JONES, Sir WILLIAM, was h. in London, Sept. 2-8, 1746, and was sent to Harrow in 1753, where he Soon eclipsed all his fellows, particularly in classical knowledge. In 1764 he was entered at University college, Oxford,where he was enabled to gratify that desire for a knowledge of the oriental languages which had shown itself during the last two years of his residence at Harrow. In 1765 he left Oxford, to become tutor to the eldest son of earl Spencer, with whom he remained five years. In 1770 he published, at the request of the king of Denmark, a Life of Nadir Shah, translated into French from the Persian; in the following year, a Persian Grammar, republished some years ago, with corrections and additions, by the late prof. Lee; and in 1774 his Commentaries on Asiatic Poetry, republished by Eichhorn at Leipsic in 1776. In 1780 he completed a translation of seven Arabic poems, known as the Moalldkat,which obtain their collective name from being "suspended" in the temple at Mecca; wrote an essay On the Legal Mode of Suppress ing Riots; and another, entitled Essay on the Law of Bailments, and two or. three odes. In Mar., 1783, Jones obtained a judgeship in the supreme court of judicature, in Bengal, and landed at Calcutta in September. He at once set about the acquisition and promul
gation of the knowledge of oriental languages, literature, and customs. He established the royal Asiatic society, "for investigating the history, antiquities, arts, sciences, and literature of Asia," of which he was the first president. To the volumes of the Asiatic _Researches, sir William contributed largely. Besides these, he wrote and published a story in verse, called The Enchanted Fruit, or the Hindu Wife; and a translation of an ancient Indian drama, called Sacontala, or the Fatal Ring A translation by him of the Ordinances of Menu (q.v.) appeared in 1794. He was busily employed on a digest of the Hindu and Mohammedan laws, when he was attacked with an inflammation of the liver, terminated fatally on April 27, 1794. Jones was one of the first linguists and oriental scholars that this country has produced. The East India company erected a monument to his memory in St. Paul's cathedral, and a statue in Bengal. A complete edition of his works in 6 vols. 4to was published by lady Jones in 1799; and another appeared, in 1B vols. 8vo, in 1807, with a life of the author by lord Teignmouth.