SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 71 



total ignorance of its value, to the Dutch*. The 

 presence of Mr. Raffles in England created an inte- 

 rest in the subject, as far as his personal influence 

 extended. To diffuse this interest more generally, 

 and to make the country sensible of the loss sus- 

 tained, by the relinquishment of so flourishing a 

 colony to a foreign and a rival power, he deter- 

 mined to write his History of Java, which he 

 completed with his usual quickness. A few sheets 

 were rapidly written off every morning for the 

 printer, and corrected at night on his return from 

 his dinner engagements. It was commenced in the 

 month of October, 1816, and published (in two 

 volumes quarto) in May, 181 7-" 



Sir Stamford himself, in his Preface, alludes to 

 an intimate friend whom he thought better qualified 

 for such a work; and as he pays a tribute, not 

 more eloquent than sincere, to a distinguished 

 Scotchman, the celebrated Dr. Leyden, who had 

 accompanied the expedition to Batavia, and died 

 immediately on the landing of the troops, we need 

 offer no apology for quoting that passage. " Most 

 sincerely and deeply do I regret that this book did 

 not fall into hands more able to do it justice. There 



* On the 13th of August, 1814, a convention was entered 

 into by Viscount Castlereagh at Vienna, on the part of his 

 Britannic Majesty, restoring to the Dutch the whole of their 

 former possessions in the Eastern Islands ; and on the 19th 

 August, 1816, the flag of the Netherlands was again hoisted 

 at Batavia. 



