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bers, than that of the Waldenses, so called, says Mosheim, from their parent and founder Peter Waldus. They were also called Leonists, from Leona, the ancient name of Lyons, where their sect took its rise. The more eminent persons of that sect manifested their progress towards perfection by the simplicity and meanness of their external appearance: hence, among other things, they wore wooden shoes, which in the French language are termed sabots, and had imprinted upon these shoes the sign of the cross, to distinguish themselves from other Christians; and on these accounts they acquired the denominations of Sabbatati and Insubbatati.

The origin of this famous sect, according to Mosheim, was as follows: Peter, an opulent merchant of Lyons, surnamed Valdensis, or Validisius, from Vaux, or Waldum, a town in the marquisate of Lyons, being extremely zeal. ous for the advancement of true piety and Christian knowledge, employed a certain priest, called Stephanus de Evisa, about the year 1160, in translating from Latin into French the four Gospels, with other books of holy Scripture, and the most remarkable sentences of the ancient doctors, which were so highly esteemed a this century. But no sooner had he perused these sacred books with a proper degree of attention, than he perceived that the religion, which was now taught in the Roman church, differed totally from that which was originally inculcated by Christ and his apostles. Struck with this glaring contradiction between the doctrines of the pontiffs and the truths of the Gospel, and animated with zeal, he abandoned his mercantile vocation, distributed his riches anong the poor (whence the Waldenses were called poor men of Lyons), and forming an association with other pious men, who had adopted his sentiments and his turn of devotion, he began, in the year 1180, to assume the quality of a public teacher, and to instruct the multitude in the doctrines and precepts of Christianity.

B.za, and other writers of note, who are followed by Dr. Macleane, the learned transla. tor of Mosheim's history, give different accounts of the origin of the Waldenses; alleging, that it seems evident from the best records, that Vildus derived his name from the true Valdenses of Piedmont, whose doctrine he adopted, and who were known by the names of Vaudois and Valdenses, before he or his immediate followers existed. If the Valdenses or Waldenses had derived their name from an eminent teacher, it would probably have been from Valdo, who was remarkable for the purity of his doc tre in the eleventh century, and was the cotemporary and chief counsellor of Berengarius. But the truth is, that they derive their name from their valleys in Piedinout, which in their language were called vaux, and hence Vaudois, their true name: bence also Peter, or, as others cali hum, John of Lyons, was called in Latin Valdus, because he had adopted their doctrine; and hence the term Valdenses or Waldenses used, by those who write in English or Latin,

in the place of Vaudois. The bloody inquisi tor, Reinerus Sacco, who exerted such a furious zeal for the destruction of the Waldenses, lived but eighty years after Valdus of Lyons, and must, therefore, be supposed to know whether or not he was the real founder of the Valdenses or Leonists; and yet it is remarkabie, that he speaks of the Leonists as a sect that had flourished above five hundred years; and mentions authors of note who make their antiquity ascend to the apostolic age. See the account given of Sacco's book by the Jesuit Gretser, in the Bibliotheca Patrum. See also Leger's Histoire Gen. des Eglises Vaudoises, cap. 2. 25, 26, 27.

But to return to the history of Peter Valdus. Soon after Peter had assumed the exercise of his ministry, the archbishop of Lyons, and the other rulers of the church in that province, vigorously opposed him. However, their op position was unsuccessful; for the purity and simplicity of that religion which these good men taught, the spotless innocence that shone forth in their lives and actions, and the noble contempt of riches and honours, which was conspicuous in the whole of their conduct and conversation, appeared so engaging to all such as had any sense of true piety, that the nuinber of their followers daily increased. They ac cordingly formed religious assemblies first in France, and afterwards in Lombardy, from whence they propagated their sect throughout the other provinces of Europe with incredible rapidity, and with such invincible fortitude, that neither fire, nor sword, nor the most cruel inventions of merciless persecution, could damp their zeal, or entirely ruin their cause.

