lizards, frogs, and serpents may be put into a small keg of rum or arrack, and will come safely. Every vegetable production is very desirable; they are of various kinds : 1. Bulbous roots, viz. such as are like onions or garlick; these should be taken up and planted in a box so thickly as to touch one another, or they may be put dry in a basket, with no other care than to fasten on the cover well, and hang them in an airy part of the ship. 2. Tuberous roots, or such as resemble potatoes or yams; some of these are very large, and others as small as a pea. They may in general be sent as the bulbous roots. If these are planted in earth, they should have very little or no water given them on the passage. Send one, two, or three hundred of each sort, if you can get them. 3. Common plants and trees; of these, I hope you will not think any one too insignificant. Send the smallest as well as the largest. Plant small plants of each sort in boxes, and always have a number of boxes planted and well rooted, ready; for if they are just planted, they will all die on the passage. Just before they are put on board, put seeds of trees, fruits, shrubs, &c. as thick as you can sow them in the boxes, among the planted trees, and cover the seeds with about a finger's thickness of good fresh earth. These should have a little water now and then on the passage, not above once a week. You must often send the same thing, as it will be ten to one, whether they arrive alive. 4. Be very abundant in sending seeds of every sort. Let them be perfectly ripe and thoroughly dry, then pack them in paper, and put them in a basket or small box, secured from the rats. The name should be put on every packet of seeds; and if you can recollect, say whether it grows in sandy soil, on mountain or rocks, in mire or water, or where. One word is enough, i.e. sand, for sandy soil; mountains, for a mountainous situation, &c. &c. Parasitical plants, or such as grow on other plants or trees. Such as you have seen me tie on other trees, and water with bhars or small pots hung over them. These only need to be stripped from the tree where they grew, and put into baskets, without any earth. They may be hung up in any airy part of a ship, or even hung at the main top, and will come safely. 6. All boxes of plants should have strips of wood put over them to keep out the rats, these strips should be about as thick as a finger, and about a finger's breadth as under: thus |||||||| NO PLANTS OR SEEDS MUST BE PUT IN THE HOLD. 7. I shall also be glad of specimens of every sort of wood, (timber); a bit about six or eight inches long, and two thick, (with its Malay name,) is sufficient. Send it rough, I will get it planed. I have much confidence in you to add greatly to my stock of natural productions. You must persevere in sending, and be diligent in collecting. Your great work, my dear J, is that of a Christian minister; you would have been solemnly set apart thereto if you could have stayed long enough to have permitted it; the success of your labours does not depend upon an outward ceremony, nor does your right to preach the Gospel, or administer the ordinance of the Gospel, depend on any such thing, but only on the divine call expressed in the word of God. The Church has however, in their intentions and wishes, borne a testimony to the grace given to you; and will not cease to pray for you that you may be successful. May you be kept from all temptations, supported under every trial, made victorious in every conflict, and may our hearts be mutually gladdened with accounts from each other of the triumphs of divine grace. God has conferred a great favour upon you in committing to you this ministry. Take heed to it, therefore, in the Lord, that thou fulfil it. We shall often meet at the throne of grace. Write me by every opportunity, and tell Eliza to write to your mother. Now, my dear J, I commit you both to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to make you perfect in the knowledge of his will; let that word be near your heart. I give you both up to God, and should I never more see you on earth, I trust we shall meet with joy before his throne of glory at last. Your very, very affectionate Father, Calcutta, 24th Jan. 1814. IV. Application of the Roman Alphabet to the Támul, Karnatika, and other Languages of the Madras Presidency. By Rev. B. Schmid. We have before intimated to our readers, that the application of the Roman character to the Native languages of India was making its way beyond the limits of the Bengal Presidency. We have already presented them with a scheme for its application to the Barmán and Shán languages, spoken in countries to the N. E. of Bengal; and have received for publication a judicious and philosophical scheme for its use in the Támul and other languages of the Madras Presidency, spoken to the S. and W. We are happy to state, that though these schemes have been prepared by gentlemen of different countries, and are applied to numerous languages differing most widely in their into nations, both of them fully agree in all essential points with each other, and with the scheme now in use in the Bengal Presidency. There are but three or four slight discrepancies, which have been pointed out to the authors, and regarding which all parties are prepared to yield, if the other deems it essential; so that we have the certain prospect of one grand harmonious plan, of expressing in one character the whole of the languages from the borders of Thibet and China on one side, to the limit of the Bombay Presidency on the other. We feel persuaded, too, that through the spirited exertions of the Editor of the Chinese Repository, and his friends, who have already pronounced the plan to be feasible, we shall soon view in the Chinese language another tributary to the Roman character;-and then, who will say, that it is incompetent to express the most complicated sounds of any language whatsoever? The scheme before us is introduced by the following remarks, which are of universal concern, and which, as relating in part to the labours of some of the early and most zealous friends of Native Education in Calcutta, will be read by many, who yet remember them, with peculiar interest. A Scheme for representing the Támul in Roman Characters, with a particular view to aid the introduction of the Roman Characters into all the languages of the world. "The times have now fully arrived when human society evidently hastens towards a great change; the perfecting of mechanical arts leads, by the improvement of telescopes and other instruments, to numberless new discoveries in astronomy, chemistry, comparative anatomy and botany, and thereby lays open to the human eye, new worlds of wonders, and proofs of the amazing wisdom and goodness of God; grammarians and travellers unite to throw incessantly, new light on the cause of the Holy Scriptures; the unbiased philosophical statesman and the divine, endowed with the same qualities of mind, are daily making the