66 dæmons and the gehenna of gnawing ferpents; for that is the true Hindoo hell, and demonftrates the intimate connection of its theological fyftem with that fublimer one, of which, in its leading features, it is an evident perverfion. What is not a little fingular in this code, thefe prefent punishments and future terrors are often denounced againft crimes comparatively trivial, with as much violence as againft offences of the deepest enormity; in fhort, the ftern dogmas inculcated by it, fanctioned by the combined authorities of heaven and earth, allowed of no relaxation in the fevere difcipline which it enjoined whether in moral or civil concerns. It was the awful manifefto of the deity; and, both in its fublimeft and leaft important injunctions, the ftrictett obedience was alike indifpenfable. PUNISHMENT," fays the Hindoo code, is the magiftrate; punishment is the infpirer of terror; punishment is the nourisher of the fubjects; punishment is the defender from calamity; punishment is the guardian of those that fleep; punishment, with a black afpect and a red eye, terrifies the guilty*." Confonant to this maxim, the laws of Draco himfelf were not more deeply engraved in blood than many of the precepts in this tremendous code. Thefe fanguinary maxims it is impoffible to afcribe to Menu: what was remembered from that legiflator was, we may conclude, only feverely just, but not cruel; we may reasonably refer to him all that is mild and humane in thefe Inftitutes, and fome neceflary precepts of a more rigorous nature; but, as his progeny degenerated, as the people gradually became more corrupt, the princes more defpotic, and the Brahmins more powerful, it was thought neceffary to add new and more terrible laws to thofe which, in the primitive ages, were deemed fufficient to control the difturbers of the public tranquillity. The hypothefis on which this work and that of Mr. Bryant have conftantly proceeded, and both of which record the invafion of India in early periods, and the conqueft of the virtuous Shemites by the daring and nefarious Cuthite race, will fufficiently point out to the attentive reader the period of this great national change, and the fatal caufe of this general depravity. "It should ftill be remembered, however, that many of the laws inculcated in the Brahmin code are in a high degree liberal and humane, founded on the practice and decifions of the earliest ages, when, as yet, no fyftem of jurifprudence was committed to writing. Many alfo of the civil inftitutions, enumerated in it, go back to the days of Noah, though moft have been dreadfully perverted; for, I must repeat in this place what has been frequently afferted in this work, and, indeed, forms in fome degree the basis of it, that in the ancient world there were certain grand and primitive cuftoms diffufed univerfally over all nations; cuftoms founded on the general confent and original creed of mankind, confirmed by immemorial laws and fanctified by pious traditions; cuftoms which probably flourished in their full vigour and purity, under the domeftic patriarchal roof of Noah, * Halhed's Code of Gentoo Laws, cap. 21. fect, 8. before before the difperfion, which paffed into all nations with the first colonists, and were observed in their vigour and purity, or debafed and degraded in every country, according to their rectitude in adhering to, or depravation in receding from, the inftitutions of their primæval ancestors. For the afpect of unrelenting feverity affumed in general by legislative codes of very high antiquity, it may be urged as fome degree of palliation, that the crimes, against the commiffion of which they were principally meant to guard, are not fuch as generally fpring up among mankind in an affociated and civilized ftate; but fuch dreadful offences as men fcarcely emerged from barbarism, and under the influence of all the unbridled paffions which agitate to tempeft the human bofom, may be fuppofed capable of perpetrating: inceft of the deepest dye, plunder and robbery, midnight murder, and the violation of virgin beauty. Against thefe crimes, fo fatal to infant states, it was neceffary to raise the firongeft rampart which the terror of legal authority could erect against them, and the extreme neceffity of the occa❤ fion but too often juftified their being written in blood." P. 823. With respect to thofe most ancient precepts in the volume of Inftitutes, that bear fo ftriking a fimilitude to fome in the Hebrew code, and have confequently afforded occafion of imaginary triumph to the enemies of Chriftianity, as if the latter were borrowed by Mofes, through an Egyptian medium, from the Indian legiflator, Mr. M. contends that nothing less than fuch fimilitude could be expected, fince the Mofaic and Indian codes originally flowed from the fame fource, holy and infpired men. The religious dogmas inculcated in them, therefore, could not