(Sir William), who was styled by Johnson the most enlightened of men, was the son of William Jones, Esq; one of the last of those genuine mathematicians, admirers, and contemporaries of Newton, who cultivated and improved the sciences in the present century. Our author was born on the 28th of September 1746, and received his education at Harrow school, under the care of Dr Robert Summer, whom he has celebrated in an eulogium which will outlast brass or marble. We are told that he was a clas-fellow with Dr Parr, and at a very early age displayed talents which gave his tutor the most promising expectations, and which have since been amply justified. From Harrow he was sent to University college, Oxford, where the rapidity and elegance of his literary acquisitions excited general admiration; while a temper, ardently generous, and morals perfectly irreproachable, procured him testimonies of the most valuable esteem. The grateful affection which he always cherished for that venerable seat of learning, did as much honour to his sensibility, as Oxford herself has received by enrolling him among the number of her sons.

In the twenty-third year of his age he travelled through France, and resided some time at Nice, where he employed himself very differently from most other young men who make what is called the tour of Europe. Man, and the influence of various forms of government, were the principal objects of his investigation; and in applying the result of his inquiries to the state of his own country, he mingled the solicitudes of the Patriot with the honest partialities of an Englishman.

Mr Jones's first literary work was a translation into French of a Persian manuscript, entitled "Histoire de Nadir Shah, connu sous le nom de Thahmas Kuli Khan, Empereur de Perse," in two vols. 4to; the history of which performance we shall give in his own words: "A great northern monarch, who visited this country a few years ago, under the name of the Prince of Travendal, brought with him an eastern manuscript, containing the life of Nadir Shah, the late sovereign of Persia, which he was desirous of having translated in England. The secretary of state, with whom the Danish minister had conversed upon the subject, sent the volume to me, requesting me to give a literal translation of it in the French language; but I wholly declined the task, alleging for my excuse the length of the book, the dryness of the subject, the difficulty of the style, and chiefly my want both of leisure and ability to enter upon an undertaking so fruitless and so laborious. I mentioned, however, a gentleman, with whom I had met the pleasure of being acquainted, but who had distinguished himself by a translation of a Persian history, and was far abler than myself to satisfy the king of Denmark's expectations. The learned writer, who had other works upon his hands, excused himself on the account of his many engagements; and the application to me was renewed. It was hinted, that my compliance would be of no small advantage to me at my entrance into life; that it would procure me some mark of distinction which might be pleasing to me; and, above all, that it would be a reflection tion upon this country, if the king should be obliged to carry the manuscript into France. Incited by these motives, and principally by the last of them, unwilling to be thought churlish or morose, and eager for the bubble reputation, I undertook the work, and sent a specimen of it to his Danish Majesty; who returned his approbation of the style and method, but desired that the whole translation might be perfectly literal, and the oriental images accurately preserved. The task would have been far easier to me, had I been directed to finish it in Latin; for the acquisition of a French style was infinitely more tedious; and it was necessary to have every chapter corrected by a native of France, before it could be offered to the discerning eye of the public, since in every language there are certain peculiarities of idiom, and nice shades of meaning, which a foreigner can never learn to perfection. But the work, how arduous and unpleasing forever, was completed in a year, not without repeated hints from the secretary's office that it was expected with great impatience by the Court of Denmark." The translation of the History of Nadir Shah was published in the summer of the year 1770, at the expense of the translator; and forty copies upon large paper were sent to Copenhagen; one of them bound with uncommon elegance for the king himself, and the others as presents to his courtiers.

What marks of distinction our author received, or what fruits he reaped for his labour, he has not thought proper to disclose; but if any dependence is to be placed on common fame, the reward bestowed upon him for this laborious task consisted only in the thanks of his Danish Majesty, and the honour of being enrolled in the Royal Society of Copenhagen. That distinction was indeed accompanied with a letter, recommending the learned translator to the patronage of his own sovereign; but, in the interim, his friend Lord Dartmouth, who was to have delivered it, had resigned his office of secretary of state, and the letter, we are told, was never presented.

There is reason to think, that this early and severe disappointment made a deep impression on his mind, and induced him to renounce the muses for a time, and to apply himself with assiduity to the study of jurisprudence. This we think apparent, from the style in which he writes of his return from the continent, and of the death of his beloved preceptor Dr Sumner.

