of a great town, and in a multiplicity of commercial avoca→ tions, little attention is generally paid to the remains of antiquity, or to the whifpers of tradition concerning them.' But there is a fmall district adjoining to the Caftle-field, which is frequently mentioned in records, and denominated ALDPORT or Old Borough. Within the compass of this district must the town have originally stood. And a little fold of houses remains in this district to the present period, which carries, in all the records of the place, the actual appellation of ALDPORT TON, or Old Borough-Town: though, from some constructions made here about forty years ago by a gentleman of the name of Hooper, the old appellation has been popularly altered into Hooper-ton. On the ground therefore contiguous to thefe houses must the town have been originally planted. And betwixt the Caftle-field and the fold is an area of 16 or 17 acres, which was certainly the original area of the ancient Manchefter.'-And, as a proof thereof, the foil of the southern part of this area is abfolutely one great body of adventitious earth, fragments of bricks, pieces of hewn ftones, ard remnants of urns. Huge blocks of a millftone-grit have been recently dug up within the circuit of the area with their mortar firmly adhering to them: and the whole level of the ground appears to have been traversed with streets of regular pavement in a variety of directions across it.'- Such was the fpot which Agricola felected for the town of Mancunium. And fuch was the commencement of a town that was to become fo confpicuous afterwards, to lengthen out into fair streets, and to open into graceful fquares, to contain affembled thousands within her ample circuit, and to extend her varied commerce beyond the barriers of the ocean.' [To be concluded in our next.] ART. VI. A Grammar of the Perfian Language. M By William Jones, 4to. 10 s. 6 d. in R. Jones obferves, in his preface to this Grammar, that the Perfian language is rich and elegant, that it has been spoken for many ages in the politeft courts of Afia, and that a number of admirable works have been written in it by hiftorians, philofophers, and poets, who found it capable of expreffing, with equal advantage, the most beautiful and the moft elevated fentiments. Mortar is the name of a warlike inftrument for throwing bombs, but the matter used to cement flones in building fhould be wrote Morter. This remark may perhaps appear trivial to a common reader; but a true antiquarian is expected to attend to fuch minutia. Every Every candid Reader may fatisfy himself with respect to the truth of this affertion, by perufing a differtation, lately publifhed by this ingenious Writer, on Oriental Literature; and of which we have given a very ample account in the forty-fourth volume of our Review, p. 425. As the Perfian language is rich and elegant, and as the Eaftern writers have diftinguished themfelves in their historical, philofophical, and poetical writings, it muft appear ftrange to many of our Readers that the ftudy of the Perfic fhould be fo little cultivated at a time when the tafte for general and diffufive learning seems fo univerfally to prevail; and that the literary productions of a celebrated nation fhould remain in manufcript, on the shelves of our public libraries, quite neglected even by men of tafte and learning! Our learned Author has fuggefted a variety of causes which have concurred to obftruct the progrefs of Eastern literature: he very juftly reprefents the general ignorance of the Oriental languages as one great fource of the neglect of the Afiatic writers. Some will not be convinced that there is any thing valuable in these languages, and others diflike them because they do not understand them. But the most obvious reafon for the neglect of the Perfian tongue, is the great fcarcity of books which are neceffary to be read before the knowledge of it can be perfectly acquired. Our Author indeed obferves, that we have many Perfian books preferved in the different libraries of Europe, but that they are exhibited more as objects of curiofity than as fources of information; and are admired like the characters on a Chinese screen, more for their gay colours than for their meaning. What pity! nay, what a fhame is it, that proper perfons, under public patronage, are not employed at Oxford and Cambridge, to give us editions and liberal tranfla tions of the most valuable and useful manuscripts extant in those universities. Thus, while the writings of Greece and Rome a e ftudied, and diffuse a general refinement through our part of the world, the works of the Perfians (a nation equally diftinguished in ancient hiftory) are either wholly unknown to us, or confidered as entirely deftitute of tafte and invention. It is alfo remarked by Mr. Jones, that the progrefs of Oriental literature has not only been checked by the ignorant, but likewife by thofe of the learned, who have confined their ftudies to the minutiae of verbal criticifin, miftaking reading for learning, and fatisfying themselves with running over a great number of manufcripts, in a fuperficial manner, without condefcending to be ftopt by their difficulty, or to dwell upon their beauty and elegance. He gives due praife indeed to the unwearied induftry of thofe who have compiled grammars and dictionaries in the. Eaftern languages; but he obferves, that fuch learned, men would have gained an higher reputation if they had contributed to enlighten the vast temple of learning, instead of spending. their lives in adorni g only its porticos and avenues. He also juftly obferves, that the total infenfibility of commentators and critics to the beauties of authors they profefs to illuftrate, has contributed not a little to check the progrefs of Eastern learning; and, he adds, it is a circumftance equally unfortunate that men of the most refined tafte, and the brighteft parts, are apt to look upon a close application to the ftudy of languages as inconfiftent with their fpirit and genius: fo that the ftate of letters feems to be divided into two claffes, men of learning who have no tafte, and men of tafte who have no learning. We are afraid that the number of the latter is greater in the prefent age than it was in the laft; though we must obferve, at the fame time, that, it had been happy for the republic of letters, if the literati of the last age had been as diftinguished. for their tafte as for their learning. Another caufe which, our Author apprehends, has operated more ftrongly than any before mentioned to the prejudice of Oriental literature, is the fmall encouragement which the princes and nobles of Europe have given to men of letters. It is an