1832.] Asiatic Society. 567 



" When I recollect, that Mr. Colebrooke, on leaving India, received from the 

 Asiatic Society, of which he had for many years been the chief ornament and sup- 

 port, no other tribute than an official letter from myself, the tenor of which was 

 left very much to my own discretion, I cannot but feel ashamed of the vastly infe- 

 rior claims which have been this day honoured by you with such highly favourable 

 notice. If he received less, I have reaped more than I am entitled to, and I have to 

 thank you not only for the commendations which I might in fairness claim, but for 

 your kindness and partiality, the not unnatural growth of many years of associa- 

 tion, which have suggested this overflowing measure of reward for any service I 

 may have rendered to the Society. 



" I shall not pretend to disclaim the warm interest which I have taken in the credit 

 and prosperity of the Asiatic Society, from the period of my first arrival in this 

 country, or in the researches which it was instituted to promote. After I became 

 a Member, the Secretary of the Society, to do so was no more than my duty ; but 

 it was equally my pleasure and pride to be a member of a body established for such 

 honourable and useful purposes as the investigation of man and nature in the East, 

 the development of the past history and present condition of these vast and im- 

 portant regions, and the maintenance of the British character for enlightened and 

 liberal research, and the disinterested cultivation of intellectual pursuits. The 

 share that I may have borne in the accomplishment of these purposes has made 

 many hours of my leisure in this country glide happily away ; to have been asso- 

 ciated in them with so many excellent and talented individuals, has always been, 

 and must always be, a subject of self-congratulation ; to have earned such an esti- 

 mation amongst them, as they have this day expressed, must ever be a source of 

 proud and grateful recollection. 



" In consenting to the request with which you have been pleased to conclude the 

 flattering enumeration which you have made of my services to Oriental Literature 

 and to the Society, ) T ou will acquit me, I am sure, of being influenced by merely 

 personal feeling. If I can judge of your sentiments by my own, I can fully appreci* 

 ate the motives which induce you to seek to preserve memorials of those who have 

 taken an active part in the labours of the Society. One of the most interesting 

 decorations of the room in which we are accustomed to Assemble is to me, to all, 

 the portrait of our illustrious founder; and I am sure you will agree with me, that 

 the apartment would possess a still dearer interest were such decorations multi- 

 plied — did the countenances of Colebrooke, Wilford, Wilkins, and other distin- 

 guished members look down complacently upon the labours of their successors. I 

 need not add, how irresistible are such influences upon Hie human mind, and how 

 well calculated are such memorials to give a wholesome stimulus to youthful ener- 

 gies. It is not from a merely selfish motive, therefore, that I accede to your 

 request, but in the hope, that even in this way I may contribute, however feebly, to 

 the great ends of our Institution. At the same time I am not insensible of the kind- 

 ness which has prompted the proposal, and if I do feel vain, it is that you should 

 have thought me worthy of the honour of being perpetually, as far as any thing 

 human is perpetual, present amongst you. 



" Gentlemen, I have only further to bid you farewell, and offer you my most 

 fervent hopes for the continued activity of the Asiatic Society, confident, that 

 that alone is necessary to insure it continued and increasing utility and re- 

 putation." 



