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than might have been expected, but only on the ground that she " sores highe" and may be trusted to do well for herself. "I know," she says in another letter, "that Pegg will loocke for a good estate, else I should not leave it soe holy to hir."

are often led to believe. Mary has no right to dispose of herself under writes to Ralph at Blois complaining a certain sum; and this was so well bitterly of the dearness of provisions established that no one had any false in London. Beef is 4d., veal and delicacy in speaking of the matter. mutton 8d., while Pen Verney reckons Under these circumstances, it may be Ss. a week too much for her diet, conceived how difficult it was to settle which is afterwards fixed at 61. a year. the five Verney girls, whose portions, 127. a year seems a great deal for wilful never very large, were locked up in the little Betty, aged thirteen, to spend on Aulnage—that is, charged in some her dress, but country bred as she was, way upon the customs, aud not realizshe declines, Mary writes, to wearable under the Commonwealth. Sir anything but silk. The sum of 301. Harry Lee, of Ditchley, leaves his claimed by Nancy Denton, who was a daughter 5,000l. on her coming of age, spoilt child and rich man's daughter, and to his younger son a farm valued is far more appropriate to her position. at 1207. and 300l. a year. Jack Verney In fact, the fees earned by physicians is given 50l. for his outfit to Aleppo, in those days were far in excess of and his Aunt Pen is allowed 301. for what we should give now, in spite of her trousseau. We are never told the exceeding simplicity not to say what were the portions of Margaret remarkable unpleasantness of their and Mary Eure, co-heiresses. Their pharmacopoeia and treatment. Dr. mother, Mrs. Sherard, permits Pegg a Theodore Mayence, the fashionable freer choice in the matter of husbands doctor, left 140,000l. (equivalent to over half a million) behind him, and Sir Ralph is miserable because he cannot afford to pay Dr. Denton the 507., which is the ordinary fee for a confinement. A Venetian mirror costs 401., a portrait by Vandyke 501. A maid's wages come to 31., but the pair of "trimed gloves," with which it is the fashion to reward any extra services on her part, come to 11. 5s. an absurdly disproportionate present. The price of Sir Edmund's Covent Garden house is 1007., and many horses fetch as much, while 2007. a year is the usual price for a boy's board and teaching in a good French family. This is a far higher rate thau was charged in Paris one hundred and thirty years later, to a Scotch gentleman in the same rank of life as Sir Ralph Verney. He sends his two boys and their tutor to Paris for education, and, in answer It is impossible to close even this to some deprecating remarks on the brief survey of manuers as represented part of the tutor as to the amount of in the Verney letters, without refermoney they were spending, Mr. Mure, ring to a feat which made the hearts of of Caldwell (1770), observes that he all Cavaliers throb the faster -the galhas set aside 1,000l. a year for the lant rescue of the little satin banner purpose. But one boy cost 8001. (of bearing the name of the Majesty our money) in the reign of Louis XIV. 'Scutcheon, by Uvedale, the WestminsAs to marriages, the only considera- ter boy. It is known to all how the tion was tit for tat in the matter of a Westminster boys, awed out of the portion. If a girl has so much, she life and frolicsomeness of boyhood by

LIVING AGE.

VOL. VII. 316

Miss Pegg was quite as much disposed to flirt and shilly-shally as any of her great-granddaughters, and, when staying in London with "Uncle Doctor," had ample opportunity of doing both. None of the connection appear to have been very strictly kept as regards intercourse with men; and even in Sir Ralph's young days there was an amount of romping and kissing that would not be tolerated now in any respectable house. But if we had ever been inclined to regard our ancestresses as helpless automatons, Dorothy Osborne would have taught us better !

