Clive, though his experience had rendered him singularly well acquainted with the character of all classes of the natives of India, was very little, if at all, versed in the languages of that country; but he appears not only to have been most solicitous to avail himself of the aid of those who had this advantage, but, when he found the acquirement accompanied by integrity and talent, to recommend them, and place them in the highest stations in the service. His notice and patronage of Mr. Watts, Mr. Vansittart, and Mr. Hastings, afford ample proof of this fact; and, on almost all occasions, public and private, when he brings forward the names of those individuals, he adds some observations on the great advantages they enjoy over others, from their knowledge of the languages, the manners, and the habits of the people of India. During his expedition to Bengal, Clive had only one of his relations in his family, Mr. George Clive, for whom he cherished a very sincere affection. The two persons to whom he appears to have been most attached were Mr. Walsh and Mr. Luke Scrafton, both civil servants of the Company, whose names have been frequently mentioned in the course of the narrative. They continued through life in habits of the strictest intimacy with their friend and patron. Of Mr. Walsh, Clive never speaks without expressing great respect for his character; and of his regard for Mr. Scrafton, whose lively disposition suited his own, we have many proofs. Bad health obliging that gentleman to go to Madras, Clive wrote by him to Sir George Pocock, in a style which evinced his kind and anxious solicitude. "The bearer of this[139]," he observes, "Mr. Luke Scrafton, is a young fellow of great worth and honour. Much I fear he is too far gone to be recovered by the coast air: he has been a constant attendant of mine in all our expeditions, and can solve any question you may have to ask on the subject of Bengal. For God's sake return him to me in good health and condition!" Clive was also on the most intimate terms with Captain Latham, a distinguished officer of His Majesty's navy; and this intimacy was increased from that gentleman's marriage to a relation of Mrs. Clive, who had accompanied her to India. I have found numerous private letters from Captain Latham, which are all written in the open manly style of a British seaman, and bear a convincing testimony to the tone of Clive's mind on all points connected with his friends. From the tenor of one, in answer to a letter from Clive, written immediately after the enthronement of Meer Jaffier, it would seem that Mrs. Latham was one of those whom he considered (from the relation in which she stood to him) entitled to participate in his good fortune. His conduct on this occasion appears to have given sincere pleasure to Mrs. Clive; as the letter in which his kindness and liberality are noticed is superscribed with the word "Charming," in her own handwriting.