This, it may be faid, is the language of panegyric, rather than of criticifm. It is, however, the language of TRUTH; and it has been drawn from us, not more by a reflection on what has been already done by Sir W. Jones, than by our anticipa tion of what he may ftill perform. We confider the establishment of the Oriental Mifcellany, as a new epoch in the annals of eaftern literature; and look forward to the progress of it, with expectations proportionate to the utility of the plan, and the acknowledged talents of its patrons. For this reafon we shall have occafion to be more diffuse in our account of these first numbers, than in that of the fucceeding ones, with a view of giving our Readers an idea of the general defign of the publication, as well as of the particular contents of the prefent article.

The laudable defign of the Afiatic Mifcellany is to bring together various materials that may render it at once entertaining, curious, and inftructive; in a word, to convey folid information, in the form of rational amufement. To attain this end, the Editors have chofen a path yet untrodden, though the circumftances, views, and inclinations of their readers in India, as well as the curiofity of the public at home, feem, in their opinion, plainly to point toward it. They obferve, that the great changes that have, of late years, taken place in the political ftate of Hindoftan, and the manifeft alteration they have produced in the character of the natives, thofe especially with whom Europeans have opportunities of intercoufe, are circumftances by no means favourable to the attainment of fuch an acquaintance with Eaftern affairs, as every one would wish to poffefs, who has refided any time in India. To remedy this inconvenience, they think recourfe must be had to European travellers, who have vifited the different parts of Afia at different periods, when the original character and manners of its inhabitants were more strongly marked than now; at times, when the profperity of its native governments, and the affluent condition of its leading men, produced fashions and cuftoms among the people at large, of a nasure totally different from thofe of Europe. Great ftores of ufeful intelligence, refpecting the geography, government, revenues, inftitutions, manners, and cuftoms of different parts of the Eaft, are difperfed throughout the works of these travellers: but fome of them have long been out of print; others are written in a language that is now unpleafing; and many are only to be found among large collections of travels, and in unwieldy voJumes, to which it is troublesome to refer, and which are not eafily to be procured. One object, therefore, of this work, is to refcue from this ftate the most interefting part of fuch productions; by bringing them forth from time to time, in fuch a manner, as may beft fuit the taste of the prefent age; and we agree with the Editors, that this muft afford much ufeful en

tertainment

tertainment to an English reader in India, who may compare feveral of thofe accounts with what he fees upon the fpot; may trace the changes, which time and events have made in the political and civil ftate of the countries under our government and influence; and from thefe premises may draw conclufions more juft, refpecting their prefent ftate, than the most fagacious politicians have been able to do at home. But the works of paft times are not the only writings which it is the object of the Afiatic Mifcellany to draw forth to public view. We are taught to expect extracts from Oriental authors of repute, tranflated with fo much care as to admit of being published, with the original and tranflation on oppofite pages. This publication is open alfo for the reception of fugitive and mifcellaneous pieces; under which head will be comprehended free tranflations, imitations, effays, and, more especially, all poetical productions, that have any relation, near or remote, to Oriental fubjects.

Our Readers will obferve, that no provifion is here made for researches into the antiquities, or natural history, of India; fubjects, which can be fatisfactorily illuftrated by thofe only, whose curiofity does not depend for information on the fcattered, and perhaps apocryphal defcriptions of former travellers, but on the fure evidence of their own fenfes, in matters in which actual obfervation ought to preclude the emptiness of oftentatious repetition, and the vague and fanciful chimeras of hypothetical reafoning. We truft, however, that the labours of the antiquary, and the naturalift, will be united with thofe of the traveller, the hiftorian, and the poet; and that the European reader will find, in the courfe of the prefent publication, accurate defcriptions of the natural and artificial curiofities of thofe countries, where Nature glories in perpetual fummer, and where Art perhaps had already rifen into elegance, before Cecrops led his colony into Greece, and laid the foundations of Athenian grandeur.