fail to be equally pure and fublime; while the mere civil precepts, which they contained, were those established by the united influence of tradition and cuftom over all the countries of the eaft; and in all the colonies that fucceffively migrated from the parent region of Chaldæa towards more diftant climes; even from that remote period when the great MENU, or NOAH, flourished, and the greatest part of Afia remained under patriarchal jurifdiction. With an extract or two, exhibiting a few of thofe parallel precepts, and the general fanguinary feature of the Hindoo punishments, we fhall conclude thefe extended ftrictures. In refpect to the fimilitude of fome of the injunctions, the reader will judge how nearly they approach, from the following quotation. "One of the most remarkable precepts in this code is that fo congenial with the Levitical law, that a brother fhall marry the widow of the deceased brother, and raife up feed to him; this law, however, is declared to be obsolete in this miferable Cali age. Institutes, p. 363. Another of its ordinances, which alfo affords a ftriking resemblance to the code of Mofes, doubtlefs founded on the practice of the primitive ages, and ordained as a memorial of the great atonement, is the cere mony mony of the fcape-horfe, which is ordained to be celebrated in a public affembly of the Hindoo tribes; and the horfe, after many myftic rites, like the fcape-goat of the Hebrews, and we may add the red beifer of the Egyptians, is driven with execration into the deferts, and fuppofed to be loaded with the fins of the exonerated nationt. "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, appears to have been the rigid maxim of the ancient Hebrews; and it is here affirmed, that, with whatever limb an offence is committed, that limb shall the king amputate, for the prevention of fimilar crimes. Inftitutes, p. 232. The trial by various kinds of water ordeal, which fo repeatedly occurs throughout this code, as the criterion of guilt and innocence, forcibly reminds us of the fimilar trial ordained, by the Deity himself, for the detection or acquittal of adultery by the bitter waters of jea loufy. Numb. v. 30. The prefcribed diet and ftrict attention enjoined in regard to animals clean and unclean, as well as the purifications of women and of men, after contact with a deceased person or any ob ject that imparts defilement, have also a very striking resemblance with thofe enjoined in the Levitical code. Thofe in particular that have relation to bodily impurity, from touching a dead body, are enumerated, in almost fimilar words, in the nineteenth of Numbers; a circumftance for which I have already endeavoured to account. Though flavery be allowed, the crime of men-stealing is equally interdicted in the Hindoo and Levitical code. See Deut. chap. xxiv. "In fhort, the whole office," fays Mr. Halhed," as well as the facred pre-eminence of the Brahminical tribe, is almost an exact counterpart of that of the Levitical. The Levites were particularly forbidden wine; fo are the Brahmins. The Levites were more than others enjoined to avoid the contact of all uncleannefs; fo are the Brahmins. The Levites were to affift the magiftrate's judgment in difficit cafes; fo are the Brahmins. And, in every other refpect, the refemblance might well authorize a fufpicion, that they had originally fome remote afinity to each other, though conjecture cannot poffibly trace the fource of the connection." In anfwer to this remark, I beg leave to exprefs a hope that I have effectually traced that fource, by a traditional channel to a primæval patriarchal code," P. 837. The laft paffage we fhall cite relates to the unrelenting feve rity of the Indian code in criminal cafes, though it must be owned that feverity is fometimes exerted in cafes where no deep ftain of guilt feems to be attached to the delinquent ; however, while we perufe their writings, the different education, habits, and manners of this fingular nation, should ever be borne in mind, which will prove the means of reconciling apparent contradi&ions, and mitigating what might otherwife be accounted vindictive and cruel. * Herodotus, lib. ii. cap. 39. + See Halhed's Gentoo Code, Pref. p. 20. "Ap An adultrefs is condemned to be devoured alive by dogs in the public market-place. Inftitutes, p. 236. In the next fentence, the adulterer is doomed to be bound on an iron bed, heated red hot, and there to be burned to death. Ibid. But, what is not a little remarkable, for the fame crime, a Brahmin is only to be punished with igno minious tonfure. P. 237. He, who has committed inceft, is doomed to be extended on a red-hot iron bed, or be made to embrace, till he die, the red-hot iron image of a woman. P. 322. Of night-robbers it is ordained, that the hands be firft lopped, and that they afterwards be fixed on a fharp stake, i. e. impaled. P. 281. The witnefs, who gives