The attempts of Peter Waldus and his followers were neither employed nor designed to introduce new doctrines into the church, nor to propose new articles of faith to Christians. All they aimed at was to reduce the form of ecclesiastical government, and the manners both of the clergy and people, to that amiable simplicity, and primitive sanctity, that characterized the apostolic ages, and which appear so strongly recommended in the precepts and injunctions of the divine author of our holy religion. In consequence of this design, they complained that the Roman church had degenerated, under Constantine the Great, from its primitive purity and sanctity. They denied the supremacy of the Roman pontifi, and maintained, that the rulers and ministers of the church were obliged, by their vocation, to imitate the poverty of the apostles, and to procure for themselves a subsistence by the work of their hands. They considered every Christinn as, in a certain measure, qualified and au thorized to instruct, exhort, and confirm the brethren in their Christian course, and demanded the restoration of the ancient penitential discipline of the church, i. e. the expiation of transgressions by prayer, fasting, and alms, which the new-invented doctrine of indulgences had almost totally abolished. They, at the same time, affirmed, that every pious Christian was qualified and entitled to prescribe to

the penitent the kind or degree of satisfaction or expiation that their transgressions required; that confession made to priests was by no means necessary, since the humble offender might acknowledge his sins, and testify his repentance to any true believer, and might expect from such the counsel and admonition which his case demanded. They maintained, that the power of delivering sinners from the guilt and punishment of their offences belonged to God alone; and that indulgences, of consequence, were the criminal inventions of sordid avarice.

They looked upon the prayers, and other ceremonies that were instituted in behalf of the dead, as vain, useless, and absurd, and denied the existence of departed souls in an intermediate state of purification; affirming, that they were immediately, upon their separation from the body, received into heaven, or thrust down to hell. These, and other tenets of a like nature, composed the system of doctrine propagated by the Waldenses. It is also said, that several of the Waldenses denied the obligation of infant-baptism, and that others rejected water-baptism entirely; but Wall has laboured to prove, that infant-baptism was generally practised among them.

During the greatest part of the 17th century, those of them who lived in the valleys of Piedmon', and who had embraced the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the church of Geneva, were oppressed and persecuted, in the most barbarous and inhuman manner, by the ministers of Rome. This persecution was carried on with peculiar marks of rage and enormity in the years 1655, 1656, and 1696, and seemed to portend nothing less than the total extinction of that unhappy nation. The most horrid scenes of violence and bloodshed were exhibited in this theatre of papal tyranny; and the few Waldenses that survived were indebted for their existence and support to the intercession made for them by the English and Dutch governments, and also by the Swiss cantons, who solicited the clemency of the duke of Savoy in their behalf.

VAUGELAS (Claude Favre de), a French writer, was born at Chamberry in 1585. He had a concern in the great French dictionary, and was one of those who first corrected and regulated the French language. He wrote two excellent works, 1. Remarques sur la Langue Françoise, Paris, 1647. 2. Quinte Curce de la vie et des actions d'Alexandre le Grand, tradait du Latin, Paris, 1653. He died about 1655.

VAULT. s. (vaulte, Fr. volta, Ital.) 1. A continued arch (Burnet). 2. A cellar (Shakspeare). 3. A cave; a cavern (Sandys). 4. A repository for the dead (Shakspeare).

To VAULT. v. n. (voûter, Fr.) 1. To arch; to shape as a vault (Shakspeare). 2. To cover with an arch (Milton).

To VAULT.v. a. (voltiger, Fr.) 1. To leap; to jump (Addison). 2. To play the tumbler, or posturemaster.

VAULT. s. (from the verb.) A leap; a jump.

VAULT, in architecture, an arched roof, so contrived that the stones which form it sustain each other. Vaults are, on many occasions, to be preferred to soffits or ceilings, as they give a greater height and elevation, and are be sides more firm and durable.

Salmasius observes, that the ancients had only three kinds of vaults. The first was the fornix, made cradle-wise; the second a testudo, i. e. tortoise-wise, which the French call cul de four, or oven-wise; and the third concha, or trumpet-wise. But the moderns have subdivided these three sorts into many more, to which they have given different names, according to their figures and uses; some of them are circular, and others elliptical.

Again, the sweeps of some are larger, others less, portions of a sphere. All such as are above hemispheres are called high, or surmount ed vaults; and all that are less than hemispheres, are called low, or surbased vaults, or testudines.

In some vaults the height is greater than the diameter; in others it is less; others again are quite flat, and only made with haunses; others like ovens, or in the form of a cul de four, &c. and others growing wider as they lengthen, like a trumpet.

VAULTS (Master), are those that cover the principal parts of buildings, in contradistinction to the upper or subordinate vaults, which only cover some little part, as a passage or gate, &c.

VAULT (Double), is one that is built over another, to make the outer decoration range with the inner; or, to make the beauty and decoration of the inside consistent with that of the outside, leaves a space between the concavity of the one and the convexity of the other; in stances of which we have in the dome of St. Peter's at Rome, St. Paul's at London, and in that of the Invalids at Paris.

