tleness, it might be brought to the ground by the sling of some Goliath, Mr. B. might hope, with the aid of his learned anonymous friend, to restore the splendid arch, by only following a few steps farther the smooth and airy plan of castle-builders. The stars in ancient times were thought to be gods. This was not the opinion of the ignorant only, but of the gravest philosophers; of Plato, of Aristotle and Cicero, &c., and the same notion doubtless prevailed since the origin of idolatry antecedently to the days of Moses. As these aerial gods, like nightly sentinels, go round the globe, and have their eye on every part of it, it was natural to conclude, that they influenced the destinies of its inhabitants. Hence the doctrine of astrology, a doctrine which enabled the selfish and cunning to bind in iron chains the souls and bodies of a great portion of mankind, from the earliest ages almost to the present. Moses, by a few words, dissolves this pernicious system, and blows it into air as with a potent spell. "And he made the stars;" as if he had said, "The stars are not gods, but the works of God; they are not made for our use, nor do they influence our happiness; and though they are well calculated to enlarge our ideas of the great Creator, they ought not to be themselves objects of our dread or reverence."

BEN DAVID.

Cursory Remarks on the Island Borneo, &c.

B

(Concluded from p. 16.) EFORE a missionary entered their country, it would be necessary to get acquainted with one of the chiefs, and if he followed the example of St. Paul, to "become all things to all men," he would, perhaps, see it proper, or, at least, expedient, to go through the ceremony of fraterniza tion with such chief. This ceremony being curious, I shall here describe it. The chief with his followers being as sembled on the day appointed, a young cock chicken is killed at sun rising, and roasted while some rice is being boiled, by fuel of a peculiar kind of scented wood, during which, an old man (selected to act the priest on the

occasion) keeps chaunting a string of sentences in a language which he does not understand; probably, an invocation borrowed from Hindoo ceremonies.

About 11 o'clock in the fore

noon, the chief and his adopted brother are placed side by side, at the upper part of an elliptic circle, formed by the attendants. The aforesaid old man brings the victuals, and places it before the parties, and also two glasses, containing palm wine: he then takes a small dagger, and lifts up the skin of the right shoulder of one of the parties, takes thence a large drop of blood, and puts into the glass destined for the other, and also takes drop of blood similarly from the other, and puts into the other glass, which they immediately drink off, amidst the huzzas of the attendants; the victuals are then eaten by the new-made brothers from off the same dish, and a keep-sake, such as a ring or tiger's tooth, or such like, is exchanged as a token, as also their daggers. The attendants then retire to their own houses to feast, and the chief thenceforth must be considered and treated in every respect as a brother, and he will not fail to act the part of one in every respect.

The conduct of the Arab missionaries who propagated Mahometanism in the Malayan Archipelago, should be held in view by the Christian messenger. They did not profess to be solely teachers of a new religion, but merchants and traders who took the native surplus produce from off their hands, and brought in return, conveniences and elegant articles much more valuable, at least in their estimation, while the increase in their comforts or gratifications, taught the natives to view them rather in the light of benefactors, than innovators or monopolists. Their principal obligation, however, viz., the extension of Islamism, was never lost sight off; and the result was, what any rational person would have anticipated from such prudent conduct, rapid and extensive conversion; and it was not till they acquired political power, and began to employ it for the purpose of enforeing the compulsory tenets of their religion, that conversion was suspended.