the solemn tragedy which had been | 1772. It was entitled, according to the played close by, assembled themselves opinion of that time, Alphabetum together in prayer at the hour of the Grandonico-Malabaricum sive Samscruexecution of Charles I., and did all for donicum." The preface to this work, him that any man could do then. Nine which lies before me, contains interestyears later, Cromwell also lay on his ing references to the similarly praisebier, and at the head was placed the worthy labors of the early Protestant little white satin banner. The emblem missionaries, Schultze and Ziegenbalg. of royalty moved the boys to wrath as The latter, especially, was an ardent it waved above the dead in Westmins-student of the Hindu faiths, and beter Abbey, in full sight of the lads who sides his labors in Tamil grammar and had been drawn up to witness the Bible translation, wrote an admirable burial. The coffin was surrounded by book on "The Genealogy of the South guards; but what of that? Did not Indian Gods." He sent the manuscript Robert Uvedale's fathers die fighting to Franke, the director of the mission for their king, and would he be awed at Halle, for publication. But Franke by the presence of a usurper? So he wrote informing him that its publicacrept forward, under the very legs of tion was out of the question, and that the guard, and wrenching the banner the missionaries were sent out to abolish from its rest, he plunged in among the heathenism in India, and not to spread crowd, which mechanically opened to a knowledge of it in Europe; so Ziereceive him. And if any one is curi-genbalg's manuscript was left to sleep ous to see the identical flag, they will find it any day in Lincoln College, Oxford. L. B. LANG.

From The Contemporary Review. THE LATENT RELIGION OF INDIA.

in German for more than one hundred and fifty years. To the honor of Germany, however, it should be said, that the manuscript was printed in German in 1867, but in Madras, not in Germany. Another work by Ziegenbalg, entitled "A General Description of the South Indian Heathenism," appears to have fared still worse. It was sent to Halle, but has never been published, nor can the manuscript be found. It is a work dealing with Hindu theology and philosophy, and containing many extracts from Hindu authors.

INDIA has been the great battleground of religious beliefs; and without referring to early missions, Christianity has been in conflict with its faiths for more than three hundred years. The modern missious of Roman Catholic Christianity were nobly supported by Since then many books have been the kings of Portugal and Algarve, and written on the Hindu faiths. They Xavier, De Nobili, De Brito, Beschi, have also been sketched for English and others, whose names will ever be people in reports and speeches, for illustrious in missionary annals, accom- more than a hundred years, yet our plished a great work in the sixteenth knowledge of them is still incomplete. and two following centuries. In addi- They differ so widely from anything tion to their missionary successes, some familiar to us in the West, that the of the early Roman Catholic mission- work of understanding their nature aries distinguished themselves also by and relations is specially difficult. To efforts to reveal in Europe the faiths note and interpret the rites and cereand literary treasures of India. Father monies of their worship, to ascertain Pons wrote an account of the Vedas their doctrinal beliefs, demands the and Shastras; Paulinus wrote the first rare gifts of exact observation and acSanskrit grammar, published at Rome, curate judgment. And since in India in 1790. Beschi discovered in Tamil, the whole area of life is religious, withthe Kural, the great ethical poem of out such divisions as "sacred" and Tiruvalluvar, and the first Malayâlim" secular," the tangled mass of social grammar was also printed at Rome in custom and usage must be separated

Γ

aud analyzed, and its
nected with the ideas

much time and care. Those who by long residence have grown familiar with the outer aspects of Indian life continually need to guard against race prejudice and religious bias in the study of these faiths, and if to such this work be so difficult, it must be still more so to students in the West who would know their contents.

ence.

