this country, had brought with him a Persian history of Nadir Shah in
manuscript, which he was desirous to have translated from that language
into the French. On this occasion Jones was applied to by one of the
under secretaries to the Duke of Grafton, to gratify the wishes of the
Danish monarch. The task was so little to his mind that he would have
excused himself from engaging in it; and he accordingly suggested Major
Dow, a gentleman already distinguished by his translations from the
Persic, as one fit to be employed; but he likewise pleading his other
numerous occupations as a reason for not undertaking this, and the
application to Jones being renewed, with an intimation that it would be
disgraceful to the country if the King should be compelled to take the
manuscript into France, he was at length stimulated to a compliance. At
the expiration of a twelvemonth, during which interval it had been more
than once eagerly demanded, the work was accomplished. The publication
of it was completed in 1770, and forty copies were transmitted to the
court of Denmark. To the History was appended a treatise on Oriental
poetry, written also in French. One of the chief difficulties imposed on
the translator had been the necessity of using that language in the
version, of which it could not be expected that he should possess an
entire command; but to obviate this inconvenience, he called in the aid
of a Frenchman, who corrected the inaccuracies in the diction. Christian
expressed himself well satisfied with the manner in which his intentions
had been fulfilled: but a diploma constituting the translator a member
of the Royal Society at Copenhagen, together with an earnest
recommendation of him to the regard of his own sovereign, were the sole
rewards of his labour. Of the history he afterwards published an
abridgment in English.
The predilection he had conceived for the Muses of the East, whom, with
the blind idolatry of a lover, he exalted above those of Greece and
Rome, was further strengthened by his intercourse with an illustrious
foreigner, whom they had almost as much captivated. The person, with
whom this similarity of taste connected him, was Charles Reviczki,
afterwards imperial minister at Warsaw, and ambassador at the English
court with the title of Count. Their correspondence, which turns
principally on the object of their common pursuits, and is written in
the French and Latin languages, commenced in 1768. At this time he took
his degree of Bachelor of Arts.
In the summer of the ensuing year, Jones accompanied his pupil to the
school at Harrow. During his residence there he transcribed his Persian
grammar. He had already begun a dictionary of that language, with
illustrations of the principal words from celebrated writers, a work of
vast labour, which he resolved not to prosecute without the assurance of
an adequate remuneration from the East India Company. At the entreaty of
Dr. Glasse, he now dedicated some portion of his time to religious
inquiry. The result was a conviction of the truth of Christianity, in
his belief of which, it is said, he had hitherto been unconfirmed. In
the winter he made a second visit to the Continent with the family of
his noble patron. After a longer stay at Paris, than was agreeable to
him, they passed down the Rhine to Lyons, and thence proceeded by
Marseilles, Frejus, and Antibes, to Nice. At the last of these places
they resided long enough to allow of his returning to his studies, which
were divided between the arts of music and painting; the mathematics;
and military tactics; a science of which he thought no Briton could,
without disgrace, be ignorant. He also wrote a treatise on education;
and begun a tragedy entitled Soliman, on the murder of the son of that
monarch by the treachery of his step-mother. Of the latter, although it
appears from one of his letters that he had completed it, no traces were
found among his papers, except a prefatory discourse too unfinished to
meet the public eye. The subject has been treated by Champfort, a late
French writer, and one of the best among Racine's school, in a play
called Mustapha and Zeangir. I do not recollect, and have not now the
means of ascertaining, whether that fine drama, the Solimano of Prospero
Bonarelli is founded on the same tragic incident in the Turkish History.
An excursion which he had meditated to Florence, Rome, and Naples, he
was under the necessity of postponing to a future occasion. On his way
back he diverged to Geneva, in hopes of seeing Voltaire; but was
disappointed, as the Frenchman excused himself, on account of age and
sickness, from conversing with a stranger. At Paris he succeeded by the
help of some previous knowledge of the Chinese character, and by means
of Couplet's Version of the Works of Confucius, in construing a poem by
that writer, from a selection in the king's library, and sent a literal
version of it to his friend Reviczki. From the French capital the party
returned through Spa to England. During their short residence at Spa he
sketched the plan of an epic poem, on the discovery of Britain by the
Prince of Tyre. The suggestion and advice of his friends, who thought
that abilities and attainments like his required a more extensive sphere
of action than was afforded him by the discharge of his duties as a
private tutor, strengthened, probably, by a consciousness of his own
power, induced him to relinquish that employment, and henceforward to
apply himself to the study and practice of the law. An almost
enthusiastic admiration of the legal institutions of his own country, a
pure and ardent zeal for civil liberty, and an eminent independence and
uprightness of mind, were qualifications that rendered this destination
of his talents not less desirable in a public view, than it was with
reference to his individual interests. He accordingly entered himself a
member of the Temple, on the 19th of September, 1770. To faculties of so
comprehensive a grasp, the abandonment of his philological researches
was not indispensable for the successful prosecution of his new pursuit.
