Kifs of Agatho, is very elegant, and the idea
in it refembles that of Hafez in the following
lines :

Anxious thy blooming charms to see,
Quick to my lips my soul ascends ;

Must it expire or live ? — decree j —
For on thy voice my fate depends.

T fend you, as I promifed, a profe tranfla-
tion of the Perfian ode, together with an at-
tempt at a poetical verfion of it, which I will
hereafter improve. Pray inform me, whether
there is any tranflation of Hafez, printed or
manufciipt, in Latin, or any other European
language ; for I know of no other attempt at
a tranflation of this poet, than that of the fir ft
ode, lately publifhed in the Anale&a of Pro-
fefTor Hyde.



I requeft likewife to be informed, where
I am likely to find the firft book of the Iliad
of Homer, with an analyfis and notes, for
the ufe of fcholars, printed in England,
which a friend of mine w r ifhes to procure for
his fon.

The ode, of which you praife the conclud-
ing verfe, is elegant; I remember only the
firft couplet : —

Bring wine, and scatter flow'rs around,
Nor seek the depths of fate to sound : —
Such was the morning rose's tale; —
What say'st thou, warbler of the vale ?

Although I have begun the preparations
for my departure, and have packed up my
books, if you wiih to have a tranflation of
this ode, or if it will be of any ufe to you, I
will undertake it before I go. I wait your
commands. Farewel.

* C. REVICZKI to Mr. JONES.

London, March 29th, 176 S.

That I have deferred longer than

ufually my reply to your obliging letter, you

* Appendix, No. 6.



97

muft impute to the novel, and ftrange ap-
pearance of things here. You will not, I
truft, be difpofed to blame a delay, occafioned
by the attention of a foreigner to cuftoms
which are peculiar to your country, and
which I never obferved in any other; for I
confers to you that I never faw any thing
fimilar to the mode here purfued of electing
members of parliament, the novelty of it
at firft amufed me, but the increafing tumult
fickened and difgufted me, and, by compel-
ling me to remain at home, afforded me an
opportunity of writing to you, I rejoice that
my verfion of the Perfian ode pleafes you, and
that it has induced you to think me equal to
the translation of the whole collection. But
highly as I am honoured by your opinion,,
I cannot but think your advice fomewhat
unmerciful, for what mortal, unlefs

Or oak, or brass, with triple fold,
Around his daring bosom roll'd,

(Francis,)

would undertake a tranflation in prcfe and
verfe of fix hundred odes ? The attempt

Xj/c— V. I. H



98

would not only require many years, but an
entire exemption from all other occupations;
which is not my cafe ; I can only make thefe
fludies my occafional amufement. I mean,
however, fome time or other, to publifh as
much as I can.

The perfon who applied to me for the firft
book of the Iliad, with a verbal analyfis, al-
ready pofTefTes the key to Homer; but he
thinks the other work better adapted to the
ufe of boys, becaufe the notes in it are fub-
joined to the text, which is not the plan of
the Clavis. If you have one at hand, oblige
me byjufl looking into it; for, if my me-
mory does not fail me, there is a catalogue
prefixed, mentioning the work which I want,
and the name of the printer.

Although your politenefs has excufed any
further efforts, I neverthelefs fend the ode
which you requefled in your laft letter but
one, as I think it will pleafe you. It is by
no means one of the eafieft, either to under-
ftand, or tranflate; and indeed, the force of
the peculiar idioms of a foreign language



99
cannot be well conveyed by any circumlo-
cution.

You aik my opinion of the affinity be-
tween the Hebrew and Arabic, and of an
idiom common to both, of ufmg the future
for the paft. Though I feldom read He-
brew, or, to fay the truth, though I confi-
der this facred language rather as an object
of veneration than of delight, (for, excepting
the Old Teftament itfelf, and fome rabbinical
dreams about it, there is nothing in it worth
perufal,) I well remember, from the little of
it which I have read, having remarked a clofe
connection between the grammar of the He-
brew and Arabic, the moods and tenfes in
both are fo few, as to require the frequent
fubftitution of one for another; the Greek,
however, which is fo redundant in moods
and tenfes, fometimes docs the fame; for in-
ftance, when it ufes the infinitive for the im-
perative. With refpecl: to the meafures ufed
in the two languages, I am of a different
opinion, for I confider the metrical art of the
Arabs of much later invention, and to have

H 2



100

affumed its prefent form only a fhort time
before Mohammed, there being no trace
whatever among them of a more ancient
poetry. If the Hebrew poetry had a fimilar
conftruction, which may indeed be fufpected
from a fimilar ufe of the vowels, we might
by this time have traced, without difficulty,
the laws of Hebrew metre by the rules of
analogy *.

