a most stupid fellow he was obliged to be told all the prayers, and could go on with

:

nothing without a prompter.

Krishnu. Did you take notice of the songs? How attentive the hearers were! How astonishingly well the song respecting Doorga was sung, exactly as if Huroot'hakoor had done it. All the sounds in the tune respecting Krishnň too were new, and it was exactly like the language of a love-sick damsel. The words of the other songs, I confess, were rather low and mean.

Between a voishnuvu, and a disciple of the female deities, a shaktů.

Shaktů. O Voishnŭvů-t'hakoor. You were at the festival at Ŭgrů-dweepŭ. What number of people might there be ?

Voishnůvй. There was a very large assembly; not fewer than a lack.

Shaktu. Did they all see T'hakoor-Gopee-nat'hu?* and what did each give?† Voishnuvu. Some gave one ana; some two, and the rich much more, each according to his ability.

Shakti. Well. What did it cost you? I suppose you had a company, entertained.§

Voishnuvu. It cost me twenty or thirty roopees.

whom you

Shaktu. Why did you expend all this money? What is Ghoshu-t'hakoor to you? Voishnuvй. All the ghosais entertain people at this time; and it is what we ought to do.

Shaktu. What benefit will there be in feeding a parcel of women. Why not en

tertain bramhuns?

Voishnuců. You bramhuns cannot bear to see any one honoured or feasted except yourselves. You can converse on nothing without reproaching others. Where is the benefit of devouring flesh and drinking spirits?

Shakti. No doubt, your Choitŭnyŭ and Nityanŭndă, the two brothers, whom you

* The image.

Two-pence.

+ It is usual for the relations (though poor) of the person who has a festival at his house, and for rich men, who come to bow to the image, to cast some money at the feet of the image, and then prostrate themselves before it. Rich men, at this festival, entertain companies of voishnuvǎ's two days together, in honour of Ghoshŭ-t'hakoor, to whose manes the rice is presented by the god of the place, Gopee-nat'hu. Female mendicants of loose character, called voishnŭvēēs.

foolishly consider as incarnations of Krishnŭ and Bülŭramů, will do every thing for you, as Hosăn and Hosain, the two Musulman brothers, do for their followers. Voishnŭvů. And—as your Hatishoorér-ma* will do for you, a parcel of drunkards and eaters of hogs' flesh.t

Respecting an absent person, who neglects the ceremonies of religion.

Voikoont'hu. How is Ramu-chrünů? I suppose he is becoming rich very fast. Ramu-juyй. Yes. He brings his money home and buries it, or lets it out to usury, at an ana per month on the roopee. He spends nothing, except in ornaments for his wives; he neglects the prescribed offerings to the manes of his ancestors, and never entertains bramhuns, or, if he sometimes gives a feast of this kind, he invites as few as possible.

Voikoont hu. I have heard, that his sons are very loose in their conduct; that all their married neighbours are alarmed for the chastity of their wives; and that these sons neglect their ablutions in the Ganges, and almost all the daily duties of bramhïns. Ramu-juyu. It is but too true: this is the case, not only with his sons, but with great numbers of young people in our neighbourhood. It is plain enough, that, as Junhoo swallowed Gunga in her descent from heaven, the kalee-yoogu is swallowing up all the religion that is left amongst us.

On rejecting a person, and restoring him again to his cast.

At an assembly of the villagers. Kanaee. O Ramй-Rayй! you are the head-man of the village it is therefore our duty to make you acquainted with every thing: we can no longer have intercourse with Hulidhură-chükrübürttee.

:

Ramu-Raya. Why?

Kanaee. You, Sir, know what took place formerly: at present he has a mistress, the daughter of a washerman: for some time past, nobody has visited him, but he goes and eats every where.-Now, we hear, that they have destroyed the child in

* A name of abuse given to Doorga, as the mother of Gunéshů, who has an elephant's head: hatee, elephant; soorů, the elephant's trunk; ma, mother. + The bramhuns and regular Hindoos despise the voishnŭvus, as an upstart sect, whose system is a departure from the old one; and the voishnuvus, on the other hand, reproach the More than 35 per cent. shaktus, because some of this sect eat flesh and drink spirits.

the womb-and the noise of this is gone over all the village. With such a person therefore we cannot eat.

Ramu-Raya. If this is true, it is very bad; and nobody can have intercourse with him but let him be called.

Húlůdhuru arrives, and says to Ramй-Rayŭ, Why have you called me, Sir?

Ramu-Rayй. Why?--You know, that, for a long time back, you have been in a disorderly way nobody has visited you; but through my influence your friends did not wholly discard you. Now, I hear, that you have been guilty of destroying your illegitimate child in the womb: you have broken down the fence, and gone into forbidden ground and your friends have now utterly renounced you.-He goes away very sad.

[After two years, during which time Hŏlüdhürů had solicited forgiveness by the most humiliating intreaties, he again appears before the village council.]

Ramu-Rayй, addressing the villagers assembled, says, O Sirs! may I be heard? They reply, what commands, Sir.

