SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES. 
33 
filled the office of lieutenant-governor of Java, con- 
ferred upon him the title of Lieutenant-governor of 
Bencoolen, as a peculiar mark of the favourable sen- 
timents which the court entertained of his merits 
and services and thus they washed away every im- 
putation which could have previously affected his 
character or administration. 
During his residence in England, Mr Raffles 
gained additional friends, and formed new attach- 
ments ; he regained his former health, and early in 
the year of his arrival married Sophia, the daughter 
of Mr Hull, an Irish gentleman. His leisure was 
occupied in writing his History of Java, of which we 
shall afterwards spealc ; and upon presenting it to his 
Majesty George IV., (at that time Prince Regent), 
he received the honour of knighthood. He visited 
also the continent, and ever anxious for the welfare 
of his favourite Java, which had now been given up 
to the Dutch, he travelled through Holland, and, 
had several interviews with the Dutch king, hoping 
to influence him in a line of administration which 
might at once be most advantageous to his govern- 
ment, and favourable for the native inhabitants and 
the prosperityof the island. He examined all the con- 
tinental collections, many of them richer than those 
in this country, with the view of improving his know- 
ledge before again returning to India. . Even at this 
time, he contemplated the possibility of an establish- 
ment similar to the Garden of Plants in Paris, and 
which he seems never to have lost sight of, until its 
VOL. YIII. 
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