A literary history of Persia

S7R WILLIAM JONES 49whence, after a stay of two days, he returned, by way ofWickham, Portsmouth, and London, to Gravesend, where heembarked for Ostend on February I4th. He finally reachedParis on March 14, 1762, and on the following day at lengthdeposited his manuscripts at the Bibliotheque du Roi.The appearance of Anquetil's work in 1771 was far fromat once convincing the whole learned world of the greatservices which he had rendered to science. InReception of , /- > i i /- 1-1Anquetudu place of the wisdom expected from a sage likePerron's work. _ .....,Zoroaster, who, even in classical times, enjoyedso great a reputation for profound philosophic thought, thecurious and the learnedwere confronted with what appearedto them to be a farrago of puerile fables, tedious formulae,wearisome repetitions, and grotesque prescriptions. The11^jS*lettergeneral disappointment (which, indeed, Anquetilhad himself foreseen and foretold, pp. i-ii),found its most ferocious expression in the famousof Sir William Jones, at that time a young graduate ofOxford. 1 This letter, written in French on the model ofVoltaire,will be found at the end of the fourth volume(pp. 583-613) of his works (London, 1799). It was pennedin 1771, the year in which Anquetil's work appeared, and isequally remarkable for the vigour and grace of its style, andthe deplorable violence and injustice of its contents. Thewriter's fastidious taste was offended by Anquetil's prolixityand lack of style ;while his anger was kindled by the somewhategotistic strain which, it must be admitted, runs throughthe narrative portion of his work, and by certain of his reflectionson the English in general and the learned doctors ofOxford in particular ;and he suffered himself to be so blindedby these sentiments that he not only overwhelmed Anquetilwith satire and invective which nre not always in the best1He was at this time about twenty-five years of age, a Fellow ofUniversity College, and a B.A. of three years' standing. He died in 1794,at the age of forty-eight.5