Variety was perhaps even a necessary aliment of his active mind, which
without it might have drooped and languished. Indeed, the cultivation of
eastern learning eventually proved of singular service to him in his
juridical capacity.
In 1771 he published in French a pamphlet in answer to Anquetil du
Perron's Attack on the University of Oxford, in the discourse prefixed
to his "Zind-Avesta;" and entered on "A History of the Turks," the
introduction to which was printed, but not made public till after his
death. He had a design to apply for the office of minister at
Constantinople, in the event of a termination of the war with Russia,
and looked forward with eagerness to an opportunity of contemplating the
Turkish manners at their source. A small volume of his poems, consisting
chiefly of translations from the Eastern languages, with two prose
dissertations annexed, made their appearance in the following year, when
he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. From the preface to the
poems, it appears that his relish for the Greek and Roman writers had
now returned; and that he justly regarded them as the standard of true
taste. His terms not having been regularly kept in the University,
(where his mother and sister had still continued to reside) he did not
take his degree of Master of Arts till the Easter of 1773. In the
January following he was called to the bar. At the conclusion of the
preface to his Commentaries de Poesi Asiatica, published at this period,
he announces his determination to quit the service of the muses, and
apply himself entirely to his professional studies. In a letter to
Reviczki, of February, 1775, we find him declaring that he no longer
intended to solicit the embassy to Constantinople. This year he attended
the spring circuit, and sessions at Oxford; and the next was appointed
one of the commissioners of bankrupts, and was to be found regularly as
a legal practitioner in Westminster Hall. At the same time, that he
might not lose sight of classical literature, he was assiduous in his
perusal of the Grecian orators, and employed himself in a version of the
Orations of Isaeus; nor does he appear to have broken off his
correspondence with learned foreigners, among whom were the youngest
Schultens, and G.S. Michaelis. The translation of Isaeus, which appears
to be executed with fidelity, was published in 1778, with a dedication
to Lord Bathurst, in which he declares "his Lordship to have been his
greatest, his only benefactor." His late appointment is the obligation
to which he refers.
A vacancy had now occurred on the bench at Fort William, in Bengal; and
Jones was regarded by his brethren at the bar as the fittest person to
occupy that station. The patronage of the minister, however, was
requisite to this office; and the violent measures which government had
lately adopted, with respect to the American Colonies, were far from
being such as accorded with his notions of freedom and justice. He was
resolved that no consideration should induce him to surrender the
independence of his judgment on this, or any other national topic. "If
the minister," says he, in one of his letters to his pupil, Lord
Althorpe, "be offended at the style in which I have spoken, do speak,
and will speak, of public affairs, and on that account, shall 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." His
patriotic feelings displayed themselves in a Latin Ode to Liberty;
published in March, 1780, under the title of Julii Melesigoni ad
Libertatem, an assumed name, formed by an anagram of his own in Latin.
The resignation of Sir Robert Newdigate, one of the members returned to
parliament for the University of Oxford, in the meantime, induced
several members of that learned body, who were friendly to Jones, to
turn their eyes towards him as their future representative. The choice
of a candidate undistinguished by birth or riches, and recommended
solely by his integrity, talents, and learning, would have reflected the
highest honour on his constituents; but many being found to be
disinclined to his interest, it was thought more prudent to relinquish
the canvass. He published in July a small pamphlet, entitled an Inquiry
into the Legal Mode of suppressing Riots, with a constitutional Plan of
future Defence. The insurrection which had for some days disgraced the
British metropolis, at the beginning of June, suggested the publication
of this tract. In the autumn of this year he made a journey to Paris, as
he had done the preceding summer. During a fortnight's residence in that
capital, he attended some causes at the Palais; obtained access to a
fine manuscript in the royal library, which opened to him a nearer
insight into the manners of the ancient Arabians; and mingled in the
society of as many of the American leaders as he could fall in with,
purposing to collect materials for a future history of their unhappy
contest with the mother country. In the midst of this keen pursuit of
professional and literary eminence he had the misfortune to lose his
mother, who had lived long enough to see her tenderness and assiduity in
the conduct of his education amply rewarded.
An Essay on the Law of Bailments, and the translation of an Arabian
Poem, on the Mohammedan Law of Succession to the Property of Intestates,
to the latter of which undertakings he was incited by his views of
preferment in the East, testified his industry in the pursuit of his
legal studies; while, on the other hand, several short poems evinced,
from time to time, his intended relinquishment of the tuneful art to be
either impracticable or unnecessary.