The Aborigines are at this time in a very favourable, state for the e recep

tion of genuine Christianity and consequent civilization. They are be come sensible of the disadvantages of ignorance of letters and ciphers, and are anxious for their acquirement. A chief, with whom I became acquaint ed, anxiously wished to be able to put his ideas on paper; and though rather past the middle age of life, he acquired the art of writing very quickly. I of course taught him the Roman characters, with the exception of those which I considered unnecessary, viz., the C, and the X; giving the broad or Teutonic pronunciation to the others, which, it may be remarked, agrees much better with all the Oriental languages, than the softened pronunciation adopted by the English. I never mentioned religion to him, except by inquiring what his ideas were on the subject; but his curiosity soon impelled him to seek information on the subject from me; and I gratified it, by telling him what we believe according to Unitarian tenets; and after sketching to him the history and contents of the Divine word, I took occasion to contrast the religion which represented God as love, and as a loving Father over all his works, with that of the ceremonious, bigoted, intolerant and bloody Mussulmen; and with the ignorance of his countrymen, which made them fit to be the prey of any delusion which might be introduced amongst them. I however acquainted him, that the greatest number of those people professing Christianity, held only a corrupted sort of it, being so corrupted by the remains of a flood of ignorance and anarchy, which overspread the world during the infancy of its establishment: the chief of which was a tenet relative to the One God and his chosen Messenger, and gifts dispensed by him, similar to that of the Hindoos, from whom, indeed, it appeared to have been taken by superstitious men, who had professed Christianity without examining its real nature and design. His unprejudiced mind acknowledged the truth as soon as it was stated, and anxiously

*Neither the V nor F is pronounced in their language; P being substituted for the latter.

inquired how it could be introduced into his country. Probably, had the British Government kept a footing in the country, I should have endeavoured to follow up the impression which had been made, but I could not, under the then existing circumstances, spare time from the ship I was building, to attend properly to it. Seeing I could not come to his country as he wished, he proposed to abandon his lands and villages, and bring his people, to the number of near 2000 persons, to where I was; and there break up the surrounding forest, settle, and conform to my directions in all respects. The adjacent country did, indeed, offer abundance of room, being a fertile plain for 15 miles round, with a noble river and safe harbour; and no inhabitants besides the few people I had with me, who were native Javanese convicts. I was necessitated to dissuade him from the execution of this design, until it should be seen whether the British government would re-occupy the settlement, which I was then holding for them, and did continue to hold about 18 months after their departure. The Dutch government, in the neighbouring settlement, however, became jealous of the good understanding subsisting between the natives and me; and being fearful besides, that the British government would re-occupy so advantageous a situation, in a very few days after my launching the ship, sent about 500 troops with armed vessels, and took forcible possession of the place, without being able to assign any reason for such conduct; against which, therefore, I protested; and soon after left the place, and came away with all the people I had with me, leaving the country to the Dutch as I found it, viz., void of inhabitants. My friend, the chieftain, had returned to his country with the intention of bringing his two sons from thence, for the purpose of sending them to England with me; but the monsoon setting in earlier than usually happened, compelled me to sail from thence without them. The total po pulation of Borneo does not, probably, exceed three millions of souls, and when it is known, that the island is one of the most healthy within the tropics, that it is in fact much more temperate

latitudes (which, by the way, is easily accounted for from local causes not necessary now to state); when it is known that the fertility of its soil is such that, with even very moderate cultivation, twenty millions would be far from sufficient population; when, further, it is taken into consideration that it abounds with many of the most valuable metallic and mineral productions, twenty millions more would find more than sufficient employment, in their extraction from the earth; and that, if cultivation and domestic industry were carried to the height in which they are in the neighbouring provinces of the Chinese empire, one hundred millions would enjoy a comfortable existence:* I say, when all the foregoing facts, as I may call them, are brought to view, it would, I should think, be rather difficult for some of Mr. Malthus's most rational admirers to prove his assertion, or rather leading principle, that in all countries population presses hard against the means of subsistence, (except they explain it to mean the actual, not pos

I have been to China and been much on shore, and have been very intimately conversant with the Chinese, who are found in the Archipelago, and I am enabled to contradict Mr. Malthus's assertion most completely as to their poor habits of living, and all the other doctrines he builds, as usual, on false premises. They are, on the contrary, the most luxurious people of Eastern Asia, and, at the same time, the hardest workers; and the poorer class of them who come from China, as labourers in the mines, are bent on saving every mite for the purpose of returning as soon as they have amassed a small sum; yet even these people will think themselves starved if they cannot live as well as Europeans; and three of them will consume as much provisions, and of a more nutritive sort, than any five of the natives, and also perform their work in rather a superior proportion. This conduct forms but an indifferent support to the assertion, that they are habituated to starvation. During a stay of several months at Canton, and going on shore every day, I saw but one child exposed, and as it was in the river, it is uncertain whether it bad not fallen out of some of the floating houses.

