several of the naked figures (four or five feet high), with curly hair, and differing amongst themselves, usually found in Jain temples, and also representations of Buddha in the sitting posture, with the hands laid over each other, the palms uppermost, the hair curly, the forehead wide, little figures kneeling before him, and others fauning him; amongst them was a figure of Durga. The Jains have also a modern temple there."

Adverting also to the same subject, Dr. R. Tytler mentioned to the meeting, that he had remarked, while in Scotland, the close resemblance of "the little steeple at Brechin" to a Buddhist monument. The same remark has frequently been made on the Round Towers of Ireland.*

At the meeting of the 1st April, was read a note from John Lackersteen, Esq., enclosing a letter from the Bishop of Isauropolis, and Vicar-apostolic of Cochin-China, Cambogia, and Ciampa.

The reverend gentleman's letter stated, that he had in his possession a manuscript dictionary, Cochin-Chinese and Latin, originally prepared more than forty years ago, by his predecessor, Monseigneur Pigneaux, Bishop of Adran, and revised and much augmented by himself during fourteen years' residence in the country. He had also nearly completed a second volume of the same materials, reversed, or Latin-Cochin-Chinese, and he had prepared a grammar of the same language in Latin, adopting for all three works the Roman alphabet, in lieu of the complex hieroglyphic characters of the country, which somewhat resemble those of China, but have different powers. These three volumes he tendered to the Asiatic Society, requesting to be informed of its intentions in regard to their publication. If it were possible to print them at Penang, where the bishop and a few of his Cochin-Chinese converts have sought refuge from the severe persecutions to which the mission has been subjected by the present king (who owes his seat on the throne to the very mission), he would there undertake the revision of the proofs; or if it should be necessary, he would proceed to Calcutta for the purpose of superintending the publication, under the auspices of the Society. In the latter case, he must look to the Society for pecuniary aid, as all had been lost to the mission, through the cruel treatment it had lately endured.

"Resolved, that this important communication be submitted to the Committee of Papers, who will make the requisite inquiries regarding the work, and report on the expediency, and on the means, of effecting its publication."— Journ. As. Soc.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

Illustrations of the Botany and other Branches of the Natural History of the Himalayan Mountains, &c. Part IV. By J. FORBES ROYLE, Esq., F. L.S. & G.S., &c. London, August 1835. Wm. H. Allen and Co.

THE Contents of the Fourth Part of this splendid work, which we are glad to find has now established itself in public esteem, are well calculated to support its character. The orders are brought down to the 95th, Syananthera. One of the most curious included in this part is the Valerianea, which contains the Jatamansi. This plant was fixed upon by Sir Wm. Jones, as the Spikenard of the ancients, and Mr. Royle, by a different process of proof, has arrived at the same conclusion; but he has shown that a wrong plant was figured and described in the As. Res., which was also discovered by Dr. Wallich. Mr. Royle has traced the analogies of name and locality assigned by Greek and Oriental writers to this plant, so as to leave no doubt of the identity. The objection to the scent of the Jatamansi, which is supposed by some to be incongruous with the encomia bestowed by classical writers on the nard, he obviates by remarking,

See Asiat. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 238.

that it is incorrect and unphilosophical to infer the tastes of another time and country from those of the age and place we live in. He considers the fragrance of the true Jatamansi, to be far from disagreeable; it is highly esteemed throughout the East as a perfume, and even if it were offensive to modern European taste, Mr. Royle observes, that an Indian beauty, upon whom all the arts of the toilet had been exhausted, with the rose and jasmine at her command, may be more readily recognized by the strong smell of coconut oil!

The plates, eleven in number, are exquisitely drawn and coloured.

Documents connected with the Army Retiring Fund, devised by Mr. JOHN CURnin, Actuary of the Government Life- Assurance Institution. Calcutta. Printed and published by authority. 1835.