VAULTS with compartments, are such whose sweep, or inner face, is enriched with pannels of sculpture, separated by platbands. These compartments, which are of different figures according to the vaults, and usually gilt on a white ground, are made with stone or brick walls, as in the church of St. Peter at Rome, or with plaister on timber vaults.

VAULTS (Theory of). A semicircular arch or vault, standing on two piedroits, or imposts, and all the stones that compose them, being cut, and placed in such manner as that their joints or beds, being prolonged, do all meet in the centre of the vault: it is evident that all the stones must be in the form of wedges, i. e. must be wider and bigger at top; by means of which they sustain each other, and mutually oppose the effort of their weight, which deter mines them to fall. The stone in the middle of the vaults, which stands perpendicular to the horizon, and is called the key of the vault, is sustained on each side by two contiguous stones, just as by two inclined planes; and, consequently, the effort it makes to fall is not equal to its weight. But still that effort is the greater, as the inclined planes are less inclined;

so that if they were infinitely little inclined, i. e. if they were perpendicular to the horizon as well as the key, it will tend to fall with its whole weight, and would actually fall but for the mortar. The second stone, which is on the right or left of the key-stone, is sustained by a third, which, by virtue of the figure of the vault, is necessarily more inclined to the second than the second is to the first; and consequently the second, in the effort it makes to fall, employs a less part of its weight than the first. For the same reason, the stones from the key-stone employ still a less and less part of their weight to the last; which, resting on a horizontal plane, employs no part of its weight, or, which is the same thing, makes no effort at all, as being entirely supported by the impost. Now, in vaults, a great point to be aimed at is, that all the voussoirs, or key-stones, make an equal effort towards falling. To effect this, it is visible, that as each (reckoning from the key to the impost) employs still a less and less part of its whole weight; the first, for instance, only employing one-half; the second, onethird; the third, one-fourth, &c. there is no other way of making those different parts equal, but by a proportionable augmentation of the whole; i. e. the second stone must be heavier than the first, the third than the second, &c. to the last; which should be infinitely heavier. M. De la Hire demonstrates what that proportion is, in which the weight of the stones of a semicircular arch must be increased to be in equilibrio, or to tend with equal forces to fall, which is the firmest disposition a vault can have. The architects before him had no certain rule to conduct themselves by, but did all at random. Reckoning the degrees of the quadrant of a circle, from the key-stone to the impost, the extremity of each stone will take up so much the greater arch as it is farther from the key.

M. De la Hire's rule is, to augment the weight of each stone above that of the keystone, as much as the tangent of the arch of the stone exceeds the tangent of the arch of half the key. Now the tangent of the last stone of necessity becomes infinite, and of consequence its weight should be so too; but, as infinity has no place in practice, the rule amounts to this, that the last stones should be loaded as much as possible, that they may the better rcsist the effort which the vault makes to separate them; which is called the shoot or drift of the vault. Mr. Parent has since determined the curve, or figure, which the extrados, or outside of a vault, whose intrados, or inside, is spherical, must have, that all the stones may be in equilibrio.

With regard to the theory in the more complex cases, see our articles ARCH and DOME. The mathematical reader may also advantageously consult Gregory's Mechanics, vol. i.; the treatise on arches and vaults at the end of Bossut's Mechanics; Dr. Hutton's treatise on bridges, &c. in the 1st vol. of his 8vo. Tracts, lately published; and M. Berard's treatise, entuled Statique des Voutes.

VAULT, in farriery. To vault a horse-shoe, is to forge it hollow, as in the case of Mr. St. Bel's shoe. But this sort of shoe spoils the feet; for the sole gradually assumes the forin of the shoe, and the frog becomes every day more and more raised from the ground. VA'ULTAGE. s. (from vault.) Arched cel lar: not in use (Shakspeare).

VAULTED. a. (from vault.) Arched; concave (Pope).

VAULTER. s. (from vault.) A leaper; a jumper; a tumbler.

VAULTY. a. (from vault.) Arched; concave: a bad word (Shakspeare).

To VAUNT. v. a. (vanter, Fr.) To boast; to display with ostentation (Spenser).

To VAUNT. v. n. To play the braggart; to talk with ostentation; to boast (Granville). VAUNT. s. (from the verb.) Brag; boast; vain ostentation (Granville).

VAUNT. s. (from avant, French.) The first part: not used (Shakspeare).

VAUNTER. s. (vanteur, Fr.) Boaster; braggart (Dryden).

