obvious; and as observation would naturally become more extensive, as intellect became more active, new symbols would everywhere be adopted, and new combinations of them be invented in proportion as they were wanted. 231. The only certain proof of plagiary or borrowing is where the animal or vegetable productions of one climate are employed as symbols by the inhabitants of another; as the lion is in Tibet; and as the lotus and hooded snake were in Ægypt; which make it probable that the religious symbols of both those countries came originally from the Hindoos. As commercial communications, however, became more free and intimate, particular symbols might have been adopted from one people by another without any common origin or even connexion of general principles; though, between Egypt and Hindostan the general similarity is too great in points remote from common usage, to have been spontaneous or accidental. One of the most remarkable is the hereditary division into casts derived from the metempsychosis; which was a fundamental article of faith with both as also with the ancient Gauls, Britons, and many other nations. The Hindoo casts rank according to the number of transmigrations which the soul is supposed to have undergone, and its consequent proximity to, or distance from re-absorption into the divine essence, or intellectual abyss, from which it sprang: and in no instance in the history of man, has the craft of imposture, or the insolence of usurpation, placed one class of human beings so far above another, as the sacred Bramins, whose souls are approaching to a re-union with their source, are above the wretched outcasts, who are without any rank in the hierarchy; and are therefore supposed to have all the long, humiliating, and painful transmigrations yet before them. Should the most respectable and opulent of these degraded mortals happen to touch the poorest, and, in other respects, most worthless person of exalted religious rank, the offence, in some of the Hindoo governments, would be punished with death: even to let his shadow reach him, is to defile and insult him; and as the respective distinctions are in both hereditary, the soul being supposed to descend into one class for punishment and ascend into the other for reward, the misery of degradation is without hope even in posterity; the wretched parents having nothing to bequeath to their unfortunate offspring that is not tainted with everlasting infamy and humiliation. Loss of cast is therefore the most dreadful punishment that a Hindoo can suffer; as it affects both his body and his soul, extends beyond the grave, and reduces both him and his posterity for ever to a situation below that of a brute. 232. Had this powerful engine of influence been employed in favor of pure morality and efficient virtue, the Hindoos might have been the most virtuous and happy of the human race; but the ambition of a hierarchy has, as usual, employed it to serve its own particular interests, instead of those of the community in general: whence to taste of the flesh of a cow, or be placed with certain ceremonies upon the back of a bull, though unwillingly and by constraint, are crimes by which the most virtuous of men is irrevocably subjected to it, while the worst excesses of cruelty, fraud, perjury, and peculation leave no stains nor pollutions whatsoever. The future rewards, also, held out by their religion, are not to any social or practical virtues, but to severe penances, operose ceremonies, and above all to profuse donations to the priesthood. The Bramins have even gone so far as to sell future happiness by retail; and to publish a tariff of the different prices, at which certain periods of residence in their paradise, or regions of