Arabian Nights Entertainments (1706)/Volume 1
Arabian Nights
Entertainments:
Conſiſting of
One Thousand and One
Stories
Told by
Containing,
Seventh Edition.
Vol. I.
Dublin:
- Madam,
THE great Kindneſſes I receiv’d from M. de Guilleragues, your illuſtrious Father, during my Abode at Conſtantinople, ſome years ago, are too freſh in my Mind, for me to neglect any Opportunity of publiſhing what I owe to his Memory. Were he ſtill alive for the Welfare of France, and my particular Advantage, I would take the liberty to dedicate this Work to him; not only as my Benefactor, but as a Perſon moſt capable of judging what is Fine, and inſpiring other with like Sentiments. Every one remembers the wonderful Exactneſs of his Judgement; the meaneſs of his Thoughts had ſomething in them that was ſhining; and his loweſt Expreſſions were always exact and nice, which mad every one admire him: For never had any Man ſo much Wit and ſo much Solidity. I have ſeen him at a time when he was ſo much taken up with the Affairs of his Maſter, that no body could expect any thing from him, but what related to his Miniſtry, and his profound Capacity to manage the moſt knotty Negotiation; yet all the Weight of his Employment diminiſh’d nothing of his inimitable Pleaſantneſs, which charm’d his Friends, and was agreeable even to thoſe barbarous Nations with whom that Great Man did treat. After the Loſs of him, which to me is irreparable, I could not addreſs my ſelſ to any other Perſon that your ſelſ, Madam, ſince you alone can ſupply the Want of him to me; therefore it is that I take the Boldneſs to beg of you the ſame Protection for this Book, that you was pleas’d to grant to the French Tranſlation of the Seven Arabian Stories that I had the Honour to preſent you.
You may, perhaps, wonder, Madam, that I have not ſince that Time preſented them to you in Print; but the reaſon of it is, that when I was about putting them to the Preſs, I was inform’d that thoſe Seven Stories were taken out of a prodigious Collection of Stories of the like ſort, entituled One Thousand and One Nights. This Diſcovery oblig’d me to ſuſpend the Printing of them, and to uſe my Endeavours to get that Collection; I was forced to ſend for it from Syria, and I have tranſlated into French this firſt Volume, being One of the Four that were ſent me. Theſe Stories will certainly divert you, Madam, much more than thoſe you already ſeen. They are new to you, and more in Number: You will alſo perceive, with Pleaſure, the ingenious Deſign of this anonymous Arabian who has given us theſe Stories after the manner of his Country, fabulous indeed, but very diverting.
I beg, Madam, your Acceptance of this finall Preſent, which I have the Honour to make to you; it is a publick Teſtimony of my Acknowledgment of the profound Reſpect, with which I am, and ſhall for ever be,
Galland.
Preface.
THERE’s no Occaſion to prepoſſeſs the Reader with an Opinion of the Merit and Beauty of the following Work. There needs no more but to read it to ſatisfy any Man that hitherto nothing ſo fine, of this Nature, has appear’d in any Language.
What can be more ingenious, than to compoſe ſuch a prodigious Quantity of pleaſant Stories, whole Variety is ſurprizing, and whoſe Connexion is ſo wonderful? We know not the Name of the Author of ſo great a Work; but probably it is not all done by one Hand, for how can we ſuppoſe that one Man alone, could have Invention enough to make ſo many fine Things,
If Stories of this fort be pleaſant and diverting, becauſe of the Wonders they uſually contain; theſe have certainly the Advantage above all that have yet been publiſh’d, becauſe they are full of ſurprizing Events, which engage our Attention, and ſhew how much the Arabians ſurpaſs other Nations in Compoſures of this Sort.
They muſt alſo be pleaſing, becauſe of the Account they give of the Cuſtoms and Manners of the Eaſtern Nations, and of the Ceremonies of their Religion, as well Pagan as Mahometan, which are better deſcrib’d here, than in any Author that has wrote of ’em, or in the Relations of Travellers. All the Eaſtern Nations, Perſians, Tartars and Indians, are here diſtinguiſh’d, and appear ſuch as they are, from the Sovereign to the meaneſt Subject; ſo that without the Fatigue of going to ſee thoſe People in their reſpective Countries, the Reader has here the Pleaſure to ſee them act, and hear ſpeak. Care has been taken to preſerve their Characters, and to keep their Senſe; nor have we varied from the Text, but when Modeſty obliged us to it. The Tranſlator flatters himſelf, that thoſe who underſtand Arabick, and will be at the Pains to compare the Original with the Tranſlation, muſt agree, that he has ſhew’d the Arabians to the French, with all the Circumſpection that the Niceneſs of the French Tongue, and of the Time requires; and if thoſe who read theſe Stories, have but any Inclination to profit by the Examples of Virtue and Vice, which they will here find exhibited, they may reap an Advantage by it, that is not to be reap’d in other Stories, which are more proper to corrupt than to reform our Manners.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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