OUR Asiatic Intelligence, under the head of Calcutta, has, for several months past, familiarized our readers, who feel an interest in the subject, with the plan of a Military Retiring Fund, devised by Mr. Curnin. Some objections have been made to a few of the details, but the outline seems to have given pretty general satisfaction to the Indian army. This collection of documents puts us in possession of the scheme itself, the data and calculations upon which it is founded, the objections raised against it, and the answers thereto.

The Life and Works of William Cowper. Edited by the Rev. T. S. GRIMSHAWE, A.M. Eight Vols. London, 1835. Saunders and Otley.

THIS very beautiful edition of Cowper is now completed. In our notices of some of the volumes as they issued from the press, we have in a great measure forestalled what we should have said at this time, for we see no reason to restrict the praise we have already bestowed upon the work in its progress; on the contrary, it appears to be every thing the editor promised and that we could desire. The public have now a complete and accurate edition of the life, the correspondence, and the works of this tender poet, delightful epistolary writer, and amiable man.

We regret to perceive that, through some misunderstanding, a rival edition is in the press, and that some ill-feeling subsists between the respective editors. Into the merits of the dispute we are not called upon to enter.

Lives of the most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Vol II. Being Vol. LXXI. of Dr. Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia. Longman

and Co. Taylor.

THIS Volume is exclusively devoted to Italian authors, beginning with Galileo and ending with Ugo Foscolo. The history of the first is well written, and the course of his interesting discoveries in astronomical science is traced with care and accuracy. It forms a striking proof at once of the strength and the weakness of the human understanding, qualities which are brought into curious contrast. A long and interesting biography of Tasso is given, in which we recognize new and just remarks; and the singular and romantic history of Alfieri, the soft and flexible character of his ante type, Monti, and the rough and masculine genius of Foscolo, are delineated at length and with an able pen.

The Conquest of Florida, under Hernando de Soto. BY THEODORE IRVING. London, 1835. Churton.

HISTORY no-where seems so much to wear the garb of romance as in the accounts of the early expeditions of Europeans in America. The conquest of Florida was undertaken by De Soto, with a gay and gallant band, in the year 1538; and, after extraordinary adventures, in regions where the name and aspect of Europeans were not known, the miserable remains of the expedition, deprived of its leader and its bravest soldiers, arrived, "blackened, haggard, shrivelled, and half-naked," at Panuco, in the Mexican territory, five years after its commencement.

This work, which is constructed out of two original accounts of the expedition,— one by Garcilasso de la Vega, from journals and memoranda of eye-witnesses, and the other by a Portuguese officer of De Soto,―has been written by a nephew of Washington Irving, and under his advice, and is highly interesting and attractive.

Scotland, by William Beattie, M.D, illustrated in a series of Views taken entirely for this Work. BY THOMAS ALLOM, engraved by or under the direction of ROBERT First Quarterly Part. London, 1835.

Virtue.

They are all exe

Thit great beauty and fincity' of these views in Scotland (twenty-one in unnaker), ought to have rendered this work more generally y known than cuted by both artists with extreme care and skille Some of them, Bow, Edinburgh, with the Condemned Covenanters, and some of for example, are specimens which rank Messrs. Allom and Wall's

art.

the view of West the Lake Scenes, very high in the

jou vlqqa bas 178q8 98 of lisnuo') Burbon, levizor ade in Parts IV. and V. London, 1835. Smith, Elder, and €8. Stanfield's Coast Scenery. Parts

WIN the unrivalled talents of Mr. Stanfield, in the department of marine scenery, are supported by such engravers as the Findens, Millar, Brandard, Goodalls and the other artists joined in this work, we have a right to expect a proportionate degree of success. This collection of sea views will, accordingly, be considered the finest hitherto produced!!

Finder's Landscape Illustrations of the Bible. Parts XVIII. and XIX. London, 1835. Murray.

