Excerpt from The Oriental Tale in England in the Eighteenth Century This essay is a study in eighteenth-century English literature. The author disclaims any knowledge of the oriental languages and attempts no discussion of the ultimate sources of those genuine oriental tales that appeared in English in the eighteenth century. Such a discussion is not the purpose of this study. The aim here is rather to give a clear and accurate description of a distinct component part of eighteenth century English fiction in its relation to its French sources and to the general current of English thought. The oriental fiction that was not original in English came, almost without exception, from French imitations or translations of genuine oriental tales; hence, as a study in comparative literature, a consideration of the oriental tale in England during the eighteenth century possesses distinct interest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.