in the system he had early laid down for preserving the purity of the English tongue. As an instance of the former, when any ladies were in company whose sleeves were at a distance from their elbows, or whose bosoms were at all exposed, he would fidget from place to place, look askance, with a slight convulsion of his left eye, and never rest till he approached some of them, and, pointing to their arms, say, "Oh yes, indeed! it is very pretty, but it betrays more fashion than modesty 199 or some similar phrase; after which he became very good humoured. In respect to the foible from the other source, it consisted in taking the liberty of correcting others in the mispronunciation of their words; but, far from meaning to hurt or offend, it was ovident that his intention was to oblige; and if it was not always received with deference, it ought at least always to have been attributed to the simplicity of his character, never to unpoliteness, and still less to churlishness.-How were these foibles obliterated by the genuine kindness of his heart and the benevolence of his soul! It were endless to relate the instances of them. One shall suffice, and conclude this tribute to his memory, which might easily be swelled to double its bulk, by detailing his virtues, sentiments, and opinions. He had a friend, who lost a virtuous, amiable, and most beloved daughter.The grief that such a loss inflicts is not to be soothed by the condolence of language; the wretched man fled from the spot where his happiness had received the blow: he fled also from society. Mr Elphinston, who understood Nature, assured him, that under his roof he should find a room where he might grieve undisturbed. This real friendship was accepted. In his house he remained for weeks, left entirely to the impulses of his own feelings. After a while, the conversation that was not forced was courted; and a

degree of relief insinuated, which could never have been bestowed by active condolence. My child has opened her arms to receive him; she has paid her father's debt in Heaven, which he could never have acquitted on earth!

The following inscription is copied from a marble slab erected on the Eastern wall of Kensington church: "Sacred

of

to the memory
JAMES ELPHINSTON.
His mind was ingenuous,

his heart was affectionate, his manners, though polished, were simple,

his integrity was undeviating;
he was a great scholar

and a real Christian. JORTIN, FRANKLIN, and JOHNSON, were in the number of his friends. He was born at Edinburgh, Nov. 26, O. S. 1721. He died at Hammersmith, Oct. 8, 1809, and his remains are deposited near the South wall of the Church-yard.

In grateful remembrance of his virtues and affection, his Widow has caused this tablet to be engraven."

There is a small portrait of Mr Elphinston, which is extremely like, engraved by Caldwall.

Account of the Examination of the College of FORT WILLIAM. Wednesday, Aug. 7. 1811.

PUBLIC DISPUTATIONS.

HIS Excellency Lieutenant-general

George Hewett, vice-president and acting visitor of the College of Fort William, in the absence of the governor-general, having appointed this day for a public disputation in the Asiatic languages, to be held in conformity with the statutes of the college, the president and members of the college council, the officers, professors, and students of the college, met at ten o'clock at the government

house,

When the disputations were concluded, the president of the college council presented to the acting visitor, the several students of the college, who were entitled under statute viii. to receive degrees of honour; as well as the students, who, at the late examination, had been found qualified to enter upon the public service; and had consequently obtained permission to quit the college, under the rule contained in section II. regulation III. 1807. The president read the certificate granted by the council of the college to each student, in pursuance of the above statute, specifying the proficiency he had made in the prescribed studies of the college, and also the general tenor of his conduct, with the amount, if any, of the debt contracted by him during the period of his attachment to the college. When the certificates had been read, the acting visitor presented to each student, intitled to receive a degree of honour, the usual diploma; and at the same time expressed the satisfaction which he felt in conferring it.

The students on whom his Excellency the acting visitor was pleased to confer degrees of honour on this occasion, and the languages, by their high proficiency in which, the degrees of honour were respectively conferred, are as follows:

1. Montague Ainslie, Persian and Hindoostanee.

2. James Charles Colebrooke Sutherland, Hindostanee.

3. George William Traill, Hindostanee.

4. John Ross Hutchinson, Hindos

1. M. Ainslie, as per annexed report, and two medals, adjudged in the 4th term of 1810, for proficiency in Persian and Hindoostanee.

