very learned Europeans on the question, whether it was of advantage or not to encourage among our countrymen the study of Sanscrit literature, as has been done by one of those public seminaries, which their philanthropy and good offices have established in this country. The gentleman opposed this system of instruction, declared that it was no better than encouraging Hinduism with all its errors and absurdities; that the Sanscrit work which thus occupied the time of their pupils must infallibly fill their youthful minds with all those follies and absurd principles of religion and morality which it ought to be rather our endeavour to counteract, that the reverence naturally rendered by them to these subjects would be further increased by the systematic manner in which they were now taught them, and still more so by the honor and respect thus paid by Europeans themselves to these objects of their idolatry.

The gentleman however in the other side of the question declared that the Sanscrit was the language which had been revered for ages past by the most learned of India, so that books in every other language were looked upon with a degree of contempt, which prevented them from obtaining the reception and distinction which they intrinsically deserved. On these grounds he contended that this ancient tongue was by far the most proper medium of instruction to the natives of India, and indeed the only one which would secure to the labours of Europeans the approbation of those higher classes of natives whose countenance and support it was of the greatest importance to obtain.

Upon the whole it is my opinion that the study of the Sanscrit language may be carried too far, If it is to be used as a medium of instruction to the natives, I would have some of the most approved Eu. ropean works translated into it, and presented to them in this dress. This however, I may be told will defeat the object, since it is not only the language itself but the works that are writtten in it, of which it is desirable to impart a knowledge, and if such be the case I cannot agree in the propriety of the system. Indeed in the case of encouraging it at all, I am not aware of any useful purpose it would answer except the one abovementioned of introducing to the observation of the natives of this country European writings which they would not otherwise be disposed to give attention to. But in every other light, its usefulness appears very doubtful. All language is subservient only as a medium through which other knowledge is to be obtained; but in this one the Grammatical instruction is confessedly so intricate, that it requires a whole life to master it. Grammar, therefore, among the sciences of the East, is looked upon as one to which he who would pass for a learned man must devote a very great portion of his time and labour ; though in reality in every language, and especially in one which after all yields so little worthy to be read, it ought to be justly viewed only as a road to knowledge, and the shorter that road can be made, the better.

At all events I should like to see among the Natives, the period of youth devoted to English Literature, and if the science of their own country, and all the intricacies of Sanscrit learning be necessary, let them be afterwards acquired, when the mind has arrived at a maturer state, and can better appreciate their merits. The period of youth is undoubtedly the fit time to impress on the mind those fundamental principles of truth and wisdom which all the world recognise to be just without distinction of the age or country from which they originated. The knowledge too of early ages springing as it did from the first intellectual, efforts of mankind will be the best calculated for the faculties of the young which are in the same state of immaturity; and therefore we find

that most nations very justly give them the preference to the more refined and advanced compositions of their own country.

In this manner the language and philosophy of Greece was taught in the Schools of the Romans, and confessed by them to be the standard of their own literary fame. On the same principles the languages of both nations form now a part of the education of the English youth, and whilst their literature has been for ages past the model on which the most perfect writers of their country have built their reputation, their philosophy has served as a foundation for their morals and metaphysics, and their maxims as a system of jurisprudence which at this moment gives law to the greater part of Europe. In the same manner I doubt not but in some future day, the learning of Europe will justly be adopted in the education of the youth of this country, while the present histories of their Gods and all the absurdities of their own faith will be sung by their Bards and Minstrels or form the basis of legendary tale and romance, in the same manner as the feats which were performed in the first ages of European history have been since handed down in a thousand different shapes, for the amusement and instruction of their posterity.

LETTER, No. VII.

From Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

Since the last letter I wrote to you, I have had the good fortune to meet among the Franks with a sensible plain speaking man, from whom 1 received a great deal of curious information of the manners and cus toms of his native country. Being a man who has seen a good deal of the world and rather of an inquisitive turn, we general speak our sentiments pretty plainly together, which enables me to arrive at a correct view of many points in the character of his country-men, of which I had before a very imperfect acquaintance.

