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Mirza, a native of Aleppo, in London, he prevailed on him to accompany him to Oxford, not without hopes that he might induce some of his companions to avail themselves of this Syrian's labours, and assist him in defraying the expense of his maintenance; but in this he was disappointed, and for some months the whole of the burthen fell upon himself.

During his residence at Oxford, his time was regularly divided into portions, each of which was filled up with the study of the ancients or moderns, and there have been few examples of such extensive accumulation of knowledge by one so young: yet amidst this severe course of application, he regularly apportioned some time for the practice of those manly exercises which promote health.

As his residence at the university necessarily became expensive, he anxiously wished for a fellowship, that he might be enabled to relieve his mother from a burthen which she could ill support. He had obtained a scholarship a few months after his matriculation, but a fellowship appeared more remote, and he was beginning to despair of achieving this object when he received an offer to be private tutor to lord Althorpe, now earl Spencer. He had been recommended to the Spencer family by Dr. Shipley, who had seen and approved some of his performances at Harrow, and particularly a Greek oration in praise of Lyon who founded the school at that place in the reign of Elizabeth.

This proposal was cheerfully accepted by Mr. Jones, and, in the summer of 1765, he went for the first time to Wimbledon Park to take upon him the education of his pupil, who was just seven years old, and with whose manners he was delighted. It would be needless to point out the advantages of such a situation as this to a young man of Jones's accomplishments and expectations. It presented every thing he could wish, liberal patronage to promote his views, elegant society to form his manners, and opportunities for study which were inferior only to what he enjoyed at Oxford. In the course of the following summer, he obtained a fellowship, which, although not exceeding one hundred pounds, appeared to him a sufficient provision and a solid independency. His time was now divided between Oxford, London, Wimbledon, and Althorpe, and, in 1767, he visited the continent with the Spencer family, and during this trip, which was but short, acquired some knowledge of the German language. Before setting out, and in the twenty-first year of his age, he began his Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry, in imitation of Dr. Lowth's Prelections at Oxford, on the sacred poetry of the Hebrews, and soon after his return, in the winter of 1767, he nearly completed his Commentaries, transcribed an Asiatic manuscript on Egypt and the Nile, and copied the keys of the Chinese language, which he wished to add to his other acquisitions. Into these pursuits Mr. Jones appears to have been insensibly led, without the hopes of higher gratification than the pleasure they afforded, but a circumstance now occurred which may be considered as the first step of his progress to what finally constituted his fame as a scholar and public character. The circumstance is thus related by lord Teignmouth nearly in Mr. Jones's words.

"The king of Denmark, then upon a visit to this country (1768) had brought with him an eastern manuscript, containing the life of Nadir Shah, which he was desirous of having translated in England. The secretary of state with whom the Danish

minister had conversed upon the subject, sent the volume to Mr. Jones, requesting him to give a literal translation of it in the French language; but he wholly declined the task, alleging for his excuse, the dryness of the subject, the difficulty of the style, and chiefly his want both of leisure and ability, to enter upon an undertaking so fruitless and laborious. He mentioned, however, a gentleman, with whom he was not then acquainted, but who had distinguished himself by the translation of a Persian history, and some popular tales from the Persic, as capable of gratifying the wishes of his Danish majesty. Major Dow, the writer alluded to, excused himself on account of his numerous engagements, and the application to Mr. Jones was renewed. It was hinted, that his compliance could be of no small advantage to him, at his entrance into life; that it would procure him some mark of distinction, which would be pleasing to him; and above all, that it would be a reflection upon this country, if the king should be obliged to carry the manuscript to France. Incited by these motives, and principally the last, unwilling to be thought churlish or morose, and eager for reputation, he undertook the work, and sent a specimen of it to his Danish majesty, who returned his approbation of the style and method, but desired that the whole translation might be perfectly literal, and the oriental images accurately preserved. The task would have been far easier to him, if he had been directed to finish it in Latin; for the acquisition of a French style was infinitely more tedious, and it was necessary to have every chapter corrected by a native of France, before it could be offered to the discerning eye of the public, since in every language there are certain peculiarities of idiom, and nice shades of meaning, which a foreigner can never attain to perfection. The work, however arduous and unpleasant, was completed in a year, not without repeated hints from the secretary's office, that it was expected with great impatience by the court of Denmark. The translation was not, however, published until 1770. Forty copies upon large paper were sent to Copenhagen: one of them, bound with uncommon elegance, for the king himself; and the others as presents to his courtiers."