2. J. C. C. Sutherland, as per annexed report, and two medals, adjudged in the 1st term of 1811, for proficiency in Persian and Hindoos

tance.

3. A. Anderson, as per annexed report, and three medals, adjudged in the 1st term of 1811, for proficiency. in Persian, Hindoostanee, and Benga lee.

4. T. J. Dashwood, as per annexed report, and two medals, adjudged in the 4th term of 1810, for proficiency in Persian and Hindoostanee; and one at the 1st term of 1811, for proficiency in Bengalee.

5. G. W. Traill, as per annexed report, and two medals, adjudged in the 1st term of 1811, for proficiency in Persian and Hindoostanee.

6. J. R. Hutchinson, as per annexed report, and a medal, adjudged in the 1st term of 1811, for proficiency in

"Gentlemen of the College of Fort William:

It is not my intention to offer a full and formal discourse to you on the present occasion. But in conformity with the established usage, you will expect a short address from me, as the representative of Lord Minto, in his Lordship's absence on the public ser

vice.

66

During the period of eleven years, which has elapsed since the foundation of a college at this presidency, for the instruction of the junior servants of the company, in such branches of knowledge as might be deemed requisite to qualify them for the discharge of their future duties, the principles and objects of this institution have been so amply and ably stated by the distinguished characters, who have successively filled the station of patron and visitor, that it cannot be necessary for me to enlarge on these subjects. Nor can it be required of me to show, at this time, how much the public interests in the administration of the government of this extensive and populous territory are involved in the success from year to year, of an institution, the principal object of which is to enable the civil servants of the company, about to enter on the arduous and important career of a public life, to obtain a competent knowledge of the current languages of the country; in which all personal communications with the natives must be held; all judicial, revenue, and commercial transactions be carried on; and official acts, of whatever nature, must, in general, be recorded and promulgated.

"I have great satisfaction in observing, that twenty students are reported by the examiners and council of the college, to have been found qualified, at the present examination, by their proficiency in two or more languages, to enter upon the public service. This equals the highest num

ber

ber reported to have obtained the same qualification in past years; and is alone sufficient to maintain the credit of the college, as well as to prove its continued utility in accomplishing the purpose designed by it. This expediency of the requisition of a competent knowledge of two languages, as notified in the visitor's last discourse, and the practicability of a compliance with that requisition by diligence and exertion, (when not prevented by lengthened illness or particular impediments,) may also be considered as strongly confirmed. And the gratification which 1 derive from noticing, in the list of proficients about to leave the college, the names of some students who have been long attached to it, is enhanced by the reflection, that the government is not called upon to perform the painful duty of enforcing the penalty denounced for instances of wilful and obstinate neglect of study, and consequent disqualification, ascertained at a fourth annual examination.

"The character of the college is further supported in the present year, by the high proficiency of the gentlemen upon whom I have this day had the pleasure of conferring degrees of honour.

"Mr Ainslie, in the Persian and Hindoostanee language.

"Mr Sutherland, Mr Trail, and Mr Hutchinson, in the Hindoostanee language.

"Mr Lewin, Mr Dashwood, and Mr Anderson, in the language of Bengal.

"The eminent proficiency attained by Mr Ainslie, in two languages, has been acquired in nine months. He was admitted to the college in October

1810.

“Messrs. Sutherland, Traill, Hutchinson, and Anderson, were admitted at the still later period of December 1810. The admission of Mr Dashwood was also no longer since than September 1810. Mr Sutherland,

