been generally attributed to Professor Galland. Circumstances,
however, wholly beyond my control have now compelled me to devote
the whole of this volume to the Frenchman's stories.

It will hardly be doubted that for a complete recueil of The
Nights a retranslation of the Gallandian histoires is necessary.
The learned Professor Gustav Weil introduced them all, Germanised
literally from the French, into the Dritter Band of his
well-known version--Tausend und eine Nacht; and not a few readers
of Mr. John Payne's admirable translation (the Villon) complained
that they had bought it in order to see Ali Baba, Aladdin, and
others translated into classical English and that they much
regretted the absence of their old favourites.

But the modus operandi was my prime difficulty. I disliked the
idea of an unartistic break or change in the style, ever

"Tachnat de rendre mien cet air d'antiquite,"

and I aimed at offering to my readers a homogeneous sequel. My
first thought for securing uniformity of treatment was to tender
the French text into Arabic, and then to retranslate it into
English. This process, however, when tried was found wanting; so
I made inquiries in all directions for versions of the Gallandian
histories which might have been published in Persian, Turkish, or
Hindustani. Though assisted by the Prince of London Bibliopoles,
Bernard Quaritch, I long failed to find my want: the vernaculars
in Persian and Turkish are translated direct from the Arabic
texts, and all ignore the French stories. At last a friend,
Cameron McDowell, himself well known to the world of letters,