DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22901#0116
102
HISTOR Y OF THE PARSIS.
[CHAP. II.
all his influence and support to the undertaking
by presiding at the meeting, made an eloquent and
impressive speech. He thought it was a good sign
when a community came forward of its own accord to
do homage to real worth, and that in honouring Sir
Jamsheclji Jijibhai the community honoured itself.
He pointed out that Sir Jamshedji's claims to their
respect and love did not rest solely upon the vast
sums which he had contributed to objects of charity
and other great undertakings of a jrablic character.
His Lordship went on to remark that the extent of
those contributions was almost incredible—his public
benefactions alone amounting to a quarter of a million
sterling—and asked " in what age and in what country
can we find another example of such princely munifi-
cence ?" But it was not the amount only of Sir
Jamshedji's charities that most commanded Lord
Elphinstone's admiration. He said :—
" True liberality is shown in the manner of distri-
bution no less than in the amount. I will not <vo
back to the dark ages, and cite the times when
Christian monasteries and Buddhist iviclmras were
endowed by men who sought to gain the favour of
Heaven by renouncing their possessions and perform-
ing what they considered an act of charity, and which
was certainly one of abnegation. I may, however,
refer to those who founded our great collegiate insti-
tutions, and to the monarchs who built the Hotel des
HISTOR Y OF THE PARSIS.
[CHAP. II.
all his influence and support to the undertaking
by presiding at the meeting, made an eloquent and
impressive speech. He thought it was a good sign
when a community came forward of its own accord to
do homage to real worth, and that in honouring Sir
Jamsheclji Jijibhai the community honoured itself.
He pointed out that Sir Jamshedji's claims to their
respect and love did not rest solely upon the vast
sums which he had contributed to objects of charity
and other great undertakings of a jrablic character.
His Lordship went on to remark that the extent of
those contributions was almost incredible—his public
benefactions alone amounting to a quarter of a million
sterling—and asked " in what age and in what country
can we find another example of such princely munifi-
cence ?" But it was not the amount only of Sir
Jamshedji's charities that most commanded Lord
Elphinstone's admiration. He said :—
" True liberality is shown in the manner of distri-
bution no less than in the amount. I will not <vo
back to the dark ages, and cite the times when
Christian monasteries and Buddhist iviclmras were
endowed by men who sought to gain the favour of
Heaven by renouncing their possessions and perform-
ing what they considered an act of charity, and which
was certainly one of abnegation. I may, however,
refer to those who founded our great collegiate insti-
tutions, and to the monarchs who built the Hotel des