which are inspired by the disposition not to offend, and with that persevering courtship which is dictated by a strong motive to acquire his confidence. In this manner, we might have concluded a priori that great effects would be produced, even upon the intractable feelings of the Hindus. By the instance of the Abbé Dubois, we have experimental proof that there is in fact nothing which may not be done. The peculiarities of the Hindus are not so very unalterable as they have been represented; and indeed, it is our firm persuasion, that there is no indelible character' in the world. Of the two works before us, that of the English missionary is confined almost wholly to the religion of the Hindus; that of the French missionary almost wholly to the priests. The first volume of Mr Ward's English publication, after a very long introduction, which contains an admirable view of the whole subject, gives us an account of the objects of wor ship.' The second volume describes the temples, the images, the priests, the stated periods of worship, and the rites and ceremonies; after this, the doctrines of the Hindu religion; next, the Hindu saints or mendicants; and lastly, the Hindu sects, including the collateral branches, the Baudhas, the Jainas, or Jains, and the Sikhs. The work of the Abbé is divided into three parts. Of these, the first two are devoted almost exclusively to the priests. The third is entitled, Of Religion;' but it contains four short chapters, filling altogether only 37 pages; one on the Exercise of Justice, Civil and Criminal; another, on the Hindu Fables; one on the Hindu Tales; and another, on the Military System of India.' There is also an appendix, ' on the Sect of the Jainas, and the Principal Differences between them and the Brahmans,' consisting of 19 pages. Of what relates, then, to the ministers of religion, and the system which they uphold, it may be supposed that we have at last obtained, from these two well informed and voluminous authors, an account, on the correctness and completeness of which we may pretty confidently rely and though it is much to be regretted that men who possessed such peculiar advantages for giving us information respecting the ordinary business of life among the Hindus, should have attached themselves so exclusively to the subject of religion, it is but fair to recollect, that religion constitutes the grand feature in the aspect of Hindu society. After the business of providing the means of subsistence, which must everywhere be the principal concern, there is nothing of so much importance in the state of Hindu society as religion. It is this which gives its colour to the whole tissue of life. It is this which occupies the principal part of the time of the Hindu, and is the principal instrument in the formation of his character. It is this ingredient, therefore, in the cup of life, on which the most philosophical observer would first fix his eye in surveying the people of Hindustan. Nor is this characteristic of Hindu society, though more strongly marked among that people than any other portion of mankind, by any means confined to that peculiar race. There is a stage in the progress of civilization at which religion always forms the principal figure in the picture of society, and appears the grand agent in shaping the business of human life. This is a fact of great importance in the history of human nature, and may well deserve a few words of elucidation. The stage of civilization at which this remarkable phenomenon appears, is neither the lowest of all-nor the highest, by any means. It is rather one of the stages which immediately follows, and is very near the lowest. It is not the lowest of all, because, in that situation, the business of providing the means of subsistence is so laborious and distressing, as to occupy the mind entirely, and leave little room for any other thought; and, leaving no man any thing to give to a priest, to create a motive to no man for becoming a priest. On the other hand, the mere ritual of religion never spreads itself far over the field of thought and action at a stage of any great mental improvement; because, in proportion as the human mind improves, its notions of the attributes of God are elevated; and elevated notions of the great object of religion are altogether inconsistent with the tyranny of its formal observances. Whenever the Divine Being is distinctly conceived as a being of infinite wisdom and goodness, all frivolous acts performed as service to him are instantly discarded. They are immediately seen to be acts which none but a being of very limited wisdom and goodness can possibly approve. No acts can be supposed to be acceptable to a Being of perfect wisdom and goodness but such as are conducive to some useful end, that is, to increase the happiness of sensitive beings. In proportion, therefore, as civilization advances, and the human mind is improved, services to mankind come more and more to be regard ed as the only services of religion; and beneficence and inward piety are nearly all in all. These conclusions, incontestable as they appear, do not rest solely on reasonings a priori: they are confirmed by an appeal to history, in every age and quarter of the globe. In our own country, and in the rest of Europe, it was during those rude and barbarous times, when, in half a kingdom, a priest could hardly be found who could read his breviary, that the business of religion engrossed the greatest portion of human life; that frivolous ceremonies were most excessively multiplied, as well as useless articles of faith; that false miracles abounded, and undistinguishing belief. At this moment, frivolous ceremonies are held in estimation, and occupy the time and attention of men in the different nations of Europe, exactly in proportion as the human mind, in those nations, appears to have made a less or greater progress. They are valued least of all in our own country; next in Holland, and the Protestant parts of Switzerland and Germany; and, after them, in France. Now, these are precisely the most enlightened parts of Europe. On the other hand, the least enlightened parts are Spain, Portugal, and Russia; and these, accordingly, are the places in which worthless acts, and worthless and pernicious tenets of religion, exercise the greatest influence upon human life. The priests, and the system of thoughts and actions which they uphold, form so very extensive and complicated a subject among the Hindus, that it is impossible for us to attempt so much as an abridgement of what is presented to us in the works before us. We must content ourselves with endeavouring to convey some slight idea of the more remarkable particulars. One of the most remarkable, certainly, is that very extent and complexity of which we have been speaking, of which it is not easy, without a pretty minute investigation, to form any thing like a tolerable conception. One fact, indeed, may be very shortly