Now mended morals check the lust for spoil,
And rising letters prove his generous toil.

The traveller secure pursues his way,

Nor dreads the ruffian, ambush'd for his prey;
And gaping savages, with ravish'd eyes,

'See their Lord's name in magic symbols rise.
Humanity surveys her rights restored;

And nations yield, subdued without a sword. 'Full many a breast, by him to pity won,

Shall mourn their tutor, lord, and parent gone.

Ye Kings, who drive Ambition's gore-stain'd car,

And boast the conquests of destructive war,
Here learn how far Benevolence exceeds
War's boasted triumphs, and the warrior's deeds!

By Clevland taught, oh! seek a nobler name,

And let recorded mercies stamp your fame.'

The Muse has paused:-affliction now returns,
For Clevland dead, and, unextinguish'd, burns.
Oh! if thy soul, released from earthly ties,
Still feels our joys, or mixes with our sighs,
(E'en now, perhaps, thy viewless shade surveys
The pangs that Nature, true to Friendship, pays,)
The general sigh, that bursts for merit lost,
Shall sweetly soothe thy melancholy ghost.

APPENDIX III. VOL. I.

A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT A MEETING OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY, MAY 2, 1794,

BY SIR JOHN SHORE, BART., PRESIDENT.

GENTLEMEN

IF I had consulted my competency only, for the station which your choice has conferred upon me, I must without hesitation have declined the honour of being the President of this Society and although I most cheerfully accept your invitation, with every inclination to assist, as far as my abilities extend, in promoting the laudable views of our Association, I must still retain the consciousness of those disqualifications which you have been pleased to overlook.

It was lately our boast, to possess a President whose name, talents, and character would have been honourable to any Institution :-it is now our misfortune to lament, that Sir WILLIAM JONES exists but in the affections of his friends, and in the esteem, veneration, and regret of all.

I cannot, I flatter myself, offer a more grateful tribute to the Society, than by making his character the subject of my first Address to you: and if, in the delineation of it, fondness or affection for the man should appear blended with my reverence for his genius and abilities, in the sympathy of your feelings I shall find my apology.

To define with accuracy the variety, value, and extent

of his literary attainments requires more learning than I pretend to possess; and I am therefore to solicit your indulgence for an imperfect sketch, rather than expect your approbation for a complete description of the talents and knowledge of your late and lamented President.

I shall begin with mentioning his wonderful capacity for the acquisition of languages, which has never been excelled. In Greek and Roman Literature, his early proficiency was the subject of admiration and applause; and knowledge of whatever nature, once obtained by him, was ever afterwards progressive. The more elegant dialects of Modern Europe, the French, the Spanish, and the Italian, he spoke and wrote with the greatest fluency and precision, and the German and Portuguese were familiar to him. At an early period of life his application to Oriental Literature commenced: he studied the Hebrew with ease and success; and many of the most learned Asiatics have the candour to avow that his knowledge of Arabic and Persian was as accurate and extensive as their own: he was also conversant in the Turkish idiom: and the Chinese had even attracted his notice, so far as to induce him to learn the radical characters of that language, with a view, perhaps, to further improvement. It was to be expected, after his arrival in India, that he would eagerly embrace the opportunity of making himself master of the Shanscrit; and the most enlightened Professors of the doctrines of Brahma confess, with pride, delight, and surprise, that his knowledge of their sacred dialect was most critically correct and profound. The Pandits who were in the habit of attending him-when I saw them after his death, at a public Durbar-could neither suppress their tears for his loss, nor find terms to

express their admiration at the wonderful progress he had made in their sciences.

Before the expiration of his twenty-second year, he had completed his Commentaries on the Poetry of the Asiatics, although a considerable time afterwards elapsed before their publication: and this work, if no other monument of his labours existed, would at once furnish proofs of his consummate skill in the Oriental Dialectsof his proficiency in those of Rome and Greece-of taste and erudition far beyond his years-and of talents and application without example.

But the judgment of Sir William Jones was too discerning to consider language in any other light than as the key of Science, and he would have despised the reputation of a mere linguist. Knowledge and truth were the objects of all his studies; and his ambition was to be useful to mankind. With these views, he extended his researches to all languages, nations, and times.

-the

Such were the motives that induced him to propose to the Government of this Country what he justly denominated a work of national utility and importance compilation of a copious Digest of Hindu and Mahomedan Law, from Shanscrit and Arabic originals; with an offer of his services to superintend the compilation, and with a promise to translate it. He had foreseen, previous to his departure from Europe, that without the aid of such a work the wise and benevolent intentions of the Legislature of Great Britain, in leaving, to a certain extent, the natives of these provinces in possession of their own laws, could not be completely fulfilled; and his experience, after a short residence in India, confirmed what his sagacity had anticipated that without principles to refer to, in a 2 K

VOL. I.

language familiar to the Judges of the Courts, adjudications amongst the natives must too often be subject to an uncertain and erroneous exposition, or wilful misinterpretation, of their laws.

To the superintendence of this work, which was immediately undertaken at his suggestion, he assiduously devoted those hours which he could spare from his Professional duties. After tracing the plan of the Digest, he prescribed its arrangement and mode of execution, and selected, from the most learned Hindus and Mahomedans, fit persons for the task of compiling it. Flattered by his attention, and encouraged by his applause, the Pandits prosecuted their labours with cheerful zeal, to a satisfactory conclusion. The Moluvees have also nearly finished their portion of the work: but we must ever regret that the promised Translation, as well as the meditated Preliminary Dissertation, have been frustrated by that decree which so often intercepts the performance of human purposes.

During the course of this compilation, and as auxiliary to it, he was led to study the works of Menu, reputed by the Hindus to be the oldest and holiest of Legislators: and finding them to comprise a system of Religious and Civil Duties, and of Law in all its branches, so comprehensive and minutely exact that it might be considered as the Institutes of Hindu Law, he presented a Translation of them to the Government of Bengal. During the same period, deeming no labour excessive or superfluous that tended in any respect to promote the welfare or happiness of mankind, he gave the public an English Version of the Arabic Text of the Sirajiyyah, or Mahomedan Law of Inheritance, with a Commentary. He had already