A literary history of Persia

$d HISTORY OF PERStAtt PtitLOLOGYtaste, but absolutely refused to recognise the immense importance,ana even the reality, of discoveries which might havecondoned far more serious shortcomings. As Darmesteter"happily puts it, the Zend-Avesta suffered for the fault of itsintroducer, Zoroaster for Anquetil."As a matter of fact Anquetil's remarks about the Englishare (when we remember the circumstances under which heVil aAnq uetii.fwrote, in time of war, when he had seen hisnation worsted by ours, and had himself beenheld captive, not being a prisoner of war, withinour borders) extremelyfair and moderate, nay, most gratifying,on the whole, to our amour propre, as may be seen in his glowingeulogy of Mr. Spencer (p. cccxlvi), his remarks on thegenerosity of the English towards the unfortunate of even ahostile nation (p. ccccxxxi), his recognition of their hospitalityand delicacy of feeling (pp. ccccxxxvii-xxxix), and thelike ;while his railleries at one or two of the Oxford doctorsatthe " mchant bonnet gras a trois cornes " of Dr. Swinton,the ill-judged pleasantry of Dr. Hunt, the haughty, and magisterialbearing of Dr. Barton are in reality very harmless, andquite devoid of malice. In short, there is nothing in Anquetil'sbook to justifySir William Jones's bitterirony andferocious invective, much less his attempt to deny the greatservices rendered to science by the object of his attack, andto extinguish the new-born light destined to illuminate in sounexpected a manner so many problems of history, philology,and comparative theology. Here are a few specimens sufficientto illustrate the general tone of his letter :" Ne soyez point surpris, Monsieur, de recevoir cette lettre d'uninconnu, qui aime les vrais talens, et qui sait apprecierS^TTones's ** VOtTCS.letter " Souffrez qu'on vous felicite de vos heureusesto Anquetil. ,\decouvertes. Vous avez souvent prodigue votre precieusevie ;vous avez franchi des mcrs orageuses, des montagnesremplies de tigres vous avez fletri votre teint, que vous nous;dites, avec autant d'elegance que de modestie, avoir ete compose