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ART. XXXI.

The Memoirs of Khojeh Abdulkurreem, a Cashmerian of Diftinction, who accompanied Nadir Shah, on his Return from Hindostan to Perfia; whence he travelled to Baghdad, Damafcus, and Aleppo, and after vifiting Medina and Mecca, embarked at the Port of Jeddeh, and failed to Hooghly in Bengal. Including the History of Hindoftan from A. D. 1739 to 1749; with an Account of the European Settlements in Bengal, and on the Coast of Coromandel. Tranflated from the original Perfian, by Francis Gladwin, Efq. E 8vo. pp. 219. 5s. fewed. Printed at Calcutta, 1788, and fold by White in London.

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R. GLADWIN, we fee, with plea fure, continues his useful labours, in opening to us the treasures of Eaftern literature, which, but for his great fkill and happy induftry, might ftill have continued locked up from our view, in the hidden recefles of their original languages.

Of the author of this hiftory, the following account is given, by himself, in his preface: He was born in the land of Cathmeer, which he ftyles the Semblance of the Celestial Paradise, the Inheritance of our great Anceftor;' and in a note we are informed, that the Cafhmerians fo ftyle their country in all their public writings.

Our Eastern hiftorian fays, that at the time when Nadir Shah was carrying on his ravages in Hindoftan, he procured an introduction to that conqueror, in order to accompany him in his return to Perfia; and this the author did with the view of accomplishing, with facility, a defire which he had long entertained, of performing a pilgrimage to Mecca. On his being prefented to Nadir Shah, that modern Tamerlane not only promifed him his protection, but took him into his fervice; in which he held a poft of fome diftinction.

On his return from his travels to Hooghly, in Bengal, he was folicited by his friends to write the hiftory of his travels, and alfo of the most interefting occurrences of his own time, refpecting the affairs of Hindoftan, and the exploits of Nadir Shah; to many of which he had himself been an eye-witness; and this, fays he, I have accordingly attempted, in a plain and unaffected ftyle, free from flattery and exaggeration, which too often ftain the hiftoric page. I have alfo avoided prolixity, as well as ftudied cadences, and flowing periods, which only ferve to perplex the fenfe.'

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Khojeh Abdulkurreem writes, indeed, like an honeft intelligent man, with ftrict impartiality, and with every appearance of that reverence for truth, which ought to be the governing principle of every hiftorian. Whatever were his obligations to Nadir Shah, he speaks of the general character and conduct of that tyrant in terms which plainly fhew, that his pen was under no

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undue influence. 'He was,' fays our author, a brave and experienced foldier, poffeffed of an acute, difcriminating underftanding, with activity, refolution, and forefight; he knew very well how to conquer, and to make himself obeyed; but he was totally ignorant of the true principles of government for the profperity of a kingdom; and the impetuofity of his temper, bis cruelty and hardness of heart, made his name univerfally ab. horred and detefted.

The following fhort paffage may serve as a specimen of our hiftorian's turn of fentiment, and mode of expreffion:

Notwithstanding Nadir Shah was very illiterate and tyrannica!, yet whenever he gained a victory, he attributed his good fortune to the power of heaven, and never failed to offer up public thank giving for it. And it is to this piety, that we muft afcribe his grea: fuccefs. On the other hand, fome of his officers vainly boafied, that these victories were folely the fruits of their valour, which prefumption drew on them the divine vengeance, and terminated it their deftruction, in the manner following.

After the conqueft of the fort of Jieyook, Nadir Shah, by beat of drum, prohibited the foldiers from molefting the inhabitants. The Kezlebashes, regardless of thefe orders, and thinking to fad this place full of money and jewels like Shahjehanabad, began to plunder; but after great fearch, could difcover nothing but grain, and fome furs. As foon as intelligence hereof was brought to Nadir Shah, he fent a party to feize the offenders, and bring them before him. All the officers amongst them, from the commander of | a thousand to a Debashy †, he ordered to be beheaded in his prefence, and the private foldiers he difmiffed with the lofs of their ears and nofes. The execution lafted till fun fet, when he commanded the headlefs trunks, with their arms, to be carried to the main-guard, by which way every one paffed, and there to lie expofed for two days as an example to others. I was prefent the whole time, and faw the wonderful hand of God, which employs fuch inftruments for the execution of his divine vengeance. Although not one of the execu tioners was fatisfied with Nadir Shah, yet nobody dared to difobey his commands; a father beheaded his fon, and a brother a brother, and yet prefumed not to complain.'

Khojeh Abdulkurreem fays little or nothing of the natural hiftory of the countries through which he travelled, but he frequently gives us brief defcriptions of the principal places which occur in his itinerary; and often expreffes himself with becoming concern, and humane feeling, when he has occafion to notice the ruin of cities, and the depopulation of provinces, through the mifgovernment of defpotifm, and the ravages of barbarous invafions.

On the whole, this production will be of confiderable use to future compilers of Eaft Indian hiftory; and, in the mean

* Dehli, which city they had, before, taken and plundered. † A commander of ten.

time, will afford confiderable information and amufement to its readers in general: though, it must be confeffed, that the ftrange uncouth names of perfons, places, and matters of which we have little knowlege, may prove, in fome measure, a drawback on their entertainment. G.

ART. XXXII.

A Narrative of the Tranfa&ions in Bengal, during the Soobahdaries of Azeem us Shan-Jaffer Khan-Shuja Khan-Sirafraz Khanand Alyvirdi Khan. Tranflated from the original Perfian, by Francis Gladwin, Efq. 8vo. pp. 211. 5s. fewed. Calcutta printed; and fold in London by White. 1788.

