Page:The Sháhnamá Vol. I.djvu/13

viii memories are in the nature of things but fleeting; but the written word remains, and I am fain to hope that by the publication of this work I may be raising to him an inconspicuous perhaps but lasting monument.

To the vast majority of English readers the Sháhnáma seems hardly to be known even by namea fact not to be wondered at, considering how few references are made to it in current literature, and that this is actually the first attempt to give the subject-matter of the great Persian Epic at large in English. It has therefore seemed desirable that the translation should be accompanied by explanatory matter in the forms of Introduction, Note, and Argument. To prepare these has fallen to my lot, and I am accordingly responsible for the many faults of commission and omission that will be only too obvious to the eyes of scholars and experts in this branch of the subject. I am also responsible with my brother for the translation generally, and for its final form throughout. His share, had he lived, would have been larger and more important than mine, but his untimely death will tend to equalise our labours. On reviewing our work as a whole, I venture to hope that the English reader will gain from it a very fairly correct idea of the subject-matter of Firdausí's greatest achievement, and will at least learn from the Introduction and Introductory Notes where to turn for more scholarly and authoritative information on the subject.

I take this opportunity of thanking the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for their kind permission to