546 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



[No. 214. 



How then has H. N. explained the doctrine 

 which they are to refute — the meaning of the 

 " cross and basilica " in India ? The only witness 

 in proof of it has disappeared " by falling into a 

 volcanic crater." He himself professes to be quite 

 ignorant of cathedral architecture ; and the En- 

 glish government, and English gentlemen gene- 

 rally, who have shamefully secreted such a trea- 

 sure, are equally ignorant. Why had they not 

 consulted the living Church of Hindooism, and 

 shown it a little sympathy and respect with a 

 view to getting enlightened ? Whei'eas " the 

 little they do know is derived from books." Far- 

 ther, " the elder civilians, men of ability, classical 

 scholars, and first-rate Asiatic linguists," when 

 assembled in that very building, though they 

 descanted on the sanctity of the place, " not one 

 of them knew nor remarked the ' cross and 

 basilica.' " And when visiting the great temple 

 of Benares, H. N. does not recollect that the 

 cross was either noticed to him or by him. 



It may be true that when the Hindoo " system 

 of government existed in efficiency, there was 

 neither crime nor punishment" — a shadowy 

 tradition, I presume, of the state of innocence ! 

 It may also be true that " the mythology of the 

 Nile agrees with that of the Ganges." But it 

 would not follow that the cross is a myth derived 

 from the mysteries of Egypt or the astronomy of 

 India. It would still remain an unquestionable 

 fact, that the cross, for ages an instrument of 

 ignominious torture under Pagan Rome, only 

 ceased to be so when Christianity had won its 

 way through all ranks of society up to the im- 

 perial throne ; then its employment was abolished 

 by Constantine, partly from the humanising in- 

 fluence of the new faith, and partly out of re- 

 verence to Him who had suffered on It for the 

 world's redemption. 



The anticipations of Christianity supplied by 

 Paganism, of which Krishna " burnishing the 

 head of the serpent " is a striking example, may 

 be easily accounted for, and their source pointed 

 out. As a corruption of the earliest revelation, 

 Paganism contains, as might be expected, a por- 

 tion of truth blended with much error. Indeed, 

 It would be no difficult task to prove that clas- 

 sical and oriental mythology is In some sense, and 

 to a great extent, the shadow of biblical truth. 

 What then ? In endeavouring to supplant Ido- 

 latry In the Roman empire, were the Apostles and 

 first preachers of Ciirlstlanlty merely " fighting 

 their own shadow ? " They recognised those 

 truths which even heathens admit, but opposed 

 and overthrew the accumulated errors of ages. 

 Yet there were some even then who condemned 

 the preaching of the cross as " foolishness," till 

 success demonstrated its wisdom. 



Lastly, H. N., having " travelled much in this 

 country and on the Continent," is convinced 



"that superstition prevails comparatively less in 

 Asia than in Europe," and that " the pages of 

 ' jST. & Q.' abundantly corroborate the opinion." 



This is far more startling than the discovery of 

 the " cross and basilica " at Muttra. To admit 

 it, however, would require us to disregard the 

 testimony of a cloud of witnesses, and to ignore 

 all our former reading. The vast systems of 

 Asiatic superstition. It seems, are less objectionable 

 than our own folk lore ; the tremendous shades of 

 Brahma andBudhu, of Juggernaut and the goddess 

 Kali, with their uncouth Images and horrid wor- 

 ship, are harmless when compared with Puck, the 

 Pixies, and Robin Goodfellow ; and Caste, Suttee, 

 and Devil-worship* are evils of less magnitude 

 than cairns, kist-vaens, and cromlechs. The 

 mental balance must be peculiarly constructed 

 that could lead to such a decision. Certainly 

 H. N. is no Rhadamanthus. " Dat venlam corvis, 

 vexat censura columbas." 



The appeal to " N. & Q." in corroboration of 

 his opinion forms a pleasant and suitable con- 

 clusion of the whole : for while in India super- 

 stition still undeniably lives and " prevails," it is 

 one special object of " N. & Q." to embalm the 

 remains of local superstitions in Great Britain 

 that have either breathed their last, or are in 

 extremis; to collect the relics of long-departed 

 superstitions that were once vigorous and rampant 

 in our island, but are now in danger of being lost 

 and forgotten. Their very remnants and vestiges 

 have become so rare that they are unknown to the 

 great mass of the community ; and the learned, 

 therefore, especially those versed in ethology, are 

 urged to hunt them out wherever they exist in 

 the different districts of the country, before ttey 

 fall Into utter oblivion. J. W. Thomas. 



Dewsbury. 



I would beg to suggest to H. N. that If his 

 friend Count Venua saw in the Hindoo temple at 

 Muttra both the form of a perfect cross and of a 

 " basilica, carried out with more correctness of 

 order and symmetry than in Italy," he must have 

 been so totally ignorant of eai-ly architecture as 

 to make his observations quite worthless, since 

 there Is no more similitude between the cruciform 

 church and the basilica than there is between two 

 parallel lines (=) and two lines crossing each 

 other at right angles (+). 



" The precise shape of the cross on the Temple 

 of Serapis " can only be inferred from the words 

 of the historian cited, and the inference therefrom. 

 Is strong that It was the crux ansata. 



Eden Warwick. 



Birmingham. 



* For proof of the existence of Devil-worship, see 

 Yakkun Nattanawn, a Cingalese poem, translated by 

 John Callaway, printed for the Oriental Translation 

 Fund: J. Murray, 1829. 



