"to the field. What my fortune may be I know "not; this, however, I know, that the most "auxious object of my heart is, after having run my career, to retire, in advanced life, to the "ever-beloved retreat of the University; not with view to indulge myself in indolence, which my disposition abhors, but to enjoy a dignified “leisure in the uninterrupted cultivation of letters, "which the profession I am preparing to embrace, "no longer suffers me to pursue."

At the conclusion of the Commentaries, we find an elegant address to the Muse, in which Mr. Jones expresses his determination to renounce polite literature, and devote himself entirely to the study of the Law. He was called to the Bar, in January 1774, and had discovered, as he writes to an intimate friend, that the law was a jealous science, and would admit no partnership with the Eastern muses. To this determination he appears to have inflexibly adhered for some years, notwithstanding the friendly remonstrances and flattering invitations of his learned correspondents. He had about this time an intention of publishing the mathematical works of his father, and with this view circulated proposals; but, for what reason I know not, he abandoned it.

I now revert to his correspondence, of which I repeat my regret that so little remains.

Dr.

Dr. HUNT to Mr. JONES.

DEAR SIR,

Ch. Church, March 2, 1774.

I return you my hearty thanks for your most acceptable present of your excellent book on the Asiatic poetry. I should have made you my acknowledgements for this great favour before, but I have been so entirely engaged in reading the book, (which I have done from the beginning to the end,) that I have not had time to think of its worthy author any otherwise, than by tacitly admiring, as I went along, his exquisitely fine parts, and wonderful learning. Indeed, so engaging is the beautiful style of this admirable performance, and so striking the observations it contains, that it is next to impossible for a person, who has any taste for this branch of literature, when he has once taken it into his hand, to lay it aside again without giving it a thorough perusal. I find you have enriched this work with a great variety of curious quotations, and judicious criticisms, as well as with the addition of several valuable new pieces, since you favoured me with the sight of it before, and the pleasure which I have now had in reading it has been in proportion. I hope this new key to the Asiatic poetry, with which you have obliged the world, will not be suffered to rust for want of use; but that it will prove, what you intended it to be, an happy instrument in the hands of learned and inquisitive men, for unlocking the rich treasures of wisdom and knowledge which have been preserved in the Hebrew, Arabic, Persic, and the other Ori

ental languages, and especially the Hebrew, that venerable channel, through which the sacred compositions of the divinely inspired poets have been conveyed down to us.

I hope this will find

you well;

THOMAS HUNT.

and am, &c.

P. S. I have seen your proposals for printing the mathematical works of my worthy friend, your late father, and beg to be of the number of your subscribers.

*Mr. JONES to F. P. BAYER.

March 1774.

I have received a most elegant copy of your Treatise on the Phoenician Language and Colonies, and I am at a loss to decide whether it is most learned or entertaining. Although I fear, like Diomede, that I shall give you brass in exchange for your gold; yet I send you as a proof of my gratitude and esteem, my Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry; and it will afford me great satisfaction to learn that they please you.-Farewell.

† Mr. JONES to H. A. SCHULTENS.

July 1774.

This letter will be presented to you by Mr. Campbell, a young gentleman of great modesty and worth, and I recommend him to your particular attention. He intends going to India as a merchant, but previous to his embarkation, *Appendix, No. 23. † Appendix, No. 24.

wishes to give some time to the study of foreign languages, European and Asiatic, and particularly the Persian. Any assistance which you may afford him in his studies, or other little affairs, I shall esteem a favour done to myself, and he will consider it a great obligation.

How goes on our Hariri? Will it ever be published with your elucidations? My time is employed in the courts; and whatever leisure I can command, is exclusively devoted to the study of law and history. I hope you have received my Commentaries which I sent you.—Farewell.

*H. A. SCHULTENS to Mr. JONES,

The phoenix of his time, and the orna

ment of the age-Health!

Amsterdam, Sept. 1774. When I reflect, my dear Jones, upon the fortunate period, which I passed in your happy island, I feel the most exquisite delight at the recollection of the pleasure and improvement, which I derived from your society; at the same time my anxiety for your company excites the most lively regret at our separation. If I cannot altogether conquer it, I can at least alleviate it by corresponding with you.

Nothing but a variety of unusual occupations could have delayed my writing to you so long after my return to Amsterdam; I was moreover apprehensive of interrupting your studies by my intrusion. The receipt of the obliging present of your Commentaries, has removed all my fear on

this account, and affords me a most agreeable proof of your remembrance. Accept my sincerest thanks for your finished and most elegant work, which I have eagerly read again and again with admiration and astonishment.

As sincere a lover as yourself of the Muses, how much I regret their unhappy lot, that whilst they have so few admirers, one of their most distinguished votaries should be seduced from their service by the discordant broils of the Bar! Do they not then possess such charms and graces as to merit a preference to others, who have no portion but wealth and honour? Is not their beauty so attractive, their dress so elegant and enchanting, as to fascinate their admirers to a degree, which makes them despise all others, and feel no delight but in their society? Forgive, my dear Jones, this friendly expostulation.

Two or three copies only of your work have reached us; I beg you will not suffer the inattention of booksellers to deprive us of a larger supply, You will receive shortly a little inaugural discourse which I pronounced here, On extending the limits of Oriental literature. It was done too much in haste to be as perfect as it ought to have been, and as I could have made it with more leisure, The office which I hold here is most agreeable to me, but is attended with this inconvenience, that the duties of it allow me no time for the pursuit of other studies; and the attention which I am forced to bestow on grammatical institutions, on explanatory