10

we were required to particularize any of the plates in these two parts of this splendid work, we should name as eminently good, the view of the mimbar, or pulpit, in the Mosque of: Omar, Jerusalem, and the Memnonium at Thebes, both from sketches by Mr. F. Catherwood, who was the first European permitted to make a drawing of the beautiful pulpit. But the whole of the plates are, as usual, excellent. Arboretum Britannicum. By J. C. LOUDON, F.L. H. G. & L S. Nos. IX. and X. London, 1835. Longman and Co.

I This work continues to be carried on with spirit; it will be a useful companion to the Encyclopædia of Gardening.

The Parterre, a Journal of Fiction, Poetry, History, and General Literature. # ban synuronal de Part XV. London. E. Wilson,,576 3898 A cheap and elegant miscellany, of light and varied reading, illustrated with spirited wood engravings. The selection of the matter evinces taste and discrimination in the editor.

THE Oriental Annual for the ensuing year, which completes the first series, is a luxurious volume, worthy of the clime with which it is associated. The embellishments are of the highest order; the accuracy of scenery and details, and the purely oriental character, which distinguish Mr. Daniell's drawings, have been admirably seconded by the able engravers he has employed. The frontispiece, "The Harbour of Muskat, "Scene near the Coast of Malabar," "Bombay," the different views of the cavetemples of Elephanta and Salsette, are distinguished by their peculiar finish of design and execution. But, independently of the embellishments, the narrative which they illustrate, by Mr. Caunter, consisting of real incidents, and sketches of the character, manners, amusements, and superstitions of the people of India, possesses interest enough to make this an attractive book.

The same enterprizing publisher (Mr. Churton) has issued his English Amiual, the literary contents of which, it is now sufficiently known, and is avowed in the advertisement, are reprinted from a magazine. This circumstance, though it may take 'away the freshness and gloss of the articles, detracts nothing from their merit; and the engravings (on steel), most of which are portraits, chiefly from paintings by Sir Thomas Lawrence (all the views are by Daniell), are in the best manner. The cheap'ness of so splendid a work is another recommendation.

1

A Life of Marquess Wellesley is now preparing for the press. It will contain the most important despatches which that nobleman received during the long course of his public career, as well as some very important public despatches of Marquess Corn,wallis.

DISCONTINUANCE BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT OF AID IN THE PRINTING OF ORIENTAL WORKS.

IN the Charter Act of 1813 (57 Geo. III. c. 155), a clause was introduced (sec. 43), which empowered the Governor-general of Bengal in Council to set apart and apply not less than a lac of rupees annually, out of the surplus territorial revenue of India, "to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India." Hitherto, one of the objects of this enactment has been understood to be the encouragement of the native literature and learning of Hindostan; and, accordingly, amongst other measures adopted with this view, the Indian government has advanced funds for the printing of accurate editions of standard works in the learned languages of that country, under the superintendence of the General Committee of Public Instruction at Calcutta. The works which have issued from the press under the auspices of this committee have not only been extremely beneficial to the native scholars, but, have in some measure, supplied a desideratum which it formed part of the original scheme of the Oriental Translation Committee of the Royal Asiatic Society to supply, namely, the printing of correct texts of Oriental works.

Zeal for a very desirable object, the diffusion of the English language and European literature throughout India, seems to have persuaded the government of India that the encouragement given to Oriental languages and literature, in the manner just referred to, was inconsistent with the true meaning of the Act of Parliament; and, accordingly, one of the first acts of Sir Charles Metcalfe's government, following up the views of Lord William Bentinck on this point, was to suspend the printing of the Oriental works, in course of publication under the auspices of the Committee of Public Instruction, and to dismiss the establishment entertained for the transcription and collation of MSS. and for the correction of the Sanscrit and Arabic press.*

This measure, we have little doubt, will produce both surprise and grief amongst the Orientalists of Europe. It is, indeed, true that it is no part of the duty of the Anglo-Indian government to incur expenditure in order to furnish correct texts of Eastern works; but as this is an incidental good,

