The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-10-24
. Sketch of the life of John Thornton.

Sketch of the life of John Thornton.
Sir William Jones was born in the year 174s.
at his fathers refidence in Wales. He was fon
to the celebrated mathematician William Jones,
who was both the difcple and friend of Sir Ifaac
Newton, under whole patronage he taught ma
thematics IN London, and had the honor of in
fruSting the late Earl of Hardwicke in that fci-
ence. MIR. Jones publiihed feverai tracts on ana
UTICA! fubjects, for which he had high and me-
l1tcd encomiums beloved on him by the Royal
Society, at that period 70 luxurious for their Ia
tents. ihIs eminent mathematician had in con-
temptation a work of the firtt magnitude and
utility, which had long been defideraturn i'm IL
terature, and the completion of which would
have required ali the attention which his COM
preventive mind and vaft knowledge in philofo-
ply was capable of applying to it ; for it was
nothing LET'S than fynopis the mathematical
and philosophical works of Newton, of whom
it has been cloquentiy faid, Z" that his name is
not 70 much that of man as of phlofophy it
fef."
Unfortunately, however, for the advancement
OF fcience, fatal llnefs carried him off, fhortly
after he had put the frt fhcet of his work to the
preis; and his friend the Earl of Maccles6eId.
to whom he had bequeathed the manufcript,
and whom ne had particularly initruacd to pub
nh 1t, by ihametul breach of truit, lent If to
an lnfgnihcan: geometrician, from whole hands
If was never redeemed.
Under the guidance and tuition of f;Ich n pa.
rent, Sir William Jones's mind was eahlv form
ed to regular habits of thinking, and from him
he loon caught the generous enthu6afin of lite
rary fame. After having been initructed BY his
rather IN the rudiments of cIailical learning, he
was placed ut Harrow fchool, where he difiu-
gulihed himiclFno lefs by his wonderful facility
in acquiring the learned languages, than By his
fine tate in Latin poetry. At Harrow, he fra
became acquainted with the celebrated Or. Parr,
who was one Of his fchoo fellows, and with
whom he cultivated friendflip, that continu-
ed, without interruption or abatement, To the
: iat hour OF his life. In l766, he was removed
from Harrow to Unverhty College, Oxford, of
which he was foon made fellow, and where he
was equally dftingui'hed for the prematurity of
his mind, and uneXampled diligence in his itu-
dles. HIS diligence was indeed 70 unremitted,
and his memory 70 retentiye, that before he at.
I tanned tie age Of 90, he had ma1ered moi only
the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin toneues, but had
; made eteat proficiency in the Arabic and Peril
! an Idioms. Neither had his fearching and curl
Gus mind negletted 10 cultivate the polinled
languages OF modern Europe, and of the French
his knowledge was 70 perfect, that at the age of
I twenty-fOur, while he was vet recluGe nudert
~ Oxford, he translated the rory of Nadir Shah
iTon the feriian into French, not only with
grammatical correctness, but with purity aud
elegance of d6tion that obtained him the ap-
p'aute ofthe moi diftinguiihed critics of France.
The Perilan original Of this work was fent to
England bJ The King o. Denmark, accompanied
with requeN from his Danifh Maiely, that
tome OF the learned OTientalifs of Oxford would
( uiGoItake to give a French tranflation Of it.
Inc difficulty of the talk deferred many from
attempting II and If Mr.. Jones's anxiety for
the literary honor Of his country had not pre-
vailed over his native modeay, the Periian ma
nuicrPt would IN all probability, have been re-
turned to Denmark NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. his eeni-
u9, learning and induftry, RATED the one and ref
cued the other from oblivion.
Tic was Few fsIniiar with the Freneh Ian-