of his followers. Now, learned men ought to be acquainted with the accounts of those great persons whose fame at present pervades the whole world. My curiosity, therefore, in regard to the history of Christ, appears to me to be every way laudable and not blameable. And knowing you to be acquainted with that history, I have come here, and desire through your kindness to hear its substance. The learned man replies: I applaud your desire to know the acts of great men, and will gladly satiate you with the nectar of the history. But it is a most momentous theme, which I, feeble in understanding, am about to treat,-The fall of the world into the ocean of sin, and the achievements of its Deliverer. How can that infinite Being, whose greatness passes the knowledge of the holy hosts of heaven, be worthily celebrated by one such as I am? But taking from the ocean (lit. mine of gems) of revelation the gems of knowledge, I shall endeavour to string them together in the necklace of my narative.

I shall therefore narrate with joy the wonderful story of Christ, the Son of God, the eternal Lord of the world, who descended among men, veiling the marks of His deity;-who was born of a virgin mother, and assumed the body of an infant, was untouched by the least taint of sin, but endured its consequences;-the teacher, friend, redeemer, and lord of the world, the author of the world's welfare, the benefactor of all nations ;impelled to my task by supreme love for that noble-minded Being."

The narrative then begins with the creation and fall of our first parents, and proceeds to unfold the whole course of prophecy respecting the Messiah, together with the general expectation of a great deliverer, which thence arose in different regions both of the East and West.

The second section, entitled Yeshutpatti-varnanam, or a narration of the birth of Jesus, consists of 88 slokes. It opens thus:

"That Sun of Righteousness, by the rays of whose advent the sky had before been reddened, at length arose at the fore-ordained time." All the leading facts and incidents connected with the birth and infancy of the incarnate Saviour are then recounted.

The third section, entitled Adbhutakriyá-varnanam, or an account of the wonderful works, describes the principal miracles of Jesus, and extends to 137 slokes. It thus concludes:

By such wonderful works, Jesus manifested His superhuman power, and proved His divine commission to promulgate a new revelation. By the display of these miracles He also incited men to attend to His instructions. Another result of these acts was to illustrate His words. Jesus declared, that He came to save and not to destroy mankind; and in conformity with this saying, the course of His actions is beneficent, removing suffering, and delivering the wretched. Possessed of infinite power, He always acted with gentleness, and never destroyed the wicked with appalling visitations." This is illustrated by His forbearance to the inhospitable Samaritans described in Luke ix. 52-56. The following remarks are then subjoined: “But the Son of God did not descend from heaven to promote men's bodily welfare only, but to heal the soul, their nobler part, the controuler and lord of the body, which laboured under the malady of sin. By the bodily cures He performed, the healing of the soul is illustrated. The cleansing of the

* This sentence, consisting of four Slokes, is imitated from a passage of the wellknown poem of Kálidasa, the Raghuvansa.

lepers is an image of the cleansing of the soul, and the giving of sight to the blind, of the purifying of the mental vision. The miraculous increase of food is a shadow of that spiritual ambrosia which Jesus gave to satisfy the soul. By the power which raised the dead, is illustrated that greater power which vivifies those who are destitute of the life of righteousness."

The fourth section, extending to 261 slokes, contains a selection of our Lord's moral precepts and statements of religious doctrine, including several of his parables.

The fifth section, entitled Yeshwah prúnasamarpanam, or Jesus yielding up his life, extends to 116 slokes, and details all the circumstances connected with his death.

The sixth and last section, entitled Sri-Yeshwah Swargárohanam, or the ascension of Jesus into heaven, extends to 69 Slokes, and unfolds all the particulars relating to his resurrection, his appearances to his disciples, instructions, parting commission, and ascent to heaven. It then briefly adverts to the return of the disciples to Jerusalem, the Pentacostal effusion, and their subsequent proclamation of their Lord's religion throughout the different countries of the then known world, closing with the following brief statement of the progress of Christianity:

By these and similar exhortations, supported by wonderful works, many persons were drawn to believe in Jesus Christ. But the rulers of the world, beholding the rise of this religion, endeavoured to stop its progress by violence and other means. In order, that by suffering, the Christians might be led to deny their Lord, cruel kings afflicted them with various punishments. But many of them being endued with firmness by the strength of the Lord, endured afflictions, with patience, and did not shrink from death itself. The seed of their blood, sown as it were in the hearts of men, produced a harvest of new disciples. So the Christian religion spread more, and more, and other religions having disappeared, it alone pervaded the West."

