With respect to the sum mentioned to Mr. Middleton, it was a _free gift_
from my own _privy purse_. Purburam replied, he understood this money to
be paid to these gentlemen as a gratuity for _secret services_; and as
such he should assuredly represent it." Here the payments to Mr.
Hastings are fully admitted, and excused as agreeable to usage, and for
keeping a table. The present to Mr. Middleton is justified as a free
gift. The paper produced by Mr. Scott is not referred to by your
Committee as of any weight, but to show that it does not prove what it
is produced to prove.
Your Committee, on reading the paper delivered in by Mr. Scott as a
translation, perceive it to be written in a style which they conceived
was little to be expected in a faithful translation from a Persian
original, being full of quaint terms and idiomatic phrases, which
strongly bespeak English habits in the way of thinking, and of English
peculiarities and affectations in the expression. Struck with these
strong internal marks of a suspicious piece, they turned to the Persian
manuscript produced by Mr.
Pages:
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410