In the summer of 1782 the interests of one of his clients led him again
to Paris, from whence he returned by the circuitous route of Normandy,
and the United Provinces. In the spring of this year he had become a
member of the Society for Constitutional Information. A more equal
representation of the people in parliament was at this time the subject
of general discussion, and he did not fail to stand forward as the
strenuous champion of a measure which seemed likely to infuse new spirit
and vigour into our constitutional liberties. His sentiments were
publicly professed in a speech before the meeting assembled at the
London Tavern, on the 28th of May; and he afterwards gave a wider
currency to them from the press. He maintained that the representation
ought to be nearly equal and universal; an opinion in which few would
now be found to coincide; and which, if he had lived a little longer, he
would probably himself have acknowledged to be erroneous. At Paris, he
had written a Dialogue between a Farmer and a Country Gentleman on the
Principles of Government, and it was published by the Society. A bill of
indictment was found against the Dean of St. Asaph, whose sister he
afterwards married, for an edition printed in Wales; and Jones avowed
himself the author.
In the beginning of 1783 appeared his translation of the seven Arabian
poems, suspended in the temple at Mecca about the commencement of the
sixth century.
In the March of this year, he was gratified by the long desired
appointment to the office of judge in the supreme court of judicature,
at Fort William, in Bengal, which was obtained for him through the
interest of Lord Ashburton; and he received the honour of knighthood
usually conferred on that occasion. The divisions among his political
friends, after the decease of that excellent nobleman, the Marquis of
Buckingham, afforded him an additional motive for wishing to be employed
at a distance from his country, which he no longer hoped to see
benefited by their exertions. He was immediately afterwards united to
Anna Maria Shipley, the daughter of the Bishop of St. Asaph, a learned
and liberal prelate. His attachment to this lady had been of long
continuance, and he had been waiting only for an honourable independence
before he could resolve to join the fortunes of one so tenderly beloved
to his own.
Sir William Jones embarked for the East in April, 1783. It is impossible
not to sympathise with the feelings of a scholar about to visit places
over which his studies had thrown the charm of a mysterious interest; to
explore treasures that had rested as yet in darkness to European eyes;
and to approach the imagined cradle of human science and art. During his
voyage he made the following memoranda of objects for his inquiry, and
of works to be begun or executed during his residence in Asia.
1. The laws of the Hindus and Mahommedans.
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 Thibet 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 print and publish the Psalms of David, in Persian Verse.
To compose, if God grant me life,
1. Elements of the Laws of England. Model--the Essay on Bailment.
Aristotle.
2. The History of the American War. Model--Thucydides and Polybius.
3. Britain Discovered, an Heroic Poem on the Constitution of England.
Machinery. Hindu Gods. Model--Homer.
4. Speeches, Political and Forensic. Model--Demosthenes.
5. Dialogues, Philosophical and Historical. Model--Plato.
6. Letters.
Model--Demosthenes and Plato.
In the course of the voyage the vessel touched at Madeira; and in ten
weeks after quitting Cape Verd Islands arrived at that of Hinzuan or
Joanna, of which he has left a very lively and pleasing description.
In September he landed at Calcutta; and before the conclusion of the
year, entered on the performance of his judicial function, and delivered
his first charge to the grand jury, on the opening of the sessions. This
address was such as not to disappoint the high expectations that had
been formed of him before his arrival.
It was evident that the leisure, or perhaps even the undivided attention
and labour of no one man, could have sufficed for prosecuting researches
so extensive and arduous as those he had marked out for himself. The
association of others in this design was the obvious method of remedying
the difficulty. At his suggestion, accordingly, an institution was, in
January, 1784, framed as closely as possible on the model of the Royal
Society in London; and the presidency was offered to Mr. Hastings, then
Governor-general in India, who not only was a liberal encourager of
Persian and Sanscrit literature, but had made himself a proficient in
the former of these languages at a time when its importance had not been
duly appreciated; and was familiarly versed in the common dialects of
Bengal. That gentleman, however, declining the honour, and recommending
that it should be conferred on the proposer of the scheme, he was
consequently elected president. The names of Chambers, Gladwyn,
Hamilton, and Wilkins, among others, evince that it was not difficult
for him to find coadjutors. How well the institution has answered the
ends for which it was formed the public has seen in the Asiatic
Researches.
