Forster seems to have occupied himself immediately on his arrival in
throwing into form a portion of the literary materials which he had
collected during one of the most hazardous and adventurous journeys that
ever were performed; for in 1786 he published in London his “Sketches of
the Mythology and Manners of the Hindoos,” which was received with
extraordinary favour by the public. How long he remained in England
after the publication of this work I have not been able to discover; but
we find him in 1790 at Calcutta, where he published the first volume of
his “Journey from Bengal to England,” and prepared the second volume for
the press. However, before the completion of his work, the political
troubles which at that period shook the whole empire of Hindostan
involved him in their vortex. He was despatched by the governor-general,
whose personal friendship he would appear to have enjoyed, on an embassy
to Nagpoor, in Gundwarra, the capital of the Bhoonsla Mahratta dynasty,
where he died about eight months after his arrival, in the month of
February, in 1791. His papers were conveyed to England. Here, six years
after his death, a complete edition of his travels appeared, in two
volumes quarto; but the person who undertook the task of editor, with a
degree of negligence which cannot be sufficiently admired, not only
omitted to give the public any account of the author, but, which is more
unpardonable, did not even condescend to inform them when, how, and from
whom the manuscript was obtained. However, the extraordinary merit of
the work, and the lively, laughing style in which it is written, quickly
recommended it sufficiently to the literary world. The celebrated
Meiners, professor of philosophy in the university of Göttingen,
translated it into German; and Langlès, the well-known orientalist,
published in 1802 a French translation, with copious notes, a
chronological notice on the khans of the Krimea, and a map of Kashmere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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