standing, which was improved by his converfation and inftruction. Under his tuition valuable pieces, and hope you will let me know in what time I may expect them.-Do me the justice to believe, that I am, with all sincerity, Your most humble servant, WILLIAM JONES. SIR, From the SAME to the SAME. London, April 29th, 1713. Ever since I received your very kind letter, and Moreton's book, I waited for an opportunity of sending you some old manuscripts I had by me, and at last am obliged to venture them by the carrier. They relate, in some measure, to the method of Differences: the folio one, I find, was written by one Nath. Torperly, a Shropshire man, who, when young, was amanuensis to Vieta, but afterwards writ against him. He was cotemporary with Briggs. The book, I think, can be of no other use to you than in what relates to the history of that method, and in having the satisfaction of seeing what has been formerly done on that subject. I am mightily pleased to see the end of the Principia, and return you many thanks for the instructive index, that you have taken the pains to add, and hope it will not be long before we shall see the beginning of that noble book. I shall be in some pain till I hear that you have received my old manuscript, it being a favourite purely on account of some extravagancies in it; but I shall think it safe in your hands. I am, Sir, You affectionate friend, and humble servant, WILLIAM JONES. she became a confiderable proficient in Algebra, and with a view to qualify herself for the office of preceptor to her fifter's fon, who was destined to a maritime profeffion, made herself perfect in Trigonometry, and the Theory of Navigation. Mrs. Jones, after From the SAME to the SAME. DEAR SIR, London, July 11th, 1718. It is impossible to represent to you, with what pleasure I received your inestimable present of the Principia, and am much concerned to find myself so deeply charged with obligations to you, and such I fear as all my future endeavours will never be able to requite. This edition is indeed exceedingly beautiful, and interspersed with great variety of admirable discoveries so very natural to its great author; but it is more so from the additional advantage of your excellent preface, which I wish much to get published in some of the foreign journals; and since a better account of this book cannot be given, I suppose it will not be difficult to get it done. Now, this great task being done, I hope you will think of publishing your papers, and not let such valuable pieces lie by. As to what you mentioned in your last, concerning my old manuscripts, though for my part I know of nothing worth your notice publicly in them, but, if you do find any, the end of my sending them is the better answered; and you know that you may do as you please. I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, WILLIAM JONES. the death of her husband, was urgently and repeatedly folicited, by the Countess of Macclesfield, to remain at Sherborne Caftle; but having formed a plan for the education of her fon, with an unalterable determination to purfue it, and being apprehenfive that her refidence at Sherborne might interfere with the execution of it, fhe declined accepting the friendly invitation of the Countess, who never ceased to retain the most affectionate regard for her. In the plan adopted by Mrs. Jones for the instruction of her fon, fhe proposed to reject the severity of discipline, and to lead his mind insensibly to knowledge and exertion, by exciting his curiofity, and directing it to ufeful objects. To his inceffant importunities for information on cafual topics of converfation, which the watchfully ftimulated, she conftantly replied, read, and you will know; a maxim, to the observance of which he always acknowledged himself indebted for his future attainments. By this method, his defire to learn became as eager as her wish to teach; and fuch was her talent of instruction, and his facility of retaining it, that in his fourth year he was able to read, distinctly and rapidly, any English book. She particularly attended at the same time to the cultivation of his memory, by making him learn and repeat fome of the popular speeches in Shakespeare, and the best of Gay's Fables. If, from the fubfequent eminence of Sir William Jones, any general conclufion should be eagerly drawn in favour of early tuition, we must not forget to advert to the uncommon talents both of the pupil and the teacher. In common cafes, premature instruction has often been found to retard, rather than accelerate, the progrefs of the intellectual faculties; and the success of it so much depends upon the judgment of the tutor, and the capacity of the scholar, upon the skill of the one, as well as upon the difpofition and powers of the other, that it is impoffible to prescribe a general rule, when instruction ought to begin, or a general mode, by which it should be conveyed; the determination in both cafes must be left to the difcretion of parents, who ought to be the most competent to decide. In this year of his life, Jones providentially escaped from two accidents, one of which had nearly proved fatal to his fight, the other to his life. Being left alone in a room, in attempting to scrape some foot from the chimney, he fell into the fire, and his clothes were inftantly in flames: his cries brought the fervants to his affistance, and he was preserved with fome difficulty; but his face, neck, and arms, were much burnt. A short time afterwards, when his attendants were putting on his clothes, which were imprudently fastened with hooks, he struggled, either in play, or in fome childish pet, and a hook was fixed in his right eye. By due care, under the directions of Dr. Mead, whose friendship with his family continued unabated after his father's death, the wound was healed; but the eye was fo much weak |