indifputable truth, fays he, that learning will always flourish most where the ampleft rewards are propofed to the industry of the learned; and that the moft fhining periods in the annals of literature are the reigns of wife and liberal princes, who know that fine writers are the oracles of the world, from whofe teftimony every king, ftatefiman, or hero, must expect the cenfure or approbation of pofterity. In the old ftates of Greece the higheit honours were given to poets, philofophers, and orators; and a fingle city (as an eminent writer obferves) in the memory of one man produced more numerous and fplendid monuments of human genius, than most other nations have afforded in a courfe of ages.' Here our Author takes occafion to mention, with becoming praife, the munificence and liberality of the Ptolemies in Egypt, of Auguftus in Rome, of the Caliphs in Afia, and of that of the illuftrious family of Medici, who allured to Florence the learned Greeks whom the Turks had driven from their country; in confequence of which, a general light fucceeded to the gloom which ignorance and fuperftition had fpread over Europe. Our Author laments, however, that this light feems to have been Afcham. gradually gradually decaying for the last century; he thinks that it grows very faint in Italy; that it feems to be wholly extinguished in France; and that whatever sparks of it remain in other countries, they are confined to the closets of modeft men, and are not generally feen enough to have their proper influence. Mr. Jones regrets that the nobles of our days feem to be infenfible of the value of learning, and the many advantages which the ftudy of polite letters would give to perfons of eminent rank and high employments; that they facrifice that leisure to unmanly pleasures, or ufelefs diverfions, which they might rationally spend in the ftudy of polite letters, and in improving their knowledge by converfing with the greatest statesmen, orators, and philofophers. He does juftice, at the fame time, to the character of one foreign nobleman: I take a fingular pleasure, fays he, in confefling that I am indebted to a foreign nobleman for the little knowledge which I have happened to acquire of the Perfian language, and that my zeal for the poetry and philology of the Afiatics were owing to his converfation, and to the agreeable correfpondence with which he still honours me.' Our Author juftly obferves, that as learning in general has met with little encouragement in the prefent age, ftill lefs may be expected for that branch of it which lies fo far removed. from the common path; and that if pains and want be the lot of a fcholar, the life of an Orientalift muft certainly be attended with peculiar hardships. In fupport of this remark, he cites' the cafe of Meninfki, whofe labours immortalifed and ruined him he laments that the celebrated Hyde did not meet with fuitable encouragement to promote the projects he had formed for advancing the interefts of Oriental learning, and that the learned Gentius lived obfcurely in Holland, and died in mifery. Mons. D'Herbelot is indeed an exception, for he was not only entertained in Italy by Ferdinand the Second, duke of Tuscany, with that uncommon munificence which always diftinguished the family of Medici, but alfo enjoyed the fruits of his labour, in an honourable and eafy retirement, by means of the illuftrious Colbert; but this, adds Mr Jones, is a rare example: the other princes of Europe have not imitated the duke of Tuscany; and Christian VII. was reserved to be the protector of the Eaft-. ern mufes in the prefent age.' Thus Oriental learning has been neglected till their intereft and emolument, as our Author justly obferves, pointed out to the nations of Europe the real and folid importance of a competent knowledge of the languages of the Eaft. The Perfian tongue was, by an amazing revolution, introduced into India, fo that, at prefent, it is not only the language of the court, but alfo of the merchants in that part of D 4 the the world hence the importance of the knowledge of the Perfian tongue to the Eaft-India Company, and confequently to Great Britain, muft appear in the moft ftriking light. There are important affairs to be tranfacted between us and nations to whom we were unable to convey our fentiments. The fervants of the Company daily received letters which they could not read; they at the fame time found it tedious, and even dangerous, to employ the natives as interpreters. Hence they difcovered the abfolute neceffity of applying themfelves to the study of the Perfian language. The treachery of Poniapa, the linguift to the English, during the war in the Carnatic in 1745, plainly demonftrated how neceffary it was for the India Company to have their own fervants acquainted with the languages of India, and particularly the Perfic. Mr. Jones farther informs us in his preface, That with a view to facilitate the progrefs of Oriental literature, he had reduced to order the following inftructions for the Perfian language, which he had collected feveral years ago; but would not prefent his Grammar to the public until he had confiderably enlarged and improved it.' He modeftly adds, that he has endeavoured to lay down the clearest and most accurate rules which he has illuftrated by select examples from the most elegant writers. In this refpect undoubtedly he merits the highest praise and encouragement of the public. It must be allowed that he has contributed, in a great degree, to facilitate the acquifition of the Perfic, by giving a very clear and diftinct view of its genius and conftitution in the declenfion of nouns, pronouns, and verbs, and by illuftrating and confirming his rules by examples extracted from a variety of the best writers in that language. He has particularly fhown the formation of the tenfes, and illuftrated their proper fignification by a number of examples from the best Perfian writers, fo that his Grammar, on this account, must prove very useful to every ftudent of that language. He proceeds to give us a rational account of the feeming irregularities in the Perfian verbs. The imperative mood, which is often irregular in the modern Perfian was anciently formed from the infinitive by rejecting the termination eeden. For originally, to ufe his words, all infinitives ended in den, till the Arabs introduced the harsh confonants before that fyllable, which obliged the Perfians, who always affected a fweetnefs of pronounciation, to change the old termination of fome verbs into ten, and, by degrees, the original infinitives grew quite obfolete: yet they ftill retain the ancient imperatives, and the aorifts which are formed from them." The |