with the creation ; the second, from the first incarnation of Vishnu, erroneously stated by Europeans at the deluge: for the learned Hindus invariably believe that all the Avatars were antediluvian; the belief of the generality of the natives is, that the Eternal emitted three sparks, which they personify by the three gods, Siva, Vishnu, and Brahma. The church Brahmans consider Siva as the symbol of the supreme God; Vishnu as the primordial spirit, that first moved on the waters, the God who existed before all worlds, who redeemed mankind from sin, and who will re-appear in a carnal form at the day of judgement; Brahma as the creative attribute (Viraj) by whom were produced Swayambhuva and Satarupa, the general parents of mankind. The Deity is still worshipped in Trinity, under the name of Trimouti or Tritoum: that is, the Hindus acknowledge three attributes of one God; thereby denoting his omnipotence, his providence, and his justice; offering up their prayers and thanksgiving to the preserving and destroying attributes of the Eternal. But the classical Brahmans, particularly those of the Vidanta school, consider the holy Triad in a recondite sense, as three Gods in one God; not as Brahma, Siva, and Vishnu, but as one pervading Spirit; the eternal Spirit in Heaven, the eternal Spirit on earth. To personify either, even in idea, is considered profane. The third person in their holy Triad is the same divine Spirit, in an incarnate form: this is one of the most ancient tenets of their religion, taught by their incarnate God, during the first millenary of the world, and corresponds with that taught by Enoch, the great Hebrew prophet, at the same period. There are several pagodas, or temples, sacred to this worship, in one of which the symbol of the Deity is a man with three heads: and at the great pagoda of Travancore, the symbol is a serpent with a thousand heads: the great feast of Anandavourda, held annually on the eve of the full moon in October, when the year originally commenced, is in honour of the Trimouti, and is attended by thousands of the natives of every cast, who assemble from every part of the country. ، There are numerous temples dedicated to Siva, and to Vishnu ; at each of which Brahman ministers, initiated in the peculiar mysteries of either sect, officiate. But to Brahma, as not being immortal, no temples are erected; although the Hindus of either sect pay him daily adoration, as the creative attribute, in their private prayers. Siva is worshipped as supreme and eternal Justice, who at the end of the world will distribute rewards and punishments: Vishna as the Mediator and Preserver, who left his paradise in heaven, and became incarnate, to deprecate the wrath of the Eternal. In this incarnation, he is believed to have animated the body of Parasa Rama, the great Buddha, the son of Máyá, or divine delusion. They reckon ten principal Avataras; of which that which has been mentioned is the only incarnation of the Deity that is past: the remaining eight being considered as partaking of a portion only of the Deity. The tenth is expected at the close of the 21 Cali Cali age, as an incarnation of the same divine redeeming Spirit, who will return in great glory to judge mankind, previously to the final distribution of rewards and punishments by the Supreme.' The author contends that, to understand the chronology of the Hindûs, it is previously necessary to be acquainted with the different Hindû divisions of time; from which it will appear that those numbers, that have been erroneously pronounced astronomical cycles, are nothing more than the different powers of numbers multiplied into each other. They believe that the world was created to last 4,320,000 years: but this aggregate consists of four ages, which are only subdivisions of times or matires, each equal to the 240th part of an Indian minute; and the aggregate of the four human ages or matires, according to the cipher employed by the Brahmans, is but as five days of twenty-four hours. Our readers would not thank us for following the author through his calculations: but, when we add that he considers the divine age as having a more recondite meaning, and that when it is used as an historic date it always denotes one year; that a divine age is that period of time (erroneously translated the duration of the world) at the expiration of which nature becomes regenerate at the vernal equinox; and that, as 71 of these divine ages form a menevantara, so does a menevantara denote, when applied to dates, 71 years; we believe that we have given the principal basis of his computations. He solves the Chaldean chronology as well as that of the Chinese by the same key, and calls into the aid of his intricate hypotheses very copious illustrations of fact and reasoning. To pursue such a chain of argument, by any thing approximating to an analytical examination of it, would carry us into a boundless region; and to make partial and mutilated extracts, from a systematic series of inductions, would be doing injustice to the dissertator. - We shall, therefore, close the book; recommending it to the diligent study and perusal of those who are desirous of becoming minutely acquainted with the cosmogony and theology of Hindûstan: but we must observe that the perusal of the work is rendered still more laborious and perplexed by the typographical errors that occur in every page. A copious list of errata is subjoined, but even these, we lament to say, are inaccurate, and require nearly as much correction as the text. After all the diligence that has been expended on it, the dissertation will probably attract but few readers, beyond those who are already initiated in its obscure and uninviting mysteries; and the author must be contented with the phrase, so consoling to those who write what is little understood, φωνέω συνετοισιν. ART. (16) ART. III. Sonnets, Original and Translated, by the late Charles Johnston, Esq., of Danson, Kent, and formerly of Trinity-College, Cambridge. 