It happened yesterday as we were sitting together smoking our se gars, the conversation fell on the subject of the casts in India, when I took notice of the gross superstition of that class of Hindoos who on certain occasions entertain the people by those disgusting sights of sticking hooks into their fiesh, and suspending themselves as we often see on high bamboos playing all sorts of gambols in the air I admitted the barbarity as well as the folly of this and many other modes which have obtained among our devotees of inflicting torture and penance on their bodies, upon which my friend smiled and told me in a very good humoured way that though I might not have known it, there were many amusements of the same sort in England which were extremely popu lar among his countrymen. "The only difference," he added, "Is that here your devotees inflict these penances on themselves, whilst with us they practice on each other. In both cases however the custom proceeds from a sense of personal honor and distinction which is very much the same thing as what you call caste. There is this distinction however in your favour, that your practitioners being guided by a motive of self denial and discipline, are somewhat more excusable than ours, who have nothing else that I know of to actuate them than the fashion of the times. The manner he continued in which these things are conducted with us is this. Upon an appointed day at any time of the year, for there is no particular season for it, you may see an immense crowd of people collected together in the form of a wide circle round which ropes are fastened to stakes driven in the ground, or other enclosures, very much in the same way as in

your tyger or buffaloe fights. Hundreds of spectators from all parts of the country are assembled together, and if it be a particular occasion, persons of the highest caste in the kingdom are seen to honour it with their presence. On a signal given, two men who have been either starved before hand or fed for many days on raw meat and other kinds of hard diet to make them the more ferocious, are stripped to the skin from the waist upwards.

In the mean time the ropes are all secured, for which purpose of ficers with tipstaffs in their hands are sent round to see that none of the populace may break into the enclosed circle, and when every thing is ready the two men are let loose upon each other. It may happen, which you will think very extraordinary, that these persons are at the very time on terms of the greatest friendship, or at least appear to be so, but in a short time they give way to their natural animosity, and set to upon each other with all their heart and soul. Blows succeed to blows till both parties are covered with blood, or exhausted with fatigue and as soon as one becomes quite insensible, he is carried off the field, and the opponent is declared the conqueror. For this he generally gets some little sum of money.

These sort of fights, my friend informed me, are much more popu lar among his countrymen, than those of tame or wild animals. Cocks indeed were at one time pitted together in the same way, but the custom is falling into disuse. The combatants mentioned above, especially those who have been successful in their encounters, are considered as men of a very distinguished nature; and it is not uncommon for many noblemen, and some of the first people in the country to follow their example, though it is supposed this is rather a make-shift among them for they seldom come to any serious measures. Still it will plainly shew you how much the custom is held in estimation.

The swingers in the air, the men who lie on spikes, with those who devoutly look at the son till they become blind, and other enthusiasts of this sort, are held it is well known in great reverence in this country, and I was glad to find this gentleman confess that such penances had their rise in much more rational and meritorious motives than those which were prevalent in his country. For however they might be now abused and practised by persons who little know their advantages, they were certainly instituted originally as exercises of self denial and self discipline, by which men might obtain that subjection over themselves which it is the highest dignity of human nature to aim at.

We agreed that these customs under their present rude and barba rous form ought clearly to be provided against and put a stop to, though we could not help admiring to see a nation so zealous and hasty in accomplishing this who had practises among themselves so nearly al lied to them.

You, my Gooroo, who can view the customs of both countries with an unprejudiced eye, will be able no doubt to trace in them the different dispositions to which nature has moulded the constitution and character of the people from which they spring; and every diversity of clime presents them under a different aspect which will be the more no torious in proportion as the country has made less progress from barbarism. Time and civilization will generally refine what nature has left in this rude and unpolished state, but where any of such excrescences still remain, and habit has rendered them familiar to the people, no wonder that in countries dissimilar, they should excite feeling of surprise or con tempt which are not to be found among themselves. If in England we

discover those hardy and manly virtues which are the glory of its constitution and have raised it to its present dignified condition in the kingdoms of the world, in this country we shall find developed those peaceful and milder disposition which are the offspring of virtues in every way opposite to the former. But with regard to the vices into which these principles degenerate, we shall discover I fear a larger train of them in this country than in Europe. The boldness and rapacity, the dissipation and extravagance, and, other evils of unbridled passions which characterize the people of the latter kingdom, find a natural remedy in the progress of refinement, but it will require, I fear a long labour to overcome the cunning and duplicity, the sluggish habits, and perverted moral feeling, under which the inhabitants of this mighty Empire lie enslaved.

Adieu my Gooroo -I go to Benares; from whence, in a short time you may expect to hear from me. Wherever I go, you are ever the subject of my thoughts "The son resembles his Father and the Colt his Sire." May it be my ambition always to resemble you.

