SIR THOMAS STAJrFORD RAPFLES. 33 
filled the office of lipiiteiiftiiit-jjovt»rnor of Java, con- 
ferred upon him th& title of Lieu, ton ant -govern or of 
Beneoolen, a peculiar mark of the favourable sen- 
timents wltich the court entertained of his merits 
and services and thus they^ washed away every iin- 
putattnn iv^hich couh! have pre*"ious!y a^ected his 
character or adrainistmtjon. 
Dtirins hia residence in Enp:lan(!, Mr Raffles 
gained additional friends, on<l fnnn^'d new attach- 
ments ; he regaine<l his former health, and early in 
the year of hi» tirrival married Sophia, the daughter 
of Mr Hull, on Irhh gentleman. His leisure was 
occupietl in wrilin«: his History of Java, of which we 
shall afierwardfl apeak; and upon presenting it to his 
Majesty Georse IV., (at tyiat time Prince Regent), 
3ie received the honour of knighthood. He visited 
also the coniinentt and ever anxioufi for the welfare 
of hi» favourite Java, which had now been sjiven tip 
to the Dntch, he travelled throu'Th Holland, and 
had several inierview.'* with the Dutch kini,--, hoping 
to influence him iu a line of athinnihtration which 
might at once be ino^t advantageous to his govern- 
ment, and favotirnhlc for the native intiahiiants and' 
the prosperity of the island. He examined iiH the con- 
tinental collectioijf*, many of them richer than those- 
m thin country, with the view of improvijig: hii* know- 
ledge before afrain returning to India. Even at lhi» 
time, he cootemplatctl the po«*iihility of an establish- 
ment Hiinilar to the Garden of Plants in Paris, and 
which he seems never to have lost sight of, uulU its^ 
ViiU IV. c 
