tirement, crossing "a mountain which he found wonderfully high and steep, but environed with a great number of pleasant gardens and lovely meadows." In an obscure cavern he finds the hermit Bidpay, or the Friendly Physician, "whom some of the Indian grandees called Pilpay."

The king has "something of a prophetic apprehension" that in this old man he shall discover what he is in search of, and recounts to him" the whole story of his travels, his dream, the discovery of the treasure, and what was contained in the piece of white satin." Seeing before him a prince of so excellent a disposition, it is no wonder that the Brahmin experiences a feeling of delight, and accounts the people happy who lived under his reign. Then, taking occasion from hence, he opened his lips, like a cabinet of precious knowledge, and charmed Dabschelim with his admirable discourses. After several things they talked concerning Houschenk's letter. Dabschelim read the admonitions it contained one after the other at the end of each, Pilpay gave the Fables which served to illustrate them, and the monarch heedfully kept them in his memory."

The first admonition contained in the letter of Houschenk was one which might still be addressed to kings with as much propriety as ever it cautioned him to beware of flatterers and backbiters. In illustration of this, Pilpay relates the fable of the Lion and the Ox, in which the two chacals, Kalilah and Damnah, are the principal interlocutors; from which circumstance, the whole work has generally been called by their names. But in coming to the principal fable, there are several others introduced, and this makes the plan of the whole obscure and difficult to be committed to memory; for fable, in truth, is heaped upon fable, until the groundwork is lost sight of; and, in general, the mind becomes weary of keeping the original plot in view, and only attaches interest to the story immediately before it. However, even in this manner of considering them, they are highly amusing and instructive; and have greater fulness and more complete development than those of Phædrus, or even, perhaps, of Esop. The manners stand out in bold relief; and from the various acts of treachery and guile perpetrated by the animals who are the actors in them, it is certain that they were very corrupt in the East, even in those early times. For the author, we may be sure, caused his animals to act as the men his contemporaries acted; and it is probable that he rather softened than exaggerated the vices of the times for Asiatic monarchs require a degree of management, however docible they may appear, hardly ever relishing the whole truth; and the author having to do with one of these, was probably under a necessity of moderating his zeal.

In the conversations between Kalilah and Damnah (the two chacals), and in the apologues they relate to each other, to very

The Fables of Pilpay.

33

little purpose; the former endeavouring to dissuade the latter from a crooked line of policy, and he, in turn, adroitly defending its pursuit; we have a very fine picture of that kind of deception, by which the mind avoids perceiving the cogency of any argument which happens to make against its preconceived notions. Damnah is projecting the ruin of Cohotorbe the ox, who is in great favour at court, to the great prejudice of the aforesaid Damnah's plans of ambition; and, in order to convince his wife of the practicability of his scheme, and to impress upon her mind a great respect for his ability in general, he relates various instances of strength falling beneath the attacks of weakness when aided by cunning; and she, in order to turn him from his design, enumerates as many, to show that, sooner or later, unjust policy is detected and punished.

But Damnah, being a thorough-bred politician, is not to be deterred by reasoning, or the prospect of danger to himself; he looks only to the ruin of his enemy, and that being once accomplished, he imagines he shall be able to take the lead of circumstances, and carve his own fortune as he pleases. Under this persuasion, he practises upon the credulity and fears of the king and his favourite, and gradually inflaming the rage of the one, and the apprehensions of the other, brings about the terrible catastrophe by the complete destruction of the ox.

Here, therefore, we have the picture of a successful villain; but in the very moment of his triumph, his humane wife, Kalilah, foretells his ruin, Suspicions, indeed, soon fall upon Damnah; and the husband and wife frequently discussing the matter aloud in their own house, it happens that the leopard overhears Kalilah reproaching Damnah for his heinous wickedness. Being in possession of their secret, he fears, however, to communicate it immediately to the lion; but relates what he had heard to the queenmother. The old lady, being a very prudent woman, does not directly disclose what she has heard, but rather excuses herself by the usual mode of fable. The lion's curiosity being roused, he presses his mother to keep him no longer in suspense; and she therefore accuses Damnah of having wickedly wrought the ruin of the innocent Cohotorbe. Being thus accused, Damnah has again recourse to his fables, and by his eloquence and ready wit puzzles his majesty's brain in so notable a manner, that he is unable to distinguish between right and wrong. This the queen-mother perceiving, she redoubles her attacks, and at length succeeds in having Damnah confined in prison. Thither Kalilah goes to comfort him; but being virtuous and given to talk, as well as affectionate, she cannot even then repress her propensity to chide him for his evil doings. A bear, who overhears their conversation, informs against Damnah; and at length it becomes evident that he must suffer for his crimes. The tender Kalilah, however she might Orient, Herald, Vol. 2.

F

be given to scold her spouse, is overwhelmed with grief at his increasing danger, and while he is being hurried to and fro between the palace and the prison, dies of a broken heart. Damnah now becomes careless of life; but is still, by a friend, persuaded to endeavour to live. But the king, being rather worried into compliance with the desires of those about him, than convinced he is going to perform an act of justice, orders Damnah to be left to starve to death between four walls.

