particulars, form the first and fecond part. The third contains a full account of the Gentoo religion, their books, feds, worfhip, purifications, eating, drinking, marrying, &c. The author informs us, that his attention was firft turned to the Ayin Akbary by the high encomiums which are beftowed upon it by the learned Mr. Jones, in his Persian Grammar; and that his own examination convinced him, that Mr. Jones's praises did not exceed its merits. He adds, that he has already made a very confiderable progrefs in his tranflation; and that he defigns to illuftrate his performance by drawings of the most remarkable men, animals, cities, fruits, and flowers; and by reprefentations of the principal ceremonies defcribed in this work. The prefent publication is intended as a fpecimen of the Ayin Akbary, and of the explanatory notes which the learned tranflator proposes to fubjoin. The following extract may not be unacceptable to the reader. We have omitted the names of places, which are printed in the oriental character, To the northward of Tiprah is the province of Coch, the chief of which commands a thousand horfe and one hundred thousand foor: Kaumroop (which is alfo called Kaumvrou) and Kaumnâh make a part of his dominions. The inhabitants of Kaumvrou are faid to be extremely handfome; and they are reported to be very kilful in magic. Many incredible stories are told of the natural productions of this place, fuch as flowers that retain their colour and fmell many months after being gathered; trees that being cut fend forth ftreams of delicious liquor, and others having branches with fruit without the appearance of any trunk to fupport them. The dominions of the rajah of Afham join to Kaumvrou: he is a very powerful prince, lives in vaft ftate, and when he dies his neareft relations, both male and female, are voluntarily buried alive with his corpfe t. This province, if its fituation is rightly described, must now be a part of Affam, and Tavernier accordingly calls Kaumroop a city of Affam; but as our author wrote fome time before Ta vernier travelled into India, it is not improbable that, when the Ayin Akbary was compofed, Coch might be an independent sovereignty. † In Tavernier's time this ceremony was faid to be observed in Arakan. Very little was known of Aflam till the reign of Aurungzebe, when it was conquered by one of his generals, Emir Jemla: a very circumstantial account of the expedition, with a particular defcription of the country of Affam, is given by that intel ligent traveller, in the 2nd part of Travels in India, page 187, London Edit.' Ad Adjoining to Afhâm is Tibbut bordering upon Khata thro which is the road to Mânâ Chein *, generally called Mâ Cheen. The capital city of Khata is Cawn Baleeg † forty days journey from the fea, to which there is a large artificial canal lined with ftone. Alexander is reported to have left India from this quarter §; and it is faid, that through this artificial channel you may reach the fea in four days and four nights. To the fouth-east of Bengal is a large country called Arkhung, to which the Bunder of Chittagong properly belongs: here are plenty of elephants, but great fcarcity of horses, alfo camels and affes are very high priced: neither covs nor buffaloes are found in this country; but there are animals of a middle fpecies between thefe, whofe milk the people drink; they are pied and of various colours. Their religion has no kind of agreement either with the Mahomedan or Hindoo: twin brothers and filters may intermarry, and only mother and fon are prohibited from it: they pay implicit obedience to the will of their priests. The women are the foldiers of this country, to whom the men are fubfervient. The complexion of these people is dark, and the men are beardless, Near to this tribe is Peigoo which former writers called Cheen, accounting that to be the capital city of Pegu ¶. Their military force confifts of elephants and infantry; fome of their * Mâhâ, in the Shanfcrit language, fignifies the Greater.' In the Aijaibul Buldân it is written Khân Bâleek, where it is alfo defcribed as the capital city of Khata, and the high road to Cheen or China. This author fays, that the whole of the road from Khân Báleek to Cheen, which is reckoned to be forty days journey, is paved with tone, and planted with trees whofe fhade affords great refreshment to travellers, and that no perfon of what ever degree is permitted to destroy a single leaf. He defcribes the artificial channel as thirty guz (i. e. fixty English feet) in breadth, and