an illustrious Orientalist, lawyer, and general scholar, was born in London, September 28, 1746. He was the son of William Jones, a man of some note in his day, and the author of several treatises on the higher mathematics. This parent died when his son was only three years old; and the care of the child's upbringing devolved upon his mother, a woman of strong sense and considerable accomplishments. At the age of seven, young Jones was sent to Harrow, and remained at that school for ten years. Though his studies were on one occasion interrupted for a twelvemonth, he easily and far outstripped all the lads of his standing. The head master himself was so strongly impressed with the idea of his favourite pupil's intellectual force, that he often said that "if Jones were left naked and friendless on Salisbury Plain, he would nevertheless find the road to fame and riches." Another head master was heard to assert that Jones knew more Greek, and was a greater proficient in the idiom of that language than himself. During the latter years of his attendance at Harrow he began to dip into matters beyond the classic routine of the school. He mastered the Arabic alphabet, and made sufficient progress in Hebrew to be able to read the language with some ease. During his vacations he addressed himself to French and Italian. To perfect himself in most of these tongues he spent much time in composing in them. In 1764, being then in his eighteenth year, he went to Oxford, where, at University College, he continued to study as diligently and successfully as ever. The Eastern languages continued to engage his thoughts, and a native of Aleppo, whom he discovered in London, rendered him effective aid in his researches. After graduation he joined the family of Earl Spencer, as tutor to Lord Althorp, and resided with that nobleman for five years. A fellowship conferred upon him at this time placed him beyond the fear of want, and enabled him to prosecute his studies without distraction. His fame now began to spread as one of the first orientalists of his age. In 1768, while still with Earl Spencer, he had been requested by Christian VII. of Denmark to translate into French a Persian Life of Nader Shah. The work appeared in 1770, and its value was enhanced by the treatise on Eastern Poetry, and the translations from the Odes of Hafiz (both written in French), which accompanied it. His Persian Grammar, published in the following year, is still the standard text-book on that subject. Having long contemplated with pleasure "the stately edifice of the laws of England," Jones now resolved to study for the bar. He had hardly begun when he found himself called upon to defend his university from the mean Jones, Sir William, and unjust aspersions of the French orientalist, Anquetil du Perron, in his introduction to the Zend-avestas. The defense was written in the same language as the attack; and the French themselves have never denied that in the learning, as well as the bitterness of the controversy, their countryman was left far behind. Jones' pamphlet was anonymous; and its French was so racy and idiomatic that many foreign savans not acquainted with the details of the quarrel attributed it to some bel esprit of the French capital.

In the following year he published a small volume of poems, chiefly translations from various eastern tongues. This work was a sort of harbinger of a far greater and more important one, which he gave to the world in 1774, under the title of Poeces Asiaticae Commentariorium Latini Sex. His design was to familiarize the European mind with the oriental modes of thought and styles, and the specimens of translation from the Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, and Persian, show that, with this kind of learning, rare even among the most erudite men, the writer combined a taste rare even among littérateurs. He extracted so skilfully, and translated so adroitly, that the Eastern writers quoted by him acquired under his pen a charm and purity which one looks for in vain in their own works. Called to the bar in this same year, Jones devoted himself for a time exclusively to legal studies. A patriotic feeling was mingled with this resolve. "Had I lived at Rome or Athens," he said, "I should have preferred the labours, studies, and dangers of their orators and illustrious citizens, connected as they were with banishment and even death, to the groves of the poets or the gardens of the philosophers. Here I adopt the same resolution. The constitution of England is in no respect inferior to that of Rome or Athens." Carrying out this design, he tried to obtain a seat in parliament. But his politics were too liberal and too hostile to the government of the day. He was known to have expressed cordial sympathy with the American colonies in their revolt and War of Independence. He was strongly opposed to the slave-trade, and no less strong in favour of electoral and parliamentary reform.

