14

PREFAC. vii

[line]

P.S. I shall embrace this oportunity of introducing
two verbal remarks, which have not
conveniently offered themselves to my notice.
I. As often as I use the definitions of beyond the
Alps, the Rhine, the Danube, &c. I generally
suppose myself at Rome, and afterwards at Constantinople;
without observing whether this
relative geography may agree with the local,
but variable, situation of the reader, or the
historian. 2. In proper names of foreign, and
especially of Oriental origin, it should be always
our aim to express in our English version, a
faithful copy of the original. But this rule,
which is founded on a just refard to uniformity
and truth, must often be relaxed; and the
exceptions will be limited or enlarged by the
custom of the language and the taste of the
interpreter. Our alphabets may be often defective:
a harsh sound, an uncouth spelling, might
offend the ear or the eye of our countrymen;
and some words, notoriously corrupt, are fixed,
and, as it were, naturalized in the vulgar tongue.
The prophet Mohammed can no longer be stripped
of the famous, though improper appellation
of Mahomet: the well-known cities of Alepo,
Damascus, and Cairo, would almost be loft in

a 4

PREFAC. vii

[line]

P.S. I shall embrace this oportunity of introducing
two verbal remarks, which have not
conveniently offered themselves to my notice.
I. As often as I use the definitions of beyond the
Alps, the Rhine, the Danube, &c. I generally
suppose myself at Rome, and afterwards at Constantinople;
without observing whether this
relative geography may agree with the local,
but variable, situation of the reader, or the
historian. 2. In proper names of foreign, and
especially of Oriental origin, it should be always
our aim to express in our English version, a
faithful copy of the original. But this rule,
which is founded on a just refard to uniformity
and truth, must often be relaxed; and the
exceptions will be limited or enlarged by the
custom of the language and the taste of the
interpreter. Our alphabets may be often defective:
a harsh sound, an uncouth spelling, might
offend the ear or the eye of our countrymen;
and some words, notoriously corrupt, are fixed,
and, as it were, naturalized in the vulgar tongue.
The prophet Mohammed can no longer be stripped
of the famous, though improper appellation
of Mahomet: the well-known cities of Alepo,
Damascus, and Cairo, would almost be loft in

a 4