rds gave a wider
currency to them from the press. He maintained that the representation
ought to be nearly equal and universal; an opinion in which few would
now be found to coincide; and which, if he had lived a little longer, he
would probably himself have acknowledged to be erroneous. At Paris, he
had written a Dialogue between a Farmer and a Country Gentleman on the
Principles of Government, and it was published by the Society. A bill of
indictment was found against the Dean of St. Asaph, whose sister he
afterwards married, for an edition printed in Wales; and Jones avowed
himself the author.

In the beginning of 1783 appeared his translation of the seven Arabian
poems, suspended in the temple at Mecca about the commencement of the
sixth century.

In the March of this year, he was gratified by the long desired
appointment to the office of judge in the supreme court of judicature,
at Fort William, in Bengal, which was obtained for him through the
interest of Lord Ashburton; and he received the honour of knighthood
usually conferred on that occasion. The divisions among his political
friends, after the decease of that excellent nobleman, the Marquis of
Buckingham, afforded him an additional motive for wishing to be employed
at a distance from his country, which he no longer hoped to see
benefited by their exertions. He was immediately afterwards united to
Anna Maria Shipley, the daughter of the Bishop of St. Asaph, a learned
and liberal prelate. His attachment to this lady had been of long
continuance, and he had been waiting only for an honourable independence
before he could resolve to join the fortunes of one so tenderly beloved
to his own.

Sir William Jones embarked for the East in April, 1783. It is impossible
not to sympathise with the feelings of a scholar about to visit places
over which his studies had thrown the charm of a mysterious interest; to
explore treasures that had rested as yet in darkness to European eyes;
and to approach the imagined cradle of human science and art. During his
voyage he made the following memoranda of objects for his inquiry, and
of works to be begun or executed during his residence in Asia.

1. The laws of the Hindus and Mahommedans.

2. The History of the Ancient World.

3. Proofs and Illustrations of Scripture.

4. Traditions concerning the Deluge, &c.

5. Modern Politics, and Geography of Hindustan.

6. Best Mode of Governing Bengal.

7. Arithmetic and Geometry,