1 placed in their view, and to the tranquil leifure devoted to the tendereft of paffions. "Thofe," fays Sir William," who admit the juf. tice of this remark, will not be furprifed that the oriental poets furpafs, in beauty of diction and strength of imagery, all the authors of Europe, excepting the lyric poets among the Greeks, Horace among the Romans, and Marino among the Italians." After feveral fine illuftrations from the Arabian and Perfian writers, he proceeds to confider oriental poetry in its fix fources, "the military virtues, love, grief, inftruction, reproof, and panegy ric."-ft, The Arabians poffefs no epic poem in their language; the Shahnama of Ferdufi is the only eastern compofition which merits that title, though both Perfians and Turks have many poems which relate to military achievements, but blended with fabulous incidents of a different nature. The beauties of Ferdufi are confidered as claffed under the feveral heads of fable, cha racters, defcriptions, and expreffions, and are conceived by our author to be furpaffed only by Homer. 2d, Amatory poems conftitute the prevailing mode of compofition in the eaft the Arabs, Perfians, and Turks, celebrate in their gazels the praises of love and wine; and the charms of voluptuoufnefs are fung in innumerable verfes, full of delicacy, of imagination, and of paffion. The Perfians are thought by our author to excel their rivals in the beauty of their odes, and he compares the poems of Hafiz with the admired productions of Anacrèon and Sappho. 3d, Elegiac poetry. "We find no elegies in the Perfian collections, and very few in thofe of the Turks." We cannot help regarding our author's affertion as much too general: for although we admit that the poems VOL. S named Cafida, which have been tranflated elegy, are not all of an elegiac nature, yet we recollect feveral Cafida, of Sadi and other writers, which are ftrictly conformable to our ideas of an elegiac poem. Some fine fpecimens are given from the Arabic. 4th, The moral productions of the Afiatic muse are both numerous and excellent. 5th, Satires are alfo very numerous, and more remarkable for caustic feverity than delicate reproof: they are mostly perfonal; fometimes they ridicule the inhabitants of a particular city; but there are few general fatyrifts in the ftyle of Juvenal and Horace. 6th, Panegyrics. Thefe, as Sir William obferves, are the most common of any, for "in general the works of the Afiatics begin by the praifes of the divinity, then comes that of the prophet, followed by thofe of their protectors." We may add, that thefe panegyrics are ufually the worst poems in the collection; abounding in fervile flattery and hyperbolical eulogies, without difcrimination of character or fituation. "Odes D'Hafiz."-Several late writers have been at much pains to explain to the public the caufes which render it fo difficult to tranf fufe the beauties of Hafiz into Englifh verfe: and, indeed, the fpecimens they exhibit, prove that it is no eafy matter to them. Sir William fpeaks little of the difficulty: he tranflates fome of the odes; and, whether into English or French, his tranflation always conveys a lively image of the original: Quoique celui que mon coeur aime, "Differtation fur la Litérature Orientale." An eloquent defence of oriental literature against the attacks of petulant critics, prone to cenfure what they do not underftand. The hiftories of Ebn Arab. hah, of Abel Feda, of Isfahani, Mirkhond, and Noveiri, comprife information highly interefting to the general scholar; the eastern apologies inculcare in the most impref. five manner the pureft morality: in poetry the Afiatics have attained the highest excellence; in proof of which our author ventures to compare an "ode of Hafiz with the 32d ode of the It book of Horace. An animated exhortation to princes, to encourage oriental learning, by the erection of colleges, and the printing of manufcripts, concludes the differtation. An Introduction to the History of the Life of Nadir Shah; containing, rft, a Defcription of Afia, according to the oriental geographers: ed, a fhort Hillory of Perfia, from the earliest times to the prefent cenry." The firit of thefe may ftill be advantageoufly confulted by per fons unacquainted with Afiatic gea graphy; fome particulars our author's fubfequent information would have enabled him to correct: Mabar, which he places on the Ganges, is a corruption of the name Mala. bar; Manfura, which he fays was the ancient name of Surat, is Bhacer on the Indus, Surat being a very modern city. The brief chronolo gical hiftory of Perfia which fol lows, from the impoffibility of procuring better data, is conftructed on: the following principle: "In the infancy of the Perfian empire, the fovereigns were almoft deified by the people, whom they had civi lized; the temperance of those early ages might tend to lengthen their natural lives, and few of them were disturbed by civil wars or rebellions: fo that we may fafely allow the fpace of five hundred and fixty years to the two first families of Perfian kings, or twenty-eight to a reign; which computation, if we count backwards, from the death of Darius,,in the 330th year before Chrift, will place the foundation of the Perfian monarchy in the 890thyear before the fame epoch, about 14 years, according to Newton, after the burning of Troy, and jut a century before fome general or feudatory of Tahmuras founded the dynafty of the Affyrians." We will content ourfelves by remarking the manner in which Sir William reconciles the Perfian accounts of the fecond or