He

that the practice of forcing widows to burn themselves with the bodies of their husbands, is essentially contrary to the ancient books, which the Hindoos regard as the basis of their law. treats the question, not like a European philosopher, but like a genuine Hindoo jurist; suppressing those arguments which address themselves solely to the heart and understanding as sedulously, as another would bring them forward. He wishes to convince Bramins, fortified with ancient texts; and, relying on the law of Menu, who enjoins on the widow the duty of dedicating herself to a life of austerity, and never again thinking of man, he proves that this text is of higher authority than those which forbid the widow to survive her husband, because the code from which it is taken, is the most sacred of all codes, and the very essence of the Vedas. Not content with this argument, which a Bramin could not easily answer, he advances another, which must be equally conclusive to the mind of a Hindoo. The texts which direct the woman to burn herself with the husband, promise, as the reward of this sacrifice, the enjoyment of heaven, and the happiness of her own race, and that of her husband. And, in view of this reward, women consent to this suicide. On the other hand, the design of the life of mortification and penance, to which Menu condemns the widow, is to lead her to the knowledge of the Supreme Being, a knowledge which secures to its possessor a far nobler recompense than a celestial abode; this recompense is final beatitude and absorption in Brahma. If, therefore, the consequences of these respective observances be kept in view, the precepts of those legislators who inculcate the burning of widows, must yield to that of Menu. The advantage is on his side in this respect, also, that every rite, observed with a view to the reward which follows it, is inferior to an action performed from disinterested motives, and still further below that contemplation, whose aim is the knowledge of the Supreme Being; whence it follows, that widows, who, surviving their husbands, devote themselves to penance and the contemplation of God, have assurance of a more blissful future, than those who submit to the barbarous practice, which the Bramins have endeavoured to render still more prevalent. Here lies the strength of Rammohun Roy's argument, which is very curious to one who wishes to trace the operations of Hindoo intellect; and, although descending to particulars, of which the importance is less obvious to a stranger, than to the Hindoos to whom it is addressed, it is calculated to give a high idea of the ingenuity and accurate reasoning of its author. Sometimes he suffers himself to be drawn by his antagonist into the subtilties of disputation; but, even then, we are astonished at the simplicity and originality of the arguments he employs. We will give but one instance of this sort of subtilty, not very flattering to the honesty of his opponent.

Rammohun Roy thus expresses himself, in a paragraph of which we shall give the substance.

"You have admitted that the sayings of Ungira, Vishnu, and

Hareet, on the subject of concremation, are certainly at variance with those of Munoo [Menu], but assert that any law given by Munoo, when contradicted by several other lawgivers, is to be considered annulled. With a view to establish this position, you have advanced three arguments; the first of them is, that Vrihusputi says, whatever law is contrary to the law of Munoo, is not commendable. Now, you say, the words whatever law being used in the singular number, by the ancient sage, he spoke of a single law and not of several laws, so that in case laws promulgated by a single lawgiver stand in opposition to those of Munoo, they are not worthy of reverence; but if several lawgivers differ from Munoo in any certain point, touching which themselves are agreed, his authority must be set aside, since the principle of Vrihusputi cannot be applied." We omit two other arguments, employed by the opponent of Rammohun Roy, to pass on to the ingenious manner in which the latter refutes the assertions of his antagonist. "Admitting the justice of your explanation of Vrihusputi's text, and limiting its application to the singular number, as you have done, the following precept may be thus interpreted: The person who attempts to strike a Brahmun goes to hell.' Here, also, the noun in the nominative case, and that in the accusative case also, are both in the singular number; therefore, according to your exposition, where two or three persons concur in beating a Brahmun, or where a man beats two or three Brahmuns, there is no crime committed; an assertion which it were absurd to maintain."

6

The volume closes with a short tract entitled, "Brief Remarks, regarding modern Encroachments on the ancient Rights of Females, according to the Hindoo Law of Inheritance." By this it appears that the ancient lawgivers were more indulgent to widows, than those of our own time, since the law allowed them half the property left by their husbands. This discussion is distinguished by the same merits as those which precede it; and clearly shows how well the learned and celebrated author, freeing himself completely from the prejudices of his caste, has succeeded in reconciling the respect due to the ancient institutions of his country, with that demanded by the sacred rights of humanity and justice. EUGENE BURNOUF.