bliss, are to be obtained between the different transmigrations of the soul. The Hindoos are of course a faithless and fraudulent, though in general a mild and submissive race for the same system which represses active virtue, represses aspiring hope; and by fixing each individual immovably in his station, renders him almost as much a machine as the implement which he employs. Hence, like the ancient Egyptians, they have been eminently successful in all works of art, that require only methodical labor and manual dexterity, but have never produced any thing in painting, sculpture or architecture that discovers the smallest trace or symptom of those powers the mind, which we call taste and genius; and of which the most early and imperfect works of the Greeks always show some dawning. Should the pious labors of our missionaries succeed in diffusing among them a more pure and more moral, but less uniform and less energetic system of religion, they may improve and exalt the characters of individual men; but they will for ever destroy the repose and tranquillity of the mass. The lights of European literature and philosophy will break in with the lights of the gospel; the spirit of controversy will accompany the spirit of devotion; and it will soon be found that men, who have learned to think themselves equal in the sight of God, will assert their equality in the estimation of men. It requires therefore no spirit of prophecy, nor even any extraordinary degree of political sagacity, to fix the date of the fall of European domination 1 Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. v. of in the east from the prevalence of European religion. 233. From the specimens that have appeared in European languages, the of the Hindoos seems to be in the same style poetry as their art; and to consist of gigantic, gloomy, and operose fictions, destitute of all those graces which distinguish the religious and poetical fables of the Greeks. Nevertheless the structure of their mythology is full as favorable to both; being equally abundant and more systematic in its emanations and personifications. After the supreme Triade, they suppose an immense host of inferior spirits to have been produced; part of whom afterwards rebelling under their chiefs Moisasoor and Rhaabon, the material world was prepared for their prison and place of purgation; in which they were to pass through eightynine transmigrations prior to their restoration. During this time they were exposed to the machinations of their former leaders; who endeavour to make them violate the laws of the Omnipotent, and thus relapse into hopeless perdition, or lose their cast, and have all the tedious and painful transmigrations already past to go through again; to prevent which, their 'more dutiful brethren, the emanations that remained faithful to the Omnipotent, were allowed to comfort, cherish, and assist them in their passage; and that all might have equal opportunities of redeeming themselves, the divine personages of the great Triade had at different times become incarnate in different forms, and in different countries, to the inhabitants of which they had given different laws and instructions suitable to their respective climates and circumstances; so that each religion may be good without being exclusively so; the goodness of the deity naturally allowing many roads to the same end. 234. These incarnations, which form the principal subjects of sculpture in all the temples of India, Tibet, Tartary, and China, are above all others calculated to call forth the ideal perfections of the art, by expanding and exalting the imagination of the artist, and exciting his ambition to surpass the simple imitation of ordinary forms in order to produce a model of