VA'UNTFUL. a. (vaunt and full.) Boastful; ostentatious (Spenser).

VAUNTINGLY. ad. (from vaunting.) Boastfully; ostentatiously (Shakspeare). VAUNTMURE. s. (avant mur, Fr.) A false wall (Knowles).

VA'WARD. s. (van and ward.) Forepart. UBERLINGIN, a free imperial city of Suabia, in the county of Furstenburg. The inhabitants, who are partly Roman catholics and partly protestants, carry on a great trade in corn, which they send to Swisserland; and not far hence are very famous baths. is seated on a high rock, near the lake of Constance, 12 miles N. of Constance. Lon. 9. 10 E. Lat. 47. 50 N.

It

U'BERTY. s. (ubertas, Lat.) Abundance; fruitfulness.

UBES (St.), or SETUBAL, a fortified town of Portugal, in Estremadura, with a good harbour, defended by the fort of St. Jago. It is built on the ruins of the ancient Sctobriga, at the head of a bay, near the mouth of the Zadaen. It has a fine fishery, and a very good trade, particularly in salt, of which a great quantity is sent to the colonies in America. It is seated at the end of a plain, five miles in length, extremely fertile in corn, wine, and fruits: the N. end bounded by a row of mountains, loaded with fine forests of pines, and other trees; and within are quarries of jasper of several colours, of which are made pillars and images, that take a very fine polish. It is 22 miles S.E. of Lisbon. Lon. 8. 54 W. Lat. 38. 22 N.

UBICATION. UBIETY. S. (from ubi, Latin.) Local relation; whereness (Glanv.).

UBIQUITARIANS. (formed from ubique, every-where.) In ecclesiastical history, a sect of Lutherans which rose and spread itself in Germany; and whose distinguishing doctrine was, that the body of Jesus Christ is everywhere, or in every place. Brentius, one of the earliest reformers, is said to have first

broached this error, in 1560. Luther himself, in his controversy with Zuinglius, had thrown out some unguarded expressions, that seemed to imply a belief of the omnipresence of the body of Christ; but he became sensible afterwards, that this opinion was attended with great difficulties, and particularly that it ought not to be made use of as a proof of Christ's corporeal presence in the eucharist. How ever, after the death of Luther, this absurd hypothesis was renewed, and dressed up in a specious and plausible form by Brentius, Chemnitius, and Andreas, who maintained the communication of the properties of Christ's divinity to his human nature. It is indeed obvious, that every Lutheran who believes the doctrine of consubstantiation, whatever he may pretend, must be an Ubiquitarian. UBIQUITARY. a. (from ubique, Latin.) Existing every where (Howel).

UBIQUITARY. s. (from ubique, Latin.) One that exists every where (Hall).

UBIQUITY. s. (from ubique, Latin.) Omnipresence; existence at the same time in all places (Hooker).

UBY, or PULO-UBY, an island in the Indian Ocean, at the entrance of the bay of Siam, twenty miles in circumference. It yields good water, and plenty of wood Lon. 105. 56 E. Lat. 8. 25 N.

UCKER, a river of Germany, which issues from a lake of the same name, near Prenzlo, in the Ucker marche of Brandenburg, runs N. through Pomerania, and being joined by the Rando, enters the Frischen Haf, a bay of

the Baltic.

UCRIANA, in botany, a genus of the class pentandria, order monogynia. Calyx fivetoothed, superior; corol salver-shaped, with a very long tube, and swelling naked throat; anthers sessile; style clavate, hairy; stigma bilamellate; berry two-celled, many-celled. One species only, a shrub of Guiana, with square branches, lanceolate, very entire leaves, and flowers in terminal heads.

U'DDER. s. (uden, Saxon.) The breast or dugs of a cow, or other large animal (Prior). U'DDERED. a. (from udder.) Furnished with udders (Gay).

UDINA, or UDINE, a city of Italy, capital of Friuli, with a citadel. It contains 16,000 inhabitants; and in 1750, on the suppression of the patriarchate of Aquileia, was made the see of an archbishop. A treaty between the Austrians and French was signed here in 1797. It is seated in a large plain, on the river and canal called La Roia, 20 miles N.W. of Aquileia, and 65 N.E. of Venice. Lon. 13. 3 E. Lat. 46. 12 N.

UDINSKOI, a town of Siberia, in the government of Irkutsk, seated on the Selinga, 150 miles E. of Irkutsk. Lon. 108. 20 E.

