In recommending to those of my readers who may be intent upon acquiring a knowledge of the language, (by which I mean not only the Bengallee, and the Hindui, both of which may be considered vernacular, but the Persian also,) to purchase such translations as may be extant of the works of Indian authors, I am far from being partial to their contents, and disclaim the idea of affording any thing more than exercise in translation when I do so; for there appears to me a great disposition to trifle, or to the hyperbole, in all I have ever seen. By means of such translations, the originals may be more readily understood, whereby the study may be rendered both brief and pleasing; provided proper attention be paid to all material points, and that, in reading the translation, the student does not indulge in the erroneous opinion that he is making himself master of the original. Almost every book written in the East is the production of some court sycophant: a few have resulted from the labors of men who, being disposed to meditation, have committed their reveries to paper; and, a very small portion have displayed such scintillations of ability, as leave us to regret they were either not better educated, so as to enlighten their countrymen, or that they were not born in those parts of the world where their talents might have been fostered, and duly appreciated. With regard to ethics, numbers have amused themselves, to all appearance, more from ostentation than from ‘being virtuous over-much.’ The facility with which scraps from the Koran, (_i.e._ the Bible of the Mahomedans,) may be set forth in glowing terms, in a language rich in expression, has, no doubt, induced many a very tolerable lay-man to annoy his neighbours, by the repetition of page after page of the most tiresome tautologies, whereon his fame has been built: of this description abundance exist, all alike unworthy of review.
I have always thought the poets of India to be particularly happy in those little tales which convey a moral, though a very worldly one, under some alluring allegory. From this, however, I exempt the celebrated HEETOPADES, translated by Mr. Wilkins. This, by general consent, is allowed to be the store from whence _Pilpay’s Fables_ have been taken; but the original can never appear in competition with their offspring; for, while the latter are interesting, and afford a very rich treat, by their apt application to the affairs of life, the former are heavy, dull, tedious, and of a most motley character; the subject is generally forced, and spun out into all the varieties garrulity could invent!