rangement is such as necessity called for. It certainly much facilitates the task of finding an article when required. The principle of softening initial consonants is found in Welsh, in Gaelic, in Irish, and in other languages of the Celtic school. Thus words beginning with K, ch, T and P may substitute G, J, D, and B. It is curious to trace the same principle in languages so far removed from each other. Besides, Mamadi Vencaya has diminished the utility of his lexicon by giving into some foolish rules of spelling, that are very dear to the dulness of modern days. If these doctrines be right, then all the ancient manuscripts of all the poets are wrong. I will briefly mention these rules, that the reader may understand their true value, when they are urged on his attention by Telugu pedants. The letter R has two forms, the Telugu form and the Canarese form, which differ from one another in shape, but not perceptibly in sound just as the small "r" in the obsolete Saxon alphabet differs in shape from the Roman letter r which we now use. Those few Telugu poets who wrote in the earliest ages used one form in some words and the other form in other words, stating that these two could not rhyme together. In sound, perhaps one differed from the other in old days, just as much as the aspirated and unaspirated did in Greek; or like the two sounds of R used in Hindustani. Yet even in those days usage evidently was various, and it is clear that the Jangama bardɛ, coeval with Nannaya, admitted no such canon. But in the third or golden age of Telugu literature (before Appa Cavi appeared), this distinction had perished: and (unless in the commentators) we find no traces of it in the Vasu Charitra, the Parujāt Apaharanam, the Vishnu Chittiyam, the Vijaya Vilasam, or the Manu Charitra: names which in Telugu literature rival the poems of Pope and Dryden, Goldsmith and Scott, among ourselves. Now if we determine that words which the Saxons wrote with their peculiar R cannot in English rhyme to similar words borrowed from Latin, we may easily frame a rule according to which Pope and Dryden should be proved illiterate. If we then proceeded to stuff the English dictionary ad libitum with the Saxon R, surely we should render it unintelligible to the common reader; and this is precisely what Appa Cavi has done. Mamadi Vencaya has without good reason bowed to his decision. As I have already hinted, this rule deviates from the spelling used in all the existing manuscripts of all the poets. It cannot then deserve to be revived after falling into merited oblivion. Among the Canarese it is still in use, but among the Telugus it is so utterly forgotten that its shape is now given to the capital vowel U, and we shall rarely meet with a Telugu who can read words written with R in this obsolete form, which is called bandi repha. This forgotten letter has not appeared in any modern editions of the Telugu poets, though a pains-taking Telugu news-paper editor occasionally treats his readers to words written in the obsolete mode. 6 A minor inconvenience of the Andhra Dipica (likewise caused by Appa Cavi's refined rules) arises from the use of the semicircle, denoting the arddhānuswāram, nasal sound. Thus the words tōdelu, ‘a wolf,' ēnugu ' an elephant,' vūdu ‘he,' Sivudu, Bramhanudu, &c., are spelt tondelu, enungu, vandu, Sivundu, Bramhanundu, and so forth. Now this spelling is peculiar to poems, wherein the character used is the circle, not the semicircle: and in modern days, this seminasal has been disused. In common talking we shall often find illiterate Telugus preserve the antique nasal twang, just as the rustic English often do. But the educated classes have laid aside this disagreeable sound: and pedants blame them for this innovation. Mamadi Vencaya likewise uses the marks 1 and 2 to denote the hard and soft sounds of cha and Ja (i. e. ça and za); but this is quite Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.32.No.127. 2 E superfluous as all who have learnt the mode of reading the Telugu alphabet are already independent of these signs. I have given these details regarding Mamadi Vencaya's lexicon out of a respect for the talents and diligence of the writer, which are peculiarly honourable to a man who was by birth and situation a shopkeeker at Masulipatam. He previously compiled a valuable Sanscrit and Telugu lexicon, called the Sabd Artha Calpa Taru, which has been used in the admirable Sanscrit dictionary by Professor Wilson. But we shall always find this unprinted dictionary useful as giving Telugu synonymes for Sanscrit expressions. Its arrangement, imitated from the Médini Còsha, is inconvenient to the beginner. The words are classed according to their final syllable:* then according to the number of syllables, and lastly according to the initial : so, in looking for " Vaitaliya” we must turn to letter Y, under which are the successive classes containing words of one, two, three, and four syllables. This last being traced, the rest of the arrangement is alphabetical, on the European mode. The latest philological work compiled in Telugu was the unfinished treatise written by Patahbi Ramaya Sastri: an account of which is given in the Introduction to Mr. Campbell's Grammar. It evidently is a work of curiosity and of value to those who take an interest in etymology and the affiliation of languages; but is of no utility to the foreigner. Before proceeding to speak of the poets, it is requisite to consider some other imbecilities in the modern style of "fine writing," which are conspicuous in many Telugu publications, particularly in translations from English books, and in the Telugu newspapers. The ancient grammarians having defined the principles of elision and permutation, which of course were intended for poetical usage alone, these laws have been transferred into the colloquial style of business and of education. If we can imagine a common newspaper, printed