https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Alexander_DowAlexander Dow - Revision history2026-07-30T18:26:00ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Alexander_Dow&diff=373285&oldid=prevBot at 18:37, 1 June 20222022-06-01T18:37:57Z<p></p>
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[[File:Alexander Dow.jpg|thumb|Portrait painting by Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]], 1771]]<br />
'''Alexander Dow''' (1735/6, [[Perthshire]], Scotland – 31 July 1779, [[Bhagalpur]]) was a Scottish Orientalist, writer, playwright and army officer in the [[East India Company]].<br />
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==Life==<br />
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He was a native of [[Crieff]], [[Perthshire]]. Alexander Dow's father worked at the Customs at [[Dunbar]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7957|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7957|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004}}</ref> The younger Dow was educated in Dunbar for a time, and, in conjunction with his father's job, this would suggest that he lived in the area for a time.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oCIVDAEACAAJ&q=swords+loaves+and+fishes | title=A History of Dunbar: Swords, Loaves and Fishes| isbn=9780993470509| last1=Pugh| first1=Roy J. M.| year=2015}}</ref> Dow was in the process of being educated for a mercantile career in [[Eyemouth]], when he abruptly left aboard the ''King of Prussia'' as a [[midshipman]]. The reason for this turn of events is not known, but one reason posited for this was that he was involved in a fatal duel.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7957|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/7957|title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004}}</ref> Dow then worked his way to [[Bencoolen (city)|Bencoolen]]. There he became secretary to the [[Governor]], and was commended to the patronage of the officials of the [[East India Company]] at [[Calcutta]]. He joined the army there as an ensign in the Bengal infantry on 14 September 1760, and was rapidly promoted lieutenant on 23 August 1763, and captain on 16 April 1764.<br />
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He returned to Britain on leave in 1768, and published in that year two translations, ''Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi'' and the ''History of Hindostan, translated from the Persian of Ferishta'', from [[Firishta]]. Both works had a great success, and in the following year Dow had a five-act tragedy on [[Genghis Khan]], ''[[Zingis (play)|Zingis]]'', which was acted with some success at [[Drury Lane]].<br />
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He then returned to India, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 25 February 1769, and in 1772 published the continuation of his history of Hindostan to the death of [[Aurungzeb]], with two dissertations, 'On the Origin and Nature of Despotism in Hindostan,’ and 'An Enquiry into the State of Bengal.' In 1774 he again returned to England, and [[David Garrick]] produced his second tragedy in verse at Drury Lane, entitled 'Sethona', set in a mythic ancient Egypt. It was acted only for nine nights, and was said by [[David Erskine Baker]] in his ''Biographia Dramatica'' to be not really by Dow at all.<br />
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Dow returned once more to India, and died at Bhágalpur on 31 July 1779.<br />
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==Works==<br />
*''Tales Translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi'' (1768)<br />
*''[[Zingis (play)|Zingis]]'' (1769) - 5-act tragedy<br />
*''[[Sethona]]'' (1774) - verse tragedy<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
*{{DNB|wstitle=Dow, Alexander}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{ODNBweb|id=7957|title=Dow, Alexander}}<br />
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=DQDgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA537&dq=Tales+Translated+from+the+Persian+of+Inatulla+of+Delhi&hl=pt-PT&sa=X&ei=5KdDT7GHFcjW8gPzkaiDCA&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Tales%20Translated%20from%20the%20Persian%20of%20Inatulla%20of%20Delhi&f=false Persian Tales of Inatulla of Delhi] in anthology work, Tales of the East: Continuationof the New Arabian nights. Persian tales [from the translation of F. Pétis de la Croix] Persian tales of Inatulla of Delhi [tr. by A. Dow] Oriental tales [by A. C. P., comte de Caylus] The history of Nourjahad [by Mrs. Frances Sheridan] Additional tales from the Arabian nights, J. Ballantyne and company, 1812, at [[Google Books]]<br />
*[https://archive.org/details/sethonaatragedy00garrgoog <!-- quote=Sethona. --> Sethona. A Tragedy] at [[Google Books]]<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dow, Alexander}}<br />
[[Category:1730s births]]<br />
[[Category:1779 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish military personnel]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish orientalists]]<br />
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish translators]]<br />
[[Category:Scottish dramatists and playwrights]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century British translators]]</div>Bot