468 



There are doubtless many in these tribes of wandering enthu- 

 siasts who deserve a better character; and like the brahmins 

 stationed at the temples, lead a more useful life; and are actuated 

 by a spirit of philanthropy, sensibility, and acuteness of feeling, 

 flowincT from a humane and benevolent heart. Their religious 

 tenets, and superstitious prejudices, lead them, doubtless, into many 

 errors; some excite our pity, a few our censure. Among the for- 

 mer, I recollect a well-authenticated story of an English gentle- 

 man, extremely fond of natural and experimental philosophy be- 

 ing intimate with a liberal-minded brahmin, who had been edu- 

 cated at Benares, or some other celebrated college; they gene- 

 rally passed the morning together in the pleasing walks of science. 

 The brahmin read English books, searched into the Encyclopedia, 

 and profited by the best philosophical instruments. The gentle- 

 man, on receiving a valuable solar microscope as a present from 

 Europe, shewed it with rapture to his Hindoo friend; and, in 

 opposition to the scheme of the metempsychosis, discovered to 

 him the innumerable animalculae devoured by the brahmins on 

 every fruit and vegetable they eat; each of which, like archdeacon 

 Paley's canary-bird, is a cluster of contrivances: " in the single 

 ounce of matter which composes the body of that little warbler, 

 are instruments for eating, for digesting, for nourishment, for 

 breathing, for generation, for running, for flying, for seeing, for 

 hearing, for smelling: each appropriate, each entirely different 

 from all the rest." By analogy, we have every reason to suppose, 

 indeed we must be assured, that the same infinite wisdom and 

 goodness has endued the minutest insect with organs, faculties, and 

 propensities, suited to its link in the great chain of creation. The 



