ment, as I am in easy circumstan- 
es without my profession, and have 
attering prospects in it; but if 
|the present summer and the en- 
suing autumn elapse without my 
ecelving any answer, favourable 
r unfavourable, <I shall be. forced 
to consider that silence as a polite 
efusal, and having given sincere 
hanks for past favours, shall en- 
irely drop all thoughts of Asia, 
nd, ‘* deep as ever plummet sound- 
d, ‘shall drown my Persian books.’’ 
f my politics have given offence, 
t would be manly in ministers to 
ell me so. I shall never be per- 
onally hostile to them, nor enlist 
nder party banners of any colour; 
at I will never resign my opinions 
or interest, though [ would cheer- 
wlly abandon them on conviction: 
My reason, such as it is, can only 
be controuled by better reason, to 
hich I am ever open. As to my 
freedom of thought, speech, and 
action, I shall ever say what 
Charles XII. wrote under the 
map of Riga, ‘* Dieu me L'a donnée; 
fe diable ne me l’ctera pas.’’? But the 
air answer to this objection is, that 
my system is purely speculative, 
and has no relation to my seat on 
the bench in India, where I should 
ardly think of instru€ting the 
entoos in the maxims of the 
Athenians. I believe I should not 
have troubled you with this letter, 
if I did not fear that your attend- 
nee in parliament might deprive 
¢ of the pleasure of meeting you 
t the club next Tuesday ; and I 
hall go to Oxford a few days after. 
t all times, and in all places, I 
hall ever be, with, sidteeesdiiled 
regard, dear Sir, your much obliged 
nd faithful servant, 
W, Jones. 
CHARACTERS. 
[379 
Edzard Gibbon, Esq. to the Right 
Hoxourable Lord Sheffield. 
Lausanne, Nov. 14, 1783. 
LAST Tuesday, November 11, 
after plaguing and vexing your 
self all the morning, about some 
business of your fertile crea- 
tion, you went to the House of_ 
Commons, and passed the after- 
noon, the evening, and perhaps 
the night, without sleep or food, 
stifled in a close room by the heated 
respiration of six hundred politici- 
ans, inflamed by party and passion, 
and tired of the repetition of dull 
nonsense, which, in that illustri- 
ous assembly, so far outweighs the 
proportion of reason and eloquence. 
On the same day, after a studious 
morning, a friendly dinner, anda 
cheerful assembly of both sexes, E 
retired to rest at eleven o’clock, 
satisfied with the past day, and cer- 
tain that the next would afford me 
the return of the same quiet and ra- 
tional enjoyments. Which has the 
better bargain 2— 
Dr. Adam Smita ta Mr. Gibbon. 
Edinburgh, Dec. 10, 1788- 
My prar Frrenp, 
I HAVE ten thousand apologies 
to make, for not having long ago 
returned you my best thanks for the 
very agreeable pres¢at you made 
me of the three tast volumes. of 
your history. I cannot express to 
you the pleasure it gives me to 
find, that by the universal assent 
ef every man of taste and learning, 
whom | either know or correspond 
with, it sets you at the very head 
of the whole literary tribe at pre. 
sent existing in Europe. I ever 
am, my dear friend, most aftec- 
tionately yours, 
ApvaAmM SMITH, 
NATURAL 
