NO. 47. — 1896.] MALAY, SINHALESE, AND TAMIL. 



223 



RELAND ON MALAY, SINHALESE, AND TAMIL. 



By J. P. Lewis, c.c.s. 



[Adrian Reland, a learned Orientalist, was born July 17, 

 1676, at Rijp, a hamlet in North Holland, his father being 

 Minister in the place. After Adrian's birth the father 

 removed to Amsterdam, and in that city the education of the 

 youth commenced. At the early age of eleven he had gone 

 through the usual classical course. Under the guidance 

 of Surenhusius, the next three years were devoted to the 

 Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic languages. He then 

 entered the University of Utrecht, and after a three-years' 

 course was admitted to the degree of Doctor in Philosophy. 

 His University studies were commenced under Graevius 

 and Leusden, and his divinity course was begun under 

 Wetsius. He next removed to Leyden, and soon after 

 became tutor to the son of the Earl of Portland, King 

 William's favourite. In 1699 he was chosen Professor of 

 Philosophy at Hardenwyk ; but he quitted this situation in 

 a short time, as on the recommendation of King William he 

 was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages and Ecclesi- 

 astical Antiquities at Leyden. He held this situation seven- 

 teen years, and died in his forty-second year, of smallpox, 

 on February 5, 1718. The great erudition and sound mind of 

 Reland are conspicuous in all his works. The principal of 

 these are : — " De Religione Mohammedica" in 1715, a useful 

 book for the time ; " Dissertationes Miscellanea; " in 1716,* 



* This I think is a mistake. I have before me the third and last 

 volume of this work, and it was published in 1708 at Utrecht. The title 

 page is ; — ■ 



Hadriani Relandi 

 Dissertationum 

 Miscellanearum 

 Pars Tertia 

 Et Ultima 



Trajecti ad Rhenum. 



25- 



En Officina Gulielmi Broedelet Bibliopolas, MDCCVIII. 

 —96 



O 