as much information as that two and two make four,) and human institutions, such as despotism, anarchy and slavery in politics, and bigotry, intolerance, superstition and ignorance in religion, are but as a feather in the scale compared with the misery resulting from the laws of nature, that is, the laws of God.

J. C. R.

P. S. Islands of Bally and Lomboch. The first separated from the east end of Java, by a narrow strait; and the latter separated from the east of Bally by another strait: both these straits, with that which divides Lomboch from Lumbawa, the next island to the eastward, are much used by the European and American ships, as also those from Hindostan, bound to China during the N. W. monsoon, and by those returning from thence during the S. E. monsoon. After the triumph of Islamism over Hinduism in Java, its relics found an asylum in those two islands, where they have held out against the Mussulman power to this day; but they, however, tolerate Mahometanism and its professors under their government. The two islands are well cultivated and very populous, and the inhabitants more civilized than any other people of the Archipelago, except the Javanese; and were the five princes, who hold the government of those islands, to be united amongst themselves, no other native government would be able to withstand their power, for even singly they make themselves respected by their neighbours. I touched there on the last voyage, and being invited to see the Rajah in his capital, happened at the same time to have an opportunity of seeing the two widows of a deceased nobleman burn themselves, for and with him, agreeable to the Hindoo customs; but the mode was rather different, as the detail will shew. At a hill, some distance outside the town, in a place appropriated to those purposes, three covered platforms were erected at about forty yards apart, and in a line with each other, and fronting the east, having a furnace about twelve feet long by eight broad in front, walled to about eight or nine

feet high, and having a raised gangway of about ten paces, leading to it from the covered sheds (behind) aforementioned. Those furnaces were filled three or four feet deep with dry faggots, and when fully lighted, some Bramins brought out the corpse from the centre shed, and, proceeding to the side of the furnace, threw it in. About half an hour after this, the woman, who was in the shed to the left, (where she had been previously brought in a covered chair, highly decorated, and carried by people dressed in white, &c.,) came forth, attended by some Bramins very gaily drest, and having a small tame bird, of the dove kind, perched on her head. She then walked leisurely forward to the edge of the furnace, gradually inclined herself forwards, and made a sudden spring forwards and headlong into the fire; when the bird flew away, and the persons who surrounded the furnace instantly threw in great quantities of dry leaves, &c. so as to raise the flame to a great height. In about another half hour, the other woman made her appearance from the shed to the right, and walked forward on the gangway in the same manner, but evidently afraid and unwillingly, and when she came to the brink of the furnace, she hesitated some minutes, till the Bramins threatening to throw her in, (which would have obliterated the merit of her sacrifice,) she called up resolution, and plunged into the fire as the other did. The spectators, who were extremely numerous, including the Royal family, princes, women, children, &c., behaved with considerable order and decency, rather serious than otherwise: after the fire was burnt out they told us the bones would be collected and buried by the Bramins in one grave as usual, and as appeared to have been done all round on former occasions. These detestable sacrifices to ignorance are rather common, and we were informed, that but a little previous to our arrival, one of the Rajahs

101/

of Bally had died, and that thirty of his wives were burnt at his burning, several of whom were thrown into the fire. It may be observed, that at the man's death all his wives are separately interrogated, whether they will be burned and go to paradise with him or live as slaves. If they choose the former, as they generally do, they are not allowed to retract afterwards; if they do, they are thrust through with a dagger, or thrown into the fire, which robs them of the merit of their suffering. These people, though following the Hindoo customs, are far from being bigoted to them, and the Mussulmen, who have been conquered by them, or become converts from their Hinduism, enjoy full toleration under their government.

