where he says, he made me a present of a fine Sanskerrit (or, as he calls it, Sanskrotan) alphabet; and that he promised Dr. Barton and Mr. Swinton to send them alphabets of the several Asiatic languages; whereas he neither made me the present, nor performed the promise to them. Mr. Swinton says he can furnish us with other instances of this Frenchman's veracity, which he has promised to do in a few days. In the mean time, I am, &c.

DEAR SIR,

THOMAS HUNT.

Ch. Church, Nov. 28, 1771.

I received the welcome present of your excellent pamphlet against Perron* in due time, and yesterday I was favoured with your kind letter; for both which I return you my hearty thanks. I should have thanked you for your pamphlet sooner, but have been out of town. I have read it over and over again, and think the whole nation, as well as the university and its members, are much obliged to you for this able and spirited defence. I acknowledge myself to be so in a particular manner, and so does Mr. Swinton, who desires his compliments and thanks. But there is one thing which Mr. Swinton seems to doubt of, which is, whether there has been such a general destruction of the writings of the ancient Persians as you imagine there has been. For my own part, till some better proof can be given of the authenticity of those books, which have been produced as the genuine compositions of that ancient people, than what I have yet seen given, I am inclined to be of your opinion. At least, this I am sure of, that if the books, which Alexander, Omar, &c. destroyed, were no better than those which have been published,

Works, vol. iv. p. 583.

the world has had no great loss; witness the insufferable jargon which you have given from their writings in the 38th and 41st, &c. pages of your letter; to which, as this bulky performance of Perron* will be but in few hands, it may not, perhaps, be amiss to add some others. But, as Mr. Swinton has suggested that he has some doubts about the fate of the writings of the old Persians, I think you would do well to consult him, before you publish your English translation.

I am glad you intend to oblige the world with an

Mons. Anquetil du Perron made a voyage to India, in 1755, for the purpose of acquiring the ancient language of Persia, and that of the Bramins. His ardour for this undertaking was so great, that he engaged himself to the French East India Company as a private soldier, as affording the speediest means of accomplishing the voyage; but some friends procured his discharge, and a small pension for him from the crown of France. He arrived at Pondicherry, in 1755, and after travelling over various parts of India, by the assistance of the government of Bombay, was enabled to return to Europe in an English vessel, and landed at Portsmouth, in November, 1761. He brought with him many Oriental manuscripts, which he afterwards carried to France, and, in 1771, published three quarto volumes, containing an account of his travels, and the information which he had obtained in the course of them, under the general title of Zind-Avesta, Ouvrage de Zoroaster,

In a discourse addressed to the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, in 1789, Sir William Jones speaks of him, as "having had the merit of under"taking a voyage to India in his earliest youth, with no other view than "to recover the writings of Zeratust (Zoroaster), and who would have "acquired a brilliant reputation in France, if he had not sullied it by "his immoderate vanity and virulence of temper, which alienated the "good-will even of his own countrymen." In the same discourse he affirms that M. Anquetil, most certainly, had no knowledge of Sanscrit

In 1798, M. Anquetil published a work, entitled, L'Inde en rapport avec l'Europe, which is more remarkable for the virulence of its invectives against the, English, and for its numerous misrepresentations, than for the information which it contains, or the soundness of the reflections which is conveys. In the summary of its contents, stated in the title page, he professes to give a detailed, accurate, and terrific picture of the English Machiavelism in India; and he addresses his work, in a ranting bombast dedication, to the manes of Dupleix and Labourdonnais. It does not appear that the temper of M. A. has been ameliorated, although he had then nearly attained his 70th year.

English translation of your letter; and if, among the anecdotes which Mr. Swinton sent you, you will be so good as to insert that, wherein he says, that he was present all the time that Perron was with me, but does not remember that I ever told him that I understood the ancient Persian language, I shall be much obliged to you. I am sure I never pretended, nor could pretend, to any further knowledge of it, than that of the alphabet, as given by Dr. Hyde. I am, &c. THOMAS HUNT.