"When I left Nice, (says he) where I had resided near seven months, and after traversing almost all France, returned to England, I most ardently desired to pass several years more in the study of polite literature; as then, I thought, I might enter into public life, to which my ambition had always prompted me, more mature and prepared; but with this fruit of my leisure, either fortune, or rather Providence, the disposer of all human events, would not indulge my sloth; for on a sudden, I was obliged to quit that very literature to which, from my childhood, I had applied myself; and he who had been the encourager and assistant of my studies, who had instructed, taught, formed me such as I was, or if I am anything at all, Robert Sumner, within a year after my return, was snatched away by an untimely death (a)."

In 1771 Mr Jones published Dissertation sur la Literature Orientale, 8vo, and this was followed by Lettre à Monsieur A** Du P***, dans laquelle est compris l'Examen de sa Traduction des Livres attribués à Zoroastre, 8vo. The dissertation offered a favourable specimen of the author's abilities as a linguist and as a critic; and the letter contained a spirited vindication of the university of Oxford, from the very furious reproaches, in which its incompetency in Oriental literature was asserted by the illiberal translator of the supposed works of the Persian philosopher.

In the same year he gave to the public, "A Grammar of the Persian language," 4to, and at the same time proposed to republish Meninski's Dictionary, with improvements from De Labroisse's Gasophylacium Lingue Perforum, and to add in their proper place an Appendix subjoined to Gahanaguir's Peric Dictionary. The Grammar has been found extremely useful, and

(a) As a specimen of our author's latinity, we subjoin the epitaph on Dr Sumner, which is affixed to the wall of the south transept of Harrow church.

H. S. E. ROBERTUS SUMNER, S. T. P. Collegii Regalis apud Cantab. olim Socius, Scholae Harrovienis haud ita pridem Archidiaconatus. Fuit hoc praestantissimo Viro Ingenium naturâ peracere, optimarum disciplinâ artium sedulo Excellunt, usu diurno confirmatum, & quodammodo subactum. Nemo enim aut in reconditis sapientiae studiis illo subtillior extitit, Aut humanioribus literis limatione nemini fore vel felicius Contigit judici acumen, vel uberior eruditionis copia. Egregia hifce cum dotibus nature, tum doctrinae subfidiis, Insuper accedebat in scriptis mira ac prope perfecta eloquentia. In feromone faciatur lepor plane Atticus, & gravitate suaviter Aspera urbanitas; in moribus singularis quaedam integritas & fides; Vitae denique ratio constans fibi, & ad virtutis normam diligentem severoque, Exulta. Omnibus qui vel amico effent eo, vel magistro uti, doctrinae, Ingenii, virtutis triste reliquit desiderium, subita, eheu! atque immatura Morte corruptus prid. Id. Sept. A. D.

1771, Et. 41. has been reprinted several times; but the design of the Dictionary, though an object of even national importance, for want of due encouragement was obliged to be laid aside.

In 1772 he published "Poems; consisting chiefly of Translations from the Asiatic Languages. To which are added two Essays; 1. On the Poetry of the Eastern Nations. 2. On the Arts commonly called Imitative," 8vo, which in 1777 he republished with the addition of some Latin Poems, every way worthy of their author. On the 18th June 1773, he took the degree of Master of Arts, and the same year published "The History of the Life of Nadir Shah, King of Persia. Extracted from an Eastern Manuscript, which was translated into French by order of his Majesty the King of Denmark. With an Introduction, containing, 1. A Description of Asia according to the Oriental Geographers. 2. A short History of Persia from the earliest Times to the present Century: And an Appendix, consisting of an Essay on Asiatic Poetry, and the History of the Persian Language. To which are added Pieces relative to the French Translation," 8vo. Our author having at this period determined to study the law as a profession, and to relinquish every other pursuit, our readers will not be disappointed with the following extract, relating to this resolution, which concludes the preface to the history now under consideration:

