The political novel Usong (1771), written by the Swiss physiologist Albrecht
von Haller (1708–1777), is set in the fifteenth century and tells the story of a Mongolian
prince who becomes the Emperor of Persia and redesigns the government of his empire to
promote the happiness of his subjects. Interestingly, this novel soon appeared in two com-
peting English translations, published in 1772 and 1773. While contemporary reviewers
focussed on the question of whether the language of Haller’s ‘oriental history’ was imag-
inative enough, this article argues that the English translators interpreted Usong in the
context of the early modern culture of improvement.