and partly by reason; affirming, that himself, in his own garden, found two little birds with membranaceous wings utterly devoid of legs; their form was near to that of a bat's. Nor is he deterred from the belief of the perpetual flying of the Manucodiata, by the gaping of the feathers of her wings, which seem thereby less fit to sustain her body, but further makes the narration probable by what he has observed in kites hovering in the air, as he saith, for a whole hour together without flapping of her wings, or changing place. And he has found also how she may sleep in the air, from the example of fishes, which he has seen sleeping in the water without sinking themselves to the bottom, and without changing place, but lying stock still, pinnulis tantum nescia quid motiuncule meditantes, only wagging a little their fins, as heedlessly and unconcernedly as hoises while they are asleep wag their ears to displace the flies that sit upon them. Wherever Scaliger admitting that the Manucodiata is perpetually on the wing in the air, he must of necessity admit also that manner of incubation that Cardan describes, else how could their generations continue? air, and never rests upon the earth. And as for Aldrovandus, his presumption from the five several Manucodiatas that he had seen, and in which he could observe no such figuration of parts as implied a fitness for such a manner of incubation, Cardan will answer, Myself has seen three, and Scaliger one, who both agree against you. However, you see that both Cardan, Aldrovandus, and the rest, do jointly agree in allowing the Manucodiata no feet, a also in furnishing her with two strings, hanging at the hinder parts of her body, which Aldrovandus will have to be in the female as well as in the male, though Cardan's experience reacheth not so far. But Pigafetta and Clusius will easily end this grand controversy betwixt Cardan and Aldrovandus, if it be true which they report, and if they speak of the same kind of Birds of Paradise. For they both affirm that they have feet a palm long, and that with all confidence imaginable; but Nierembergius on the contrary affirms, that one that was an eye-witness, and that had taken up one of these birds newly dead, told him that it had no feet at all. Johnston also gives his he rejects the manner of their incubation. Franciscus Hernandeo affirms the same with Cardan ex-suffrage with Nierembergius in this, though with Aldrovandus pressly in every thing; as also Eusebius Nierembergius, who is so taken with the story of this bird, that he could not abstain from celebrating her miraculous properties in a short but elegant copy of verses; and does after, though confidently opposed, assert the main matter again in prose. Such are the suffrages of Cardan, Scaliger, Hernandeo, Nierembergius. But Aldrovandus rejects that fable of her feeding on the dew of heaven, and of her incubiture on the back of the male, with much scorn and indignation. And as for the former, his reasons are no ways contemptible, he alleging that dew is a body not perfectly enough mixed, or heterogeneal enough for food, nor the hard bill of the bird made for such easie uses as sipping this soft moisture. To which I know not what Cardan and the rest would answer, unless this, that they mean by dew the more unctuous moisture of the air, which as it may not be alike every where, so these birds may be fitted with a natural sagacity to find it out where it is. That there is dew in this sense day and night, (as well as in the morning,) and in all seasons of the year; and therefore a constant supply of moisture and spirits to their perpetual flying, which they more copiously imbibe by reason of their exercise: That the thicker parts of this moisture stick and convert into flesh, and that the lightness of their feathers is so great, that their pains in sustaining them selves are not over-much. That what is homogeneal and simple to our sight is fit enough to be the rudiments of generation, all animals being generated of a kind of clear crystalline liquor; and that, therefore, it may be also of nutrition; that orpine and sea-house-leek are nourished and grow, being hung in the air, and that dock-weed has its root no deeper than near the upper parts of the water; and, lastly, that the bills of these birds are for their better flying, by cutting the way, and for better ornament; for the rectifying also and composing of their feathers, while they swim in the air with as much ease as swans do in rivers. But unless they can raise themselves from the ground by the stiffness of some of the feathers of their wings, or rather by virtue of those nervous strings which