prevails; and therefore the politician may conclude, that without religious interference, persecution, or intolerance, the practice might be abolished. In all cases, however, truth will, by the exhibition of a fair statement, and a clear apprehension of its nature, be most congenially and efficiently served; and we hesitate not to affirm, that the practice is not opposed by any precept generally esteemed of divine obligation; nor can it be represented that the religion of the Hindoos is in any way hostile in its principles to the burning of widows; nor is it an innovation of recent date, the practice of a fanatical few, or sect, or any excrescence in the system. It is proudly received as a distinguishing privilege, and calmly represented as an honourable, not a disgraceful termination to conjugal fidelity. There wants not the sanction of institutes and the provision of laws. It is not an excess silently winked at, far less a crime to be punished by the judges. It is not clearly exhibited as a work of supererogation, or even an unwonted stretch of personal devotedness in religion. If the woman would claim the merit of being an attached wife; if she would bring down blessings upon her family and relations; if she would live for so many thousand years in a state of honourable bliss-let her burn on the funeral pile with her husband. Here follow the words of Ayeen Akber: "If the deceased leaves a son, he sets fire to the pile, otherwise his younger brother, or also his elder brother. All his wives embrace the corpse, and notwithstanding their relations advise them against it,

expire in the flames with the greatest cheerfulness. A Hindoo wife who is burnt with her husband, is either actuated by motives of real affection, or she thinks it her duty to conform to custom, or she consents to avoid reproach, or else she is forced to it by her relations. If the wife be pregnant at the time of her husband's death, she is not allowed to burn till after her delivery. If he dies on a journey, the wives burn themselves along with his clothes, or any thing else that belonged to him. Some women who have been prevailed upon by their relations, or have persuaded themselves against burning with the corpse, have found themselves so unhappy, that they have cheerfully submitted to expire on the flames before the next day."*

The particulars of the ceremony are not left to the caprice of officiating priests, or the wishes of the deluded victim. The clothes to be worn, the presents to be bestowed, the rites to be performed, the materials to be employed, the hymns to be chaunted, the very manner of applying the fire, all, all are prescribed with horrid minuteness and detail in their books of religion, which bear the sacred characters, and which are consulted for solace and guidance. Nor are the high and noble, the rich or the poor, exempt from the awful visitation. Sir John Malcolm, in his "Central India," after communicating much to

* The Institutes of Akber were translated under the patronage of the Honourable East India Company, and are published in three volumes.

interest the reader, relates concerning Alia Bhye, that her daughter Muchta Bhye was married, and had one son, who after reaching manhood died at Mhysir. "Twelve months afterward his father died, and Muchta Bhye declared immediately her resolution to burn with the corpse of her husband. No efforts (short of coercion) that a mother and sovereign could use were untried by the virtuous Alia Bhye to dissuade her daughter from the fatal resolution. She humbled herself to the dust before her, and entreated her as she revered her God, not to leave her desolate and alone upon the earth. Muchta Bhye although affectionate was calm and resolved. "You are old mother, (she said,) and a few years will end your pious life: my only child and husband are gone, and when you follow, life I feel will be insupportable; but the opportunity of terminating it with honour will then have passed." Alia Bhye, when she found all dissuasion unavailing, determined to witness the last dreadful scene. She walked in the procession, and stood near the pile, where she was supported by two brahmins, who held her arms. Although obviously suffering great agony of mind, she remained tolerably firm till the first blaze of the flame made her lose all self-command; and while her shrieks increased the noise made by the exulting shouts of the immense multitude that stood around, she was seen to gnaw in anguish those hands she could not liberate from the persons by After some convulsive efforts, she so far recovered as to join in the ceremony of bathing in the Nerbudda, when the bodies were con

whom she was held.

sumed. She then returned to her palace, where for some days having hardly taken any sustenance, she remained so absorbed in grief, that she never uttered a word: when recovered from this state, she seemed to find consolation in building a beautiful monument to the memory of those she lamented. These particulars are related on the authority of several persons who were near witnesses of the affecting scene, besides that of Baramal Dada, who was throughout in attendance on her. It is pleasing to find, that her devotion, although it forbad her to infringe what usage had sanctioned and rendered holy, had not subdued in this amiable woman's mind the natural feelings of humanity."*

Thus then we find this religion affords legitimate ground and full license to seize upon suicide as an honourable opportunity of terminating the trials and escaping the difficulties of a present life; and that it forbids us to infringe on murder, (even of an only child,) which usage has sanctioned and rendered holy. But we advance further, and assert, that not only

* "There are few modern temples in India of more beautiful and finished workmanship than this monument of maternal love.

"I went to the spot where this afflicting scene occurred with the venerable Baramal Dada, and though much affected, he seemed to take a melancholy delight in showing the spot where the pile was made, and that where his mistress stood to witness her daughter's sacrifice."-Central India, vol. 1, page 190-3.

We fear there is too great a proneness in some writers " to take a melancholy delight" in turning such relations into affecting episodes.

;

is it a voluntary but a necessary part of the religion of the Hindoos, to immolate the widows of brahmins. Among Christian nations what character is more sacred than that of a widow? Is it not the ambition of Christian youth to be laid hold on as the staff of widowed age, to visit the fatherless and the widows? In what channels do the streams of holy charity more frequently flow than in those of venerated, feeble, and dependant widowhood? Are not the steps to the abode of the desolate and bereaved female sacred, her chambers as the horns of the altar and her blanched hairs, are they not esteemed inviolate as the crown of glory? The ingrate son who would desert, far more injure, his destitute mother, how his name would be branded with infamy? The curse of a parricide would be a corroding attendant upon all his possessions, a rust upon his treasures, a fire in his bones, and a consumption in his vitals; it would descend with him to the grave until his name should rot. And this would be the consequence of such wickedness, apart from any censure, past by the laws of the community; it is the general voice of nature, and the breath of instinct, the fruit of principle implanted by the God of nature, and enforced by his revealed law. A tender regard to the comfort of the widow is part of that which is pure and undefiled religion-it is God-like. God careth for the widow. In his word he has made her many promises and given her many assurances; in his holy habitation, in his church, he takes her into a closer relation with himself, and gives special directions regard