excellence worthy to be the corporeal habitation of the Deity: but this, no nation of the East, nor indeed of the Earth, except the Greeks and those who copied them, ever attempted. Let the precious wrecks and fragments, therefore, of the art and genius of that wonderful people be collected with care and preserved with reverence, as examples of what man is capable of under peculiar circumstances; which, as they have never occurred but once, may never occur again! Alphabetical Index of the Principal Matters; with Numerals ABRAHAM XXv, 40, 168 Actæon xxv, 38, 114 Adjuration xxvii, 72, 217 Attributes, (personified) xxiii, 230, 40 Axe xxv, 258, 160. xxvii, 77, 222 Adonis xxiii, 8, 18. 9, 19. xxiv, 223, Bacchanals xxiv, 44, 74 100. xxv, 41, 120 Ægis xxvi, 46, 179. 47, 180 Ægyptians xxiv, 39, 64. 45, 75. xxv, Æsculapius xxv, 245, 140 AIAHΣ xxv, 248, 145 Alexander, (Letter of) xxvii, 72, 215 206 Amazons xxiii, 238, 50 Bacchus xxiii, 6, 10. 8, 18. 9, 19. Βαιτυλια χχνί, 271, 197 Barley xxiii, 233, 43. xxiii, 236, 48 Beads xxiii, 236, 47 Amberics xxvi, 270, 197 Ambrosia xxvii, 77, 223 Ambrosial stones xxvi, 270, 197 Beetle xxvi, 45, 177 Bell xxvi, 48, 181 Bellona xxvi, 44, 175 Ammon xxv, 253, 151. xxvi, 260, 185, Bŋλos xxiv, 49, 83 xxvii, 79, 224 Antenna xxv, 41, 119 Anubis xxvi, 33, 161. 43, 174 Apis xxiii, 225, 29. 240, 53 ΑΦΗΤΩΡ xxν, 48, 129 Aphroditè xxiii, 234, 43 Bird xxvii, 77, 223 Blood xxv, 247, 143. xxvi, 36, 164 Bramin xxvii, 85, 232 Bridle xxvi, 45, 176 Brimo xxv, 247, 143 Bryant xxvi, 70, 211. xxvii, 83, 229 Apollo xxiv, 215, 88. xxv, 47, 128. 50, Buccinum xxiii, 239, 51 132. xxvii, 79, 224 Arabians xxiii, 225, 30 Architis xxvi, 271, 199 Arrow xxv, 48, 129 ΑΡΤΕΜΙΣ ΧΧν, 246, 142 ΑΣΠΑΣΙΑ χχνί, 272, 199 Ass xxv, 44, 123 Astartè xxiii, 230, 38. xxvii, 74, 218, 219 Asterisk xxiv, 220, 96. xxvi, 33, 161 Attis xxiv, 221, 96, 97. 223, 100. xxv, Attraction xxiii, 12, 24. xxiv, 216, 89. Bull xxiii, 16, 28. 226, 31. xxv, 243, 138. 247, 144. 257, 158. xxvii, 74, 219 Bulla xxvi, 47, 179 Burial xxvi, 34, 162 Burning xxvi, 34, 162 Butterfly xxvi, 40, 169 Cadmeians xxiii, 239, 52. xxvi, 272, 200 Cadmus xxiii, 10, 20. xxvi, 272, 200 Caduceus xxv, 258, 160 Calf xxiii, 240, 53 Camillus xxvi, 272, 200 Canobus xxvi, 38, 165 Canonisation xxvi, 274, 203. xxvii, 79, Capitals xxv, 254, 153. 255, 155 Castor xxv, 241, 135 Cecrops xxiii, 13, 25. xxvi, 278, 207 Ceres xxiii, 8, 18. 228, 35. xxv, 39, 117. xxvi, 276, 205 Chaldæans xxiv, 48, 81 ΧΟΙΡΟΨΑΛΗΣ xxiii, 9, 19 ΧΡΥΣΑΩΡ xxν, 48, 129 Circle xxiv, 218, 91 Cista xxiii, 14, 25. xxv, 241, 136 Demigods xxvi, 278, 207 AENAPITHE xxvi, 267, 192 Destruction xxvi, 34, 162 Diadem xxiii, 236, 47 Diana xxv, 37, 114. 243, 139. 246, 142. 247, 144 Didymæus xxv, 50, 183. xxvi, 270, 197 AINOX xxiv, 217, 89 Dionè xxiii, 234, 43. xxvii, 78, 223 Dioscuri xxv, 241, 135. xxvi, 268, 193. 277, 206 ΔΙΩΝΗ xxiii, 229, 36 Dirceto xxv, 256, 158 Cock xxiv, 226, 104. xxv, 257, 159. Disa xxiii, 15, 25. xxiv, 225, 103. xxvi, xxvi, 272, 200 Cœlum xxiii, 230, 38 Coins xxiii, 7, 14. 8, 17 Columns xxv, 250, 147. 254, 152 Consecration xxiii, 13, 25. xxvii, 79, 225 Cortina xxvi, 269, 195. 270, 196 Cow xxiii, 239, 52. 240, 53. xxvi, 269, Crab-fish xxv, 244, 139 Crescent xxiii, 226, 32. xxv, 245, 140. Criobolium xxvi, 40, 168 Cross xxiii, 235, 46. xxiv, 221,97. xxv, Crown xxiv, 225, 102 Cuckoo xxvii, 78, 223 Cursing xxiv, 35, 57 xxvi, 267, 193 269, 195 Eel xxvii, 81, 227 Egg xxiii, 12, 24. 226, 31. xxv, 241, Cybele xxiii, 233, 42. xxv, 42, 120. Epaphus xxiii, 16, 28. 240, 53 Cypris xxiii, 233, 43 Dancing xxvi, 262, 186, 187. 273, 201 Deer xxv, 33, 110. 37, 114. 38, 115 132 Delta xxiii, 233, 43 EPE xxiii, 229, 37 Erichthonius xxiii, 13, 25 'EPMAIOI AOPO1 xxvi, 271, 198 Euhemerism and Euhemerus xxvii, 70, |