juft opinion of the Sanscrit poetry from the fpecimens. already exhibited, (though we can only judge perfectly. by confulting the originals,) we cannot but thirft for the whole work of Vyása, with which a member of our Society, whose prefence deters me from faying more of him, will in due time gratify the publick. The poetry of Mathura, which is the Parnassian land of the Hindus, has a fofter and lefs elevated ftrain; but, fince the inha-, bitants of the diftri&ts near Agra, and principally of the Dual, are faid to furpass all other Indians in eloquence, and to have compofed many agreeable tales and lovefongs, which are still extant, the Bháshá, or vernacular idiom of Vraja, in which they are written, fhould not be neglected. No fpecimens of genuine oratory can be expected from nations, among whom the form of government precludes even the idea of popular eloquence; but the art of writing, in elegant and modulated periods, has been cultivated in Asia from the earliest ages; the Veda's, as well as the Alkoran, are written in meafured profe; and the compofitions of Isocrates are not more highly polished than thole of the best Arabian and Persian authors.

Of the Hindu and Muselman architecture there are yet many noble remains in Bahar, and fome in the vicinity of Malda; nor am I unwilling to believe, that even those ruins, of which you will, I trust, be prefented with correct delineations, may furnish our own architects with new ideas of beauty and fublimity.

Permit me now to add a few words on the sciences, properly fo named; in which it must be admitted, that the Asiaticks, if compared with our Western nations, are mere children. One of the most fagacious men in this age, who continues, I hope, to improve and adorn it, Samuel Johnson, remarked in my bearing, that, "if "Newton

Ff&

"Newton had flourished in ancient Greece, he would "have been worfhipped as a divinity." How zealously then would he be adored in Hindustan, if his incomparable writings could be read and comprehended by the Pandits of Cashmir or Benares! I have feen a mathematical book in Sanscrit of the highest antiquity; but foon perceived, from the diagrams, that it contained only fimple elements. There may, indeed, have been in the favourable atmosphere of Asia, fome diligent obfervers of the celestial bodies; and fuch obfervations as are recorded fhould indifputably be made publick; but let us not expect any new methods, or the analyfis of new curves, from the geometricians of Iran, Turkistan, or India. Could the works of Archimedes, the Newton of Sicily, be restored to their genuine purity by the help of Arabick verfions, we might then have reason to triumph on the fuccefs of our scientifical inquiries; or could the fucceffive improvements and various rules of algebra be traced through Arabian channels, to which Cardan boafted that he had accefs, the modern history of Mathematicks would receive confiderable illustration.

The jurifprudence of the Hindus and Muselmans will produce more immediate advantage; and if fome standard law-tracts were accurately tranflated from the Sanscrit and Arabick, we might hope in time to fee fo complete a Digeft of Indian Laws, that all difputes among the natives might be decided without uncertainty, which is, in truth, a difgrace, though fatirically called a glory, to the forenfick fcience.

All thefe objects of inquiry must appear to you, Gentlemen, in fo ftrong a light, that bare intimations of them will be fufficient: nor is it neceffary to make use of emulation as an incentive to an ardent purfuit of them: yet I cannot forbear expreffing a wifh that the

activity

activity of the French in the fame pursuits may not be fuperior to ours; and that the refearches of M. Sonnerat, whom the court of Versailles employed for feven years in these climates, merely to collect fuch materials as we are feeking, may kindle, inftead of abating, our own curiofity and zeal. If you affent, as I flatter myself you do, to these opinions, you will alfo concur in promoting the object of them; and a few ideas having prefented themselves to my mind, I prefume to lay them before you, with an entire fubmiffion to your judgment.

No contributions, except thofe of the literary kind, will be requifite for the fupport of the Society; but if each of us were occafionally to contribute a fuccinct defcription of fuch manufcripts as he had perufed or infpected, with their dates and the names of their owners, and to propofe for folution fuch questions as had occurred to him concerning Asiatick Art, Science, and History, natural or civil, we fhould poffefs without labour, and almoft by imperceptible degrees, a fuller catalogue of Oriental Books, than has hitherto been exhibited; and our correfpondents fhould be apprised of those points to which we chiefly direct our investigations. Much may, I am confident, be expected from the communications of learned natives, whether lawyers, phyficians, or private scholars, who would eagerly, on the first invitation, fend us their Mekámát and Risálahs on a variety of fubjects; fome for the fake of advancing general knowledge; but most of them from a defire, neither uncommon nor unreasonable, of attracting notice, and recommending themfelves to favour. With a view to avail ourselves of this difpofition, and to bring their latent fcience under our inspection, it might be advisable to print and circulate a fhort memorial, in Persian and Hindi, fetting forth, in a style accommodated to their own habits and pre

judices,

judices, the defign of our institution. Nor would it be improper hereafter, to give a medal annually, with infcriptions in Persian on one fide, and on the reverse in Sanscrit, as the prize of merit, to the writer of the best effay or differtation. To inftru&t others is the prefcribed duty of learned Brahmans; and if they be men of substance, without reward; but they would all be flattered with an honorary mark of distinction; and the Mahomedans have not only the permiffion, but the pofitive command of their law-giver, to search for learning even in the remotest parts of the globe. It were fuperfluous to fuggeft, with how much correctnefs and facility their compofitions might be tranflated for our ufe, fince their languages are now more generally and perfectly underftood than they have ever been by any nation of Europe.

I have detained you, I fear, too long by this addrefs; though it has been my endeavour to reconcile comprehensiveness with brevity. The fubjects, which I have lightly sketched, would be found, if minutely examined, to be inexhauftible; and, fince no limits can be fet to your researches, but the boundaries of Asia itself, I may not improperly conclude with wifhing for your Society, what the Commentator on the Laws prays for the conftitution of our country, that it may be perpetual.

XXV.

THE

THIRD ANNIVERSARY DISCOurse,

Delivered 2 FEBRUARY, 1786,

BY

THE PRESIDENT.

IN the former difcourfes which I had the honour of addreffing to you, Gentlemen, on the institution and objects of our Society, I confined myfelf purpofely to general topicks; giving in the first a diftant profpect of the vast career on which we were entering, and, in the fecond, exhibiting a more diffuse, but still fuperficial, fketch of the various difcoveries in Hiftory, Science, and Art, which we might juftly expect from our inquiries into the Literature of Asia. I now propofe to fill up that outline fo comprehenfively as to omit nothing effential, yet fo concifely as to avoid being tedious; and, if the state of my health fhall fuffer me to continue long enough in this climate, it is my design, with your permiffion, to prepare for our annual meetings a feries of fhort differtations, unconnected in their titles and fubjects, but all tending to a common point of no small importance in the purfuit of interefting truths.

Of all the works which have been published in our own age, or, perhaps, in any other, on the Hiftory of the Ancient