SACCOUNTALA. 635 



would form too strong a contrast with the mournful scenes around us ; 

 and the elegant ideas which in other times appeared so full of charm, 

 would now only aggravate our grief. Let us rather call to mind the 

 amiable qualities which so endeared our illustrious colleague to us. The 

 fruits of his talent survive him; they will not be lost to us or to pos- 

 terity ; his pupils will in their turn form others, who will preserve and 

 feed the sacred fire which he first kindled ; but the delight which we 

 experienced in his society, in the tenderness of his heart, in the effusions 

 of his friendship, and, if I may be allowed to say so, of his gratitude, 

 can henceforth be but a remembrance ; a remembrance at once sweet and 

 bitter, as is always that of the happiness which we have owed to the 

 most innocent affections, fleeting, alas ! as our existence." 



Note. The reader will observe that M. de Chezy's orthography has 

 been carefully preserved, in order that a comparison with the English 

 orthography of the proper names of India might suggest corrections in 

 pronunciation. 



s ^ii rbif Iv 



The noblest shoot of the ancient stock of Pourou,* the hero Douch- 

 manta,t reigned in former times over all India. The shores of the sea, 

 and those wild regions, the retreat of the fierce Mletchas, J were the 

 sole boundaries of his vast empire. Faithful to the laws, his numerous 

 subjects, each in the caste in which he was born, fulfilled with pleasure 

 the duties which justice alone imposed on them. Protected from all 

 oppression under such a monarch, their days were passed in the bosom 

 of enjoyment, with nothing to disturb their happiness. 



Full of confidence in those venerable Brahmans[| who were animated 

 by the fire of the purest piety, the people, directed by their councils, 

 propitiated the favour of the Divinity by the incense of peace and love. 

 Nature herself appeared to take delight in favouring this happy country. 

 Gentle and fructifying showers regularly watered the soil at the most 

 favourable season, and without being torn by the iron of the plough- 

 share, the land yielded to the husbandman the most nutritious fruits, 

 while the numberless flocks which wandered in the richest pastures, 

 brought him the early tribute of their milk. 



Endowed with heroic courage, as skilful in mounting a fiery horse as 

 in moderating the fury of an untamed elephant, victorious always, with 

 arms of every species, the club or the lance, the bow or the scimetar ; 

 majestic as the chief of the immortals, brilliant as the powerfulgod of 

 light, the young king was at once the love and the admiration of his 

 people. 



Attended by an army of followers, consisting of men on foot and on 

 horseback, in chariots and 011 elephants, he resolved to proceed to a 

 thick and extensive forest, to enjoy the pleasures of the chase. 



As he advanced, amidst the acclamations of his warriors, the piercing 

 sounds of the trumpet and the gong, the rattling of chariots, the neigh- 

 ing of horses, and the savage cry of the elephants, a crowd of women, 



* Pourou the name of one of the early kings of India, the sixth of the lunar 

 dynasty. 



f Douchmanta, written also Douchouanta, and Douchyanta, must have reigned, 

 according to a probable calculation, fifteen centuries before the Christian era. 



$ Mletchas a generic term to signify a barbarian or a stranger, any one who 

 does not speak Sanscrit, or is not subject to the laws and institutions of India. 



|| Bralimans the name given, as every one knows, to the sectarian priests of the 

 Veda, who compose the first of the Indian castes. 