they may have a power to stiffen when they are alive, by transfusing spirits into them, and making them serve as well instead of legs to raise them from the ground as to hang upon the boughs of trees, by a slight thing being able to raise or hold up their light-feathered bodies in the air, as a small twig will us in the water, I should rather incline to the testimony of Pighafetta and Clusius than to the judgment of the rest, and believe those mariners that told him that the legs are pulled off by them that take them, and exenterate them and dry them in the sun for either their private use or sale. Which conclusion would the best solve the credit of Aristotle, who long since has so peremptorily pronounced, iri πτηνὸν μόνον οὐδὲν ἐστιν ὡπερ νευσικὸν μόνον ἐστιν ἰχθὸς, — that there is not any bird that only flies as the fish only swims. But thus our Bird of Paradise is quite flown and vanished into a figment or fable. But if any one will condole the loss of so convincing an argument for a Providence that fits one thing to another, I must take the freedom to tell him, that, unless he be a greater admirer of novelty than a searcher into the indissoluble consequences of things, I shall supply his meditation with what of this nature is as strongly conclusive, and remind, that it will be his own reproach if he cannot spy as clear an inference from an ordinary truth as from either an uncertainty or a fiction. And in this regard, the bringing this doubtful narration into play may not justly seem to no purpose, it carrying so serious and castigatory a piece of pleasantry with it. The Manucodiata's living on the dew is no part of the convictiveness of a Providence in this story: But the being excellently well provided of wings and feathers, tanta levitatis supellectile exornata, as Nierembergius speaks, being so well furnished with all advantages for lightness, that it seems harder for her to sink down, as he conceits, than to be borne up in the air; that a bird thus fitted for that region should have no legs to stand on the earth, this would be a considerable indication of a discriminating Providence, that on purpose avoids all uselessness and superfluities. The other remarkable, and it is a notorious one, is the cavity on the back of the male and in the breast of the female, for incubation; and the third and last, the use of those strings, as Cardan supposes, for the better keeping them to To his great impatiency against their manner of incubation, they would happily return this answer: That the way is not ridiculous; but it may be rather necessary from what Aldrovandus himself not only acknowledges but contends for, namely, that they have no feet at all. For hence it is manifest that they cannot light upon the ground, nor any where rest on their bellies, and be able to get on wing again, because they cannot creep out of holes of rocks, as swifts and such like short-footed birds can, they having no feet at all to creep with. Besides, as Aristotle well argues concerning the long legs of certain water-fowl, that they were made so long, be-gether in incubiture. cause they were to wade in the water and catch fish, adding that excellent aphorism, rù yap öруava прòs тò pyov ʼn φύσις ποιεῖ ἀλλ ̓ οὐ τὸ ἔργον πρὸς τὰ ὄργανα, 50 may we rationally conclude, will they say, that as the long legs of these water-fowl imply a design of their haunting the water, so want of legs in these Manucodiatas argue they are never to come down to the earth, because they can neither stand there nor get off again. And if they never come on the earth, or any other resting-place, where can their eggs be laid or hatched but on the back of the male? Besides that Cardan pleases himself with that Antiphonie in nature, that as the Ostrich being a bird, yet never flies in the Ifthese considerations of this strange story strike so strongly upon thee as to convince thee of a Providence, think it humor, and not judgment, if what I put in lieu of them, and is but ordinary, have not the same force with thee. For is not the fish's wanting feet, (as we observed before,) she being sufficiently supplied with fins in so thick an element as the water, as great an argument for a Providence as so light a bird's wanting feet in that thinner element of the air, the extreme lightness of her furniture being appropriated to the thinness of that element? And is not the same Providence seen, and that as conspicuously, in allotting but very short legs to those birds that are called Apodeo both in Plinie and Aristotle, upon whom she has bestowed such large and strong wings, and a power of flying so long and swift, as in giving no legs at all to the