8vo. pp. 173. Boards. Murray. 1823. 66 THE HE sonnet has never been a favorite style of composition in England, and indeed some of our critics have regarded it with absolute abhorrence.. "What has truth or nature to do with sonnets?" asks Mr. Stevens, in a note to one of Shakspeare's sonnets; while in another page he calls the sonnet "a species of composition which has reduced the most exalted poets to a level with the meanest rhymers." Yet why should either truth or nature be excluded from a sonnet rather than from a song; and who has ever yet found, in the sonnets of Milton, for instance, any traces of the mean rhymer?" We do not, indeed, possess many very excellent sonnets among our poetry, because the genius of the English language is not well adapted to the form of the composition, which requires a more copious supply of rhymes than our English terminations afford. In following the Italian model, (the only legitimate sonnet,) the poet requires two sets of four rhymes and two sets of three rhymes, there being only four different terminations in the whole fourteen lines. Now it is not in English a very easy task to find two sets of four words each, rhyming with one another, and adapted for poetical purposes: but the Italian terminations afford an almost inexhaustible supply, a circumstance which explains in some degree the exhibitions of their Improvvisatori. On many accounts, the sonnet is an admirable form of composition; and, as a mode of conveying a single sentiment with energy and effect, it is unequalled by any other style of poetry. Its brevity requires great compression in the writer, and its peculiar modification of rhyme and division into two parts exact an orderly disposition of thought throughout the whole of it. In some respects, it may be said to assume the shape of a serious epigram, from the terseness of its style and the point of its conclusion. Many of Milton's sonnets afford a fine exemplification of this, as in his beautiful address to the nightingale, which concludes, "Whether the Muse or Love call thee his mate, Both them I serve, and of their train am I." In the Italian sonnet more particularly, there is always a winding up of the sentiment, in some cases approaching almost to a concetto. This characteristic gives a greater degree of completeness to the sonnet than to many other kinds of composition, and communicates to it a relish that is wanting in those interminable "Copies of Verses," and "Lines," and and "Stanzas," in which our English poets utter their sentiments and their sorrows. When a writer is aware that he must at all hazards express himself within the compass of fourteen lines, all his efforts are directed to the compression of his thoughts and language, -not to their amplification, which is too often the case when his pen has the range whole sheet of paper. of The author of the present volume was an accomplished scholar, whose acquirements and early death we incidentally noticed in our last Review, p. 410.; and his success will probably contribute to render the sonnet more popular in England. His style is evidently formed on the beautiful Italian models, which he studied so successfully that many of his own sonnets might be mistaken for fine translations from Italian originals. The following exhibit much of that antithetical expression of which we have spoken: Lov'd, prais'd, and sought, yet modest, and retir'd, Shall dare to praise where every charm is fix'd That thou sometimes hast deign'd to smile on me, Which sweetly shines like moon-beams on the sea, We select another specimen from the original sonnets, which will not fail, we think, to give the reader a very favorable idea of Mr. Johnston's powers. The subject is a fine one, and has been finely treated by the poet. The hand of death was on him, and he bore In every feature that sharp, clear, cold look He had sought death amid the battle's roar ; Nor shrunk he now, when in his chamber lone Death, visible death, for three long moons had shewn His brow, tho' pale, undaunted; for he knew The The portrait is evidently drawn from nature, by one who comprehends the noble features which he has traced, and feels the full value of the calm fortitude which he so well describes. Of the translations, we are inclined to speak in very high terms, whether we regard their spirit or their fidelity. No person, who has not made the experiment, can be aware how difficult it is to be accurate and yet not servile, unlabored and yet not unfaithful, in translation: more especially in the translation of sonnets, the limits of which must necessarily be so strictly preserved. In despite of these difficulties, Mr. Johnston has performed his task most successfully; and, in the judicious selection which he has made from the Italian poets, he has enabled the English reader to form a more accurate idea of the character of the Italian sonnet than perhaps we can gather from any other source in our literature. We shall quote, indifferently, a sonnet from Petrarch and another from Monti, with which we shall take leave of this highly pleasing volume. 'I saw on earth an angel's form appear, Of beauty such as earth holds not beside, In such a concert of sweet grief combin'd As the world never heard, and heav'n above That not a leaf upon the trees did move, Such sweetness fill'd the air, and lull'd the wind.'. The Shade of Alfieri addresses the "Northumberland.” His false Gauls' shame, to him, their chief disclose; Her wrongs and insults, chains and slavery. ART. |