mote both the science and practice of physic." (Signed by the Secretary.) [Oriental Mag. Mar. 1823.

GERMAN ORIENTAL LITERATURE.

Professor Schlegel's Prospectus. Having, for a considerable number of years, made the Sanscrit language my particular study, I propose to publish a series of editions of some works, selected from the most distinguished productions of the ancient and original literature of the Brahmins.

I have just given to the public an edition of the Bhagavad-Gita, a philosophical poem, known all over India, and almost revered as a sacred book. This performance has been submitted to the opinion of competent judges, both in England and France; and the learned are thence enabled to judge of the plan which I endeavoured to pursue, of my capacity to execute such an undertaking, and of my exactness in fulfilling the duties of an editor, who has both criticism and interpretation for his objects.

That first attempt is to be followed by a complete edition of the epic poem entitled Ramayana, or, The Exploits of Ramas.

I think it essential for the advancement of the study of the Sanscrit, most strictly to apply to it the principles which, in Europe, have brought the knowledge of the classic authors to the highest degree of perfection. The history of what has been done with regard to the Greek authors, seems particularly calculated to illustrate my intention. The literature of ancient Greece was still in existence at Constantinople, when, in the 15th century, some Greek fugitives taught their language in western Europe. These Greeks were undoubtedly very learned; but they laboured under certain prejudices, and were grown old in certain habits; and if the task of editing the classic authors had been left to them alone, we should never have had any text so correct, nor any comments so satisfactory, as those of which we are now in possession.

As modern Greece has transmitted to us the great works of ancient Greece, in the same manner does India, in the present time, offer to us the written monuments of remote, and almost impenetrable antiquity. The Sanscrit is a living language for the learned Brahmins, it being the sacred repository which contains their knowledge and wisdom: they possess all the treasures of Indian literature, including even the commentaries, and other subordinate productions. Nevertheless, the editions which learned Indians have published, or may in future publish, will never entirely satisfy the wants of a European reader, of which wants those learned men must necessarily be ignorant.

The first consideration of an editor of

Sanscrit books must turn upon the genuineness and correctness of the text, which generally may be obtained, without having recourse to conjectural criticism, by the comparison of as great a number of manuscripts as he may have access to, and particularly such as were written in different parts of India; likewise by the aid of commentaries, where any such exist.

In the next place, it is the duty of an editor to clear up every thing that is obscure, either with respect to the language or to the matter. In a study so new, regard must even be had to readers who may not yet be sufficiently masters of the language. Now the most concise species of commentary is a literal translation, written, however, in a pure style, and intelligible of itself, wherein only a few words occasionally, when it is requisite, might be added in parenthesis, by way of paraphrase or explanation, in the manner adopted by Sir William Jones, in his excellent translation of the Laws of Manou; or, to use an example more familiar to English readers, in the manner in which additional words, absolutely necessary, are inserted in the English version of the Old Testament. Conformably to these views, I shall accompany the Rámáyana with a translation, a general introduction, and a mythological and geographical dictionary: the whole in Latin, as being the language of universal communication among the learned, and, for the reasons adduced in the preface of the Bhagavad-Gita, more suited than any other for translations from the Sanscrit. I shall then subjoin critical notes, in which I shall give an account of the variations in the text, and of my reasons for preferring such and such a reading.

It would be useless to repeat what has been set forth in so eloquent and luminous a manner, by several learned writers of great celebrity, English, French, and German, touching the importance of the study of the Sauscrit, and the classical literature of the ancient Brahmins. The admirable structure of that language, its surprising affinity with the Persian, the Greek, the Latin, and the Teutonic languages, make it a leading object of a science, which may be called quite new, viz. comparative grammar, a science which, being upheld by facts, will advance with a progressive and sure step; while conjectural etymology, treated as it has been commonly, has led to nothing but chimerical systems. Moreover, the ancient religion, the mythology, and the legislation of the Brahmins, conduct us back as it were to the cradle of civilization, and throw the greatest light on similar objects among several distinguished nations of the ancient world, and especially among the Egyptians. The written monuments of a literature, considered still as sacred by the Hindus of the present day, make us ac

quainted with the source of their manners and customs, of their notions and prejudices, and finally of that stationary civilization, to which the guardianship of an hereditary priesthood (one of the principal features of the primitive world) could bring the education of nations. In one word, it may be affirmed that a thorough knowledge of ancient India, such as the companions of Alexander the Great found it, is the only key to the state of modern India.

