mediately derived the titles Sultaun and Victorious. The latter, which literally signifies Father of Victory, is precisely similar in its character to a number of other epithets much affected by the Princes of the East, as Abu'lfath, Abu'lfotouh, &c. It might also be translated Father of Modaffer, but M. Reinaud offers unanswerable reasons for the rejection of this reading. The title of Second Alexander, or New Alexander, is likewise borrowed from the Sultauns of Delhi, and appears, moreover, to have been a favourite epithet of the Eastern Princes of those days; although in later times the glory of Alexander has sunk beneath that of SahibKhan, (the name borne by Tamerlane,) and many of the Asiatic potentates have consequently changed their style to that of Second Sahib-Khan. These words might also be translated Alexander the Second; but of this sort of phraseology, or at least of the idea which it conveys to the mind of an European reader, the Asiatics appear never to have dreamed. The titles of Right Arm of the Caliph, and Protector of the Commander of the Faithful, were also adopted from Mohammed-Schah by the Kings of Bengal, who knew well enough that these high-sounding epithets were in truth but idle words. The latter title is, however, found on the medals of some of the Mohammedan Princes of the thirteenth century, previous to the overthrow of the Caliphate of Bagdad, and at a time when those potentates actually stood in need of the protection the promise of which it held out to them. The epithet Zealous in the service of God, on the medal of Sekander-Schah, No. 3, is taken from those of Firouz-Schah, his contemporary; as is that of Strong by the power of God, from those of Mohammed-Schah. In instituting this comparison between the medals of Delhi and Bengal, M. Reinaud derived the most essential assistance from a collection of drawings made in India, fifty years ago, by Colonel Gentil, which contain a complete series, with the exception of two or three only, of all the Princes who reigned at Delhi, or in the North of India, from the fourth century of the Hejira, (the tenth of our era,) down to the last. On the subject of these drawings, and on the history of the Princes to whom they relate, M. Reinaud announces that he has completed a considerable work, which will appear along with the Description of the Oriental Medals of the Cabinet of the Duc de Blacas,' on which he has been for some time engaged. With respect to the style of Imaum or Supreme Pontiff, Magnificent Caliph, the reader who is acquainted with Musulman history will not be sur prised to find these titles, originally belonging to the Caliphs of Bagdad, transferred to their degraded successors in Egypt; but he may not at first sight perceive the motive with which the names of Abubekr, Omar, Othman, and Ali, the four immediate successors of Mohammed, are inscribed on the medal No. 4. A little reflection will, however, convince him that this was intended as a testimonial of the adherence of the Kings of Bengal to that opinion which is now most prevalent among the Turks, and was formerly maintained by the Caliphs of Bagdad, and afterwards by those of Egypt, asserting the legitimacy of the three first of these Caliphs, in opposition to that which is at the present day most prevalent in Persia, and maintaining that Ali was the legitimate successor of his father-in-law, Mohammed, and, consequently, that his three predecessors were usurpers, and should be expunged from the list of Caliphs. M. Reinaud finds some difficulty in the explanation of the term brilliant. residence, applied to the city of Sonarganou, principally in consequence Oriental Herald, Vol. 6. E of the bad grammar which this interpretation supposes in the Arabic original; but this, he observes, is by no means a conclusive objection to the version, inasmuch as similar inaccuracies are met with elsewhere, and it is difficult to imagine that the Arabic of Hindoostan could have retained a purity equal to that of Bagdad or Bassora. We have dwelt more fully on this interesting paper, partly on account of its own intrinsic merit, and partly on account of the reluctance which we feel to withdraw from the consideration of a country which, in every point of view, possesses the strongest claims upon our attention, and refative to which the information contained in this collection is so deficient, that, with the exception of the two articles already noticed, we find none that will admit of analysis, or scarcely indeed of observation. The first of the THEOLOGICAL Papers, however, which consists of an Analysis of the Oupnek hat, by the Count de Lanjuinais,' and which is continued through several numbers of the Journal, and occupies a considerable space in its pages, must be regarded as a work of no trifling importance. Still it is neither original nor novel, having been first published, some years since, in the Magasin Encyclopédique, from which it is now transferred to the Journal Asiatique. The selection and methodical arrangement of the numerous passages from the Vedas, by which the system of theosophy contained in those sacred books is illustrated and explained, must undoubtedly have been a work of vast labour and research; but it is much to be lamented that the learned author did not avail himself of the Sanscrit original, a perfect copy of which he states to exist in the Paris Library, rather than