in modern vulgar Greek, using the ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, the oratorical elegancies, of Pindar or Eschylus, it will convey some idea of an absurdity which it is hard to describe intelligibly to the English reader. Indeed this folly has gone to an extent hardly credible; a version of part of the Bible itself has been prepared by a learned Bramin in a stilted style, spelt in a manner unintelligible to the common reader, and justly condemned by good scholars. Happily, it has not as yet been printed ; and as it possesses real merit, it should be prepared for publication by being transcribed into the intelligible dialect. This can be done by any sensible copyist, who will transmute its whimsical spelling into the plain Telugu used in business or in common correspondence. Unless this precaution is taken, the version may indeed be published, but will never be read. The remedy for such delusions happily is within the reach of every one. Let the foreigner study the language in common criminal trials (civil trials being more intricate) and ordinary letters; he will soon be able to detect and shun the nonsensical refinements which are now so popular. Let it not be imagined that I am peculiar in my view of these caprices. That distinguished scholar, the late Head Telugu Examiner in the College, Gurumurti Sastri, who died about three years ago, fully concurred in the opinions given in the present essay. I mention his name because his talents, learning, and good sense always entitled his judgment to respect; but I could easily name other sound authorities now living; as, for instance, my friends the pandits in the Court of Sudr Udalut. They are Telugu Bramins, and during more than fifteen years have given me much literary assistance. Well aware that my statements will incur the reproaches of many a half-educated sastri As is done in Hoogeveen's Greek lexicon, and in the Arabian lexicon named Kamus. and self-styled pandit, I am happy in mentioning men of such well known talents (I might easily adduce many others also) as disapproving these follies. Again :-It is acknowledged that the regulations and acts of Government are very ably translated into Telugu-yet they are wholly free from all these elegancies of style (bandi-repha, ardha-bindu, sandi, and saral-adesam), which poor pretenders to learning timidly cultivate. If such pedants are right, then the laws of the Government are written in bad Telugu; because, according to their notions, nothing can be correct which is easy to read. When it is considered that the reader's progress is greatly impeded by the refinements I have described, I shall appear justified in giving so much space to remarks which cannot be generally interesting. On re-perusing the present essay, I observe with much regret how little advantage we can derive from the historians (so to call them) and popular grammarians. With a few rare exceptions in the former class, these are all unavailable to the Englishman. But if he wishes to read the language in its perfection, to know it as the natives know it, he must resort to the Musarum chorus, the" Cavyamul," or favourite bards, of whose popular works I propose to give a summary in the next essay. In that paper some selections will be given from poets already named; but in the present pages I haveendevoured to compress all that preliminary information which the reader will most frequently require: what remains, may be of slighter moment. ANECDOTES, TRANSLATED FROM THE PERSIAN. A miser saw a philosopher extracting ore from the mine, breaking it down, smelting it, and after great labour, obtaining from it a piece of silver. The miser said: “O sage, since there are much easier methods of earning a living than this, why do you undergo all this labour?" He replied: "All this toil and fatigue is to me a thousand times easier than it would be to take a single farthing from your hand." To rend tough iron with harsh-grating tooth- The verses, which are from Jami, are as follows, in the original :— F. قطعه بدندان رخنه در پولاد کردن بناخن راه در خارا بریدن بآتشدان فرو رفتن نکونسار به پلک دیده آتشپاره چیدن بفرق سر نهادن صد شتربار ز مشرق خانب مغرب دویدن بسي برجامي آسانتر نماید زبار منت دونان کشیدن POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PEGUERS OR TALIENS. THE belief in attendant spirits, witchcraft, fairies, ghosts, and local spirits, is general among the natives of Pegu. Of the first, every person has a pair, who preside over his actions, and determine his fate. Witches are sometimes beautiful young women, but generally old ones; and the ordeal they are made to undergo, in order to prove their innocence of connection with malignant spirits, is exactly the same as that practised in England up to the middle of the eighteenth century. Ghosts are the wandering spirits of deceased persons; they frequent the places of burning and sometimes the houses in which recent deaths have taken place. Women in the earliest stage of pregnancy are particularly subject to the sight of such apparitions, who are doomed to wander, vampire-like, till they can find a living body unoccupied by immaterial life. The intermediate beings, who exercise an influence upon mankind, are devils, nats or angels, and demi-gods. Local spirits, or guardian demi-gods, abound upon every hill and in every valley; they levy contributions upon the people who reside or visit within the limits of their demesnes, and punish the negligent and incredulous by severe visitations in the shape of wounds, fever, and other ailments. There are thirty-seven gods and demi-gods, of whom Menthe ma-daree is the chief, and May-galah-att Mhamee, the queen of the ocean, next in rank; the inferior spirits are innumerable: Tansaung Nat answers to Sylvanus; Tansaung Natma, to a dryad; Kosaung Nat and Thoorathaknee, to genii or guardian spirits; Tshondee is a wizard, and Tshouma a witch; then there are, Tusay, a