falfe evidence, fhall be faft bound under water, in the fnaky cords of Varuna, for a hundred years. P. 199. Naked and thorn, tormented with hunger and thirst, and deprived of fight, fhall the fame man go with a pot herd to beg food at the door of his enemy. P. 201.. "For infulting a Brahmin with invectives, an iron ftyle, ten fingers long, fhall be thruft red-hot down his mouth: for offering only to inftruct him in his profeffion, boiling oil fhall be dropped into his mouth and ears. P. 224. For ftealing kine, belonging to priests, the offender fhall inftantly lofe half of one foot. P. 231. An affaulter of a Brahmin, with intent to kill, fhall remain in hell for a hundred years: for actually ftriking him with the like intent, a thousand. As many fmall pellets of duft as the blood of a Brahmin collects on the ground, for fo many thousand years must the fhedder of that blood be tormented in hell. P. 336. But, though fuch frequent exemptions occur in refpect to the Brahmins, defcended from heaven, a portion of the immortal gods, none are made in favour of KINGS; and we cannot but admire the rigid spirit of impartial justice that declares, where a man of inferior birth fhall be fined one pana, the king, who ought to be the fountain of honour and equity, for the fame offence shall be fined a thousand. P. 232. Several very fanguinary perfonal inflictions elsewhere occur; and, among other fevere precepts, it is ordained that, if a man be guilty of grofs fraud in trade, the magiftrate fhall crush his hand, nofe, and teeth: if he repeat that fraud, the magiftrate fhall cut him into pieces with a razor. P. 245. Women, murdering their hutbands or children, inall have their ears, nofe, hands, and lips, cut off, and afterwards be expofed, if not pregnant, to be killed by cows: if they attempt to do it by poifon, the punishment decreed is to have a large ftone faftened round their neck, and themselves thrown into the river. P. 306. Theft of goods is punifhed with, in the first inftance, cutting off the hands; in the fecond, with crucifixion. P. 248. For tealing a woman, the criminal fhall perifh extended on a plate of red-hot iron. Ibid. For ftealing an elephant, a horse, camel, or cow, one hand and one foot of the criminal fhall be amputated. P. 249. Even the Brahmin that fteals is, with great feverity, punithed corporally or banished, but never put to death. P. 245. Unlawful games are punished with a fine and corporal punishment, at the will of the magiftrate: fraudulence at play, with the lofs of two of the fingers, P. 289." P. 842, Thus have we proceeded, with more than ufual minuteness of obfervation, through the volumes of this meritorious publi 3. cation. cation. Satisfied that the author's intentions, in compofing, them, were of the best kind; applauding his zeal, and admiring his perfeverance, we have not been forward to cenfure either the errors of a too exuberant diction, or thofe other defects which are unavoidable in works of deep and diftant refearch, where the ground is treacherous, and the track devious and obfcure. We wish him the full reward of his labours; and are happy in having at all contributed to the circulation of his work, and the diffufion of his fame. А Рост. By James ART. IX. The Favourite Village. THE fubject of this Poem is of the most pleasing and in terefting nature. There never was a perfon perhaps, however favoured by fortune, diftinguifhed by genius, or exalted by ambition, who did not feek, with fatisfaction, fome interval of leifure to review the gay and bufy fcenes of childhood and of youth. This is the pleafing object of the prefent compofition; and if we are not often furprifed with extraordinary vigour, or delighted with the more elevated efforts of the poetic art, we accompany the author with a complacency of mind, which is never abated by meannefs, nor interrupted by any ferious cause of difapprobation. We do not know whether the poet will be pleafed or otherwife at the obfervation, that he feems to have taken Cowper for his model. The mind which is confcious of native worth and dignity, difdains the idea of following any pattern whatever. But originality of conception and execution can be the lot of but few; and the difcuffion and defcription of fimilar fubje&s, and the reprefentation of fimilar ideas, particularly where there is any refemblance of talents, will unavoidably betray ftrong features of refemblance. Dr. Hurdis has divided his work into Four Books, to each of which its particular Argument is prefixed. The first is occupied by the defcription of the poet's native village, his paternal dwelling, the pleafures of early fummer, hay-making, the corn-fields in July, the fea in a storm, and in a calm. The fecond Book defcribes the pleafures of the favourite village in autumn, the harveft, the delights of the evening walk at this season, the equinoctial gale, with contempla. 5 tions |