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DOCTRINES ’0F.SIR"W.' JONES CONTROVERTED.--CHAI’. vr.;sEc:r. xxvrrr. 253
Ayodhya and Indraprestha; that the language of the first Persian empire was the motlzer
qftlze Sanscrit, and consequently of the Zend and Parsi, as well as of Greek, Latin, and
Gothic" ; that the languagevof the Assyrians was the parent of Chaldaic and Pahlavi, and
that the primary Tartarian language also lzad been current in the same empire; although,
asthe Tartars had no books, or even letters, we -cannot with certainty trace their,un-
polished and variable idioms. -VVe discover, therefore, in Persia, at the earliest dawn of
history, the three distinct races of men whom we described on former occasions as pos-
sessors of India, Arabia, and Tartary; and whether they were collected in Iran from
distant regions, or diverged from it, as. from a common centre, we shall easily determine
from the following considerations. Let us observe, in the first place, the central position‘
of Iran, which is bounded by Arabia, by Tartary, and by India; whilst Arabia lies con-
tiguous .to Iran only, but is remote from Tartary, and divided even from the skirts of
India by a considerable gulf. No country, therefore, but Persia, seems likely to have
sent forth its colonies to all the kingdoms of Asia: the Brahmans could never have',mi-
grated from India to Iran, because they are expressly forbidden, by their oldest existing
laws, to leave the region which they inhabit at this day: the Arabs have not even a tra-
dition of an emigration into Persia before Mohamed; nor had they, indeed, any induce-'
ment to quit their beautiful and extensive domains: and 'as to the Tartars, we have.no
trace in history of their departure from their plains and forests till the invasion of the
Medes, who, according to etymologists, were the sons of Madai, and even they were con-
ducted by princes of an Assyrian family. The three races,.therefore, whom we have:
already mentioned, (and more than three we have not yet found,) migrated from Iran as
from their common country ; and thus the Saxon clzronicle, on good autlzority, brings ‘the
frst. inlzabitants of Britain from Armenia; while a late very learned writer concludes,
after all his laborious researches, that the Goths or Scythians came from Persia; and
another contends, with great force, that both tlze Irislz and old Britons proceeded severally
from the borders of tire Caspian; a coincidence of conclusions from different media, by
persons wholly unconnected, which could scarce have happened if they were not
grounded on solid principles. VVe may, therefore, hold this proposition firmly esta-
blished, that Iran or Persia, in its largest sense, was the centre of population, of know.‘
ledge,.of' languages, and of arts; which, instead of travelling westward only, as it, has
been fancifully supposed, or eastward, as with equal reason might have been asserted,
expanded in all directions to all the regions of the world.” -
There are here principles enough admitted to establish my doctrine. His original
nation is proved clearly, and had Sir VV. not been hampered with themistaken passage of
Genesis, he never would have placed it -any where but where Baillie, for astronomical
reasons, and all Oriental and Grecian history, place it--East of the Caspian ‘Sea.’ He-
saw the difficulty of the position which he had taken, and, in 0Ydel‘.t0 .0bV13t<= 1t, he
is obliged to use the words in its largest sense, so as to carry his Persia. ;In fact, to-the