These islands lie in the tract between Atlantic-America, Europe, Hindostan and China; and ships going thither during the N. W. monsoon, or returning thence during the S. E. monsoon, usually stop at one of these two islands to fill up their water, and procure refreshments, which, in consequence of the numerous population and consequently improved state of cultivation, are both cheap and abundant. Missionaries established on these islands would be much more comfortable than at many other stations where they now are, and if preachers of genuine Christianity, their success would be great, and by occupying themselves in teaching the knowledge of letters and useful arts, and, at the same time, carrying merchandise, as Christians should do, they would defray their expenses, and furnish themselves with increased means of doing good. The mode in which the Quakers carry on trade is, I think, a good model of such dealings as I here suggest, always observing that mercantile views should be reckoned subordinate to the main object of extending Christianity both by precept and example.

ART. I.-Letters of Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey, with a Memoir and Illustrative Notes. 8vo. pp. 344. Murray. 1821.

T

O whatever cause it be owing, whether to public spirit, to a sense of family-honour or to a love of gain, the descendants of persons distinguished in the last century, are industriously bringing to light manuscripts which explain the characters and events of that interesting period. The historian of England, from the Revolution downwards, will, therefore, possess ample materials for his undertaking; but it may be justly doubted, whether his knowledge of the secrets of the Court and of great families, will contribute to the dignity of his sketches. In history, as well as other provinces of art and literature, a certain degree of obscurity is necessary to sublimity.

MARY LEPEL was the daughter of a military officer, and maid of honour to Queen Caroline, then Princess of Wales. She was early celebrated for her wit and beauty, which recommended her to John Lord Hervey, son of the Earl of Bristol, whose wife she became in 1720. Lord Hervey was the foremost beau of his age, a courtier, small poet and parliamentary orator. He is unfortunately made immortal by some witty, but malignant, verses of Pope's, which he is said to have wantonly provoked; but appears in a better, though fainter light to posterity, as the friend of Dr. Conyers Middleton.

Lady Hervey was a woman of eminent accomplishments. Her Letters are not always, however, in the best taste. She affects Latin quotations, and takes upon her too much of a political character. For an Englishwoman she has an undue liking for the literature and manners of France. She wants too, that sense of religion, without which, the female character is always glaringly and offensively imperfect; for though she is politically of the Established Church, she shews

herself at heart a free-thinker. But, with all these drawbacks, we feel interested in her epistolary productions, and are persuaded, that if the present volume do not prove a popular book, its merits will, at least, save it from oblivion. The Letters were written at a late period of Lady Hervey's life, and chiefly after her husband's death, which may account for their exhibit ing little of that vivacity and grace which fascinated the most eminent contemporaries of her youth: they are, nevertheless, far from dull, and sometimes spirited; the fair writer's criticisms on books, and her judg ments on mankind, are generally cha racterized by sound sense; and some facts are related by her which will assist the biographer, if not the historian.

The person to whom the Letters are addressed, was the Rev. Edmund Morris, who had been tutor to her sons, and who, at the time the correspondence begins, was settled down, as a country clergyman, in Hampshire. He was of the low church party, and looked up to Bishop Hoadly as a patron.

The Editor of this work is unknown. His "Memoir" is very scanty; his "Notes" are for the most part judicious and useful. Were they less tinctured with Toryism they would, in our judgment, lose nothing of their value.

It does not appear, whether the Letters are published by the family of Mr. Morris, or that of Lady Hervey, whose grandson is the present Earl of Bristol.

The Correspondence begins at a stormy period of our history, the year 1742. At that time, less practical liberty was, we apprehend, enjoyed, than at the present moment. What letter-writer now thinks of saying to a correspondent, "Do not, for the future, use the formality of signing your letters: you may possibly have occasion to write such news as may be better unsigned"? (P. 15.)

A remark of the Editor's (p. 16)