"To conclude; if any essential mistakes be detected in this whole performance, the reader will excuse them, when he reflects upon the great variety of dark and intricate points which are discussed in it; and if the obscurity of the subject be not a sufficient plea for the errors which may be discovered in the work, let it be considered, to use the words of Pope in the preface to his juvenile poems, that there are very few things in this collection which were not written under the age of five-and-twenty: most of them indeed were composed in the intervals of my leisure in the South of France, before I had applied myself to a study of a very different nature, which it is now my resolution to make the sole object of my life. Whatever then be the fate of this production, I shall never be tempted to vindicate any part of it which may be thought exceptionable; but shall gladly resign my own opinions, for the sake of embracing others, which may seem more probable; being persuaded, that nothing is more laudable than the love of truth, nothing more odious than the obstinacy of persisting in error. Nor shall I easily be induced, when I have disburdened myself of two other pieces which are now in the press, to begin any other work of the literary kind; but shall confine myself wholly to that branch of knowledge in which it is my chief ambition to excel. It is a painful consideration, that the profession of literature, by far the most laborious of any, leads to no real benefit or true glory whatsoever. Poetry, science, letters, when they are not made the sole business of life, may become its ornaments in prosperity, and its most pleasing consolation in a change of fortune; but if a man addict himself entirely to learning, and hopes by that, either to raise a family, or to acquire what so many wish for; and so few ever attain, an honourable retirement in his declining age, he will find, when it is too late, that he has mistaken his path; that other labours, other studies, are necessary; and that unless he can assert his own independence in active life, it will avail him little to be favoured by the learned, esteemed by the eminent, or recommended even by kings. It is true, on the other hand, that no external advantages can make amends for the loss of virtue and integrity, which alone give a perfect comfort to him who possesses them. Let a man, therefore, who wishes to enjoy, what no fortune or honour can bestow, the blesting of self-approbation, aspire to the glory given to Pericles by a celebrated historian, of being acquainted with all useful knowledge, of expressing what he knows with copiousness and freedom, of loving his friends and country, and of disdaining the mean pursuits of lucre and interest: this is the only career on which an honest man ought to enter, or from which he can hope to gain any solid happiness."

The next year he published Poetarum Asiaticae Commentariorum Libri Sex, cum Appendice; subjiciatur Limon, seu Miscellaneorum Liber, 8vo; and pursuing his purpose of applying to the study of the law, we hear no more of him from the press (except the new edition of his Poems), until the year 1779. In this interval he was called to the bar, and attended Westminster hall and the Oxford circuit, where he obtained but little business. He was however appointed a commissioner of bankrupts by Lord Bathurst, who is supposed to have intended to exert his influence to procure his nomination to the bench in the East Indies.

He published in this year, "The speeches of Ifeus, in causes concerning the law of succession to property at Athens; with a preparatory discourse, notes critical and historical, and a Commentary, 4to." In this valuable work, the talents of the scholar, the critic, and the lawyer, combine to elucidate a very important part of jurisprudence; for, "though deep researches into the legal antiquities of Greece and Rome (as he observes in his Commentary) are of greater use to scholars and contemplative persons, than to lawyers and men of business; though Bacon and Lyttleton, Coke and Rolle, are the proper objects of our study; yet the ablest advocates, and wisest judges, have frequently embellished their arguments with learned allusions to ancient cases; and such allusions, it must be allowed, are often useful, always ornamental; and, when they are introduced without pedantry, never fail to please." The work was dedicated in a style of respectful gratitude to his patron Lord Bathurst.

In the year 1780, we find our author a candidate to represent in parliament the university of Oxford. He had for some time resided but little in the university, and therefore laboured under some disadvantages; but he did not meanly court the support of any man. In a paper, which was circulated on that occasion, his friends, who were numerous, declare, that they have "neither openly solicited, nor intend openly to solicit, votes for Mr Jones within the University itself, because he will never become the instrument of disturbing the calm seat of the Muses, by consenting to any such solicitation for himself or for any man whatever. His own applications have been, are, and will be, confined to those only who have professed a regard for him, and who have no votes themselves: the Masters of Arts in a great university, whose prerogative is cool reason and impartial judgment, must never be placed on a level with the voters of a borough, or the freeholders of a county." county. Even in proceeding thus far, he does not set the example, but follows it; and his friends would never have printed any paper, if they had not thought themselves justified by the conduct of others.

"For the first and the last time, they beg leave to suggest, that no exertions must be spared by those who, either personally or by reputation, approve the character of Mr. Jones; into which, both literary and political, as well as moral, his friends desire and demand the strictest scrutiny. For his university he began early to provoke, and possibly to incur, the disapprobation of great and powerful men: For his university he entered the lists with a foul-mouthed and arrogant Frenchman, who had attacked Oxford in three large volumes of misrepresentation and scurrility: For his university he resigned, for a whole year, his favourite studies and pursuits, to save Oxford the discredit of not having one of her sons ready to translate a tedious Persian manuscript. To Oxford, in short, he is known to be attached by the strongest possible ties; and only regrets the necessity of abstaining himself from the place in which all others he most delights, until the event of the present competition shall either convince him that he has toiled in vain as a man of letters, or shall confer on him the greatest reward to which he can aspire. The unavoidable disadvantage of being so late proposed, and the respectable support with which he is now honoured, will secure him in all events from the least disgrace."

