He had not remained, in an obfcure part of it, above five minutes, before Enuchio and two others came forth from that apartment; which proved they must have been in the fubterraneous chamber, and coufequently had afcended by means of the trap. -Thefe men bad all three lamps,and, fhortly after, they were follow ed by a figure of noble mien, muffled up in his cloak, and his hat, in which was a white feather, flapped over his eyes. But how was Jafper aftonifhed, when, by the light of one of their lamps which glared on his countenance, he discovered the features of d'Ollifont!

"Being now more fully convinced that the most horrid treachery and villany was going forward,-though every moment in danger of being difcovered, he perfifted in following them at fome little diftance.-They proceeded flowly through the iron gate that leads to the ruins of a once magnificent place of worship, and walked to the centre, on which part stands a tomb to the memory of a monk, who in former times was a fuperior of this abbey.

"He, immediately, by the fame method he had entered, quitted the Abbey, fhocked at what he had been witness to, and entirely at a lofs in what manner to act.-He knew himfelf to be entangled by a promife of fecrecy, fimilar to that of mine, on which terms only I had been fuffered to make him my confidant; but yet he was certain, as well as myfelf, that it did not prevent our aid or affiftance to any one diftreffed or confined in the building; or our exertions to frustrate any plans of wickedness or crudty which the count might form, provided we did not difcover those circumftances in which we were involved relative to the light, &c.— Our fituations were both extremely delicate; and though we would have rifked our lives in the fervice of the unfortunate, yet we could not but recollect with horror, the forfeiture incurred by the breach of an awful oath.

(To be continued.)

"One of the men having put AHINDOO'S REMARKS on the down a small basket, covered lightly

over with a cloth, which feemed to

GAME LAWS.

contain fome provifion, they all four | [From Mifs, Hamilton's Letters of a

UN

Hindoo Rajah.]

entered the tomb.-But it was impoffible for Jafper to follow them here alfo; as the fize would hardly NIVERSALLY as the poojah have admitted five perfons to keep of cards is established through. far enough apart in it to prevent out the country *, it has not, in the discovery. remoteft provinces, been able entire"He heard a kind of noife whichly to fupercede another fpecies of plainly told they were opening a large trap, and it feemed to require the exertions of three of them.He heard d'Ollifont fpeak:-Take down the provifions; I will remain here. Leave the basket, and fay nothing.-Jafper fuppofed they did fo; for, atter fome little time, he heard them replace the trap; and they palled by him as they returned to the apartment from whence they

came.

idolatry, which has clearly and indifputably been borrowed from the manners of their eaftern progenitors. This is no other than the worthip of certain birds and quadrupeds, which are held fo facred by their worshippers, that the preservation of their lives occupies, I am well affured, many volumes of their laws, and has employed the chief ftudy of their

* See our lat, p. 349. fapient

fapient legislators. I fhould have

wished to obtain much information upon a fubject fo curious; but all that I could learn, was, that the provincial rajahs, devoted to the worship of thefe animals, are moftly fprung from the firft caft. (A certain proof of their Braminical ori gin.) They defpife the vain purfuit of literature; and confcious of their native and inherent fuperiority, they pique themselves upon their ignoran e of all the feiences that are in efteem among the lower orders of

men.

From fuch exalted perfonages much information was not to be looked for: but a circumftance which occurred while I journeyed over the remote parts of the king dom, threw fufficient light upon the fubject.

blazing fire, whose cheerful light was reflected from the bright utenfils that adorned the white wathed walls. My firft appearance difmayed the little train but fome candied fweet+ meats, with which I prefented them, quickly reconciled them to my complexion. The genii who delight to revel in the troubled air, howled around this humble dwelling; and pouring the dashing torrent from the black-bofomed clouds of night, they heard with joy the thunder's roar, while, nimbly following the lightning's fiafh, they exulted in the ming led tempeft. The pale hue of terror fat upon the matron's cheek: fhe liftened, with anxiety atid impatience, for the voices of her husband and her fon, who were not yet returned from the labours of the day: and while her own fears increafed with the horrors of the tempeft, fhe employed herfelf in appealing thofe of the infant group, who clung to her, demanding, with accents of clamourous forrow, the return of their father and their brother.