It was no wonder then, that, when he stood for Oxford in 1780, he found his chances of success so small that he withdrew from the contest. His political views and leanings he had made known at various times in a fragmentary manner in his Principles of Government; Plan of a National Defence; Enquiry into the Legal Mode of Suppressing Riots; and other short essays, reprinted in the collective edition of his works. But though he was always writing and speaking in favour of liberty and free government, he was no party man, and was desirous, he said, of being transported 5000 leagues from all the fatal discord of contending politicians. His wishes were soon gratified. Through the influence of Lord Ashburton he was appointed, in 1783, a judge in the supreme court of judicature at Fort-William in Bengal. On this occasion he was knighted, and a few weeks after these two-fold honours he married Miss Shipton, the eldest daughter of the Bishop of St Asaph. Not long before he set sail for India he had resumed his Oriental studies, and in 1782 had published an English version of the seven old Arabic poems known as the Moalla-eah or Suspended, so called from having hung on the walls of the great temple of Mecca, ever since the death of the prophet. On arriving in India he entered upon his judicial duties with all the advantages of a high reputation, unsullied integrity, disinterested benevolence, and unweared perseverance. One of his first acts on landing, was to seek out such persons within his reach as had pursued a line of research similar to his own. These he formed into a society for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences, and literature of Asia. He was chosen the first president of this learned body, and after an interval of four years, that is to say, in 1788, saw through the press the first volume of its Memoirs. To these Asiatic Researches Europeans scholars owe a very large share of their knowledge of the religion, antiquities, and history of the Hindus. The papers contributed by the president himself on these and kindred subjects were of immense value. Sir William's next care was to master Sanscrit, the law language of the country. Till this time the British judges had not seen fit to take this precaution; and thus important powers were vested in the pundits, who dealt out Hindu law as they pleased. To ensure the better administration of justice Sir William next offered to government to make a complete digest of Hindu and Mohammedan law, and to translate it when made. Government closed with the offer, and Jones began the work; which, however, he did not live long enough to finish. It devolved on Mr H. T. Colebrooke to carry out the imperfect design; and the Digest of Hindu Laws was issued under his superintendence at Calcutta in 1800. This compilation was based on the famous ordinances of Menou or Manu, a very ancient Indian legislator. The ordinances themselves, containing a complete system of civil and religious duty, were translated by Sir William in 1794. Not the least valuable service which he rendered to Hindu literature, was his English version of the Saccotahla, or The Fatal Ring, a dramatic poem of Kalidasa. Nor should we overlook his translation of the Hitopadesa, the mine from which the celebrated fables of Pilpay are believed to have been taken. These literary occupations, severe and engrossing as they were, were only the "parerga" of Sir William's life. His primary duties were judicial; and he performed these with a laborious and conscientious exactitude beyond all praise. As his biographer remarks, "the inflexible integrity with which he discharged the solemn duty of his station will long be remembered in Calcutta, both by Europeans and natives." His unremitting labours at last undermined his health, and he was preparing to return to England, when a sudden illness, neglected at first, carried him off. He died at Calcutta, April 27, 1794, in the forty-eighth year of his age.

In the course of his comparatively short life Sir William Jones condensed an amount of hard and honest labour that seems scarcely compatible with the limited faculties of the human mind. His powers, however, were those of an acquirer and exponent rather than of an original thinker. Everything that came before him to be learned he mastered with equal ease. Selecting languages as his special sphere, he mastered Greek and Latin, while Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German were almost as familiar to him as his mother-tongue. Of the Eastern dialects those in which he was most at home were Sanscrit, Arabic, and Persian. It may be doubted, indeed, if there ever was any European so deeply learned in the literatures of these tongues as he. Hebrew, Turkish, and even Chinese likewise fell within his range; while there were many other languages of which he had a great, though less thorough knowledge. Of his contemporaries Mezzofanti alone was his superior as a linguist; but in general force of mind, and in the power of making his knowledge available, either to himself or others, the Englishman was vastly superior to the Italian. His range was also infinitely wider. Had he devoted to the sciences the time and labour he bestowed on the languages, he would have attained equal eminence in them. As it was, he had a wide acquaintance with mathematics and chemistry; and in his latter years botany became a favourite study. "He seems to have acted," says his biographer, "on this maxim, that whatever had been attained was attainable by him; and he was never observed to overlook or neglect any opportunity of adding to his accomplishments, or to his knowledge. When in India his studies began with the dawn, and, in seasons of intermission from professional duty, to have been continued throughout the day. Meditation retraced and confirmed what reading had collected or investigation discovered." He was very careful in his distribution of his time. Sir Edward Coke had written—

"Six hours in sleep, in laws grave study six, Your spend in prayer, the rest on nature fix."

Jones altered the distich thus:—

"Seven hours to law, to sooth'ing slumber seven, Ten to the world ailor, and all to heaven."

It is much to be regretted that Jones did not concentrate his powers. Much as he certainly did make out of his vast attainments, he might have made far more, had he chosen, instead of continually increasing his stores, to think out and reason upon those already amassed. His intellectual force became weakened by diffusion over too great a variety of objects. His weakness manifests itself in his judgments of men and questions, as well as in his style, which is often languid and heavy. His numerous contributions to the Asiatic Researches, valuable and instructive as they are, owe more of their interest to their subject-matter than to their setting; and the same may be said of nearly all his writings that bear upon the East. Nor can it be fairly said that as a poet he has any claim to original genius. His verse is often lofty and sonorous, and is not without a certain nobility of thought. Sometimes it even glows with the semblance of passion. Even his best pieces, however, are not much more than showy rhetoric or brilliant imitation. But with all these deductions there remains a great deal in the writings of Jones that is worthy of our admiration. The man can never be estimated too highly. As a judge, as a scholar, as a citizen, and as a friend, there is hardly any Englishman of whom his country has greater reason to be proud.

In addition to the works already mentioned, Jones translated the speeches of Issus on the Right of Inheritance at Athens, and two Mohammedan essays on the same subject, some of the Tales and Fables of Nizami, and considerable portions of the Vedas. There have been two complete editions of Jones' works, one in 6 vols. 4to, 1799, and the other in 13 vols. 8vo, 1807. To the latter of these was appended a life of the author by Lord Teignmouth, to which we are chiefly indebted for the facts of the foregoing narrative.