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HIS Perfian narrative may be confidered as a companion to the preceding memoirs, written by the learned Cafhmeerian. Mr. Gladwin, in the dedication of this tranflation to George Vanfittart, Efq. obferves, that the name of the author of the original manufcript is unknown, but that he appears to be well acquainted with his fubject, and that he affords us much curious information on the ftate of the government and of the revenues of Bengal, during a very interesting period of Afiatic hiftory: The narrative, which comes down to the death of Alyvirdi Khan in 1756, abounds, like all the Indian hiftories, with horrid details of battles, murders, acts of rapacity and treachery, and fcenes of defolation: the natural effects of fanaticifm, fuperftition, and defpotic fway: from all which, the poor Hindoos of Bengal, &c. are now fo happily freed by the falutary influence of a British government!

We are forry that the author of the Perfian MS. of this narrative is unknown, as it abounds with many important facts, and interefting reprefentations, with refpect to the authenticity of which, it is natural for the reader to regret that the fanction of the relator's name and character is wanting.

ART. XXXIII.

G.

PUNDNA MEH. A Compendium of Ethics. Tranflated from the Perfian of Sheikh Sadi of Shiraz. 8vo. pp. 59. Calcutta, from the Prefs of Stuart and Cooper. 1788.

HE name of Sadi is fufficient to excite the reader's atten

tion to this little Perfian manual of moral inftruction; which greatly resembles the Proverbs of Solomon. It is divided under the following heads: Beneficence, Liberality, Parfimony, Humility, Arrogance, Knowlege, Ignorance, Justice, Oppreffion, Contentment, Avarice, Obedience to God, Divine Worship, Gratitude to God, Patience, Truth, Falsehood, Fate and Defliny, Warning not to have any Reliance but upon GOD, Warning from evil Intentions and Actions, Reflections on the Inflability of worldly

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Good.

Good. The fhort chapter on Falfehood, may be given as a fpecimen :

Whofoever exercifes a lying tongue, the lamp of his heart fhall not have light.

Falfehood difhonoureth a man:

• Falfehood maketh a man afhamed. Oh, brother! never utter a lie,

For a liar is defpicable, and without credit:

The wife man thunneth the liar, fince nobody maketh any account of him.'

The Perfian original, and the English translation, are printed in oppofite pages. We fuppofe Mr. Gladwin to be the tranfla

tor.

DR.

G.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS.

R. M'Caufland finds, that in the Monthly Review for May, it is obferved, that the hypothefis which he has offered in respect to the phænomena of the Barometer, is not entirely new.

He can only fay, that at the time he wrote it, he had never met with even a hint on the fubject, in the courfe of either his reading or converfation; and when it was fhewn, in the fpring of the year 1785, to a gentleman who had the first opportunities of being informed of every thing that was new in fcience, he affured the author that he had never before heard of fuch an hypothefis.

• As Dr. M'Causland is extremely defirous to fee every thing that has been faid on this fubject from which he might receive information, he will think himself extremely obliged to the Monthly Reviewer, if he will communicate the title of the publication to which he alludes.'

In faying that Dr. M.Caufland's hypothefis was not entirely new, we did not mean to infinuate that he had borrowed the hint from any preceding writer, for his work has intrinfic marks of originality, and ingenious investigation. We meant, that the phænomena had been referred, by fome other philofophers, to caufes of the fame general tendency, viz. to chemical combinations and decompofitions taking place in the atmosphere, by which the specific gravity, or actual quantity, of the atmospheric fluid, are, in different circumstances, increafed or diminished. We alluded particularly to Pignotti's Congetture Meteorologiche, published in 1781; and M. De Luc's hypothefis of the reciprocal transformation, in the atmosphere, of water and air into one another, in the fecond volume of his Idées fur la Meteorologie, published in 1787. An account of the former may be feen in the fixty-fifth volume of our Review, p. 305; and of the latter, in vol. 77. p. 116. Ch.

*

The author of the SICK LAUREAT * may rest assured, that, when we reviewed his Poem fo entitled, we had not the fmallest idea of

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afcribing to him the celebrated DIABOLIAD; nor do we apprehend that such a suspicion could poffibly arife in the mind of any difcerning reader. Neither could we, for a moment, fuppofe, that a writer of fo much real merit could ever ftoop to the littlenefs of "praifing himself *" a mean nefs, of which he fo ftrongly, and properly, expreffes his contempt, in the letter which he has addreffed to us, from D

r.

Alluding to the compliments which he has paid to the author of the Diaboliad, in his poem above mentioned.

+++ Amicus, R. T. and S. W. are referred to the answer given to "A Young Reader," at the end of our last month's Review. We with neither to offend nor difcourage well-difpofed ftudents; but as we muft not suffer ourselves to be drawn out of our province, a ftop must, if poffible, be put to applications for advice, in matters appertaining to the bufinefs of education.

* The verfes on the King's illness, figned Thyrfis, fhould have been fent to a Magazine; the Reviewers can have nothing to fay to manufcripts, and anonymous papers.

The Erratum, in p. 483 of our Review for June, marked in the last page of that number, was inferted by miftake; the correction having been attended to, after a few fheets only were printed off.

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Errata in Vol. Ixxx.

P. 63. 1. penult. dele the word agreeably.'
280. Note, 1. 1. for manire,' r. manière.
334. Note, 1. 1. formeilieurs,' r. meilleurs.
385. 1. 21. read, the first three chapters, &c.
418. Par. 2. 1. 1. dele in.

460. 1.

4.

from bot. for Eton, r. Ecton.
471. Correfpondence t†t, read, it will be reviewed,

&

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