JONES. 



1784 forms an intoreftiiig era in the memoirs of Mr. Jones. 

 His profefllonal pradlice had increafed, and afforded a pro- 

 fped of farther enlargement with augmented profit ; but as 

 his views were particularly diredL-d to the vacant feat on the 

 bench of Fort William in Bengal, and as lurd North had 

 encouraged his expeftation of occupying it, he was lefs 

 anxious about the augmentation of bufiiiels in his legal pro- 

 feflion. In this Itate of fiifpcncc, the pohtical events of the 

 times engaged his attention. To the American war, in its 

 commencement and further progrcfs, he was decidedly ad- 

 verfe. At this time the refloftions which he indulged dic- 

 tated a very animated and claffical ode to liberty, which he 

 compofed in Latin, and publiihed under the title of " Julii 

 Meleligoni ad Libertatem," the afTuined name being formed 

 by a tranfpolition of the letters of C uhelmus .Toncrms. This 

 ode ilrongly difplays his genius, erudition, feelings, and politi- 

 cal principles. The vacancy of a feat in parliament for the 

 UDi\-erfity of Oxford being likely to occur, Mr. Jones was 

 encouraged by his friends to offer himfclf as a candidate; but 

 though he was ambitious of this honour, the diiappointment 

 gave him no great concern. Although this contcllcd elcftion 

 occupied a coniiderable portion of his thoughts and time, he 

 founB leifure to pub!i{h a fmall pamphlet, entitled " An In- 

 quiry into the legal Mode of fuppreSing Riots, with a eon- 

 ftitutional Plan of future Defence." In a fpeech, eminently 

 charafterillic of his principles and feehngs, which he intended 

 to have delivered at a meeting of the freeholders of Mid- 

 dlefex, alTembled Sept. gth of this year, for nominatitig two 

 reprefentatives in the new parliament, he reprobated the 

 American war and the conduft of the late parliament in 

 fupporting it : he expreiTed liis fentiments without referve 

 on the African flave trade, amlavovved the conduA which he 

 would have purfued, if he had been placed in the houfe of com- 

 mons. In thecourfe of this year, the death of his mother, to 

 whom he was attached by every poffible tie of nature, affeflion, 

 and gratitude, involved him in the deepeft aiHiftion. In this 

 and the following year he was diligently employed in his pro- 

 feflional lludies and prailice, wlvilft hterature and politics 

 aHb engaged a degree of his attention ; but the principal ob- 

 jeft of his ambition and hopes was the vacant feat on the 

 bench in India. Whatever was conneded with this objeft in- 

 terefted his thoughts ; and hence he was led to undertake the 

 tranflation of an Arabian poem on the Mohammedan law of 

 fucceffion to the property of inteltatcs. In the year 1782 

 the public attention was much occupied with attempts to pro- 

 cure, by conftitutional mean?, a reformation of parliament. 

 This was a bulinefs congenial to Mr. Jones's fentiments and 

 •feelings ; and he concurred in the pubhc efforts for this pur- 

 pofe, both by fpcaking and writing. About this time he 

 pubhihed his " Eifay on the Law of Bailments ;'"' and in the 

 fame year, 1 782, he became a member of the Society for Con- 



ftitittional IrJormatii 



In his letter of acknowledijment for 



•being elcctL^d into this fociety, he profeiTes his attachment to 

 the excellent conftitution of his country; and then adds, 

 •" on the people depend the welfere, the fecnrity, and the per- 

 ■tnanence of every legal government ; in the people mnil rdide 

 all fubftantial power f and to the people mull all thofe, in 

 whofe ability and knowledge we fometimes wifely, often im- 

 prudently, confide, be always accountable for the due exercife 

 of that po^>ver with which they are for a time entrulled." 