Lat. 52. 0 N.

VEAL. s. (veel, a calf, old Fr.) The flesh of a calf killed for the table (Gay).

VECHT, a river that rises in Westphalia, near Munster, crosses the counties of Stenfort and Bentheim, and entering Overyssel, passes

by Ommen, Hasselt, and Swartsluys, below which it enters the Zuider Zee.

VECHT, a river of Holland, which branches off from the old channel of the Rhine, at Utrecht, and enters the Zuider Zee, at Muyden. VECHTA, a town and fortress of Westphalia, in the principality of Munster, on a river of the same name, 27 miles S. of Oldenburg, and 35 N.N.E. of Osnaburg.

VECTION. VECTITATION. s. (vectio, vectito, Latin.) The act of carrying, or being carried (Arbuthnot).

VECTURE.s.(vectura, Latin.) Carriage.

VEDA. (wisdom, understanding, Sanserit; videre, Latin.) The name of the books which preeminently comprise the religious tenets of the Indians. This term has often been communicated to Europe through the medium of the Bengalee dialect, which having no such letter or sound as Vis compelled to employ a B in its stead, and hence the words Beids or Bedas, for the more proper Veids or Vedas. Hence also Benares for Ve nares, and Bahar for Vahar, as well as Bramin

for Vramin.

The sacred ordinances, or holy books of the Hindus, are distinguished by the general term SASTRAS, or Shas'ers, as it is often improperly called, which is derived from a Sanscrit root, importing to ordain or establish. The whole of the Sastras are very numerous; but there are six that are held in much higher veneration than the rest, and are hence called the Great Sastras, Vidyas or Works of true Knowledge. These six are the Veda, and Upa-Veda, the Anga, Purana, Dherma, and Dersana, which three last are denominated also Upansa.

Of these we will endeavour to give the reader as clear a notion as the short space to which we are limited will allow us. And will afterwards

instance a few of those books which are regarded as of subordinate authority to the Great Sastras.

All these are written in the Sanserit, a language once general in Hindustan, and possessing a surprising affinity in its radical terms to the Greek: it is peculiarly copious and elegant; but since the invasion of India by the Mahometans, has ceased to be spoken; and is now only studied as the sacred language of the Braminical religion, as the Hebrew is of the Jewish. So sa

cred, indeed, is this language held over the whole Asiatic peninsula, that no cast but that of the books that it contains. The emperor Ackbar priesthood is permitted to study it or to read the could not, either by promises or threats, prevail on the Bramins to disclose its mystical contents. But their firmness has at length yielded to the courtesy and philosophical solicitations of the English established in Hindustan; and foreigners, although none of the indigenous tribes, except the Bramins, have now frequent opportu nities of consulting and translating the most sacred of these books, and a complete copy of the nificent donation, was presented to the British Veda, in the original, a most valuable and magMuseum, in 1789, by colonel Polier, through the hands of sir Joseph Banks.

The Veda consists, in reality, of four distinct books; and hence it is often denominated disjunctively the four Vedas. They contain collectively a hundred thousand as loks or stanzas of four lines each; for, like ali very remote records, they are written in measured poetry, and pecu

liarly constitute the Hindu scriptures. Their subjects are divination, astronomy, natural philosophy, the creation of the world, religious ceremonies, prayers, morality and piety: and they inelude hymns in praise of the Supreme Being, and in honour of subaltern intelligences. The four Vedas are distinguished by the names of the Rik-veda, Yajur-veda, Sam-veda, and At'hervaveda; whence they are collectively denominated, by a combination of all these terms, Rikyajursamat herva. The author of these books is not known; and hence they are supposed to have been divinely communicated; and to have issued from the four mouths of Brama, each of his mouths having contributed its proper book. The authenticity of the fourth book has been suspected by sir W. Jones, and Mr. Wilkins, from soute particular passages it contains, which should seem to intimate that it is posterior to Vyasa, who gave them their present arrangement. Mr. Colebroke has candidly examined these passages; but thinks it probable that, whether authentic or not, some portions of it at least are as ancient as the compilation of the three others, while its name is certainly anterior to Vyasa's arrangement.

