Page:Poems, Consisting Chiefly of Translations from the Asiatick Languages.djvu/14

 for my own sake, to clear my publication from the slightest suspicion of imposture; but there is a circumstance peculiarly hard in the present case; namely, that, were I to produce the originals themselves, it would be impossible to persuade some men, that even they were not forged for the purpose, like the pretended language of Formosa. I shall, however, attempt in this short preface to satisfy the reader's expectations.

The first poem in the collection, called Solima, is not a regular translation from the Arabick language; but most of the figures, sentiments, and descriptions in it, were really taken from the poets of Arabia: for when I was reading some of their verses on benevolence and hospitality, which they justly consider as their most amiable virtues, I selected those passages, that seemed most likely to run into our measure, and connected them in such a manner as to form one continued piece, which I suppose to be written in praise of an Arabian princess, who had built a caravansera with pleasant