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SCÈNES

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Sixteen Plates.

1663-1733.

(Reproduction en héliogravure Dujardin).

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Reduced price 12s. 6d.

Contents:

Plate 1. La dernière pelletée de terre.

FFR F F F

2. Les Hakafoth autour du cercueil (rite Portugais).

3. La Recherche du Levain.

4. Procession des Palmes (Hoschana Rabah).

Le Rachat du Premier-Né.

5.

6.

Cérémonie du Schofar (Rosch Haschanah).

7. Cérémonie Nuptiale (rite Allemand).

8. On reconduit le Hatan Torah et le 'Hatan Bereschit

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I.

NOTES AND NEWS.

Mr. Vincent Smith is well known as the author of numerous articles in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and elsewhere, on the history and antiquities of India. In his most recent contributions to the former of these Journals, his main object has been to examine the actual inscriptions and monuments and, in this way, to lay a certain foundation for a really scientific history of ancient India. He may be said to continue this task in the volume which he has recently contributed to the series of Rulers of India, entitled "Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India". Asoka's edicts, cut deep on rocks and pillars, have remained to the present day our earliest certain datable sources of information as to the political and social state of India in the 3rd century B. C. All Sanskritists know how hopeless a task it is to attempt to glean any certain history from such sources as the Epic Poems, the Puranas, etc. Whatever of history these literary documents may have contained originally, they have in the course of ages become irredeemably corrupt. Any attempts to take these as a basis for the reconstruction of Indian history must inevitably fail, and end in confusion and contradiction. Whatever of fact, on the other hand, the actual monuments and inscriptions may be made to yield to minute and critical study, is absolutely certain, and affords a sure starting-point for further researches. A work which, like the present, treats the Asoka edicts from this historical point of view was very much needed and will, no doubt, meet with the success which it deserves. (See p. 94) Bābū Dineś Candra Sen's “Bańga Bhāṣā o Sahitya”, or “Language and Literature of Bengal", divides itself, as its title indicates, into two parts. The first is a courageous and learned attempt to show that, as, under Buddhistic influences, Sanscrit degenerated into loose Prakrit dialects, so, with the revival of Hinduism, the modern languages of India recovered much of the dignity and classical correctness of Sanscrit. In this part of his work, the writer makes copious use of the researches of European scholars, and especially of those of Dr. Hoernle and Dr. Grierson, which do, in fact, show that Bengali and its cognate dialects are the survivals through Prakrit of the speech of the first Aryan invaders of India. The writer, however, in his patriotic zeal, goes further than this, and practically denies the existence of any indigenous influence at all. He traces all Bengali inflections, all Bengali metres to Sanscrit origins, and though he admits the existence of a few words which cannot be traced to Sanscrit originals he regards