This concludes the original work; the remaining Fables being the additions of the various translators. It appears from this that Pilpay is a dramatic personage, who performs his part in a kind of play; and is no more to be accounted the author of the fables he is made to utter, than King Lear and Hamlet were the authors of the speeches they make in Shakespeare. But, whoever was the author of the Fables, they are eminently beautiful; and may not be the less valued because their origin is lost in the obscurity of antiquity. We have given a short outline of the main story, in preference to a mere critique; both because it will be more useful to those who may not be acquainted with the book, and may serve as a foundation for any remarks we may have thought it necessary to make in the commencement of the article. In a future Number we may give our readers some account of the HITOPADESA, and the GULISTAN of SAADI; as it is our object to select such works for criticism as may call forth a development of the national characters of the eastern people, at the same time that they display the peculiar turn of their imaginations.

THE ARAB.

HE treads the burning waste,
It is his native plain;

Yet never shall its sand be traced

By that bold foot again:

The Arab host no more shall greet him,

The Arab wife no more shall meet him.

He treads the burning waste,
With pride upon his brow;

Yet ere that path is farther traced,

The daring will be low:

The sand he treads on will be o'er him,

His grave will be the earth that bore him.

The fatal winds arise,

The sandy columns join

A monstrous chain!-the earth and skies

Its massy links combine.

It comes in all the pomp of gloom,

And leaves no traces of his tomb.

D.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE DEFENCE PUT FORTH BY THE MARQUESS OF HASTINGS.*

No Governor General that ever went to India possessed more abundant, or more favourable opportunities, of rendering himself universally popular, than were offered to the Marquess of Hastings during his administration of the affairs of that country; and yet it is notorious and incontrovertible, that no Governor General has ever returned from India more completely out of favour with all parties, than this unfortunate nobleman. He ought to have quitted the seat of his power with the praises and the thanks of all classes of men, over whom he had ruled, through a period distinguished by brilliant and unvaried success in every enterprise in which he engaged: yet, when he left the country, we believe, there were scarcely a hundred individuals among the millions he left behind him, who could conscientiously declare that they regretted his absence, or who did not hope for a much better ruler than himself, in his expected successor, Mr. Canning. It is true, that at the moment of his departure, addresses were poured in upon him from all quarters, and nothing was too extravagant for the addressers to utter in his praise. It is equally true, that a statue, a picture, a diamond star, and other marks of honour were proposed and voted in the assembly convened for that purpose, before his lordship's embarkation from Bengal; and to the distant and uninitiated observer, these would seem to be indications of respect, admiration, and regard. It is thus, however, that history is perverted to the worst of purposes, and by the suppression of truth, and the propagation of falsehood, the commonest events are so misrepresented, that even the individuals among whom they happen, are perpetually misled as to the real nature of things, which they fancy they see and hear for themselves. In Calcutta, where it might be supposed delusion would not be suffered to prevail, as to the character of certain transactions happening within that city, and within the sight and hearing of hundreds of witnesses, the most opposite opinions were entertained, as to the claim that Lord Hastings possessed on the gratitude of the community. He was believed to be hated as a tyrant by some, despised as a hypocrite by others, and pitied as one of the weakest of men by the greatest number of

This pamphlet bears the following title, "Summary of the Administration of the Indian Government, by the Marquess of Hastings, during the period that he filled the office of Governor General;" and has prefixed to it the following advertisement :-"In the absence of the Marquess of Hastings, his friends have deemed it expedient to print some copies of the following Summary of his Lordship's Administration in India, with a view to the information of the Proprietors of India Stock. A transcript of this document was left in the hands of some of his Lordship's friends, and of certain of the public authorities, previous to his late departure from the country."

those even who felt themselves bound to join in the clamour of applause, which they knew, while they swelled the shout, was entirely undeserved. And yet, if the language of the addresses were to be taken as a criterion of the public feeling on the occasion of his quitting India, it might be inferred, that no ruler was ever before so honoured and beloved; that every blessing which man could hope to enjoy had been conferred on India by his rule; and that after his departure no ray of consolation would remain to cheer the drooping spirits of those he had abandoned to their misery. Among some of the most hyperbolical and extravagant expressions vented on this occasion, the following, from Native Indian Papers, will be regarded as curiosities; the originals are in Persian verse, of which these appeared as literal translations in the English Papers of the same country:--

Whatever is necessary in the assembly of kings,

The Marquess of Hastings has taken with him from India;

He carries along with him a royal canopy, composed of the prayers of the people, As an offering to overshadow the head of a king, like unto Jum,

It would appear from this that no kingly quality remained behind him when his lordship was gone; and that the prayers of the people attended him as a canopy: the prayers of that people whose sentiments he so much suspected, that he thought it necessary to restrain their free expression; and made it punishable with the severest penalties for any one to venture an opinion that might be unfavourable to his government! The other example, however, is equally worth transcribing, for the poetry as well as the sentiment; we give them both verbatim et literatim from the English Papers published in Calcutta, and those in the service and pay of the Governor to whom they allude

When Lord Hastings came first to India,

All felt attached to him on account of his politeness."
Nine years and three months here he remained;
Then he took his departure out of this country,
On the first of January he left Calcutta

With the intent of proceeding to London,
He got into the ship while people wept.

I am going to say what like a scene it was,
He intended to depart from India,

The River of Tears marched with his stirrup.

The language of the British addressers was, in many instances, scarcely less extravagant than this; and from the entire absence of all apparent dissent from the general testimony of unqualified praise, many, even in India, and still more in England, no doubt, concluded that every heart was grateful to the Marquess for the

To be the most polished gentleman" in India, was no doubt thought to be as great a distinction as to be "the most polished gentleman" in England; and it is remarkable enough that the flatterers of all countries know where their compliments will tell best.