help them in what has become necessary to many—a masterly knowledge of Egyptian Arabic. The so-called 'Arabian Nights' are about the only written halfway house between the literary Arabic and the colloquial Arabic, both of which they need, and need introductions to. I venture to say that its largest use will be as a grown-up school book, and that it is not coarser than the classics in which we soak all our boys' minds at school.
"Anglo-Egyptian.
"September 14th, 1885."