The Project Gutenberg EBook of Zadig, by Voltaire

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Title: Zadig
Or, The Book of Fate

Author: Voltaire

Release Date: August 3, 2006 [EBook #18972]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

_ZADIG_;

OR, THE

Book of Fate.

AN

Oriental HISTORY,

Translated from the

_French_ ORIGINAL

OF

Mr. _VOLTAIRE_.

----_Quo fata trahunt, retrahuntque sequamur.
Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latium._----VIRG.

_LONDON_:

Printed for IOHN BRINDLEY, Bookseller
to His Royal Highness the Prince of
_Wales_, in _New Bond-Street_.

MDCCXLIX.

THE

DEDICATION

TO THE

SULTANA _SHERAA_,

BY

_SADI_.

The 18th of the Month _Scheval_, in the Year of the _Hegira_, 837.

Thou Joy of ev'ry Eye! Thou Torment of every Heart! Thou Intellectual
Light! I do not kiss the Dust of thy Feet; because thou seldom art
seen out of the Seraglio, and when thou art, thou walkest only on
the Carpets of _Iran_, or on Beds of Roses.

I here present you with a Translation of the Work of an ancient
_Sage_, who having the Happiness of living free from all Avocations,
thought proper, by Way of Amusement, to write the History of
_Zadig_; a Performance, that comprehends in it more Instruction
than, 'tis possible, you may at first be aware of. I beg you would
indulge me so far as to read it over, and then pass your impartial
Judgment upon it: For notwithstanding you are in the Bloom of your
Life; tho' ev'ry Pleasure courts you; tho' you are Nature's Darling,
and have internal Qualities in proportion to your Beauty; tho' the
World resounds your Praises from Morning till Night, and consequently
you must have a just Title to a superior Degree of Understanding
than the rest of your Sex; Yet your Wit is no ways flashy; Your
Taste is refin'd, and I have had the Honour to hear you talk more
learnedly than the wisest _Dervise_, with his venerable Beard, and
pointed Bonnet: You are discreet, and yet not mistr