During the period I was engaged in translating the Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timur, I received, from my friend Major William Yule, a Persian manuscript, containing Private Memoirs of the Emperor Humayun, son of the celebrated Baber, and father of the no less famous
Moghul Akber, sixth in descent from Timur, and cotemporary with our Moghul King Henry VIII. with a recommendation that I should translate it. In compliance with my friend's recommendation, and at the request of the Oriental Translation Committee, I have undertaken the task. As the Author of this Work was not a learned person, it has no claims to erudition ; I have therefore not thought it requisite to give any part of the original text ; and although, in conformity to the practice of the times, he has ornamented his book with various quotations from the Koran, with many passages from Persian poets, and historical anecdotes, I have not taken the trouble of following him in these his prolix digressions. This book being written with the greatest sincerity and naivete^ sometimes to the disparagement of his hero, I have no doubt of its authenticity. The manuscript was purchased at Lucknow, the capital of Oude, and is, I believe, the only copy now in England : it is a large octavo volume, written in the common hand, and is about a century old.