588 
Egyptian alphabets; the Runic, Celtibe- 
ric, and Parfi charaéters ; as well as the 
Indianand North American hieroglyphics; 
fhould have excited the curiofity, and em- 
ployed the refearch, of the learned, the 
janguage of the Chine fhould have ‘beeh 
neglected, notwithftatiding the attention 
which has been paid to their hiftory, phi- 
lofophy, afronomy, and cther {ciences— 
ftates, thac he thought it not inexpedient 
to renew the ftudy of characters thus 
greatly negleéted, and fo much the ra- 
ther, having amafled abundant materials 
for a Chinele Dictionary; which he pro- 
pofes to publifh, if health permit, and en- 
couragement be given, and which this 
- elementary volume is intended to precede. 
It is fincerely to be hoped, that, in a 
country proudly afpiring to pre-eminence 
in letters; a work of this fort will not be 
fuffered to languifh for-want of a munifi- 
cent and timely encouragement. 
Mr. Maurice has at length publifhed 
the feventh and final volume of his * In- 
dian Antiquities ;°> a work, of whofe 
general merits the public has had 
fufficient time to form an accurate efti- 
mate. The prefent volume, according to 
the plan originally chalked out by the 
Jearned and laborious author, confifts of a 
differtation on the literature, and the arts 
and fciences, anciently flourifhing in In- 
dia ; and another on the jurifprudence of 
that country ; with a third, and very cu- 
rious, diflertation onthe immenfe treafures 
in bullion and coined money amaffed in 
the ancient world. From the Inftitute‘of 
Menu, ‘Mr. Maurice has drawn fome fair 
and ingenious inferences re{pecting the 
high antiquity of the arts and fciences 
among the Indians. Sir William Jones 
has fixed the period of the firft promulga- 
tion of Menu’s Inftitutes, to that of the 
eftablifhment of the firft monarchies in 
_ Egypt and Afia (which could not have 
taken place many ages poferior to the 
Deluge) 5 and their firft publication, as a 
code of written laws, to about fhe year 
' 3280 before Chrift. Now, in the pages 
of thofe ancient Infiitutes, we read of the 
evgtaving and piercing of gems, and par- 
ticularly of diamonds, an art only recently 
known in Europe ; fen which it is juftly 
inferred, that the Indians muft have had in 
ufe thofe fine tee] inftruments, without 
which we cannot conceive how the opera- 
tion fhould have been performed, and con- 
fequentiy that they maf have been-very 
excellent metallurgifts : we find men alfo 
inchafing gold, and working in ivory and 
ebony with inimitable elecance. An in- 
‘dividual cof is alfo mentioned, whole fole 
i# 
Retrofpee of Domeftic Literature — 
Lune Literature. 
occupation it is toattend filk-worms, frovii 
which the early period when filk weaving 
flourifhed in India is inferred. _ A variety 
of fimilar prefumptions and inferénces are 
alfo brought of there having been in thofe 
ancient periods good chemifts, aftromomers, 
archite@s ,geometricians ,ande venanatomifts! ! 
‘In weaving, fpinning, anddying--inall the 
more ingenious devifes appertaining to 
the refpective occupations of the joiner, 
the cutler, the mafon, the potter, and the 
japanner—in executing (continues Mr. 
Maurice) the moft curious cabinet and fil- 
ligree work in general ; in drawing birds, 
‘flowers, and fruits from the book of na- 
ture with exquifite precifion—in painting 
thofe beautiful chintzes annually brought 
into Europe, that glow with fucha varie- 
ty of colours, as brilliant as they are laft- 
ing; in the fabri ication of thofe ornament- 
al vafes of agate and cryftal, inlaid with 
the richeft gems, that conftitute fo large 4 
portion of the fplendid merchandife of In- 
dia with the neighbouring empires of 
Afia—in fliort, in whatever requires an 
ingenious head, or a ductile hand, what 
people on earth, in thofe remote, or in 
thefe modern, times, has ever vied with 
the Indians??? This volume, by no~ 
means inferior to any of the former ones 
in the variety and importance of its infor- 
mation, is dedicated to two gentlemen, high 
in the profeffion of the law, Mr. Plumer and 
Mr. Dallas, to whom the author a¢know- 
ledges high obligations on his firft en- 
trance into the fubject ; ; in taking a final 
adieu of which, he exprefles a fervent 
hope, that his humble Effays, as he modeft- 
ly denominates them, on tlie Antiquities. 
of India, may only be the forerunner of 
fome grander effort, more fully and effec- 
tually to difplay them, ** fince (fays he) 
my mind is eternally impreffed with the 
conviction, that every additional refearch 
into their early annals and hiftory, will ul- 
timately tend to ftrengthen and fupport 
the Mofaic and Chriftian codes, and con- 
fequently the higheft and bef interefts of 
Man. 
As Sir William Jones was a very large 
contributor to the volumes of the Afiati¢ 
Refearches, and as it may. not be conve- 
nient to every gentleman, who is in poffef- 
fion of the forrner, to purchafe the latter; 
‘«< Two Supplemental Volumes to the 
Works of Sir WiLL1AM JoNés” aré * 
now reprinted uniformly with them, con=— 
tainirig the whole of the Afiatic Refearches 
hitherto publifhed, excepting thofe papers 
already inferted in Sir William’s works. 
«An Indian“ Gloflary; confifting of 
fome Thoufand Words and Terms com- 
monly 