As to the Ramayana, in particular, it occupies, together with the Maha-Bhárata, the first rank among the mythological poems which the Indians call Pouránas, that is to say, ancient traditions. The fictions which it contains are spread not only over the whole extent of India, properly so called, but they have also penetrated into the peninsula beyond the Ganges, into the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and to several countries of central Asia; and never, perhaps, had a deified hero a wider theatre of his glory

than Ramas.

The subject of the poem is the banishment of Ramas, a prince sprung from the dynasty of the kings of Ayodhya (now Oude); his wanderings through the peninsula; the carrying off his wife by a giant, the king of Ceylon; the miraculous conquest of that island; and the re-establishment of Ramas on the throne of his forefathers. The unity of action, a colour of thought, feeling, and manners, at once heroic and patriarchal; the abundance and variety of marvellous fictions; picturesque descriptions of rivers, mountains, and forests, and the whole of vegetable and animal nature in India; powerful and affecting situations; a great elevation and delicacy in the sentiments of the heroes, and principal personages, diffuse an unrivalled charm over this poem in the eye of those readers who know how to transport themselves, in idea, into a moral, intellectual, and physical sphere, entirely different from their own.

Several of the Pouránas are too voluminous to admit of being published otherwise than by extracts. The Ramayana is not of so excessive a length, being estimated at 24,000 distichs, contained in seven books, of which every one is subdivided into an unequal number of chap. ters or rhapsodies.

Epic and traditional poetry is, without comparison, that part of Indian literature which is most easy to understand, its style approaching very near to the flowing and native simplicity of the songs of Homer. For the promotion of the study of the Sanscrit, nothing appears to me more useful than to put into the hands of the students, a mass of easy and attractive reading, in which, after having made themselves masters of the general prin

ciples of grammar, they may go on without the assistance of a teacher, and become familiar, almost without trouble, with the genius of the language, and its peculiar idioms.

The Ramayana is not absolutely an unedited work. Messrs. Carey and Marshman engaged in an edition, of which three volumes, containing the two first books, appeared at Serampore in the years 1806-1810: this edition was to have formed ten quarto volumes; but the undertaking seems to have been long since abandoned, and of the three volumes printed, the second is no longer to be had, among the booksellers.

In my edition, the text of the poem and the version will make seven large 8vo. volumes; an eighth volume, which is to contain the introduction and general illustrations, will appear at the conclusion, though intended to be placed at the head of the work. The whole will be published in portions of two volumes each, and the price of such a portion, delivered in London, will be £4.

The text will be printed in the Devagânari character, of which the types were cut and cast at Paris, under my direction, by order of the Prussian Government. The size and quality of the paper will be the same as in my edition of the Bhagavad-Gita, with this difference only, that still more pains will be bestowed upon the typographical execution, in order to produce a book, which in this respect also may deserve a place in the libraries of collectors.

I cannot yet determine the extent to which the notes, which are to be printed separately, will be carried. As they will partly be of a nature to interest those only who closely and minutely study the Sanscrit, it will be at the option of the subscribers, whether they will take them or not. In the former case, they will be furnished on the same terms as the text, that is to say, at £2 per volume.

The price will be raised to non-subscribers, in the proportion of one-third above the price of subscription. A few copies only will be taken off on superior paper, besides those ordered by the sub

scribers.

The printing will not be begun until the materials for the whole work are collected, at least most of them. The first delivery, therefore, will be subject to a considerable delay. I hope, however, to be able to publish it in the beginning of the year 1825. After this, the printing will proceed rapidly, and I flatter myself, that I shall be able to complete the whole in the space of four years.

A. W. DE SCHLEGEL, Professor in the University of Boun; Member of the Royal Academy of Berlin; Corresponding Member of the Royal Society of Gottingen, and of the Royal Academy of Bavaria; Honorary Member of the Asiatic tic Societies of Calcutta, Paris and London. London, Nov. 1823.