of the barbarous Latin version made by M. Anquetil du Perron, from a corrupt and garbled Persian translation. As it is, however, it is the only clear and succinct exposition of the doctrine of the Vedas to which the European student can refer; and M. de Lanjuinais has done a valuable service to Oriental literature, as well as infinite honour to himself, by this laudable, and to a certain extent, successful effort to simplify and unravel some of the most complicated and mysterious doctrines of the orthodox Hindoo philosophy. the The other article relative to the theology of the Hindoos is also from pen of M. de Lanjuinais, and is entitled, Observations on certain Works of Rammohun Roy.' The principal object of these observations is, to take a brief review of the learned Brahmin's translations of some portions of the Vedas, with reference to that of Anquetil du Perron, and at the same time to give a slight sketch of the scope and tendency of his other works, which are certainly treated with a less degree of consideration than that to which they are justly entitled. This paper, however, offers nothing sufficiently remarkable or interesting to deserve a more particular examination. The notice on the TRAVELS of M. M. Duvaucel and Diard in India, &c.' contains little worthy of observation, if we except a charge of illiberality brought against a distinguished officer and zealous naturalist, lately returned from Sumatra, by whom they were employed to collect objects of natural history, in various parts of the peninsula of Malacca, and the neighbouring islands, which he visited in the course of his honourable and successful mission. The character of this gentleman is, however, so firmly established for great (we had almost said, extreme) liberality, that we should require far stronger testimony than the mere 6 assertion of M. Duvaucel, to convince us that he was capable of acting as he is stated to have done, with respect to him and his colleague. But the editors of the Journal Asiatique' ought to have been aware, that a most complete and satisfactory answer had been given to the complaint of M. Duvaucel, by Sir Stamford Raffles himself, in the thirteenth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society; as also, that the whole affair had since been referred to the President of the Board of Control, who had decided that the conduct of Sir Stamford was both just and liberal. We must presume that the French editors were ignorant of these facts; for we cannot suppose that they would knowingly have lent themselves to the promulgation of the charge, without making any reference to the circumstances by which its refutation was established. The remainder of the article consists of a dry detail of excursions, which possess neither interest nor novelty, and of the enumeration of various rare and curious animals, which the travellers, who appear to be able naturalists, have collected in the course of their peregrinations, and transmitted to the Paris Museum. It is proper to add, that M. Duvaucel has since fallen a victim to his zeal for the advancement of science. 1 The remaining articles which come under the head of India, are devoted to the illustration of Sanscrit poetry, and consist of translations of the Hermitage of Khandou,' extracted from the Brahma Purana, and of a beautiful Idyllium, entitled 'Ghata-Kasparam, or Absence,' by M. de Chézy; of the Self-devotion of Viravar,' a portion of the Hitopadesa, by M. Langlois; of the Serpent and the Frogs,' a fable, also from the Hitopadesa; and of an extract from the Devi-Mahatmyam,' a fragment of the Markandeya Purana, together with an analysis of that poem by M. Bournouf the younger. 6 EARLY LOVE. AH! how sweet is early love! But the rainbow in the shower, Burns out, and leaves the heart in night. 1 Vide Oriental Herald, Vol. V. p. 472. BION. THE POET'S PILGRIMAGE.' Ir would be quite useless to adopt, in this place, the manner of the Reviewers, by entering into dissertations on the nature of allegory, poetry, &c.: whatever allegory, and whatever poetry may be, the work before us is an allegorical poem. So far it is quite unfashionable. However, it does not follow that it is therefore bad; on the contrary, it is to be presumed, in general, that an author who has reach enough to discover principles for himself, distinct from the ones in vogue in his day, has also the ability to make something of them, whatever other deficiencies he may fall into, whether in taste or plan. Still allegory, it must be owned, is a cumbrous and unmanageable affair, for the most part; and requires nice handling to be at all palatable. It has an inherent quaintness, also, which leads it into the neighbourhood of the ludicrous; and, which is worse, has been a long time associated in men's minds with dull and ordinary productions. Notwithstanding, Mr. Collier's poem will be read, and, we think, remembered; for it appears to be a real production of genius. The pilgrimage of the true poet is almost always nearly such as he describes it; he lingers but too frequently about the Cave of Neglect,' and if, at length he rises into brighter regions, it is with a breast seared and saddened by adversity. Whoever loves, therefore, to pursue the track of genius, as evinced in poetry, through the path by which it endeavours to attain reputation, and to know the calendar of its fears and feelings by the way, will