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squabbles of the bar, and the more vexatious dissentions and conflicts of the political world, which I vainly deprecated, and now as vainly deplore. How happy would it be, if statesmen had more music in their souls, and could bring themselves to consider, that what harmony is in a concert, such is union in a state; but in the great orchestra of politics, I find so many musicians out of humour, and instruments out of tune, that I am more tormented by such dissonance than the man in Hogarth's print, and am more desirous than ever of being transported to the distance of five thousand leagues from all this fatal discord. Without a metaphor, I lament with anguish the bitterness and animosity with which some of my friends have been assailing others; as if empty altercation could be the means of procuring any good to this afflicted country. I find myself in more instances than one, like poor Petrarch, wishing to pass my days

Fra' magnanimi pochi; à chi 'l ben piace,

Di lor chi m' assecura?

Io vo gridando pace, pace, pace.

—but I shall not be heard, and must console myself with the pleasing hope, that your Ladyship, and the few friends of virtue and humanity, will agree in this sentiment with, &c.

WILLIAM JONES.

From

From the Duchess of DEVONSHIRE to

Mr. JONES.

MY DEAR MR. JONES;

Plimton, Oct. 28, 1782.

I am very happy that the fear of losing a privilege, which you are so good as to say is precious to you, has induced you to write to me, for I assure you, that your letters give me very great pleasure, and that they, as well as the few times in which we meet, make me regret very much, that the turn of your public engagements, takes you so much from societies where you are wished for.

I agree with you, that the political world is strangely torn. If you had been in parliament at this crisis, you would have felt yourself in an uncomfortable situation, I confess; but I cannot think, that with the good Whig principles you are blessed with, private friendships or connections would have prevailed on you to remain silent or inactive.

Chi vuol Catone amico,

Facilmente l'avrà: Sia fido a Roma.

This I think would have been the test of your political friendship.

I am rejoiced that there is a chance of your returning to poetry. I had a very valuable present made me by Dr. Blagden, physician to the camp, of your ode in imitation of Callistratus. I wish I understood Greek, that I might read something Mr. Paradise has written at the top of it. I will attempt to copy it; and after the va

rious characters I have, in days of yore, seen you decipher, I will not despair of your making out Greek, though written by me.

Αἱ Χαρίτες, τέμεν— τι λαβεῖν ὅπερ ὅκι πεσείη

Ζητοῦσαι, ψυχὴν εὗρον Ιώνιον8. *

I shall expect to see the poem something sooner than the rest of your friends; and I assure you, the having so seldom the pleasure of meeting you, does not diminish the sincerity, with which I shall ever retain that title.-If you are still at Chilbolton, pray give my love to the family there, and tell Miss Shipley to write to me.

My seal is a talisman, which if you can send me the explanation of, I shall be much obliged to you.

In the beginning of 1783, Mr. Jones published his translation of the seven Arabian poems, which he had finished in 1781. It was his intention to have prefixed to this work, a discourse on the antiquity of the Arabian language and characters, on the manners of the Arabs in the age immediately preceding that of Mohammed, and other interesting information respecting the poems, and the lives of the authors, with a critical history of their works; but he could not command sufficient leisure for the execution of it. Some of the subjects intended for this dissertation, appeared in a discourse on the Arabs, which he composed some

* The Graces, seeking a shrine that would never decay, found the soul of Jones.

years

years afterwards, and from the manner in which it was written, it is impossible not to regret the irrecoverable loss of the larger discussion which he originally proposed. The poems present us with a curious specimen of the manners of the natives of Arabia, and on this account, must be particularly interesting to those, who consider the study of human nature in all its varieties, as an instructive subject of contemplation. "They ex"hibit (to use the words of Mr. Jones) an exact picture of the yirtues and vices of the Arabs in "the age of the seven poets, their wisdom and "their folly, and shew what may be constantly

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expected from men of open hearts, and boiling passions, with no law to control, and little religion to restrain them."

The period was now arrived, when Mr. Jones had the happiness to gain the accomplishment of his most anxious wishes. In March 1783, during the administration of Lord Shelburne, he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of judicature at Fortwilliam at Bengal, on which occasion the honour of knighthood was conferred upon him; and, in the April following, he married Anna Maria Shipley, the eldest daughter of the Bishop of St. Asaph. I have remarked the early impression made upon the affections of Sir William Jones by this lady, and the honourable determination which he formed upon that occasion; and if I should have succeeded in imparting to my readers any portion of that interest, which I

feel

feel in his personal concerns, they will see him with pleasure receiving the rewards of principle and affection.

The Bishop of St. Asaph, of whose respectable character and high literary reputation it is unnecessary to remind the public, possessed too enlightened an understanding not to appreciate the early distinguished talents and virtues of Sir William Jones, and their friendship was cemented by an union of political principles, and the zealous admiration each felt for the constitution of their country. The Bishop, in the choice of a son-inlaw, had every reason to indulge the pleasing hope that he had consulted, as far as human foresight can extend, the happiness of his beloved daugh ter; nor were his expectations disappointed.

For his appointment to India, Mr. Jones was indebted to the friendship of Lord Ashburton: in October 1782, I find a letter from his Lordship to Mr. Jones, with the following words: "You will

give me credit for not being indifferent about "the important stake still left in India, or your "particular interest in it, in which I consider that "of the public so materially involved." The intelligence of his success was communicated to Mr. Jones, in the following letter of congratulation; to which I subjoin one from the celebrated Frank. lin on the same occasion.

MY DEAR SIR,

March 3, 1783.

It is with little less satisfaction to my

self than it can give you, that I send

you the in

closed,

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