none are yet struck in hard metal, but will in a few days. In the mean time, having this good opportunity by Mr. Penn, I send you one of the epreuves. You will see that I have profited by some of your ideas, and adopted the mottos you were so kind as to furnish.

I am at present quite recovered from my late illness, and flatter myself that I may, in the ensuing summer, be able to undertake a trip to England, for the pleasure of seeing once more my dear friends there, among whom the bishop and his family stand foremost in my estimation and affection.

I thank you for your good wishes respecting me : mine for your welfare and prosperity are not less earnest and sincere; being, with great truth, dear sir, your affectionate friend, and most obedient servant,

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

:

XC.

To Lord Ashburton.*

April 27, 1783. YOUR kind letter found me on board the Crocodile I should have been very unhappy had it missed me, since I have long habituated myself to set the highest value on every word you speak, and every line you write. Of the two enclosed letters to our friends, Impey and Chambers, I will take the greatest care, and will punctually follow your directions as to the first of them. My departure was sudden indeed; but the Admiralty were so anxious for the sailing of this frigate, and their orders were so peremptory, that it was impossible to wait for any thing but a breeze. Our voyage has hitherto been tolerably pleasant, and, since we left the Channel, very quick. We begin to see albicores about the ship, and to perceive an agreeable change of climate. Our days, though short, give me ample time for study, recreation, and exercise; but my joy and delight proceed from the surprising health and spirits of Anna Maria, who

• Sir William Jones embarked for India in the Crocodile frigate; and left England in April, 1783.

joins me in affectionate remembrance to lady Ashburton. As to you, my dear lord, we consider you as the spring and fountain of our happiness; as the author and parent; a Roman would have added, (what the coldness of our northern language will hardly admit) the god of our fortunes. It is possible, indeed, that by incessant labour and irksome attendance at the bar, I might, in due time, have attained all that my very limited ambition could aspire to; but in no other station than that which I owe to your friendship, could I have gratified at once my boundless curiosity concerning the people of the East, continued the exercise of my profession, in which I sincerely delight, and enjoyed at the same time the comforts of domestic life. grand jury of Denbighshire have found, I understand, the bill against the dean of St. Asaph, for publishing my dialogue; but as an indictment for a theoretical essay on government was, I believe, never before known, I have no apprehension for the consequences. As to the doctrines in the tract, though I shall certainly not preach them to the Indians, who must and will be governed by absolute power, yet I shall go through life with a persuasion, that they are just and rational, that substantial freedom is both the daughter and parent of virtue, and that virtue is the only source of public and private felicity.

Farewell.

The

In the course of his voyage, sir William Jones stopped at Madeira, and, after ten additional weeks of prosperous sailing, arrived at Hinzuan or Joanna, Of this island, where he remained a few days only, he has published an interest

ing and amusing description. He expatiates with rapture on his approach to it, delineates, with the skill of an artist, the beauties of the scenery, and sketches, with the discriminating pen of a philosopher, the characters and manners of the unpolished, but hospitable natives. The novelty of the scene was attractive, and its impression upon his mind is strongly marked by the following just and elegant reflection, which, in substance, is more than once repeated in his writings: If life were not too short for the complete discharge of all our respective duties, public and private, and for the acquisition even of necessary knowledge in any degree of perfection-with how much pleasure and improvement might a great part of it be spent in admiring the beauties of this wonderful orb, and contemplating the nature of man in all its varieties!"

It would be injustice to his memory, to pass over without particular notice, the sensible and dignified rebuke, with which he repelled the rude attack of Mussulman bigotry on the divinity of our Saviour. During a visit which he made to a native of the island, a Coran was produced for his inspection, and his attention was pointedly directed to a passage in a commentary, accusing the Christians of blasphemy, in calling our Saviour the Son of God. "The commentator," he replied, "was much to blame for passing so indiscriminate and hasty a censure: the title which gave your legislator, and which gives you such of fence, was often applied in Judea, by a bold figure, agreeably to the Hebrew idiom, though unusual in Arabic, to angels, to holy men, and even to all mankind, who are commanded to call God their father; and in this large sense, the apostle to the Romans calls the elect the children of God, and the Messiah, the first born among many brethren; but the words only begotten, are applied transcendently and incomparably to him alone: and as for me, who believe the Scriptures, which you also profess to believe, though you assert without proof that we have altered them-I cannot refuse him an appellation, though far surpassing our reason, by which he is distinguished in the Gospel; and the believers in Mohammed, who expressly names him the Messiah, and pronounces him to have been born of a virgin, (which alone might fully justify the phrase condemned by

this author) are themselves, condemnable, for cavilling at words, when they cannot object to the substance of our faith, consistently with their own."

This quotation affords a decisive proof of the belief of sir William Jones in the sublime doctrines of the Christian religion. Had he been even indifferent to his faith, he would have been silent on an occasion where he could expect neither candour nor concessions from his antagonists. Indeed, he was well aware, that a religious dispute with those zealots would have been fruitless and unseasonable, and might have been dangerous; but as it was inconsistent with his principles to disavow or conceal what he firmly believed and professed, he could not suffer the attack to pass without reprehension; and he grounded it on premises, which his opponents could not dispute, nor did they venture to

answer.

From Hinzuan to the Ganges nothing material occurred. He landed at Calcutta in September, 1783; and in December following, entered upon his judicial functions.

XCI.

To Warren Hastings, Esq.*

MY DEAR SIR,

INDEPENDENTLY of my general presumption, that whatever you determine is right, I cannot but admit the solidity of the reasons which induce you to

After his arrival in India, sir William Jones devised the. institution of a society at Calcutta, as a means of concentrating and preserving much valuable knowledge relative to