The firft number is properly introduced by the Bishop of Landaff's difcourfe on the importance of Oriental literature; for an account of which we must refer to our Review, vol. xii. P. 371.

The Hymn to Canideo, by Sir William Jones, conftitutes the fecond Article; but this alfo we have already noticed. See Rev. vol. lxxi. p. 357.

Art. 3. A Hymn to Narayena. By the fame.

This Hymn is very poetically conceived, and vigorously, as well as elegantly, exprefied. A complete introduction to it would, as the writer juftly obferves, be no lefs than a full comment on the Vêds and Poorans of the Hindoos, the remains of the Egyptian and Perfian theology, and the tenets of the Ionic and Italic fchools. It abounds, indeed, in allufions to Indian REV. May, 1787. fables,

Ff.

fables, fometimes perhaps obfcure and uninterefting, and infe parably connected with names which are harsh and inharmonious to an European ear: on the whole, however, it is entitled not only to the praife of the Oriental fcholar, but to the candid admiration of thofe claffical ftudents, who liften with delight to the philofophical fables of Ovid, or the elegant mythology of Callimachus; whom the perufal of the Choral Ode transports on the wings of fancy to the fpacious theatres of Athens; and who gaze with rapture at the flights of the Dircean Swan, while he foars into regions beyond the ken of vulgar mortals,

Tendit-quoties in altos

Nubium tradus

HOR.

For the fake of thefe lift, or rather for their fakes who are converfant with the Indian and Egyptian doctrine of archetypal ideas, as it is reprefented by Plato, we fhall fubjoin the second ftanza:

Wrapt in eternal folitary fhade,

Th' impenetrable gloom of light intenfe,
Impervious, inacceffible, immenfe,

Ere fpirits were infus'd, or forms difplay'd,
BREHM his own mind furvey'd,

As mortal eyes (thus finite we compare
With infinite) in fmootheft mirrors gaze
Swift, at his look, a fhape fupremely fair
Leap'd into being with a boundless blaze,
That fifty funs might daze.

Primeval, MAYA was the Goddess nam'd,
Who to her Sire, with Love divine inflam'd,
A cafket gave with rich Ideas fill'd,

From which this gorgeous Universe he fram'd;
For, when th' Almighty will'd
Unnumber'd worlds to build,

From Unity diverfified he fprang,

While gay Creation laugh'd, and procreant Nature rang.' To this we will add the fixth ftanza, which afcribes the perception of fecondary qualities by our fenfes to the immediate influence of Maya, a name given by the Hindoos to that illufive operation of the Deity, by which they fuppofe the Infinite Being, who is prefent at all times, and in all places, to exhibit 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 qualities, exift, indeed, to every wife and ufeful purpofe, but exift only as far as they are perceived: Omnifcient Spirit, whofe all-ruling pow'r Bids from each fenfe bright emanations beam; Glows in the rainbow, fparkles in the ftream, Smiles in the bud, and gliftens in the flow'r, That crowns each vernal bow'r;

Sighs in the gale, and warbles in the throat
Of ev'ry bird that hails the blooming spring,
Or tells his love in many a liquid note,
Whilft envious artists touch the rival ftring,
Till rocks and forests ring;

Breathes in rich fragrance from the fandal grove,
Or where the precious mufk-deer playful rove:
In dulcet juice from cluft'ring fruit diftills,
And burns falubrious in the tasteful clove:
Soft banks and verd'rous hills

Thy prefent influence fills;

In air, in floods, in caverns, woods and plains;
Thy will infpirits all, thy fov'reign MAYA reigns.'
Art. 4. Reflections on viewing the Mausoleum at Safferam.

In a

poetical Epiftle to a Friend. By Thomas Law, Efq. These reflections, as might be expected, turn principally on the fhortness of human life, and the inftability of human grandeur. Mr. Law is, we doubt not, a man of fenfe and feeling; and, if his poetry does not rife to excellence, it cannot be said to fink below mediocrity.

Art. 5. Thevenot's Account of his Journey from Cairo to Suez, in 1638.

