EXTRACT OP A LETTER, &C. 2g$ 



XIII. 



AN EXTRACT OF A LETTER 



FKOM 



FRANCIS FOWKE, Esq, 



TO THE PRESIDENT. 



THE drawings of Jeewun Shah and the Been will be 

 difpatched in a fmall boat to-morrow. You wiflied 

 to have had the two attendant muficians in the fame 

 drawing with Jeewun Shah ; but the draftfman was not 

 equal to the perfpective of this : he would have run all 

 the figures one into the other : and as he has fucceeded 

 tolerably well with the principal figures, I thought it 

 was better to be fure of that, efpecially as the other 

 figures can eafily be added by a European artift. I have 

 a double pleafure in fending you the enclofed account 

 of the Been. In obliging you, I look forward to the 

 inftructive amufement I fhall fhare with the public at 

 large in the refult of your refearches into this fubjed of 

 Indian muficjand I am exceedingly happy, by furnifh- 

 ing you with facts, highly neccffary indeed, but the 

 mere work of care and obfervation, to give you greater 

 leifure for the contemplation of the whole. You may 

 abfolutely depend upon the accuracy of all that I have 

 faid refpecting the conftruction and fcale of this inftru- 

 ment : it has been done by measurement: and, with 

 regard to the intervals, I would not depend upon my 

 ear, but had the Been tuned to the harpfichord, and 

 compared the inftruments carefully, note by note, more 

 than once. What I myfelf am aware of, will certainly 

 not eicape your penetration, that there may be a little 

 of the bias of hypothetic, or an opinion pretty ftrongly 

 eltablifhed, in what I have faid of the confined modu- 

 lation of the Indian mufir. But it is eafy to feparate 

 my experiments and conjectures; and my prejudices 



cannot 



