A similar disposition to cruelty is likewise shown in their treatment of vanquished enemies. And in general a want of sensibility for others is a very eminent characteristic of this people. The apathy with which a Hindoo views all persons and interests unconnected with himself, is such as excites the indignation of Europeans. At any rate his regards extend but to a very narrow circle. Patriotism is absolutely unknown in Hindostan.

"These observations lead us to another striking proof of want of benevolence in the Hindoos; namely, their deficiency of natural affection. It is admitted that examples are not very uncommon of parents who show much tenderness to their children, especially during their infancy; but instances on the other side are so general, as clearly to mark the dispositions of the people. The following fact is one out of many, by which this assertion might be justified. In the scarcity of grain which prevailed about Calcutta in the year 1788, a gentleman then high, now still higher in office there, ordered his servants to buy any children that might be brought for sale, (for in times of dearth Hindoo parents frequently sell their offspring,) and to tell their mothers, that when the scarcity should be over, they might come again and receive their children back. Of about twenty thus humanely preserved, most of whom were females, only three were ever enquired for by their mothers. The scarcity was neither extreme nor long. The unnatural parents cannot be supposed to have perished from want, for each received money for her child, and by the liberal contribution of the inhabitants of Calcutta, and chiefly of the Europeans, rice was distributed daily to multitudes at various stations about the city. And yet notwithstanding this facility of obtaining food, a woman was at that time seen, in broad day, to throw away her infant child upon the high road. slaves in Hindostan (where they are used only for domestic services) have lost their freedom by the act of their parents. If the necessity is such at times as to lead to this expedient, is it not also an occasion to call forth the warmth of parental affection? Filial and paternal affection appear equally deficient among them; and in the conjugal relation, the characteristic indifference of the people is also discernible among those who come most within the sphere of European observation, namely, the lower orders.

Most of the

"The domestic state of the better ranks is more concealed from general view; but from the knowledge which is acquired, and from the peculiar usages by which marriage is governed among the Hindoos, we have no reason to believe that it is often sweetened by generous attachment or rational enjoyment. The parties betrothed by their parents whilst mere chil

dren, transplanted with minds uncultivated and inexperienced, from the maternal zenana* into one of their own, united whilst reason is still in its infancy, can give little more account of the situation in which they find themselves than animals of a lower species.

Affection

and choice have had no influence in this connection, nor does it often happen that the former is studied and improved. The parties continue passive under that law which first brought them together. According to the despotic manners of the East, the husband is lord, and the wife a servant; seldom does he think of making her a companion or a friend. Polygamy, which is tolerated among the Hindoos, tends still more to destroy all rational domestic society. The honour of the family, and the preservation of its caste, the most awful of its concerns, depends on the reputation of the wife. She is secluded from all eyes but those of her nearest relations, and the most terrifying and disgraceful punishments are held out against misconduct. From so early an union, and such subsequent care, Europeans may suppose that order and decorum reign in the Hindoo zenanas; but the conclusion is founded on conjecture, rather than upon actual knowledge. The profound reserve and caution observed by the men in their conduct, and even in their conversation, respecting their family connections, keep all foreigners at a distance; and it is to the honour of the English, that there is perhaps no instance of their attempting an invasion of the domestic recesses of the Hindoos. But those who have an opportunity of living among the natives in the interior of the country, see reasons for apprehending that the purity of the female character is not always so well preserved in reality, as in appearance.

"In a residence of several years entirely among the natives, the present writer heard so many charges of irregularity, and saw so many disorders among the inferior ranks, that he could not but believe the existence of a gross laxity of behaviour and principle in this great branch of morals, in some degree at least reaching to the better classes. But the disgrace and loss which follow to the family from the proof of dishonour in the wife, are such as to induce the parties concerned to hush up all matters of that sort, and to take their revenge in some secret way; they will seldom seek redress openly, unless the affair has already become notorious. Accusations by others of such contaminations in families, are very common among the lower Hindoos, and scandals of the same kind pass among the higher orders. Enmity, it is true, may be supposed to have its share in these charges; it may occasionally fabricate them, and is undoubtedly active in bringing them forward; but that it should always invent them, and should per

The private apartments of the women.

severe in a succession of inventions which experience was ever ready to discredit, is not to be conceived. The truth is, the Hindoo writers, and the Hindoo laws, express the worst opinion of their women, and seem to place all security in vigilance, none in principle. And indeed what fund of principle can minds which have received no improvement in education, and in which reason as yet has hardly begun to act, carry into a premature and unchosen conjugal relation? a relation, the early commencement of which, is probably to be ascribed to the apprehension of parents for the conduct of their children. Imperious dominion, seclusion and terror, are the means afterwards used, to enforce the fidelity of the wife. But opportunities of guilt are not wanting. In the hours of business, men are generally at a distance from the retirements of the women; they are often, and for considerable periods, far from home; females, who are the great instruments of corrupting their own sex, are permitted access to the zenanas; besides the Hindoo law allows women to converse with Soneassees, a set of vagrant devotees, some of them most indecent in their appearance.

might be expected.

