larities of this religion are neatly stated by the author in this passage: The religion of the Burmas is singular, as exhibiting a nation considerably advanced from the rudeness of savage nature, and in all the actions of life much under the influence of religious opinions, and yet ignorant of a Supreme Being, the creator and preserver of the universe. The system of morals however recommended by these fables, is perhaps as good as that held forth by any of the rcligious doctrines prevailing among mankind. The motives also by which these fables excite to good works, unite the temporal nature of the Jewish law to the future expectations of the Christian dispensation: while having adapted the nature of the rewards and punishments to the conception of our present faculties, they have all the power of the Mohamedan paradise; and having proportioned these punishments and rewards to the extent of virtue or vice, they possess the justice of the Roman purgatory, but without giving to priests the dangerous power of curtailing its duration. BovDDHA has no doubt given to the bestowing alms on the clergy a conspicuous place among the virtues: but his clergy for support are entirely dependant on these alms; as they have not ventured to propose any stated, lasting, or accumulating property, being annexed to their order; nor have they assumed to themselves any rank or power in the management of secular affairs. Except this elevation of an inferiour virtue to the rank of an important duty, and the merit which we shall find given to the ceremony of pouring forth water on certain occasions, there is perhaps no considerable objection to any of the morality recommended by GODAMA, unless it be his considering it criminal to put any animal to death for the use of man; and his representing celibacy as a kind of virtue, or at least as a more perfect state than marriage: an idea, though common to some of the authors of prevailing religions, yet certainly productive of much misery, and of the worst consequences. It must however be confessed, that the practice of morality among the Burmas is by no means so correct, as might be perhaps expected among a people whose religious opinions have such an apparent tendency to virtue. In particular, an almost total want of veracity, and a most insatiable cruelty in their wars and punishments, are observable among them on the slightest acquaintance.' The passages respecting their writings and books are too curious to be passed over: There is no doubt, (the author observes,) that all the different characters of India, both on the west and on the east of the Ganges, have been derived from a common source: and the Burma writing of the whole appears to be the most distinct and beautiful. In their more elegant books, the Burmas write on sheets of ivory, on very fine white palmira leaves. The ivory is stained black, and the margins are ornamented with gilding, while the characters are enamelled or gilded. On the palmira leaves the characters are in general of black enamel; and the ends of the leaves, and margins, are painted with flowers in various bright colours. In their more common books, the Burmas with an iron style engrave their writing on palmira leaves. A hole X 3 A hole through both ends of each leaf, serves to connect the whole into a volume by means of two strings, which also pass through the two wooden boards, that serve for binding. In the finer binding of these kind of books the boards are lacquered, the edges of the leaves cut smooth and gilded, and the title is written on the upper board, the two cords are by a knot or jewel secured at a little distance from the boards, so as to prevent the book from falling to pieces, but sufficiently distant to admit of the upper leaves being turned back, while the lower ones are read. The more elegant books are in general wrapped up in silk cloth, and bound round by a garter, in which the Burmas have the art to weave the title of the book.' Every convent has a collection of books; several of which are pretty considerable. The most common copiers are indeed the Rahans, who prepare books both for their convents, and for presents to their lay benefactors. These books are kept in chests, much ornamented with gilding, and bits of looking glass, fastened on with lacquer, in the shape of flowers. At Amarapura we were shewn a part of the royal library. This is a brick building, surrounded by enclosed courts and temples, which occupy a delightful situation in the N.W. angle of the city. Near it is a small, but most elegant Kiaung. To this, at times, the monarch retires; and we were shewn the gilded couch on which he reposes, while the ZARADO reads to him, and instructs him in the duties of religion. The library itself is neither a convenient nor handsome building. The gallery, into which we entered, contained about a hundred chests, gilded on the sides, and lacquered above, with the general title of their contents written in golden letters. The chests were large, and if full, must have contained many thousand volumes. As we saw only a part, I presume that the king's collection is very extensive. He is, indeed, said to be a very intelligent and learned prince. He was very desirous of obtaining some Brahmen more learned, than those he had, to instruct him in astronomy and he had caused the institutes of MENU to be translated from the English of Sir WILLIAM JONES. He must therefore have heard of what is pursued among the Europeans, in at least oriental li terature; and it is to be hoped, that some more useful books may attract his notice: books which might tend to improve the people, and give them more enlightened notions of politics, of the arts, and of science. Hitherto, I suspect, the laws, or religion, of the Burmas, have contributed little to the happiness of the people; but fortunately they have not, like those of the Brahmens, placed any insurmountable obstacles in the way of national improvement.' These volumes include two other memoirs relative to the. same subject. The difference in the accounts which they contain must be left to future inquirers to settle. A paper by Captain Wilford, in which he traces the limits of the antient Caucasus, accounts for its various names, and points out the affinity between those that are used in the West and those which occur in the Sanscreet, abounds with profound and diversified disquisitions; which our limits will not permit us to analyze, but which will doubtless he re garded garded as a high treat by the proficient in Brahmen learning. Eastern tradition, he informs us, corroborated by the sacred books of the Hindus and by Persian authors, assigns as the residence of the primogenitors of the human race, the tract which extends from Balk and Candahar to the Ganges. In this district, Captain W. finds a spot which answers exactly to the Mosaic description of the garden of Eden, and he tells us that he does not believe that the whole globe will furnish another