was the terror of the Sikhs in the Scinde-Sagur and Rechnab • Doabs. His hundreds were good against Chutter Singh's thou 'sands. At Ghuzni, and during both the Sikh campaigns, as more recently in the hills above Bunnu, he has shown himself to 'be of the stuff that, not only soldiers, but great Generals are made of. If Nicholson live, and prove not one of the very best com manders of his day, I am greatly mistaken."

Major Abbott's full length picture can hardly depict Major Nicholson in more favorable colours, as a soldier, than does the above brief sketch. He may, however, tell of the more glorious laurels his friend has since won, How his name is respected, as well as feared, throughout Bunnu, Dera Ishmael Khan, and their borders. How, like Major Edwardes, he has afforded another proof, that an excellent soldier may be an excellent Civil Administrator.

We have thus shewn that neither Major Abbott nor Major Nicholson has any cause of quarrel with any thing that has appeared in these pages. Nevertheless, we repeat that we shall welcome the promised volume. Huzara is a worthy theme, and has scarcely had its fair share of public notice. Major Abbott may not be an "Oberlin," nor did his terms of service, or his opportunities admit of his opening out the resources, and civilizing the people of Huzara, as sixty years of continued incumbency enabled the unrivalled pastor of the Ban de la Boche to do for that mild valley; but he has the honor, a very proud one, of for six years having been the patriarch in peace, and the leader in war, of as troublesome a people as any in India, of having won and retained their affections, and of having left the district, more attached to British rule than any other in the Punjab, not excepting even Khangra.

He has found a worthy successor in Captain Becher, a man after his own heart; and when the latter shall have intersected the valleys with roads, the dreaded dell of Khagan will no longer be a terra in cognita; and we may hope that Jehandad Khan's country, even up to the Black Mountain, may be brought within the pale of civilization.

Christ our Life; in its Origin, Law and End. By Joseph Angus, D. D., Member of the Royal Asiatic Society. London, 1853.

THE Essay before us, originated in the public application of a gentleman connected with the public service of the East India Company, for an Essay on the Life of Christ," adapted to Missionary purposes, and suitable for translation into the Vernacular languages of India

There is a reported saying of the great Macaulay, that Prize Cattle are only fit for candles, and Prize Essays to light them. This saying may not be universally true, but we are prepared to admit its truthfulness in reference to all Prize Essays, written in England, towards the conversion of Hindus. It may be laid down as an axiom, that no man, however learned and gifted, can effectually write an Essay of this description, unless he has resided in India, conversed with the natives on religious subjects, and is, to some extent, acquainted with the vernacular languages of India. Different nations, speaking various languages, have different modes of communicating and apprehending religious truths. To prove this, we have only to refer to the symbols of Egypt, and Assyria, and the writings of the prophet Ezekiel. Every Missionary well knows, by painful experience, the extreme difficulty of making religious truth, and that entirely new, intelligible even to the most learned pandits.

It appears to us, that the best,-the very best, Life of Christ, is that written by the Evangelists. If we take for granted, that they wrote under the guidance of inspiration, we must also take for granted, that infinite wisdom has employed both the mode and the style best adapted to realize the end of their composition. There is about the Gospels an orientalism of style, and great truths are delivered and clothed in beautiful and parabolic garb. Hence their beautiful adaptation to the people of India.

The Essay before us, is divided into two sections, respectively termed the Introduction, and the Life of Christ. In the former, we have a brief account of the origin and the progress of idolatry, with its moral results. The latter contains the Life of Christ, according to the most approved method of harmonists. Looking at the Essay simply as a literary and theological composition, we think neither better nor worse of it than of hundreds of others, scattered through the religious world; and it may prove a very estimable book in the hands of students and intelligent Christians. Our business is not with the book, from that point of view; but to determine whether or not it is adapted to answer the purpose of translation and circulation among the natives of this country.

We are painfully compelled to acknowledge our conviction that, in this respect, the Essay will prove a failure; and these are our reasons. Books written by Europeans, ignorant of the languages of the East, abound in phraseologies, figures of speech, indistinct allusions, and quotations, which a Hindu cannot understand. We have seen figures of speech cast in a European mould, introduced into religious tracts, which no native can understand. Again, theological writers in Europe are so much in the habit of addressing intelligent Christians, that they fall into the habit of addressing Hindus in the same style, taking for granted that they understand what they do not, and cannot.

We shall bring before our readers some phrases taken at random

from the book, and which the translator must either modify or omit altogether, to make the Essay of any practical use.

"Let the reader look at Paul's description of human nature." "Such writers as Wetsteim and Leland." "Having the Bible in our hand." "In the days of Luther, men admitted facts, but denied the inferences.” "Such a history as Xenophon has given of the youth of Cyrus" "The Essenes, the representatives of the mystics and ascetics of the middle ages." We cannot help thinking, that the writer sometimes forgets his antagonist, hitting hard some European heterodoxy, instead of Hinduism. The author has introduced a goodly number of Greek and Latin terms into the text, and in the foot notes; are they to be transferred into the translation? The parties for whose benefit the translation is made, are supposed to be ignorant of both Greek and Latin. Then those terms must be omitted, or else written in the native characters, to no purpose whatever.

In this brief notice, we had no intention of attacking any of the author's positions, but if the following extraordinary assertion were left unnoticed, we feel that we would be guilty of dereliction of duty, and exhibit a singular degree of ignorance, as it regards both ancient and modern systems of idolatry.

"The religion of the Bible, it must be remembered, is the only one founded on properly miraculous evidence. The systems of heathenism submit no such credentials."

