they are grateful, must wish that you had attended as vigilantly to your own vectigal, as you have wisely and successfully to theirs.

CXIX.

To J. Shore, Esq.*

Gardens, near Calcutta, March 25, 1787.

I AM charmed, my dear sir, with the short but comprehensive work of Rhadacaunt, your pundit, the title of which I see is Puran-arthupracusam, or the meaning of the Purans displayed: it contains pedigrees, or lists of kings, from the earliest times to the decline of the Indian empire; but the proper names are so murdered, or so strangely disguised in Persian letters, that I am only tantalized with a thirst for more accurate information. If the pundit, at your request, will lend me the original, my Marhatta writer shall copy it elegantly, with spaces between the lines for a literal English translation, which may perhaps be agreeable, with your consent, to our Society.

The present lord Teignmouth, author of the Memoirs of sir William Jones.

CXX.

To J. Shore, Esq.

May 11, 1787.

I RETURN, with many thanks, my dear sir, the letter of his high mightiness Tatbu Arnu (king of Ava). When I began it, I feared it was hostile, but am glad to find it so amicable. Dulce mihi nomen pacis! If he is at peace with the Siamese, he may be a good neighbour, and we may be gainers by his gold and ivory: but I have no inclination to taste his sweet and delicious petroleum, which he praises so highly I am satisfied with the smell of it, and with its singular property of restoring the scent of Russia leather.* I am told he is an able man; but from all I can learn, I suspect him to be an ambitious dog, who would act the lion if he could, and end, as he is said to have begun, the Aurenzeb of the Indian peninsula.

We are pretty well, and hope that you are now

The letter of the king of Ava contains the following passage: "As there is an oil, the produce of a certain spot of the earth, of exquisite flavour, so is my dignity and power above that of other rajahs." The wells which produce this oil are in the vicinity of Rangoon, and have long been celebrated: their annual produce is estimated at 400,000 hogsheads.

in good health. You will not (though you dislike medicine) object to my prescription:

Take a concerto of Corelli,

an air of Leo, or Pergolesi,

a trio of Haydn, &c.—Mixtura fiat.

Would I could be as good a physician to you, as I am, &c.

CXXI.

To J. Shore, Esq.

May 12, 1787.

You have sent me a treasure, which will enable me to satisfy my mind at least on the chronology of India: need I say, that I shall ever be happy in the conversation of so learned a man as Rhadacaunt? Before I return to Calcutta, I shall have read his interesting book, and shall be better able to converse with him in Sanscrit, which I speak continually with my pundit.

I can easily conceive all your feelings; but consider, my dear friend, that you are now collecting for yourself (while you serve your country) those flowers which will give a brighter bloom even to the valleys of Devonshire; that you are young, and have as fair a prospect of long happiness as any mortal can have. I predict, that when I meet you

a few years hence at Teignmouth, where I hope to spend many a season with all that my soul cherishes in this world, I shall hear you confess, that your painful toil in India conduced in the end to your happiness. That you may enjoy as much of it as human life affords, is the sincere wish of, &c.

CXXII.

To J. Shore, Esq.

June 24.

I am well, rising constantly between three and four, and usually walking two or three miles before sun-rise; my wife is tolerably well; and we only lament, that the damp weather will soon oblige us to leave our herds and flocks, and all our rural delights on the banks of the Baghiratti. The business of the court will continue at least two months longer, after which I purpose to take a house at Bandell or Hughli, and pass my autumnal vacation, as usual, with the Hindu bards. I have read your pundit's curious book twice in Sanscrit, and will have it elegantly copied; the Dabistan also I have read through twice with great attention; and both copies are ready to be returned, as you

shall direct. Mr. R. Johnston thinks he has a young friend who will translate the Dabistan; and the greatest part of it would be very interesting to a curious reader; but some of it cannot be translated. It contains more recondite learning, more entertaining history, more beautiful specimens of poetry, more ingenuity and wit, more indecency and blasphemy, than I ever saw collected in a single volume the two last are not the author's, but are introduced in the chapters on the heretics and infidels of India. On the whole, it is the most amusing and instructive book I ever read in Persian.

I hear nothing from Europe, but what all the papers contain; and that is enough to make me rejoice exceedingly, that I am in Asia. Those with whom I have spent some of my happiest hours, and hope to spend many more on my return to England, are tearing one another to pieces, with the enmity, that is proverbial here, of the snake and the ichneumon. I have nothing left, therefore, but to wish what is right and just may prevail, to discharge my public duties with unremitted attention, and to recreate myself at leisure with the literature of this interesting country.

The Dabistan is a treatise on twelve different religions, composed by a Mohammedan traveller, a native of Cashmir, named Mohsan, but distinguished by the assumed name of Fani, or perishable.