4>Si 



Mr. Laurence on France, and on the 



[Jan. I, 



cies of interest and utility. " He who 

 knows Sanscrit lias already acfjuired a 

 knowledsje of one half of almost every 

 "vernacular language of India; while he 

 >vho remains ignorant of it can never 

 possess a perfect and critical untlcrstand- 

 ing of any, though he may attain a cer- 

 tain proficiency in the practical use of 

 them. The several dialects confounded 

 under the common terms Hindi, Hin- 

 davi, Hindoostnni, and B/tas/ta, deprived 

 of (Sanscrit, would not only lose all their 

 beauty and energy, but, with respect to 

 the power of expressing abstract ideas 

 or terms in science, would be absolutely 

 reduced to a state of barbarism. These, 

 and the idioms peculiar to Bengal, Ita- 

 tnarupa, and the adjacent provinces — 

 the Tiiinul, the Telmga, the Curnatic, 

 the Malabar, together with that of the 

 Mahralla states, and of Gujnrat— so 

 nboiind with Sanscrit, that scarcely a 

 sentence can be expressed in either of 

 them w ilhout its assistance. The learn- 

 ed languages of Tibet, of Ava, and of 

 Cet/lon, are enriched liy it ; and every 

 one of them is indebted to it for its al- 

 phabet, however dissimilar their charac- 

 ters may seem at first sight.''* 



To give to this quotation all the im- 

 poi tance it demands, it is only necessary 

 to name its justly venerated author, the 

 illustrious Dr. Charles U iikins, which 

 ^\■onld suffice, independant of all the de- 

 tails with which I have prefaced it, to 

 ilcuioiislrate the high importance of the 

 Sanscrit-English Dictionary ou which 

 IMr. \A ilson is occupied ; and we ven- 

 ture to predict, that tiie publication of 

 this work, so ardently desired, will be 

 not less honourable to the ant!i.'-r than 

 advantageous to the republic of letters. 

 Langl; s, 



Memhre As I'Imtilul Ko'/nlde France, 

 (Afademie dfs Belief Lettres). 

 Paris; Nov. 14, 1816. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



<HE following memoranda have 

 been extracted from the corres- 

 pondence of a friend, who has passed 

 several years upon the Continent ; w ho 

 has wandered from the southern extre- 

 mity of the Peninsula to the northern 

 and eastern parts of Trance, and is at 

 presesit resident \a the vicinity of 

 Cam'.)ray. 



It is ever matter of especial wonder 

 among the generality of readers and eii- 



» Preface to thi. Giaiiimar of the San- 

 scrita Laniriiase, by Charles \Vilkius, esq. 

 I.L.D. itcppr 10 and 11. 



quircrs, Dial such anomalous and even 

 opposite accounts should be given of 

 the same people, upon equal authority ; 

 but admiration is often a sujierficial 

 thing, and recourse to a certain ancient 

 axiom will materially help to solve the 

 difficulty — nothing is, but which also is 

 not. No country or people upon th» 

 face of the earth furnish a more apt ex- 

 emplication of this truth than Trance, 

 the grand theatre of ne-plussage, of ul- 

 tra-ism, of extremes of every kind — of 

 philosophical light and natural barba- 

 rism; of the softest humanity and every 

 social feeling, and of the most revoltin;^ 

 iiidifl'erencc and savage hardness of 

 heart ; of the most exalted and universal 

 sense snd poiceplion of political liberty 

 and personal independence, that have 

 ever possessed the heads and hearts of 

 any people, ancient or modern, amid the 

 most debasing voluntary humiliation 

 and vivid ad'cclion for tyranny ; of tho 

 most splendid and ell'cctnal eflbi ts in the 

 cause of luxurious accommodation, anil 

 miserable failure in the ordinary conve- 

 niences of life: as an attempt at soma 

 kind of finish to a picture yet incom- 

 plete, the Trench are scieniitieally the 

 cleanliest, and, practically, ::iiiong the 

 nastiest, of ail civilized people ; and hav» 

 had more genuine nonsense w ritten con- 

 cerning them, both in visits and revisits, 

 than any other; to the mass of which, I, 

 at any rate, shall make but a small addi- 

 tion. It is a hopeful scheme, no doubt, 

 to form an estimate of the Trench mo- 

 rale, by the standard of English aflec- 

 tion and prejudice ; and a fair compara- 

 tive statemoit of national demoraliza- 

 tion (such is the modish phrase) in the 

 aggregate, might occasion a strange and 

 unlooked-for discovery. 



Under a far inferior system of agricul- 

 ture. Trance ol" late years has exhibited 

 ^ striking superiority over this country 

 in pioviding the first necessaries, even 

 to a surplus, for more than double the 

 population. This appears to be effect- 

 ed for the greater part, by men of inferior 

 property and estimation in the scale of 

 society, to tlip English farmers. We in- 

 deed sometimes read of scientific agri- 

 culture in the transactions of the learned 

 societies in Trance, but hear little of 

 their eminent and improving cultivators; 

 and, if the Tullian Dulianul has left any 

 successors in that conntiy, they are not 

 to be found witliin the narrow limits of 

 my information. The Trench equal ns 

 in their breeds of horned cattle, without 

 possessing equal general advantages of 

 pasture, ajid, as it should seem, are coii- 

 hidciabljf 