From this very brief outline of the contents of the tract, it will be seen that it is" almost entirely of a narrative and expository character, with very little of direct argument." The whole is wrought out with admirable clearness. The fourth section in particular has struck us as exhibiting uncommon skill and point in its mode of introducing and setting forth the significancy of the precepts and statements of doctrine. In the fifth we should have wished that the author had somewhat more explicitly brought out the great scriptural fact of the Saviour's death, as an atoning sacrifice; since herein lies the divine strength, as well as incommunicable peculiarity of the Christian faith,—its true glory in the eyes of believers, its "foolishness" and "stumbling block" in the eyes of unbelievers, whether Jew or Gentile.

Respecting the execution of the work in point of style and idiom, we have only to express our admiration. The task was one of no ordinary difficulty, and yet it has been accomplished in a way which indicates the possession of superior taste and scholarship. As a piece of Sanskrit composition it is singularly correct and may

well abide the scrutiny of the most critical eye. To say that it is without a blemish, would be saying what can be predicated of nothing that is merely human; but this much we venture to affirm, that whatever faults or blemishes may be thought by any to belong to it, are of so minor and secondary a character as in no wise to mar its general beauty or detract from its general accuracy.

Were the intended edition of it prepared in the Bengali character, it would be more acceptable to the learned Brahmans of Bengal ; as comparatively few of these are in the habit of reading the Devanagari.

One deficiency there is, which could be easily supplied, and that is, a series of references to the book, chapter and verse, quoted from the Bible. Such references might be introduced at the bottom of the page, and would serve to direct the attention of ingenuous readers or inquirers to the sacred original; and even where the original was not immediately accessible, would not fail to add weight and authority to the statements of the text.

In fine, the initials, "J. M." leaves no doubt that to Mr. John Muir of the Civil Service, we are indebted for this new and important addition to our native Christian Literature.

NATIVE WORKS IN PERSIAN AND URDU.

1. The History of the Conquerors of Hind from the most early period down to the present time, by Apurva Krishna Bahadur.

2. The Muheb-Hind or Friend of India, a monthly Urdu Magazine, by Ram Chunder, Teacher in the Delhi College.

THE first work is the production of a native gentleman of the city, who styles himself Honorary Poet to his Majesty the King of Delhi. It is in Persian verse and purports to give an account of the ancestry of Timur the lame, or Tamerlane, with a history of the life and actions of that warrior, not omitting the massacre at Delhi, and a disquisition on the story of the iron cage. The work, however, though nominally a history of the Delhi Family, is almost entirely taken up with Timour himself. The Persian composition, in which the author confesses himself to have had the aid of several "learned friends," is of a fair average style, and the amount of exaggeration is not more than we are prepared to find in works of this kind, executed by minds of a similar stamp. The love of exaggeration is however openly confessed in the preface, as an inseparable "characteristic of the language" itself, and on this score therefore we have nothing more to add. There is an English translation too, or rather commentary affixed for the benefit of those who are unskilled in Persian, and we must here remark on a failing which few native writers are free from. With them city and country

seem to be one and the same, and we are thus rather startled to hear of the cities of Egypt, Siberia, &c. &c., neither were we quite prepared to be told that Rome, founded by Romulus, is at present under the sway of Turkey and Islamism, or that Constantine the Great embraced the Christian creed, after renouncing Vedism, the religion of his ancestors. But accurate geography or history in the works of Eastern authors are exotics, and we do not wish to be severe on these or even more amusing mistakes. Better that native gentlemen should employ themselves in literary and harmless pursuits of this kind, than in endless litigation, in the support of lattials, or in idle and contemptible nautches.

