Dr. Johnson says, that "to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire, and to answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror, and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself."

Such, certainly, was not the case with Sir William Jones, notwithstanding his extraordinary love of letters and learning. As a lawyer he enjoyed a fair share of practice, wrote the "Essay on Bailments," considered the best law-book in the English language, and finally obtained the object of his ambition, an Indian judgeship.

His father, a native of Anglesey, was an eminent mathematician in London, where the future scholar was born in the year 1746. When still in child-hood he lost his father; but it was his good fortune to have a mother of strong mind, sound sense, and considerable acquirements, who inspired him with Christian piety and a taste for learning. Even in infant years he became remarkable for his industry in searching for knowledge; and when he applied to his mother for information on any subject, her con-stant answer was, "Read, and you will know." The words sank deep into his heart, and formed his rule throughout life so completely, that within a week of his death on the banks of the Ganges he was busily occupying himself with the study of books relating to several Oriental dialects. In his fifth year his imagination was captivated, and his heart lastingly impressed, with the sublime description of the descent of the angel in the tenth chapter of the Apocalypse. When he had reached the age of seven, he was sent to Harrow, and put into a class so much beyond his years, that all his companions had the advantage of him in previous instructions. This, as Sir Walter Scott has shown, is a perilous position for a boy; but nothing could daunt the diligence of Jones, who straightway procured the grammars and other books, the knowledge of which, rendered his class-fellows his superiors, and studied them so resolutely, that ere long he began to shoot a-head of the other boys, and in due time was regarded as the pride of the school. His companions and teachers were alike struck by the wonderful diligence and talents he brought to bear on his studies. So great, indeed, was his devotion to study, that he was in the habit of sitting up for whole nights over his books, and resisting sleep by the aid of tea. His labours encountered for the sake of learning far exceeded the tasks he had to prepare for school; and, even then he made so much progress in legal knowledge as to be able to put to his companions cases from an abridgement of "Coke's Institutes." One of his Harrow contemporaries, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, describes him at eight or nine as an "uncommon boy;" and in writing of his subsequent school career he says,—

"Great abilities, great particularity of thinking, fondness for writing verses. and plays of various kinds, and a degree of integrity and manly courage, distinguished him even at that period. I loved and revered him; and though one or two years older than he, was always instructed by him from my earliest age."

"To exquisite taste and learning, quite unparalleled," writes Dr. Parr, another of his schoolfellows, "Sir William Jones is known to have united the most benevolent temper and the purest morals."

Dr. Thackeray, at that time Master of Harrow, declared the mind of Jones to be so active, that if he were left naked and friendless on Salisbury Plain, we would, nevertheless, find the road to fame and riches.

On leaving school, his relations wished him to be placed forthwith, to be initiated into the mysteries of law by a special pleader, but he was entered at University College, Oxford, in 1762. He there, besides complying with the discipline of the place, and continuing his classical studies, made great progress in the languages of modern Europe. He had, during his leisure hours at Harrow, learned the Arabic characters; and he now, with the assistance of a native of Aleppo, applied himself to the study of the Oriental languages, of which he afterwards possessed a knowledge so marvellous. His accomplishments, indeed, were great and various. He seems to have aspired to —

"The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's eye, tongue, sword;" in fact, to being a sort of modern Admirable Crich-ton: for, during the vacations spent in London, he had himself instructed in fencing and horsemanship, occupied himself with the best authors of Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal; a year or two later he seized the opportunity, being in Germany, to learn music, dancing, and the art of playing on the Welsh harp; he studied Newton's "Principia," and attended the lectures of Dr William Hunter on Anatomy.

Well, indeed, might he boast, when writing to a friend, that with the fortune of a peasant he was giving himself the education of a prince.

In 1765 he became private tutor to Lord Althorpe, whom he accompanied to Spa. On returning, he resided with his pupil at Harrow, where, at the request of the King of Denmark, he translated the "Life of Nadir Shah," from Persian into French. Shortly after this he resigned his tutorship, and entered himself as a student of law at the Temple, in compliance with the request of his friends.

"Their advice," ho writes, "was conformable to my own inclinations; for the only road to the highest stations in this country is that of law, and I need not add, how ambitious and laborious I am." And later, "I have learned so much, seen so much, said so much, and thought so much, since I conversed with you, that were I to attempt to tell half what I have learned, seen, writ, said, and thought, my letter would have no end. I spend the whole winter in attending to the public speeches of our greatest lawyers and senators, and in studying our own admirable laws. I give up my leisure hours to a poli-tical treatise, from which I expect some reputation; and I have several objects of ambition which I cannot trust to a letter, hut will impart to you when we meet."

Notwithstanding his numerous avocations, he prepared for publication a collection of poems, consisting chiefly of translations from the Oriental languages, which appeared in 1772, when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Two years later appeared his celebrated commentaries, "De Poesi Asiatics," which gained him much and wide-spread fame.

On being called to the bar, he relinquished for a while his literary pursuits, devoted himself with assiduity to his legal functions, and was, without solicitation, appointed a Commissioner in Bankruptcy. In 1788 he published his translation of the "Isaeus," which displayed much profound and critical research, and excited great admiration. He realised the grand object of his ambition in being appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Bengal in 1783 On arrival in India he established the Asiatic Society, and studied the Sanscrit and Arabic languages with great success, and undertook to superintend a digest of the Hindoo and Mahommedan jurisprudence. He did not, however, live to fulfil his intention, being cut off on the 27th of April, 1794.

His acquirements as a linguist were almost miraculous, and embraced the knowledge of twenty-eight different languages, the result of diligent labour, intense study, and matchless regularity; and of a fixed determination never to allow any difficulty that could possibly be surmounted to bar his onward course.

The maxim of this great man was, never to neglect any opportunity of improvement that presented itself, and he acted upon it with a vigour, earnest-ness, and success, which may well tempt the juvenile scholar to do likewise; to emulate the industry by which he acquired his spotless fame, and the faith which he so strictly maintained with his neighbour and his God.