Manucodiata, who has still a greater power of wing and lightness of body? And as for the cavities on the back of the male and in the breast of the female, is that design of nature any more certain and plain than in the genital parts of the male and female in all kinds of animals? What greater argument of counsel and purpose of fitting one thing for another can there be than that? And if we should make a more inward search into the contrivances of these parts in an ordinary hen, and consider how or by what force an egg of so great a growth and bigness is transmitted from the ovarium through the infundibulum into the processus of the uterus, the membranes being so thin and the passage so very small, to see to the principle of that motion cannot be thought less than divine. And if you would compare the protuberant paps of teats in the females of beasts with that cavity in the breast of the sheManucodiata, whether of them, think you, is the plainer pledge of a knowing and desiguing Providence? And, lastly, for the strings that are conceived to hold together the male and female in their incubiture, what a toy is it, if compared with those invisible links and ties that engage ordinary birds to sit upon their eggs, they having no visible allurement to such a tedious service? - HENRY MORE'S Antidate against Atheism, b. ii. ch. 11. "Mankind," says Jeremy Taylor, "now taken in his whole constitution and design, are like the Birds of Paradise, which travellers tell us of in the Molucca Islands, born without legs, but by a celestial power they have a recompense made to them for that defect, and they always hover in the air and feed or the dew of Heaven: so are we Birds of Paradise, but cast out from thence, and born without legs, without strength to walk in the laws of God, or to go to Heaven; but by a Power from above, we are adopted in our new birth to a celestial conversation; we feed on the dew of Heaven; the just does live by faith,' and breathes in this new life by the Spirit of God."- Vol. ix. 339. Heber's edition. Yama was a child of the Sun, and thence named Vairaswata; another of his titles was Dhermaraja, or King of Justice; and a third Pitripeti, or Lord of the Patriarchs: but he is chiefly distinguished as Judge of departed souls; for the Hindus believe that, when a soul leaves its body, it immediately repairs to Yamapur, or the city of Yama, where it receives a just sentence from him, and thence either ascends to Suerga, or the first Heaven; or is driven down to Narac, the region of serpents; or assumes on earth the form of some animal, unless its offence has been such, that it ought to be condemned to a vegetable, or even to a mineral prison. Sir W. JONES. expired. But this reason did not satisfy Marcandem, who persisted in his resolution not to die; and, fearing lest the god of death should attempt to take him away by force, he ran to his oratory, and taking the Lingam, clasped it to his breast. Meantime Yhamen came down from his buffle, threw a rope about the youth's neck, and held him fast therewith, as also the Lingam, which Marcandem grasped with all his strength, and was going to drag them both into hell, when Xiven issued out of the Lingam, drove back the king of the dead, and gave him so furious a blow that he killed him on the spot. "The god of death being thus slain, mankind multiplied so that the earth was no longer able to contain them. The gods represented this to Xiven, and he, at their entreaty, restored Yhamen to life, and to all the power he had before enjoyed. Yhamen immediately despatched a herald to all parts of the world, to summon all the old men. The herald got drunk before he set out, and, without staying till the fumes of the wine were dispelled, mounted an elephant, and rode up and down the world, pursuant to his commission; and, instead of publishing this order, he declared, that it was the will and pleasure of Yhamen that, from this day forward, all the leaves, fruits, and flowers, whether ripe or green, should fall to the ground. This proclamation was no sooner issued than men began to yield to death. But before Yhamen was killed, only the old were deprived of life, and now people of all ages are summoned indiscriminately."