ON Thursday, the 4th December, a Deputation of the Court of Directors proceeded to the East-India College, for the purpose of receiving the Report of the result of the general Examination of the Students at the close of the Term.

The Deputation, on their arrival at the College, proceeded to the Principal's Lodge, where they were received by him and the Professors and the Oriental Visitor. Soon afterwards they proceeded to the Hall, the Students being previously assembled where the following proceedings took place.

The list of the Students who had obtained prizes and other honourable distinctions was read; also a list of the best Persian writers.

Mr. F. H. Robinson read an English Essay: "Foreign Possessions, to be advantageous to a nation, must be governed upon principles beneficial to the subject people.'

The Students read and translated in the several Oriental Languages.

Prizes were then delivered by the Chairman to the Students, according to the following list:

List of Students who obtained Medals, Prizes of Books, and other honourable Distinctions, at the Public Examination, December 1823.

Students in their Fourth Term.

G. A. Malcolm, medal in classics, prize in Hindustani, and highly distinguished in other departments.

A. J. Cherry, medal in Sanscrit, and highly distinguished in other departments.

R. Walker, medal in mathematics, medal in political economy, and highly distinguished in other departments.

F. H. Robinson, prize in Bengaly, prize for the best English essay, and highly distinguished in other depart

ments.

J. W. Alexander, medal in Persian, prize in Arabic, and with great credit in other departments.

R. Hall, medal in law, and highly distinguished in other departments.

C. W. Truscott, prize in drawing, and highly distinguished in other departments.

H. F. Dumergue, prize in drawing, and highly distinguished in other depart

ments.

Students in their Third Term.

J. C. Brown, prize in mathematics, Hindustani, Arabic, and highly distinguished in other departments.

H. Pidcock, prize i r politiccoromy Bengaly, and highly distinguished in other departments.

T. J. W. Thomas, prize in Sanscrit, and highly distinguished in other departments. D. Pringle, prize in law, and highly distinguished in other departments. C. G. Udny, prize in classics, and with great credit in other departments.

W. A. Edmonstone, prize in Persian, and with great credit in other depart

ments.

Students in their Second Term.

G. F. Thompson, prizes in history, law, and Persian.

C. Edison, prize in mathematics, in Hindustani, and highly distinguished in other departments.

A. Reid, prize in Bengaly, and highly distinguished in other departments.

G. T. Lushington, prize in classics, and with great credit in other depart

ments.

A. Heyland, prize in Sanscrit.

F. J. Halliday, prize in Arabic, and highly distinguished in other departments.

Students in their First Term.

R. T. Porter, prizes in mathematics and English composition; and with great credit in other departments.

A. E. Hamilton, prizes in Sanscrit and Persian writing; and with great credit in other departments.

J. R. Colvin, prize in classics, and with great credit in other departments.

J. P. Gubbins, prize in Persian, and with great credit in other departments. G. Blunt, prize in Bengaly. A. Malet, prize in drawing.

The following Students were highly distinguished:

any Student delay so to proceed, he would only take rank among the Students classed at the Examination previous to his departure for India, and would be placed at the end of that Class in which rank was originally assigned to him.

Notice was then given, that the next Term would commence on Monday the 19th January 1824; and that the Students were required to return to the College within the first four days of that period, unless a statutable reason, satisfactory to the College Council, could be assigned for the delay; otherwise the Term would be forfeited.

The Chairman then addressed the Students, assuring them, in the name of the Deputation of the Court of Directors then present, of the pleasure it afforded them upon receiving so highly creditable a Report from the College Council as had been that day presented to them, on the discipline and literature of the Term. It would be ever pleasing to their Patrons to witness similar results; and he felt satisfied that the example of the past Term would have its due effect, and that the next Visitation would receive an equally favourable Report as the present. He anticipated that the East-India Company, as well as the British Empire at large, would derive the greatest advantage from those talents, which hitherto had been so successfully cultivated.

To those who were about to take upon themselves the important functions of their appointments, he could not do better than refer them to the precepts so well laid down in the excellent essay which had been that morning delivered by one of their number. He assured them of the interest which the Court of Directors would always take in their happiness and prosperity; and wishing them a safe return to the bosom of their country, he bade them affectionately farewell.