The next publication that we have to notice is of a still more laudable kind. Ram Chunder, a teacher, as he himself informs us, in the Delhi College, has set up a Monthly Magazine, in which appear short historical accounts, and disquisitions on some of the important questions of the day, as the state of education among the natives, and the progress of vernacular literature. The style of the Urdu is, as far as we can judge cursorily, pure and correct, and the oriental type is worthy of all praise. We wish we could say as much for the English advertisement or the accompanying woodcuts, which are utterly unworthy either of the subjects, or the Editor's professions. From an English memoir illustrative of one of the woodcuts, we make the following extract which may perhaps not be unacceptable to some of our readers. It is termed, the Musharah or Assembly of the Poets:

"One of the most amusing entertainments of the natives of the principal towns of the Upper Provinces and particularly those of Delhi is the Musharah or the assembly of the poets. Any gentleman who is either himself a poet (which is generally the case) or a great lover of poetry can establish a poetical meeting. This person is called the Mir Musharah or the principal person of the assembly of the poets. In order to call this assembly the Mír Musharah sends very polite letters to the principal poets of the town inviting them to the Musharah and requesting them to bring with them their poetical compositions. He also sends them a verse called the Turah according to the rhyme and measure of which all the poets are to compose their respective pieces of poetry. The Musharah takes place on appointed days after a month or fifteen days and sometimes it is held weekly. On the day fixed all the poets with their friends and scholars go to the house of the Mír Musharah, and there in a room, where every thing necessary for the occasion is furnished, take their seat. Here it should be remarked that the Musharah is a public assembly and any person who may be desirous of visiting it may be admitted there. When all the principal poets are met together it is the duty of the Mir Musharah or some of his friends to address any person of the assembly and to request him to read his composition, and then the Musharah commences. In this assembly there are poets with different degrees of qualification and enjoying different degrees of reputation. The audience generally leave the Musharah as soon as they have heard the productions of those particular poets who are the most popular and the most talented. In order to prevent this hasty breaking up of the

Musharah the Mir Musharah makes the poets of the lowest rank commence the Musharah, which generally closes with the recital of the compositions of the best of the poets. When a poet is requested to repeat his poem a candle is put before him (for the Musharah generally takes place in the night time) and he is seen taking out a piece of paper from his side and holding it before the light. The subject of these poetical compositions with hardly any exceptions is love, and that too of the most deplorable nature. In order to convey a just conception of this kind of love it, will be sufficient to describe the character of the fair ones as the native poets delineate them in their compositions. The Mashúk or the loved is represented as exceedingly faithless to her lover, glorying in his miseries and sufferings and delighting in the company and embraces of his rivals who are supposed to be deficient in their love to her. The character of a lover is delineated by the native poets as that of a mad man, a drunkard, an infidel, and one subject to melancholy. All persons whose duty it is to teach religion and morality are supposed to be the greatest enemies of a lover who is often represented as abusing them in the strongest language which poetry can use. The revolutions of the heavens are supposed by the natives to produce viscissitudes in the fortunes and conditions of men and when any misfortune befalls any person it is very fashionable for him to say that he can't help it, and that it is all owing to the adverse revolutions of the heavens. Hence when the native poets (for poets are supposed to be lovers) complain of their sufferings and grievances caused by the infidelity of their Masbúk they throw all the blame of their misfortune on the heavens and not unfrequently denounce them as extremely tyrannical and overbearing. As an example of the irreligiousness of the Urdu poets, the following verses will be sufficient :

کام اپنا نه بیت اله سے مطلب نه بتخانه

سے

میں بندہ عشق کا ھوں مجھکو کیا هی راہ سے مطلب

Neither have I any business with the pagoda, nor with the house of God. I am a slave of love, what business have I with these things.

سمجہہ تو دیکہا مجہسے تجہسے جھگڑا گیاهی ای زاہد
سے مطلب
آه
تسبیح سے اور مجھکو اپنی
تجھے تسبيح

Know O priest that there is no cause of dispute between me and you for you have only to tell your beads and I to heave my sighs.

واعظ ناکس کی باتوں پر کوئی جاتاهی میر آو میخانه چلیں تم کسکی باتوں پر گئے

O Mir who attends to the admonitions of the foolish preacher? Come never mind what he says and let us go to the wine shop."

The naiveté of some parts of the above will be appreciated by our readers; and it only remains for us to add that we shall be happy to hear that increased circulation has attended the Editor's spirited efforts.