daily into greater and greater insignificance, or to become nuclei of some future important political movements, is a question which the future only can answer. Having got the upper hand, however, in these realms, it behoves us to keep to that position. This we may, and do in all honesty. It is our right and we must ever be prepared to maintain it. At a juncture like the present, when fears of national aggression are harboured even in breasts supposed to come under the classic Poet's category— Illi robur et aes triplex circa pectus nothing that regards the polity of those whom some still maintain to be " our natural enemies"-can be unimpotant to an Englishman. Natural enemies! Is there not something degrading to humanity and civilization in the very phrase? Surely human beings with immortal souls to be saved, are not constituted like beasts of prey, or the brutes that perish! It is a disgrace to civilization, and a reproach to Christianity to suppose; that, in Christendom at least, nations should consider each other as born enemies, like the Carnivori and Raptores among beasts and birds of prey. Are Christian communities forsooth like Arabs of the desert, bound by a diabolical vindictive prejudice to hand down a blood feud from generation to generation? Assuredly not; and it is consoling to know that as education, and social morality improve, the false, and the violent, will relax their hold upon the national mind, every where. The world will not always be ruled by a system of chicanery or an organized lie, under the specious name of Diplomacy, utterly at variance with all but merely nominal Christianity; that flimsy garment that shows the lazar form beneath more hideously corrupt by the attempt to veil it. Let us hope that true religion will enter the cabinets of ministers and Princes, as well as the modest abodes of the righteous, the salt of the earth; who as it were preserve the mass from moral putrescence. Free trade principles, as more understood, and widely disseminated, will, it is hoped, prove in some measure the pioneer of vital Christianity, when nations as well as individuals, may be brought to acknowledge and act upon it, as a practical principle in all things, that true religion after all, is the only philosophy worthy of the name. The Essay by the same writer on "Periodical Literature," more properly might be denominated an historical sketch; it presents no new facts, and developes no new criticism. Indeed properly speaking there is no criticism at all. We conclude by wishing the Lieut. of Madras Artillery time and opportunity to produce something better, and of a more enduring nature, than this pamphlet; since he appears to possess the requisite ability. Let him, however, endeavour to attain a simpler style and to eschew such phrases as "before Sol begins to illumine the Eastern horizon," &c. DR. FORBES' ELEMENTARY WORKS IN PERSIAN AND HINDUSTANI: 1. Grammar of the Persian Language. To which is added, a Selection of Easy Extracts for Reading, together with a copious Vocabulary. By Duncan Forbes, A.M. 2d Edition, greatly improved, and considerably enlarged. Royal 8vo. cloth. 2. Grammar of the Hindustani Language, in the Oriental and Roman Characters: with numerous Copperplate Illustrations of the Persian and Devanagari Systems of Alphabetic Writing. To which is added, a copious Selection of Easy Extracts for Reading in the Persian, Arabic and Devanagari Characters, forming a complete Introduction to the Bagh-o-Bahar; together with a Vocabulary and explanatory Notes. By Duncan Forbes, A.M. 8vo. cloth. 3. Hindustani Manual: a Pocket Companion for those who visit India in any capacity, intended to facilitate the essential attainments of conversing with Fluency, and composing with accuracy, in the most useful of all the Languages spoken in our Eastern Empire.-IN TWO PARTS.-Part-I. A Compendious Grammar, and Exercises on its more prominent Peculiarities; with a Selection of useful Phrases and Dialogues on familiar Subjects.-II. A Vocabulary of useful Words, English and Hindustani; shewing at the same time the difference of Idiom between the two Languages. By Duncan Forbes, A.M. 18mo. cloth. 4. Bagh-o-Bahar; consisting of Entertaining Tales. By Mir Amman, of Delhi. A New Edition, carefully collated with original Manuscripts, having the essential Vowel Points and Punctuation marked throughout. To which is added, a Vocabulary of the Words occurring in the Work. By Duncan Forbes, A.M. Royal 8vo. cloth. Ir is not our intention to enter into any minute or critical examination of these works. Indeed, they require no such examination at our hands. Their deserved popularity among Oriental students at home is the surest proof of their superior merit and admirable adaptedness to the great object proposed by their author-the facilitating the acquisition of the Persian and Hindustani tongues. Little else, therefore, remains for us to do, except