The consequences are such as

"It is not however asserted or believed, that the infection of depravity has overspread the whole mass of females, many of whom, doomed to joyless confinement through life, and a violent premature death, are erhaps among the most inoffensive and suffering of the Hindoo race. As to the men, they are under little restraint from moral considerations. The laws of caste impose restrictions and fines for offences of the nature in question, so far as that distinction is concerned, but leave great scope for new connections, and for promiscuous intercourse, which is matter of little scruple or observation. Receptacles for women of infamous character are every where licensed, and the women themselves have a place in society. The female dancers, who are of this order, make the principal figure in the entertainments of ceremony given by the great. Indecency is the basis of their exhibitions; yet children and young persons of both sexes are permitted to be present at these shows, which have admittance even into the principal zenanas. * Licentious connections are therefore most common, though subsisting apparantly without that intoxication of passion which hurries on the mind against conviction, and carried on without much concealment, nay almost with the, insensibility of brutes. On such points, the Hindoos seem to advert to no rule except what the law enjoins; there is no sentiment, diffused at large through society, which attaches shame to criminality.

• “Lord Cornwallis, soon after his arrival in Bengal, refused to be present at an entertainment of this sort, to which he was invited by the Nabob."

H

Wide and fatal are the effects of this corruption of manners; a corruption not stopping here, but extending even to the unnatural practices of the ancient Heathens, though in these the Mahomedans are still more abandoned."

In the thirty-second section of this chapter the author, after an Introductory paragraph, has given a list of Law Treatises, and has added some account of the Laws, and of the method of administering justice, under the Hindoo monarchs.

The next article relates to the Astronomy of the Hindoos, comprising Introductory Remarks, a list of astronomical works, and translations from the Sōōryŭ-Siddhanto, and the Jyotish-Tutwu. The account of the Medical shastrus is drawn up in the same order, containing Remarks, a List of works, and Translations from the medical writings. The state of medical science among the Hindoos is so deplorable, and this ignorance is attended with such melancholy effects, that a greater good to the country could hardly be afforded than the establishment of a MEDICAL COLLEGE at Calcutta, for the instruction of a certain number of natives yearly in the true principles of this Science, and in the practise of medicine. The number of students should be large, and each person duly qualified should be furnished with a certificate, which shoald be an essential pre-requisite before any native could receive an appointment under the Company's surgeons, or in any of the establishments of Government. By such an institution, in a few years every town, in Bengal at least, might be furnished with medical practitioners; and thousands of lives might be saved annually. This diffusion of light on one science also would, no doubt, operate in a very beneficial manner to excite the attention of the natives to the value of European knowledge on other subjects intimately connected with the illumination and comfort of the country.--Similar institutions might, in time, be spread all over the country and thus the blessings of thousands ready to perish, and indeed of the whole population, would be showered on the British government.

The thirty-ninth section notices the works on Theogony, (the pooranus,) and the two fol lowing sections refer to the works on Religious Ceremonies under the head of Tintrus, with a list of these treatises.

The author has devoted twenty-six pages to the Poets, in which he has made some remarks on the different kinds of Hindoo poetry, giving Explanatory Specimens ; Lists of their larger

Poems, of their Dramatic Works, of their smaller Poems, Satires, Hymns, &c.; Translations on the Seasons, a Dramatic Piece, and a Poetical Translation from the Ramayŭnů.

The three following sections refer to Rhetoric, Music, and Ethics. On the last subject he has given six pages of Proverbs or Maxims, translated from the Punchŭ-Tüntrů.

The forty-seventh section notices works on General History, and contains a table of contents of the Mahabharŭtů; and the following sections to the end of the volume relate to Geography, to the Military Art, to works on the Arts, to Grammars, Dictionaries, and Translations from the Sungskritŭ into the different dialects of India.

The author would recommend, that a SOCIETY should be formed, either in Calcutta or London, for improving our knowledge of the History, Literature, and Mythology, of the Hindoos ;-that after collecting sufficient funds, this Society should purchase an estate, and erect a Pantheon which should receive the images of the most eminent of the gods, cut in marblea Museum to receive all the curiosities of India, and a Library, to perpetuate its literature. Suitable rooms for the accommodation of the officers of the society, its committees, and members, would of necessity be added. To such a Society he would venture to recommend, that they should employ individuals in translations from the Sungskritu, and offer suitable rewards for the best translations of the most important Hindoo works.-- On some accounts, the metropolis of British India appears to be most eligible for this design, though such an institution might, the author conceives, do the highest honour to the capital of Britain, crowded as it is already with almost every thing great and noble.-The author recommends an Institution of this nature from the fear that no Society now existing, that no individual exertions, will ever meet the object, and that, if, (which may Providence prevent) at any future period, amidst the awfully strange events which have begun to rise in such rapid succession, India should be torn from Britain, and fall again under the power of some Asiatic or any other despotism, we should still have the most interesting monuments of her former greatness, and the most splendid trophies of the glory of the British name in India. Another argument urging us to the formation of such a Society is, that the ancient writings and the monuments of the Hindoos are dai