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William Marsden (orientalist)
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/14/21
William Marsden
FRS FSA
Marsden in 1815
First Secretary to the Admiralty
In office: 24 January 1804 – 24 June 1807
Preceded by: Sir Evan Nepean
Succeeded by: William Wellesley-Pole
Second Secretary to the Admiralty
In office: 3 March 1795 – 21 January 1804
Preceded by: John Ibbetson
Succeeded by: Benjamin Tucker
Personal details
Born: 16 November 1754, County Wicklow, Ireland
Died: 6 October 1836 (aged 81), Aldenham, England
Spouse(s): Elizabeth Wray (m. 1807)
Education: Trinity College; Oxford University
Occupation: Orientalist, numismatist, linguist
Employer: East India Company
William Marsden FRS FSA (16 November 1754 – 6 October 1836) was an Irish orientalist, numismatist [coins], and linguist who served as Second, then First Secretary to the Admiralty during years of conflict with France [Napoleonic Wars].
Early life
Marsden was the son of a Dublin merchant. He was born in Verval, County Wicklow,[1] and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Upon obtaining a civil service appointment with the East India Company at sixteen years of age, he was sent to Benkulen, Sumatra, in 1771. He was promoted to the position of principal secretary to the government, and acquired a knowledge of the Malay language and the country. After returning to England in 1779, he was awarded the Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) degree by Oxford University in 1780[2] and published his History of Sumatra in 1783.[3]
Marsden was elected to membership in the Royal Society in 1783. He had been recommended by James Rennell, Edward Whitaker Gray, John Topham, Alexander Dalrymple, and Charles Blagden.[4]
Admiralty secretary
In 1795, Marsden was appointed second secretary to the admiralty, later rising to the position of first secretary with a salary of £4,000 per annum. It was in this capacity in 1805 that he received the news of victory in the Battle of Trafalgar and of the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson in the battle. As first secretary he suggested the Marsden squares system for arranging and grouping information over the oceans. He retired in 1807 with a lifetime pension of £1,500 per annum which he subsequently relinquished in 1831. In 1812, he published Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language.[5] This was followed by a translation of the Travels of Marco Polo in 1818.[3]
Marsden was a member of many learned societies, and treasurer[6] and vice-president of the Royal Society. In 1834 he presented his collection of oriental coins to the British Museum and his library of books and Oriental manuscripts to King's College London.[7] His other works are Catalogue of Dictionaries, Vocabularies, Grammars and Alphabets (1796), Numismata orientalia (London, 1823–1825), and several papers on Eastern topics in the Philosophical Transactions and the Archaeologia.[3]
Marsden's Numismata orientalia opened the field for Asian numismatics in Western languages, and was a "bible" for the subject, so much so that a new edition was planned in 1870s, but the field had grown so much by then that the new series was soon renamed as the International Numismata Orientalia.
He married Elizabeth, the daughter of his friend Sir Charles Wilkins FRS, but there was no issue to this marriage. He died on 6 October 1836 from an apoplexy attack and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. He left his estate to his kinsman Rev. Canon John Howard Marsden. Elizabeth subsequently married Colonel William Leake FRS on 17 September 1838.
Selected works
• 1784 – The history of Sumatra: containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitants, with a description of the natural productions, and a relation of the ancient political state of that island. London: Printed for the author. OCLC 3792458
• 1802 – "Observations on the language of Siwah; in a letter to the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks; by William Marsden, Esq., F.R.S." in The Journal of Frederick Horneman's Travels: From Cairo to Mourzouk, the Capital of the Kingdom of Fezzan, in Africa, by Friedrich Hornemann, James Rennell, William Marsden and William Young. London: G. and W. Nicol. OCLC 5165766
• 1796 – Catalogue of Dictionaries, Vocabularies, Grammars and Alphabets
• 1812 – Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language single edition, Dutch & French translation of the Grammar (C. P. J. Elout based on Marsden), Dutch-Malay & French-Malay Dictionary (C. P. J. Elout based on Marsden)
• 1818 – Travels of Marco Polo[8]
• 1823 – Numismata orientalia
• 1830 – Memoirs of a Malayan Family by 'La-uddı̄n Nakhoda Muda (translated by William Marsden). London: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5347657
The standard author abbreviation Marsden is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[9]
Notes
1. "Wm. Marsden, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S.", The Gentleman's Magazine, VII (Feb. 1837), p. 212.