If the text of the ode, which you mention
to have read in the mifcellaneous works of
fome anonymous author, had been correct,
you would not have wanted my humble af-
fiftance : but it is fo full of errors, that I
muft be an CEdipus to interpret it, Every
one knows, that the mere irregularity of the
diacritical points occafions infinite difficulty

* The probability that the metrical compositions of
the Hebrews and Arabs were founded on the same rules
of prosody, is intimated by Sir W. Jones, in his Com-
mentaries on Asiatic poetry, and proposed to the inves-
tigation of the learned. This opinion is suggested, by
the close affinity of the languages of those ancient people,
whence he argues to a presumption that their poets used
the same numbers, feet, and measures, in their com-
positions.



101

in the Oriental languages; but this is doubly
increafed by the cafual omiflion or alteration
of the letters themfelves. It is therefore ab-
solutely necefFary in my opinion, as it is im-
poffible to find manufcripts without errors, to
poiTefs two copies of every one which you
read, that the faults of the one may be cor-
rected by the other; and this is my method.
******

I have only to conclude by thanking you
for your Italian fonnet, and expreffing the
commendation to which it is entitled.-—
Farewel.

* Mr. JONES to C. REVICZKL

April 1768.
Nothing can afford a ftronger proof
of your polite attention to me, than your
laft very friendly letter, which you contrived
to write in the midft of city buftle, during
the noife of riotous mobs, and the tumult of
a parliamentary election, and to accompany

* Appendix, No, 7.



LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY ' T.TF0RNIA

SANTA BARBARA



102

it with a moft beautiful Perfian Ode, and a
Latin tranflation. Our favourite Hafez de-
fences indeed to be fed with ambrofia, and
I daily difcover, with increafing delight, new
beauties and elegances in him. The prin-
cipal difficulty attending the tranflation and
publication of his poems as you have begun,
confifts in giving them a poetical drefs; but
this will prove eafier than you imagine; for
there are many of his odes, which I conclude
you will not attempt to tranflate, as contain-
ing expreffions wholly foreign to our man-
ners, lofty and daring figures, or abrupt un-
connected lines; and this will in fome mea-
fure alleviate the Herculean labour of the

talk.

# * * * * *

If I were not a fincere lover of
truth, and averfe from all diflimulation, I
fhould lament that our capital has fallen un-
der your infpeclion in thefe times of turbu-
lence and diffraction, when the liberty of my
country, fo univerfally celebrated, has dege-
nerated into unbridled licentioufnefs, not to



103
fay outrage. The original form of our con-
ftitution is almoft divine; — to fuch a degree,
that no ftate of Rome or Greece could ever
boaft one fuperior to it; nor could Plato,
Ariftotle, nor any legiflator, even conceive a
more perfect model of a ftate. The three
parts which compofe it are fo harmonioufly
blended and incorporated, that neither the
flute of Ariftoxenus, nor the lyre of Timo-
theus, ever produced more perfect concord.
What can be more difficult than to devife a
conftitution, which, while it guards the dig-
nity of the fovereign, and liberty of the people,
from any encroachment by the influence and
power of the nobility, preferves the force and
majefty of the laws from violation, by the
popular liberty? This was the cafe formerly
in our ifland, and would be fo flill, if the
folly of fome had not prompted them to fpur
on the populace, inftead of holding them in.
I cannot therefore reftrain my indignation
againft Wilkes, a bold and able, but turbulent
man, the very torch and firebrand of fedi-
tion : but what can be faid in defence of the



104
honour and coniiftency of fome of our nobi-
lity, who, after having given him their coun-
tenance and fupport, fhamefully deferted and
betrayed him ?

If you wifh to obtain more accurate in-
formation refpecting our laws and cuftoms, I
recommend to your peruial Smith's Treatife
on the Englifh Conftitution, and the Dia-
logue of Fortefcue in praife of the Laws of
England. Thomas Smith was the Englifh
ambaflador in France in the reign of Eliza-
beth, and his work is in Latin, and not in-
elegantly written. To Fortefcue 's little tract,
we may apply the words of Xenophon to the
Teleboas; " it is not large, but beautiful."
He was Chancellor of England under Henry
the Sixth, and was compelled by the diftrac-
tions of the times, to take refuge with his
pupil Prince Edward in France, where, in
an advanced age, he compofed his little
golden dialogue. Thefe books will convince
you that our laws are framed with the great-
eft wifdom, and that as Pindar, quoted by
Plato in his Gorgias, ,fays,



105

Sov' reign o'er all, eternal law
On Gods and Men imposes awe,
And justice, strengthen'd by her hand,
O'er all exerts supreme command.

