Mr. Payne's first volume appeared as we have seen in 1882. The last left the press in 1884. The work was dedicated to Burton, who writes, "I cannot but feel proud that he has honoured me with the dedication of 'The Book of the Thousand Nights and one Night.' ...He succeeds admirably in the most difficult passages, and he often hits upon choice and special terms and the exact vernacular equivalent of the foreign word so happily and so picturesquely that all future translators must perforce use the same expression under pain of falling far short."

Having finished the Nights, Mr. Payne commenced the translation of other Eastern stories—which he published under the title of Tales from the Arabic. 385