CHARACTERS. 



459 



or no modulation, and he spoke in 

 the provincial dialect of his native 

 country; it cannot be surprising, 

 therefore, that even his informa- 

 tion and knowledge, when so con- 

 veyed, should be felt by a number 

 of his hearers as unpleasant, if not 

 o|)presbive. But with all these dis- 

 advantages (and they were great) 

 the admiration and esteem in which 

 he was always held by those who 

 could appre( iate his qualities, be- 

 came general wherever he was long 

 known ; they even who could not 

 understand the value of his know- 

 ledge loved his virtues. Though 

 he was distinguished by his love of 

 liberty, and almost haughty inde- 

 pendence, his ardent feelings, and 

 proud genius, never led him into 

 any licentious or extravagant spe- 

 culation on political subjects. He 

 never solicited favour ; but he was 

 raised by the liberal discernment 

 of his noble friend and patron, 

 Lord Minto, to a situation that af- 

 forded him an opportunity of shew- 

 ing, that he was as scrupulous and 

 as inflexibly virtuous in the dis- 

 charge of his public duties, as he 

 was attentive in private life to the 

 duties of morality and religion. 



It is not easy to convey an idea 

 of the method which Doctor Ley- 

 den used in his studies, or to de- 

 scribe the unconquerable ardour 

 with which these were pursued. 

 During his early residence in India, 

 1 had a particular opportunity of 

 observing both. When he read a 

 lesson in Persian, a person near him 

 whom he had taught, wrote down 

 each word on a long slip of paper, 

 which was afterwards divided into 

 as many pieces as there were words, 

 and pasted in alphabetical order, 

 under different heads of verbs, 

 nouns, &c. iato a blank bookj that 



formed a vocabulary of each day's 

 lesson. All this he had in a few 

 hours instructed a very ignorant na- 

 tive to do, and this man he used 

 in his broad accent to call " one of 

 his mechanical aids." He was so 

 ill at Mysore, soon after his arrival 

 from England, that Mr. Anderson, 

 the surgeon, who attended him, 

 despaired of his life; but though 

 all his friends endeavoured at this 

 period to prevail upon him to relax 

 in his application to study, it was 

 in vain. He used, when unable to 

 sit upright, prop himself up with 

 pillows, and continue his transla- 

 tions. One day that I was sitting 

 by his bed-side the surgeon came 

 in : "I am glad you are here," 

 said Mr. Anderson, addressing him- 

 self to me, "you will be able to 

 persuade Leyden to attend to my 

 advice. I have told him before, 

 and I now repeat, that he will die, 

 if he does not leave off his studiies 

 and remain quiet." " Very well. 

 Doctor," exclaimed Leyden, " you 

 have done your duty, but you must 

 now hear me : I cannot be idle ; 

 and whether I die or live the wheel 

 must go round to the last :" and 

 he actually continued^ under the 

 depression of a fever, and a liver 

 complaint, to study more than ten 

 hours each da}-. 



The temper of Doctor Leyden 

 was mild and generous, and he 

 could bear with perfect good hu- 

 mour, raillery on his foibles. When 

 he arrived at Calcutta in 1805, I 

 was most solicitous regarding his 

 reception in the society of the In- 

 dian capital. *' I entreat you, my 

 dear friend," I said to him the day 

 he landed, " to be careful of the 

 impression you make on your en- 

 tering this community ; for God's 

 sake learn a little English, and be 



silent 



