To

XCV.

April 13, 1784.

I AM discouraged from writing to you as copiously as I wish, by the fear that my letter may never reach you. I enclose, however, a hymn to the Indian Cupid, which is here said to be the only correct specimen of Hindu mythology that has appeared: it is certainly new and quite original, except the form of the stanza, which is Milton's. I add the character of lord Ashburton, which my zeal for his fame prompted me to publish.*

* Lord Ashburton died on the 18th of August, 1783. His character, written by sir William Jones, is published in vol. iv. of his works. The following extract from it will show the gratitude and sensibility of the writer:-" For some months before his death, the nursery had been his chief delight, and gave him more pleasure than the cabinet could have afforded: but this parental affection, which had been a source of so much felicity, was probably a cause of his fatal illness. He had lost one son, and expected to lose another, when the author of this painful tribute to his memory VOL. II.

D

Had I dreamt that the dialogue would have made such a stir, I should certainly have taken more pains with it. I will never cease to avow and justify the doctrine comprised in it. I meant it merely as an imitation of one of Plato's, where a boy, wholly ignorant of geometry, is made, by a few simple questions, to demonstrate a proposition; and I intended to inculcate, that the principles of government were so obvious and intelligible, that a clown might be brought to understand them. As to raising sedition, I as much thought of raising a church.

- My dialogue contains my system, which I have ever avowed and ever will avow; but I perfectly agree (and no man of sound intellect can disagree), that such a system is wholly inapplicable to this country, where millions of men are so wedded to inveterate prejudices and habits, that if liberty could be forced upon them by Britain, it would make them as miserable as the cruelest despotism.

Pray remember me affectionately to all my friends at the bar, whom I have not time to enumerate; and assure my academical and professional friends, that I will write to them all when I have leisure.

Farewell, &c.

parted from him, with tears in his eyes, little hoping to see him again in a perishable state. As he perceives, without affectation, that his tears now steal from him, and begin to moisten the paper on which he writes, he reluctantly leaves a subject which he could not soon have exhausted; and when he also shall resign his life to the great Giver of it, he desires no other decoration of his humble grave-stone, than this honourable truth:

With none to flatter, none to recommend,

Dunning approved, and mark'd him as a friend.”

XCVI.

To Charles Chapman, Esq.

Gardens near Allipore, April 26, 1784.

ALLOW me, dear sir, to give you the warmest thanks, in my own name, and in that of our infant society, for the pleasure which we have received from your interesting account of Cochin-china, with considerable extracts from which we have been favoured by our patrons. Our meetings are well attended, and the society may really be said, considering the recent time of its establishment, to flourish.

We have been rather indisposed, the weather being such as we had no idea of in England-excessive heat at noon, and an incessant high wind from morning to night; at this moment it blows a hurricane, and my study reminds me of my cabin at sea. Our way of life, however, is quite pastoral in this retired spot; as my prime favourites, among all our pets, are two large English sheep, which came with us from Spithead, and, having narrowly escaped the knife, are to live as long and as happily with us as they can: they follow us for bread, and are perfectly domestic. We are literally lulled to sleep by Persian nightingales, and cease to wonder, that the Bulbul, with a thousand

tales, makes such a figure in Oriental poetry.Since I am resolved to sit regularly in court as long as I am well, (not knowing how soon I may be forced to remit my attention to business) I shall not be at liberty to enter my budgerow till near the end of July, and must be again in Calcutta on the 22d of October; so that my time will be very limited and I shall wish, if possible, to see Benares.*

:

XCVII.

To Charles Chapman, Esq.

Jungipore, August 30, 1784. NOTHING but a series of severe attacks of illness could have prevented my replying long ago to your friendly letter. After resisting them by temperance and exercise for some time, I was quite overpow ered by a fever, which has confined me ten weeks to my couch, but is now almost entirely abated,

The principal object of his meditated excursion was to open sources of information on topics entirely new in the republic of letters. The indisposition which he mentions, not without apprehensions of its continuance, had not altogether left him when he commenced his journey; and during the progress of it, returned with a severity, which long held the public in anxious suspense, before any hopes could be entertained of its favourable termination.

though it has left me in a state of extreme weakness. I had a relapse at Raugamutty, which obliged me to stay three weeks at Afzalbang, where the judgment and attention of Dr. Glas prevented perhaps serious consequences. I have spent two days at this place; and I find myself so much better, that I propose to continue my voyage this evening : whether I shall be able to go farther than Patna, (I long to see Benares,) is very uncertain. This is only the second attempt I have made to write since my illness; and as I hold my pen with some difficulty, I will say no more, than that I am, with great esteem, &c.

P.S. I cannot help adding, that your proposal of extracting such parts of your very interesting narrative concerning Cochin-china, as you may think proper to deposit among the archives of our society, is the very thing I wished, and I really think it will be one of our most valuable tracts.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PIETY OF SIR WILLIAM JONES.

BUT the thoughts and attention of sir William Jones were not confined to the perishable concerns of this world only; and what was the subject of his meditations in health, was more forcibly impressed upon his mind during illness. He knew the duty of