general history of Asia, and for an account of the geography, philosophy, and literature of the Eastern nations, all which I propose to arrange in order, if my more solid and more important studies will allow me any intervals of leisure.[1]
I cannot forbear acknowledging in this place the signal marks of kindness and attention, which I have received from many learned and noble persons; but General Carnac has obliged me the most sensibly of them, by supplying me with a valuable collection of Persian manuscripts on every branch of Eastern learning, from which many of the best examples in the following grammar are extracted. A very learned Professor[2] at Oxford, has promoted my studies with that candour and benevolence which so eminently distinguish him; and many excellent men that are the principal ornaments of that University have conferred the highest favours on me, of which I shall ever retain a grateful sense; but I take a singular pleasure in confessing that I am indebted to a foreign nobleman[3] for the little knowledge which I have happened to acquire of the Persian language; and that my zeal for the poetry and philology of the Asiatics was owing to his conversation, and to the agreeable correspondence with which he still honours me.
Before I conclude this preface, it will be proper to add a few remarks upon the method of learning the Persian language, and upon the advantages which the learner may expect from it. When the student can read the characters with fluency, and has learned the true pronun-
