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tube, and made to afcend into the apartment, in proportion to the quantity that escaped towards the higher regions by means of the ventilator.-And as that weighty air would no fooner enter the room than it would tend towards the floor by its own natural gravity, it would gradually mix with the heated air in its defcent,-become in fome measure warmed by that means, and equally difperfed through the room, fo as flowly and imperceptibly to reach the candles and the company in the room, and fupply them with a fufficient quantity of fresh and wholesome air, without the inconveniencies to which the company are fubjected by the ufual way of admitting fresh air. For, if it enters near the floor of the apartment, it is hurried along in a rapid undivided ftream towards the fireplace, and ftriking upon the legs and inferior parts of the body, affects them with a strong fenfation of cold. To overcome the effects of this, large fires must be kept; by which other parts of the body are warmed to an extraordinary degree, which is productive of most of those disorders that are pernicious to the young, and often prove fatal to the old, dur ing the winter feafon, in these cold regions.

Thus might our apartments be kept conftantly, and moderately, and equably warm, at a moderate expence, without endangering our health on the one hand, by refpiring a confined, ftagnant, and putrid air,-or, on the other hand, by fubjecting ourselves to fuch danger of catching colds, con fumptions, and rheumatic complaints, by being expofed to fuch exceedingly unequal degrees of heat and cold, as are

* Such readers as have been little accustomed to fpeculations of this fort, will be at a lofs to comprehend in what manner two holes, both of them in the roof of the room, and communicating with the air, without any valve, or other contrivance for opening or clofing of themfelves, fhould yet answer the two very oppofite purposes, one of conftantly bringing cool air into the room, without emitting any warm air,--and the other, of as constantly emiting warm and admitting no cool air.

They will pleafe advert, that the one of thefe tubes communicates with the atmosphere at the bottom of the house, and the other towards the top: --the opening of the one is beneath the levelof the room, that of the other above it.-Now as the air is more denfe at the furface of the ground than at any height above it, the warm rarefied air will naturally iffue at that opening where it meets with leaft refiftance, which must invariably be through that which opens to the external air at the greatest height;-and as the cool air will naturally be preffed into the room by that opening where the air is most weighty, this must invariably be by that which is nearest the furface of the earth,

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unavoidable where our apartments are fo open as to admit a ready paffage to the external air during the winter feafon,

The reader will eafily perceive, that all that has been here faid, has a reference only to thofe apartments in cold climates and rigorous weather, where fire to warm them becomes ne ceffary. In warmer regions, or during the fummer feafon, there can be no objection to the wheel ventilator in the window. It is a fimple contrivance, and a fafe and effectual mean of preferving the air in our apartments fweet and wholefome at that feafon.'

A Code of Gentoo Laws, or Ordinations of the Pundits, from a Perfian Tranflation, made from the Original, written in the Shanfcrit Language. 4to. London, 1776.-Printed at the Expence of the Eaft India Company, and not to be pur chased.

THE HE ingenious gentleman who has obliged the world with this tranflation of the Gentoo Code of Laws, is Mr. Na thaniel Braffey Halhed, diftinguifhed a few years ago at Chrift Church College in Oxford by his claffical abilities; which place he quitted for India-exchanging the cool retreats of academic bowers for the heat, and the hurry, and the bustle of Eaftern traffic.

If the language of this long work ftood in need of any apo. logy, it might perhaps filence criticiím to hint the author's distance from the British court, whofe funfhine always gives the prefent colour to the British language-it might poffibly fuffice to obferve the confufion of tongues with which our young author had to struggle-it would furely be fufficient to use his own words, where he says, that he finds himself involuntarily held forth to the public as an author, almost as soon as he has commenced to be a man.' But

Haud tali auxilio, nec defenforibus iftis

Tempus eget.

One thing we will notice with regard to the grammar; that the indicative and the conjunctive moods are too frequently con❤ founded throughout; or rather the latter is entirely neglected -a fault of which Johnfon in his Dictionary complains; a fault which ftill univerfally prevails; and which we should not have marked in this performance, if it were not almost the only imperfection which we can difcover in it.

For the fidelity of the tranflation we muft leave governorgeneral Haftings to be answerable; by whofe defire it was unVol. LXIV. Sept. 1777,

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dertaken, and who fpeaks of its great fidelity in his letter to the court of directors.

As this curious book is only in private hands, our business must be to give fuch an account of it, and of Mr. Halhed's learned preface, as, in fome measure, to fatisfy thofe of our readers who may perhaps never meet with it. Though we cannot help exprefling our hopes that the India Company, after printing a book fo handfomely, will make it public in fome way which may do them credit; and not give difcontented Curiofity an opportunity to charge them with a monopoly of the learning, as well as of the riches, of the Eaft.

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This code of laws was tranflated from the original Hindoo text into the Perfian idiom, by eleven pundits or compilers. From Perfian it is tranflated into English, by Mr. Halhed. Prefixed is a gloffary of fuch Shàfcrit, Perfian, and Bengal words, as occur in the work; which opens with a fhort Preliminary Difcourfe, written by the Bramins, as well to fet forth the motives and ufes of the compilation' (to ufe Mr. Halhed's words), as to gratify the honest vanity of every fenfible mind, in giving fome account of itself and of its labours.' This is a moft fublime performance. We fhall oblige our readers with it at length; we fay oblige, because we are perfuaded that even this enlightened quarter of the world cannot boast any thing that foars fo completely above the narrow, vulgar, fphere of preju-. dice and prieficraft. The moft amiable part of modern philofophy is hardly upon a level with the extenfive charity, the comprehenfive benevolence, of a few rude, untutored, Hindoo bramins. But let it fpeak for itself.