2. C.E. Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, London, Swan Sonnenschein (1906), p. 273.
3. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marsden, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 766.
4. The Royal Society, Archives, Ref. No. EC/1782/10.
5. A copy of Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language PDF from Google.
6. "Proceedings of Learned Societies," Philosophical Magazine. Vol. XXV (1806). p. 267.
7. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespe ... rsden.aspx
8. "Review of The Travels of Marco Polo ... translated from the Italian, with notes, by William Marsden ..." The Quarterly Review. 21: 177–195. January 1819.
9. IPNI. Marsden.
References
• Marsden, William. (1838). Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Marsden. London: Cox. OCLC 18750067
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marsden, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 766.
External links
• Works by William Marsden at Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Works by William Marsden at Open Library
• Works by William Marsden at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about William Marsden at Internet Archive
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/14/21
CHAPTER XV. THE SAME CONTINUED. THE HISTORY OF SAGAMONI BORCAN [SAKYA-MUNI] AND THE BEGINNING OF IDOLATRY.
Furthermore you must know that in the Island of Seilan [Ceylon] there is an exceeding high mountain; it rises right up so steep and precipitous that no one could ascend it, were it not that they have taken and fixed to it several great and massive iron chains, so disposed that by help of these men are able to mount to the top. And I tell you they say that on this mountain is the sepulchre of Adam our first parent; at least that is what the Saracens [Arab Muslims] say. But the Idolaters say that it is the sepulchre of SAGAMONI BORCAN, before whose time there were no idols. They hold him to have been the best of men, a great saint in fact, according to their fashion, and the first in whose name idols were made.[NOTE 1]
He was the son, as their story goes, of a great and wealthy king. And he was of such an holy temper that he would never listen to any worldly talk, nor would he consent to be king. And when the father saw that his son would not be king, nor yet take any part in affairs, he took it sorely to heart. And first he tried to tempt him with great promises, offering to crown him king, and to surrender all authority into his hands. The son, however, would none of his offers; so the father was in great trouble, and all the more that he had no other son but him, to whom he might bequeath the kingdom at his own death. So, after taking thought on the matter, the King caused a great palace to be built, and placed his son therein, and caused him to be waited on there by a number of maidens, the most beautiful that could anywhere be found. And he ordered them to divert themselves with the prince, night and day, and to sing and dance before him, so as to draw his heart towards worldly enjoyments. But 'twas all of no avail, for none of those maidens could ever tempt the king's son to any wantonness, and he only abode the firmer in his chastity, leading a most holy life, after their manner thereof. And I assure you he was so staid a youth that he had never gone out of the palace, and thus he had never seen a dead man, nor any one who was not hale and sound; for the father never allowed any man that was aged or infirm to come into his presence. It came to pass however one day that the young gentleman took a ride, and by the roadside he beheld a dead man. The sight dismayed him greatly, as he never had seen such a sight before. Incontinently he demanded of those who were with him what thing that was? and then they told him it was a dead man. "How, then," quoth the king's son, "do all men die?" "Yea, forsooth," said they. Whereupon the young gentleman said never a word, but rode on right pensively. And after he had ridden a good way he fell in with a very aged man who could no longer walk, and had not a tooth in his head, having lost all because of his great age. And when the king's son beheld this old man he asked what that might mean, and wherefore the man could not walk? Those who were with him replied that it was through old age the man could walk no longer, and had lost all his teeth. And so when the king's son had thus learned about the dead man and about the aged man, he turned back to his palace and said to himself that he would abide no longer in this evil world, but would go in search of Him Who dieth not, and Who had created him.[NOTE 2]
So what did he one night but take his departure from the palace privily, and betake himself to certain lofty and pathless mountains. And there he did abide, leading a life of great hardship and sanctity, and keeping great abstinence, just as if he had been a Christian. Indeed, an he had but been so, he would have been a great saint of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led.[NOTE 3] And when he died they found his body and brought it to his father. And when the father saw dead before him that son whom he loved better than himself, he was near going distraught with sorrow. And he caused an image in the similitude of his son to be wrought in gold and precious stones, and caused all his people to adore it. And they all declared him to be a god; and so they still say. [NOTE 4]
They tell moreover that he hath died fourscore and four times. The first time he died as a man, and came to life again as an ox; and then he died as an ox and came to life again as a horse, and so on until he had died fourscore and four times; and every time he became some kind of animal. But when he died the eighty-fourth time they say he became a god. And they do hold him for the greatest of all their gods. And they tell that the aforesaid image of him was the first idol that the Idolaters ever had; and from that have originated all the other idols. And this befel in the Island of Seilan [Ceylon] in India.
