pitcher or Brahmin on the right, it will be better for him to turn home than proceed on his journey that day. Now it happened that on leav. ing a village I espied a cow at a great distance on my left hand side, but when I came near, she crossed over to the other. While I was me. ditating on the difficulty of this intricate point, and lamenting the absence of your friendly advice, a Brahmin and a cow passed me together on the right side, at the same time that an empty pitcher lay upon the left.

Such an accumulation of wonders and difficulties so much distressed me, that I was to full hours before I could make up my mind whe-. ther to proceed or not. As I continued my way I could not help reflecting how very insufficient the shasters which lay down these rules must be, when from my experience I find a favourable sign at one turn of the road, and a bad one at the other; while I am enjoined to pay obedience to both. It struck me therefore that laying aside these, and regarding events merely as common sense would dictate; there are cer tain natural causes from which they may be all observed to proceed. That when a black cloud gathers in the sky, it is a reasonable sign that rain will follow: or when I knock my foot against a stone it is a sign or omen that I shall suffer pain. This natural connexion between each cause and its effect is observable in every occurrence that takes place; and without examining the reason of it, the frequent experience of the fact sufficiently warrants the conclusion. We are apt indeed to doubt the consequence of many causes where we cannot trace the process by which they act, and where it can be traced we generally suppose (though not always with reason) that it is a greater guarantee for its certainty. But when I hear a lizard chirping as I proceed on a journey, I cannot discover any process by which it affects its success, nor from experience can I draw any result, that such a journey will therefore turn out badly.

In this way it is my custom first to reason concerning the truth of any maxim, and afterwards to examine (if it be a religious point) how far religion sanctions and corresponds with the determination I come to. It strikes me also very forcibly that the Christian religion falls in with this agreement much more frequently than the shasters, even where it does not respond to my own judgment. 1 frequently discover by sifting the matter a little more, that my reasoning after all has been wrong so that in the few points in which I differ from it I come at last to the resolution of attributing them to the imperfection of my own way of judging, and in this manner it is probable I shall soon acquire the habit of submitting my whole conduct to the rules of Christianity. Such a habit when it is completely obtained, I conceive to be the right principle of all obedience; for, as in every revelation from Heaven there must be many things beyond the capacity of men to judge of, so it is evident faith must constitute an essential part in every true religion.

For this conclusion, if it be correct, and for every other truth my mind arrives at, I am indebted my Gooroo. to your care and instruc tion, and my constant prayer to the God of Hindoos and Christians is, that you may attain a place in the highest heaven to which your virtues and piety now point the way.

* See Dubris, ch. on omens.

LETTER X.

CORAH, THE 28TH ASHEEN.

Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

Among the Franks as I hinted in a former Letter, 7th, there appears to be a system of laws of caste, in which I can perceive very little dif ference from those of our country. The principle among them is known by the name of honour. A man of very high cast is said to be an honourble man; and when they make an oath instead of swearing by the laws of their caste, they swear by their honor, which seems to be quite as binding and inviolable as the same principle among us. The several laws and customs of this institution are not it is true, laid down in any particular system, but seem rather to have grown up from time immemorial, and long established usage, which perhaps gives them a greater efficacy, than if they were fairly detailed in writing.

I am indeed very much amused to mind how much they are interwoven with all their minutest affairs and concerns, though like the laws of our caste, are not easily made familiar to strangers, till after a long and particular acquaintance I think, if any thing many of them are even more extravagant than ours, and the more so as I cannot discover from what source they spring.