[* Our readers may be interested in the following account of Rammohun Roy by Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzclarence, in his "Journal of a Route across India, through Egypt, to England," published in 1819. The intimation that Kammohun Roy had lost caste is however erroneous.

"There has never been, to my knowledge, an instance of any Hindoo of condition, or caste, being converted to our faith. The only conversion, if it can be called so, that has come within my observation, was that of a high-caste Bramin of one of the first families in the country, who is not only perfectly master of the Sanskrit, but has gained a thorough acquaintance with the English language and literature, and has openly declared that the Brahminical religion is in its purity a simple deism, and not the gross polytheism into which it has degenerated. I became well acquainted with him, and admire his talents and acquirements. His eloquence in our language is very great; and I am told he is

[From "The Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 21.”]

ART. VII. — A Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Tongue, with a Praxis. By ERASMUS RASK, Professor of Literary History in, and Librarian to, the University of Copenhagen, &c &c. A New Edition, enlarged and improved by the Author. Translated from the Danish by B. THORPE. Copenhagen. 1830. 8vo. pp. 224.

THE appearance of the present volume supplies what has long been a desideratum in English literature. It has been a cause of complaint to all who have investigated our early vernacular remains, that there have been no guides to direct them, and that each student had to form a Grammar and a Dictionary of Saxon for himself. It is no less surprising than distressing to notice the blunders into which Hickes has fallen, and in which Elstob, Lye, Manning, and, indeed, all who have written upon the subject, have followed him most religiously.

still more admirable in Arabic and Persian. It is remarkable that he has studied and thoroughly understands the politics of Europe, but more particularly those of England; and the last time I was in his company, he argued forcibly against a standing army in a free country, and quoted all the arguments brought forward by the members of Opposition. I think he is in many respects a most extraordinary person. In the first place he is a religious reformer, who has, among a people more bigoted than those of Europe in the middle ages, dared to think for himself. His learning is most extensive, as he is not only generally conversant with the best books in English, Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit, Bengalee, and Hindoostanee, but has studied rhetoric in Arabic and in English, and quotes Locke and Bacon on all occasions.

"From the view he had thus taken of the religious manners and customs of so many nations, and from his having observed the number of different modes of addressing and worshipping the Supreme Being, he naturally turned to his own faith with an unprejudiced mind, found it perverted from the religion of the Vedas to a gross idolatry, and was not afraid, though aware of the consequences, to publish to the world, in Bengalee and English, his feelings and opinions on the subject. Of course he was fully prepared to meet the host of interested enemies, who from sordid motives wish to keep the lower classes in a state of the darkest ignorance.

"I have understood that his family have quitted him; that he has been declared to have lost caste, and is at present, as all religious reformers must be for a time, a mark to be scoffed at. To a man of his sentiments and rank, this loss of caste must be peculiarly painful; but at Calcutta he associates with the English. He is however cut off from all familiar and domestic intercourse; indeed, from all communication of any kind with his relations and former friends. His name is Ram Mohun Roy: he is particularly handsome, not of a very dark complexion, of a fine person, and most courtly manners. He professes to have no objection to eat and live as we do, but refrains from it in order not to expose himself to the imputation of having changed his religion for the good things of this world. He will sit at table with us while the meat is on it, which no other Bramin will do. He continues his native dress, but keeps a carriage, being a man of some property. He is very desirous to visit England, and enter one of our universities. I shall be most anxious to see him, and to learn his ideas of the manners, customs, literature, arts, and monuments of our country."

