Mr. JONES to C. REVICZKI, (No Date.-1768.) I have received your two letters, replete with taste and erudition: your kindness towards me is as conspicuous in them, as the brilliancy of your genius.-I now reply to both. Your approbation of my intention to publish my work, gives me, as it ought, great pleasure; for I cannot but rejoice, as Hector in the tragedy says, "in the praise of one, who is himself entitled "to praise." The perusal of the two odes of the divine poet, afforded me infinite delight; they are very beautiful, but their beauties are more conspicuous from your luminous interpretation. Your metrical imitation of them is elegant, and if you will allow me to publish it in my work, you will equally oblige me and my readers, who will be glad to hear the Persian poet speak Latin; if you object to this, copies of them shall be deposited with my treasures, and the originals restored to you as soon as possible. You bid me return the verses to you when I am tired with them: this is as much as to say, keep them for ever; for it is impossible that I can ever be tired with the perusal. † Mr. JONES to C. REVICZKI. Oxford, November 1768. I cannot resist the temptation of writing to you, although I fear you may have quitted this country before my letter arrives. * Appendix, No. 8. + Appendix, No. 9. I have received your obliging letter, with an elegant ode of Hafez, which I read with the greatest pleasure, or rather devoured. But what necessity is there to say more, since it is possible that what I write, may never reach you? Let me, again and again, intreat and beseech your remembrance of me wherever you go, and that you will write to me as speedily, and at as great a length as possible. Be assured that nothing has, or ever can, afford me greater pleasure than your friendship. These letters strongly mark the enthusiasm of Mr. Jones, and his learned friend Reviczki, for Oriental literature; nor am I surprised to find that the former should have been led by it, to entertain an intention of visiting the East: no one, however, will regret that it was at that period abandoned. Every reader will peruse with pleasure, the enthusiastic veneration expressed by Mr. Jones for the British constitution, and the ardour with which he pronounces himself its champion; they will also remark that his attachment to it was indelible, and acquired strength from his increasing knowledge of its laws and principles. For an account of his occupations at Wimbledon, where he passed the Spring of 1769, I shall transcribe part of a letter which he wrote to an intimate friend, John Wilmot, Esquire. My life is one unvaried scene of writing letters, 66 "letters, and attending the donzelle vezzose e tenerolle, by whose beauties I confess myself easily overcome. 66 66 "I have just read Robertson's Life of Charles "the Fifth, the narrative of which is amusing "and instructive, and the style flowing and elegant: but the former wants that spirit and fire "of genius, that alone can make a history animated, and leave great impressions on the "mind: and the latter has too great a sameness "in the turn of the sentences, and abounds with too many affected words. 46 ་ "I have also given my favourite Petrarch a "second reading, and was so much pleased with "his lamentations over Laura, that I selected the "most beautiful passages, and threw them all to"gether in the form of an Elegy*, which I send "you inclosed, but beg you will return it as soon as you can, as I have no other copy. I fear I shall not be at Oxford this Spring, but am not cer68 tain. Give Give my compliments to Poore, and tell "him, if he will descend from the starry temple "of philosophy, and write to a very idle fellow, "I shall be glad to hear from him, especially as "I am desirous of knowing his sentiments about 86 In the Summer of this year, Lord Althorpe was settled at Harrow, and Mr. Jones, who accom * Works, vol. iv. p. 459. panied him there, had the satisfaction of seeing himself restored to the society of Dr. Sumner. Their enthusiasm for literature was equal: the master contemplated, with delight unmixed with envy, a rival of his own erudition in his scholar, who acknowledged with gratitude his obligations to his preceptor. Their intercourse, although interrupted, had never been discontinued; and Mr. Jones seldom suffered any considerable time to elapse without visiting Harrow. During his residence there at this period, he transcribed a Persian Grammar, which he had three years before composed for the use of a school-fellow who had been destined for India, but had since relinquished that object for a commission in the army. I find also, from his correspondence, that he had begun a Dictionary of the Persian Language, in which the principal words were illustrated from the most celebrated authors of the East: but he expressed at the same time his determination not to continue the work, unless the India Company would purchase it at a considerable ex pence. The serious reader has probably remarked, that, amidst the attention of Mr. Jones to general literature, Religion has not been mentioned as an object of his study, and he may be solicitous to know his opinions on this important subject, and whether he had made any, and what, progress in that knowledge, in comparison of which all erudition is trifling, and human science vain. Notwithstanding standing the anxiety of Mrs. Jones for the improvement of her son, and her indefatigable exertions to promote it in his early years, she had initiated him no further in the principles of our holy faith, than to teach him the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed. During his residence at Harrow, at the earnest recommendation of Dr. Glasse, whose name I mention with reverence, Mr. Jones was induced to peruse a work, intitled, "Private Thoughts on Religion," by Bishop Beveridge, with considerable attention; and he was particularly struck with a passage, in which the pious author argues, that a profession of Christianity merely because our countrymen profess it, without a candid enquiry and sincere conviction, would be no better reason for our faith, than the Mohammedans have for theirs. The observation readily suggested to his recollection a famous couplet in Zayre, which he did not hesitate to apply to himself: J'eusse été près du Gange, esclave des faux dieux, I wish for my own satisfaction, as well as that of my reader, that I were able to pronounce what impression the perusal of this work made upon the mind of Mr. Jones. It is probable, and the presumption is not advanced without reason, that it induced him to reflect with more seriousness than he had ever before entertained on the subject of religion, and to investigate the grounds on which the |