NON ITA CERTANDI CUPIDUS, QUAM PROPTER AMOREN. LONDON: M DCC XCIII. TO THE BOOKSELLER. I SIR, Need not acquaint you by what accident thefe Letters were put into my hands, and what pains I have taken in tranflating them; I will only fay that, having been long a fcholar to the late moft learned Mr. Dadichy, interpreter of the Oriental languages, I have acquired fkill enough in the Perfian tongue to be able to give the fenfe of them pretty justly; though I must acknowledge my tranflation far inferior to the Eastern fublimity of the original, which no English expreffion can come up to, and which no English reader would admire. I am aware that fome people may fufpect that the character of a Perfian is fictitious, as many fuch counterfeits have appeared both in France and England. But whoever reads them with attention will be convinced, that they are certainly the work of a perfect ftranger. The obfervations are fo foreign and out of the way, fuch remote hints and imperfect notions are taken up, our prefent happy condition is in all refpects fo ill understood, that it is hardly poffible any Englishman fhould be the author. Yet as there is a pleasure in knowing how things bere affect a foreigner, though his conceptions of them be ever fo extravagant, I think you may venture to expofe them to the eyes of the world; the rather, because it is plain the man who wrote them is a lover of liberty, and must be fuppofed more impartial than our countrymen when they speak of their own admired customs and favourite opinions. I have nothing further to add, but that it is a great pity they are not recommended to the publick by a dedication to fome great man about the court, who would have patronized them for the freedom with which they are written: but the tranflator not having the honour to be acquainted with any body there, they must want that ineftimable advantage, and truft entirely to the candour of the reader. I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant. PERSIAN PERSIAN LETTERS. LETTER I. SELIM, TO MIRZA AT ISPAHAN. HOU knowest, my dearest Mirza, TH the reafons that moved me to leave my country, and vifit England; thou waft thyself, in a great measure, the caufe of it. The relations we received from our friend Ufbec, of thofe parts of Europe which he had feen, raised in us an ardent defire to know the rest, and particularly this famous ifland, of which, not having been there himself, he could give us but imperfect accounts. By his perfuafion we determined to travel thither; but when we were just ready to fet out, the fublime orders of the Sophi our mafter detained thee at the feet of his facred throne. Unwilling as I was to go alone, I yielded to thy importunities, and was content to live fingle among ftrangers and enemies to the faith, that I might be able to gratify thy thirft of knowledge. My voyage was profperous; and I find this country well worthy our curiofity. The recommendations given me by Ufbec to fome English he knew at Paris, are a great advantage to me; and I have taken fuch pains to learn the lan I fhall apply myself principally to ftudy the English government, fo different from that of Perfia, and of which Ulbec has conceived at a distance fo great an idea. Whatever in the manners of this people appears to me to be fingular and fan taftical, I will alfo give thee fome account of; and, if I may judge by what I have feen already, this is a fubject which will not eafily be exhaufted. Communicate my letters to Uíbec, and he will explain fuch difficulties to thee as may appear to occur; but if any thing fhould feem to you both to be un accountable, do not therefore immedi ately conclude it false; for the habits and reasonings of men are fo very different, that what appears the excess of folly in one country, may in another be efteemed the highest wisdom. |