interest, whether it be of a mere temporal or of a higher character, and it will in time include all who were not, whatever they may now think, born enemies, and who may therefore live to be friends.

"Since the foregoing remarks were written, we have received the other volume, the title of which is given at the commencement. It contains a reprint of thirteen publications, of which the first six are translations from the Veds, tending to prove the unity of the Supreme Being; the next three are controversial, occasioned by the publication of the former; three more relating to the burning of widows; and the last, which has the same humane object, is on the ancient rights of females according to the Hindoo law of inheritance. The fact that Suttees are now abolished will not diminish the interest with which our readers will contemplate these philanthrophic efforts. There can be no doubt of their having contributed largely to that result. The Rajah was present at, and must have enjoyed with a pure triumph, the failure of the attempt to induce the Privy Council to rescind the order of the Governor-General. Some of the theological tracts are not wholly unknown in this country, though no reprint or complete collection of them has before appeared. A singularly blessed lot is that of this extraordinary man in that, besides being an efficient agent in a great work of philanthropy, and contributing towards a political and commercial reform, he has laboured, and that not unsuccessfully, for the restoration of two religions from a corrupt state to one of simplicity and purity, first showing the Divine unity to have been the primeval doctrine of Hindooism, and since, of the Gospel. In both cases it is interesting to mark the spirituality and benevolence of his mind, its superiority to the common tone of controversy, and its direction to the glory of God in the good of man."

It is to be regretted that works which must have contained information so valuable and views so important should be at present but little known. We may hope that they will not be allowed to remain much longer in obscurity, but will be collected and republished.

Having thus considered the Rajah RAMMOHUN ROY during his residence in London in his religious, political and literary aspect, we may now observe him in his social relations.

We frequently remark in great reformers, and those who have been obliged, in the execution of important works for their fellow creatures, to tax their energies to the utmost, a deficiency in the more delicate and graceful parts of the character. The contrary was the case in the Hindoo patriot and reformer. The extraordinary courteousness and suavity of his general demeanour, and his habitual care to avoid giving unnecessary pain, would have made those who enjoyed his society think of him only as a most delightful and intellectual companion, did not some observation incidentally reveal what were the ever present subjects of his thoughts. To this those can testify who have the privilege of recollecting him personally.

How much the Hindoo Reformer attracted the attention of society, and won the respect of the intellectual portion of it, is shown by the following extracts from Miss LUCY AIKIN's letters to Dr. CHANNING (Memoirs, Miscellanies and Letters, of the late LUCY AIKIN. London: Longman). The first is from a letter to Dr. CHANNING, dated Hampstead, June 28, 1831 :—

"In the intervals of politics we talk of the Christian Brahmin, RAMMOHUN ROY. All accounts agree in representing him as a person of extraordinary merit. With very great intelligence and ability, he unites a modesty and simplicity which win all hearts. He has a very

great command of the language, and seems perfectly well versed in the political state of Europe, and an ardent well-wisher to the cause of freedom and improvement everywhere. To his faith he has been more than a martyr. On his conversion to Christianity his mother cursed him, and his wife (or wives) and children all forsook him. He had grievous oppressions to endure from the Church party on turning Unitarian. This was at Calcutta; here it is determined to court him. Two bishops have noticed him, and the East India Company show him all civilities. But his heart is with his brethren in opinion, with whom chiefly he spends his time. I hear of him this remarkable saying,—that the three countries in Europe which appear even less prepared than Asia for a liberal system of religion, are Spain, Portugal and England."

The next is dated Hampstead, Sept. 6th, 1831:

"Just now my feelings are more cosmopolite than usual; I take a personal concern in a third quarter of the globe, since I have seen the excellent RAMMOHUN ROY. I rejoice in the hope that you will see him some time, as he speaks of visiting your country, and to know you would be one of his first objects. He is indeed a glorious being,—a true sage, as it appears, with the genuine humility of the character, and with more fervour, more sensibility, a more engaging tenderness of heart. than any class of character can justly claim. He came to my house, at the suggestion of Dr. BOOTT, who accompanied him partly for the purpose of meeting Mrs. JOANNA BAILLIE, and discussing with her the Arian tenets of her book. He mentions the Sanscrit as the

mother language of the Greek, and said that the expressions of the New Testament most perplexing to an European, were familiar to an Oriental acquainted with this language and its derivations, and that to such a person the texts which are thought to support the doctrine for the preexistence, bear quite another sense. She was a little alarmed at the erudition of her antagonist, and slipped out at last by telling him that his interpretations were too subtle for an unlearned person like herself. We then got him upon subjects more interesting to me-Hindoo laws, especially those affecting women. He spoke of polygamy as a crime, said it was punishable by their law, except for certain causes, by a great fine; but the Mussulmans did not enforce the fine, and their example had corrupted Hindoos; they were cruel to women, the Hindoos were forbidden all cruelty. Speaking of the abolition of widow-burning by Lord W. BENTINCK, he fervently exclaimed, May God load him with blessings!' His feeling for women in general, still more than the admiration he expressed of the mental accomplishments of English ladies, won our hearts. He mentioned his own mother, and in terms which convinced us of the falsehood of the shocking tale that she burned herself for his apostacy. It is his business here to ask two boons for his countrymen—trial by jury, and freedom for British capitalists to colonise amongst them. Should he fail in obtaining these, he speaks of ending his days in America."

Miss AIKIN again refers to the Rajah, as follows, in a letter dated Oct. 15th, 1832 :

"I wonder whether you have seen a small book

published by RAMMOHUN ROY containing translations of several of the Hindoo Veds? I have found a good deal of interest in this view of theology and metaphysics of a nation so remote in every respect from us and our ways of thinking. The great point which the true friend of his country and his race has had in view in his various controversies with his own countrymen, has been to show that, although some idolatrous rites are sanctioned by their sacred books, yet it has always been the doctrine of the most authentic of these, that the highest future happiness was only attainable by a pure and austere life, and the worship of the invisible, universal Spirit—that idolatry was for the gross and ignorant, rites and observances for them only. Thus he shows that eternal felicity-that is, absorption into the supreme spirit, is promised to women who after the death of their husbands lead devout and holy lives; and only a poor lease of thirty-five millions of years of happiness with their husbands to such as burn with them, after the expiration of which their souls are to transmigrate into different animals. This you will say is mighty puerile, but it is at least meeting his antagonists on their own ground. Afterwards he details the many cruelties and oppressions to which females in his country are subjected by the injustice and barbarity of the stronger sex, and pleads for pity towards them with with such powerful, heartfelt eloquence as no woman, I think, can peruse without tears and fervent invocations of blessings on his head. The Rajah is now at Paris,

where I doubt if he will find much gratification, as he is

C