;5ect. IIL] Persian Literature^ 26? 



he published his History of Nadir Ska h, and the 

 year following his Persian Grammar; both of 

 which works hold an important place auu)ng the 

 events in oriental literature with whicii the age is 

 niarked. The version of the former from the ori- 

 ginal Persian into French^ he undertook and ac- 

 complished from a regard to the literary reputa- 

 tion of his country, that it might not be carried 

 out of England with the reflection that no person 

 had been found in the British dominions capable 

 of translating it *. The same accomplished Briton 

 afterwards wrote several important publications. 



curious or valuable that had been taught in them. The doctrines 

 of the Academy, the Lyceum, and the Porch, wei^ not more fami- 

 liar to him than the tenets of the P^eclas, the mysticisms of the 

 Sujis, or the religion of the ancient Persians ^ and whilst, with a 

 kindred .genius, he perused with rapture the compositions of the 

 most renowned poets of Greece, Rome, and Asia, he could Uirn 

 with equal delight and knowledge to the sublime inquiries or ma- 

 thematical calculations of Barrow and Newton. Beside all tliesc 

 acquisitions, the theory of music was familiar to him j he had 

 made himself acquainted with the modern interesting discoveries 

 in chemistry, and his last and favourite pursuit w^as the study of bo- 

 tany, in which he made great progress, and, had his life been spared, 

 would probably have been a reformer and discoverer. His poetic 

 productions discover a vigorous imagination and an elegant taste. 

 His learning and talents as a lawyer were still more eminent. His 

 abilities and integrity as a magistrate and a judge were universally 

 applauded 3 and, to crown all, the purity of his life, and tiie fer- 

 vour of his piety as a Christian, shed a lustre upon every oUier ac- 

 complishment. See a Discourse delivered before the Asiatic Society 

 in Mai/, 1794, bj/sir John Shore, now lord Tei-nmouth, prefixed i(^ 

 thejirst volume of Sir William J ones s Works. 



* The translation of the History of Nadir Shah was under- 

 taken by sir William Jones, at the instance of the king of Den- 

 mark. For this honourable monument of learned labour, Ins 

 foyal employer, presented him witl^ a >»nufi'-box ! 