The small volume of poems,* consisting chiefly of translations from the Asiatic languages, with two prose dissertations annexed, was published in 1772. We may be allowed to smile at the solicitude which Mr. Jones expresses in his correspondence on the subject of this publication, to avoid the imputation of devoting that time to the muses which belonged to his professional studies, whilst we participate with pleasure the effects of his devotion to the objects of his admiration; but his anxiety for his literary reputation, in deferring the publication of his poems until they had received all the improvements which care and attention, assisted by the criticisms of his friends, could bestow, is highly praise-worthy.

On the 30th of April, 1772, Mr. Jones was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and admitted on May the 14th of the same year. He does not appear to have communicated any paper for the Philosophical Transactions.

From the first entrance of Mr. Jones into the university, until Michaelmas, 1768, when he took the degree of A. B. he had kept the terms regularly; from that period, to 1773, only occasionally. In the Easter term

* Works, vol. iv. p. 399.

R

of that year, during the encænia, he took his master's degree. It was upon this occasion that he composed an oration, with an intention, which he did not execute, of speaking it in the theatre. The speech was published ten years after, and exhibits a striking memorial of independent principles, and well cultivated abilities ....to vindicate learning from the malevolent aspersion of being destructive of manly spirit, unfavourable to freedom, and introductive to slavish obsequiousness; to support the honour and independence of learned men; to display the transcendent advantages of the university of Oxford; were the topics which he had proposed to discuss, but on which the limits prescribed to his oration forbade him to expatiate.

The animation of his language shews, that these topics were ever near his heart. An ardent love of liberty, an enthusiastic veneration for the university, a warm and discriminate eulogium on learned men, who devoted their talents and labours to the cause of religion, science, and freedom, characterize his discourse, of which part has been lately quoted, with applause, by Dr. Parr.*

The kindness of a contemporary student has communicated an anecdote in proof of his particular aversion to the logic of the schools, that, in an oration which he pronounced in University-Hall, he declaimed violently against Burgersdiscius, Cracanthorpius, and the whole body of logicians in the college of queen Philippa, his opposite neighbour. Of his uncommon industry many proofs might be enumerated, and among others the copying of several Arabic manuscripts, of which one was the entertaining romance of Bedreddin Hassan; or, Aladdin's Lamp, from a most elegant specimen of Arabian calligraphy.

*Notes to Spital Sermon, p. 136.

Nor was he less remarked for an affectionate attention to his mother and sister, who resided at Oxford; such portion of his time as he could spare from his studies was given to their society; and during his occasional absence from the university, he was regular in his cor. respondence with his mother.

We may conceive and participate the delight of a fond parent, contemplating the increasing reputation of her son. She now found her maternal care and anxiety repaid in a degree equal to her most sanguine expectations, and her affection rewarded by a full measure of filial duty and gratitude. The progress of the virtues is not always in proportion to literary improvement, and learning, which ought to meliorate the affections, and strengthen the principles of duty, has been known to distort the mind by pride, and engender arrogance. In Mr. Jones we have the pleasure to see every moral principle promoted and invigorated by his literary attainments.

In the commencement of 1774, he published his Com. mentaries on Asiatic poetry. This work was received with admiration and applause by the Oriental scholars of Europe in general, as well as by the learned of his own country. It was perhaps the first publication on Eastern literature, which had an equal claim to elegance. and erudition. This work was begun by Mr. Jones in 1766, and finished in 1769, when he was in his twentythird year; but with the same solicitude which he had exhibited on other occasions, to lay his compositions before the public in the greatest possible perfection, he had repeatedly submitted the manuscript to the examination and critical remarks of his learned friends. Their approbation of it was liberal and general; but the opinion of Dr. Parr on any subject of literature is decisive; and I select from a letter, which he wrote to Mr. Jones,