to recommend them to our readers as, in our deliberate judgment, by far the best elementary treatises of the kind that have yet appeared. Dr. Forbes is no theorist; he is pre-eminently a practical man. There is in him a shrewd instinctive sagacity which ever leads him direct to the main point, to the summary rejection of all merely curious, or ingenious, or speculative, or incidental matter. The perpetual exhibition of this sagacity constitutes the very charm, as it has chiefly contributed to the surpassing excellence, of his elementary treatises. On the subject of Persian Grammar the only work to which he professes to be under any obligation is that of Dr. Lumsden, published in Calcutta, 1810, in two folio volumes. From this valuable work he cheerfully acknowledges his having "extracted many a pearl;" though he is constrained to confess that he has been obliged often to dive through an enormous mass of water to procure it." We cannot do better than here record his own views of what the essential characteristics of an elementary grammar ought to be :— "I have been long convinced, from experience, that a work like the present is a desideratum. A Grammar of any language, adapted for a beginner, ought to be brief and perspicuous, containing only the general and more useful principles of such language. It ought to be accompanied with easy extracts for practice, as well as a copious Vocabulary. At the same time, the shortest Grammar is too long for a beginner: therefore, those parts absolutely necessary for the first reading ought to be rendered more prominent, by the use of a larger type. Lastly the work ought to be confined entirely to its legitimate purpose-the instructing of beginners; not deviating into ingenious metaphysical and etymological discussions, however interesting in their proper place: nor should it be over-crowded with superfluous paradigms of Verbs, &c., so as to swell up the Volume to an undue extent. If this criterion of a good elementary Grammar is sound, which I think few men of sense will dispute, then there is ample room for the present little work, however imperfect in execution, as the first attempt of the kind that has yet been made in this country, with regard to the Persian language. Let it not be supposed, that because this book is small in bulk it must بقامت مهتر بقیمت بهتر : necessarily be superficial and imperfect نه هرچه On the contrary, I am convinced that the student will here find all the information of any consequence contained in larger volumes, and a great deal which they do not contain. I have endeavoured throughout the work to enlarge upon those parts of the subject which I have observed to be most needed by beginners. Such parts of the Grammar of the Persian language as agree with our own, or with that of European languages in general I have passed over with the utmost brevity." Dr. Forbes, with the modesty of genuine worth, writes hesitatingly of the execution of his work; but we have no hesitation on the subject. The execution is, in our opinion, equal to the conception, and the conception is, in our judgment, the very beau-ideal of a good and really suitable elementary grammar. The very same remarks, mutatis mutandis, are applicable to Dr. Forbes'"Hindustani Manual" and and Hindustani Grammar "-works which, in point of clearness, simplicity, appositeness, and general excellence, greatly out-distance all former competitors in the same field. In these works-the former of which is in Roman character and therefore readily accessible he has developed fully and intelligi bly the principles of the language, and has supplied a great deal more of useful information on the matter than will be found in any of the larger works of Gilchrist, Shakespear, &c. The truth is that Dr. Forbes has entered on his favorite task with singular advantages. He was all his days a laborious, persevering and successful student. A native himself of the Highlands of Perthshire, he became a pupil of the Perth Grammar School or Academy, under Mr. Dick, who enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best classical scholars of his day. From Perth he next proceded to the University of St. Andrews. There he enjoyed the privilege of prosecuting, with uncommon ardour and industry, his classical studies, under the late Dr. Hunter, one of the most acute, profound, and philosophical philologians of any country or age. In 1823, he came to Calcutta to assist in conducting what was then one of its most flourishing Educational Institutions. All his spare time he devoted, with intense assiduity, to the study of Persian, Hindustani and other Oriental languages. After a few years, his health failed and he was obliged to return to his native land. There he made the acquaintance of the late Dr. Gilchrist, who soon came to regard him as his own successor in the department of Oriental tuition in the British Metropolis. Owing to his great success