ghost; and Berloo, a devil. All these are continually, on the alert to punish or reward mankind; but those which are most dreaded, on account of their malignant passions, are the guardian sprites of rivers, mountains, forests, and villages; and, to understand the universal belief in their existence, one has only to read the preamble to the proclamation of King Mendaragyee, upon the occasion of building a new palace at his capital, in which he enjoins the dryads of the royal forests to permit the timbers to be felled without offering molestation to the labourers. The king alone is exempt from the interference of the inferior spiritual beings; nevertheless, he performs the usual ceremonies, and makes the necessary offerings, upon entering the demesne of any powerful local sprite, or deputes an officer of state for that purpose. The belief in witchcraft predominates over all other superstitions; and the misery and crime which it occasions is painful to every feeling mind. The family of the reputed witch is shunned by all the neighbourhood; and, upon being denounced to the district magistrate, they must quit the country without delay, or the witch will be seized and thrown into the nearest pond, from which there is little chance of escape with life. The stigma follows the unfortunate person from place to place, and involves all the members of her family in ruin, for no one will intermarry with them, or even employ them in their service, If the woman is young, she is doomed to perpetual virginity; and if old, is in danger of being deserted by her nearest relations: for the tide of prejudice is so strong, as sometimes to sever even the ties of kindred. The Nat, or Lar, of the district of Rangoon, is Moung-Sheen-Gyee; his favourite haunt is outside the town of Dalla, opposite Rangoon : but he has no temple erected there. His sway is undisputed, the inferior Lares of the villages of this province acknowledging his supremacy. He must be propitiated by gifts of fruit, or offerings in which sugar has been mingled; but money, and things that are sour or bitter, must not be presented. Once a year, about the month of January, the Governor of Rangoon, accompanied by his household, visits the Lar's shrine, and performs the ceremony called Nat-Kadou, or asking pardon; and even the residents of distant villages do not neglect the custom. The legend of this Nat's creation is as follows:-About forty years ago, a young man, who had been a scholar in one of the colleges, threw aside his sacred garment and betook himself to worldly concerns. Soon afterwards, he went by water to Mechla Kyoum, in company with a young woman with whom, he had formed a connexion; having completed his work, he stepped into his canoe in order to return home, but the vessel stuck fast to the shore, and no human effort could remove it; but the moment he put his foot on shore, it moved away with the slightest force. The young man, guessing the cause of this strange interruption to arise from a determination of the deity to separate his body from his immaterial essence, entreated his companion to return: and he, remaining behind, was dissolved into an echo. When the woman reached home, she related to the young man's aged mother the cause of her son's absence; upon which she repaired to the spot, and called aloud upon him by name; but, though he repeated, as if in mockery, the words that were addressed to him, he remained invisible, nor has he ever yet shown himself to mortal. The natives of Ava, who visited the low country soon after this occurrence took place, were in the habit of ridiculing the custom of their neighbours, the Peguers, of holding local sprites in such extreme respect as that awarded to Moung-Sheen-Gyee; but it was remarked that every one who did so met with a violent death: so that the Burmans were not long in adopting the superstitions of the Taliens, and they are at this day more in dread of the Dalla Lar than even the people of Dalla itself. Many of the local sprites have temples, composed of rude materials, erected at the outskirts of the towns or villages; and travellers, as well as residents, are accustomed to propitiate their good will by offerings of money, rice, fruit, &c. &c. The Thathoun Nattsho or Lar had his temple at the entrance of the city, outside the wall, in a grove of trees upon a little hillock overlooking the river. In the middle of the grove stood a wooden altar, to receive the presents of those who visited the spot; and scattered upon the ground, beneath the shade of the aged trees, were earthen images of horses, and other images of animals. The altar was loaded with money; for the birds ate the fruit, and the village dogs devoured the rice, but no one would touch the silver, which had accumulated to such a bulk, that it was heaped up in the shape of a cone, and some pieces were even lying upon the ground. The Thathoun Nat, of all the evil sprites of Pegu, was deemed one of the most dangerous; his power was undisputed for many miles round: he was known to be most avaricious, for he spared none who came thither and slept in the city, and failed to leave a gift at his shrine. At length a traveller passed that way, and admired the wealthy altar; he longed to possess the hoard of silver, but dared not take it. He threw his eyes upon the ground to assist himself in thinking upon the means whereby he could make the Nat's property his own, and saw the images lying about, placed there for the use of the Nat when he chose to make excursions through his demesne; he then sat himself upon the ground, opened his scrip, took out a silver piece, and placed it upon the heap. This done, he commenced eating his meal with a light heart; but as he was making up his betel-roll, a sudden thought struck him—the thought was sudden, and he immediately put it in execution. He arose, and girded up his loins; one fair image he placed with its tail against the trunk of a tree, |