Gard. Good morning to me indeed! How long, I trow, have you been this great man, to carry yourself in your geers fo ftately? I can call to mind the day when you came into this family, as mere a bumpkin as you think my boy to be.

Simon. Keep your temper, neighbour Gawdry, keep your temper ; mount your fteed, amble homewards, vifit your oves and your boves, comfort your good dame, and prefent my humble fervice to her.

Gawd. I won't comfort her; I won't prefent your humble service to her; I do'nt find you are fo willing to do her any service, and as for humble, it do'nt belong to you-but mark my words-time is at hand-County elections coming on-afk me for a plumper then, do; afk me, I fay, for a plumper, and mind where I'll direct you to look for it. Come along, Ifaac, come along. Exit. Simon. We men in power, when we have a place to give away, make nine enemies to one friend, and 'tis nine to one if that friend don't turn an enemy before he is well warm in his office." P. 16.

We cannot confider this comedy as more than a sketch, though a sketch by a mafter. It is neither enlivened by much wit, nor made interefting by touches of the pathetic. It preferves a middle tenor, and is agreeable rather than striking. A little more attention and thought beftowed upon it, might have worked up the very fame plot into fomething of a much higher rank of merit.

ART. VII. The View of Hindostan. 2 Vols. 4to. 31. 10s. White. 1798.

THE entertaining volumes here prefented to the public by a veteran in their fervice, form part of a comprehenfive work announced by Mr. Pennant in the Memoirs of his Literary Life, printed in 1793, under the title of Outlines of the Globe. An advertisement prefixed to the first, ftates them to be the 14th and 15th volumes of that undertaking, which is not to be collectively published till after the death of the author. This preface acknowledges his extensive obligations, in the compofition of them, to Major Rennel in the geographical, and to Sir William Jones in the Natural History, and various other lines of research. They are ornamented with many very excellent charts and engravings, illuftrative of the manners and cuftoms of the natives of India, its topogra phy, and botanical treafures; and, on the whole, exhibit a very pleafing fpecimen of what may be expected from the larger work in contemplation to be published, fhould the prefent ef

M

BRIT. CRIT. VOD. XII. AUGUST, 1798.

· fay

fay meet with general approbation. By far the most valuabic portion, however, is that in which Mr. Pennant was beft calculated, by his intimate knowledge of the fubject, to excell; we mean the botanical enquiries, and the natural hiftory of the terreftrial and marine animals, peculiar to Hindoftan, and its adjoining ocean. The plate of the fea-fnakes in the first volume, and that of the Nepaul phenfant, coloured from nature, in the fecond, may be mentioned as proofs of great accuracy of delineation, as well as of minute and unwearied research. The fources from which Mr. P. derives his materials are, befides thofe enumerated, the Ayeen Akbery, D'Anville, the Nubian Geographer, Sonnerat, Niebuhr, and all the more celebrated voyages and travels publithed in either the prefent, or preceding centuries. To the merit of an original work it certainly does not, and cannot afpire; but it is composed of the choiceft materials, interfperfed with many ingenious remarks and original obfervations, more efpecially of that kind which may be fuppofed to flow from the pen of a naturalift. It will also be remembered, that it profefles to be only an outline, a finall por'tion of a most extentive work, a rapid portrait of the furface of the globe, which excludes all idea of profundity of refearch, and laboured investigation.

Having made thefe previous remarks from a fenfe of justice to an author who, at the advanced age of 71, engages in fuch an arduous enterprife, we proceed to point out thofe parts moft likely to intereft, either by the difplay of the talent of defcription, or the novelty, grandeur, and beauty of the objects defcribed. The defcription of the celebrated pardifaical region of Cashmere is very full, and combines, in a fhort compals, nearly all that has been faid by preceding authors concerning that romantic and fecluded region.

"This Happy Valley, this Paradife of Hindooftan, of the Indian poets, is of an oval form, about eighty miles long and forty broad, and was once fupposed to have been entirely filled with water; which having burit its mound, left this vale inriched to the most distant ages by the fertilizing mud of the rivers which fed its expanfe. This delicious fpot is furrounded by mountains of vaft height and rude afpect, covered with fnow, or enchafed in glacieres, in which this enchanting jewel is firmly fet. At the foot of the exterior chain is an interior circle of hills, fertile in grafs, abundant in trees and various forts of vegetation, and full of all kinds of cattle, as cows, sheep, goats, gazelles, and mufks. The approach to Cafomere is alfo very rugged and difficult. We have mentioned the mountains of Bember; befides thofe is one on which the pioneers of Aurenge-zebe were obliged to cut through a glaciere, or a great mafs, as Bernier calls it, of icy fnow.