which can present similar pretensions. On like authority, the residence of Adam, after his fall, is stated to have been in the mountainous regions between Cabul and the Ganges. Mr. Colebrooke's two valuable papers on the religious ceremonies of the Hindus, while they display eminent patience of research, and are indicative of a temper highly liberal and philosophical, shew, on the part of the Company's servants, a laudable desire to become acquainted with the habits and prejudices of the natives; a circumstance which we consider as auguring well for the permanence of our interests in India. Mr. Wrede's account of the Christians of Malabar throws very little light on the antient state of that body, and tends to shew that not much which is satisfactory can be discovered with regard to it. He proves, however, in opposition to the Romish false accounts, that these Christians were originally Nestorians; and he makes us acquainted with the artifices and severities by which the greater part of them were subjugated to the yoke of the Pope. Mr. Richardson's account of the Bazee-gurs, a wandering tribe consisting of several casts, is not a little curious. In remarking on the resemblance between them and the Gipsies of Europe, he takes occasion to corroborate the system of Grellman, which represents this latter erratic horde as of Hindoostanee origin. The sect of Bazee-gurs, called also Nuts, furnishes the dancing and tumbling girls of India. Scarcely any European is ignorant of the free and easy manners of these ladies, but Mr. R. informs us that this circumstance proves no obstruction to their marriage; that when they enter into that state, they quit their profession; and that it is expected of them at the same time to lay aside their former habits, in which they most generally acquiesce. This people are in the upper parts of Hindoostan called Kunjura, which Mr. R. thinks is likely to have been the stock whence sprang our term conjurer, instead of the Latin word to which it is commonly traced. A people of the same description with the Kunjura, whose language is Hindoostanee, reside near Constantinople, and are called Cingarees. He admits that the verb juggle may have been formed from the word jug, and occasioned by the use which conjurors made of cups, jugs, and mugs but he observes that, in the Hinduwee dialects, jugg is applied to a particular act of worship, which the Brah mens alone can perform, and by virtue of which they pretend sometimes to acquire præternatural powers. In this way, they hope for the success of their muntur or incantations; and in imitation of them, he supposes that the Gipsies may have preserved the name, on their arrival in the European territories. The author describes these people as a species of Moosulmans in religion; that is, he says, They undergo circumcision, and at their weddings and burials a Qazee and Moolla attend to read the service; thus far and no farther are they Moosulmans. Of the prophet they seem to have little know. ledge, and though in the creed which some of them can indistinctly recollect, they repeat his titles, yet when questioned on the subject, they can give no further account of him, than that he was a Saint or Peer. They acknowledge a God, and in all their hopes and fears address him, except when such address might be supposed to interfere in Tansyn's department, a famous musician who flourished, I believe, in the Úkbur, and whom they consider as their tutelary deity: consequently they look up to him for success and safety in all their professional exploits. These consist of playing on various instruments, singing, dancing, tumbling, &c. The two latter accomplishments are peculiar to the women of this sect. The notions of religion and a future state among this vagrant race, are principally derived from their songs, which are beautifully simple. They are commonly the production of Kubeer, a poet of great fame, and who, considering the nature of his poems, deserves to be still better known*. On every *He was a weaver by trade, and flourished in the reign of Sher Shak, the Cromwell of Indian history. There are, however, various and contradictory traditions relative to our humble philosopher, as some accounts bring him down to the time of Ukbur. All, however, agree as to his being a Soofee or Deist of the most exalted sentiments, and of the most unbounded benevolence. He reprobated with severity the religious intolerance and worship of both Hindoos and Moosulmans, in such a pleasing poetic strain of rustic wit, humour, anc sound reasoning, that to this day both nations contend for the honor of his birth, in their respective sects or tribes. He published a book of poems that are still universally esteemed, as they inculcate the purest morality, and the greatest good-will and hospitality to all the children of Man. From the disinterested yet alluring doctrines they contain, a sect has sprung up in Hindoostan under the name of Kubeer-punt hee, who are so universally esteemed for veracity and other virtues among both Hindoos and Moosulmans, that they may be with propriety considered the Quakers of this hemisphere. They resemble that respectable body in the neatness of their dress and simplicity of their manners, which are neither strictly Mochun.mudun nor Hinduwee; being rather a mixture of the best parts of both. A translation of Kubeer's works, with the life of that sage, and an account of his followers, relative to their tencts and societies, remain still as desiderata in the history of India.' occasion occasion of doubt they have a quotation ready from their favourite Nor soul nor love divine can die, We feel a strong curiosity to be better acquainted with a genius so singular as this poet seems to have been. It cannot be said that the instructions of this philosophical child of nature are not required in Europe, which prides itself on its superior enlightened state; and we hope that it will not be long before some ingenious East Indian pen will supply the desiderata stated in the note. Captain Cox's paper on the Burmha game of Chess will prove highly interesting to the admirers of that first of our sedentary amusements. [To be continued.] MONTHLY CATALOGUE, NOVELS. Art. 14. Fate, or Spong Castle. By Maria Vanzee. 12mo. 45. The misfortunes of Charles and Emma, a fond and faithful pair, Jo. Even the title of this novel furnishes an intimation to the reader, that the business of love will form a material part of the narrative; and that probably, after various difficulties and distresses, the happy pair will arrive, in the end, at the completion of their wishes. A perusal of the volumes will prove this to be a just anticipation. The circumstances attending the flight of Irenea, her confinement in the lonely island, and her artifice to effect her escape by dropping laudanum into the glass of Lord Rusborough and sending him to sleep, will - amuse, perhaps, as far as they may be considered to be probable. The Man |