The Upaveda, or as containing four distinct books, it is in like manner called plurally, the four Upavedas, may be regarded as a commentary upon, or supplement to the preceding; up in Sanscrit being synonymous with the Latin sub, and importing inferiority. The names of the four Upavedas are Ayust, Gandarva, Dhanush, and St'hapatya. The first treats of medicine, and is supposed to have been delivered to mankind by Bramha Indra Dhanwantari, and five other deities. The second treats of music, and is said to have been invented or explained by Bharata. The third, composed by Viswamitra, treats of the fabrication and use of the weapons of the military tribe. The fourth, containing various treatises on the mechanical arts, was revealed by Viswacarman.

The Anga, or body of learning, consists of six books or single angas. They are supposed to have been written by different holy men: the first three treat of grammar; the fourth of religious ceremonies; the fifth of mathematics; and the sixth of difficult words and phrases in the Vedas. To the Ange, succeeds the Upanga, as the Upaveda to the Veda. The Upanga, or supplement to the Anga, consists, as we have already observed, of the Purana, Dherma, and Dersana; the whole of which Angus and Upangas are not unfrequently denominated Vedangas, or Veda systems of learning. The Puranas are a series of mythological histories in blank verse, from the creation of the world to the supposed incarnation of Buddha, the predecessor of Brahma. The Dherma, or Dhermas, consists of various works relating to the jurisprudence of the Hindus. The Dersana contains a variety of works on different subjects of Hindu philosophy. The greater number of these are the acknowledged production of Vyasa; and especially the Bhagavat or Life of Krishna, constituting the eighteenth Purana. Others, and particularly in the Dherma, or books of law, are said to be the gift of Menu, the son or grandson of Brahma. A very important part of this last work has been translated into English by sir W. Jones, under the title of the Inuutes of Menu. Yet a stil! more valuable, as being a more extensive, performance upon the same subject was planned by Mr. Hastings, in

the laudable and liberal desire of obtaining a general code of the laws and customs of the Hindus. For this purpose he assembled Bramins from every part of the peninsula at Fort William in Calcutta; who, under his auspices, composed, from the Vedas and other authentic books, a general pandect in the Sanscrit language. This was translated, with scrupulous accuracy, into the Persian; and from the Persian, with the same scrupulous accuracy, it was rendered by Mr. Halhed into English; and published in 1777 under the title of " A Code of Gentoo Laws; or, Ordinations of the Pundits. From a Persian Translation made from the Original, and written in the Sancrit Language, 4to. London, 1776." It is one of the most valuable presents that Europe has ever received from Asia.

Among the chief of the inferior Sastras, or sacred books, may be mentioned the Upanishads, the Sacred Poems; and the six philosophical Sastras.

The Upanishads, or Holy Mysteries, consist of not less than fifty-two theological treatises, the titles of which, together with a short notice of their contents, are given by Mr. Colebroke in the Asiatic Researches. They appear to be, for the most part, extracts from the Vedas, and are acknowledged to contain the quintessence of Indian theology. The most esteemed and argumentative portion is entitled Vedanta. An important part of the Upanishads was translated from a Persian version into Latin a few years ago by M. Anquetil du Perron, under the title of Oupnekat (id est Secretum Tegendum), opus ipsa in India rarissimum, &c. Mr. Halhed, however, has given a better translation into English, which is deposited in the British Museum.

Of the Sacred Poems the most venerated are the Ramayana, a complete epic, on one continued and heroic action; somewhat interesting, but too complicated and bespangled with imagery. It is the work of Valmiki, the earliest of the Sanscrit bards. The next in celebrity, and perhaps superior to it in reputation for holiness, is the Bharata or Mahabarata of Vyasa, whom we have already mentioned as the arranger of the Vedas in their present form.

The six philosophical Sastras are the works of as many sages, each of whom has established his peculiar school, and has, even in the present day, an extensive train of disciples. Their names are as follow: 1. Gautama, who, if we may be allowed to run a parallel with the Grecian schools, may be compared with Aristotle; 2. Canada with Thales; 3. Jaimini with Socrates; 4. Vasa with Plato; 5 Capila with Pythagoras; and 6. Patangali with Zeno.

Of the claims of these sacred books to a very remote antiquity, we know but little. The Bramins give to many of them, and especially to the Vedas and the Puranas, an age that would carry their origin to several thousand years before the Mosaic account of the creation. Sir William Jones, whose hypothesis has traced the Indian empire above 3,800 years from the present time, allots to the first and second Vedas a possible origin of 1580 years before the birth of our Saviour, and consequently a century before that of Moses: but he considers them to have been at that time in a state of traditional existence alone. He conceives the Institutes of Menu to have been composed about three hundred years later, and the Puranas about six hundred years after the Institutes; but that none of these were at such early periods

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