What can be more ingenious than to compose such a prodigious
quantity of pleasant stories, whose variety is surprising, and
whose connexion is so wonderful? We know not the name of the
author of so great a work; but probably it is not all done by one
hand; for how can we suppose that one man alone could have
invention enough to make so many fine things?
If stories of this sort be pleasant and diverting, because of the
wonders they usually contain, these have certainly the advantage
above all that have yet been published; because they are full of
surprising events, which engage our attention, and show how much
the Arabians surpass other nations in compositions of this sort.
They must also be pleasing, because of the account they give of
the customs and manners of the eastern nations, and of the
ceremonies of their religion, as well Pagan as Mahometan, which
are better described here than in any author that has written of
them, or in the relation of travellers. All the eastern nations,
Persians, Tartars, and Indians, are here distinguished, and
appear such as they are, from the sovereign to the meanest
subject; so that, without the fatigue of going to see those
people in their respective countries, the reader has here the
pleasure to see them act, and hear them speak. Care has been
taken to preserve their characters, and to keep their sense; nor
have we varied from the text, but when modesty obliged us to it.
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