— PICART. And Brama's region, where the heavenly Hours They who are acquainted with day and night know that the day of Brahma is as a thousand revolutions of the Yoogs, and that his night extendeth for a thousand more. On the coming of that day all things proceed from invisibility to visibility; so, on the approach of night, they are all dissolved away in that which is called invisible. The universe, even, having existed, is again dissolved; and now again, on the approach of day, by divine necessity, it is reproduced. That which, upon the dissolution of all things else, is not destroyed, is superior and of another nature from that visibility: it is invisible and eternal. He who is thus called invisible and incorruptible is even he who is called the Supreme Abode; which men having once obtained, they never more return to earth: that is my mansion. - KREESHNA, in the Bhagavat Geeta. The guess, that Brama and his wife Saraswadi may be Abraham and Sarah, has more letters in its favor than are usually to be found in such guesses. -NIECAMP, p. i. c. 10, $2. The true cause why there is no idol of Brama, (except the head, which is his share in the Trimourter,) is probably to be found in the conquest of his sect. A different reason, however, is implied in the Veda: "Of Him, it says, whose glory is so great, there is no image :- - He is the incomprehensible Being which illumines all, delights all, whence all proceeded; -that by which they live when born, and that to which all must return." - MOOR's Hindu Pantheon, p. 4. There is a story concerning Yamen which will remind the reader, in its purport, of the fable of Love and Death. "A famous penitent, Morrugandumagareri by name, had, during a long series of years, served the gods with uncommon and most exemplary piety. This very virtuous man, having no children, was extremely desirous of having one, and therefore daily besought the god Xiven, (or Seeva,) to grant him one. At length the god heard his desire, but, before he indulged it him, he asked him, whether he would have several children, who should be long-lived and wicked, or one virtuous and prudent, who should die in his sixteenth year. The penitent The Dharma-Raja, or king of justice, has two countechose the latter: his wife conceived, and was happily deliv-nances; one is mild and full of benevolence; those alone who ered of the promised son, whom they named Marcandem. The boy, like his father, zealously devoted himself to the worship of Xiven; but as soon as he had attained his sixteenth year, the officers of Yhamen, god of death, were sent on the earth, to remove him from thence. Two forms inseparable in unity, abound with virtue see it. He holds a court of justice, where are many assistants, among whom are many just and pious kings; Chitragupta acts as chief secretary. These holy men determine what is dharma and adharma, just and unjust. His (Dharma-Raja's) servant is called Carmala: he brings the righteous on celestial cars, which go of themselves, whenever holy men are to be brought in, according to the directions of the Dharma-Raja, who is the sovereign of the Pitris. This "Young Marcandem, being informed on what errand they were come, told them, with a resolute air, that he was resolved not to die, and that they might go back, if they pleased. They returned to their master, and told him the whole affair. Yha- is called his divine countenance, and the righteous alone do see men immediately mounted his great buffle, and set out. Being come, he told the youth that he acted very rashly in refusing to leave the world, and it was unjust in him, for Xiven had promised him a life only of sixteen years, and the term was it. His other countenance, or form, is called Yama; this the wicked alone can see it has large teeth and a monstrous body. Yama is the lord of Patala; there he orders some to be beaten, some to be cut to pieces, some to be devoured by In Patala (or the infernal regions) resides the sovereign Queen of the Nagas, (large snakes or dragons :) she is beautiful, and her name is Asyoruca. There, in a cave, she performed Taparya with such rigorous austerity, that fire sprang from her body, and formed numerous agnitiraths (places of sacred fire) in Patala. These fires, forcing their way through the earth, waters, and mountains, formed various openings or mouths, called from thence the flaming mouths, or juala muihi. By Samudr (Oceanus) a daughter was born unto her, called Rama-Devi. She is most beautiful; she is Lacshmi; and her name is Asyotcarsha, or Asyoterishta. Like a jewel she remains concealed in the Ocean. - WILFORD. Asiat. Res. He came in all his might and majesty. — XXIV. 2, p. 613. What is this to the coming of Seeva, as given us by Mr. Maurice, from the Seeva Paurana? "In the place of the right wheel blazed the Sun, in the place of the left was the Moon; instead of the brazen nails and bolts, which firmly held the ponderous wheels, were distributed Bramins on the right hand, and Reyshees on the left; in lieu of the canopy on the top of the chariot was overspread the vault of Heaven; the counterpoise of the wheels