"The hoary Persian Seers who watch'd by night, "The ETERNAL FIRE in Mithra's mystic cave"Emblem sublime of that primeval light, "Which to yon sparkling orbs their lustre gave "Exulting saw its gradual splendours break, "And swept, symphonious, all their warbling lyres, "'Mid Scythia's frozen glooms the muses wake, "While happier India glows with all their fires. "From that stupendous tower in song renown'd, "Rear'd in the centre of her vast champaign, "Assyria, raptur'd, eyed the blue profound, "And class'd, in dazzling groups, the starry train. Phoenicia, spurning Asia's bounding strand, 66 By the bright pole-star's steady radiance led, "Bade to the winds her daring sails expand "And fearless plough'd old ocean's stormy bed, "The race who, when the burning Dog-star rose, "With thundering pœans shook old Nilus' shore; "Now view'd a brighter dawn its beams disclose, “And drank in copious draughts the Indian lore. From Egypt roll'd in many a winding stream, "In Rome its splendours by reflection glow'd. "To chase the tenfold gloom, my Jones, was thine, For, oh! what pen shall paint with half thy fire, "The power of music on th' impassion'd soul, "When the great masters waked the Indian lyre, “And bade the burning song electric roll? "The "The mystic veil that wraps the hallow'd shrines "Of India's deities, 'twas thine to rend; "With brighter fires each radiant altar shines, "To nature's awful God those fires ascend. "Sound the deep conch; dread Veeshnu's power proclaim; "And heap with fragrant woods the blazing urn; "I see sublime Devotion's noblest flame, 'Midst Superstition's glowing embers burn! "'Twas thine with daring wing and eagle eye, "Nor did th' instructive orbs of heaven, alone, "From the tall cedar on the mountain's brow, "But talents-fancy-ardent, bold, sublime- And long as stars shall shine, or planets roll, To kindred virtue shall that name be dear; Still shall thy genius charm th' aspiring soul, "And distant ages kindle at thy bier." This poetical tribute to the memory of Sir William, was allowed on all sides to deserve no common share of praise, and it was followed in the course of the same same year (1795) by the first volume of another work relative to India, viz. "The History of Hindostan; its Arts and its Sciences, as connected with the history of the other great Empires of Asia, during the most ancient periods of the world; with numerous illustrative engravings." In this volume, which, as well as the subsequent ones, was published we believe by subscription, Mr. M. discusses the curious and important topics of Indian Cosmogony; the four Yugs, or grand astronomical periods; the longevity of the primitive race, &c. Besides the works of Mr. M. already mentioned, we have to add "The Crisis of the British Muse to the British Minister and Nation," published in 1798; "Grove Hill, the seat of Dr. Lettsom, a Poem," produced in 1799; and "Poems, Epistolary, Lyric, and Elegiacal, in three parts," 1800. It was not until 1801, that the seventh and last volume of his "Indian Antiquities," was communicated to the public. In conformity to the original plan, it consists of three dissertations: the first, on the literature, arts, and sciences originally flourishing in India; the second, on the jurisprudence of that country; the third, on the immense treasures contained in the ancient world. Like Sir William Jones, the author contends for the high antiquity of the arts. and sciences among the Indians, and insists on the skill displayed by the Asiatics, both in ancient and in modern times: "In weaving, spinning, and dying," says he "in all the more ingenious devices appertaining to the respective occupations of the joiner, the cutler, the mason, the potter, and the japanner-in exc cuting the most curious cabinet and filligree work in general; in drawing birds, flowers, and fruits, from the book of nature with exquisite precision-in painting those beautiful chintzes annually brought into Europe, that glow with such a variety of colours as brilliant as they are lasting; in the fabrication of those ornamental vases of agate and chrystal, inlaid with the richest gems, that constitute so large a portion of the splendid merchandize of India, with the neighbouring empires of Asia-in short, in whatever requires an ingenious head, or a ductile hand, what people on earth in those remote or in these modern times, has ever vied with the Indians ?" On his bidding a "final adieu" to this subject, he expresses a fervent hope that "his humble Essays on the Antiquities of India," as he is pleased to term them, may be the forerunner of some grander effort, more fully and effectually to display them; " since (adds he) my mind is eternally impressed with the conviction, that every additional research into their early annals and history, will ultimately tend to ftrengthen and support the Mosaic and Christian codes, and consequently the highest and best interests of man." We have thus taken a review of Mr. Maurice's various publications, and it will appear evident to every one who considers the number, the variety, and the extent of his works, that with much talent he has united much industry, and indeed exhibited a perseverance to be met with but in few inen of the present day. We are sorry to remark at the same time that his rewards have not as yet equalled his deserts. All the preferment he has met with in the church of England, and that too not conferred by a churchman, was the chaplaincy of a regiment, in a distant and unhealthy climate, climate, and yet it must be allowed, that he has reinforced the doctrine of the Trinity with new auxiliaries, and strengthened the prevailing faith in Europe by means of facts and arguments drawn from the remotest periods of the history, and the most distant regions of Hindostan. No one had a fairer title to the office of historiographer to the East India Company, but that post was created for and bestowed on another. He has however been lately appointed one of the assistant librarians to the British Museum, an office which however honourable it may be in itself, is far from being lucrative. It has also been reported that the pension of 2001. per annum.formerly enjoyed by Mr. Cowper the poet, has been recently conferred on Mr. Maurice; we trust that the fact is so, but if it be not, justice obliges us to remark that the literary exertions of few men of the present day give them a better claim to patronage and assistance, either from church or state. HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR-GEN. WILL. GOODDAY STRUTT, GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC. MAJOR-General William Goodday Strutt, is the second son of John Strutt, of Tirling-Place, in Essex, Esq. late Member for Malden in that county, a gentleman rendered remarkable for giving his single and solitary dissent, when the House 1801-2. A a of |