EDITOR'S PREFACE.
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critical marks attached to the Roman equivalent letters. Admitting the ingenuity of the scheme, I nevertheless declined to adopt it, and so a determination was come to, that the long vowels only should be marked. It seemed to me that this system of spelling, while it would have required a great deal of minute attention on the part of the Editor and Printer, would practically have been unheeded by the general reader, and useless to the scholar. In doubtful cases, the affiliation of a word without proofs or reasons, would have been valueless; but more than all this, the many Turanian words must have appeared with a Sanskritic or Semitic label upon them. Either too much or too little was attempted, and even if the design could be completely accomplished, a philological work like the Glossary would be a more fitting vehicle for its introduction than a book like the present.
To shorten the work as much as possible it has been determined to omit the Extracts of the original texts, but even then, it will be impossible to include the whole of the materials in the three volumes advertised.
I have throughout been anxious never to exceed my powers as Editor, but to place myself as far as possible in Sir H. Elliot's place. I have not attempted to controvert his opinions, or to advance theories of my own, but palpable errors have been corrected, and many alterations and additional notes have been introduced, which
