perhaps have then folicited an alliance, which he afterwards courted and obtained.

The family of Lord Spencer removed late in Autumn to London; and Mr. Jones, with his usual avidity to acquire the accomplishments of a gentleman, as well as thofe of a scholar, privately arranged a plan with Gallini, who attended the younger part of the family, for receiving inftructions from him in dancing; at the fame time he continued his morning attendance, without intermiffion, at the two schools of Angelo, with whose manners he was extremely pleased. Before he left London, he had an opportunity, which he did not neglect, of learning the use of the broad-fword, from an old penfioner at Chelsea, who had been active, as his fcars proved, in many engagements, and whofe narrative propenfity frequently amufed him.

The acquifition of his new accomplishment, by Gallini's affiftance, had been made with fecrecy; and the difplay of it enabled him to participate with much fatisfaction, in the evening amusements at Althorp, where he Life-V. I.

F

paffed the winter with his pupil. But his greatest delight was furnished by an excellent library, in which he found intellectual treafures of the highest value in his estimation; fcarcely a fingle book escaped his inspection; and fome of the most rare he perused with indefatigable application. It was at this period, in the twenty-first year of his age, that he began his Commentaries on Afiatic Poetry, in imitation of Dr. Louth's Prelections at Oxford, on the facred poetry of the Hebrews.

The fummer of 1767, opened a new scene to him; the indifpofition of Lord Spencer rendered a journey to Spa advisable for the restoration of his health, and Mr. Jones attended the family: but his refidence on the Continent was too short to gratify his curiofity. At Spa he remained only three weeks, part of which he dedicated to the leffons of Janson, of Aixla-Chapelle, a moft incomparable dancingmafter, and part to the acquifition of the German language, in which he so far fucceeded, as to be able to read Gesner with delight, affisted only by an excellent German

Grammar and Dictionary; the pronunciation he had formerly learnt from a fellow collegian, who had paffed fome years at Brunswick. He would gladly have availed himself of the inftruction of a German mafter; but none was to be found at Spa, and his finances were unequal to the expense of procuring that affiftance from Aix-la-Chapelle. Notwithstanding thefe occupations, he found leisure to participate in all the amufements of the place.

In the winter of 1767, Mr. Jones refided with his pupil at Althorp: the attention of Lord Spencer's family was then much occupied in the contested election at Northampton; but as he had neither inclination nor inducement to take any part in it, he confined himself chiefly to the library, which never failed to fupply him with increasing fources of entertainment and improvement. His excurfions into the regions of literature were unlimited, and as his application was directed with his usual perfeverance, he nearly completed his Commentaries, tranfcribed

an Arabic manuscript on Egypt and the Nile, borrowed from Dr. Ruffel, and copied the keys of the Chinese language, which he wifhed to learn.

The close of this year is marked with an occurrence, which probably had a material influence on the determination of his future pursuits. From a motive of mere curiofity, he was prompted to perufe the little treatise of Fortescue, in praife of the Laws of England; and, although he was more diverted with the fimplicity of the Latin style, than attracted by the fubject, he felt fo much intereft in the work, as to ftudy it with confiderable attention. In the courfe of the reflections which it excited, he was naturally led to a comparison of the laws of Englandwith thofe of other countries, and he marked with delight their uncontroverted claim to fuperiority over the laws of every other state,

ancient or modern. Of this fact he acknowledged that he had never before entertained an idea. He was now qualified to appreciate with more accuracy, the merits and de

fects of the republican fyftem of Greece and Rome, for which he had adopted a strong partiality, natural to an enthusiastic admirer of the orators and poets of those celebrated nations; and to examine their jurifprudence by a standard of comparison, which impreffed his mind with a decided reverence for the inftitutions of his own country. He was not, however, regardless of the deviations in practice from the theoretical perfection of the conftitution in the contefted election, of which he was an unwilling spectator.

From Althorp he removed, in the spring of 1768, to Wimbledon, where he received a propofal from Mr. Sutton, then UnderSecretary to the Duke of Grafton, the account of which I fhall relate nearly in his own words*.

The King of Denmark, then upon a visit to this country, had brought with him an eastern manuscript, containing the life of Na

*Introduction to the History of the Life of Nadir Shah. Works, vol. xii. p. 311.