LONDON:
PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE-STREET,
Reprinted by Assignment, for
THOMAS TEGG, NO. 111, CHEAPSIDE.
1815.
W. Lewis, Printer, St. John’s Square, London.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.