fome imagine, was occafioned by an irruption of the former into Perfia; but if we pay an attention to the German language, we fhall find that all these words, common to the German and Perfian tongues, are truly Magogian or Gomerian, both having the fame fource; and that the houfe of Togarmah, in their feveral invafions of Perfia and India, and intrufions among the offspring of the sons of Shem, who first peopled the former, and afterwards the latter, carried their language with them; and, by a mixture of this with that of the issue of Shem, which we have reason to believe was the Hebrew tongue, formed the several dialects that afterwards overspread the East; in every one of which, an infinite number of words may be traced up to these two original fountains; while, in the mean time, the descendants of Magog, Mefbech and Tubal carried the fame family language with them all over Western Scythia, and every other Northern and Western part of Europe, whether island or continent; and this is the true reason why many Perfian and Gentou words are the very fame with many of the German and other Northern dialects: befides, the little likelihood of fuch incurfions from Germany having been made immediately into Perfia, be- ́ tween whom so many other powerful nations were placed; of which more hereafter.

THERE is certainly fomething very worthy of notice in this confideration, with regard to the infcription upon this facrum numifma of the Dalai Lamas, that these characters fhould be the very fame with thofe among the abbreviations in the Irish manufcripts, now extant; for nothing could have preferved them in their original state,

but

but their being the types of the religious language of the Priefts, or Lamas: because, it is well known to every one, who has taken any pains in thefe ftudies, that the characters of every language have, in fome measure, deviated, and some aré almoft totally changed from their original.

I HAVE fpecimens of many alphabets by me of feveral Northern dialects, which are, no doubt, derived of this original language; but fo much mutilated, that, without great trouble, their affinity can hardly be difcovered. This is the cafe with the several real derivative alphabets from the original Hebrew letters, in the Oriental dialects, that have arisen from that language; and, from this consideration alone, there arifes a very strong argument for the early arrival of the first inhabitants of Ireland, and of the several invafions afterwards of that ifland, by fome of the fame people and language, even before any mutilation could have happened in their language first, or afterwards: in their characters; because they are very little altered · from their firft ufe to this time.

P

I THINK it will not be unentertaining to fet down, in ‹ this place, the infcription at length of the medal in queftion, with the Latin explanation, as it is upon the plate, given by colonel Grant, to which I fhall add its English interpretation, word for word, that it may be the better comprehended by the English reader. And this will influence me, by the way, to enter into an enquiry, that may be of fome confequence to those who intereft themfelves in researches into the theologic hiftory of nations.

THE

The infcription of the Siberian medal, in Irish, Latin and English: and, for want of Irish types, we are obliged to ufe the common letters.

Geanamail famlugad Naomta De ann fna trí famluga,

Alma imago faneta Dei in tribus imaginibus, The acceptable image holy of God in three images,

Taib fi. Crunnige Naom Tuil De

Colligite fanctam voluntatem Dei

afdha.

Hifce

exillis.

Thefe.

Gather the holy

will of God from them.

THE editor of colonel Grant's treatife, in the Journal Etranger, has added fome accounts of the Dalai Lamas, which he calls Eclaircifements Hiftoriques fur le Dalai Lamas, and which he has taken from the narratives of fome of the miffioners that went into those countries at different times. I fhall briefly recount these obfervations, with fome remarks, as I go on, for their better illustration.

"SEVERAL travellers, fays he, make no difference between the religion of Tibet and the famous fect of Fo, among the Chinefe; notwithstanding the miffioners that went thither, fuch as the Jefuits, Grueber and Defideri, and also Father Horace de la Pona, a capuchin, have obferved a great conformity between the Roman religion and that of Tibet ; fome of these have imagined, that the Chriftian religion

was

was preached in those parts in the time of the apostles, of which fome traces remain in the books of the Lamas; for which he cites several reasons: as, 1. the drefs of the Lamas has no fmall resemblance to that of the apoftles, as represented in ancient paintings; 2. their fubordination, which has fome refemblance to the ecclefiaftic hierarchy; 3. a resemblance between their ceremonies and those of the church of Rome; 4. their notions of an incarnation ; 5. the maxims of their morality.

"FATHER Grebillon obferves also, with astonishment, that the Lamas have the use of holy water, finging in the church service, prayers for the dead, mitres worn like the bishops; and that the Dalai Lama holds the fame rank, among his Lamas, that the Pope does in the church of Rome: and father Grueber goes further; he fays, that their religion agrees, in every effential point, with the Roman religion, without ever having had any connection with Europeans: for, fays he, they celebrate a facrifice with bread and wine; they give extreme unction; they blefs marriages; pray for the fick; make proceffions; honour the relicks of their faints, or rather their idols; they have monasteries and convents of young women; they fing in their temples like Christian monks; they observe several fasts, in the course of the year, and mortify their bodies, particularly with the difcipline, or whips; they confecrate their bishops, and send miffionaries, who live in extreme poverty, travelling bare-foot, even to China. Father Grueber, says he, has feen all this: and Horace de la Pona, for his part, fays, that the religion of Tibet is like an image of that of Rome. They believe in one GOD; a Trinity, but filled

Dd

filled with errors; a paradife, hell, purgatory; but mingled with fables: they make alms, prayers, and sacrifices for the dead; they have convents, wherein they make vows of chastity, and poverty; have confeffors appointed by the great Lama, and, befides, holy water, the crofs, chaplets, and other practices of Chriftians.

"SOME miffionaries, among which Father Regis, count the people of Tibet mere idolaters; whilft others are willing to think they were once Chriftians, but degenerated. Andrada fays, they retain an idea of Christian ́mysteries, but confused, and much changed: and Grueber thought himself the first Christian that ever went into Tibet ; but his editor, Thevenot, contradicts him, afferting, at the fame time, that Christianity is spread much further into the East than these ecclesiastics have imagined; and that, on the frontiers of China, there are whole nations that profeffed that faith. He adds, that he should find no difficulty in pointing out the time when it was carried into these parts by the Neftorian miffionaries, and how it was loft there; but that the proofs for his opinion were written in the original language, with the addition of fome pieces, which would contribute greatly to the clearing up the geography and history of thefe countries. These are undoubtedly the facred books of the Lamas, and ftrongly corroborate what colonel Grant has delivered in his learned differtation.

"In the account of the Ruffian embaffy, in 1623, it is faid, that the religion of the Lamas is the fame with that of the church of Rome; but if we look higher, into the hiftories of the earliest miffionaries, we shall find, that

Marcopolo,