MARSDEN, William (1754-1836), an eminent Oriental scholar, was the son of a Dublin merchant, and was born in 1754. After studying at Trinity College, he obtained an appointment in the civil service of the East India Company, and set sail for Bencoolen, Sumatra, in 1771. There he soon rose to the office of principal secretary to the Government, and was at the same time intent on acquiring that intimacy with the Malay language, and that knowledge of the country, which were afterwards the sources of his literary reputation. Returning to England in 1779 with a pension, he retired into literary seclusion, and in 1782 produced The History of Sumatra. Marsden was appointed .in. 1795 second secretary and afterwards first secretary to the admiralty. In 1807 he retired again into private life, and, devoting himself to study, published in 1812 his Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language, and in 1817 his translation of the Travels of Marco Polo. A pension of £1500, which he had received on his retirement from office, he voluntarily resigned in 1831 for the behoof of the public. In 1834 he presented his rich collection of Oriental coins to the British Museum, and his library of books and Oriental MSS. to King’s College, London. He died of apoplexy in October 1836....