Thevenot's work is not fufficiently fearce in Europe to render the prefent extract neceffary to the English reader. We muft not however forget, that the Afiatic Mifcellany is in a great measure intended for the ufe of our countrymen in the Eaft. Art. 6. Account of the Arabian Aftronomy, extracted from the Rev. Mr. Coftard's Hiftory of Aftronomy.

What we remarked above, of the extract from Thevenot, is equally applicable to this Article; which will doubtless be highly acceptable in India. Mr. Coftard was a man of various and valuable attainments, though neither his talents nor his erudition could rescue him from a fate, which has awaited too many of the learned and ingenious, in almost every age. Our Readers may not generally know, what it is painful to us to relate, viz. that he, who to an uncommon ftock of general information added a profound fkill in the fciences, and the moft familiar acquaintance with Eaftern languages, was left to live in obfcurity, unpatronized and unpitied, and to be indebted even for the discharge of the laft fad duties that man owes to man, not to the gratitude of a nation whofe literary character he had contributed to exalt, but to the private charity of a few humble individuals; who, while they wept over the athes of their paftor, knew not the variety of his talents, or the extent of his acquire

ments.

Art. 7. The fatal Effects of Precipitation, from the Ayar Danish

of Abulfazel.

A moral tale, tranflated with confiderable elegance, and, we

doubt not, with fufficient fidelity, though the original is not published.

Art. 8. An Account of the Pre-Adamites, and the History of the World to the Death of Adam. Extracted from the Khelafat-ulAkhbar of Khondemeer.

This account treats of the first act of creation, and what has been delivered on that fubject, from the mouth of Mohammed;

of the genii, and the devil's dominion over them;-of the creation of Adam and Eve, with fome account of them while in Paradife, and when in the world ;-of Adam's pofterity appearing to him in a dream, and his departure from this to the other world.

The creation of Adam and Eve is thus defcribed:

When the Omnipotent had determined to create the Great King, or Adam, the angel Gabriel, at the Divine command, flew from the heavenly manfions, and alighted upon the earth. Juft as he was about to have taken up an handful of mould, the Earth asked him the occafion of it, when Gabriel anfwered, "It is the will of the Moft High that a perfon fhall be formed out of you, and whe fhall have dominion over you." The Earth replied, "I intreat of you to intercede with the Almighty in my behalf; and to defend me from the performance of this intention; for it may chance that the perfon formed out of me may prove difobedient, and for his offence fome infupportable calamity may befal me." Gabriel compaffionating the Earth's dittrefs, returned back to heaven, and reprefented the ftate of the cafe. Then the angels Michael and Ifrafil were dispatched feverally after each other, on the fame errand; and both returned in like manner as Gabriel had done. Upon which Uzriel was fent, who paid no regard to the prayers and oaths of the Earth, but took from her furface an handful of mould of various colours and properties, and threw it down between Mecca and Thaif. And because that Uzriel had shewn a want of compaffion in this procedure, he was appointed to be the angel of death to the fons of Adam.

In the fpace of forty days, the clay was kneaded into form by the hands of the angels. The body of Adam having become perfectly dry, it lay for a long time in that ftate between Mecca and Thaif, where the angels went to behold it. One day the devil came there, and friking his hand upon the belly of Adam, it founded, upon which he faid, "This body is empty; and it fhall foon feel the cravings of appetite." He then afked the angels, "If God fhould command them to obey Adam, what they would do?" They answered, "We will not turn our necks from the obedience of the Moft High, but will fubmit our felves to his commands." Satan deceitfully replied, "This fentiment befits you;" but within himfeif he faid, "If he orders me to be obedient unto Adam, I will not acquiefce; and whenever I find an opportunity, I will deftroy him."

Briefly, when the foul of Adam was admitted into his body, the Lord clothed him with the raiments of Paradife; and having exalted him to diftinguished eminence, by inftructing him in the divine myfteries, he ordered the angels to do him obeifance. All the an

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