"The eight laws of Nature will alike govern all mankind; and it is no wonder that ills betake (are felt by) those alone who are well (and happy): O illustrious Modliar! wherefore then dost thou still lament, seeing that we are all merely in possession of the souls of others † which are as transitory as lightning.”—Meeripenne. The two following verses may be read in one diagrain of uniform construction, by the omission of 16 letters. 1. ලද ල ල ද ව ල උ දුල 4. මෙලෙස දියනෙකසෙ දුල "1. The forest has received bright tender foliage; 2. The heavens (vacuum) became bright with blue rainy clouds; 3. The ponds have received their brightening (element the) water; 4. The world (itself was) thus greatly brightened." දිටු සඳ පිවිස සල "The young peacocks delighted with the storm, and having ascended the nearest but large mountains, commenced to play about in divers (two) ways, by spreading their wings which were of deep blue." "The eight laws of Nature ” are what are known as 66 the visitations of Providence." They are enumerated in the following lines of a Pali verse: ලාබොඅලාබා අය සොයසොච නින්දාපසස්සාව සුඛඩුක්ඛං එතෙව ධම්මානු ජසු නිච්චං "Profit and loss; fame and disgrace; praise and dispraise; and happiness and sorrow, are the laws which ever govern mankind:" † This is an allusion to the doctrine of the transmigration of souls in Budhism. The figures have reference to the lines in the diagram. We cannot resist the temptation of presenting the reader with another specimen of. figurative alliteration, being a diagram called Baranama-gabasaka. It is the one in the annexed plate, by Karatotte Terunanse, who received a handsome reward from his Sovereign, Rajahdi Rajasingha, A. D. 1786, for the ingenuity and ability displayed by him in introducing into one diagram, twelve expressive, * The writer has given his name and the date of his composition, &c. in the following stanzas. The Saka era (from the date of the reign of a King of that name) is much in use amongst Singhalese scholars. It commences 78 after the Christian era. සක වසිනෙක් ක්දහස් සත්සිය දෙසිව් සක කෙලෙමෙබර කව්රුනම් අමුතු වන වන වන Rev. Damma Kama, the disciple of the Preceptor of three Sovereigns hath composed this nove! dagram embodying 12 Stanzas, in the 6th year of the reign of Rajahadi Rajasingha, and in the year of Saka 1708. elegant stanzas, which may be read either from left to right. and vice versa, and from top to bottom, and vice versa. 1. සිසිසිඳ නනිනනිරජ7C ල ල "I do bow to the great (Budha) Sirigana,* who abstained from idle praise (exaggeration)—3, was firm, renowned and This King, having with delight seen with his eyes this diagram, like unto a noose in the necks of his (the writer's) rival poets; has made an offering to this Chief Priest, of an estate called Paliebedda (in perpetuity) as long as the earth shall endure. * There are no less than 26 epithets for Budha. They are embodied in the following six lines from the Namawalia. 66 සවන සතර මරණ පු මොකඳුර මුනි S සමතැස්පසාදිය බදස බලනි සමන් බදුර, සිරි ගන ලොවඟ සුගති . දියනාතිලෝ ා දින නළු සැමසුගත් 1. සවන of which සර්වඥ is the Sanscrit, means “ all-wise; "—2. සතර means master " or " teacher; "- 3. මර ථ ~ පු means the "enemy of Mara,p a God inimical to Budha;−4. මොකදුරු fromක් and ඇදුරු means ' the teacher of Niran "—the summum bonum of the Budhist — the doctrine of the extinction or annihilation of the human soul;-5. 66 මුනිඳු compounded of මුන and ඉදු means supreme inteiligence;" 6. සමතැස් is the Singhalese expression for the Sanscrit ස න්ත වක්කු " eyes on all sides," omuucienl;−7. පස ස් "five eyes." having reference to the five powers of sight which his followers attribute to Budha. They are first මස ස, which means මස් ඇස - "bodily eye." the power whereof was so great. that it is said he could see the distance of 16 miles, just as we can see at the distance of sixteen inches; and that it was composed of five colours; that is to say, the eye-hids were ble, their sockets glossy yellow, their corners red, the whites of the eyes snowy white, and |