In one particular, however, the higher cafts in that country muft be acknowledged to differ widely from the race of Brahma.-They are deficient in hofpitality! Never did fee the doors of a great man open to receive the wearied traveller: the When the form a little abated of milk of his cows flows not into the its violence, the little creatures ran ftranger's difh. Nay, fo very rude by turns to the door, eagerly peepand inhofpitable are the manners of ing into the dark abyfs of night, in the people of high caft, that once hopes of difcovering their approach. upon a time, when, being overtaken The anxious mother added fuel to by darkness in a rainy evening, I the already blazing fire; again fhe attempted to pro ure lodgings for fwept the unfoiled hearth; and again myfelf and my attendant, at the adjusted the chairs, which had long houfe of one of thefe provincial been placed for the reception of the rajahs, which was fituate near the fupporters of her hope. At length, road, I was not only denied admit- the well-known fteps were heard; tance, but repulfed with the lan- every heart fluttered with joy, and guage of contempt, and neceffitated every little hand was ftretched out, to continue my route, in a dark and eager to receive the paternal and ftormy evening, till the fight of a fraternal embrace. The old man peafant's hut cheered my heart with and his fon were for fome time octhe hope of fhelter. I was not dif- cupied in returning the careffes of appointed; for in this country the their family; which they did with fpirit of hofpitality is only to be the tendernels of affection: and then found beneath a roof of thatch. the venerabie mafter of this humble The decent matron who inhabited abode came forward, to welcome me this lowly hut, received me with to a fhare of the comforts it afforded. looks of cordial welcome. Five He had looked at me earnestly for blooming children furrounded the fome time, when, to my utter aftoVOL. XXVII.

3 G

niflment,

oppose themselves to this fuppofition, Could we believe that a book of fuch diftinguished authority, unheard of among the learned, and totally unknown among the fuperior cafts, fhould yet be found familiar in the cottage of a peafant? It is too abfurd for the fhadow of probability to rest upon.

learned rajah: but many obftacles | the latter end of harvest, we met a young peafant, who carried a gun, which he frequently fired, to frighten the crows and other birds from the grain. My companion took the weapon of deftruction into his hand to examine it; and in that unhappy moment, in which the goddefs of mifchance prefided, a group of partridges appeared before him: he involuntarily ftruck the flint; the report refounded through the air, and oh! unfortunate deftiny, seven of thefe facred birds were laid rolling in the duft. He had no time to confider of the fatal deed; for, in a moment, two men, whom the buflies had concealed from our view, darted on the guilty youth, wrefted the weapon of deftruction from his trembling hand, and, with many imprecations of vengeance, infifted upon his immediately attending them' before the awful tribunal of,

But to return to the religious rites of thefe fimple people, which, as I have obferved, differ effentially from all that had hitherto come within my observation: for inftead of the poojah of cards, which at that hour would have been performed in the families of the higher cafts, when the old man had shut the book, he knelt down, his wife and blooming infants following his example. The latter clafped their little hands, and held them up to heaven, while he lifted up his voice, calling upon the unfeen, omnifcient, and immortal Pre-affembled magiftrates, who were now ferver, to bless them, and to accept from hearts of gratitude the offering of praise and thankfulnefs. I cannot account for it, but there was fomething in this whole ceremony which greatly affected my mind; and I could not help, while I listened to the fimple but fervent devotion of this virtuous labourer, feeling for him a degree of veneration, even fuperior to what I had experienced for the priest, whose zeal had been fo confpicuous at the poojah of cards., In the morning, the fame rites were again repeated; after which, I took leave of this innocent and happy family; the old man infifting As it is not good to forfake a friend that, as I had come fome miles out of in his adverfity, we entered the tem- . my way, his fon fhould accompany ple of justice together. In this awme to the village where I had direct-ful tribunal, feated in two large ed my fervant and horfe to meet me. chairs, we found the offended maThe lad willingly obeyed the com-giftrates. The firft of thefe judges mands of his father, and we fet out together. He was a handfome youth, of about twenty years of age, and of a fenfible and intelli gent countenance. Taking a path through a corn-field, it being now