The business of the day here concluded.

Wednesday the 7th, and Wednesday the 14th instant, are the days appointed for receiving petitions from Candidates for admission to the College next Term, which commences on Monday the 19th January.

East-India House, December 17th. A Quarterly General Court of Proprietors of East-India Stock was this day held at the Company's House in Leadenhall-street.

The Chairman (W. Wigram, Esq.) informed the Court, that, agreeably to the 5th sec. cap. v. of the By-laws, an account of the Company's stock, per computation, for the year ending the 30th of April 1822 with respect to India, and for the year ending the 30th of April 1823 with respect to England, was now laid before them.

DIVIDEND.

The Chairman." It is appointed at this Court to consider of a dividend on the capital stock of the Company for the half-year commencing on the 5th of July last, and ending on the 5th of January. The Court of Directors have come to a resolution thereon, which shall now be read:"

"At a Court of Directors, held on "Tuesday the 16th Dec. 1823,

"Resolved unanimously, That in pur"suance of the act of the 53d of Geo. III. tc cap. 155, it be recommended to the "General Court to declare a dividend of "5 per cent. upon the capital stock of "this Company, for the half-year com"mencing the 5th of July last, and end"ing the 5th of January next.

On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by the Deputy Chairman (W. Astell, Esq.), a dividend of 54 was agreed to.

HAILEYBURY COLLEGE.

The Chairman was about to signify to the Proprietors, the purpose for which the Court was made special-when

The Hon. D. Kinnaird rose. He said, that, at the most convenient moment, before they proceeded to the business for which that Court was made special, he would take the opportunity of asking a question from the chair. At the last General Court, at which he was not present, an honourable friend (Mr. Hume), who was then near him, inquired whether a report was to be made by the Court of Directors to the Proprietors at large, on the subject of Haileybury College; and he understood that the Hon. Chairman informed the Proprietors, that the matter had been under the investigation of the College Committee, who had made a report thereon but that he had received no directions to lay it before the Proprietors. He should now take the liberty, after what had passed on a former occasion, between the then Chairman and himself (when he expressed his intention not to move any thing on the subject until it had received the consideration of the Court of Directors), to beg that the Chairman would

inform him, in that spirit of courtesy which he was sure he might expect, whether it was intended to lay before the Proprietors any of the proceedings which had taken place with respect to the College? He asked for this information, in order that he might know what course he should pursue hereafter.

The Chairman." I have a perfect recollection of the question referred to having been asked by an Hon. Proprietor. I then stated that the College Committee, in consequence of what had fallen from my predecessor, had taken the subject up, and had made a report; but that I was not instructed to lay it before the Proprietors. I also said, that I had the pleasure to state, and I now repeat that statement, that the College was going on in a most satisfactory way."

The Hon. D. Kinnaird.-" Then, Sir, I shall now read the motion, which it is my intention to submit, on an early day, to the Court of Proprietors, specially summoned for that purpose." The Hon. Proprietor then read the intended motion, as follows: "That application be made to Parlia ment, in the ensuing session, for the repeal of the 46th clause of the act of the 33d of Geo. III. cap. 155, by which the Court of Directors is prohibited from sending to India, in the capacity of a writer, any person who shall not have resided during four terms at the Haileybury College; and for introducing into the said act a clause appointing a public examination, at such times, and under such regulations, as the Court of Directors, with the approbation of the Board of Controul, may direct; to which examination all persons shall submit their acquirements and qualifications for approval, previous to their being permitted to proceed in the capacity of writers, to either of the Presidencies of FortWilliam, Fort St. George, or Bombay." "The Court (continued Mr. Kinnaird) will perceive that my object is not to overturn or destroy the institution, but to have general examinations, for the approval of individuals, though not educated at the College. I understand, if I place this requisition, calling for a Special Court, in your hands now, it would be necessary, to give it effect, that every person by whom it is signed should be present in Court. I shall therefore, take the alternative, and send it to you."

The Chairman." It is not necessary that the subscribers should be present, unless when a ballot is demanded."

The requisition was then handed in.

The Chairman.-" Perhaps it would be better if it were sent to the Court of Directors, as it is addressed to them. I per