besides his eminence in Hindoostanee, has obtained such proficiency in the Bengalee and Persian languages, as to be placed by the examiners in the second class of each of those languages. Messrs. Traill and Hutchinson, in addition to their high proficiency in Hindoostanee, are clas sed, the former in the second class of Persian; the latter in the second class of Bengalee, and third of Persian. Messrs. Dashwood and Anderson, to their eminence in the language of Bengal, have added such proficiency in Persian and Hindoostanee, as intitled them to a place in the second class of each of those languages. The distinguished merits of the whole of these gentlemen, for high, various, and rapid proficiency in the prescribed studies of the college, are so conspicuous, as to require only this general notice. Nor should it lessen their just claim to the tribute of applause, due for uniform meritorious conduct, evinced by diligent and zealous application,that they brought with them, as the basis of their late acquirements, the fruits of their former assiduity, either at the college of Hertford, or on their passage to India. On the contrary, the superstructure which they have raised upon such a foundation is equally honourable to themselves, and beneficial to the public; and I am happy to mention, as well to the credit of Messrs. Sutherland, Trail, and Hutchinson, as in the hope of their example being followed by others, that I understand, they availed themselves of the aid of Lieutenant Roebuck, Mr Gilchrist's able coadjator in the second edition of his Hindoostanee Dictionary, to pursue their study of that language on their way to Bengal. Were such opportunities taken, whenever they occur, and the rudiments of oriental learning obtained at Hertford, improved as far as circumstances admit during the unoccupied time of a voyage to India, we might expect frequent instances of

the

the junior servants of the company bringing with them, not only an ele. mentary knowledge of the Asiatic languages, but such a degree of proficiency in them, as, with the favourable means of local instruction afforded by the college of Fort William, must render a short period of study in it sufficient to complete their qualification for the public service.

"In addition to those already mentioned, I am happy to notice in the list of students, reported qualified to leave the college, the names of four other gentlemen, whose collegiate studies have been of short duration. Mr Fendall, who was admitted in December last, has obtained a competent knowledge of the Persian, Hindoostanee, and Bengalee languages, such as entitled him to be placed by the examiners in the second class of each of these languages. Mr Pringle, who entered the college in the same month, has obtained a place in the second class of Hindoostanee and Bengalee. And Messrs. Yonge and Pares, who were admitted in October last, are both included in the second class of Persian and Hindoostanee. These instances of early proficiency, with those before mentioned, prove the increasing utility of the oriental instruction given at Hertford, in aiding and promoting the objects of the institution at this presidency and although, I understand, the effects have been most obvious in the Persian and Bengalee languages, it is the opinion of the Hindoostanee professor, that the study of that language has, in many instances, been facilitated by the acquirements of the student in other Asiatic languages.

"In concluding what I have to say respecting the gentlemen about to leave the college, I must not omit an officer of the Madras establishment, who having visited Calcutta for the recovery of his health, and wishing to improve the opportunity of prosecuting his studies in the Persian and Arabic languages, applied for, and obNov. 1812.

tained permission to attend the lectures of the college. Lieutenant Young's limited residence in Bengal has confined his attendance to the short period of six weeks; but the profitable manner in which he has employed this time, is evinced by his holding the third place in the second class of Persian, at the late examination. I come next to the students who remain for the present in the college, and of these, Mr Lewin, who has obtained a degree of honour for his high proficiency in the Bengal language, is entitled to particular ROtice. The professor of that language, in his report of the last term, after bearing testimony to the general diligence of the gentlemen composing his first and second classes, adds, "Among these Mr Lewin has distinguished himself, by having translated a considerable part of Telemachus into the Bengalee language." Incompetent as I am to judge of the difficulty of this work, I cannot but deem the above report highly creditable to Mr Lewin; and though his not having obtained adequate proficiency in a second language, has, under an impartial adherence to the rule before noticed, prevented his immediate release from the college, I am happy to observe his name at the head of 11 students, whom the college council have reported qualified in one language, and so far advanced in another as to warrant the belief, that a short period of study will complete their qualification in a second language; on which grounds it is recommended, " that they be permitted to quit the college at any future quarterly examination, when they may be duly qualified to enter upon the public services by their proficiency in two languages." This measure, though it involves some deviation from the usual practice, being consistent with the general rule enacted by section 12, regulation 3, 1807, that "the future continuance of students in the college shall be regulated by

their