fays that it is cut through the middle of the town. Those who want to fee a very particular and curious defcription of this city, will find it in Dr. Campbell's Collection of Voyages in the manner of Harris, vol. I. p. 606, taken from Marco Polo's Travels. It is generally imagined, fays Dr. Campbell in his note on the abovementioned page, that Khân Bâleek is the city of Peking, the prefent metropolis of China. Cathay (which Abul Fazel means by Khata) was formerly thought to be a diftinét kingdom from China, and it is probable that it comprised Chinese Tartary and the northern provinces of the Chinese empire.' - Secunder Roomee.' The Afiatic hiftorians all affert that Alexander carried his conqueft to the borders of China. In the following article is an account of female foldiers, for which probably there may be as much foundation as for the history of the Amazons.' " Port. Most people (fays Tavernier) have been of opinion till now that the kingdom of Pegu lies upon the frontiers of China; and I thought fo myself, till the merchants of Tiprah undeceived me.” Tavernier's India Travels, part II. p. 186.' I 3 ele elephants are white. Clofe to this country are fome mines of metals and precious flones, which are the subject of continual contention betwixt the chiefs of Pegu, Arakan, Tiprah, and the Mugs.' Bungalah originally was called Bung; it derived the additional al from that being the name given to little gardens which the ancient rajahs caused to be raised in all the low lands at the foot of the mountains: their breadth was usually twenty cubits, and height ten cubits *. The air of Bengal is very temperate the rains begin in the month of April and continue for fix months, falling molt frequent and heavieft in the latter months; when the low lands are fometimes intirely overflowed, excepting the little mounds of earth described above. For a long time paft the air of Bengal had been unhealthy at the leaving off of the rains, afflicting both man and cattle; but under the auspices of his prefent majesty the calamity has ceased. 1 he finest river + in this fubah is called Gung (Ganges) the fource of which has never been traced. The Hindoo priests fay that it flows from the hair of the giant Sermehâh in the northern mountains, from whence it runs through the fubahs of Dehly, Agra, and Bahar into Bengal. Near the town of Cauzyhuttâh in the fircar of Barbuckabad, it fends a branch to the east called Pudhâtty, which empties itself into the fea at Chittagong. The main river in its courfe to the fouthward forms three streams, the Surooftee, the Jown, and the Gung, called in the Hindoo language Terbeenee: the Gung, after being divided into a thoufand channels, joins the fea at Sâ:âgong; and the Saroostee and Jown difcharge themselves in like manner. The Hindoos have a very high veneration for the water of the Gung, but fome particular parts of it are esteemed more holy than others: the great people have this water brought them from vast distances, it being efteemed neceffary in the performances of fome religious ceremonies, The water of the Gung has been celebrated in all ages, not only for its fan&tity, but alfo on account of its fweetnefs, lightness, and wholefomeness, and for that it does not become putrid, though kept a whole year. • * The name of this country, according to the Perfian ortho. graphy, is more commonly written Bungalâ than Bungalah; but in Bengal character it is written Bangâiâ.' In the beginning of April (and fometimes earlier in the fouthern parts of Bengal) there are frequent ftorms of thunder, lightening, wind, and rain from the north-west quarter: thefe fqualls moderate the heat very much, and they continue till the fetting in of the periodical rains, which generally commence in the beginning of June, and by which the country is in many parts over owed. If the rains break up early in September, the wea ther is intenfely hot, and the inhabitants are very fickly.' • There There is another very large river called Berhumputter, which runs from Khata to Coch, and from thence to Bazouha, where it joins the fea *. On one fide of the main ocean is the falt river of Bufforah (befides the fea already mentioned) and there is another fea that joins the river at Egypt, from whence it runs paft Perfia to Ethiopia, where there are a million of inhabitants: this laft is called the fea of Aîmân, and alfo the fea of Perfia. The inhabitants of Ethiopia cultivate rice in great abundance, of which they have a variety of fpecies: this foil is fo fertile, that every fingle grain