The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the mountain is that of the king's son, according to the story I have been telling you; and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of the same king's son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on pilgrimage in great numbers, and they say that it is the sepulchre of Adam our first father, and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish were those of Adam.[NOTE 5]
Whose they were in truth, God knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of the world.
Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was the sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair and of his teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still preserved there. So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or another, and despatched a great embassy for the purpose, in the year of Christ, 1284. The ambassadors, with a great company, travelled on by sea and by land until they arrived at the island of Seilan [Ceylon], and presented themselves before the king. And they were so urgent with him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which were passing great and thick; and they also got some of the hair, and the dish from which that personage used to eat, which is of a very beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan's ambassadors had attained the object for which they had come they were greatly rejoiced, and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to the great city of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent him word that they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On learning this the Great Kaan was passing glad, and ordered all the ecclesiastics and others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was led to believe were those of Adam.
And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole population of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the ecclesiastics took them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who received them with great joy and reverence.[NOTE 6] And they find it written in their Scriptures that the virtue of that dish is such that if food for one man be put therein it shall become enough for five men: and the Great Kaan averred that he had proved the thing and found that it was really true.[NOTE 7]
So now you have heard how the Great Kaan came by those reliques; and a mighty great treasure it did cost him! The reliques being, according to the Idolaters, those of that king's son.
NOTE 1.—Sagamoni Borcan is, as [William] Marsden points out, SAKYA-MUNI, or Gautama-Buddha, with the affix BURKHAN, or "Divinity," which is used by the Mongols as the synonym of Buddha.
-- The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa
William Marsden
FRS FSA
Marsden in 1815
First Secretary to the Admiralty
In office: 24 January 1804 – 24 June 1807
Preceded by: Sir Evan Nepean
Succeeded by: William Wellesley-Pole
Second Secretary to the Admiralty
In office: 3 March 1795 – 21 January 1804
Preceded by: John Ibbetson
Succeeded by: Benjamin Tucker
Personal details
Born: 16 November 1754, County Wicklow, Ireland
Died: 6 October 1836 (aged 81), Aldenham, England
Spouse(s): Elizabeth Wray (m. 1807)
Education: Trinity College; Oxford University
Occupation: Orientalist, numismatist, linguist
Employer: East India Company
William Marsden FRS FSA (16 November 1754 – 6 October 1836) was an Irish orientalist, numismatist [coins], and linguist who served as Second, then First Secretary to the Admiralty during years of conflict with France [Napoleonic Wars].
