writers; I have carefully compared my work with every composition of the same nature, that has fallen into my hands; and though on so general a subject I must have made several observations which are common to all, yet I flatter myself that my own remarks, the disposition of the whole book, and the passages quoted in it, will sufficiently distinguish it as an original production. Though I am not conscious that there are any essential mistakes or omissions in it, yet I am sensible that it falls very short of perfection, which seems to withdraw itself from the pursuit of mortals, in proportion to their endeavours of attaining it; like the talisman in the Arabian tales, which a bird carried from tree to tree as often as its pursuer approached it. But it has been my chief care to avoid all the harsh and affected terms of art which render most didactic works so tedious and unpleasant, and which only perplex the learner, without giving him any real knowledge. I have even refrained from making any enquiries into gene- ral grammar, or from entering into those subjects which have already been so elegantly discussed by the most judicious philosopher[1], the most learned divine[2], and the most laborious scholar of the present age.[3]
It was my first design to prefix to the grammar a history of the Persian language from the time of Xenophon to our days, and to have added a copious praxis of tales and poems extracted from the classical writers of Persia; but as those additions would have delayed the publication of the grammar, which was principally wanted, I thought it advisable to reserve them for a separate volume, which the public may expect in the course of the ensuing winter. I have made a large collection of materials for a
