rately by Sir Robert Barker, in the Philofophical Transactions. Befides, when we daily meet with so many who have penetrated, even into the regions of Upper Hindoftan, who both know fo little, and have written fo abfurdly, about India, this objection, methinks, should have been urged with fomewhat more caution and temper. Upon the whole therefore nothing could be more more unjust or cruel, than for thefe ungenerous critics, on fo flender a foundation, prematurely to condemn and decry a work, of the compofition of which, they must be utterly unable, from a fuperficial furvey, to comprehend either the arduous toil, or the complicated difficulty. However, I truft, in vindication of my own injured reputation, and the perfevering zeal of my friends, that in every page of the following work, the reader will find a better answer to this objection, than any in my power in this place to produce.

There is likewise another objection which has been urged against this work, and from the confideration of which I will not fhrink. "The author," it has been faid, "is not acquainted with the Afiatic languages." On this subject, let the words of Sir W. Jones be remembered, that "languages are not Science,

h

fcience, but only the medium through which science is conveyed." This remark comes with peculiar force from an author, who is, perhaps, the greatest master of languages in the world; and if correct verfions, fuch as those with which himself and Mr. Wilkins have obliged the public, from the Sanfcreet, and fuch as Pocock, Golius, and Greaves, have given us of Persian and Arabian historians, can be procured, who is there that would waste the vigour of life in the learning of languages, from which, after all, the information to be reaped will fcarcely compenfate the toil? Could tranflations, to be depended upon, be obtained in fo extensive a degree as I may require for the conduct of this hiftory, I can assure the reader that the hieroglyphic characters in which Eastern literature is veiled, for me, fhould remain undisturbed. That not being entirely the cafe, I am flowly endeavouring to accomplish what Sir William, at my entrance upon this undertaking, recommended me; "to acquire a fufficient knowledge of Perfian to enable me to give a new tranflation of Ferifhtah;" a work, he adds, greatly in esteem among all Indian scholars, but of which, Mr. Dow's translation is a very loose and imperfect one.

Hitherto,

Hitherto, however, I have had subjects far more important to attend to than the mere acquifition of languages, and when the reader is informed that through all the fix hundred pages* of which this volume confifts, I never had the leaft inftruction or advice from any Indian fcholar, whomfoever, in England, except a few hints during the course of writing the geographical differtation, imparted by the good-nature of Major Rennell -when he fhall reflect, that I had to read, to digest, and to compofe what is thus offered to the public, from books which it was often necessary to ride from Woodford to London to procure, and even then not procurable, but by tedious research among the bookfellers fhops, and at a very confiderable expence; and that the topics upon which I have written, are both very abftruse and very remote from the common line of literary investigation; he will, I truft, permit candour to predominate over severity, and instead of wondering that fo little, he will, perhaps, be furprised that so much has been accomplished.

* The author regrets that in cancelling fome of the fheets of this volume, which an overfight in regard to the paper rendered necessary, the pages have, in fome places, been inaccurately numbered; but, on the whole, it contains, ra ther more than fix hundred,

I can indeed fafely affirm, in the words of the honoured patron of my juvenile productions, the late Dr. Johnson,† that this work was" written with little affiftance from the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the foft obfcurities of retirement, or under the fhelter of academic bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in fickness and in forrow" I had scarcely commenced my hiftorical career, career, before I

was

+ My mentioning in these terms the venerated name of the late Dr. Johnson, will not, I trust, be called presumption———— There are those living who can attest the handsome manner in which he always spoke of two very early, but very different, productions of mine; THE SCHOOLBOY, written in imitation of THE SPLENDID SHILLING of Philips; and the FREE TRANSLATION OF THE EDIPUS TYRANNUS OF SOPHOCLES. The former may be seen in Mr. Knox's Elegant Extracts; the latter never wandered beyond the circle of the subscribers.

Indeed I cannot forbear stating a circumstance peculiarly họnourable to myself, and illuftrative, at once, of the natural goodness of his heart: at my entrance into orders, he wrote, unfolicited by me, a warm and friendly letter to the Master of University College, in my favour, with the proffer of a lucrative cure "if Mr. Maurice were in orders;" of which cir cumstance he was ignorant. I was, at that time, in orders, and fixed at Woodford, which particular reafons prevented my relinquishing for Bosworth, the living of his friend Dr. Taylor. The Mafter was fo obliging as to fend to me to Woodford, Dr, Johnson's letter, which I keep as a flattering memento of his friendship, and a striking proof, among others, of his enlarged philanthropy.

was called, upon an occafion the moft dif treffing to human feelings, to exchange the blooming plains of Afia and the banks of the Ganges, where I began, in imagination, to range with delight, for the rugged rocks and Lethean ftream of Bristol Wells. It was indeed an occafion no lefs painful and diftreffing than the fight of distinguished worth, heightened by unaffected beauty, in the bloom of youth, flowly defcending to the unfruitful grave. No fooner was that melancholy event over, for which the too much honoured lines in the Church Yard of Woodford, feebly attempt to display the genuine grief of the writer, than the circumftances

As a part of these verses, very inaccurately transcribed, has appeared in the public papers, I shall make no apology for inferting them below more correctly and unmutilated. I can assure the reader that, in doing this, I have no vanity to gratify. To compofe them was the most painful task, a task enjoined, near the clofe of life, by the amiable deceased, that ever agonizing poet undertook. In presenting them to the reader, however, I own I have fome ambition to gratify. I am ambitious of paying a public tribute of respect to worth, untimely snatched away, and fense early matured. Indeed that tribute OUGHT PARTICULARLY TO BE PAID IN THESE PAGES, for, unpatronized as I have been, either by great men, or eminent booksellers, this work could not have appeared, had it not been for the assistance of that fortune which, by the decease of this eftimable woman, de