his poetical compositions, but by the eloquence of his declamations, and the masterly manner in which they were delivered. In the varied talents, which constitute an orator, Dr. Sumner himself excelled: and his pupil had equally benefited by his example and instruction. In the behaviour of Jones towards his school-fellows, he never exhibited that tyranny, which, in the larger seminaries of learning, is sometimes practised by the senior, over the younger students. His disposition equally revolted at the exercise or sufferance of oppression; and he early exhibited a mind strongly impressed with those moral distinctions, which he ever retained. Of the friendships which he contracted at school, many were afterwards cultivated with reciprocal affection; and, among the friends of his early years, some still survive, who remember his virtues with delight, and deplore his loss. His friend Parnell, whose departure from school he laments in the letter to his sister, was the late Sir John Parnell, who held the office of chancellor of the Exchequer, in Ireland. His testimony of the merits, capacity, and proficiency of his friend and fellowstudent at Harrow, extracted from a memorandum, which he gave to Lady Jones, will confirm my own account of him. "The early period of life is not "usually marked by extraordinary anecdote: but small "circumstances become interesting, when we can "trace in them the first principles of virtue, and the "first symptoms of those talents which afterwards so "eminently distinguished the character of Sir William "Jones. He gave very early proofs of his possessing very extraordinary abilities. His industry was very "( great, and his love of literature was the result of disposition, and not of submission to control. He "excelled, principally, in his knowledge of the Greek "language. His compositions were distinguished by "his precise application of every word, agreeable to "the most strict classical authority. He imitated the "choruses of Sophocles so successfully that his writ 66 ings seemed to be original Greek compositions; and "he was attentive even in writing the Greek characters "with great correctness. His time being employed in study, prevented his joining in those plays and amuse"ments which occupied the time of his other school"fellows; but it induced no other singularity in his "manners; they were mild, conciliating, and chearful. "When I first knew him, about the year 1761, he "amused himself with the study of botany, and in "collecting fossils. In general, the same pursuits which "gave employment to his mature understanding, were "the first objects of his youthful attention. The same "disposition formed the most distinguished features at 66 an early and at a late period of his life. A decision of "mind, and a strict attachment to virtue, an enthusiastic "love of liberty, an uniform spirit of philanthropy, were "the characteristics of his youth, and of his manhood: "he did no act, he used no expression, which did not justify these assertions.' A collection of English poems, composed by Mr. Jones, at Harrow, was presented by him to his friend Parnell, in 1763. The first and longest of the collection, containing more than three hundred and thirty lines, is entitled Prolusions, and is a critique on the various styles of pastoral writers. This was written by Mr. Jones, at the age of fifteen, and is the original of the poem, which he afterwards published, under the title of Arcadia.* The variations between his first attempt and subsequent publication are very considerable. In his * Works, vol. iv. page 478. earliest composition he makes Menalcas, who represents Theocritus, the father of pastoral poetry, adopt the language of Chaucer, as the only model he could take for a specimen of the English Doric. Spenser speaks in his own dialect, and, as the poet says, Masks in the roughest veil the sweetest song. In the original essay, Mr. Jones gives the prize to Tityrus, or Virgil; but, in the latter, Theocritus divides the kingdom of Arcadia between Virgil and Spenser, and assigns to them his two daughters, Daphne and Hyla, by whom he understands the two sorts of pastoral poetry: the one elegant and polished, the other simple and unadorned; in both which Theocritus excels. The remaining poems in the collection consist of translations and imitations of Horace, Sophocles, and Theocritus; Saul and David, an Ode; and a Satire on the inordinate Love of Novelty. A manuscript of these poems, in the hand-writing of Mr. Jones, was presented to Lady Jones, by Sir John Parnell, a few weeks only before his death. I select, as a specimen of Mr. Jones's poetical talents, at the age of fourteen, the shortest in the collection, in imitation of a well-known Ode of Horace, and addressed to his friend Parnell. How quickly fades the vital flow'r! The early joys of blooming youth, Can zeal drear Pluto's wrath restrain? His hallow'd shrine with blood, Fate will recal her doom for none : In vain, my Parnell, wrapt in ease, In vain we shun th' autumnal blast, Our house, our land, our shadowy grove, Ah me! we soon must leave. Of all our trees, the hated boughs Their fragrance o'er our grave. To others shall we then resign (Is this our labour, this our care ?) 1760. The new situation of Mr. Jones, at the university, did not at first correspond with his expectations.... Under the tuition of a master, who saw with admiration his capacity and application, who was anxious to assist his exertions, and rewarded their success with unlimited applause, his ardour for learning had been raised to a degree of enthusiasm: at the university, he expected to find a Sumner or Askew in every master of arts, and generally the same passion for literature, which he had himself imbibed. It was evident that such extravagant expectations must be disappointed; and from the public lectures he derived little gratification or instruction: they were much below the standard of his attainments, and, in fact, were considered as merely formal. Instead of pure principles, on subjects of taste, on rhetoric, poetry, and practical morals, be complained that he was required to attend dull comments on artificial ethics, and logic, detailed in such barbarous La tin, that he professed to know as little of it as he then knew of Arabic. The only logic then in fashion was that of the schools; and, in a memorandum written by himself, which is my authority for these remarks, I find an anecdote related of one of the fellows, who was reading Locke with his own pupils, that he carefully passed over every passage in which that great metaphysician derides the old system. With the advice of Dr. Sumner, he was preparing for the press his Greek and Latin compositions, including a comedy, written in the language and measures of Aristophanes. But his solicitude to appear as an author was perhaps prudently checked by the advice of his friends; and the proposed publication, from which he expected an increase of reputation, was reluctantly postponed. This comedy, which bears the title of Mormo, still exists; but in a state of such mutilation, from the depredations of worms and time, that it cannot be published without very copious conjectural emendations. After the residence of a few months at the university, on the 31st of October, 1764, Mr. Jones was unanimously elected one of the four scholars on the foundation of Sir Simon Bennett, to whose munificence he was ever proud to acknowledge his obligations.... The prospect of a fellowship, to which he looked with natural impatience, was, however, remote, as he had three seniors. His partiality for Oriental literature now began to display itself in the study of the Arabic, to which he was strongly incited by the example and encouragement of a fellow-student, of great worth and abilities, who had acquired some knowledge in that celebrated language, and offered him the use of the best books, with which he was well provided. In acquiring the pronunciation, he was assisted by a native of Aleppo, |