Caianian dynafty of princes with thofe of the Greeks. Afrafiah king of Turan,, who had fubdued Media, he supposes to be Ayages: Cai Cobad, who expelled the Scythians, Cyaxares: Caï Caus, from a common title, is called Darius the Mede: Cai Khofra, Cyrus the Great. Between his fon Lohorafp and Cambyfes no analogy can be traced; but Guderz, a gene 4 sal: tal of Lohorafp, who penetrated far into the weft, was the Xerxes of the Greeks. Kyftafp is Darius Hyftafpes, in whofe reign Zoroafter flourished in Perfia, Confucius in China, and Solon in Athens. Ardefhir Derazdeft is Artaxerxes Longimanus in the reign of this prince," Corefh, defcended from Lohorafp, was fent to punish Bal tazzar, fon of Bakhtnafar, who was grown very infolent in his government of Babylon; Coresh conquer. ed Baltazzar, and was raifed by the King to the fupreme command of that city, where he protected and encouraged the captive Jews. What ever our chronologers fay, it is not eafy to conceive that the Jews were delivered by Cyrus the Great; perhaps, deceived by the name Cy. rus, which the Greeks gave both to Khofru and to Corefh, they have fixed the return of the Jews much earlier than the truth." The fixth volume opens with the "Hitopadefa of Vishnufarman.". Our author remarks, that "the fables of Vishnufarman, whom we ri diculously call Pilpay, are the moft beautiful, if not the most ancient collection of apologues in the world. They are extant under various names in more than twenty languages; and, as the very existence of Efop, whom the Arabs believe to have been an Abyffinian, appears rather doubtful, I am not difinclined to suppose, that the firft moral fables, which appeared in Europe, were of Indian or Ethiopian origin. In Perfian the word Bidpaï means willow-footed, which is nonfenfe; and Pilpai, elephant-footed, which is not much better: but Cashefi fays, that, in Sanferit, the word fignifies beloved, or favourite phyfician, and that is certainly the meaning of baidya priya, from which Bidpaï is formed; the author having been, it is fuppofed, of the baidya, or me dical tribe, and a favourite of his Rajah." We muft here observe, that there is no more reafon for fuppofing Vishnufarman the aut thor of thefe fables, than for fuppofing Sheherazad the author of the Arabian Nights, or Mr. Bicker ftaff of the Tatler; if fuch a person as Vishnufarman ever exifted, he was a Brahman, and could not be a baidya or phyfician, that being a very inferior caft. The work, how. ever, is ftated in the introduction to be a compilation from the Panch Tantra, and lays no claim to ori ginality; indeed we fufpect it to confift of four chapters felected from the laft-mentioned performance, and connected by a different hand. The enigma contained in the word Bidpai or Pilpaï, has escaped the perfpicuity both of Sir William and Mr. Wilkins: we think we have accidentally hit upon it, and doubt not that the latter gentleman will acquiefce in our explanation, as foon as it is fuggefted. "Upåveda' fignifies an inferior or fupplementary Veda, and is frequently applied in Sanferit to moral treatifes. The Hitopadefa has been styled, with great propriety, an Upaveda. The Perfians, ignorant of its meaning, have miftaken it for the name of the author; and careless copy ifts have finished it, by tranfpofing the fyllables, from Upa-veda to Ved-upa; whence Bidpaï, from an accidental fimilarity to two Perfian words. This is the fecond English tranf lation of this pleafing performance: we have collated both with the original; and the refult of our observations is, that the present is the moft literal and correct, whilst Mr. Wilkins has been more happy in rendering the facetious humour of the original, which is lefs perceptible in the gravity of our author's ftyle. Indeed, Sir William tranf lated his merely as an exercise, $ C 2 without without intending it for publication; had they been acceffible to Phædrus or La Fontaine, thefe fabulifts would have been fupplied with an inexhauftible fund of ingenious apologues, for the conveyance of moral truths in their fprightly ftrains. We infert a fpecimen : "A noife only, when the caufe of it is unknown, muft not be dreaded; yet, by discovering the caufe of an alarming noife, a woman of evil fame acquired reputation. How, faid the lion, was that? "In the middle of Sriparvata mountain," faid Damanaca, "is a town called Brahmapura, and on one fide of its fummit, (according to the popular flory,) lived Guatacarna, (it fhould be Ghuntacarna,) or Bell-ear, a Racíhafa (or cruel demon). One day a thief, efcaping from a houfe in which he had ftolen a bell, was killed, and eaten by a tiger on the top of this mountain; and the bell, which had dropped from his hand, was taken up by fome monkeys, who from time to time made it found." "The people of this town having difcovered that a man had been killed, and hearing continually the noife of the be!l, faid, that Guatacarna had in his rage eaten him, and they all fled from the town. It came into the head of a female pander, that the bell was only founded by monkeys; and fhe went to the prince, faying, if you will advance me a large fum of money, I will make the demon quiet. The king gave her a treasure; and the, having paid adoration to a certain quarter of the globe, made idols, and formed circles, acquired great reputation for fanctity; fhe then took fuch fruits as monkeys love, and, having entered the foreft, fcattered them about, which the monkeys perceiving, quitted the bell, and eagerly devoured the fruits. The woman took up the bell, and went with it to the palace of the king, where all the people did her reverence. Hence, I fay, A noife, &c." It strikes us that the gravity of the tranflation agrees but ill with the nature of the stories. "Sacontala, or the Fatal Ring, an Indian drama, by Calidas; tranf. lated from the original Sanfcrit and Pracrit."