The application was unsuccessful, chiefly because his own college had fixed upon another candidate, from a persuasion that the immediate appointment of Mr. Jones to a seat, then vacant on the bench of judges in India, was morally certain.

The riots of that year gave occasion to another publication of our author, entitled, "An Inquiry into the legal Mode of suppressing Riots; with a constitutional Plan of future Defence," 8vo; and in 1781 he published "An Essay on the Law of Bailments," 8vo, a very matterly treatise, which did great honour to his legal abilities. In this last work he inculcates the necessity of deeply exploring the grounds of the common law; and speaking of Blackstone, (he says) "his commentaries are the most correct and beautiful outline that ever was exhibited of any human science; but they alone will no more form a lawyer, than a general map of the world, how accurately and elegantly soever it may be delineated, will make a geographer."

In this year he likewise recalled his muse in an Ode on the nuptials of Lord Viscount Althorpe, who had been his pupil, to Miss Lavinia Bingham. This beautiful little poem is preserved in the European Magazine for January 1785, and we think in other periodical publications.

From many circumstances which might be collected together, it would appear that our author at this juncture did not coincide in opinion with those who had the direction of government, nor did he approve the measures at that period adopted.—With these sentiments he seems to have been selected as a proper person to be introduced as a member of the Constitutional Society. Could he have foreseen the degeneracy of such associations, there is reason to believe that he would have declined what he condescended to accept as an honour; for though an ardent friend to liberty, he was an enemy to theoretical innovation, and declares, in a letter to the secretary, that by the term constitution, he understands "the great system of public, in contradiction to private and criminal law, which comprises all those articles which Blackstone arranges, in his first volume, under the rights of persons, and of which he gives a perspicuous analysis." Whatever then relates to the rights of persons, either absolute rights, as the enjoyment of liberty, security, and property, or relative, that is, in the public relations of magistrates and people, makes a part of that majestic whole, which we properly call the constitution. This constitutional or public law is partly unwritten, and grounded upon immemorial usage, and partly written or enacted by the legislative power; but the unwritten, or common law, contains the true spirit of our constitution: the written has often most unjustifiably altered the form of it; the common law is the collected wisdom of many centuries, having been used and approved by successive generations; but the statutes frequently contain the whims of a few leading men, and sometimes of the mere individuals employed to draw them."

In 1782 he published "The Mahomedan Law of Succession to the Property of Intestates, in Arabic, with a verbal Translation and explanatory Notes," 4to.

At length the post of one of the judges in the East Indies, which had been kept vacant five years, was determined upon being filled up; and our author, on the 4th March 1783, was appointed to that station, and on the 20th received the honour of knighthood. On the 8th of April he married Miss Shiple, eldest daughter of the Bishop of St. Asaph, and almost immediately embarked for the Indies. He had previously published "The Moallakat; or, Seven Arabian Poems, which were suspended on the Temple at Mecca, with a Translation and Arguments," 4to. To this it was intended to add a preliminary discourse and notes.—The former to comprise observations on the antiquity of the Arabian language and letters; on the dialects and characters of Himyar and Koraifh, with accounts of some Himyarick poets; on the manners of the Arabs in the age immediately preceding that of Mahomed; on the temple at Mecca, and the Moallakat, or pieces of poetry suspended on its walls or gate; lastly, on the lives of the Seven Poets, with a critical history of their works, and the various copies or editions of them preserved in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The latter to contain authorities and reasons for the translation of controverted passages; to elucidate all the obscure couplets, and exhibit or propose amendments of the text; to direct the reader's attention to particular beauties, or point out remarkable defects; and to throw light on the images, figures, and allusions of the Arabian poets, by citations either from writers of their own country, or from such of our European travellers as best illustrate the ideas and customs of Eastern nations. This discourse and the notes have not yet appeared. At his departure for the eastern world, he left, in manuscript, with his brother-in-law the Dean of St. Asaph, a little tract, entitled "The Principles of Government, in a Dialogue between a Scholar and a Peasant." This celebrated dialogue being afterwards published by the Dean, and widely circulated by the society for constitutional information, the Dean was prosecuted prosecuted for publishing a libel, and, if our memory deceives us not, was found guilty.