When I reflect on our conftitution, I feem
as it were to contemplate a game at chefs, a
recreation in which we both delight. For we
have a king whofe dignity we ftrenuouily de-
fend, but whofe power is very limited; the
knights, and rooks, and other pieces, have
fome kind of refemblance to the orders of
nobility, who are employed in war, and in
the management of public affairs; but the
principal flrength is in the pawns, or people;
if thefe are firmly united, they are fure of
victory, but if divided and feparated, the
battle is loft. The motions of all, as in
the game of chefs, are regulated by fixed
laws : laftly, when I confider myfelf, I feem
like a fpectator, contemplating for his mere
amufement the two parties at the game; but
if it ever fhould be my lot to be concerned in
the adminiftration of affairs, I will renounce
gain and popularity, and purfue one object,



106

and one only, to preierve our beautiful con-
Uitution inviolate.

Contrary to my intention, I find I have
been prolix; I will, therefore, turn to another
fubjeet. I read your la ft letter with an ap-
prehenfion, that it might communicate the
intelligence of your fpeedy departure from
England; but as you are filent on this head, as
my bufmefs here will loon be concluded, and
as I know the uncertainty of all human
affairs, I am determined to embrace an op-
portunity, which, if I now neglect, may not
again occur, of paying you a vifit in London
about the middle of the month. — Farewel.

* Mr. JONES to C. REVICZKI.—
No Date. — 1768.

I have received your
two letters replete with tafte and erudition ;
your kindnefs towards me is as confpicuous
in them, as the brilliancy of your genius. I
now reply to both.

* Appendix, No. 8.



107

Your approbation of my intention to pub-
lifh my work, gives me, as it ought, great
pleafure; for I cannot but rejoice, as Hector
in the tragedy fays, " in the praife of one,
" who is himfelf entitled to praife." The
perufal of the two odes of the divine poet,
afforded me infinite delight; they are very
beautiful, but their beauties are more confpi-
cuous from your luminous interpretation.
Your metrical imitation of them is elegant,
and if you will allow me to publifh it in my
work, you will equally oblige me and my
readers, who will be glad to hear the Perfian
poet fpeak Latin; if you object to this, copies
of them fhall be depofited with my treafures,
and the originals reftored to you as foon as
pofhble. You bid me return the verfes to
you when I am tired with them : this is as
much as to fay keep them for ever, for it is
impoflible that I can ever be tired with the
perufal.



308



* Mr. JONES to C. REVICZKL

Oxford, November 176S.
I cannot refift the temp-
tation of writing to you, although I fear you
may have quitted this country before my
letter arrives.

I have received your obliging letter, with
an elegant ode of Hafez, which I read with
the greateft pleafure, or rather devoured.

But what neceffity is there to fay more,
fince it is poffible that what I write, may
never reach you ? Let me, again and again,
intreat and befeech your remembrance of me
wherever you go, and that you will write to
me as fpeedily, and at as great a length as
poffible. Be affiired that nothing has, or
ever can, afford me greater pleafure than your

friendship,

******

Thefe letters ftrongly mark the enthufiafm
of Mr. Jones, and his learned friend Reviczki,
for Oriental literature; nor am I furprifed to

Vppendix, No. 9,



109

find that the former mould have been led by-
it, to entertain an intention of vifiting the
Eaft : no one, however, will regret that it
was at that period abandoned. Every reader
will perufe with plcafurc the enthufiaftic
veneration exprefled by Mr. Jones for the
Britifh conftitution, and the ardour with
which he pronounces himfelf its champion;
they will alfo remark that his attachment to it
was indelible, and acquired ftrength from his
increafing knowledge of its laws and prin-
ciples.

For an account of his occupations at Wim-
bledon, where he paffed the Spring of 1769,
I mail tranfcribe part of a letter which he
wrote to an intimate friend, John Wilmot,
Efquire.

" My life is one unvaried fcene of writing
" letters, and attending the donzelle vezzofe
<{ e tenerolle, by whofe beauties I confefs
" myfelf eafily overcome.

" I have juft read Robertfon's Life of
*'• Charles the Fifth, the narrative of which



110

el is amufing and inftructive, and the ftyle
" flowing and elegant : but the former wants
" that fpirit and fire of genius, that alone
" can make a hiftory animated, and leave
" great impreffions on the mind and the
" latter has too great a famenefs in the turn
<c of the fentences, and abounds with too
" many affected words.

ff I have alfo given my favourite Petrarch
" a fecond reading, and was fo much pleafed
" with his lamentations over Laura, that I
<£ felected the moft beautiful paffages, and
*' threw them altogether in the form of an
" Elegy *, which I fend you enclofed, but
" beg you will return it as foon as you can,
" as I have no other copy. I fear I fhall not
" be at Oxford this Spring, but am not cer-
* c tain. Give my compliments to Poore, and
* l tell him, if he will defcend from the ftarry
<c temple of philofophy, and write to a very
" idle fellow, I fhall be glad to hear from

* Works, vol. x. p. 261.



