APPENDIX. XXXiii 



The acting Treasurer has tlie honour to report to the Subscribers the state of the 

 Society's funds made up to the present day. 



The amount of subscriptions is £1,128. 15s., from which is to be deducted the expense 

 of printing and circulating the Prospectus and incidental charges. 



If it should receive the approbation of the Subscribers, the annual subscriptions will 

 be considered payable on the 1st of January in each year, the second subscription being 

 reckoned due in January 1829. 



As the Secretary will be very much occupied in tra,nsacting the business of the Com- 

 mittee, it is hoped that the payment of fifty pounds a year to him, from the 1st of January 

 1828, will be approved by the Subscribers. 



In connexion with the finances, it only remains for the Subscribers to elect from 

 among themselves a Treasurer for the ensuing year, and an Auditor, to report at the 

 next annual meeting the receipts and disbursements of the Oriental Translation Fund 

 for the year that will then terminate. 



The Committee, after thus giving an account of their proceedings and of the state of 

 their funds, venture to express a hope that a continuation and increase of support will 

 enable them to extend their operations, in proportion as their views enlarge in the exe- 

 cution of their plan. 



It is now the agreeable duty of the Committee to announce to the Subscribers the 

 encouraging prospects which have been created by their munificent support. The pros- 

 perous state of their funds, the advantages presented by the English Universities and 

 the Royal Asiatic Society, and the gratuitous aid tendered by many eminent Orientalists, 

 warrants the belief that the Subscribers, in addition to enjoying the honour of fostering 

 an important branch of learning, and rescuing the national character from the charge of 

 neglecting Oriental literature, will annually receive books greatly exceeding their sub- 

 scriptions in value. 



The Committee are desirous to avoid attributing too much effect to their labours; but 

 they feel bound to state, that they know that the circulation of their Prospectus has 

 already stimulated some individuals to undertake translations of Oriental works, and has 

 attracted much attention to Asiatic literature. 



The inquiries of the Committee have already brought to light several translations 

 which had long remained unnoticed, and they have received a valuable collection of 

 Oriental MSS. which were collected by the late Sir Charles Malet, Bart, during his re- 

 sidence in India, and presented to them by his son. Sir Alexander Malet, Bart., as 

 soon as he was informed of their establishment and objects. A Catalogue of this collec- 

 tion is annexed. 



Although, in selecting works for publication, the Committee's principal object will be 

 to increase historical and general information, yet, in order to meet the taste of every 

 class of the Subscribers, they have considered it propep to have some works of fiction 

 translated, particularly as the East has furnished many highly interesting specimens of 

 that species of literature, if even it is not the parent country of apologues and romances. 



May!, 1828. 



Vol. II. 



