In the detailed account which I gave you, my dear Louis, of my
honeymoon, I described pretty nearly the history of every day which has
passed since I last wrote. "Happy nations have no history," said a wise
man; happiness requires no description. First then, you must understand
that I am now writing after recovery from the natural excitement into
which my strange adventures had plunged me. Three months have passed; I
am now enjoying my life like a refined vizir, and no longer like a
simple troubadour of Provence, transported of a sudden into the Caliph's
harem. I have recovered my analytical composure.

As you may well imagine I set to work, after the second day, to learn
Turkish, an easy task after my studies in Sanscrit. Add to this that,
with the aid of love, my houris have learnt French, with all the
marvellous facility and linguistic instinct of the Asiatic races. You
will not be astonished to learn, then, that I can now share with them
all the pleasures of conversation; a happy result which will permit me
henceforth to furnish a more complete description of their different
characters.

Having said this, I will give you in the present letter, with a view of
enabling you to understand this narrative more perfectly, the most
precise details upon the following subjects:

First--The organisation, laws, and internal regulations of my harem;

Second--Full-length portraits of my odalisques, and a description of
their characters;