stated, and it conveys a great deal of information. The number of the Hindu gods is not less than three hundred and thirty millions! In regard to articles of belief, if we except some vague and Auctuating opinions respecting the existence of invisible, intelligent powers, and a future state of existence, it is doubtful whether the Hindus, till they borrowed them, at a recent period, had any thing to which that name could be applied. Articles of belief should mean certain fixed propositions, with regard to the Divine nature and the Divine will. But no such thing appears in the early monuments of the Hindu religion. They have legends without number; and every man appears to have assumed the right of ascribing any such actions and any such intentions to his god, as he himself might think proper at the time. If he ascribed one set of them to-day, and another set, altogether inconsistent, to-morrow, that was a matter of no consequence. It is one of the privileges of a Hindu god to change his mind as often as he pleases. And as for inconsistent actions, or contradictory opinions, it would be a hard thing indeed if a god could not reconcile impossibilities. The character which the Hindus ascribe to each of their gods, is uniformly that of a man with indefinite power to gra tify all his passions, and who goes on gratifying them, wholly incapable of self-restraint, and wholly regardless of the mischief which that gratification may bring upon other beings. Though of different propensities, one of them being addicted to the pleasures of sensuality, another to cruelty, and so on; yet all are wicked to a degree far surpassing the limit of human depravity. The following is a correct summary, presented by Mr Ward. The doctrine of a plurality of gods, with their consequent intrigues, criminal amours, quarrels, and stratagems to counteract each other, has produced the most fatal effects on the minds of men. Can we expect a people to be better than their gods? Brumha was inflamed with evil desires towards his own daughter. Vishnoo, when incarnate as Bamunu, deceived King Bulee, and deprived him of his kingdom. Shivu's wife was constantly jealous on account of his amours; and charged him with associating with the women of a low caste at Cooch-Behar. The story of Shivu and Mohinee, a female form of Vishnoo, is shockingly indelicate. Vrihusputee, the spiritual guide of the gods, committed a rape on his eldest brother's wife. Indra was guilty of dishonouring the wife of his spiritual guide. Sooryu ravished a virgin named Koontee. Yumu, in a passion, kicked his own mother, who cursed him, and afflicted him with a swelled leg, which to this day the worms are constantly devouring. Ugnee was inflamed with evil desires towards six virgins, the daughters of as many sages; but was overawed by the presence of his wife. Vayoo was cursed by Dukshu, for Buluramu was a great drunkard. making his daughters crooked when they refused his embraces: He is also charged with a scandalous connexion with a female monkey. When Vuroonu was walking in his own heaven, he was so smitten with the charms of Oorvushee, a courtesan, that, after a long contest, she was scarcely able to extricate herself from him. Krishnu's thefts, wars, and adulteries, are so numerous, that his whole history seems to be one uninterrupted series of crimes. In the images of Kalec, she is represented as treading on the breast of her husband. Lucksamee and Suruswutee, the wives of Vishnoo, were continually quarrelling. It is worthy of inquiry, how the world is governed by these gods, more wicked than men. Let us open the Hindoo sacred writings; here we see the Creator and the Preserver perpetually counteracting each other. Sometimes the Preserver is destroying; and, at other times, the Destroyer is preserving. On a certain occasion, Skivu granted to the great enemy of the gods, Ravunu, a blessing which set all their hearers in an uproar, and drove the $30 millions of gods into a state of desperation. (Brumha created Koombu-Kurnu, a monster larger than the whole island of Lunka; but was obliged to doom him to an almost perpetual sleep, to prevent his producing an universal famine. This god is often represented as bestowing a blessing, to remove the effects of which Vishnoo is obliged to become incarnate: nay, these effects have not, in some cases, been removed, till all the gods have been dispossessed of their thrones, and obliged to go a-begging; till all human affairs have been thrown into confusion, and all the elements seized and turned against the Creator, the Preserver, and the Reproducer. When some giant, blessed by Brumha, has destroyed the creation, Vishnoo and Shivu have been applied to; but they have confessed that they could do nothing for the tottering universe. Besides gods and goddesses, numerous as we have already declared, the Hindus, who are fond of giving worship, have provided other objects of it in great abundance; and found them in every kingdom of nature-in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdom. In the first ra k, of course, are the priests. Where the claims of the Bramhans have been disputed by any one, I have seen,' says Mr Ward, the poor besotted shoodru prostrate himself at the feet of the nearest bramhun, and, raising his head, and closing his hands, say-" You are my god." At the same time, the character of the bramhun has perhaps ⚫ been notorious for every vice.' Not only bramhuns, but the daughters of bramhuns, and the wives of bramhuns, are objects of worship. There is an occasion, on which, in a private assemblage of men and women, a female is worshipped, naked, with a variety of ceremonics, some of which are of the sort which may easily be conceived. Here,' says Mr Ward, things too abominable to enter the ears of man, and impossible to be revealed to a Christian public, are contained in the directions of the Shastru. The learned bramhun, who opened to me these abominations, made several efforts-paused, and began again—and then paused again-before he could mention the shocking indecencies prescribed by his own Shastrus.' The worship of the cow is a well known part of the Hindu religion. They worship, also, monkeys, dogs, shackals; on par ticular occasions, the elephant, the lion, the bull, the buffalo, the rat, the deer, the goat, and various others; many species of birds, as the kite, the wagtail, the peacock, the goose, the owl; a great variety of trees, and other plants. The worship of rivers is another celebrated part of their religion. Among the most remarkable of these objects of their worship, are the Ganges, the Godavery, the Nerbudda. Mr Ward, after giv ing his readers the names of thirty, adds-' and many other rivers are mentioned in the Hindoo Shastrus as sacred.' All the fish of certain rivers are objects of worship. There are also particular fishes, which are the objects of a particular worship. The vedas, the inspired books, as also several of the Shastrus, |