was on the east and west, and the four Semordres were instead of the cushions and bolsters; the four Vedas were placed as the horses of the chariot, and Saraswaty was for the bell; the piece of wood by which the horses are driven was the threelettered Mantra, while Brama himself was the charioteer, and the Nacshatras and stars were distributed about it by way of ornaments. Sumaru was in the place of a bow, the serpent Seschanaga was stationed as the string, Vecshnu instead of an arrow, and fire was constituted its point. Ganges and other rivers were appointed its precursors; and the setting out of the chariot, with its appendages and furniture, one would affirm to be the year of twelve months gracefully moving forwards. "When Seeva, with his numerous troops and prodigious army, was mounted, Brama drove so furiously, that thought itself, which, in its rapid career, compasses Heaven and Earth, could not keep pace with it. By the motion of the chariot Heaven and Earth were put into a tremor; and, as the Earth was not able to bear up under this burden, the Cow of the Earth, Kam-deva, took upon itself to support the weight. Seeva went with intention to destroy Treepoor; and the multitude of Devetas, and Reyshees, and Apsaras who waited on his stirrup, opening their mouths, in transports of joy and praise, exclaimed, Jaya! Jaya! so that Parvati, not being able to bear his absence, set out to accompany Seeva, and in an instant was up with him; while the light which brightened on his countenance, on the arrival of Parvati, surpassed all imagination and description. The Genii of the eight regions, armed with all kinds of weapons, but particularly with agnyastra, or fire darts, like moving mountains, advanced in front of the army; and Eendra and other Devatas, some of them mounted on elephants, some on horses, others on chariots, or on camels or buffaloes, were stationed on each side, while all the other order of Devetas, to the amount of some lacks, formed the centre. The Munietuvaras, with long hair on their heads, like Saniassis, holding their staves in their hands, danced as they went along; the Syddyhas, who revolve about the heavens, opening their mouths in praise of Seeva, rained flowers upon his head; and the vaulted heaven, which is like an inverted goblet, being appointed in the place of a drum, exalted his dignity by its majestic resounding." Throughout the Hindoo fables there is the constant mistake of bulk for sublimity. By the attribute of Deity, The Almighty Man appear'd on every side. XXIV. 2, p. 613. This more than polypus power was once exerted by Krishna on a curious occasion. It happened in Dwarka, a splendid city built by Viswakarma, by command of Krishna, on the sea-shore, in the province of Guzerat, that his musical associate, Nareda, had no wife or substitute; and he hinted to his friend the decency of sparing him one from his long catalogue of ladies. Krishna generously told him to win and wear any one he chose, not immediately in requisition for himself. Nareda accordingly went wooing to one house, but found his master there; to a second, - he was again forestalled; a third, the same; to a fourth, fifth, the same: in fine, after the round of sixteen thousand of these domiciliary visits, he was still forced to sigh and keep single; for Krishna was in every house, variously employed, and so domesticated, that each lady congratulated herself on her exclusive and uninterrupted possession of the ardent dei. ty. MOOR's Hindu Pantheon, p. 204. Eight of the chief gods have each their sacti, or energy, proceeding from them, differing from them in sex, but in every other respect exactly like them, with the same form, the same decorations, the same weapons, and the same vehicle.- Asiat. Res. 8vo edit. vol. viii. p. 68, 82. The manner in which this divine power is displayed by Kehama, in his combat with Yamen, will remind some readers of the Irishman, who brought in four prisoners, and being asked how he had taken them, replied, he had surrounded them. The Amrecta, or Drink of Immortality. XXIV. 9, p. 614. Mr. Wilkins has given the genuine history of this liquor, which was produced by churning the sea with a mountain. "There is a fair and stately mountain, and its name is Meroo, a most exalted mass of glory, reflecting the sunny rays from the splendid surface of its gilded horns. It is clothed in gold, and is the respected haunt of Dews and Gandharvas. It is inconceivable, and not to be encompassed by sinful man ; and it is guarded by dreadful serpents. Many celestial medicinal plants adorn its sides; and it stands, piercing the heaven with its aspiring summit, a mighty hill, inaccessible