What reward he received for this undertaking is but obscurely related. His Danish majesty, we are told, sent him a diploma, constituting him a member of the Royal Society of Copenhagen, and recommended him, in the strongest terms, to the favour and benevolence of his own sovereign. In all this there seems but an inadequate recompense for a work which at that time perhaps no person could have executed but himself1.

His noble pupil being removed to Harrow, Mr. Jones had an opportunity of renewing his intimacy with Dr. Sumner, who had always estimated his talents and learn

1 Mr. Jones, in a letter to one of his correspondents, says, "When he (the king of Denmark) was considering what recompense he should bestow upon me, a noble friend of mine informed his majesty, that I neither wished for nor valued money, but was anxious only for some honorary mark of his approbation." Whether Mr. Jones had instructed his noble friend to use this language does not appear, but it is certain that he felt a degree of disappointment. In 1773, when he published an abridged Life of Nadir Shah, in his preface he takes an opportunity to lament that the profession of literature leads to no benefit or true glory whatsoever, and adds "Unless a man can assert his own independence in active life, it will avail him little, to be favoured by the learned, estecmed by the eminent or recommended even to kings." C.

ing at their full value. While here, he transcribed a Persian grammar, which he had three years before composed for the use of a school-fellow destined for India, and also began a dictionary of the Persian language, in which the principal words were illustrated from the most celebrated authors of the East; but he appears to have been aware of the expense attending this work, and was unwilling to continue it, unless the East India company would purchase it. In the year 1770, he issued proposals for a new edition of Meninski's Dictionary. This appears to be what his biographer alludes to. It was to have been published in 1773, but the scheme was dropt for want of encouragement.

Amidst these occupations, so far beyond the common reach of literary industry, he became a serious inquirer into the evidences of Christianity, about which he appears at this time to have entertained some doubts. In this, as in all his studies, his appli cation was intense, and his inquiries conducted upon the fairest and most liberal principles. The result was a firm belief in the authenticity and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, and a life dignified by purity of conduct and the exercise of every Christian

virtue.

In 1770, he passed the winter on the continent with the Spencer family, during which, he informs one of his correspondents, his occupations were "music, with all its sweetness and feeling: difficult and abstruse problems in mathematics: and the beautiful and sublime in poetry and painting." He wrote also in English a tract on education in the analytical manner; a tragedy founded on the story of Mustapha who was put to death by his father Soliman; and made various translations from the oriental poets. He appears on this tour to have been less intent on those objects of curiosity which usually interest travellers, than on adding to his knowledge of languages, and habituating himself to composition in all its modes, from the gay and familiar letter of friendship, to the serious and philosophical disquisition. Of the tract on education just mentioned, a fragment only remains, which his biographer has published. It appears to include the plan which he pursued in his own case. The tragedy has been totally lost, except part of a preface, in which he professes to have taken Shakspeare for his model, not by adopting his sentiments, or borrowing his expressions, but by aiming at his manner, and by striving to write as he supposes he would have written himself, if he had lived in the eighteenth century. The loss of such a curiosity cannot be too much regretted, unless our regret should be lessened by reflecting on the hazard of any attempt to bring Shakspeare on the modern stage. It is surely not less difficult than that of Mason, who unsuccessfully strove to write as the Greek tragedians "would have written, had they lived in the eighteenth century."

On his return from this tour, he appears to have contemplated his situation as not altogether corresponding with the feelings of an independent mind, and with the views he entertained of aiming at the dignity and usefulness of a public character. The advice given by some of his friends, when he left Harrow school, probably now recurred to his memory, and was strengthened by additional and more urgent motives, for he finally determined on the law as a profession: and, having resigned his charge in lord Spencer's family, was admitted into the Temple on the nineteenth of September, 1770, in the twenty-fourth year of his age.

Those who consider the study of the law as incompatible with a mind devoted to

VOL. XVIII.

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