PREFACE. 
vn 
more accurate than those of any other English 
traveller who has visited Russia, may be con- 
sidered as affording, perhaps, the best model 
in this respect: but Hanway himself is not 
consistent 1 . 
In the Russian alphabet there is no letter 
answering to our W; yet we write Moscow, and 
Woronetz. Where custom has long sanctioned 
an abuse of this kind, the established mode 
seems preferable to any deviation which may 
wear the appearance of pedantry. The author 
has, in this respect, been guided by the autho- 
rity and example of Gibbon; who affirms 8 , that 
“ some words, notoriously corrupt, are fixed, 
and as it were naturalized, in the vulgar tongue. 
The Prophet Mohammed can no longer be strip- 
ped ot the famous, though improper, appellation 
of Mahomet; the well-known cities of Aleppo, 
Damascus, and Cairo, would almost be lost in 
the strange descriptions of Haleb, Damashk, and 
Al Cahira. But, it may be fairly asked, where 
is the line to be drawn ? What are the Russian 
(t) The name of the same place is written Kieva in vol. I. p, 9. 
Kkieva in p. 15, and Khiva in a note. Nagai Tartars, in p. 8. vol. I. 
are written iVagay Tartars in p. 1 1. Throughout his work, the termi- 
nating vowel is sometimes i, and as often y; as, f ’ahtai, pmlerosmi, and 
xGkutsly, JVasorowsky. 
i*.S. to Pref. ch. xxxix. Hist, of the Decline and Fall, &e. 