discovery that the course of events, as well as scientific inquiries and theoretical demonstrations, must sooner or later greatly modify the present fabric of states and churches; the art of education makes grand strides towards perfection, and old pedantry and scholastic tyranny are beginning to withdraw into "the dark corners of the earth;" even the sounds of the human voice are analysed by the philosophic spirit of the age, and the chaos of English Orthography is beginning to be put to rights as far as possible. All these improvements stand in as close a connexion with each other as the wheels of a watch, and co-operate to bring about one great event, in which all the designs and dealings of Providence centre. And though these views may be looked upon by some with a supercilious eye, yet, at all events, whether we assist or resist, or quiet our minds and remain lukewarm, it must be allowed, that these general movements cannot end in nothing. "I hope I shall not be found to have been a false prophet, if I venture to predict that the victory (I suppose not contested any longer) of Sir William Jones' system of noting the sounds, over that of Dr. Gilchrist, unimportant as it may appear at first sight, will, by its adaptation to every other language, prove a mighty auxiliary to the enlightening of the world. "It is now, therefore, time for the friends of the Romanizing System,' to lift up their eyes to all other nations of the globe, and to devise in time such methods that their system may become easily adaptable to any language or dialect, which the Linguist or the Missionary would wish to write with Roman Characters. "About eighteen years ago, E. S. Montagu, Esq. and Capt. Irvine, were devising (as far as I understood them), a Universal Alphabet, or a method to mark in a clear, compendious, and systematic way all the dif ferent sounds which are existing in one or other of the human languages, in such a manner that an individual, who wished to know the exact sound of a foreign language, might be able to ascertain it, without having himself heard it pronounced. After Captain Irvine left Bengal, Mr. Montagú continued that work alone, but his lamented death prevented its publication. It would be important for science, to ascertain where the manuscripts on this subject are lying hidden. Those gentlemen seem to have been induced to undertake that labour, particularly by the wish to facilitate the Missionary work throughout the earth. An object truly worthy the attention of the Christian and the Literary man! The importance of this undertaking will be appreciated, if it is considered, how difficult it is, in the usual way, without some peculiar expedients, to give a description of some particular sounds to one who has never heard them. For probably every language of the earth has one or more sounds which are peculiar to it, and of such a nature as to baffle every attempt of conveying by description or comparison, an idea of it to a stranger to that language;—yes, many individuals even have not an ear sufficiently sharp and musical to catch those sounds correctly in a foreign country, particu larly if in somewhat advanced age, even though they hear them from the mouths of the Natives themselves. "Many who have learnt a foreign language, and flatter themselves they have caught the sound and accent sufficiently well for their purposes, and who think a greater accuracy to be superfluous and pedantic, will easily convince themselves of their mistake, if they will attend to foreigners of equal talents, acquirements and diligence with themselves, speaking English. They will soon observe, that through even a trifling deficiency in the pronunciation of but a few words or sounds, the whole effect of a sentence may be lost on the hearer; and that when such a foreigner wishes to speak something to the purpose and to the heart, he frequently becomes only ridiculous. Or let us take another instance: a native who tells us something in English with the greatest feeling, and whose diction is quite correct and energetic, will always, if not become ridiculous, yet fail to excite the same feelings in us which animate him, merely because of some defect in the pronunciation of one or two words or sounds in his sentence. And if the speaking of a foreigner, merely for want of a correct pronunciation, often excites our risible nerves, we may be sure that we likewise, in speaking, appear as ridiculous to the natives; and that often, when e. g. a Missionary thinks himself to be very solemn and impressive in his address to the natives, he only excites in them an inclination to smile, and his labour proves to be useless, if not worse than useless. "These remarks are here made, solely to excite Europeans, who are learning any foreign language in order to the fulfilment of their callings, whether religious or not, to pay better attention to the correct and accurate pronunciation of each letter, than has generally been done hitherto. "The following Scheme is offered, in order to assist in the acquisition of a correct pronunciation of the letters and sounds in different languages; and at the same time to romanize the Tamul Alphabet, and to give hints how difficulties and confusion, which are liable to take place when the system shall be more generally introduced, may be avoided." As the remainder of the paper relates chiefly to the languages of another Presidency, and as it is the intention of the learned compiler to have it printed in one of the Madras periodicals, we feel ourselves compelled to omit it. We shall keep the original MS. however, available for the inspection of any one who may wish to peruse it; and hope soon to be supplied with printed copies, which we may present for the aid and encouragement of our friends, engaged in applying the Roman Character to other languages. BETA. V.-Just Characters of the whole Bible, and the particular Books, gathered from the ancients and others. THE WHOLE BIBLE. The soul's food; so Athanasius. The common shop of soul physic; so Basil. 1. In respect of the dictating of it; it is, The library of the Holy Ghost. Christ's aphorisms. The acts and statutes of the highest parliament. The signet of God's right-hand. The epistle of God to the world. The court roll of God's fines and amercements. 2. In respect of its worth; it is, A stately palace. A fruitful field. The true Hesperides. The inestimable pearl. 3. In respect of its use; it is, The touch-stone of error. The key of the sheep-fold. The glass of life. The weather glass. The Christian's magazine. The armory. PARTICULAR BOOKS. Genesis. The cabinet of the greatest antiquities. Exodus. The sacred rule of law and justice. Leviticus. The holy ephemerides. Numbers. God's arithmetic. Deuteronomy. The faithful monitor. Joshua. The holy war. Judges. The mirror of magistrates and tyrants. Ruth. The picture of a pious widow. Samuel. Sacred politics. Kings. Chronicles. The holy annals. Ezra. Nehemiah.} An idea of church and state reformation. |