even by the human mind. It is adorned with trees and pleasant streams, and resoundeth with the delightful songs of various birds. "The Soors, and all the glorious hosts of heaven, having ascended to the summit of this lofty mountain, sparkling with precious gems, and for eternal ages raised, were sitting in solemn synod, meditating the discovery of the Amreeta, the Water of Immortality. The Dew Narayan being also there, spoke unto Brahma, whilst the Soors were thus consulting together, and said, 'Let the Ocean, as a pot of milk, be churned by the united labor of the Soors and Asoors; and when the mighty waters have been stirred up, the Amrecta shall be found. Let them collect together every medicinal herb, and every precious thing, and let them stir the Ocean, and they shall discover the Amreeta.' "There is also another mighty mountain, whose name is Mandar, and its rocky summits are like towering clouds. It is clothed in a net of the entangled tendrils of the twining creeper, and resoundeth with the harmony of various birds. Innumerable savage beasts infest its borders; and it is the respected haunt of Kennars, Dews, and Apsars. It standeth eleven thousand Yojan above the earth, and eleven thousand more below its surface. "As the united bands of Dews were unable to remove this mountain, they went before Veeshnoo, who was sitting with Brahma, and addressed them in these words: Exert, O masters! your most superior wisdom to remove the mountain Mandar, and employ your utmost power for our good.' "Veeshnoo and Brahma having said, 'It shall be according to your wish,' he with the lotus eye directed the King of Serpents to appear; and Ananta arose, and was instructed in that work by Brahma, and commanded by Narayan to perform it. Then Ananta, by his power, took up that king of mountains, together with all its forests and every inhabitant thereof; and the Soors accompanied him into the presence of the Ocean, whom they addressed, saying, 'We will stir up thy waters to obtain the Amreeta.' And the Lord of the Waters replied, 'Let me also have a share, seeing I am to bear the violent agitation that will be caused by the whirling of the mountain!' Then the Soors and Asoors spoke unto Koorma-raj, the King of the Tortoises, upon the strand of the Ocean, and said, My lord is able to be the supporter of this mountain.' The Tortoise replied, Be it so;' and it was placed upon his back. "So the mountain being set upon the back of the Tortoise, Eendra began to whirl it about as it were a machine. The mountain Mandar served as a churn, and the serpent Vasoakee for the rope; and thus in former days did the Dews, and Asoors, and the Danoos, begin to stir up the waters of the ocean for the discovery of the Amrecta. "The mighty Asoors were employed on the side of the serpent's head, whilst all the Soors assembled about his tail. Ananta, that sovereign Dew, stood near Narayan. "They now pull forth the serpent's head repeatedly, and as often let it go; whilst there issued from his mouth, thus violently drawing to and fro by the Soors and Asoors, a continual stream of fire and smoke and wind, which ascending in thick clouds, replete with lightning, it began to rain down upon the heavenly bands, who were already fatigued with their labor; whilst a shower of flowers was shaken from the top of the mountain, covering the heads of all, both Soors and Asoors. In the mean time the roaring of the ocean, whilst violently agitated with the whirling of the mountain Mandar by the Soors and Asoors, was like the bellowing of a mighty cloud. Thousands of the various productions of the waters were torn to pieces by the mountain, and confounded with the briny flood; and every specific being of the deep, and all the inhabitants of the great abyss which is below the earth, were annihilated; whilst, from the violent agitation of the mountain, the forest trees were dashed against each other, and precipitated from its utmost height, with all the birds thereon; from whose violent confrication raging fire was produced, involving the whole mountain with smoke and flame, as with a dark-blue cloud, and the lightning's vivid flash. The lion and the retreating elephant are overtaken by the devouring flames, and every vital being and every specific thing are consumed in the general conflagration. "The raging flames, thus spreading destruction on all sides, were at length quenched by a shower of cloud-borne water, poured down by the immortal Eendra. And now a heterogeneous stream of the concocted juices of various trees and plants ran down into the briny flood. "It was from this milk-like stream of juices, produced from those trees and