The following short letter to Lord Ashburton, written a few weeks after his embarkation, may not be unacceptable to the reader :

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.

6. Letters.

Model-Plato.

Model-Demosthenes and Plato.

12th July, 1783. Crocodile Frigate.

Sir WILLIAM JONES to Lord ASH

BURTON.

April 27, 1783.

Your kind letter found me on

board the Crocodile: I should have been very unhappy had it missed me, since I have long habituated myself to set the highest value on every word you speak, and every line you write. Of the two inclosed letters to our friends, Impey and Chambers, I will take the greatest care, and will punctually follow your directions as to the first of them. My departure was sudden indeed; but the Admiralty were so anxious for the sailing of this frigate, and their orders were so peremptory, that it was impossible to wait for any thing but a breeze. voyage has hitherto been tolerably pleasant, and, since we left the Channel, very quick. We begin to see albicores about the ship, and to perceive an agreeable change of cli

Our

mate.

mate. Our days, though short, give me ample time for study, recreation, and exercise; but my joy and delight proceed from the surprising health and spirits of Anna Maria, who joins me in affectionate remembrance to Lady Ashburton. As to you, my dear Lord, we consider you as the spring and fountain of our happiness, as the author and parent, (a Roman would have added, what the coldness of our northern language will hardly admit) the god of our fortunes. indeed, that by incessant labour and irksome attendance at the bar, I might in due time have attained all that my very limited ambition could aspire to; but in no other station than that which I owe to your friendship, could I have gratified at once my boundless curiosity concerning the people of the East, continued the exercise of my profession, in which I sincerely delight, and enjoyed at the same time the comforts

It is possible

comforts of domestic life. The grand jury of Denbighshire, have found, I understand, the bill against the Dean of St. Asaph, for publishing my dialogue; but as an indictment for a theoretical essay on government was I believe never before known, I have no apprehension for the consequences. As to the doctrines in the tract, though I shall certainly not preach them to the Indians, who must and will be governed by absolute power, yet I shall go through life with a persuasion, that they are just and rational, that substantial freedom is both the daughter and parent of virtue, and that virtue is the only source of public and private felicity. Farewell.

In the course of the voyage he stopped at Madeira, and, in ten additional weeks of prosperous sailing from the rugged islands of Cape Verd, arrived at Hinzuan

or

or Joanna. Of this island, where he remained a few days only, he has published an interesting and amusing description. He expatiates with rapture on his approach to it, delineates with the skill of an artist the beauties of the scenery, and sketches with the discriminating pen of a philosopher, the characters and manners of the unpolished but hospitable natives. The novelty of the scene was attractive, and its impression upon his mind is strongly marked by the following just and elegant reflection, which in substance is more than once repeated in his writings :-" If life "were not too short for the complete dis

charge of all our respective duties, pub"lic and private, and for the acquisition "even of necessary knowledge in any de

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gree of perfection, with how much plea"sure and improvement might a great part "of it be spent in admiring the beauties of