Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt an Benjamin Guy Babington, 29.06.1828

Baron Humboldt found between the papers Doctor B. Babington had the kindneß to communicate to him last saturday, a letter of the Colonel Tod^[a] no^[b] belonging to the matter of the Malayalam language. He has the honor to return it hereby to Dr. B. Babington.

He takes this opportunity of expressing his grateful feelings for the very interesting information Doctor B. Babington gave him in his letter on the dissertation of Mr. Ellis. What Doctor B. Babington said last saturday to the Baron, that he should take away the only copy of Mr. Ellis’s dissertation existing in Europe made such an impression on the Baron, that he proposed to Sir Alexander Johnston to leave the dissertation here on condition that the Asiatic society would reprint it immediately now and make common to the learned men of Europe the information which it contains. Sir Alexander Johnston promised to do so, and if Dr. B. Babington would condescend to add explanating and correcting notes to the dissertation, the Baron should be sure to have rendered a very much greater service to Philology by this way, than by translating the dissertation in its present state.

The notice Doctor B. Babington given to the Baron of Mr. Matthew Whish^[c] has been very interesting for him and he will certainly make use of it. He begs leave to Doctor B. Babington to communicate it to Mr. Burnouf at Paris whom the Baron believes to be a very much better judge of those subjects than himself, and to let him hope that Dr. B. Babington would introduce him at his request to Mr. Wish  |sic|. But Baron Humboldt has the full conviction, that nothing should so much contribute to give a solid and profound knowledge of these languages of India, as if Doctor B. Babington would deign to offer to the Public his own investigations on that interesting subject.