TO THE FIRST EDITION.
Whatever rank an author or a translator may hold in the republic of letters, he is seldom listened to with much satisfaction whenever he speaks of himself, however necessary it may be for his own character, or however it may tend to the elucidation of his labours. His motives, indeed, either for writing, or publishing any work, will not much engage the attention of the Public, to whom the work itself is the only thing of consequence. And in this respect, as the translator of a work, which has stood the test of time, I confess, that I feel myself under no great apprehension. But of its merits, I shall have occasion to speak more at large in the Preface.—I must, however, trespass for some little time, in giving such explanations as appear to me to be necessary; in bestowing on others the praise which they deserve; and in endeavouring to extenuate the severity of that criticism, to which I may myself be exposed.
Some years ago, not to mention that it was the delight of my childhood, I was much struck with the beauties of the Arabian Nights; and being in possession of Monsieur Galland’s French copy, entitled, “Les mille et une Nuits, Contes Arabes,” I sometimes amused myself, while residing at Oxford, with doing a story into English. Two years since, I accidentally mentioned this circumstance to my Bookseller, who requested me to finish and publish my translation. The consequence of this and various other conversations, is the following publication; the faults of which, both as to embellishments and translation, must rest with myself. When I came to examine what had been done, which I did not until the matter was finally arranged, I found much more to do than I expected. And if an English Public can have been so long pleased with a translation, (I do not here use my own words,) “loaded with inelegancies, frequently deficient in grammar, and not always without errors,” I trust they will be indulgent to me, who have tried to remedy these defects; though with what success it is not for me to determine.
There is, however, one circumstance upon which I may be allowed to congratulate the Public as well as myself. I fortunately prevailed upon Mr. Smirke, whom every person of correct taste will acknowledge to be second to none in this range of the art, to paint for me a series of pictures, illustrative of this work; and of his exertions and success I cannot speak too highly. He has conceived the different styles, that were necessary for the humorous, the graceful, and the wonderful, with the mind of a man who knew and felt the beauties of his subject; and has executed them with the hand of a master, who knows how to give the full effect to his own conceptions. Nor, indeed, is this all that I owe to his kindness; for he has taken the trouble, not only to point out the different engravers, whose talents he thought best suited to the different pictures, but even to attend to the progress of their labours; and with the happiest consequence: for, I trust, no single work will be able to boast of such a series of beautiful and chaste engravings, which do honor to, and are worthy of, those who undertook them: and I think that these plates may, almost without an exception, be considered as examples of their finest work. The consequence, however, of all this has been the expenditure of a large sum of money for my Publisher, who will, I hope, find, in an extended patronage, an ample reward for his liberal endeavours to gratify the highly cultivated taste of an enlightened Public.
London, 5th April, 1802.
POSTSCRIPT
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The kindness which has been shewn to the former edition of this work, demands the gratitude of the Translator, which he has endeavoured to evince by a careful revision of the work, with the view of making the present edition less inaccurate, and more worthy of their protection.
London, January, 1810.