as a private teacher, he was some years ago appointed professor of Oriental Languages and Literature, in King's College, London. And last year, his own Alma Mater, the University of St. Andrews, worthily conferred on him the degree of L. L. D. From this summary sketch of Dr. Forbes' past career, it will be seen, that, to the original advantage of high classical and general philological attainments, he super-adds the subsequent advantage of a sojourn in this land, where he laid the foundation of his oriental scholarship under the immediate tuition of learned Pundits and Múnshís. And then, during the last twenty years, he has had more varied actual experience in teaching the Oriental languages than any one else that has yet written on the subject. Therefore it is, that in the exercise of a naturally superior sagacity, he has been enabled so clearly to discover in the case of new learners, where the shoe pinched," or, to drop this somewhat vulgar but expressive metaphor, so unmistakably to detect the sources of difficulty to beginners, and then to shape his instructions or modes of treating the subject accordingly. And hence, as the natural result, the really superior stamp and character of all his elementary works on the Oriental languages! To the acquisition of the more popular of these languages he has already done more than any living man towards smoothing the road and simplifying and cheapening the means. And, if spared for years to come, he is yet destined to do a vast deal more. He is now, we understand, engaged in preparing a new Dictionary, in two parts English and Hindustani, Hindustani and English. It has been our good fortune to see some specimens of both parts. And from this, we cannot but conclude, that, in point of practical utility, Dr. Forbes' Dictionary will be just as superior to all former Dictionaries, as his Persian and Hindustani Grammars are to all former works of a similar description. Sri-Yeshú-Khrishta-Mahatmyam, or, The Glory of Jesus Christ. A brief account of our Lord's Life and Doctrines in Sanskrit verse; with an English preface containing a Summary of the contents. Calcutta: Ostell and Lepage, British Library, 1848. THIS little work, apart altogether from the importance of its subject matter, claims a distinct notice at our hands, when viewed simply as a monument of literary ability and skill. The general design of the work we shall first state in the author's own words: "The object of this Tract is to give a brief account of the prophecies by which our Lord was foretold, and of his birth, life, miracles, discourses, death, and resurrection. It has been my aim to write clearly and plainly, to put every thing in a way in which it will be easily understood by persons previously ignorant of the subject, and to supply all necessary_explanations. Sanskrit verse has been employed (as heretofore by Dr. Mill in his Christa Sangitá) as the medium most acceptable to learned Hindus; but as the majority of persons called Pundits are not sufficiently masters of Sanskrit to make out correctly the meaning even of such a simple composition, it is proposed to re-print the Tract hereafter with a Hindi version at the foot of the page. Another edition with the Sanskrit printed in the Bengali character, (with which the Bengal Pundits are most familiar) with a Bengali translation, may also follow. The Tract, it is hoped, is long enough to give a clear idea of the character of the prophecies by which our Lord's coming was predicted, and of the tenor of his life and doctrines to a class of readers whose indifference or hostility might indispose them to read with attention a composition of greater extent. Free use has been made of the renderings of terms in Dr. Mill's Christa Sangita and in Dr. Yates's Sanskrit New Testament, and some entire Slokes of the former have been employed. The Sanskrit title of the Tract is Srí-Yeshú-Khrishta-Máhátmyam. The word Máhátmya means greatness or glory, and is employed as the title of sections of the Purânas, written to celebrate the praise of some god, or goddess, or sacred spot. The well known Durga Máhátmya, or glorification of Durga, may be mentioned as an instance The use of this term, as the title of a poem descriptive of our Lord's life and character, seems unobjectionable, and may excite attention." The Tract is divided into six sections :— The first of these, entitled: Sri-Mahámoktripratikshá, or, the expectation of the great Redeemer, comprises 108 Anushtubh Slokes, in which simple metre, the whole tract is composed. It opens thus: "I, who am of feeble voice, being intent to sing the praises of the world's Redeemer, implore God to grant me significant and attractive language. A certain youthful seeker after truth, approaching a learned man of great experience and skilled in foreign Sástras, said to him-Sir, I have repeatedly heard the name of a great Teacher, called Christ, from the mouth |