Sir William Jones now dropt for ever all concern in party politics, and applied himself to pursuits more worthy of his talents. During his voyage to India, he conceived the idea of the Asiatic Society, of which an account has been given under the title Societies (Encyclo.), and of whose researches five volumes, replete with much curious information, are now before the public. But ardently as his mind was attached to general literature and science, he was by no means inattentive to the professional duties of his high station. He had indeed, to use his own expression, an "undiminished fondness for the study of jurisprudence;" and in the character of a judge, displayed the profound knowledge and irreproachable integrity, which, before his promotion, pervaded his reasonings as a lawyer, and governed his conduct as a man. Unfortunately the intense ardour of application, which produced his frequent contributions to the stock of human knowledge, added to the unfavourable influence of the climate, greatly impaired his health. On this account, after a residence of about fifteen years in India, he made preparations for returning to England; but death intervened; and this illustrious ornament of science and virtue was taken from the world on the 27th of April 1794, in the 48th year of his age. "It is to the shame of skepticism (as one of his biographers well observes), to the encouragement of hope, and to the honour of genius, that this great man was a sincere believer in the doctrines of Christianity, and that he was found in his closet in the attitude of addressing his prayer to God." We shall give his character as it was drawn by Sir John Shore, Baronet, (now Lord Teignmouth) in a discourse delivered at a meeting of the Asiatic Society, held on the 22d of May 1794.

His capacity for the acquisition of languages has never been excelled. In Greek and Roman literature, his early proficiency was the subject of admiration and applause; and knowledge of whatever nature, once obtained by him, was ever afterwards progressive. The more elegant dialects of modern Europe, the French, the Spanish, and Italian, he spoke and wrote with the greatest fluency and precision; and the German and Portuguese were familiar to him. At an early period of life his application to Oriental literature commenced; he studied the Hebrew with ease and success; and many of the most learned Asiatics have the candour to avow, that his knowledge of Arabic and Persian was as accurate and extensive as their own; he was also conversant in the Turkish idiom, and the Chinese had even attracted his notice so far as to induce him to learn the radical characters of that language, with a view perhaps to farther improvements. It was to be expected, after his arrival in India, that he would eagerly embrace the opportunity of making himself master of the Sanscrit; and the most enlightened professors of the doctrines of Brahma confess with pride, delight, and surprise, that his knowledge of their sacred dialect was most critically correct and profound. The Pandits, who were in the habit of attending him, could not, after his death, suppress their tears for his loss, nor find terms to express their admiration at the wonderful progress he had made in their sciences.

Before the expiration of his twenty-second year, he had completed his Commentaries on the Poetry of the Asiatics, although a considerable time afterwards elapsed before their publication; and this work, if no other monument of his labours existed, would at once furnish proofs of his consummate skill in the Oriental dialects, of his proficiency in those of Rome and Greece, of taste and erudition far beyond his years, and of talents and application without example.

But the judgment of Sir William Jones was too discerning to consider language in any other light than as the key of science, and he would have deplored the reputation of a mere linguist. Knowledge and truth were the objects of all his studies, and his ambition was to be useful to mankind; with these views he extended his researches to all languages, nations, and times.

Such were the motives that induced him to propose to the government of India, what he justly denominated a work of national utility and importance, the compilation of a copious Digest of Hindu and Mahomedan Law, from Sanscrit and Arabic originals, with an offer of his services to superintend the compilation, and with a promise to translate it. He had foreseen, previous to his departure from Europe, that without the aid of such a work, the wise and benevolent intentions of the legislature of Great Britain, in leaving to a certain extent the natives of these provinces in possession of their own laws, could not be completely fulfilled; and his experience, after a short residence in India, confirmed what his sagacity had anticipated, that without principles to refer to, in a language familiar to the judges of the courts, adjudications amongst the natives must too often be subject to an uncertain and erroneous exposition, or wilful misinterpretation of their laws.

