^74 . Oriental Literature. [Chap. XlV- 



useful exertions to promote the study of Sanscrit. 

 During a residence of thirteen years in India he 

 acquired much information concerning this lan- 

 guage, and formed a grammar, which is said to 

 exhibit its elements in a very clear and satisfactory 

 manner. 



The institution of the Asiatic Societi/, in Cal- 

 cutta, in the year 1784, forms an important a^ra in 

 the history of oriental learning. The design of 

 this association was to trace the antiquities, arts, 

 sciences, and literature of the immense continent 

 of Asia. It was planned and founded by sir Wil- 

 liam Jones, who was long its president, and cer- 

 tainly the most active and extensively useful mem- 

 ber. How diligent and unwearied the labours of 

 this association, and how curious and valuable the 

 results of their investigations, are generally known 

 by means of the several volumes of Asiatic Re- 

 searches, which have been laid before the public 

 in the course of the last fifteen years. In these 

 volumes the intelligent reader will find an amount 

 of information on the subjects of inquiry before 

 stated, which the whole literary world could not 

 have furnished antecedently to their appearance. 

 By studying the Sajisciit language, in which the 

 most authentic and ancient records of the Hin- 

 doos are written ; by opening communications 

 between distant regions of the east ; and by fre- 

 quently penetrating into the interior parts of the 

 country, conversing with the learned men, in- 

 specting their monuments, and observing their 

 habits atid manners ; an astonishing mass of new 

 facts has been obtained and given, by their la- 

 bours, to the public ; and from the same source 



