them. I assured him that I yielded to nobody in admiration of
Sir Richard Burton--that is, on account of what he (Sir Richard)
did do, not on account of what he did not do; and I gave it as my
opinion that Mr. Payne owed it both to the public and to himself to
lay bare the whole story. After several letters and interviews I at
last induced him to give way; and I think the public will thank me
for my persistency.

My revelations, which form an astonishing story, will no doubt come
as a complete surprise to almost everybody. I can imagine them,
indeed, dropping like a bombshell into some circles; but they are
founded, not only upon conversations with Mr. Payne, but upon
Burton's own letters to Mr. Payne, all of which have been in my
hands, and careful study of the two translations. The public,
however, cannot possibly be more surprised than I myself was when
I compared the two translations page by page, I could scarcely
believe my own eyes; and only one conclusion was possible. Burton,
indeed, has taken from Payne at least three-quarters of the entire
work. He has transferred many hundreds of sentences and clauses
bodily. Sometimes we come upon a whole page with only a word or
two altered.[FN#7] In short, amazing to say, the public have given
Burton credit for a gift which he did not possess[FN#8]--that of
being a great translator. If the public are sorry, we are deeply
sorry, too, but we cannot help it. Burton's exalted position,
however, as ethnologist and anthropologist, is unassailable. He was
the greatest linguist and traveller that England ever produced.
And four thrones are surely enough for any man. I must mention that
Mr. Payne gave me an absolute free hand--nay, more than that, having
placed all the documents before me, he said--and this he repeated
again and again--"Wherever there is any doubt, give Burton the