Of course you are aware that the whole Frank people, or, to speak more correctly the large continent of Europe, is divided into many nations, who seem to bear to each other in some degree the same relations as the great division of caste among us. For in the constitution of each of these countries there are certain peculiar features which render them entirely distinct one from another, while in like manner they have each their laws of honor quite as distinct and separate as those which bind the great divisions of our people. The English Caste in particular seem to be more pertinacious of their own usages and customs than the French, Germans, Italians, or others. A friend of mine, has assured me, that he has often, while travelling in the French nation met with some of his young countrymen, who would not take the slightest notice of him, because he wore a French Hat, and was dressed like a Frenchman ;while at other times, he has seen at table in large inns or caravanserais, a party of English who would not condescend to eat in the society of the natives of the country, but either sought another table for their din ner, or diligently flocked together at one end among themselves, evi. dently looking down on the Francais Gentlemen as persons of lower caste than themselves; and though travelling in the country of that people, they would avoid as much as possible meddling with their food, generally preferring beaf-steaks which is the Khanu of their caste, to a fricasee or sourcrout They generally travel through these foreign countries in their own beds with them as they go. In this manner wherever they resort-they endeavour to keep themselves as independent as possible of the people with whom they reside, and the necessary ignorance resulting from such estrangement is I have no doubt one among other reasons of the partiality that English authors, entertain for every thing relative to their native land, and the contempt with which they look down on those of their neighbours. National pride is the characteristic feature of the caste of the English.

Among themselves too, the scruples of caste though not so marked are not the less strictly observed than those which distinguish them from strangers. Some of their observances are of so whimsical a na

ture and descend into such frivolous minutiæ, that they are scarce worthy of notice. This is particularly the case, with the higher orders of society. Among these I have been credibly informed that if one individual should chance to wear six buttons on his coat while others had five, or place them high on the back while others wore them low; if one man should walk with shoes while another wore boots, or had a small hat on his head while his humjats wore a large one, such a person would in many cases be degraded even though he were a very clever fellow, while another who was a very blockhead would be highly respected for adhering punctitiously to the customs of the day. I have even heard it said of a man who was extremely particular on the score that if he saw any one, when he was eating his Khanu ask for a-second plate of soup when he had finished his first, or call twice for a lump of cheese, or put a knife into his mouth when he ought to have used the fork, he would be fairly looked upon as an outcast of their society.

I mention these trival circumstances merely to convince you that we are not the only country in the world where such minute observ. ances are kept up. Among Europeans indeed they are not continued 'for ages the same as with us, but I do not see that they are on that account the less unreasonable, and if they have not like ours the obliga tions of religion to enforce them, it appears to me the more extraordi nary that they should be so tenaciously adhered to.

But of all the points of caste or honor or fashion there is none in which they are more sensitive than in speaking truth. The violation of this when once detected will infallibly exclude a man from the society of his associates, and be his irretrievable ruin. A man may accuse another of drunkenness, of dissipation, of irreligion, in the most grievous crimes with impunity, but if he should once call him a liar he will infallibly be shot through the head.

LETTER XI.

CORAH, THE 4TH KARTEEK.

Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

With regard to this extraordinary sensitiveness in the mind of a European of any imputation of falsehood, I will mention if it were necessary a thousand instances to confirm the truth of it. When I talked to a European Padre on this subject he accounted for it in this way; that the observance of the Shaster which directs us to speak truth is so very essential to society, that men are more careful to pay respect to it, and therefore more jealous of a violation of it than of many other ordinance of which the necessity is not so universal or apparent. A strict regard to truth, he told me tends more than almost any other principle to cement society together, and to raise a people to that high pitch of celebrity to which European nations have arrived.

For as almost every transaction of life is undertaken in some degree upon the testimony of others, the more certainty we can place on the truth of this testimony, the probability there will be of failure and disappointment. The success of all commercial transactions in particular rests, he said, entirely upon faith, and no nation can ever become a great commercial power without a strict adherence to this principle, and to this more than any thing else he attributes the celebrity which his own country has acquired as a mercantile community. But there is nothing in which the importance and utility of this virtue are more conspicuous than in the facility which it gives to judicial proceedings the success of

which so entirely depends on the good faith and credibility of those concerned, that where these are wanting, the most judicious system of judicature will be found inefficient and incomplete.

Such then is the superior and pre-eminent excellence of truth, that divine virtue, which as Cato in his speech informs us, was set up by the Roman Fathers in the capital itself, even next to the statue of the great God Jupiter.*

On all these accounts the Europeans pay such regard to truth, and are so extremely jealous, in the observance of it, that no man at the risk of his life can solemnly accuse another of a breach of faith. I verily believe, Gooroo, that many of these people would rather kill a cow, than be guilty of telling a falsehood.

LETTER XII.

ALLAHABAD, THe 5th KarteeK.

Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

In my last I expressed my belief, that many a European would be rather guilty of the death of a cow, than of making the least prevarication in his speech. I had been long meditating on the reason of such a wonderful contrariety in the tenets of any human being, when a treatise of morality, which accidentally came in my way, written by a learned pundit of their country enabled me to trace the origin of this prejudice. From this I discovered, that in examining the rules of their Shasters, many of the most learned of that country have been so bold as to compare the reasonableness of them with the adventures of human reason; and this has led them to maintain, that any law or religious maxim, which is at variance with common sense, is spurious. On these grounds they affirm, that since a regard to truth is of such infinite importance to every rank and society of men, and since the taking away the life of a cow is detrimental to no one, whatever, (provided the owner consents to her death) that therefore the speaking of truth is of paramount consequence to the preservation of a single cow. How many cows a man would rather kill, than speak an untruth, I have not yet discovered, but their shasters appear to make no provision for such calculations, but rather inculcate the spirit of the law, than descend to particularize its minuter parts.

But when talking of common sense, as a criterion of faith, I asked the Padre, what was sense, and how it was to be determined, he seemed rather at a loss for an answer;-but at length he told me, it was that which the senses of all mankind naturally pointed out to them, as good or bad, and which was recognised as such by the universal assent of mankindt. Now if the excellence of all the chapters of the Vedas were to be judged of on this principle, I am at a loss to know, what would be the result of such an investigation. However, you are aware as well as myself, that the maxims there laid down, having been communicated to us by Vishna himself, it would be presumption in those, to whom they are given, to question their veracity. When I enquired of the Padre whether the same principle did not apply to the scriptures, which he taught, and which they declare also to be a revelation from Heaven, he

* Cicero ex-officiis.
† Beattie on Truth.

U

informed me, that it was the peculiar excellence of all their doctrines, that they were perfectly consonant to our ideas of common sense; that they were freely open to the examination of all men, and that in fact every one of these doctrines had been canvassed, and discussed for many centuries, the result of all of which was, that though some are found to bear no analogy, with material objects, and are therefore manifestly beyond our understanding, none whatever have been found at variance with them.

LETTER, XIII.

ALLAHABAD, THE 4TH POUS.

Ram Chunder to Krishen Churn Gooroo.

There are few things that have struck my attention so much, since I came to associate with Europeans, as the internal economy of their household, and the expence of their living, from which it would appear, that all those who come from that distant land, are Princes and Nobles, whereas the writings, which you and I have perused, declare to us the contrary.

But to what purpose, my Gooroo, are all the articles of furniture, which fill their houses? Do not the Shasters inform us, that to be continually absorbed in meditation of Brahma is the surest way of obtaining jogee ? and if so, a mat and a lamp, and a copy of the sacred writings, is better than multiplication of external objects, which tend only to withdraw the attention from subjects of greater importance.

There is another thing, however, among this people, which surprises me more than any thing else, and that is the little attention, that seems to be paid by them to the worship of their Gods. In this respect I often reflect on the superior excellence of the Shasters, in prescribing a form of worship to almost every transaction, in which we are engaged. Who ever sets out on a journey without calling on Doorga to protect him? Who ever partakes of any kind of food without first presenting the dish to his household God? When we retire to rest, or rise in the morning, when we clean our teeth, or put on new cloaths, do not we call down the blessing of the Gods on what we do? When I am inclined to yawn, do I ever forget to call three times upon Rama? When you, my Gooroo, sneeze, do not l invoke Gunga, to preserve you?

Now when I see, that those with whom I now live observe none of those forms, I am led to wonder, that a people who pay so little regard to these duties, should have advanced to such a prosperous, and wealthy state, while we, who have for many hundred years called daily upon Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, should yet remain in ignorance and poverty. My principles, as a Hindoo, lead me to believe that there is one God, whose universal care watches over all the Kingdoms of the earth. But when I observe the flourishing condition of Christian states, and see a religion so little regarded by those, who profess it, produce such mighty effects, such a reflexion, I cannot but confess, weakens my veneration for the religion of my Fathers, and affords my mind a stonger proof, than any I have yet seen, of the excellency of that form of worship, in which such a limited tribute of adoration should be blessed with such important results.