It will hardly be doubted that for a complete receuil of The Nights a retranslation of the Gallandian _histoires_ is necessary. The learned Professor Gustav Weil introduced them all, Germanised literally from the French, into the Dritter Band of his well-known version—Tausend und eine Nacht; and not a few readers of Mr. John Payne’s admirable translation (the Villon) complained that they had bought it in order to see Ali Baba, Aladdin, and others translated into classical English and that they much regretted the absence of their old favourites. But the modus operandi was my prime difficulty. I disliked the idea of an unartistic break or change in the style, ever “Tâchant de rendre mien cet air d’antiquité,” and I aimed at offering to my readers a homogeneous sequel. My first thought for securing uniformity of treatment was to render the French text into Arabic, and then to retranslate it into English. This process, however, when tried was found wanting; so I made inquiries in all directions for versions of the Gallandian histories which might have been published in Persian, Turkish, or Hindustani. Though assisted by the Prince of London Bibliopoles, Bernard Quaritch, I long failed to find my want: the vernaculars in Persian and Turkish are translated direct from the Arabic texts, and all ignore the French stories. At last a friend, Cameron MacDowell, himself well known to the world of letters, sent me from Bombay a quaint lithograph with quainter illustrations which contained all I required. This was a version of Totárám Sháyán (No. III.), which introduced the whole of the Gallandian Tales: better still, these were sufficiently orientalised and divested of their inordinate Gallicism, especially their longsome dialogue, by being converted into Hindustani, the Urdú Zabán (camp or court language) of Upper India and the Lingua Franca of the whole Peninsula. During one of my sundry visits to the British Museum, I was introduced by Mr. Alexander G. Ellis to Mr. James F. Blumhardt, of Cambridge, who pointed out to me two other independent versions, one partly rhymed and partly in prose. Thus far my work was done for me. Mr. Blumhardt, a practical orientalist and teacher of the modern Prakrit tongues, kindly undertook, at my request to english the Hindustani, collating, at the same time, the rival versions; and thus, at a moment when my health was at its worst, he saved me all trouble and labour except that of impressing the manner with my own sign manual, and of illustrating the text, where required, with notes anthropological and other.