The principal works thus suddenly stopped are the following: Sanscrit-the Mahábhárata, in 5 vols., printed nearly to the middle of the second; the Rájataringini, 1 vol. 620 pages, of which 400 are printed; the Naishada, one-third executed; the Susruta, 2 vols., the first and three-fourths of the second printed; the Sarirak vidya, a translation, of which 20 pages only remain unprinted.--Arabic and Persian-the Fatdwa Alemgiri, half of the sixth and last volume only unfinished (this, it is expected, will be completed); the Khazanat al lim, an exposé of European mathematics, in Persian, of which 500 pages out of 600 are printed; the Indya, of which little more than one volume out of four remains unprinted. Besides these, there are several valuable scientific treatises left in an unfinished state, and, as Mr. Prinsep, the Secretary of the Asiatic Society observes, " prospectively, the interdiction extends to all the Oriental classics selected by the late Committee and by Mr. Wilson, as eminently fit to be preserved in a printed form; the Ramayana, and some of the Puránas; the Mugdhaabodha, with commentary, and other works on grammar; various standard treatises on law, rhetoric, and logic; and eventually the Védas themselves; also the standard Bauddha works in Sanscrit, brought to light by Mr. Hodgson; the Surya Siddhánta, and the works of Bháskar Acharya urgently recommended for publication by Mr. Wilkinson, and a vast number of others, which might have been gradually undertaken as the means of the Committee should permit.

Asiat. Jour. N.S. VOL. 18. No.72.

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་

**

238

Discontinuance by the Indian Government of arising from a more legitimate course of action, it is to be enumerated amongst the objections to the measure under consideration, that European students are now deprived of a most important resource for the cultivation of Eastern literature.

The objection urged by Dr. Mill, the Principal of Bishop's College, against the resolution of the government, is unanswerable on any other principle than that the statute forbids the application of the Indian revenue to such a purpose, "To discourage," he observes, "systematically the study of the learned languages of the East, was, as far as in us lies, to barbarizë the native dialects, and render them incapable of being the vehicles of science and improved knowledge. This capability was now eminently possessed by many of them, entirely through their natural connexion with the Sanscrit, an advantage which it was chimerical to think of supplying by means of artificial and exotic derivation from the English." Let us then consider whether the law does forbid such application of the Indian revenue, and whether it does not, in fact, require it:

In the first place, it is clear that such application would never have been made, unless it had been considered legal. Hitherto, we believe, whatever exceptions have been taken to items of disbursement, none has been heard of on this head if there has been any such complaint, on the part of those who censured the Company's administration, it was founded upon the smallness of the expenditure incurred for the purpose of promoting the proper literature of their Hindu subjects.

But the very terms of the Statute decide the question; they can have no other meaning than that the money should be given for "the revival and improvement" of native literature, and "the encouragement of the learned natives of India" in the study of their own works; and there cannot be a better way of reviving and improving the native literature of India than by the publication and diffusion of accurate original texts of their standard works, in conjunction with works of science translated from the European into the Indian dialects.

n

That it is desirable that the cultivation of the English language and literature should be more general in India, "both with a view to the introduction of the natives into places of trust, and as a powerful means of operating favourably on their habits and character,"† is undeniable; but it is a narrow scheme of policy to aim at effecting that end by the discountenance and discouragement of the native languages and literature. Both objects are within the purview of the law in question, and there is no necessary repugnance or incongruity between them. With one hand, the foreign rulers of India may apply a portion of its revenue to the preservation of those writings in which the religion, the laws, the sciences, and the popular learning of its people are contained; with the other, they may give effect to their own peculiar policy, that of Anglicising the Hindus, and thereby cementing the union between them and their present government.

It is, however, stated in the Report of the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East-India Company, 1832, that in some years twice and even five times the amount specified in the Act has been expended.

† Report of Select Committee on the Affairs of the East-India Company.