As to what he fays of the frivolous edu. cation beftowed upon Christian women, it is fufficient to obferve, that it is utterly in confiftent with the belief of the immortality and progreffive improvement of the human foul; it is, indeed, too abfurd to ftand in need of confutation. When he can convince me, that the men are vain, voluptuous, felfish, and unjuft, then fhall I believe, that the women are frivolous, and ignorant. In regard to what he afferts of the dif ferent Cafts, into which the people are divided, I am not fo well prepared to anfwer him. I only know, that nothing like it appears in the Chriftian Shafter. The people of family, and the people of no family, are there put upon a level; and, at the time it was written, it is evident the people of ftyle had never been heard of. Oh! that it had been permitted me to have confuted the mifreprefentations of this wicked Bramin, by the unerring anfwers of experience. That I could have followed the impulfe of my own defires, in the glorious purfuit of wifdom; and traced the obfcure and diftant path, by which Knowledge diffeminated her treafures over the various regions of the earth! Ah! didft thou know what it has coft me to relinquish this favourite purfuit; what felf-denial I have been obliged to exert, ere I could turn mine eyes from the enchanting prospect that opened to my view, thou wouldst efteem this act of friendship more, than if I had poured into thy lap the accumulated treafures of my fathers! Having once determined, thou needft not fear that ought fhall have power to shake my resolution. I fwear to thee, by the name of my father, that while Prymaveda lives, Zaarmilla will never forfake her. I fhall be at Rampore in the space of a fortnight; there I fhall give, to the arms of my friend, the lovely and gentle Zamarcanda; and receive thy fifter for the partner of my bofom. After the performance of our nuptials, I fhall have the pleafure of conducting you to the ancient feat of your fore-fathers. You will be received with joy, by all the Ryots, and welcomed by every furrounding Zimeendar, with the fincereft fatisfaction. You muft, after. this, return with me to Almora; and there, where every scene recals to memory the days of early felicity, we fhall renew the ftudies, and retafte the pleafures of our youth. We fhall mingle our tears of gratitude, at the tomb of the venerable Pundit, who first poured the balm of inftruction into our young and tender minds. In the fair bofom of creation, and in the gorgeously enamelled vault of heaven, we shall together read thofe divine myfte- Sighs in the gale and warbles in the throat Breathes in rich fragrance from the fandal grove, May the fovereign Maya |, prefent to the mind of Maandaara, an ever varying *This expreffion feems favourable to the opinion entertained by fome of our own writers, that great part of the Mythology of the Hindoos, is nothing more than enigmatical reprefentations of aftronomical facts. See the fixth ftanza of the Hymn to Narayena, as tranflated by Sir William Jones, 'It will be fufficient here to premife, that the inextricable difficulties attending the vulgar notion of material fubftances, induced many of the wifeft Hindoos "to believe that the whole creation was rather an energy than a work, by which the infinite Being, who is prefent at all times, in all places, exhibits to the minds of his creatures a fet of perceptions like a wonderful picture or piece of mufic, always varied, yet always uniform; fo that all bodies, and their affemblage of fair ideas! but may that which is deareft to his heart, be the friendfhip of Zaarmilla! What can I say more! [In the correfpondence of the Rajah, we here find a chafm of feveral years. Though none of the letters bear any date, we have, from circumftances mentioned in the preceding ones, concluded them to have been written toward the beginning of the year 1775. Thofe, which follow, we prefume, could not have been Pritten be fore the year 1779, or 1780.] LETTER VIII. From the Rajah Zaarmilla, to Maandaara. (Written from Barellee} MAY the powerful Eendra be ever pro pitious to the most benignant of friends; and the goddefs Sree preferve his heart from the arrows of affliction ! An opportunity offers, of which I am not flow to avail myself, of fending thee information of my health and fafety. Had qualities, exift, indeed, to every wife, and useful purpofe: but exift only as far as they are perceived. This Illufive Operation of the Deity, the Hindoo philofophers, call Maya, or Deception. See the Argument of the above-mentioned Hymn. 20 not forrow fpread its raven wing over the beauties of every profpect, my journey might have been delightful. But, alas! to him, whose heart is oppreffed by recent calamity, the face of nature is veiled in darkness. My perfon was foon at a distance from the fcene of forrow, but from it I could not, by diftance, difengage my mind. Prymaveda! my affectionate, and faithful Prymaveda, expiring in my arms, was the picture that every where prefented itself to my eyes. Her laft low and feeble fighs, were ftill the only founds which vibrated upon my ears. Change of scene afforded no alleviation to my grief, and time, whose tongue of fire devoureth all things, appeared to move with too flow a pace to leave me room to hope much from his affiftance. One only fource of confolation prefented itself to my deeply wounded mind, it was the reflection of having contributed to the happiness of her, whose image dwells in my heart. Had I ever reproved with harfhnefs, or indulged my pride in the morofe exercife of authority, how infupportable would be the bitternefs of my affliction! Let not Maandaara reproach his friend for indulging in thefe melancholy reflections. The woman, who is attached to her husband, will follow the fpirit of her departed Lord, even though condemned |