read with delight the allegory of Mr. Collier. We shall not attempt to unravel, in an epitome, the texture of the poem; for walking forth naked without its imagery, and manners, and sentiments, the skeleton of the finest poem in the world would look meagre and insipid. It is to no purpose to give the equivalent of a poetical relation in prose; the reader gains nothing by it; the critic loses his labour; but the poet is positively injured. He did not undertake to amuse or to instruct by mere plot; and if he had undertaken it, he would like the reader to look at his own delineation of it: but this never was any poet's intention. His aim is to delight the imagination; and this he can never hope to effect, except through the pomp and force of the poetical rhetoric, adorning the unfolding and branching forth of his fable." There is another evil arising from the making abstracts of poetical works: the bulk of reviews is needlessly increased by it, for the practice is to describe an event first in prose, and then to extract the author's description of it in verse; and thus the reader has immediately before his eye two relations of the same thing. The business of a reviewer, we conceive, is to give his opinion of a work in general, if the book possess sufficient individuality; and analytically, if its characteristics be hard to distinguish, and yet deserve to be understood. In pursuance of this idea, we shall observe, that the poem before us is one of those in which a languid action moves slowly through very beautiful scenes. There is little to rouse or fire the soul, or to throw it into sublime transports of feeling; on the contrary, the mind relaxes insensibly 1 An Allegorical Poem, in four cantos. By J. P. Collier. Foolscap 4to. London, 1825, into a tender melancholy, and goes along with the hero of the allegory in a kind of fraternal sympathy. This is a very high merit. The mind drops its worldliness as it goes along, and adopts, for the time, the splendid ethics of poetry. One is indignant at seeing Ignoto on the waste of disappointment, and at finding him so familiar with neglect and poverty. He clings, too, so enthusiastically to his art, and journeys on with so much determination and valour, that we really learn to love him by degrees; and by the time the published part of the poem concludes, (for it is not finished,) we are quite sorry to part with him. Still there is not much character about Ignoto. He is a poet, and a fine builder of visions; but we do not perceive that he is sufficiently a man. He is described as hardly well enough acquainted with the stuff that this world is made of; he feels too much, and thinks too little, to be a great character. He has no grand passions. Now the hero of a poem, though he be a poet, should have a great quantity of the active as well as of the passive virtues. Active virtues are the children of strong passions: sentiments, sympathies, and what is generally termed feeling, the milder passions produce. But great minds have more predilection for the active virtues, and it is the admiration of great minds that confers immortality. Nevertheless, all men love occasionally to hush and compose their passions, by keeping out of view the turmoils and clamours of the world which give energy to them, and by directing their attention to calmer and more sober pursuits. In such moments, works like the Poet's Pilgrimage delight. By this means, they become associated in men's minds with their purer pleasures, and have the credit sometimes of trains of thinking, to which they were very little instrumental in giving rise. In this very frequently consists the secret of that fondness which men feel for any particular book, or sort of books: they read while their minds were occupied with delightful images, with the dreams of love, with the enthusiasm of friendship, with the hopes of fame; and their reading of that period became permanently connected in their imaginations with the tenderest and sweetest recollections. The man of genius is careful to give his productions an analogy and secret relation to the ideas which necessarily spring up in the mind on such occasions: he calculates the chances of their occurrence; he observes the effect of former works of art; and in this consists the whole philosophy of authorship. If the love of pleasure is immortal, every work calculated, per se, to administer to the pleasures of the mind, must be immortal also. It signifies little that no new elements of delight can be discovered; those that exist can be infinitely modified, and so be made the ground of new works of imagination to the end of time. Among the beauties of the 'Poet's Pilgrimage,' an entire freedom from affectation and the thirst of novelty is not the least. The reader is not disgusted by meeting with hackneyed ideas, and images disguised in extravagant expressions; on the contrary, he finds at every step a modest and amiable simplicity of thought and expression; and perceives that the poet presumed him to possess both taste and feeling. This will make strongly for the success of the poem; for success it must, we think, command, though it may not reach it as rapidly as it ought. The excellences of which we have been speaking may, perhaps, be owing considerably to Mr. Collier's being possessed of learning; for he is not one of those mere geniuses who build every thing out of their own web |