Ill

i% him, efpecially as I am defirous of know-
u ing his fentiments about my Treatife De

« PolTi Afiaticu."

*****

In the Summer of this year, Lord Althorp
was fettled at Harrow, and Mr. Jones, who
accompanied him there, had the fatisfaclion
of feeing himfelf reftored to the fociety of
Dr. Sumner. Their enthufiafm for literature
was equal : the mafter contemplated, with,
delight unmixed with envy, a rival of his
own erudition in his fcholar, who acknow-
ledged with gratitude his obligations to his
preceptor. Their intercourfe, although in-
terrupted, had never been difcontinued; and
Mr. Jones feldom fullered any confiderable
time to elapfe without vifiting Harrow. Dur-
ing his refidence there at this period, he
tranfcribed a Perfian Grammar, which he had
three years before compofed for the ufe of a
fchool-fellow who had been deftined for India,
but had fince relinquifhed that object for a
commiffion in the army.

I find alfo from his correfpondence, that



112

he had begun a Dictionary of the Perfian
Language, in which the principal words were
illuftrated from the moft celebrated authors
of the Eaft : but he exprefled at the fame
time his determination not to continue the
work, unlefs the India Company would pur-
chafe it at a confiderable expenfe.

The ferious reader has probably remarked,
that, amid ft the attention of Mr. Jones to
general literature, Religion has not been men-
tioned as an object of his ftudy, and he may
be folicitous to know his opinions on this
important fubjedt, and whether he had made
any, and what, progrefs in that knowledge,
in comparifon of which all erudition is tri-
fling, and human fcience vain. Notwith-
ftanding the anxiety of Mrs. Jones for the
improvement of her fon, and her indefatiga-
ble exertions to promote it in his early years,
fhe had initiated him no further in the prin-
ciples of our holy faith, than to teach him the
Lord's Prayer and Apoftles' Creed. During
his refidence at Harrow, at the earned recom-
mendation of Dr. Glafle, whofe name I men-



113



tion with reverence, Mr. Jones was induced
to perufe a work, intitled, " Private Thoughts
on Religion," by Bifhop Beveridge, with
confiderable attention; and he was particu-
larly ft ruck with a paffage, in which the
pious author argues, that a profeffion of
Chriftianity merely becaufe our countrymen
profefs it, without a candid enquiry and fin-
cere conviction, would be no better reafon
for our faith, than the Mohammedans have
for theirs. The obfervation readily fuggefted
to his recollection a famous couplet in Zayre,
which he did not hefitate to apply to himfelf:

Peusse ete pres du Gange, esclave des faux dieux,
Chretienne dans Paris, Mussulmane en ces lieux.

I wim for my own fatisfaction, as well as
that of my reader, that I were able to pro-
nounce what impreflion the perufal of this
work made upon the mind of Mr. Jones.
It is probable, and the prefumption is not
advanced without reafon, that it induced him
to reflect: with more ferioufnefs than he had
ever before entertained on the fubje& of re-

life— V. I. I.



114

ligion, and to inveftigate the grounds on
which the Old and New Teflament had been
received, during fo many ages, as the Word
of God. It is evident however, from a con-
verfation with two of his clerical friends at
Harrow at this time, when he was in his
twenty-fourth year, that his belief in Chrif-
tianity was not unmixed with doubts. Thefe
doubts were ftated by him, in hopes of ob-
taining a folution of them; but being difap-
pointed, he declared his determination to
perufe the whole of the Scriptures in the
original uninterruptedly, that he might be
enabled to form a correct judgment of the
connection between the two parts, and of
their evidence both internal and external.
The expofition of his doubts to thofe whom
he thought qualified to folve them, was a
proof of his anxiety to kno the truth ; and
the determination which he formed in con-
fequence of his difappointment, is no lefs a
proof of his fincerity in the fearch of it. I
cannot deny myfelf the fatislaction of anti-
the conclufion to which his inveili-



115

gation led, a firm belief in the authenticity
and infpiration of the Holy Scriptures.