elements con- a unity. It is not one, but a congeries of which they of faiths. The term "Hinduism" is are the outcrop. All this demands misleading. Never during historic times has there been one faith for the two hundred million of Hindus, and there is not one faith now. If we think of Hinduism as consisting of the Vedas and Shastras, and of repeated privileges administered by a Brahman priesthood, these are a private monopoly. According to the Aryan laws, which fixed the privileges and duties of I have spent many of the best years the people, these privileges are not of my life as a Christian missionary in transferable. They could not be uniIndia ; and I wish especially in this versalized and thrown open to all paper to call attention to some of the Hindus. There is 110 "whosoever truth contained in that country. In will." The castes termed "Sudras," addition to this, there are good ele-" Pariahs," and others could lay no ments in Hindu personal and social life claim to the heritage of truth or salvawhich well merit an extended refer- tion. If there be truth in the BrahSocial institutions, appearing to manical sacred books, these dare not us to deserve the severest censure, read them nor hear them read; if there have sometimes ideas underlying them, be sacred rites which save from sin, which, though they do not justify these the priests cannot teach what they are institutions, explain to us why they nor perform them for their salvation. exist, and these ideas should not be The conclusions to be gathered from overlooked e.g., the idea underlying Brahmanical literature are that the the practice of child-marriage, with its gods cannot tolerate a religious Sudra, sad results, is, that Hindu female virtue and that for the Pariahs and others no should be scrupulously guarded. But way of salvation is known to the orthoI could not refer to these things within dox priesthood. "The heaven of Trithe limits of this paper. Lest any sanku" is a familiar Sanskrit proverb reader may hastily imagine that I am (Trisanku swarga rôhanam).1 anxious to portray the faiths of India in colors which are too fair, I may remark that nothing is further from my thought. I know as well as any Euglishman the dark and deplorable things connected with the popular idolatry of India, and far be it from me to whitewash these, or hold a brief for them. Evil things and evil doers must perish. Like many others, I have seen and thought of these with a sad heart. And I do not say that the evil and error in India have received too much attention; but I am sure that the truth and the elements of goodness that are there have received too little. I would call attention to these.

I proceed, therefore, to speak of Hinduism, warning the reader that many details must be omitted from so brief a sketch. Men often write and speak of the Hindu faith as if it were

Modern Hinduism consists of fragments of ancient non-Aryan cults which have survived conquest and coercion, and fragments of Aryanism - pieces of

Vedic ritual and Brahmanical thought. The Aryan fragments are at the top, the others are below. It is to be regretted that the attempt has hardly yet been made to resolve modern Hinduism into its constituent elements, and show us where, in creed and worship, the Brahman elements end and the non-Brahman begin.2 Those peoples who are submissive to the Brahman priests receive from them little beyond mere patronage, and for this they pay by substantial offerings

1 Vide Longfellow's poem, King Trisanku.

2 E.g., as to gods, these are fair and dark, and the fair-skinned (Aryan) race should worship the fair gods. The dark races have dark gods. Yet Krishna is black, and is worshipped by Aryans.

and abject homage. Anything like | mere euphemism. The first thousand union with the Brahmanical section verses are in praise of Krishna. The would be resented. work is not Vedic, although held in

If Hinduism be thought of as a series high repute. The larger Vaishnava of sects, Saivas, Vaishnavas, and Sak-sects, dating from the eleventh to the tis are the great divisions, and worship sixteenth century, have each their Siva, Vishnu, and the female deities. specially honored books. In Bengal, They have many subdivisions. Of Chaitanya's life (Chaitanya CharitámSaivas alone, Tattwa Linga Swami1rita) is the gospel of the Vaishnava enumerates upwards of a hundred and Gauriyas. The Saivas have in Tamil, fifty sects. Of Vaishnavas, Wilson the Dêvâram, a collection of hymns enumerates twenty sects, but the num-written by Sambandhar, Appar, and ber far exceeds this. Ancestor wor- Sundarar, and speak of them as the ship is practised by all Hindus. The Tamil Veda. All these popular works great temples are originally tombs. encourage the worship of idols. Among the lowest classes worship is The idolatry of India, at first sight, addressed to ruder deities, such as appears to leave no place for God and demons, animals, trees, stones, etc. truth. A hundred and sixty years ago, If Hinduism be considered philo- when Schultze landed as a missionary sophically, from the standpoint of doc-in India, he wrote: trine, we find (a) the dualistic (dwaita); Almost all heathens are as dull as the (b) non-dualistic (adwaita); and (c) brutes. You may talk to them of God, or modified dualistic (visishtadwaita) sys- of virtue; they understand one as little as tems. These are associated with the the other, and care nothing for either. names of (a) Mâdhva, (b) Sankara, Would you help these unreasonable people and (c) Râmânuja. The six philosoph- you must first preach their polytheism out ical systems (darshanas) have still their of them, and annihilate the entire catastudents. A considerable number of logue of their gods, before you can bring books are now printed in the leading vernaculars, and intelligent non-Aryan members of important sects know the categories (tattwa) they profess to venerate. But modern Hinduism is more strikingly ritual than doctrinal, and, speaking generally, the doctrinal knowledge of the people is inexact and often confused.

them to the One Eternal God.

