﻿482 ©N THE BURMHA 



cd impertinent nor invidious. The errors of a great 

 mind are, of all others, the most material to be 

 guarded against ; and Sir VVilliam himself, had he 

 lived to reconsider the subject, I am sure would have 

 been the first to expunge a passage of so unqualified 

 construction. Perfection has been denied us un- 

 doubtedly fbr wise nurposes, and progression is ne- 

 cessary to the happiness of our existence. No hu- 

 man invention is so perfect but it may be improved, 

 and no one is, or has been, so great, but another may 

 be greater. 



I have elsewhere had occasion to observe, that, ge- 

 nerally speaking, nature is slow, silent, and uniform 

 in all her operations ; and I am induced to think, 

 that what is true of the material world, equally holds 

 as to the intellectual. In this opinion I am sup- 

 ported by the testimony of Sir Isaac Newton, who, 

 with equal modesty and truth, replied to one of his 

 admiring friends, that if he surpassed others in his 

 attainments, he owed it entirely to a patient habit of 

 thinking. All grcai efforts are violations of the or- 

 der of nature, and, as such, are rather to be depre- 

 cated than admired. In common language they are 

 called convulsions, and I confess myself opposed to 

 convulsions of every kind. 



Sir William Jones's evidence goes to confirm the 

 opinion that we are indebted to the Hindoos for the 

 game of chess ; but the description of the gam^ 

 Avhich he has given from the Bhawialiya Puran has 

 nothing of that beautiful simplicity which called 

 forth his admiration, indeed he admits, tliat the 

 Indian game, described by him, is more complex ; 

 and he considers it more modern than the simple 

 game of the Persians, of v/hich he could not find any 

 account in the writings of the Brahman.'^. 



He informs us that the Sanscrii name is ChatU" 

 rangUi and the root froi;i which tlie name of the 



came- 



