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Memoir of John Murray
Sir John Malcolm to John Murray, 3 March 1817
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Preface
Vol. 1 Contents
Chapter I.
Chapter II.
Chapter III.
Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
Chapter VI.
Chapter VII.
Chapter VIII.
Chapter IX.
Chapter X.
Chapter XI.
Chapter XII.
Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIV.
Chapter XV.
Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVII.
Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XIX.
Vol. 2 Contents
Chap. XX.
Chap. XXI.
Chap. XXII.
Chap. XXIII.
Chap. XXIV.
Chap. XXV.
Chap. XXVI.
Chap. XXVII.
Chap. XXVIII.
Chap. XXIX.
Chap. XXX.
Chap. XXXI.
Chap. XXXII.
Chap. XXXIII.
Chap. XXXIV.
Chap. XXXV.
Chap. XXXVI.
Chap. XXXVII.
Index
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Produced by CATH
 
Trincomalee, March 3rd, 1817.

You will not be sorry to hear that I am going on with my Letters with good success. Five are finished, and eleven or twelve will make a fair-sized quarto. They will include a journey across the Peninsula from Madras to Bombay, by Hyderabad and Poonah. The visit to these capitals in 1799 gave me the opportunity of writing what I am now revising—the account of the rise of Mahomedan and
30 MEMOIRS OF JOHN MURRAY
Hindu power in the South of India, with a description of the country, buildings, and the characteristics and manners of its actual inhabitants. These letters will finish at Bombay, with a description of the character of the Indians. The next volume will be devoted to Persia. I once thought, from the fund of matter I had collected, that it would surpass the Indian series. But as I proceed, my opinion changes; and if I can manage to make the whole like those I have done, and I see no reason to doubt why I should, my Persian production will be a younger brother. The style of these letters is to my taste. I can be critically correct on historical facts, and strike off at pleasure into an interesting tale relating to a king, a dancing girl, a tomb, a queen, a palace, or a snake, and yet preserve unity; making the whole bear on one point, a full and faithful delineation of the usages, habits, and character of the natives of India. I am not yet resolved what I shall do with this production. If it never goes further, it will be of use, as it has served to condense all that is worth preserving of my letters, journals, &c. If I determine on its publication, you shall hear. But I see, from what is done, that I can form no judgment of its value till it is completed.*

Ever yours,
John Malcolm.