From men of enlightened underflandings and found judgment, who, in their refearches after truth, have fwept from their hearts the duft of malice and oppofition, it is not concealed, that the contrarieties of religion, and diverfities of belief, which are caufes of envy, and of enmity to the ignorant, are in fact a manifeft demonftration of the power of the Supreme Being: for it is evident, that a painter, by sketching a multiplicity of figures, and by arranging a variety of colours, procures a reputation among men; and a gardener, for planting a diverfity of shrubs, and for producing a number of different flowers, gains credit and commendation; wherefore it is abfurdity and ignorance to view, in an inferior light, Him who created both the painter and the gardener. The truly intelligent well know, that the differences and varieties of created things are a ray of his glorious effence, and that the contrarieties of conftitutions are a type of his wonderful attributes; whofe complete power formed all creatures of the animal, vegetable, and material world, from the four elements of fire, water, air, and earth, to be an ornament to the magazine of creation; and whofe comprehenfive bene

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volence felected man, the center of knowledge, to have the dominion and authority over the reft; and, having bestowed, upon this favourite object, judgment and understanding, gave him fu premacy over the corners of the world; and, when he had put into his hand the free control and arbitrary difpofal of all affairs, He appointed to each tribe its own faith, and to every fect its own religion; and having introduced a numerous variety of cafts, and a multiplicity of different customs, He views in each particular place the mode of worship refpectively appointed to it; fometimes He is employed with the attendants upon the mofque, in counting the facred beads; fometimes he is in the temple, at the adoration of idols; the intimate of the Muffulman, and the friend of the Hindoo; the companion of the Christian, and the confidant of the Jew. Wherefore men of exalted notions, not being bent upon hatred and oppofition, but confidering the collected body of creatures as an object of the power of the Almighty, by inveftigating the contrarieties of fect, and the different customs of religion, have ftamped to themselves a lafting reputation upon the page of the world; particularly in the extenfive empire of Hindoftan, which is a most delightful country, and wherein are collected great numbers of Turks, of Perfians, of Tartars, of Scythians, of Europeans, of Armenians, of Abyffinians. And whereas this kingdom was the long refidence of Hindoos, and was governed by many powerful roys and rajahs, the Gentoo religion became catholic and univerfal here; but when it was afterwards ravaged, in feveral parts, by the armies of Mahomedanifm, a change of religion took place, and a contrariety of cuftoms-arofe, and all affairs were tranfacted, according to the principles of faith in the con quering party, upon which perpetual oppofitions were engendered, and continual differences in the decrees of juftice; fo that in every place the immediate magiftrate decided all caufes according to his own religion; and the laws of Mahomed were the ftandard of judgment for the Hindoos. Hence terror and confufion found a way to all the people, and juftice was not impartially adminiftered; therefore a thought fuggefted itself to the governor-general, the honourable Warren Haftings, to inveftigate the principles of the Gentoo religion, and to explore the customs of the Hindoos, and to procure a tranflation of them in the Perfian language, that they might become univerfally known by the perfpicuity of that idiom, and that a book might be compiled to preclude all fuch contradictory decrees in future, and that, by a proper attention to each religion, justice might take place impartially, according to the tenets of every fect. Wherefore bramins, learned in the Shafter (whofe names are here fubjoined) were invited from all parts of the kingdom to Fort-William, in Calcutta, which is the capital of Bengal and Bahar, and the most authentic books, both ancient and mo dern, were collected, and the original text, delivered in the Hindoo language, was faithfully tranflated by the interpreters

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into the Perfian idom. They began their work in May, 17732 anfwering to the month Jeyt, 1180 (Bengal ftyle) and finished it by the end of February, 1775, anfwering to the month Phaùgoon, 1182 (Bengal ftyle).'

The Code is then divided into twenty one chapters, and most of the chapters into fections, Of the chapters the heads are ; Lending and Borrowing.' The Divifion of inheritable Property.' Juftice.'- Truft or Depofit.'-Selling a Stran ger's Property.' Shares'——— Gift Servitude.'

Wages.''Rent.''Purchase.'- ' Boundaries.'

• Shares in the Cultivation of Lands.'- 'Cities and Towns.'- Scandal.'— ' Assault.'— • Theft.'— ' Violence.' 'Adultery.'Women.'- 'Sundry articles.'

The laws, our readers will imagine, are local, peculiar, characteristic-adapted to the nature of the climate, to the genius of the people. Many there are which would find no place in European codes; as we are not without many which Afiatic legiflators would wifely reject. The politician, however, the lawyer, in turning over this work, will find much to gratify curiofity; not a little to enlarge obfervation. Mr. Halhed has rendered more real service to his country, to the world in general, by this performance, than ever flowed from all the wealth of all the nabobs by whom the country of these poor people has been plundered.

In this Code of Gentoo laws we have searched to no purpose for fome paffage declaring that, when, after a certain feries of years, a nation of white people fhould come over the great water, bearing in their hands a message from their queen, requesting leave to trade in the country of the Gentoos; the Gentoos fhould grant them that leave, fhould trade with those people-and that it should be lawful for thofe people, having fo gained leave of trade, to begin to rob and plunder their hofts; to convert their ftorchoufes into fortifications; their implements of traffic into inftruments of war: that the white people should no longer be merchants in the land, but mafters, legillators; that the natives should ferve that people, the princes of the land fhould be in bondage to thofe ftrangers whom they received as guests; and that it should be juft and lawful for these white men of trade to go into the country of the Gentoos, and to poffefs it, and to carry away their wealth over the vaft ocean; to murder their princes for falt, their nobles for beetle nut-to extirpate the inhabitants: for tobacco.

In this whole code no fuch law appears; though it might properly have made part of the chapter of Theft. It is to be found, however, we fuppofe, in the more enlightened codes of

European

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