1838.] 



Royal Asiatic Society, 



371 



eminence cannot fail to command the attention of tlie future biogra- 

 pher and historian. It may, however, be allowed here to mention that 

 it was the gracious intention of His Majesty, as signified through the 

 President, to confer the same mark of distinction on Mr. Coiebrooke as 

 on Sir Charles Wilkins, but that the extreme ill-health of the former 

 prevented his availing himself of this gracious intention of the illustri- 

 ous and Royal Patron of the Society. 



In addition to the gifted individuals above-mentioned, the Society 

 has sustained a heavy loss in the deaths of the following Members : — 

 Lord Viscount Kingsborough ; Lieut.-General Colin Macauley ; Major- 

 General William Macleod ; Lieut-Colonel Thomas David Steuart ; 

 JohnBrenton; John Davidson; Robert Thomas Glynn ; David Hali- 

 burton; Jerome W. Knapp ; James Mill; Alexander Pearson ; David 

 Shea; George Smith; John Penford Thomas, Esquires; and, but a 

 very few days ago, in that of another Member, — Sir Whitelaw Ainslie, 

 whose valuable '* Materia Indica" has introduced to Europe a knowledge 

 of the various articles used by the natives of the East, in their medicine, 

 arts, and agriculture. 



It would be a pleasing duty to your Council to advert to each in- 

 dividual character of the long list of names which has been read, but the 

 limits of this Report admit only of a few brief remarks. 



To Lord Kingsborough, the munificient patron of the arts, and gene- 

 rous contributor to all literary and scientific institutions, the Society is 

 indebted for the copy it possesses of the splendid edition of the Anti- 

 quities of Mexico, published by his Lordship ; a work which is at once 

 a specimen of graphic skill and elaborate decoration. "We are also in- 

 debted to Lord Kingsborough for several other valuable donations, 

 ■among which may be mentioned the original MS. copy of Amiot's Mand- 

 chou Dictionary. 



Mr. Shea is well known by his translation of an interesting portion 

 of Mirkhond's History of Persia. He had nearly completed a transla- 

 tion of the Dabistan, an account of the various religious and philosophi- 

 cal sects that have prevailed in the world, when death put a stop to the 

 further labours of this valuable Member of our Society. He had been 

 induced to undertake this w^ork at the request of the Oriental Transla- 

 tion Committee ; and it will be gratifying to the friends of Mr. Shea 

 to learn, that Captain Troyer, of Paris, a gentleman well-known in this 

 country and throughout Europe for his great acquirements in Oriental 

 literature, has, in the most liberal manner, undertaken to complete the 

 translation, and to edit the work for the Committee. 



Mr. Shea had never been in Asia, and he was one of the few who 