-Calidas was the firft in reputation among the poets who flourished at the polished court of Avanti, in the century preceding the Chriftian æra, who are celebrat ed under the name of the nine gems. The foundation of the piece is taken from the Mahabharat, whence the ftory of Sacontala has been extracted and tranflated by Mr. Wilkins. The dramatic poet has taken confiderable liberties with his original; in the latter, the refufal of Dufhmanta to acknowledge his fon in prefence of the whole court, is occafioned by his anxiety to produce fuch convincing proofs of his birth as might effectually filence the voice of fufpicion, and vindicate the character of Sacon. tala: in the play his conduct ceeds from real forgetfulness, the effect of the fatal ring. Weentire. ly concur in the opinion of the tranf lator, who confiders this drama "as a moft pleafing and authentic picture of old Hindû manners, and one of the greateft curiofities that the literature of Afia has yet brought to light." pro "Eight hymns to the Hindu Deities." Thefe poems have great merit in introducing to our ac quaintance feveral of the principal deities of the Hindu mythology, in all the pomp of appropriate imagery, They are not tranflations, although the Hindûs have numberlefs poetical addreffes to their gods: they are not imitations of the ancients, tho they have left us many beautiful fpecimens of thefe compofitions, which might be imitated and ap plied with great advantage to the Indian deities. Many beautiful, and many fublime paffages might be pointed out; whilst some are too turgid and inflated, and others too metaphyfical for poetry. "An Extract from the Bhushanda Rámáyan." This has, apparently, been tranflated from the Perfie ver fion of the Rámáyan, as the orthography is different from that adopt. ed by our author, after he commenced his Sanfcrit ftudies. "Extracts Extracts from the Vedas."We infert the celebrated Gayatri, or holieft verfe of the Vedas: "Let us adore the fupremacy of that divine fun, the godhead who illuminates all, who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all maft return, whom we invoke to direct our underflandings aright in our progrefs towards his holy feat." The above is the whole of the Gayatri: what the fucceeding verfes are, or whence extracted, we are not informed; but the third extract, we apprehend, cannot be from the Vedas, from its mentioning various princes who affuredly lived posterior to the compofition of that primeval code. The remaining extracts appeared in our laft publication. Prefaces to a printed edition of "The Seafons," a defcriptive poem by Calidas; and of "Laili and Majnun," a Perfian poem by Hatifi. The former is recommended to the Sanferit ftudent, as an eafy and elegant work, well adapted for beginners. "An Effay on the Law of Bailments," concludes this volume, and the works of Sir William Jones. It is, we understand, confidered as a work of high legal authority on the fubject, and is thus mentioned by Mr. Gibbon: "Sir William Jones has given an ingenious and rational effay on the law of bailments. He is perhaps the only law yer equally converfant with the year-books of Westminster, the commentaries of Ulpian, the Attic pleadings of Ifæus, and the fentences of Arabian and Perfian Cazis." We may add the ordinances of the Sriti Saftra to the above lift It is to be lamented that these ineftimable stores of oriental learn ing had not been fubmitted to the perufal of an oriental fcholar for the purpose of correcting mistakes in orthography. We infert a few cor rigenda, to call the attention of the editors to the fubject when a new edition is called for. 5th vol. page 306, "Homaï" for Jumna; 480 "Miahk" for Mefhk; 429 "Almotapem" for Almotafem; 435 "Mekhaï" for Nekhahi.-6th vol. 105 "Saganca" for Safanga; 73 "Guatacarna" for Ghumtacarna; 420"Sufes" for Suras. Of the wonderful attainments of Sir William Jones, it is difficult to fpeak in qualified terms; in difcharging our duty to the public, we have freely pointed out whatever we confidered as mistakes, but can. dour admits and requires the dif charge of a more agreeable duty. His comprehenfive mind feems to have embraced the whole circle of fcience in its ample grafp; and his works prove, that, in most branches of human knowledge, he had reached a high degree of excellence. His Latin odes are claffical and elegant; his verfions of Hafiz are the only real fpecimens, in our language, of the rich and copious ftrains of the Perfian bard; the Inftitutes of Menu, Hitopadefa and Sacontala, throw more light on the manners, and civil and religious inftitutions of the Hindûs, than can be derived from all other fources collectively, if we except the agreeable translations of Mr. Wilkins; and his anniversary difcourfes communicate an infinite variety of curious and useful information, in a style at once elegant and impreffive. His indefatigable application exhibits an useful example to literary men; but the extent and varieties of his attainments, who can hope to reach? By his premature death, literature has met with one of the fevereft loffes it has fuftained in the eighteenth century; for, highly as we value the perform ances we have juft analyzed, we are confident that, if his life had been protracted, his future productions $C 3 would |