cottage, was neceffarily limited by the duty of attending the fupreme court: on his return to Calcutta, in October, he writes to John Macpherson, Efq. "Lady Jones, and myself, " received much benefit from the dry foil and pure air of Crishnagur; how long my health "will continue in this town, with conftant "attendance in court every morning, and the "irksome business of juftice of peace in the "afternoon, I cannot forefee. If temperance "and composure of mind will avail, I fhall "be well; but I would rather be a valetudi"narian, all my life, than leave unexplored "the Sanfcrit mine which I have juft opened. "I have brought with me the father of "the university of Nadya, who, though not "a Brahmin, has taught grammar and ethics "to the most learned Brahmins, and has no 66 priestly pride, with which his pupils in general abound." In the year 1785, a periodical work was undertaken at Calcutta, under the title of the Afiatick Miscellany, which has been ignorantly ascribed to the Afiatick Society, with whose researches it had no connection. The title of the work indicates the nature of its contents, which confifted chiefly of extracts from books published in Europe, relating to India, of tranflations from Oriental Authors, and of poems and effays. The editor was occafionally affifted by the literary talents of gentlemen in India, and we find in the two firft volumes, which were published in the years 1785 and 86, the following compofitions of Sir William Jones, who never neglected any opportunity of contributing to the advancement of Oriental literature: the tale of the Enchanted Fruit, which has already been mentioned, fix hymns * addreffed to as many Hindu deities, a literal tranflation of twenty * In his hymn to Surya, or the Sun, Sir William Jones alludes to himself in the following beautiful lines: And, if they ask what mortal pours the strain? Say, "From the bosom of yon silver isle, Where skies more softly smile, He came; and lisping our celestial tongue, Draws orient knowledge, from its fountains pure, Through caves obstructed long, and paths too long obscure." tales and fables of Nizami, expressly intended to affift the students of the Perfian language, besides other smaller pieces, from which I quote with pleasure, the following beautiful tetraftick, which is a literal tranflation from the Perfian: On parent knees, a naked, new-born child, The hymns, which are original compofitions, are defcriptive of the Hindu deities, to whom they were addreffed, and a fhort introductory explanation accompanies each. The mythological allufions and Sanfcrit names, with which they abound, are not fufficiently familiar to the English reader, to enable him to derive that pleasure from them, which thofe who are acquainted with the manners and mythology of the Hindus feel in the perufal of these hymns; but whilst they mark the taste and genius of the author, they supply a fund of information, equally novel and curious. We contemplate with delight and surprise the admirer of the Grecian bards, and the pupil of the Grecian fages, led by his enthusiasm from the banks of the Ilyffus to the streams of the Ganges, celebrating, in ftrains not unworthy of Pindar, the fabulous divinities of India, and exploring the fources of the Egyptian and Persian theology, and of the tenets of the Ionic and Italic schools of philofophy. These compositions were the elegant amusements of hours of leifure and relaxation, which he never fuffered to interfere with his public duties. They prove the versatility of thofe intellectual powers, which could immediately turn from the investigation of legal caufes or the folution of abstruse mathematical problems, to explain and adorn the mythological fictions of the Hindus, in odes which the Bramins would have approved and admired. The variety of measures adopted in the composition of these hymns is remarkable; each of the nine* has a different form of verfification, and if they are not all equally harmonious, they are all * He wrote three more hymns afterwards. regular. The opening and conclufion of the Hymn to Narayon are very fublime. On the second of February 1786, Sir William Jones delivered to the fociety his third annual discourse, in which he proposed to fill up the outlines delineated in his two former addreffes, and promised, if the ftate of his health should permit him to continue long enough in India, to prepare for the annual meetings of the fociety, a series of fhort differtations unconnected in their titles, but all leading to one common point of no small importance, in the pursuit of interesting truths. He exhibits, in this discourse, a proof of the fuccessful application of his time to the ftudy of Sanfcrit, and speaks with increased confidence of the refult of his new attainments. The conclufion expreffes his regret, at the departure for Europe of the very ingenious member who firft opened the mine of Sanfcrit literature, an honourable tribute to the merit of Mr. Charles Wilkins. Sir William had long propofed making an excurfion to Chatigan, the eastern limits of |