And this has been substantially the first impression of many another Christian teacher. For in India error is noisy and demonstrative, and whatever of truth may be in the land is hidden away in obscurity. I am bound to say, as a witness, that, having interrogated multitudes, I have never known any of them worship an idol for spiritual benefit, or with the thought, "I must become a better man."

As a system of worship, Hinduism rests not on the Vedas, but ou the Puranas, though Vedic fragments are still in use. It is well known that its Two years later Schultze wrote: "It idol-worship, existing caste arrange- is known that the heathens in India ments, and degradation of women have for the most part believe in one God. no Vedic sanction. In South India the That, besides God, they venerate and Tamil poems of the eleven Alwars, pray to so many little inferior deities who were famous devotees, constitute arises from several causes.' So, also, the sacred books of the Tamil Vaish-Sartorius writes: "All general truths, navas (Tenkaleis), and are printed such as the being of God, creation, under the name of the Dravida Veda. providence, that it is the duty of man Nam Alwar is said to have put the to know and worship God, the heathens essence of the Rig, Yajur, and Atharva admit, as well as that their deities are Vedas into some two hundred verses stone, and cannot help them." This of this work, but the statement is a final testimony of these men is true; idolatry, all too prevalent, does not constitute the whole of India's religion.

1 Vide Tattwa Nijanubhôga Sara, pp. 91 ff.

99 1

Here is a brief summary of religious truth held by the Saiva Siddhantists: a. The existence of God and souls.

g.

That deliverance from sin may take place in this life.

The soul, by its own power, cannot know God.

God comes as teacher (guru) to in

struct man.

By grace, souls become united to
God.

We find much truth, both in books and | popular faith, poets have scattered men; so much as to surprise the stu- among the people fragments of spirdent and delight the wise Christian itual truth which still remain. Among teacher. But many, saddened by the Hindus, priest and prophet (i.e., poet) pantheism and polytheism of India, are at opposite poles. have concluded that there religion has shown nothing but a process of deterioration, that religious knowledge has gradually darkened from Vedic times b. Creation and providence. until now. We are told, for instance, c. The fact of sin. that 66 religious history in India, as d. elsewhere, is a history of declension," that "its evolution has all been downe. ward, incoherency has ever been on the increase; lower and wider diver-f. sities of superstition have sprung out of the system from age to age." 2 It cannot be denied that corruption has been at work in heathendom; every-h. where evil elements are continually striving to mingle with the good. At the same time, statements like these are misleading and inaccurate, and I doubt whether any one can name a novelty in vice, or in low superstition, developed in India during the last eight hundred years, -let us say, since Alberuni's time. In Christendom also, corruption has been at work; men and churches have departed from its primitive ideals of worship and life, and Christianity, a pure theism among the cultured, is often heresy and idolatry among the illiterate. Yet no one could say that the centuries of Christian history have resulted only in deterioration, and it is just as untrue to affirm this of religious history in India.

In the South Indian vernaculars there are many books by Aryan and non-Aryan authors which contain a considerable amount of spiritual teaching. I do not say that the masses read them all, but many know them in part, and they are the real shastras of devoutminded Sudras. The philosophy of

Greece was one long protest against the popular mythology;' 98 in India, also, poetry has often opposed idolatry. And besides denouncing errors of the

: Christianity and the Science of Religion, Rev. J. S. Banks, p. 29.

Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D.: Centenary Conference Mission Report, vol. i., p. 53. Nisbet &

Though united, the soul does not become equal to God.

I quote a few passages referring to these doctrines from vernacular works in my possession :

God exists as all the world, and yet is other than the world. He is perfectly mingled with the world, filling the whole, and yet is without the least weariness of these things. At His command, souls are

born and die in accordance with their destiny (Karma). — Siva Gnana Potham.

He is the first; He has no evil; He is

spotless, and those who know Him by the teaching of His grace have Him in their hearts. Nenjuvidututhu.

The Lord took a sacred body and came hither as Teacher (guru), and destroyed evil (pasa), and lovingly gave us His grace, which is true wisdom. - Irupâvirupahâtha.