We have always understood, that if there be genuine revelation given to men, there would be also counterfeits, and if the credibility of the true be supported by miracles, so would the false. Let us suppose that Dr. Angus's book is translated, and circulated among learned Hindus, they will perceive at once, that the object of the book is to prove that Christ is a true incarnation, and the miracles of Christ are adduced to prove it; they will then proceed to compare Christ with the incarnations of Vishnu, and from the Puranas prove that the Hindu incarnations performed miracles as numerous, and as stupendous, as those of Christ, and some of them are of a benevolent character. Krishna held a mountain on his little finger, like an umbrella, to shelter the cow-pens, from a deluge of rain sent by Indra; killed numerous demons that were a curse to the human race; exempted a flower-seller and his descendants, from all the infirmities of the human family, as long as the sun endures; made a crooked girl straight. Sandipani requested Krishna to give him back his dead son, drowned in the sea of Prabhasa, which Krishna did in his former person. Dr. Angus may assert that Christ performed miracles in order to prove his divinity. So did Krishna; his associates regarded him simply as a lively boy, full of fun and frolic, until he encountered the demon-snake, conquered it, and ordered it to pack up his traps, and to be off to the sea with his whole family. By this celebrated exploit the divinity of Krishna was recognized and acknowledged.

We do not know whether, by the phrase adapted to Missionary

purposes," the Essay is intended as a sort of hand-book for Missionaries, if so, it looks very much like a libel upon an intelligent body of men, because throughout the Essay we have not been able to find the shadow of an attempt to solve, or to remove one of the numerous difficulties that continually press upon the Missionary.

Catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindustani Manuscripts in the Libraries of the King of Oudh. By A. Sprenger, M. D., Calcutta, 1854. Vol. 1. Persian and Hindustani Poetry.

THIS work, involving an immense amount of research and German perseverance, was compiled under the orders of the Government of India. Dr. Sprenger is doing for the past of Literature what James Prinsep did for the past of History, and those labors of Dr. Sprenger, independent of their antiquarian and linguistic bearings, have a very important educational one,-they show that if the Indian languages have been used so powerfully as an instrument for light and merely amusing books, they can be also applied to the noble object of conveying European and Christian knowledge. When we consider the amount of mind and energy which have been thrown into the 10,000 oriental volumes Dr. Sprenger has consulted for this work of his, we see the native power that may be applied to good. By the directions of Lord Hardinge in 1847, Dr. Sprenger undertook cataloguing the Lucknow Libraries-and he devoted eighteen months to the work-his own acquirements in Semitic bibliography pointed him out as the fittest man in Asia for the task-it is to be regretted that ill health has caused a temporary suspension of the work. The late Sir H. Elliot gave it every encouragement in his power; though himself engaged indefatigably in making known the ancient historians of India, yet he felt the great importance of a knowledge of Indian literature as a key to the national mind. Dr. Sprenger gives a list of 1,400 writers of Urdu poetry. The title of each Persian work is given in the original, with notices of the contents of the work, and a brief account of the author. One of the most important services the Government can render to the cause of indigenous education, is the publication of such catalogues as these, which give us a clue to what natives are doing, and rouse us to be active in the cause of a sound literature. The ensuing volumes promise to be very interesting. Notices of Persian Prose and Philological WorksUrdu Works-translations from the Sanskrit and Hindi into Persian and Urdu-Biographies and writings of Arabic Philologers, Literati and Poets-Musulman sciences-Biographies and works of Sophies and Moslem Mystics. The Moslem in India have had little attention paid to them by the authorities or private individuals. Europeans are ignorant of their state of mind; we trust the publication of this work will tend to rouse attention to this class, and

b

that Dr. Sprenger's catalogue will convince people that the Moslem mind in India has much rich ore, which by a proper smelting process, may yield a valuable material.

Rajniti, a collection of Hindu Apologues in the Brij Bháshá language. Allahabad, 1854,

THE Rajniti is a vernacular reflex into Brij Bhasha from that invaluable work the Hitopodesh, which has been translated into as many languages as the Pilgrim's Progress, and which, notwithstanding blemishes of expression, abounds with excellent moral remarks, shrewd aphorisms and admirable apologues, all suited to oriental taste. Professor Hall, the Editor, has improved the text of this edition, appended notes, and a glossary of rare words. We are glad to see that as a Professor in the Sanskrit College of Benares, he is making his Sanskrit acquirements to bear on the improvement of the Hindi, and its kindred dialects, which like the Bengali and Uriya, must ever look to Sanskrit as its great type and fountain of improvement. We should like to see issued from the Benares Sanskrit College a translation of that admirable Sanskrit work Vrihat Katha, a collection of tales of Budhist and olden Hindu days.

Chikitsa Sár, Compendium of Medicine in Bengali. By Dr. Bachelor.

AN admirable work giving an outline of Physiology and Anatomy ―as also a Materia Medica and brief sketch of Surgery. This work ought to have a place in every mission station throughout the length and breadth of Bengal. It explains the common diseases, their symptoms, causes and remedies, and is particularly valuable in supplying lists of native medicines, both cheap and efficacious.

Aushudh Prastut Videa or Pharmacy. By Shib Chunder Karmakar, 1854.

A USEFUL work-but it introduces too many English names, murdered in the spelling; thus our old friend 'specific gravity,' is written ispisiphik grabhiti; Avoirdupois weight is ebhardipais oet. If the author wishes to have a good sale he must not charge four annas for nineteen pages.