I now am) deposited in the Fort of Cochin, for safe custody, certain tablets of brass, on which were engraved rights of nobility, and other privileges granted by a Prince of a former age; and that while these Tablets were under the charge of the Portuguese, they had been unaccountably lost, and were never after heard of. Adrian Moens, a Governor of Cochin in 1770, who published some account of the Jews of Malabar, informs us that he used every means in his power, for many years, to obtain a sight of the famed Christian Plates; and was at length satisfied that they were irrecoverably lost, or rather, he adds, that they never existed. The Learned in general, and the Antiquarian in particular, will be glad to hear that these ancient Tablets have been recovered within this last month by the exertions of Lieutenant Colonel Macauley, the British Resident in Travancore, and are now officially deposited with that Officer.

"The Christian Tablets are six in number. They are composed of a mixed metal. The engraving on the largest plate is thirteen inches long, by about four broad. They are closely written, four of them on both sides of the plate, making in all eleven pages. On the plate reputed to be the oldest, there is writing perspicuously engraved in nail-headed or triangular headed letters, resembling the Persepolitan or Babylonish. On the same plate there is writing in another character, which is supposed to have no affinity with any existing character in Hindostan. The grant on this plate appears to be witnessed by four Jews of rank, whose names are distinctly engraved in an old Hebrew character, resembling the alphabet called the Palmyrene: and to each name is prefixed the title of "Magen" or Chief, as the Jews translated it. It may be doubted, whether there exist in the world many documents of so great length, which are of equal antiquity, and in such faultless preservation, as the Christian Tablets of Malabar. The Jews of Cochin indeed contest the palm of antiquity: for they also produce two Tablets, containing privileges granted at a remote period; of which they presented to me a Hebrew translation. As no person can be found in this country who is able to

translate the Christian Tablets, I have directed an engraver at Cochin to execute a copper-plate fac simile of the whole, for the purpose of transmitting copies to the learned Societies in Asia and Europe. The Christian and Jewish plates together make fourteen pages. A copy was sent in the first instance to the Pundits of the Shanscrit College at Trichiur, by direction of the Rajah of Cochin; but they could not read the character.* From this place I proceed to Cande-nad, to visit the Bishop once more before I return to Bengal."

THE MALABAR BIBLE.

AFTER the Author left Travancore, the Bishop prosecuted the translation of the Scriptures into the Malabar Language without intermission, until he had completed the New Testament. The year following, the Author visited Travancore a second time, and carried the Manuscript to Bombay to be printed! an excellent fount of Malabar types having been recently cast at that place. Learned natives went from Travancore to superintend the press; and it is probable that it is now nearly finished, as a copy of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, beautifully printed, was received in England some time ago. This version of the Scriptures will be prosecuted until the whole Bible is completed, and copies circulated throughout the Christian regions of Malabar.

THE SYRIAC BIBLE.

IT has been further in contemplation to print an edition of the Syriac Scriptures, if the public should

*Most of the Manuscripts which I collected among the Syrian Christians, I have presented to the University of Cambridge; and they are now deposited in the Public Library of that University, together with the copper-plate fac-similes of the Christian and Jewish Tablets.

countenance the design. This gift, it may be presumed, the English nation will be pleased to present to the Syrian Christians. We are already debtors to that ancient people. They have preserved the manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures incorrupt, during a long series of ages, and have now committed them into our own hands. By their long and energetic defence of pure doctrine against anti-christian error, they are entitled to the gratitude and thanks of the rest of the Christian world. Further, they have preserved to this day the language in which our blessed Lord preached to men the glad tidings of Salvation. Their Scriptures, their doctrine, their language, in short their very existence, all add something to the evidence of the truth of Christianity.

The motives then for printing an edition of the Syriac Bible are these:

1. To do honor to the language which was spoken by our blessed Savior when upon earth.

2. To do honor to that ancient Church, which has preserved his language and his doctrine.

3. As the means of perpetuating the true Faith in the same Church for ages to come.

4. As the means of preserving the pronunciation, and of cultivating the knowledge of the Syriac Lan guage in the East; and

5. As the means of reviving the knowledge of the Syriac Language in our own nation.

On the Author's return to England, he could not find one copy of the Syriac Bible in a separate volume for sale in the kingdom. He wished to send a copy to the Syrian Bishop, as an earnest of more, when an edition should be printed.

The Syriac Bible is wanted not only by the Churches of the Syrian Christians, but by the still

more numerous Churches of the Syro-Romish Chrisțians in Malabar, who also use the Syriac Language.

THE ROMISH CHRISTIANS IN INDIA.

IN every age of the Church of Rome there have been individuals, of an enlightened piety, who derived their religion not from "the commandments of men," but from the doctrines of the Bible. There are at this day, in India and in England, members of that communion, who deserve the affection and respect of all good men; and whose cultivated minds will arraign the corruptions of their own religion, which the Author is about to describe, more severely than he will permit himself to do. He is indeed prepared to speak of Roman Catholics with as much liberality as perhaps any Protestant has ever attempted on Christian principles: for he is acquainted with individuals, whose unaffected piety he considers a reproach to a great body of Protestants, even of the strictest sort. It is indeed painful to say any thing which may seem to feeling and noble minds ungenerous; but those enlightened persons, whose good opinion it is desirable to preserve, will themselves be pleased to see that truth is not sacrificed to personal respect, or to a spurious candor. Their own Church sets an example of "plainness of speech" in the assertion of those tenets which it professes, some of which must be extremely painful to the feeling of Protestants, in their social intercourse with Catholics; such as, "That there is no salvation out of the pale of the Romish Church."

This exclusive character prevents concord and intimacy between Protestant and Catholic families.

On the principles of Infidelity they can associate very easily; but on the principles of Religion, the Protestant must ever be on the defensive; for the Romish Church excommunicates him: and although he must hope that some individuals do not maintain the tenet, yet his uncertainty as to the fact prevents that cordiality which he desires. Many excellent Catholics suffer unjustly in their intercourse with Protestants, from the ancient and exclusive articles of their own Church, which they themselves neither profess nor believe. If they will only intimate to their Protestant friends, that they renounce the exclusive principle, and that they profess the religion of the Bible, no more seems requisite to form with such persons the sincerest friendship on Christian principles.

At the present time we see the Romish Religion in Europe without dominion; and hence it is viewed by the mere philosopher with indifference or contempt. He is pleased to see, that the "seven heads and the ten horns" are taken away; and thinks nothing of the "names of blasphemy." But in the following pages, the Author will have occasion to shew what Rome is, as having dominion; and possessing it too within the boundaries of the British Empire.

In passing through the Romish Provinces in the East, though the Author had before heard much of the Papal corruptions, he certainly did not expect to see Christianity in the degraded state in which he found it. Of the Priests it may truly be said, that they are, in general, better acquainted with the Veda of Brahma than with the Gospel of Christ. In some places the doctrines of both are blended. At Aughoor, situated between Tritchinopoly and Madura, he witnessed (in October 1806) the Tower of Juggernaut employed to solemnize a Christian festival. The old