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DEAR FRIEND,

Passy, March 17, 1783.

I duly received your obliging letter of Nov. 15. You will have since learnt how much I was then and have been continually engaged in public affairs, and your goodness will excuse my not having answered it sooner. You announced your intended marriage with my much respected friend Miss Anna Maria, which I assure you gave me great pleasure, as I cannot conceive a match more likely to be happy, from the amiable qualities each of you possess so plentifully. You mention its taking place as soon as a prudent attention to wordly interests would permit. I just now learn from Mr. Hodgson, that you are appointed to an honourable and profitable place in the Indies; so I expect now soon to hear of the wedding, and to receive the profile. With the good Bishop's permission, I will join my blessing with his; adding my wishes that you may return from that corrupting country, with a great deal of money honestly acquired, and with full as much virtue as you carry out with you.

The engraving of my medal, which you know was projected before the peace, is but just finished. None are yet struck in hard metal, but will in a few days. In the mean time, having this good opportunity by Mr. Penn, I find you one of the Epreuves. You will see that I have profited by some of your ideas, and adopted the mottos you were so kind as to furnish.

I am at present quite recovered from my late illness, and flatter myself that I may in the ensuing summer be able to undertake a trip to England, for the pleasure of seeing once more my dear friends there, among whom the Bishop and his family stand foremost in my estimation and affection.

5

I thank

I thank

you for your good wishes respecting me.

Mine for your

welfare and prosperity are not less earnest and sincere ; being with great truth, dear Sir,

Your affectionate friend,

and most obedient servant,

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

I have mentioned the literary productions of Sir William Jones in the order in which they were published. I observe however two compositions which had escaped my attention; an abridged History of the Life of Nadir Shah, in English, and a History of the Persian Language, intended to be prefixed to the first edition of his Persian Grammar.*

*The reader will peruse with pleasure the following lines from the Arabic, written by Sir William Jones, in 1783, and addressed to Lady Jones.

While sad suspense and chill delay

Bereave my wounded soul of rest,

New hopes, new fears, from day to day,
By turns assail my lab'ring breast.

My heart, which ardent love consumes,
Throbs with each agonizing thought;

So flutters with entangled plumes,
The lark in wily meshes caught.

There she, with unavailing strain,

Pours thro' the night her warbled grief:

The gloom retires, but not her pain;

The dawn appears, but not relief.

Two younglings wait the parent bird,

Their thrilling sorrows to appease :

She comes-ah! no: the sound they heard
Was but a whisper of the breeze.

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A long list might be formed of works which he meditated at different periods. He had projected a Treatise on Maritime Contracts; and with a view to the completion of this work, he commissioned a friend to purchase for him the Collections of Heineccius, containing the Dissertations of Stypman and Kerrick, with any other works that could be procured on the same subject. It was also his intention to re-publish Lyttleton's Treatise on Tenures, from the first edition of 1482, with a new translation, explanatory notes, and a commentary; and to prefix an Introductory Discourse on the Laws of England. He had made a considerable progress towards the completion of this work, which still exists, but not in a sufficient degree of advancement for publication.

I have remaked the extraordinary avidity with which he availed himself of every opportunity to acquire knowledge: but I have omitted to mention his attendance during a course of anatomical lectures, by the celebrated Hunter: and amongst other sciences which he diligently and successfully cultivated, I have still to mention the Mathematics, in which he had advanced so far, as to read and understand Newton's Principia.

The review of the various acquisitions of Sir William Jones in science and literature, will be introduced in another place; and having brought to a close that portion of his life, which was passed in England, I must now prepare the reader to transport himself with him to Hindustan.

SIR WILLIAM JONES embarked for India in the Crocodile frigate; and in April 1783, left his native country, to which he was never to return, with the unavailing regret and affectionate wishes of his numerous friends and admirers.

As to himself, the melancholy impressions which he could not but feel on such an occasion, were alleviated by various considerations. The expectations of five years were now accomplished in the attainment of his wishes; he anticipated the utility of his official labours to the public, and the occupation so peculiarly delightful to him, of investigating unexplored mines of literature. Sir William Jones was now in his thirty-seventh year, in the full vigour of his faculties, and he looked forward with ardour to the pleasures and advantages arising from his situation in India, without any apprehension that the climate of that country would prove hostile to his constitution. A difference of opinion on great political questions, without diminishing his regard for his friends, had narrowed his habits of intercourse with some whom he sincerely esteemed, and he felt therefore the less regret in quitting those whose principles he wished to approve, but from whom, an adherence to his own frequently compelled him to dissent. He reflected with pleasure on the independency of his station, that the line of duty, which it prescribed, was strait and defined, and in leaving his native country, for which he retained the warmest affection, he was not sorry to abandon all political cares and discussions. But his greatest consolation and enjoyment were derived from the society of Lady Jones.

To

To those who are destitute of internal resources, whose habits have led them to seek for amusement in the miscellaneous occurrences and topics of the day only, a sea voyage is a period of fatigue, languor, and anxiety. To Sir William Jones every new scene was interesting, and his mind, exercised by incessant study and reflection, possessed an inexhaustible fund of subjects; which he could at pleasure select and apply to the purposes of recreation and improvement, but his application during his voyage was more particularly directed to those studies, by which he was to enlarge the requisite qualifications for discharging the duties of his public station, with satisfaction to himself, and benefit to the community.*

The

The following memorandum was written by Sir William Jones during his voyage. Objects of Enquiry during my residence in Asia.

1. The Laws of the Hindus and Mohammedans.

2. The History of the Ancient World.

3. Proofs and Illustrations of Scripture.

4. Traditions concerning the Deluge, &c.

5. Modern Politics and Geography of Hindustan.

6. Best Mode of governing Bengal.

7. Arithmetic and Geometry, and mixed Sciences of the Asiatics.

8. Medicine, Chemistry, Surgery, and Anatomy of the Indians. 9. Natural Productions of India.

10. Poetry, Rhetoric, and Morality of Asia.

11. Music of the Eastern Nations.

12. The Shi-King, or 300 Chinese Odes.

13. The best accounts of Tibet and Cashmir.

14. Trade, Manufactures, Agriculture, and Commerce of India.

15. Mogul Constitution, contained in the Defteri Alemghiri, and Ayein Acbari.

16. Mahratta Constitution.

To print and publish the Gospel of St. Luke in Arabic.

To publish Law Tracts in Persian or Arabic.

To

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