PREFACE.

THE observation of Lord Bacon, as to the deficiency in the biographical literature of his day, is certainly not applicable to the present times. We have rather to complain of excess than of defect. While ample justice has been done to the lives of eminent persons, it must be confessed, that accounts of obscure individuals have been unnecessarily multiplied,

The Author of the following Memoirs trusts that he shall not be deemed liable to the charge of having added to this number. The person to whose life and writings they relate is already well known to the world, and has established an undoubted claim to posthumous regard. The prominent station which Dr. Buchanan,occupied in India, and the zeal and ability with which he laboured to promote the interests of Christianity in that country and throughout the eastern world, seem to demand some commemoration of

his character and exertions; and, unless the writer of these pages is much mistaken in his judgment, they describe a person in whom," to use the language of the celebrated author just alluded to, "actions both great and small, public and private, are so blended

66

together," as to secure that "genuine, “native, and lively representation," which forms the peculiar excellence and use of biography.

There is this additional reason for giving to the public some account of Dr. Buchanan, that, from the nature of the subjects to which his attention was directed, he unavoidably incurred a considerable degree of displeasure on the part of those whose opinions or prejudices he felt it to be his duty to oppose. It is but reasonable, therefore, that his views and motives should be fully and fairly developed, that the world may have an opportunity of forming a just estimate of his

character and labours.

How far the Author of the following Memoirs may have succeeded in this object, must be left to the public to determine. He is well aware of the difficulty pointed out

by a consummate judge of human nature, of representing impartially sentiments or actions, respecting which much difference of opinion and feeling will necessarily exist, according to the knowledge and the dispositions of the reader upon the subject in question. It has undoubtedly been his aim to exhibit the character and conduct of Dr. Buchanan in their true light, and to enable the world to determine the degree of merit to which he may be justly entitled.

For this purpose, he has endeavoured to render him, as much as possible, his own biographer, and has accordingly interwoven with the narrative of his life a series of extracts from letters to many of his friends and correspondents. Independently of the authentic and interesting nature of the information thus conveyed, where, as was eminently the case with Dr. Buchanan, the writer is upright in his general views, and simple in the expression of them, his correspondence formed one of the principal sources of the Memoirs here presented to the public; some valuable private documents having been unfortunately lost. Other materials were derived from certain papers and memoranda Thucyd. Hist. ii. 35. a 4

a

referred to in the Memoirs, from the more public events of Dr. Buchanan's life, and from his printed works. In the use of these various materials, relating to many different. persons, events, and circumstances, the Author cannot flatter himself that he has been uniformly free from misapprehension and mistake. He can only say, that upon every occasion, this has been his intention and aim.

One part of the following Memoirs will, it is presumed, be read with considerable interest, which relates to the institution, progress, and effects of the College of Fort William in Bengal; in the conduct and superintendance of which Dr. Buchanan was intimately concerned during the period of its most extensive and effective operation. The early proceedings of this Institution are, it is believed, but little known in England, and its original merits, in a moral and economical, as well as literary point of view, appear at the present moment to deserve particular attention.

The account also of the journey of Dr. Buchanan to the coast of Malabar, and of his visit to the Syrian churches in the interior of Travancore, notwithstanding his own introduction of it to the public, will probably

prove acceptable to the reader. More might easily have been added to this, and indeed to every part of the Memoirs; but it may, perhaps, be thought by some that they have already exceeded their just limits.

It may not be unnecessary to observe, that these volumes contain the history of a man, whose leading characteristic was a sincere and devoted attachment to the Gospel of Christ, as a living principle of faith and practice. While, therefore, it is hoped, that those whose sentiments are substantially similar will derive peculiar gratification from the perusal of the following Memoirs, they may tend, as far as others are concerned, both to explain the nature of those principles, and to illustrate and recommend their excellence and value. Whatever is worthy either of being admired or imitated, and there is much which is deserving of both in the character of Dr. Buchanan, is chiefly to be ascribed to his views and feelings as a Christian; and though, as the Author himself would avow, it is by no means necessary to coincide in every opinion expressed by Dr. Buchanan in these volumes, he is deeply persuaded, that the leading principles of his life and conduct are alone