Early life
Marsden was the son of a Dublin merchant. He was born in Verval, County Wicklow,[1] and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Upon obtaining a civil service appointment with the East India Company at sixteen years of age, he was sent to Benkulen, Sumatra, in 1771. He was promoted to the position of principal secretary to the government, and acquired a knowledge of the Malay language and the country. After returning to England in 1779, he was awarded the Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) degree by Oxford University in 1780[2] and published his History of Sumatra in 1783.[3]
Marsden was elected to membership in the Royal Society in 1783. He had been recommended by James Rennell, Edward Whitaker Gray, John Topham, Alexander Dalrymple, and Charles Blagden.[4]
Admiralty secretary
In 1795, Marsden was appointed second secretary to the admiralty, later rising to the position of first secretary with a salary of £4,000 per annum. It was in this capacity in 1805 that he received the news of victory in the Battle of Trafalgar and of the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson in the battle. As first secretary he suggested the Marsden squares system for arranging and grouping information over the oceans. He retired in 1807 with a lifetime pension of £1,500 per annum which he subsequently relinquished in 1831. In 1812, he published Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language.[5] This was followed by a translation of the Travels of Marco Polo in 1818.[3]
Marsden was a member of many learned societies, and treasurer[6] and vice-president of the Royal Society. In 1834 he presented his collection of oriental coins to the British Museum and his library of books and Oriental manuscripts to King's College London.[7] His other works are Catalogue of Dictionaries, Vocabularies, Grammars and Alphabets (1796), Numismata orientalia (London, 1823–1825), and several papers on Eastern topics in the Philosophical Transactions and the Archaeologia.[3]
Marsden's Numismata orientalia opened the field for Asian numismatics in Western languages, and was a "bible" for the subject, so much so that a new edition was planned in 1870s, but the field had grown so much by then that the new series was soon renamed as the International Numismata Orientalia.
He married Elizabeth, the daughter of his friend Sir Charles Wilkins FRS, but there was no issue to this marriage. He died on 6 October 1836 from an apoplexy attack and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. He left his estate to his kinsman Rev. Canon John Howard Marsden. Elizabeth subsequently married Colonel William Leake FRS on 17 September 1838.
Selected works
• 1784 – The history of Sumatra: containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitants, with a description of the natural productions, and a relation of the ancient political state of that island. London: Printed for the author. OCLC 3792458
• 1802 – "Observations on the language of Siwah; in a letter to the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks; by William Marsden, Esq., F.R.S." in The Journal of Frederick Horneman's Travels: From Cairo to Mourzouk, the Capital of the Kingdom of Fezzan, in Africa, by Friedrich Hornemann, James Rennell, William Marsden and William Young. London: G. and W. Nicol. OCLC 5165766
• 1796 – Catalogue of Dictionaries, Vocabularies, Grammars and Alphabets
• 1812 – Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language single edition, Dutch & French translation of the Grammar (C. P. J. Elout based on Marsden), Dutch-Malay & French-Malay Dictionary (C. P. J. Elout based on Marsden)
• 1818 – Travels of Marco Polo[8]
• 1823 – Numismata orientalia
• 1830 – Memoirs of a Malayan Family by 'La-uddı̄n Nakhoda Muda (translated by William Marsden). London: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5347657
The standard author abbreviation Marsden is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[9]
Notes
1. "Wm. Marsden, Esq., D.C.L., F.R.S.", The Gentleman's Magazine, VII (Feb. 1837), p. 212.
2. C.E. Buckland, Dictionary of Indian Biography, London, Swan Sonnenschein (1906), p. 273.
3. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marsden, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 766.
4. The Royal Society, Archives, Ref. No. EC/1782/10.
5. A copy of Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language PDF from Google.
6. "Proceedings of Learned Societies," Philosophical Magazine. Vol. XXV (1806). p. 267.
7. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespe ... rsden.aspx
8. "Review of The Travels of Marco Polo ... translated from the Italian, with notes, by William Marsden ..." The Quarterly Review. 21: 177–195. January 1819.
9. IPNI. Marsden.
References
• Marsden, William. (1838). Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Marsden. London: Cox. OCLC 18750067
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marsden, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 766.
External links
• Works by William Marsden at Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Works by William Marsden at Open Library
• Works by William Marsden at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about William Marsden at Internet Archive