clearly and comprehenfively enough, to form a bafis for fubfequent refearches. You have feen as diftinct ly as I am able to fhew, who thofe nations originally were, whence and when they removed toward their final stations; and in our future annual difcourfes, I propofe to enlarge on the particular advantages to our country and to mankind, which may refult from our fedulous and united inquiries into the history, fcience, and arts of thefe Afiatic regis ons, efpecially of the British dominions in India, which we may confider as the centre (not of the human race, but) of our common exertions to promote its true intereft; and we fall concur, I truft, in opinion, that the race of man, to advance whofe manly happiness is our duty, and will of courfe be our endeavour, cannot long be happy without virtue, nor actively virtuous without freedom, nor fecurely free without rational knowledge."

Afiatic hiftory, civil and natural, is the fubject of his tenth difcourfe. He begins with civil hiftory, contrary to the rule laid down by lord Bacon, and gives a general outline of it. He informs us with ftrict truth," that all our hiftorical refearches have confirmed the Molaic accounts of the primitive world;" and he well obferves, that our teftimony on that fubject ought to have the greater weight; because, if the refult of our obfervations had been totally different, we should nevertheless have published them, not indeed with equal pleafure, but with equal confidence; for truth is mighty; and whatever be its confequences must always prevail."

The eleventh, and last discourse, which fir William Jones delivered about fix weeks before his death,

།

was on the philofophy of the Afiatics, of which he gives a very full and copious account; but from which we fhall not at prefent make any extracts, because the subject is far too abftrufe to be interefting to the great majority of our readers, and because we have not room to comment on it, with that precifion and minutenefs which it demands.

Upon the whole, these discourses must be efteemed the most valuabie of all fir William Jones's writings. Taken collectively, they add largely to the flock of general knowledge; for they contain a variety of new and curious materials, whereby the philofopher may illuftrate the history of man, and the politician may advance the wealth, profperity, and happiness of nations. As to the ftyle of the dif fertations, it is always eafy, flowing, perfpicuous, and highly claffical; fometimes rifing into cloquence, and never finking into tamenefs: yet it is occafionally tedious, owing to an extreme amplification of the periods; a mode of writing in which Cicero indeed excelled, but which is certainly unfuitable to the genius of our language. Even Clarendon's " period of a mile," (as Hayley terms. it,) is often feeble, nothwithstanding that fire and energy of mind which he unqueftionably poffeffed; and we therefore think fir William judged ill in endeavouring to imitate him. The capacious and affociating minds, however, of both these great men, had a natural tendency to lapfe into fuch a ftyle.

The next tract in the first volume of fir William Jones's works, is a differtation on the orthography of

Afiatic

His next dissertation is on the gods of Greece, Italy, and India; wherein he enters into a most learned and ingenious investigation to prove the affinity between the fyftems of Polytheifm that prevailed among the Greeks and Romans, and the popular worship of the Hindus; and moreover to fhew that, in fact, they refemble the ftrange religions of Egypt, China, Perfia, Phrygia, Phenicia, Syria, and, perhaps, fome of the islands and northern kingdoms of America: that as to the Gothic fyftem which prevailed in the northern regions of Europe, it was not merely fimilar to thofe of Greece and Italy, but almoft the fame in another drefs, with an embroidery of images apparently Afiatic. He then draws a curious parallel between the gods of the Indian and European heathens, and infers from it, that a connection actually fubfifted between the old idolatrous nations of Egypt, India, Greece and Italy, "long before they emigrated to their feveral fettlements, and confequently before the birth of Mofes; but that the truth of this propofition in no degree affects the truth and fanctity of the Mofaic history, which, if confirmation were neceflary, it would rather tend to confirm."

An inquiry into the chronology of the Hindus comes next; and our author fathoms the fubject with great depth of learning as well as with fingular ability. He leaves

no part of it unexplored: and he displays a very extenfive and accurate knowledge of aftronomical fcience,

A moft learned and fcientific differtation on the antiquity of the Indian zodiac follows the above inquiry; and he has demonstrated, in the moft fatisfactory manner, in confutation of the opinion maintained by the ingenious M. Montúca, "that the Indian division of the zodiac was not borrowed from the Greeks or Arabs, but has been known by the Hindûs from time immemorial, and was probably invented by the firft progenitors of that race, before difperfion."

