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ANNUAL RE 



justice and gratitude, to print at 

 the beginning of his translation the 

 honoura!)le testimony of regard, 

 which his majesty, Christian VII. 

 sent publicly to London a few 

 months after the receipt of the work, 

 together with the letter of thanks 

 which he returned for so signal a 

 token of his favour. From these 

 documents it appears that his Danish 

 najestysent to him a diploma, con- 

 stituting him a member of the royal 

 society of Copenhagen, and recom- 

 mended him in the strongest terins 

 to the favour and binevoleuce of his 

 own sovereign. 



In detailing the circunistances at- 

 tending tlie first publication of Air. 

 Jones, we have carried the narrative 

 to its conclusion, with some antici- 

 pation of the order of time. Part 

 of the summer of 1768 he passed at 

 Tunbridge, where his private stu- 

 dies formed his chief occupation ; 

 and the winter of that year in Lon- 

 don. In the beginning of this year 

 Mr. Jones formed an acquaintance 

 with Reviczki, afterwards the im- 

 perial minister at Warsaw, and am- 

 bassador at the court of England, 

 with the title of count. This learn- 

 ed and accomplished nobleman was 

 deeply captivated with the charms 

 of oriental literature ; and the re- 

 putation of ]Mr. Jones as an orien- 

 tal scholar attracted his advances 

 towards an intimacy, which were 

 eagerly received. After their sepa- 

 ration they commenced a corres- 

 pondence, which was cultivated with 

 attention for many years. Of this 

 correspondence much has been lost, 

 and many of the remaining letters 

 are defaced and mutilated. They 

 generally wrote in Latin, and occa- 

 sionally in French, on literary sub- 

 je6ts chiefly, but more particularly 

 cn oriental literature. 



GISTER, 1804. 



In this year lord Althorpe was * 

 settled at Harrow, and Mr. Jones, 

 who accompanied him there, had , 

 the satisfaction of seeing himself re- 

 stored to the society of Dr. Sumner. 

 Their enthusiasm for literature was • 

 equal ; the master contemplated 

 Avidi delight, unmixed with envy, 

 a rival of his own erudition in his 

 scholar, who acknowledged with 

 gratitude his obligations to his pre- 

 ceptor. Their intercourse, although 

 intcrrnpted, had never been discon- . 

 tinned : and Mr. .Jones seldom suf- 

 fered any considerable time to elapse 

 without visiting Harrow. During 

 his residence there, at this period, 

 he transcribed a Persian grammar, 

 which he had three years before 

 composed for the use of a school- 

 fellow who had been designed for 

 India, but had since relinquished 

 that obje6t for a commission in the 

 army. 



The plan of the epic poem which 

 he mentions in letters to his Polish 

 friend, was sketched during liis re- 

 sidence at Spa, in July 1770. The 

 subject of the poem was the sup- 

 posed discovery of our island by 

 Tyrian adventurers, and he propos- 

 ed to exhibit under the character of 

 the prince of Tyre, that of a per- 

 fect king of this country; a charac- 

 ter which he pronounces the most 

 glorious and beneficial of any that 

 the warmest imagination can form. 

 It represeilts (to quote Jiis own 

 words) the dangers to which a king 

 of England is necessarily exposed, 

 the vices which he must avoid, and 

 the virtues and sireat qualities with 

 which he must be adorned. On the 

 whole, " Britain Discovered" is 

 intended as a poetical penegyric on 

 our excellent constitution, and as a 

 pledge of the author's attachment to , 

 it : as a national epic poem, like 



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