A thorough acquaintance with the religion and literature of India
appeared to be attainable through no other medium than a knowledge of
the Sanscrit; and he therefore applied himself without delay to the
acquisition of that language. It was not long before he found that his
health would oblige him to some restriction in the intended prosecution
of his studies. In a letter written a few days after his arrival in
India, he informs one of his friends that "as long as he stays in India,
he does not expect to be free from a bad digestion, the morbus
literatorum; for which there is hardly any remedy but abstinence from
too much food, literary and culinary. I rise," he adds, "before the sun,
and bathe after a gentle ride; my diet is light and sparing, and I go
early to rest; yet the activity of my mind is too strong for my
constitution, though naturally not infirm; and I must be satisfied with
a valetudinarian state of health." All these precautions, however, did
not avail to secure him from violent and reiterated attacks. In 1784, he
travelled to the city of Benares, by the route of Guyah, celebrated as
the birth-place of the philosopher Boudh, and the resort of Hindu
pilgrims from all parts of the East; and returned by Gour, formerly the
residence of the sovereigns of Bengal. During this journey he laboured
for some time under a fit of illness that had nearly terminated his
life. Yet no sooner did he become a convalescent than he applied himself
to the study of botany, and composed a metrical tale, entitled The
Enchanted Fruit, or Hindu Wife; and a Treatise on the Gods of Greece,
Italy, and India; the latter of which he communicated to the Society. He
had not been many months settled after his return to Calcutta, when he
found the demand made on him for his company, by the neighbourhood of
that place, so frequent as to produce a troublesome interruption to the
course of his literary engagements. He therefore looked out for a
situation more secluded, to which he might betake himself during the
temporary cessations of his official duties; and made choice of
Chrishnanagur, at the distance of about fifty miles, which, besides a
dry soil and pure air, possessed an additional recommendation in its
vicinity to a Hindu College. Indeed, he omitted no means that could tend
to facilitate his acquaintance with the learning and manners of the
natives. A considerable portion of his income was set aside for the
purpose of supporting their scholars, whom he engaged for his
instruction.
The administration of justice was frequently interrupted by the want of
integrity in the Pundits, or expounders of the statutes. To prevent the
possibility of such deception, this upright magistrate undertook to
compile and translate a body of Hindu and Mohammedan laws, and to form a
digest of them in imitation of that of the Roman law framed by the order
of the Emperor Justinian. The mind can scarcely contemplate a plan of
utility more vast or splendid than one which aimed at preserving the
fountain of right uncontaminated for twenty millions of people. During
the period of sessions and term, when his attendance was required at
Calcutta, he usually resided on the banks of the Ganges, five miles from
the court.
In 1785 a periodical work, called the Asiatic Miscellany, which has been
erroneously attributed to the Asiatic Society, was undertaken at
Calcutta; and to the first two volumes, which appeared in that and the
following year, he contributed six hymns addressed to Hindu deities; a
literal version of twenty tales and fables of Nizami, expressly designed
for the help of students in the Persian language; and several smaller
pieces.
A resolution, which had passed the Board of the Executive Government of
Bengal, for altering the mode of paying the salaries of the judges,
produced from him a very spirited remonstrance. The affair, however,
seems to have been misconceived by himself and his brethren on the
Bench; and on its being explained the usual harmony was restored. At the
commencement of 1786, while this matter was pending, he made a voyage to
Chatigan, the boundary of the British dominions in Bengal towards the
east. In this "Indian Montpelier," where he describes "the hillocks
covered with pepper vines, and sparkling with blossoms of the coffee
tree," in addition to his other literary researches he twice perused the
poem of Ferdausi, consisting of above sixty thousand couplets. This he
considered to be an epic poem as majestic and entire as the Iliad; and
thought the outline of it related to a single hero, Khosrau, (the Cyrus
of Herodotus and Xenophon), whom, as he says, "the Asiaticks, conversing
with the Father of European History, described according to their
popular traditions by his true name, which the Greek alphabet could not
express." A nearer acquaintance with the great epic bard of Persia had
now taught him therefore to retract the assertion he had made in his
Commentary on Asiatic Poetry, that "the hero, as it is called, of the
poem, was that well known Hercules of the Persians, named Rustem;
although there are several other heroes, or warriors, to each of whom
their own particular glory is assigned." At the time of writing this, he
had an intention, if leisure should be allowed him, of translating the
whole work. A version of Ferdausi, either in verse unfettered by rhyme,
or in such numerous prose as the prophetical parts of the Bible are
translated into, would, I think, be the most valuable transfer that our
language is now capable of receiving from foreign tongues.
In 1787 he flattered himself that his constitution had overcome the
climate; but his apprehensions were awakened for the health of Lady
Jones, to which it had been yet more unfavourable; and he resolved, if
some amendment did not appear likely, to urge her return to her native
country; preferring, he said, the pang of separation for five or six
years, to the anguish, which he should hardly survive, of losing her.
At the beginning of 1789 appeared the first volume of the Society's
Researches, selected by the President. Two other volumes followed during
his life-time, and a fourth was ready for the press at the time of his
decease.
In the same year he published his version of an Indian drama of Calidas,
entitled Sancontala, or the Fatal Ring; a wild and beautiful
composition, which makes us desire to see more by the same writer, who
has been termed the Shakspeare of India, and who lived in the last
century before the Christian era. The doubts suggested by the critics in
England, concerning the authenticity of this work, he considered as
scarcely deserving of a serious reply.