Persian Poetry for English Readers

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. There is one point upon which I am particularly anxious to be very frank, and to be perfectly under stood by any who may be my readers. I make no claim to be regarded as a Persian scholar, nor do I wish to be so regarded. My knowledge of the language is very imperfect. The only claim I make is this: that I have done my work - such as it is laboriously and conscientiously. To repair my own defects I have sought assistance wherever I could find it. I could have done nothing satisfactory to myself without such aid. I have diligently compared my own translations, line by line and word by word, with the best texts which I could obtain, and with such translations as existed in English, French, and German. I trust, therefore, that, as regards the sense of the Persian originals, I am not greatly in error. As to the English garb in which I have clothed them, my readers must judge of that. It is very much on the score of my want of a scholarly mastery of the language (though combined with other causes) that, as stated above, I have had so much doubt and hesitation about reprinting my work, and I should not improbably have continued to doubt and hesitate, and finally abandon the idea altogether.