plants and a mixture of melted gold, that the Soors obtained their immortality. "The waters of the Ocean now being assimilated with those juices, were converted into milk, and from that milk a kind of butter was presently produced; when the heavenly bands went again into the presence of Brahma, the granter of boons, and addressed him, saying, 'Except Narayan, every other Soor and Asoor is fatigued with his labor, and still the Amreeta doth not appear; wherefore the churning of the Ocean is at a stand.' Then Brahma said unto Narayan, Endue them with recruited strength, for thou art their support.' And Narayan answered and said, 'I will give fresh vigor to such as coöperate in the work. Let Mandar be whirled about, and the bed of the ocean be kept steady.' "When they heard the words of Narayan, they all returned again to the work, and began to stir about with great force that butter of the ocean, when there presently arose from out the troubled deep, first the Moon, with a pleasing countenance, shining with ten thousand beams of gentle light; next followed Srec, the goddess of fortune, whose seat is the white lily of the waters; then Soora-Deree, the goddess of wine, and the white horse called Oohisrava. And after these there was produced from the unctuous mass the jewell Kowstoobh, that glorious sparkling gem worn by Narayan on his breast; also Parecjat, the tree of plenty, and Soorabhce, the cow that granted every heart's desire. "The moon, Soora-Devce, the goddess of Sree, and the Horse, as swift as thought, instantly marched away towards the Dews, keeping in the path of the Sun. "Then the Dew Dhanwantaree, in human shape, came forth, holding in his hand a white vessel filled with the immortal juice Amreeta. When the Asoors beheld these wondrous things appear, they raised their tumultuous voices for the Amreeta, and each of them clamorously exclaimed, This of right is mine.' ་ "In the mean time Travat, a mighty elephant, arose, now kept by the god of thunder; and as they continued to churn the ocean more than enough, that deadly poison issued from its bed, burning like a raging fire, whose dreadful fumes in a moment spread throughout the world, confounding the three regions of the universe with the mortal stench, until Seer, at the word of Brahma, swallowed the fatal drug, to save mankind; which, remaining in the throat of that sovereign Dew of magic form, from that time he hath been called Neel-Kant, because his throat was stained blue. "When the Asoors beheld this miraculous deed, they became desperate, and the Amreeta and the goddess Sree became the source of endless hatred. "Then Narayan assumed the character and person of Mohecnee Maya, the power of enchantment, in a female form of wonderful beauty, and stood before the Asoors, whose minds being fascinated by her presence, and deprived of reason, they seized the Amreeta, and gave it unto her. "The Asoors now clothe themselves in costly armor, and, seizing their various weapons, rush on together to attack the Soors. In the mean time Narayan, in the female form, having obtained the Amreeta from the hands of their leader, the hosts of Soors, during the tumult and confusion of the Asvors, drank of the living water. "And it so fell out, that whilst the Soors were quenching their thirst for immortality, Rahoo, an Asoor, assumed the form of a Soor, and began to drink also: and the water had but reached his throat, when the Sun and Moon, in friendship to the Soors, discovered the deceit; and instantly Narayan cut off his head as he was drinking, with his splendid weapon Chakra. And the gigantic head of the Asoor, emblem of a mountain's summit, being thus separated from his body by the Chakra's edge, bounded into the heavens with a dreadful cry, whilst his ponderous trunk fell, cleaving the ground asunder, and shaking the whole earth unto its foundation, with all its islands, rocks, and forests; and from that time the head of Rahoo resolved an eternal enmity, and continueth, even unto this day, at times to seize upon the Sun and Moon. "Now Narayan, having quitted the female figure he had assumed, began to disturb the Asoors with sundry celestial weapons; and from that instant a dreadful battle was commenced, on the ocean's briny strand, between the Asoors and the Soors. Innumerable sharp and missile weapons were hurled, and thousands of piercing darts and battle-axes fell on all sides. The Asoors vomit blood from the wounds of the Chakra, and fall upon the ground pierced by the sword, the spear, and spiked club. Heads, glittering with polished gold, divided by the Pattees' blade, drop incessantly; and mangled bodies, wallowing in their