378 | 
your interposition, I am confident 
will doa great deal. It will be 
very illiberal indeed, if such a 
communication were refused. My 
Lord Stormont (by. whose attention 
I have been much honoured) would 
not decline to give his aid, were 
that necessary. But if your court 
resembles that of Spain, I am afraid 
every proposal from an ambassador 
is received with some degree of 
jealousy. Your own private ap- 
plication will, I apprehend, be 
more effectual. As it is probable 
a second edition may go to press 
early in the winter, it will add to 
the favour, if you can soon inform 
me concerning the success of vour 
negotiation. ~As this is something 
in the style of the Corps Diplona- 
tigue, allow me to recommend one 
of its members to you. Mr. Ful. 
Jarton, the new secretary to the 
embassy, is a particular friend of 
mine. He is a young man of such 
qualities both of head and heart, 
that I am sure you will esteem and 
love him. Please remember me to 
him. I have the honour to be, 
with great respect, 
Your obliged humble servant, 
WILLIAM RoBERTSON. 
Sir William Fones to Mr. Gibbox. 
Lamb Buildings, Fune 30th, 178% 
Dear Sir, 
I HAVE more than once sought, 
without having been so fortunate 
as to obtain, a proper opportunity 
of thanking you very sincerely for 
the clegant compliment which you 
pay me, ina work abounding in 
elegance of all kinds. 
My Seven Arabian Poets will 
see the light before next:winter, and 
be proud to wait on you in their 
English dress... Their wild pro- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 11796. 
ductions will, % Matter’ myself, be’ 
thought interesting, and not vene- 
rable merely on account of their 
antiquity. 
In the mean while, let me re- 
quest you to honour me with ac. 
cepting a copy of a Law Tra@t, 
which is not yet published: the 
subject is so generally important, 
that I make no apology for sending 
you a professional work. 
You must pardon my inveterate 
hatred of C. Oétavianus, basely 
surnamed Augustus, J feel my- 
self unable to forgive, che death of 
Cicero, which if he did not pro. 
mote, he might have prevented. 
Besides, even Miccanas knew the: 
cruelty ot his disposition, and ven. 
tured to reproach him with it. In 
short, L have not Christian charity 
for him. 
With regard to Asiatic letters, a 
necessary attention to my profession 
will compel me wholly and eter- 
nally to abandon them, — uniess- 
Lord North (to whom I am already 
under no sma!l obligation) shouid 
think me worthy to concur in the 
improved administration of justice — 
in Bengal, and should appoint me 
to supply the vacancy on the India 
Bench. | Were that appointment 
to take place this year, I should 
probably travel for speed, through . 
part of Egypt and Arabia, and 
should be able, in my way, to 
procure many eastern traéts of lite. 
rature and jurisprudence. I might 
become a good Mahomedan lawyer 
before J reached Calcutta, and, in 
my vacations, should *find leisure 
to explain, in. my native language, 
whatever the Arabs, Persians, 
Turks, have written on science, 
history, and the fine arts. 
My happiness by no means dee 
pends on obtaining: this. appoint. 
: ment, 
n 
an 
