INTRODUCTION. 
XXI 
distinguished merits of the Editor of the Gentoo 
Code of Laws in that branch of erudition, and 
be aware that a collection of Indian Works, 
made by such a man, cannot but be an object of 
intrinsic value. Accordingly, the Trustees having 
received intelligence that the Oriental Library 
of Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, Esq., might be 
obtained at a reasonable price, did not hesitate 
to make the acquisition; and, in the year 1/9^, 
obtained the. whole of it for the sum of £bbO. 
It consists of ninety-three volumes, fourteen of 
which are in the Shanskrit language, and the rest 
chiefly Persian : and to these have been added 
twenty-six volumes recently purchased of the Exe¬ 
cutors of the late Colonel Hamilton, the trans¬ 
lator of the Heydaya, and the four Vedas in the 
Shanskrit language, presented by Colonel Polier; 
besides thirty-two volumes which came with the 
trophies of our Egyptian expedition, and various 
other curious and valuable articles. 
Samuel Tyssen, Esq, who, during a short, but Tyssen’s 
active life, had spared neither labour nor expense 
in accumulating a collection of Coins of uncom¬ 
mon magnitude, upon his death, in the year 
1802, left this immense treasure to be disposed 
of by his executors, in any way they should 
degm most eligible. Among the rest w'as found 
in 