will yield a meafure of fifteen feer t. Their har vefts feldom fail; and the fame ground will produce three crops in a year: vegetation is here fo extremely quick, that as fast as the water rifes the plants of rice grow above it, so that the ear is never immersed; men of experience affirm that a single stalk will grow fixty cubits in one night .' In one of the notes to this paffage we are told, that Alexander carried his conqueft to the borders of China. These affertions fhould be received with caution. This romantic hero, according to the ancient hiftorians, penetrated no far ther into India than the fabulofus Hydafpes §, or the river Hy pafis, which falls into the Indus, above a thousand miles, from the western boundaries of China. Oriental writers afcribe many things to Alexander, which he never performed. The Nubian geographer ¶ relates, that the Mediterranean sea was formerly a large lake; that Alexander opened a paffage for the water on the fide of the ocean, which rushed into the Mediterranean with fuch impetuofity, and occafioned fuch a fwelling of the sea, that several cities, with their inhabitants, were overwhelmed on both fides.' Upon which the author of the Latin tranflation to that work has this remark: quod Europæi Herculi, boc Arabes adfcribunt Alexandro. What the Europeans afcribe to Hercules, the Arabians afcribe to Alexander.'-Their hiftories are equally fabulous. The word tranflated fea is in the original falt river, and is here applied to the bay of Bengal." Seebo, which is the word used in the original for this meafure, is an earthen water pot, generally countaining fifteen feer or quarts; for a feer is equal to two pounds avoirdupois, and a pint of common water weighs a pound.' Sixty cubits is fo very incredible a length, that I am inclined to think this must be an error of the tranfcriber, and that it was originally written only fix cubits, which I have heard pofitively afferted by the people of Dacca not to be more than the growth in a fingle day of a particular species of rice produced in that province.' Vide Ruæum in Hor. Od. lib. i. 22. Plin, vi, 17. The affertion in the last note, even with our author's propofed alteration from 60 cubits to 6, is utterly incredible. We may venture to say, that no plant upon the face of the earth, ever fhot out its branches to the extent of three yards in one night. Writers should see these miracles before they venture to record them. An Inquiry into the Nature, and Genuine Laws of Poetry: indding a particular Defence of the Writings, and Genius of Mr. Pope. By Percival Stockdale. Small 8vo. 21. 6d. Jewed. Conant, IN the writings of Mr. Pope we find no abftrufe terms, no harth expreffions, no affected turns, no extravagant metaphors; but, on the contrary, that elegant fimplicity, which we admire in the works of the greateft poets of antiquity. His language is easy, yet nervous and expreffive. He fets before us the most beautiful images, in which there is nothing glaring, wild, or fantastic. The ear is charmed with the melody of his numbers; the foul warmed and tranfported with his animated fentiments, and his glowing defcriptions. Thofe critics who Speak of this illuftrious writer, as a lukewarm and mechanical poet, are fuch as mistake affectation for gracefulness, and bombaft for fublimity. Dr. Warton indeed, though he pays him many deferved encomiums, has ventured to afk, What there is tranfcendently fublime or pathetic in Pope? In his works, he says, there is nihil inane, nihil arceffitum ;-puro tamen fronti, quam magno flamini proprior,' as Quin&tilian remarks of Lycias; and he applies to him what Voltaire fays of Boileau Perhaps he was incapable of the fublime, which elevates the foul, and of the pathetic, by which it is melted, But he was formed to enlighten those, on whom nature had bestowed both properties. His labour, his feverity, his purity, his accuracy, and his harmony, constituted him the poet of reason.' These reflections have given offence to the author of this Inquiry; and he rifes up with the highest refentment, in vin dication of a writer who, as he justly remarks, has done ho nour to his country, and to human nature.' Dr. Warton, he fays, among his other fcholaftic dreams, afferts, that to estimate the merit of any poet, we must divest his thoughts of measure and rhyme, and read and weigh them in a profaic order. In his obfervations on this rule, our author affirms, that if we deem poetry, diffolved and emafculated into profe, a criterion of poetical merit, we may as well mutilate the ftatue |