The

"The capital of this happy fpot is fometimes called Cashmere, fometimes Sirinagur, and fometimes Nagaz, is feated in Lat. 34° 12′ North, on the banks of the river, which runs with a current most remarkably fmooth. At a little diftance from it is a small but beautiful lake, with a communication with the river by a navigable canal. The town was, in Bernier's time, three quarters of a French league long, built on both fides, and fome part extended to the lake. Villas, mofques, and pagodas, decorate feveral of the little hills that border the water. The houfes are built of wood, four ftories high, fome higher; the lower is for the cattle, the next for the family, the third and fourth ferve as warehouses. The roofs are planted with tulips, which in the fpring produce a wonderful effect. Rofes, and numberlefs other flowers, ornament this happy clime. The inhabitants often vifit the lake in their boats for the pleasure of hawking, the country abounding with cranes, and variety of game.

"The river, which rifes at Wair Naig, near the fouthern part of the furrounding mountains, flows with a north-western courfe by the capital, and falls into lake Oaller, which is fifty-three miles in length, and lies in the northern part of the valley, not remote from the kingdom of great Thibet, then paffes through the outlet at Barehmooleh, between two steep mountains, and from thence, after a long courfe, to Its junction with the Chunarb. This river is large and navigable, even within the limits of Cashmere. Bernier, p. 84, fays, it carries boats as large as thofe on the Seine at Paris. Many fmall lakes are fpread over the furface, and fome of them contain floating islands. Among others, Bernier, p. 118, vifited one, which he calls "A great lake amidft the mountains, which had ice in fummer, and looked like a little icy fea, having heaps of ice made and unmade by the winds." This reminds me of the coalition and feparation of the ice in the Spitzbergen feas. This in queftion may be like the Ouller, for I fee hone of any fize in the maps, excepting that expanfe of water.

"Among the miraculous waters of the natives, he reckons a pefiodical fpring, or the ebbing and flowing well of Sandbrare, which has near to it the temple of the idol of Brare. The reader may amuse himself with the account, from p. 105 to 110 of this favourite writer, and at p. 117 thofe of another, much of the fame nature.

"The author of the Ayeen Akberry dwells with rapture on the beauties of Camere; whence we may conclude, that it was a favorite fubject with his mafter Acbar, who had vifited it three times before Abulfazul wrote. Other emperors of Hindooftan vifited it also, and feemed to forget the cares of government during their refidence in the HAPPY VALLEY. By the falubrity of the air, and the chearing beauties of the place, they collected new vigor to refume the cares of government. The remains of the palaces, pavilion, and gardens, exhibit proofs of their elegance and fplendor. It appears, that the periodical rains which almost deluge the reft of India, are fhut out of Cafhmere by the height of the mountains, fo that only light fhowers fall there; thefe, however, are in abundance fufficient to feed the thoufands of cafcades which are precipitated into the valley from every part of the ftupendous and romantic bulwark that encircles it. Amidit the various felicities of the Camerians, one dreadful evil they

are conftantly fubject to, namely, earthquakes: but to guard against their terrible effects, all their houses are built of wood, of which there is no want.

"The Cafemerians are esteemed a moft witty race, and much more intelligent and ingenious than the Hindoos, and as much addicted to the fciences and to poetry as the very Perfians. They have a language of their own but their books are written in the Shanferit tongue, although the character be fometimes Cafbmerian. They are alfo very industrious, and excellent mechanics. The various articles of their workmanship are fent into all parts of India. This race is famous for the fineness of their features, and their admirable complexions. They look like Europeans, and have nothing of the Tartarian flat-nofed face, and fmall eyes, like thofe of Cafchguer and their neighbours of Thibet. It is certainly quite right, that this PARADISE, THE REGION OF ETERNAL SPRING, fhould be peopled with females angelic: they are uncommonly beautiful. The courtiers of the time of Bernier were moft folicitous to obtain for their Zenanas the Cashmerian fair, in order that they might have children whiter than the natives of Hindoftan, in order that they might pafs for the true Mogul-breed, congenerous with their monarch.

