Page:The Perfumed Garden - Burton - 1886.djvu/249

 careful revision to the translation of M——. Each doubtful point has been the object of minute research, and has been generally cleared up by one or the other. When there were several acceptable versions, we chose that which was the most fit for the context, and many mutilated passages were restored. Nor were we afraid to make additions in borrowing from the extended text what appeared to us worthy of reproduction, and for the omission of which we should have been blamed by the reader. We were careful, however, not to overload the work, and to introduce no new matter which would militate against the peculiar character of the original translation. It is partly for this last reason, and still more so because the work required for this undertaking surpassed our strength that we could not bring to light, to our great regret, the treasures concealed in the twenty-first chapter, as well as a certain number of new tales not less acceptable than those which we have given, and with which we have enriched the text.

We must not conceal that, leaving out of sight these alterations, we have not scrupled to refine the phrases, round off the periods, correct the phraseology, and, in short, to amend even the form of the translation which, in many instances, left much to be desired. It was a matter of necessity that the perusal of the contents of the book should be made agreeable. Now, the translator, with the most praiseworthy intentions, had been too anxious to render the Arabic text, with its short jumbled sentences as clearly as possible, and had thus made the reading painfully laborious. Looking at some passages, it may even be supposed that he had only jotted them down, particularly towards the end, and had not