The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch/Volume 1/Part 1/Translator's Dedication

by Paul of Aleppo

To the Right Honourable

Sir Gore Ouseley, Bart. F.R.S. F.A.S.

Knight of the Lion and Sun,

Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society, Chairman of the Oriental Translation Committee, &c. &c. &c.

Sir,

Rejoiced in the opportunity, which your kind permission has allowed me, of dedicating to you one of the earliest productions of the Oriental Committee of Translation, over which you so ably preside, I should feel perfect satisfaction in the performance of this pleasing duty, bound to it by the obligations which your patronage has laid upon me, were the offering in any respect worthy of the approbation desired to be conferred by its benevolent acceptor.

A Guest and Counsellor of Princes, whether ruling over the orient realms of sun-bright Persia, or Masters of the victorious lion of the British Empire, you would wish that the Travels of Macarius should present to you observations equal to your own, upon the interests of Kingdoms, and the manners of Kings. A diligent traveller over remote and but slightly-explored regions, replete with the opposite varieties of East and West, you would look for details of novelty, such as yourself could amply furnish. Familiar with the varied dictions, and accustomed to the chequered thoughts, ripened so diversely in different climates, you would expect to regale vour sight, and gratify your discriminating taste, with the gayer flowers of Eastern eloquence, and the luxurious fruits of warmer fancies, successfully transplanted and cherished in the more oblique rays of the Western sun.

The pages here offered to your perusal will afford, I apprehend, scarcely any thing to satisfy your just expectations. How much-soever able to convey with fidelity and truth the strength and colour of the foreign text into his native idiom, a Translator, in the plain and unadorned style of the Archdeacon Paul, would discover but few traces of type for the ornament of his own. Educated in the seclusion of the convent, or the retirement of the sacerdotal cloister, the unworldly Author comes for ward devoid of the preparation which courts and camps bestow, for the keen intuition of human-nature, the comparison of distant objects, and the knowledge of the relations of parts and interests.

To your practised mind, however, the naïveté of his remarks may afford some amusement; and his accurate collection of facts, some various material for useful meditation.

That the Institution under your auspices will continue to afford the encouragement so long and so much wanted to Oriental Literature—that rich mine of intellectual wealth, which, though so abundant in its treasures, has hitherto been so little and so poorly wrought—is my ardent and fondest hope. And should my humble endeavours to assist in the useful task be rewarded with your indulgent approbation, I shall esteem myself greatly fortunate.

I have the honour to remain,

Sir,

Your most obliged,

and obedient humble Servant,

London, May the 4th, 1829.

The Translator.