To the superintendence of this work, which was immediately undertaken at his suggestion, he assiduously devoted those hours which he could spare from his professional duties. After tracing the plan of the Digest, he prefaced its arrangement and mode of execution, and selected from the most learned Hindus and Mahomedans fit persons for the task of compiling it: flattered by his attention, and encouraged by his applause, the Pandits prosecuted their labours with cheerful zeal to a satisfactory conclusion. The Molasees have also nearly finished their portion of the work; but we must ever regret, that the promised translation, as well as the meditated preliminary dissertation, have been frustrated by that decree, which so often intercepts the performance of human purposes.

During the course of this compilation, and as auxiliary to it, he was led to study the works of Menu, reputed by the Hindustans to be the oldest and holiest of legislators; and finding them to comprise a system of religious and civil duties, and of law in all its branches, so comprehensive and minutely exact, that it might be considered as the Institutes of Hindu Law, he presented a translation of them to the government of Bengal. During the same period, deeming no labour excessive or superfluous that tended in any respect to promote the welfare or happiness of mankind, he gave the public an English version of the Arabic Text of the Sira-jihah or Mahomedan Law of Inheritance, with a Commentary. He had already (as has been observed) published in England a translation of a tract on the same subject by another Mahomedan lawyer, containing, as his own words express, "a lively and elegant Epitome of the Law of Inheritance of Zaid."

"To "To these learned and important works, so far out of the road of amusement, nothing could have engaged his application but that desire which he ever professed, of rendering his knowledge useful to his nation, and beneficial to the inhabitants of these provinces.

"I should scarcely (continues Lord Teignmouth) think it of importance to mention, that he did not disdain the office of editor of a Sanscrit and Persian work, if it did not afford me an opportunity of adding, that the latter was published at his own expense, and was sold for the benefit of insolvent debtors. A similar application was made of the produce of Sirajvah."

But nothing exhibits the large grasp of Sir William Jones's mind in so striking a point of view as a paper in his own handwriting, which came into Lord Teignmouth's possession after his death. It was intitled De- siderata, and proposed for investigation the following subjects relating to the eastern world.

India.—1. The ancient geography of India, &c., from the Puranas. 2. A botanical description of Indian plants, from the Coshas, &c. 3. A grammar of the Sanscrit language, from Panini, &c. 4. A dictionary of the Sanscrit language, from the 32 original vocabularies and Nirucli. 5. On the ancient music of the Indians. 6. On the medical substances of India, and the Indian art of medicine. 7. On the philosophy of the ancient Indians. 8. A translation of the Veda. 9. On ancient Indian geometry, astronomy, and algebra. 10. A translation of the Puranas. 11. A translation of the Mahabharata and Ramayan. 12. On the Indian theatre, &c. &c. 13. On the Indian constellations, with their mythology, from the Puranas. 14. The history of India before the Madomedan conquest, from the Sanscrit Cashmir Historics.

Arabia.—15. The history of Arabia before Mahomed. 16. A translation of the Hamasa. 17. A translation of Hariri. 18. A translation of the Facihatul Khulafa. Of the Cufah.

Persia.—19. The history of Persia, from authorities in Sanscrit, Arabic, Greek, Turkish, Persian ancient and modern, Firdausi's Khrofroun nama. 20. The five poems of Nizami, translated in prose. 21. A dictionary of pure Persian Je changire.

China.—22. A translation of Shi-cing. 23. The text of Can-fu-tiu, verbally translated.

Tartary.—24. A history of the Tartar nations, chiefly of the Moguls and Othmans, from the Turkish and Persian.

"We are not authorised (says his Lordship) to conclude, that he had himself formed a determination to complete the works which his genius and knowledge had thus sketched; the task seems to require a period beyond the probable duration of any human life; but we, who had the happiness to know Sir William Jones; who were witnesses of his indefatigable perseverance in the pursuit of knowledge, and of his ardour to accomplish whatever he deemed important; who saw the extent of his intellectual powers, his wonderful attainments in literature and science, and the facility with which all his compositions were made—cannot doubt, if it had pleased Providence to protract the date of his existence, that he would have ably executed much of what he had so extensively planned."