these simply as unwelcome intrusions into literature from spoken speech. In short, his history is one of literary Bengali, which is even more highly Sanscritized now than English was Latinized in the 18th century. Even if we do not accept all the writer's conclusions, we cannot help seeing how natural it is that so enthusiastic a scholar should recognise the importance of upholding the dignity and value of a literature which has been too little studied even by Bengalis. No student of the modern languages of India can read this part of Babu Dines Candra Sen's work without profit and enjoyment, so obvious is the scholarly zeal with which it is written. The second part of the book is entirely original, and is a record of the author's search for Manuscripts of works written before the British occupation of India. We have here a description not only of the standard works which every student of Bengali reads, but of the works of about 100 authors hitherto forgotten. To the European reader it is interesting to note that all this is Hindu literature, though three-fourths of the inhabitants of Bengal are now Mussulmans. It was a literature of revolt against Muslim tendencies, and has no trace of Mahomedan influence. Some day, Babu Dines Candra Sen may write, we hope, of Bengali literature under British rule, a literature broadened and enriched by European culture. In this literature Babu Dīnes Candra Sen's History will itself occupy a high place as an outcome of European methods of scholarship applied to Eastern learning. (See p. 55). "Sepoy Generals-Wellington to Roberts" by Mr. G. W. Forrest, C. I. E., cannot be praised unreservedly. The book makes pleasant enough reading; yet it was hardly necessary to have been "Director of Records to the Government of India" to have written as good, if not a better one. The sources of information used are those open to everybody. The style is very unequal, and there are numerous errors, some of which cannot be charged to the printers. On p. 242, within eight lines, we have Sir Hector converted into Sir Henry Munro. On p. 241 Baird commands the 73rd, on p. 244 the 71st; which is correct? On p. 204 Herbert Edwardes is made Chief Commissioner of Peshawar, a post he never held because it never existed. On p. 159 there is a curious mixing up of a court-martial at Govindgarh (Amritsar) and an expedition under Colin Campbell to Kohat. Nor could any printer have changed Sir William L. Merewether into John Merewether "one of John Jacob's most trusted lieutenants" (p. 307). The list is not exhausted but the above will suffice. Then, looking to the title, what an odd selection of names has been made. Where are Stringer Lawrence, Clive, Major Adams, Hector Munro, Eyre Coote, Lord Lake, the Marquis of Hastings, John Malcolm, George Pollock, Nott, and the heroes of the Mutiny? The best part of the book is the account of the Duke of Wellington's Indian career, which is really well done. But if eighty-four pages can be afforded for Lord Roberts in South Africa, why is the Duke of Wellington's European career omitted altogether? One third of the book is taken up by Lord Roberts, and more than half of that third is given to South Africa. The book is thus very badly proportioned. (See p. 34).

Major-General D. M. Strong has published an English translation of the Pali collection of Buddhist stories known as "The Udana". The collection is of great interest for the history of early Buddhism, and the translator will have the thanks of students for having made it thus accessible. (See p. 94). The same author has also issued, in the form of a pamphlet of about twenty pages, an account of the main features of early Pali Buddhism entitled "The Doctrine of the Perfect One or the Law of Piety". It pretends merely to give some of the chief outlines of a very large subject, and will be of use to those readers whose want of leisure does not permit them to enter upon a course of more detailed study. (See p. 94).

Mr. H. M. Gunasekera, Assistant Librarian of the Colombo Museum, has compiled a "Catalogue of Pali, Sinhalese and Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Colombo Museum Library", with a preface by the Librarian, Mr. Gerard A. Joseph, on "Ola MSS., and the Government Oriental Library of Ceylon". This preface, which is, in substance, an article read before the Library Association, at its Belfast gathering, in 1894, gives an interesting account of the way in which the ancient palm-leaf manuscripts are made, of the various libraries, monastic and other, in which they have been best preserved, and of the steps which have been taken by the Government to form a national collection the present Library of the Colombo Museum. A key

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to this collection is now supplied by the present catalogue. (See p. 104). Prof. Wilhelm Geiger of Erlangen took as the subject of his inaugural dissertation as Pro-Rector of the University, "Kulturgesch. Bedeutung d. Indischen Altertums". His object was to summarise in an interesting and somewhat popular manner the progress which ancient Indian thought had made in Religion, Philosophy, Belles-lettres, Science etc.; and in the achievement of this object he has been certainly successful. This dissertation forms one of the most readable and, at the same time, scholarly résumés which have yet appeared of this subject. (See p. 42).

"L'Inde Tamoule" by Father Pierre Suau, S. J., is the outcome of a visit of inspection paid in 1899 to the Catholic mission stations in the Trichinoply, Madura, and Tinevelly districts. It might have been called "L'Inde Catholique," as it gives a most interesting account of the work done by the jesuits since they re-occupied in 1836 the region hallowed by the labours of St. Francis Xavier. The usual organizing power of the Roman church has been fully displayed. The country has been divided into bishoprics, districts, and pangou (parishes). There are 210,055 Catholics living in 2045 villages. or about 4 p. cent. of the population. The priests have begun at last to win over Brahmans: but most of us will doubt the wisdom of carrying over caste as an institution from Hinduism into Christianity. Its retention may make conversion more easy, but it is surely incompatible with the underlying ideas of the Christian religion. Baptising the moribund heathen and counting them as converts still prevails, as according to the "Lettres Édifiantes" it did in the early 18th century. To most minds this is a strangely external, mechanical