We are much indebted to the distinguished foreign scholar who has at length freed us, to a certain degree, from this lamentable state of things by the publication of his Saxon Grammar. In its arrangement he has taken the liberty of thinking for himself, and by doing so has shown us the errors which have originated from a superstitious adherence to the dogmas of his predecessors. An extensive acquaintance with the early languages of the north has enabled him to explore with greater safety the intricacies of our own, and by the aid of this species of comparative anatomy he has, in several instances, detected the springs which direct and influence certain peculiarities of formation, the principle of which would have probably been hidden from one who had directed his attention solely to the study of the Anglo-Saxon language.

The limits within which we are necessarily limited prevent us from offering to our readers more than a very general outline of the work. We would, however, direct the attention of the student to the important light which Rask has thrown upon the principles of the language, by what he has advanced regarding accentuation. The darkness in which this radical organization of the Saxon has hitherto lain, is marvellous, the more especially when we notice its adoption in early manuscripts, and how essential a knowledge of it is towards a comprehension of the elements of the tongue. A pretty extensive examination of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, in which lie the proofs of the truth or the incorrectness of Mr. Rask's system, enables us to say that these manuscripts fully support the soundness of his views, and that the few instances of misapprehension and omission discoverable in his Grammar only leave the more room for us to wonder at their paucity. The division of nouns into simple and complex, of adjectives into definite and indefinite, are new to us in England; and the clearness of this arrangement forms an admirable contrast to the endless subdivisions, exceptions, and annotations, which perplex the unhappy wight who has been laboring under the guidance of Hickes. But it is in the investigation of the verbs that Rask appears to the greatest advantage, and his classification of them is simple and obvious: of its accuracy there cannot be a better proof than the order and perfect regularity which it enables us to discover in numerous formations previously considered as irregular. His observations upon prefixes and postfixes are written with less care than the previous portion of the Grammar, probably from his not considering the subject as one meriting a deeper discussion. The same excuse cannot be urged for the slighting manner in which he has treated another branch, that of Syntax; in this part, although all the more prominent rules are exhibited, those more deeply hidden and nicer peculiarities, of which we cannot suppose him to be ignorant, are passed over without notice. This portion of the work, therefore, appears to great disadvantage when compared with the manner in which he has treated the verbs. The chapter upon the laws of Saxon poetry is excellent, and Rask displays a 14+

VOL. II. NO. I.

decided superiority over the dogmas of Hickes, Conybeare, and W. Grimm. The volume concludes with a very good praxis, by the aid of which, and the other helps which this Grammar affords to the student, the labor of acquiring a tolerable knowledge of the language has been materially shortened and facilitated. It would be unjust to withhold our thanks from the gentleman who has conferred such a benefit upon English scholars as that of introducing to them, in an English dress, a publication upon which all subsequent investigations into the history and formation of the language of our forefathers must be mainly founded.

The preceding observations were committed to paper some months since in the interval which has elapsed between their coming before us in types, the melancholy tidings have arrived that the distinguished author is now beyond the reach of our praise or censure, Erasmus Rask is no more!

In the Literary Intelligence of the present number, under the head of Denmark, will be found such particulars of the life and literary labors of this remarkable scholar and linguist as we have been able to collect together.

ART. VIII. pp. 163.

[From "The Quarterly Review, No. 97."]

Poems by Alfred Tennyson. London. 1833. 12mo.

THIS is, as some of his marginal notes intimate, Mr. Tennyson's second appearance. By some strange chance we have never seen his first publication, which, if it at all resembles its younger brother, must be by this time so popular, that any notice of it on our part would seem idle and presumptuous; but we gladly seize this opportunity of repairing an unintentional neglect, and of introducing to the admiration of our more sequestered readers a new prodigy of genius, another and a brighter star of that galaxy or milky way of poetry of which the lamented Keats was the harbinger; and let us take this occasion to sing our palinode on the subject of "Endymion." We certainly did not † discover in that poem the same degree of merit that its more clear-sighted and prophetic admirers did. We did not foresee the unbounded popularity which has carried it through we know not how many editions; which has placed it on every table; and, what is still more unequivocal, familiarized it in every mouth. All this splendor of fame, however, though we had not the sagacity to anticipate, we have

[* This notice we have given in a following part of our number.] See "Quarterly Review," Vol. XIX. p. 204.