William Jones

“ Then Delia thus: "Or rather, since we meet
By chance assembled in this cool retreat,
In artful contest let our warlike train
Move well-directed o'er the field preside:
No prize we need, our ardour to inflame;
We fight with pleasure, if we fight for fame."
The nymph consents: the maids and youths prepare
To view the combat, and the sport to share:
But Daphnis most approv'd the bold design,
Whom Love instructed, and the tuneful Nine. ”

“ As to the literature of Asia, it will not, perhaps, be essentially useful to the greater part of mankind, who have neither leisure nor inclination to cultivate so extensive a branch of learning ; but the civil and natural history of such mighty empires as India, Persia, Arabia, and Tartary, cannot fail of delighting those who love to view the great picture of the universe, or to learn by what degrees the most obscure states have risen to glory, and the most flourishing kingdoms have sunk to decay ”

“ But if this branch of literature has met with so many obstructions from the ignorant, it has, certainly, been checked in its progress by the learned themselves ; most of whom have confined their study to the minute researches of verbal criticism ; like men who discover a precious mine, but instead of searching for the rich ore, or for gems, amuse themselves with collecting smooth pebbles and pieces of crystal. Others mistook reading for learning, which ought to be carefully distinguished by every man of sense ”

“ If learning in general has met with so little encouragement, still less can be expected for that branch of it, which lies so far removed from the common path, and which the greater part of mankind have hitherto considered as incapable of yielding either entertainment or instruction : if pains and want be the lot of a scholar, the life of an Orientalist must certainly be attended with peculiar hardships. Gentius, who published a beautiful Persian work called the Bed of Roses, with an useful but inelegant translation, lived obscurely in Holland, and died in misery. ”

“ The rats not appearing on the first citation, Chasseneuz, their counsel, with true legal subtilty, argued that the summons was of a too local and individual character; that, as all the rats in the diocese were interested, all the rats should be summoned. This plea being admitted, the curate of every parish in the diocese was instructed to summon every rat for a future day. The day arriving, but not any rats, Chasseneuz declared that as all his clients were summoned, including young and old, sick and healthy, great preparations had to be made, and an extension of time was necessary. ”

“ It is an indisputable truth, that learning will always flourish most where the amplest rewards are proposed to the industry of the learned ; and that the most shining periods in the annals of literature are the reigns of wise and liberal princes, who know that fine writers are the oracles of the world, from whose testimony every king, statesman, and hero, must expect the censure or approbation of posterity. In the old states of Greece the highest honours were given to poets, philosophers and orators ”

“ Before I conclude this preface, it will be proper to add a few remarks upon the method of learning the Persian language, and upon the advantages which the learner may expect from it. When the student can read the characters with fluency, and has learned the true pronunciation of every letter from the mouth of a native, let him peruse the grammar with attention, and commit to memory the regular inflexions of the nouns and verbs ; he need not burden his mind with those that deviate from the common forms, as they will be insensibly learned in a short course of reading. ”

“ Some men never heard of the Asiatic writings, and others will not be convinced that there is any thing valuable in them ; some pretend to be busy, and others are really idle ; some detest the Persians, because they believe in Mahomed, and others despise their language because they do not understand it : we all love to excuse, or to conceal, our ignorance and are seldom willing to allow any excellence beyond the limits of our own attainments ”

“ AMONG the strange practices of olden times nothing can be conceived more truly absurd than the trial, by legal proceedings; of animals accused of high crimes and misdemeanors, which prevailed, more or less, from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries, and present a curious picture of the habits of thought during those periods. ”

“ The value of each symbol is collective; that is to say, the sign of a vowel represents a group of related vowel-sounds, and it stands for either a short or a long quantity, and the sign of a consonant may include more than one variation of a certain place of articulation. ”

“ Nor friends, nor foes, their rapid force restrain,
By on quick bound two changing squares they gain;
From varing hues renew the fierce attack,
And rush from black to white, from white to black.
Four solemn elephants the sides defend;
Benearth the load of ponderous towers they bend:
In on unalter'd line they tempt the fight ”

“ This is the exercise so often recommended by the old rhetoricians, by which a student will gradually acquire the style and manner of any author, whom he desires to imitate, and by which almost any language may be learned in six months with ease and pleasure, When he can express his sentiments in Persian with tolerable facility, I would advise him to read some elegant history or poem with an intelligent native, who will explain to him in common words the refined expressions that occur in reading, and will point out the beauties of learned allusions and local images. ”

“ In every instance advocates were assigned to defend the animals. Domestic animals were tried in the ordinary criminal courts; wild animals of a noxious description, such as rats, locusts, caterpillars, and such like, were subjected to the ecclesiastical courts. The first excommunication fulminated against animals is recorded in the twelfth century. ”

“ But if he desires to distinguish himself as an eminent translator, and to understand not only the general purport of a composition, but even the graces and ornaments of it, he must necessarily learn the Arabick tongue, which is blended with the Persian in so singular a manner, that one period often contains both languages wholly distinct from each other in expression and idiom, but perfectly united in sense and construction. ”

“ With an abundant share of exorcisms, charms, and enchantments for the extirpation of vermin in olden time, England does not appear to have enjoyed the notoriety of the legal proceedings against animals which we have recorded as prevalent in foreign countries. ”

“ By one of those revolutions, which no human prudence could have foreseen, the Persian language found its way into India ; that rich and celebrated empire, which, by the flourishing state of our commerce, has been the source of incredible wealth to the merchants of Europe. A variety of causes, which need not be mentioned here, gave the English nation a most extensive power in that kingdom : our India Company began to take under their protection the princes of the country, by whose co-operation they gained their first settlement ”

“ Vida.
↑ The chief art in the Tacticks of Chess consists in the nice conduct of the royal pawns; in supporting them against every attack; and, if they are taken, in supplying their places with other equally supported: a principle, on which the success of the game in great measukre depends, though it seems to be omitted by the very accurate Vida. ”

“ Instead, however, of feeling the effects of this terrible sentence, it is recorded that in some instances the noxious animals, contrary to "withering off the face of the earth," became more abundant and destructive. This the lawyers attributed neither to the injustice of the sentence, nor want of power of the court, but to the machinations of Satan, who, as in the case of Job, is at certain times permitted to tempt and annoy mankind. ”