 Whilft he was at Paris, in the year 1782, he wrote a little 

 -"jeu d'efprit," as he calls it ; ajid of winch he fays, in a 

 Jetter to lord Althorp, " it was printed here by a fociety, 

 who, if they will fteer clear of party, will do more good 

 ;to. Britain, than all the philofophers and anlitiuaries of So- 

 .merfet houfe. But to fpcak the tre.tti, 1 greatly doubt, 

 whether they, or any other man in this country, caa do it 



fubftantial good. The nation, as Demofthenes fay?, will 

 be fed hke a confumptive patient, with chicken brotii and 

 panada, which will neither fuffer him to expire, nor keep, 

 him wholly alive." T*iis "jeu d'efprit" was a "Dialogue 

 between a Farmer and Country Gentleman on the Principles 

 of Government." After a bill of indiftment had been 

 found againft the dean of St. .\faph, for the publication of 

 the edition, which was printed in Wales, fir William Jones 

 fent a letter to lord Kenyon, then chief-juftice of Cheftcr, 

 in which he avowed himfelf to be the author of the dia- 

 logue, and maintained that every pofition in it was ftriftl^ 

 conformable to the laws and conllitution of England. In 

 the beginning of i 783, Mr. Jones pubhflied his tranflation of 

 tlie feven Arabian poems, which he had finiflied in I78». 

 The moll interelling period of Mr. Jones's life was now ap- 

 proaching ; for in March 1783, by the adlive fricndlhip 

 of lord Afhburton, and under the adniini 11 ration of lord 

 Shelburnc, he was appointed a judge of the fupreme court 

 of judicature at Fort WiUiam in Bengal, on which occafion 

 he received the honour of knighthood ; and in the April fol- 

 lowing, he married Anna Maria Shipley, the eldeft daughter 

 of the bifliop of St. Afaph, a lady to whom he had been long 

 attached, who deferved his moil affcclioiiate eilecm, who 

 contributed in a very high degree to his domeflic happinefs, 

 and who lamented his death with a moft pungent and perma- 

 nent grief. To the publications of fir William Jones, which 

 we have already noticed, we ftiall here add an abridged hif- 

 tory of the life of Nadir Shah, in Englilh, and a hillory of 

 the Perfian language, intended to be prefixed to the firfl edi- 

 tion of his Perfian grammar. 



Sir Wilham Jones embarked for India in the Crocodile 

 frigate, and in April 1783 left his native country. He was 

 now in his j7th year, with his faculties in full vigour, in 

 poffeffion of the appointment to which his views had been 

 long directed, indulging the expeftation of acquiring an 

 ample independence, and having no reafon to apprehend 

 that the climate of India would be hoftile to his conllitution. 

 He could not be forry to abandon the political difcuffions, 

 that divided his friends and alienated them from one an- 

 other ; and which muft have produced mutual (hynefs and 

 refei-ve between him and thofe to whom he was in other 

 refpefts attached ; and which ferved to agitate the whole 

 country. He had with him a companioa and friend, from 

 whofe fociety he could not but derive the greateft Hitisfaftion 

 and comfort, which kindred minds and united hearts are ca- 

 pable of receiving and communicating. In fnch fociety, 

 and with ample refources in his own mind, a kind of tempo- 

 rary banifhment from his country would be tolerable, the 

 long voyage would not be tedious and uninterefting, and a 

 fettlement for important and beneficial purpofes in a foreign 

 land would be regarded without an-xiety and averfion. In 

 September 1783 he hinded fafely at Calcutta, and was re- 

 ceived with cordial congratulations by thofe who were chiefly 

 interelled in his arrival. In the following December he en- 

 tered upon his judicial fundlions, and at the opening of the 

 fcfiions, delivered to the grand jury his firll charge, which 

 was concife, elegant, appropriate, and conrihatory. Scien- 

 tific objeils, during the intervals of profcfiional duties, en- 

 gaged his attention ; and in order to combine the efforts of 

 many in ufeful purfuits, he cJevifed the inllitution of a fo- 

 ciety in Calcutta, fimilar in its plan and ol Jefis to thofe that 

 have been-cllabliflied in the principal cities of Europe. See 

 Society. 



In the year fuccecding that of his arrival, fir WiUiam Jones 



was attacked with a diiorder which exhaulled his llrcngth, 



and threatened his valuable life. As foon, however, as be 



was able to undertake it, he projefted a journey to Benares, 



^ , principally- 



