246 On the Laws and Law-books of the Armenians. [No. 111. 



luded to by him, relative to the prerogatives of kings and the rights of 

 princes, we are led to conclude that Mechithar Ghosh was at least 

 possessed of some fragments of the laws of the kings of the ancient 

 Bagratidae and Arsacidse, otherwise he would have candidly declared 

 that the code was entirely his own production. This carries with 

 it its own improbability. And it is not injudicious to adopt this con- 

 clusion from the perusal of the second chapter of the prefatory ob- 

 servations of his law-book, in which he says : — " This string of laws 

 will perhaps be considered an object of ridicule by those in whose 

 hands it may chance to fall ! They will assimilate us in their mind's 

 eye to those who, in a fit of delusion, dream of kingdoms and of 

 royal splendour and glory; but no sooner they are awakened from 

 their illusive and enchanting dreams, than they see nothing but the 

 mere shadow of what their heated imagination had portrayed in glow- 

 ing colours ! But, let them remember that I am not ignorant of the 

 vanity and transitoriness of all earthly kingdoms ! Of this we have 

 a most singular and striking proof in the rise, progress, and annihi- 

 lation of our own kingdom. The past has vanished for ever — the 

 present is a mere tantalising nonentity — the future I can scarcely hope 

 to see! Yet, these distressing circumstances and melancholy reflec- 

 tions will not be permitted to cool my ardor in prosecuting the task 

 of framing a complete code of laws, conformable to the wants and 

 present state of the nation, from the conviction, that the utility 

 of my production will be generally acknowledged and duly appreci- 

 ated. In attempting to publish and promulgate this work, I must 

 crave the kind indulgence of unbiassed observers; and, in so doing, 

 I stand fully prepared to be visited with the censures of hasty and 

 fastidious critics, for such errors and imperfections as may be found in 

 this production of mine. Yet I still entertain a hope, that they will 

 consider me worthy of credit for good intentions, though they may not 

 be disposed to extend to me their pardon for the defects of my work." 

 From these observations of Mechithar Ghosh it is to be inferred, that 

 the laws contained in his book were not bond fide his sole production, 

 but a compilation from those framed by ancient Armenian law-givers. 

 In preparing this article on the laws and law-books of the Armenians, 

 I have availed myself of Inchichian's " Antiquities of Armenia" a 

 work published at Venice in 1835, and replete with deep research and 