The religion of the Cafhmerians is the fame as that of the Hindoos; poffibly the pardonable fuperftition of the inhabitants, warmed by their romantic fituation, may have multiplied the places of worship of Mahadeo, of Befchan, and of Brama. Here is a fect of religionists, free from idolatry, which worship the Deity alone. They are remark. ably benevolent, and abftain from the other fex. They must therefore be continued by difciples. As to the Mahometans, they are not numerous, and those split into fects.

"The Cafomerians feem to have had an idea of the deluge, for, fay they, in the early ages of the world, all Camere, except the mountains, was covered with water. One Kushup brought the Brahmins to inhabit the country as foon as the waters had fubfided. Neither were they ignorant of the hiftory of Noah, for the Indians fpeak of him under the name of Sattiaviraden, who, with his wife, was by the god Vichenou, who fent to them an ark, preserved from destruction in a general deluge. The firft monarch of the country was Orgnund, who was elected, fays Abulfazul, 4444 years before his time.

"Here are numbers of hermits in places nearly inacceffible. They are highly venerated, fome being fuppofed to have power to excite the fury of the elements. Bernier, p. 104, found an antient anchoure, who had inhabited the fummit of the lofty mountain Pire-penjale ever fince the time of Jehangire, who was here in 1618. His religion was unknown. To him was attributed the power of working miracles. He caufed at his pleasure great thunders, and raised storms of hail, rain, fnow, and wind. He looked favage, having a large white beard uncombed, which, like that of our Druid," ftreamed like a meteor to the troubled air." The fage forbid the making the leeft. noife, on pain of raifing furious ftorms and tempefts." P. 45.

The view which Mr. Pennant has given his readers of the Ghaut mountains, is very grand and picturefque. Indeed the

2

features

features of this vast and varied country are all of a bold and prominent kind, and to pourtray them properly, requires a vigorous and animated pencil.

"From the word Ghaut the whole chain derives its name. They give entrance into the lofty, fertile, and populous plains of boundless view, which they fupport in the manner as buttreffes do a terrace, formed on an immenfe fcale. These run not remote from the fea from Surat to Cape Comorin, at fome places feventy miles diftant, but generally forty, and in one place they advance to within fix. They have leffer hills at their bafes, clothed with forests, particularly of the valuable teek. The plains are bleft, from their fituation, with a cool and healthy air. From the fides of the mountains precipitate magnificent cataracts, forming torrents, the means of facilitating the conveyance of the timber, and giving a thoufand picturefque fcenes amidst the forefts.

"The Ghauts are diftinguished into the western and the eastern. The firft extend, as I have defcribed, uninterruptedly from Surat to the pafs of Palicaudchery, when near Coimbetore they fuddenly turn, deeply undulating to the north. Then, at the pafs of Gujethetty, wind north and north-eafterly as high as Amboor and Mugglee, the laft about eighty miles due weft of Madras. From hence they are not, by reason of the numbers of branches, fufficiently marked on the maps: they feem to take a northerly courfe, to comprehend Aurangabad, to crofs the Taptee, and continue wefterly, at irregular diftances from the river, till they arrive at a certain fpace from Surat.

"The whole chain, especially in the Concan, feems a connected wall, inacceffible to the fummit, unless by paths worked by the hand of man, and is not to be ascended even by a fingle traveller, without the fatiguing labour of many hours; horrible precipices, roaring cataracts, and frequent reverberating echoes, terrify the paffenger on each fide; often violent gufts arife, and hurry men and cattle into the black immeafurable aby fs. Having attained the fummit, the trouble is repaid by the magnificent profpect to the welt, of the far fubjacent country, broken into hills, and cloathed with beautiful vegetation; the coaft, the islands, and the immenfity of ocean.

The fe Indian Appenines mark with precifion the limits of the winter and fummer, or rather the wet and dry feasons, in India. They extend thirteen degrees of latitude, from Surat to Cape Comorin. They arreft the great body of clouds in their paffage, and, according to the Monfans, or periodical winds from the north-eaft or fouth-welt, give, alternately, a dry season to one fide, and a wet one to the other; fome clouds do pafs over, and give a rainy feafon, but at a very confiderable diftance to the leeward; being too high and too light to condense and fall in rain, within a small distance of this great range." P. 88.

Thefe extracts will fufficiently imprefs the reader with an idea of the accuracy of the geographical details. The fubfequent quotation relates to the general mode of being conveyed over the furface of the country fo defcribed; it also contains a fpecimen of the manner in which the natural history of Hindoftan is difcuffed, rapidly indeed, but the infinite variety of

the