In a Hebrew copy of the book of Hofea,
I find a feries of Propofitions in the hand-
writing of Mr. Jones, containing the fketch
of a demonftration of the divine authority of
the Chriftian Religion. Thefe Propofitions
appear to have been written near the period
of the preceding converfation at Harrow.
They are not exprefTed with fuch accuracy or
elegance, as to juftify a fuppofition that they
were intended to be made public; but as I
know that he always confidered the demon-
ftration contained in them fatisfactory, I ex-
hibit them as evidence of his early conviction
of the truth and completion of the prophecies
refpecting our Saviour.

PROPOSITION I.

There is as much reafon to believe, that the
writings of Ifaiah and the Hebrew Prophets,
as that thofe of Homer and the Greek Poets,
are more ancient than the time of Jefus.

I 2



[116

Objection. Some men might have an in-
tereft in forging Ifaiah.

Anfwer, Forged writings would have
been more in point, Thofe of Ifaiah bear no
marks of forgery; and the Jews themfelves,
who were puzzled by them, acknowledged
their antiquity,

PROPOSITION II.

Thefe ancient writings, efpecially Ifaiah^
allude to fome great event, and to fome real
extraordinary perfon, " who was put to
" death, and complained not;" &c. Ifaiah,
chap. liii.

PROPOSITION III.

The life and death of Jefus, his virtues and
doctrines, though not his miracles, are as
much to be believed, as the life and death of
Socrates, his virtues, and his doctrine.

PROPOSITION IV.

No perfon in the hiftory of the Jews, be-



117

fore or after Jefus, coincides with this ac-
count, except Jefus.

Therefore Jefus was the fubjec"t, of their
writings, which are confequently infpired,
and he a perfon of an extraordinary nature,
that is, the Meffiah.

If this be jult reafoning, we may believe
his miracles, and mujl obey his law.

If difficulties occur, and we are afked,
M how they can be folved," we may fafely
anfwer, " We do not know;" yet we may
truly be, and juftly be called Chriftians.

To thefe Propofitions, the following note
is fubjoined : — " What muft be the import -
(t ance of a book," of which it may be truly
faid, '"' if this book be not true, the religion
" which we profefs is falfe ?"

Mr. Jones returned with his pupil from
Harrow, in the Autumnal vacation of 1 769,
and availed himfelf of this opportunity to
vifit his friends at Oxford. During his refi-
dence there, he made an excurfion to Foreft
Hill, the occafional habitation of Milton ; for



118

whofe genius and learning, he early and ever
entertained the higheft veneration. The
public will read with pleafure his own rela-
tion of what he faw and felt on this occafion,
in an animated letter which he wrote to
Lady Spencer.

To Lady SPENCER.

1th Sept. 1769.
The neceflary trouble of cor-
recting the firft printed meets of my hiftory,
prevented me to-day from paying a proper
refpect to the memory of Shakefpeare, by at-
tending his jubilee. But I was refolved to
do all the honour in my power to as great
a poet, and fet out in the morning in com-
pany with a friend to vifit a place, where
Milton fpent fome part of his life, and where,
in all probability, he compofed feveral of his
earlieft productions. It is a fmall village
fituated on a pleafant hill, about three miles
from Oxford, and called Foreft Hill, becaufe
it formerly lay contiguous to a foreft, which
has fince been cut down. The poet chofe



J 19
this place of retirement after his firit mar-
riage, and he defcribes the beauties of his
retreat in that fine pafTage of his L 'Allegro :

Sometime walking, not unseen,

By hedge-row elms, on hillocks green.

******

While the ploughman, near at hand,

Whistles o'er the furrow'd land,

And the milkmaid singeth blithe,

And the mower whets his scythe;

And ev'ry shepherd tells his tale,

Under the hawthorn in the dale.

Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,

Whilst the landscape round it measures :

Russet lawns, and fallows grey,

Where the nibbling flocks do stray;

Mountains, on whose barren breast,

The lab'ring clouds do often rest;

Meadows trim, with daisies pied,

Shallow brooks, and rivers wide ;

Towers and battlements it sees,

Bosom'd high in tufted trees.
******

Hard by, a cottage chimney smokes,
From betwixt two aged oaks. &c.

It was neither the proper feafon of the
year, nor time of the day, to hear all the
rural founds, and fee all the objects men-
tioned in this defcription; but, by a pleafing
concurrence of circumftances, we were fa-



120

luted, on our approach to the village, with
the mufic of the mower and his fcythe ; we
faw the ploughman intent upon his labour,
and the milkmaid returning from her coun-
try employment.

As we afcended the hill, the variety of
beautiful objects, the agreeable ftillnefs and
natural fimplicity of the whole fcene, gave
us the higheft pleafure. We at length reach-
ed the fpot, whence Milton undoubtedly took