exercising the facred functions of their office in the neighbouring village. It was then I learned the real magnitude of my friend's offence. For I was then informed, that to preferve thefe facred birds from being injured by the unhallowed hands of any of the lower caft, the severest laws were promulgated: and as the zimeendars in the office of the magiftracy, before whom thefe of 'fences were tried, were all of them worshippers of the rural Dewtah, they never fuffered the stern fentence of juftice to be foftened at the fuggeftion of mercy.

leemned fully confcious of his dignity, which was indeed very great; uniting in himself the triple offices of prieft, zimeendar, and magiftrate of the

* Lanaholders.

3 G2

place

place. The other was a pundit, learned in the law; called, in the language of thefe people, an attorney. No fooner did the witneffes of my friend's guilty deed prefent the unhappy culprit before them, producing at the fame time the murdered birds, and the deftructive engine of their diffolution, than the murmur of indignation arofe; the caufe in which they were then hearing evidence was inftantly difmiffed: it was, indeed, only concerning a man who was faid to have beaten his wife almost to death: a trifling crime, in the eyes of these magiftrates, when compared to the murder of feven partridges!

| titude! When I expected to behold this young man embracing the feet of his merciful judges with grateful rapture, I heard him, with aftonishment, venture to expoftulate with his benefactors upon his utter inability to pay fo great a fine. He mentioned the fituation of his parents; faid they depended upon his labour for fupport; and that, fhould his judges perfevere in inflicting the payment of fo large a fum upon him, it muft deprive them of his affiftance; or, by robbing them of the little favings of their induftry, reduce their young ones to penury, and caufe them to eat the bread of bitterness in their old age. "Let pity for my aged parents induce you to foften the rigour of my fentence (cried the ungrateful youth); and, though a thoufand partridges were to start up before me, I fwear I fhall never injure one feather of their wings." Alas! his eloquence was loft. The judges remained inexorable: till at length, being touched with the forrow of the young man, I refolved to addrefs them in the beft English I was mafter of. Mild, upright, and merciful judges, (cried I) believe not that I fpeak to excufe the crime of which this young man has been guilty. No. I have ever been taught to pay refpect to the Dewtahs of whatever country I was in. With the Perfic Magi I have bent in folemn adoration of the folar orb; while, with other equally enlightened nations of the eaft, I have demonftrated my refpect for the crocodile, the jackall, and the monkey. Since fate has brought me into this renowned kingdom, I have, in the great capital, attended, with due fo lemnity, the poojah of cards: and now, that I am made acquainted with the religion of the rajahs of the provinces, I judge of your feelings, moft venerable magiftrates, upon the prefent occafion, by what my own would have been, had any bafe-born Sooder dared to lift his

The fon of the foldier attempted to fpeak in his own defence, but was prevented by the firft judge, who declared that the proof was fufficient for his condemnation, and that he never would hear any thing in favour of a poacher: (a name given by this fect to the enemies of their idolatry.) From the tone of wrath with which he pronounced these words, I faw that the young man's fate was determined; and when, after fome confultation between themselves, the younger judge arofe to pronounce his fentence, I expect ed, with forrow, to have heard the irrevocable mandate of immediate death; and knowing how vindictive the priests of all religions ufually are toward thofe who have treated with contempt the objects of their fuper, ftitious veneration, I fhould have been well pleased to have compounded for his fimple death, unattended by the tortures which I feared might be inflicted on him, for a crime which, I plainly faw, was thought of by his judges with horror. Judge then with what a mixture of astonishment and delight, I heard the mild and merciful fentence uttered by the pundit, which pronounced no other fentence of punishment, but that of paying a fun of money!

How univerfal is the fin of ingra

impious