We have already enumerated attainments and works which, from their diversity and extent, seem far beyond the capacity of the most enlarged minds; but the catalogue may yet be augmented. To a proficiency in the languages of Greece, Rome, and Asia, he added the knowledge of the philosophy of those countries, and of every thing curious and valuable that had been taught in them. The doctrines of the Academy, the Lyceum, or the Portico, were not more familiar to him than the tenets of the Vedas, the mysticism of the Sufis, or the religion of the ancient Persians; and whilst, with a kindred genius, he perused with rapture the heroic, lyric, or moral compositions of the most renowned poets of Greece, Rome, and Asia, he could turn with equal delight and knowledge to the sublime speculations or mathematical calculations of Barrow and Newton. With them also he professed his conviction of the truth of the Christian religion; and he justly deemed it no inconsiderable advantage, that his researches had corroborated the multiplied evidence of Revelation, by confirming the Mosaic account of the primitive world.

In his eighth anniversary discourse to the Asiatic Society, he thus expresses himself: "Theological inquiries are no part of my present subject; but I cannot refrain from adding, that the collection of tracts which we call, from their excellence, the Scriptures, contain, independently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains both of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected within the same compass from all other books that were ever compiled in any age, or any idiom. The two parts, of which the Scriptures consist, are connected by a chain of compositions, which bear no resemblance in form or style to any that can be produced from the stores of Grecian, Indian, Persian, or even Arabian learning; the antiquity of these compositions no man doubts, and the untrained application of them to events long subsequent to their publication, is a solid ground of belief that they were genuine predictions; and consequently inspired."

There were, in truth, few sciences in which he had not acquired considerable proficiency; in most, his knowledge was profound. The theory of music was familiar to him; nor had he neglected to make himself acquainted with the interesting discoveries lately made in chemistry; "and I have heard him (says Lord Teignmouth) affirm, that his admiration of the structure of the human frame had induced him to attend for a season to a course of anatomical lectures, delivered by his friend the celebrated Hunter."

His last and favourite pursuit was the study of botany, which he originally began under the confinement of a severe and lingering disorder, which with most minds would have proved a disqualification from any application. It constituted the principal amusement of his leisure hours. In the arrangements of Linnæus, he discovered system, truth, and science, which never failed to captivate and engage his attention; and from the proofs which he has exhibited of his progress in botany, we may conclude that he would have extended the discoveries in that science.

It cannot be deemed useless or superfluous to inquire by what arts or method he was enabled to attain to a degree of knowledge almost universal, and apparently beyond the powers of man, during a life little exceeding 47 years.

The faculties of his mind, by nature vigorous, were improved improved by constant exercise; and his memory, by habitual practice, had acquired a capacity of retaining whatever had once been impressed upon it. To an unextinguished ardour for universal knowledge, he joined a perseverance in the pursuit of it which subdued all obstacles; his studies began with the dawn, and, during the intermissions of professional duties, were continued throughout the day; reflection and meditation strengthened and confirmed what industry and investigation had accumulated. It was a fixed principle with him, from which he never voluntarily deviated, not to be deterred by any difficulties that were insurmountable from proceeding to a successful termination what he had once deliberately undertaken.

But what appeared more particularly to have enabled him to employ his talents to much to his own and the public advantage, was the regular allotment of his time, and a scrupulous adherence to the distribution which he had fixed; hence all his studies were pursued without interruption or confusion. He collected information, too, from every quarter; justly concluding, that something might be learned from the illiterate, to whom he listened with the utmost candour and complacency.

Lord Teignmouth, addressing himself to the Asiatic Society, says, "Of the private and social virtues of our lamented President, our hearts are the best records. To you who knew him, it cannot be necessary for me to expatiate on the independence of his integrity, his humanity, probity, or benevolence, which every living creature participated; on the affability of his conversation and manners, or his modest, unassuming deportment; nor need I remark, that he was totally free from pedantry, as well as from arrogance and self-sufficiency, which sometimes accompany and disgrace the greatest abilities. His presence was the delight of every society, which his conversation exhilarated and improved; and the public have not only to lament the loss of his talents and abilities, but that of his example.

"To him, as the founder of our institution, and whilst he lived its firmest support, our reverence is more particularly due. Instructed, animated, and encouraged by him, genius was called forth into exertion, and modest merit was excited to distinguish itself. Anxious for the reputation of the Society, he was indefatigable in his own endeavours to promote it, whilst he cheerfully assisted those of others. In losing him, we have not only been deprived of our brightest ornament, but of the guide and patron, on whose instructions, judgement, and candour, we could implicitly rely." Though these are the sentiments, not only of Lord Teignmouth, but, we believe, of every man of letters, we trust there is still left in Bengal a sufficient love of letters and of science to carry on the plan which was formed by the genius of Sir William Jones.