seen or known, and making a judicious Collection of what was most
remarkable in the Customs and History of the Countries which he visited.
But a very small Part of his Collection has reached us. That we are so
unhappy as to have only mutilated and unsatisfactory Fragments of an
Author of such Veracity, and in such curious Matters, must be imputed to
the want of Printing in most of the eastern Nations, and the Ignorance
of this Traveller's Heirs.

An Acquaintance of mine, who is extremely fond of Travelling, thinking
it would be a very acceptable Present, brought me these Sheets from
_Ispahan_, where they cost him twelve _Tomans_, that is between twenty
and thirty Pounds Sterling. I have translated it without either
diminishing, augmenting, or altering it in any one Particular. Only,
for the Reader's Convenience, I have expressed the Names of Posts and
Dignities in our Language, which in the Original were in _Arabic_,
keeping to it in the Appellations of Persons and Nations, out of regard
to historical Exactness. I do not in the least claim any Thanks or
Acknowledgements for my Trouble; the several Works of this Nature which
I have published producing in me an habitual Pleasure of employing my
Pen, for the Instruction and Entertainment of polite Readers.

Possibly the whole Universe could not afford a more tranquil, happy
Kingdom than that of the _Kofirans_, would their Princes equitably sit
down contented with the Honours and Prerogatives with which they were
invested at their Institution, and not falsly imagine, that their
Grandeur and Glory consist in the Oppression of their Subjects; and
would they be watchful to entail the Harmony and due Subordination
betwixt the several Orders in their Government. Whereas for several
Centuries past, they have been labouring to erect an Arbitrary Power;
and the two last have taken large Steps towards this execrable End.