Ramu-Rayй. You are all assembled: here is a person without a friend; he lays hold of your feet. If ten persons decide on a question, the authority of ten makes even that which is wrong, right; and the strength of ten united becomes that of a lion. You see this man, cast off by you for many days; he has endured misery equal to his sin; and he comes to me with his distress continually, whether I am sitting, eating, or sleeping. I have told him to solicit pardon from door to door; and that against your will I can do nothing. He says, 'God is now on my left; I cannot shew my face, and nobody speaks a kind word to me.' He knows that you respect me, and therefore he comes to me. Whatever may have been his fault formerly; let that go; he is now very anxious to be restored; and he is now afraid of incurring your displeasure: you will do well, therefore, to shew him favour.

One of the company. Favour! How can that be, Ramu-Rayŭ!. Do you mean to receive him back, or his concubine? I suppose, you, Sir, have before this bestowed your favours on the concubine. Do you wish us all to become Musulmans? Wellyou are at the head of the village-all respect you-nobody will run back if you advance; let the wedding feast be kept at your house.

Another.

Dismiss this filthy subject: let us repeat the name of God, and some

thing good will come on it. Besides, how can you go into this business; he was warned by a thousand persons not to go into this connection. Day and night he staid at this woman's; and I suppose he has eaten with her : what should hinder? And now you hear of an abortion; and this has been proclaimed as by the sound of the drum. True, he is a very proper subject for favour; two or three others in the village are anxious to follow his footsteps. But you, Sir, can do every thing; you can kill, and then cook, what you please; but we are poor people; we cannot. If I could do this, I might have taken a gift the other day, and have sat down with the Musulmans. Another. Oh! friend, don't forbid it-let the thirty-six casts all eat together. Ramŭ-Rayů, (to himself) I suppose then, Hülödhuru's sin is still upon him; for if ten persons are not well disposed towards him, it seems that God is still angry with him. To the villagers. Do you intend then, Sirs, to pursue this man to death? When we come into the world, every one does good and evil, and sometimes a person falls into a snare; but you have already punished this culprit as far as possible: for two years he has been enduring every sort of misery, lying in his house as a corpse.--Whispering to Hůlŭdhéré, and advising him to put his garment round his neck, and fall at their fect—

Huludhürü does so, and Ramu-Rayй continues, See, Gentlemen, would you tread on the dead? Is there any thing left to punish? However, do as you like, if you wish to destroy him, do so-and if you wish to save, he is in your hands. I will only add one word, For my sake, forgive him-bestow this alms on me.

One of the village. Sir, your words are irresistible. Well-a bramhun has fallenit is right to pity the miserable; but, if it is beyond our power? We can lift a hundred weight, but we cannot raise a ton. We can stop one mouth, but how shall we stop a thousand?

Ramu-Rayu. Gentlemen I only want your consent-and then, I will manage all the rest: you know, that money can do all things; only pardon the culprit, and two or three of us will see what he is worth, and examine how every thing can be brought about.

They consent, and the assembly breaks up. [Sometimes, when the persons who have been bribed to consent, are called to eat with the culprit, they hang back, complaining that the money has been unequally distributed; they reproach the culprit, and the food he has prepared, and at last go into the measure with much disgust, and with a thousand hard words against the person to be restored.]

SECTION VI.

Specimens of Letters.

শ্রীশ্রীহরিঃ শরণ

পৌধ্য শ্রীরামমোহনদেব শৰ্ম্মণঃ প্রনামা নিবেদনঞ্চ বিশেষঃ ১৭ আশ্বিন শুক্রবার শ্রীশ্রী শারদীয়া পূজা হইবেক। মহাশয়েরা কলিকাতার বাটীতে জামিয়া প্রতিমা দর্শনাদি করিবেন । পত্রদ্বারা নিমন্ত্রণ করিলাম । ইতি । তারিখ ১৪ অশ্বিন :—

Translation.

Shree Shree Hüree. My Preserver.

I Ram-Mohun-dévů-shŭrmănů, who am supported by thee, with respect make this request : On Friday, the 17th of Ashwinū, will be the dewy season festival. You will please to come to the house in Calcutta, and see the image, and partake of the offerings, three days. By this letter I invite you. This. 14th Ashwin.

Letter from a Mother to her son.

Shree Shree Ramů. My Protector.

To the fortunate Huree-nat'hu-bundopadhyayй, my son, more beloved than my own life. Long life to thee. To thee I write as follows :

The highest of blessings, yea let a multitude of such blessings rest on you. More particularly; I am happy in always thinking of your prosperity. I received your letter, and am become acquainted with its contents. I received one hundred roopees which you sent by Ram-Mohun-sénů; and have expended it in the manner directed, as you will perceive.

You write, that your employer does not give you leave to be absent, and that therefore you cannot come to be present at the festival of Shree Shree Eeshwŭree.* This * The goddess Doorga is here understood, though Eeshwŏrēē signifies merely a goddess.