There can be no doubt that many others might be selected, were it necessary to add more proofs of the identity or intimate connection of the Gipsy and Hindoostanee languages here. XX. On authenticity is founded. It appears necessary to do so, since a late author has abruptly pronounced the Vedas to be forgeries *. It has been already mentioned, that the practice of reading the principal Védas in superstitious modes, tends to preserve the genuine text. Copies, prepared for such modes of recital, are spread in various parts of India, especially Benares, Jeyenagar, and the banks of the Gódávérí. Interpolations and forgeries have become impracticable since this usage has been introduced: and the Rigvéda, and both the Yajushes, belonging to the several S'ác'hás, in which that custom has been adopted, have been, therefore, long safe from alteration. The explanatory table of contents, belonging to the several Védas, also tends to ensure the purity of the text; since the subject and length of each passage are therein specified. The index, again, is itself secured from alteration by more than one exposition of its meaning, in the form of a perpetual commentary. It is a received and well grounded opinion of the learned in India, that no book is altogether safe from changes and interpolations until it have been commented: but when once a gloss has been published, no fabrication could afterwards succeed; because the perpetual commentary notices every passage, and, in general, explains every word. * Mr. PINKERTON, in his Modern Geography, Vol. II. who have been stigmatized as sanguinary, from their delighting in boxing, cock-fighting, and bear-baiting?-But instances of contradictions of this kind between particular habits, and general character in every nation, must be too familiar to you to require illustration by further examples; and I am sure you will agree with me, that it is the wisest and safest course to avoid forming general conclusions from partial views. A member does not form a whole; and who has the means of examining and comparing all the parts of so stupendous a system, as forms the history and character of man, even in the meanest of the subdivisions of society? We therefore must not conclude that the Burmhas are a scientific or intelligent people, because they play chess; nor that they are brutally savage, because they sometimes eat the flesh of their enemies. Chess, by universal consent, holds the first rank among our sedentary amusements, and its history has employed the pens of many eminent men. Among the number, Sir William Jones has obliged the world with an essay replete as usual with erudition and information. But while I avow the warmest admiration of his talents, and subscribe with all due deference to his authority, I must be allowed to acknowledge a difference of sentiment. Sir William says, "The beautiful simplicity and extreme perfection of the game, as it is commonly played in Europe and Asia, convinces me that it was invented by one effort of some great genius, not completed by gradual improvements, but formed, to use the phrase of Italian critics, by the first intention." But it appears to me that all he afterwards adduces on the subject is so far from corroborating, that it is in direct contradiction of this opinion, and I trust my further combating it will neither be deem ) ed impertinent nor invidious. The errors of a great mind are, of all others, the most material to be guarded against; and Sir William himself, had he lived to reconsider the subject. I am sure would have been the first to expunge a passage of so unqualified construction. Perfection has been denied us undoubtedly for wise purposes, and progression is necessary to the happiness of our existence. No human invention is so perfect but it may be improved, and no one is, or has been, so great, but another may be greater. I have elsewhere had occasion to observe, that, generally speaking, nature is slow, silent, and uniform in all her operations; and I am induced to think, that what is true of the material world, equally holds as to the intellectual. In this opinion I am supported by the testimony of Sir Isaac Newton, who, with equal modesty and truth, replied to one of his admiring friends, that if he surpassed others in his attainments, he owed it entirely to a patient habit of thinking. All great efforts are violations of the order of nature, and, as such, are rather to be deprecated than admired. In common language they are called convulsions, and I confess myself opposed to convulsions of every kind. Sir William Jones's evidence goes to confirm the opinion that we are indebted to the Hindoos for the game of chess; but the description of the game which he has given from the Bhawishya Puran has nothing of that beautiful simplicity which called forth his admiration. Indeed he admits, that the Indian game, described by him, is more complex; and he considers it more modern than the simple game of the Persians, of which he could not find any account in the writings of the Brahmans. He informs us that the Sanscrit name is Chatu ranga, and the root from which the name of the game |