His next tract is on the literature of the Hindûs, in which he gives a fuccinct account of the principal books extant among them, taken from a Sanfcreet book, intituled, a view of learning, communicated to him by a learned Pandit. To this account he has fubjoined an interesting commentary, fhewing the progrefs which the Brahmans have made both in practical and fpeculative knowledge. Among a variety of very curious facts, he informs us, Mohfani Fáni, the author of the Dabiftàn, defcribes in his firft chapter a race of old Perfian fages, who appear, from the whole of his account, to have been Hindûs; and we cannot doubt that the book of Mahábád or Menu, which was written," he fays, "in a celeftial dialect, means the Véda; fo that as Zoroafter was only a reformer, we find in India the true fource of the ancient Perfian religion. From the Védas," continues fir William, "are immediately deduced the practical arts of chirurgery and medicine,

ideas on any fubject whatever. Why then render a work of this nature repulfive to men of the world, by writing in a language in which, it is well known, they are not converfant? It has indeed been faid, in defence of the practice of writing on learned fubjects in the Latin, that, as it is a general language, it introduces a performance at once into the great commonwealth of letters. But as the French language is univerfally known throughout Europe, and as moft English works of any importance, have, for these twenty years paft, been tranflated into that tongue, we confefs we can discover no poffible utility in compofing interefting works in Latin, especially on Oriental fubjects, which it fhould be our firft endeavour to clothe in an agreeable and familiar attire.

In the third volume of thefe works, we come to the moft important and valuable of all fir W. Jones's tranflation, namely, his Verfion of the Inftitutes of Hindû Law, or, the Ordinances of Menu, according to the Glofs of Calluca, literally tranflated from the Sanfcreet original. This work is a compendium of that fyftem of duties, religious and civil, and of law in all its branches, which the Hindûs believe to have been promulgated in the beginning of time by Menu, the grandfon of Brahmà, and the oldeft and holieft of legiflators. According to the calculation of the learned tranflator, it received its prefent form about 880 years before, 1 the birth of our Saviour, and about 300 years fubfequent to the promulgation of the Védas, or Hindû fcriptures. No production of the prefent age contains fo much new and curious matter. It throws more

light upon the Hindu fyftem than all the publications that have heretofore appeared on the fubject; and it proves beyond all difpute that the people of India had made great advances in civilization, at a period when the nations of Europe were in the rudeft ftage of focial life. But it is peculiarly worthy of obfer. vation, that in many parts of it we find much of the wildom, fublimity, and eloquence of the facred fcriptures; and though the text be deformed with innumerable abfurdities, it always breathes the fpirit of legiflation and the fervour of a pious morality.

The last tracts in the third volume are, The Mahommedan Law of Succeffion to the Property of Inteftates, in Arabic, from an original manufcript, with a verbal tranflation, preface, and notes; and, The Mahommedan Law of Inheritance from the Arabic text of Sirajiyyah, with a preface and commentary. Both these tracts are of the utmoft importance towards the due adminiftration of civil justice in India, inafmuch as it regards upwards of three millions of British Mahommedan fubjects; and they ought therefore to be ftudied with the greatest attention, by all gentlemen intending to enter the civil service of the hon. company.

The three remaining volumes, confift of many elegant compofitions in Hindû literature, and fome interefting translations from the Sanf crêet.

Afiatic Refearches; or, Tranfa&tions of the Society inflituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the Hiftory and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences,

and

and Literature, of Afia. Vol. V. Printed verbatim from the Calcutta Edition. 8vo.

WHILE

we look with fatisfaction to the progress of this ufeful fociety, we cannot avoid repeating our concern for the lofs of the amiable and excellent inftitutor of fo liberal a plan, which has been productive of fo much information. The investigations of this fociety are bound only by the geographical limits of Afia. The field of their researches is not only immenfe, but fertile in every topic that can excite curiofity or furnish entertainment. The members are not confined to Hindoftan, but extend to China, to Japan, to Tartary, to Tibett, to the fterile deferts of Arabia, and to the beautiful provinces of Perfia.

A fpace fo unbounded has engaged the attention and care of the Afiatic fociety fince its first inftitution, and the topics of their inquiry have been vast and without measure. They have examined whatever is performed by men, or produced by nature, within the limits they have prescribed to themselves. They have exhibited accounts of natural productions; have examined the records of empires and ftates; they have difentangled the perplexities of pure and mixed mathematics;

have fpeculated on ethics and law s and, to unbend, in the fofter amusements of literature, have difplayed the beauties of imagery and the charms of invention:

Objects fo interesting cannot but excite a defire for a farther acquaintance with them; four volumes have been already publifhed, and the fifth now makes its appearance; but the lucubrations of the Afiatic fociety have not been fo widely diffufed as their merit deferved. Nearly the whole of the impreffion is diftributed in the East Indies, therefore very few copies reach Europe; and this, amongst other reasons, has given rise to the prefent re-publication, which contains the whole of the tranfactions of the fociety, without abridgement or mutilation.

We cannot difmifs this article without oblerving that in the five volumes of this work may be found nearly all the truly valuable articles which compofe the pompous and expenfive work we have just reviewed, that is to fay, all those publications of fir William Jones, on fubjects connected with Oriental Literature, Natural Hiftory, or Antiquities, which received his laft corrections, and were presented by him in a finished state to the fociety, of which he was fo diftinguished a member.

CONTENTS.