AGRA, THE 28TH BHAUDDER.

From Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

Of the remarkable difference to which I alluded in my last letter, between, the intellectual habits of the European and Asiatic worlds, 1 know of no instance so stricking as this, that there is no work, nor part of a work, sometimes indeed scarcely a complete sentence, which in the books of one language can be intelligibly translated in a literal form into the books of the other. This of itself, which is true in conversation, but which in a written form is brought more probably to our observation, evinces how different are the operations of mind among the inhabitants of each country, that no idea when embodied in words is intelligible to the mind of a European, unless it be modelled to a European understanding or dressed in a European garb.

This essential difference which pervades the whole moral and intellectual system of the two nations will be easily accounted for, if we consider the diversity of life which gives rise to it. Our ideas on every subject must ultimately proceed from the objects that surround us. To Europeans in their own country every thing which daily comes before their notice, all their notice, all their pursuits and customs in which each moment of their life is occupied, imparts a peculiar stamp to their minds, and induce a certain way of thinking on every subject, which, I observe, is as totally different from that of our Countrymen as the manner of life which gives rise to it. A Hindoo being brought up under a system so entirely different that scarce any corresponding parts are to be found in it, it is not to be wondered at that the texture of his thoughts is so entirely at variance with those of the inhabitants of the other hemis here.

This distinction, however, it is extremely necessary that every one should keep in mind. If they did so, we on our part should be less inclined to be surprised at the many extraordinary customs we see among Europeans, which, as our habits of judging are so completely different, it is no wonder that they appear to us unaccountable or improper. They on their part, bearing in mind the same distinction will be less surprised that the natives of this country do not more readily accomodate themselves to their customs, take an interest in their pursuits, or appreciate

the value of their institutions. Above all it will sufficiently account to them that so few have adopted their religion, and that so many who have nominally rendered allegiance to it, have seldom essentially imbibed the true spirit of its faith and practice. For it must be observed on this point, that it is to the religion of a country that may chiefly be traced the particular features of the lives of the people, the character of their thoughts-their intellectual pursuits, their laws and their manners -and thus it is that throughout all christendom it is the spirit and character of the religion of these nations, that so essentially marks the habits of the people, and gives that peculiar stamp to their Literature, Science, and Arts which so materially distinguish them from those of all other nations.

It is this which makes me often think that as it is only by the prevalence of the Christian religion that any extensive reformation will be made in the moral character of the people of this country so it is only by the diffusion of European Literature, and by training the mind to the intellectual habits of European nations, that this religion itself will be permanently and effectually established.

In the mean time it is my opinion that much may be done to promote this end by a translation of such, familiar works as would give the natives an insight into the manners and disposition of the people of Europe, if indeed a taste for such works could be cultivated among them. The writings of almost every nation except those on abstract science, will generally be found to have an intimate connexion with the habits of the people, and no one probably ever read with much satisfaction the plays of Terence or Aristophanes, or even the works of the Philosophers, without some acquaintance with the domestic habits of the Greeks and Romans. The moral and intellectual essence of a people is inseparably blended with all their most trivial pursuits and customs, and those who employ themselves in gaining an acquaintance with the latter cannot but imbibe some portion of the spirit of the former. The mind of a Hindoo will be most easily brought to understand the spirit of Christian morality by ensuring him to the habits of thought and reasoning which take their source from it, by bringing before his view such familiar pictures of European life and the daily usages of society,'and from thence guiding him to the literature of those countries, and lastly to the study of their sciences, especially those of morals and metaphysics. In this manner a path may be opened for the introduction of Christianity, which perhaps will invite a greater number to rise to that en inence, and more important results be thus attained than by any endeavour to arrive at the same without the intermediate steps.

LETTER IX.

ETAYAH, THE 10TH ASHEEN.

Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

I believe you have already heard me mention, that though my rea son willingly rejects the absurd and inconsistent doctrines of many of the Vedas, and gives assent to the truth of a better system of morality a certain scrupulousness which I cannot entirely get rid of makes me still guide my conduct by its rules and precepts. In this way I find my reason and imagination at continual war with each other, and myself in constant perplexity of mind whether to yield obedience to the one or the other

You know that the Shasters declare, that if a person setting out on a journey sees a cow on the left hand side of the road, or an empty