Mr. JONES to Lord ALTHORPE.

Temple, Oct. 13, 1778.

My dear Lord, captain, and friend, (of all which titles no man entertains a juster idea than yourself,) how shall I express the delight which your letter from Warley camp has given me? I cannot sufficiently regret, that I was so long deprived of that pleasure; for, intending to be in London soon after the circuit, I had neglected to leave any directions here about my letters; so that yours has lain almost a month upon my table, where I found it yesterday on my return from the. country. I ought indeed to have written first to you, because I was a rambler, you stationary: and because the pen has been my peculiar instrument, as the sword has been yours this summer: but the agitation of forensic business, and the sort of society in which I have been forced to live, afforded me few moments of leisure, except those in which nature calls for perfect repose, and the spirits exhausted with fatigue require immediate reparation. I rejoice to see that you are a votary, as Archilochus says of himself, both of the Muses and of Mars; nor do I believe that a letter full of more manly sentiments, or written with more unaffected elegauce, than yours, has often been sent from a camp. You know I have set my mind on your being a fine speaker in the next parliament, in the cause of true constitutional liberty, and your letters convince me that I shall not be disappointed. To

this great object, both for your own glory and your country's good, your present military station will contribute not a little for a soldier's life naturally inspires a certain spirit and confidence, without which the finest elocution will not have a full effect. Not to mention Pericles, Xenophon, Cæsar, and a hundred other eloquent soldiers among the ancients, I am persuaded that Pitt (whom by the way I am far from comparing to Pericles) acquired his forcible manner in the field where he carried the colours. This I mention in addition to the advantages of your present situation, which you very justly point out: nor can I think your summer in any respect uselessly spent, since our constitution has a good defence in a wellregulated militia, officered by men who love their country and a militia so regulated, may in due time be the means of thinning the formidable standing army, if not of extinguishing it. Captain

* is one of the worthiest, as well as tallest men in the kingdom; but he and his Socrates, Dr. Johnson, have such prejudices in politics, that one must be upon one's guard in their company, if one wishes to preserve their good opinion. By the way, the Dean of Gloucester has printed a work, which he thinks a full confutation of Locke's Theory of Government; and his second volume will contain a new Theory of his own of this, when we meet. The disappointment to which you allude, and concerning which you say so many friendly things to me, is not yet certain. My

competitor

competitor is not yet nominated: many doubt -hether he will be; I think he will not, unless the Chancellor should press it strongly. It is still the Opinion and wish of the Bar, that I should be the man. I believe, the minister hardly knows his own mind. I cannot legally be appointed till January, or next month at soonest, because I am not a barrister of five years standing till that time: now, many believe that they keep the place open for me till I am qualified. I certainly wish to have it, because I wish to have twenty thousand pounds in my pocket before I am eight-and-thirty years old; and then I might contribute in some little degree towards the service of my country in Parliament, as well as at the Bar, without selling my liberty to a patron, as too many of my profession are not ashamed of doing; and I might be a Speaker in the House of Commons in the full vigour and maturity of my age; whereas, in the slow career of Westminster-Hall, I should not perhaps, even with the best success, acquire the same, independent station, till the age at which Cicero was killed. But be assured, my dear lord, that if the minister be offended at the style in which I have spoken, do speak, and will speak, of public affairs, and on that account should refuse to give me the judgeship, I shall not be at all mortified, having already a very decent competence, without a debt or a care of any kind. I will not break in upon you at Warley unexpectedly; but whenever you find it most convenient, let me know, and I will be with you in less than two hours.

Dean

Dean TUCKER to Mr. JONES.

DEAR SIR,

Gloucester, December 31, 1778.

I have the pleasure to acquaint you, that your packet and letter arrived safe last night; for both which, I am very much obliged to you. I cannot say that your remarks have wrought much conviction in me, (in some places they have,) but they have had what I esteem a better effect, that is, they will make me more cautious and circumspect in some of my expressions; and they will oblige me to bring more proofs and illustrations of some points than I thought were needful. In all these respects, your friendly remarks have done me much greater service than unmeaning compliments; and as to your differing so widely in opinion from me, your frank declaration of this difference proves you the honester man, and the more to be esteemed. I am, &c.

ADAM PRINCECZARTORYSKI to Mr. JONES. SIR; Warsaw, Nov. 26, 1776. It is the fate of those who, like you, are an ornament to the literary world, to be known to those who are perfectly unknown to them; each is entitled to call to them for light, and this I hope will be a sufficient apology for my intruding upon you, and interrupting those studious hours which you consecrate with so much success to the instruction of your readers.

I was happy enough of late to hit upon your Essay on the Poetry of the Eastern nations, and

your

had made up

your History of the Persian language. I found that you in these two works a quarrel of a very old standing between erudition and taste: you have brought them to meet together in such a friendly manner, that one who had never read but your writings, would be apt to think they always went hand in hand.

I have been applying myself since a few years to the study of Eastern languages; though I cannot flatter myself with having made as yet any considerable progress in that branch of learning. Your most excellent Grammar of the Persian language, which gave birth to Mr. Richardson's one of the Arabic, executed upon the same plan, are the agreeable guides which I follow in that difficult journey to them I owe to be rescued out of the hands of Erpenius, Guadagnola, and the rest of those unmerciful gentlemen who never took the least trouble about clearing the road, or plucking out one single thorn from the many with which the paths of the study of Eastern languages are covered. Give me leave to be still more beholden to you; and as you learned men are the leading stars of the unlearned, I beg you'll bestow a few moments of your Jeisure upon answering some questions which may perhaps appear very trifling in the eyes of a man of your extensive knowledge.

I have always been at a loss to form any conjecture upon the following subject, which is, by what chance so many words from other European languages, or at least used in our European lan

guages,