gore, lay like fragments of mighty rocks, sparkling with gems and precious ores. Millions of sighs and groans arise on every side; and the sun is overcast with blood, as they clash their arms, and wound each other with their dreadful instruments of destruction. "Now the battle is fought with the iron-spiked club, and, as they close, with clinched fist; and the din of war ascendeth to the heavens. They cry, Pursue! strike! fell to the ground!' so that a horrid and tumultuous noise is heard on all sides. "In the midst of this dreadful hurry and confusion of the fight, Nar and Narayan entered the field together. Narayan, beholding a celestial bow in the hand of Nar, it reminded him of his Chakra, the destroyer of the Asoors. The faithful weapon, by name Soodarsan, ready at the mind's call, flew down from heaven with direct and refulgent speed, beautiful, the Asoors, finding themselves again sore pressed by the Scors, precipitately flee; some rush headlong into the briny waters of the ocean, and others hide themselves within the bowels of the earth. yet terrible to behold: and being arrived, glowing like the | and split the mountain summits with his unerring shafts; and sacrificial flame, and spreading terror around, Narayan, with his right arm formed like the elephantine trunk, hurled forth the ponderous orb, the speedy messenger and glorious ruin of hostile towns; who, aging like the final all-destroying fire, shot bounding with desolating force, killing thousands of the Asoors in his rapid flight, burning and involving, like the lambent flame, and cutting down all that would oppose him. Anon he climbeth the heavens, and now again darteth into the field like a Peesach, to feast in blood. "Now the dauntless Asoors strive, with repeated strength, to crush the Soors with rocks and mountains, which, hurled in vast numbers into the heavens, appeared like scattered clouds, and fell, with all the trees thereon, in millions of fear-exciting torrents, striking violently against each other with a mighty noise; and in their fill the earth, with all its fields and forests, is driven from its foundation: they thunder furiously at each other as they roll along the field, and spend their strength in mutual conflict. "Now Nar, seeing the Soors overwhelmed with fear, filled up the path to Heaven with showers of golden-headed arrows, "The rage of the glorious Chakra, Soodarsan, which for a while burnt like the oil-fed fire, now grew cool, and he retired into the heavens from whence he came. And the Sours having obtained the victory, the mountain Mandar was carried back to its former station with great respect, whilst the waters also retired, filling the firmament and the heavens with their dreadful roarings. "The Soors guarded the Amrecta with great care, and rejoiced exceedingly because of their success. And Eendra, with all his immortal bands, gave the water of life unto Nerayan, to keep it for their use."— MAHABHARAT. Amrita, or Immortal, is, according to Sir William Jones, the name which the mythologists of Tibet apply to a celestial tree, bearing ambrosial fruit, and adjoining to four vast rocks, from which as many sacred rivers derive their several streams. Roderick, the Last of the Goths; A TRAGIC POEM. Tanto acrior apud majores, sicut virtutibus gloria, ita flagitiis pœnitentia, fuit. Sed hæc aliaque, ex veteri memoria petita, quotiens res locusque exempla recti, aut solatia mali, poscet, haud absurdè memorabimus. TACITI Hist. lib. 3, c. 51. TO GROSVENOR CHARLES BEDFORD, THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED, IN LASTING MEMORIAL OF A LONG AND UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP, ROBERT SOUTHEY. As the ample Moon, In the deep stillness of a summer even PREFACE. WORDSWORTH. A French translation, by M. B. de S., in three volumes 12mo., was published in 1820, and another by M. le Chevalier* * *, in one volume 8vo., 1821. Both are in prose. When the latest of these versions was nearly ready for publication, the publisher, who was also the printer, insisted upon having a life of the author prefixed. The French public, he said, knew nothing of M. Southey, and in order to make the book sell, it must be managed to interest them for the writer. The Chevalier represented as a con clusive reason for not attempting any thing of the kind, that he was not acquainted with M. Southey's private history. "Would you believe it?" says a friend of the translator's, from whose letter I transscribe what follows; "this was his answer verbatim: Nimporte, écrivez toujours; brodez, brodezla un peu; que ce soit vrai ou non ce ne fait rien; qui prendra la peine de s'informer ?' Accord 6 THIS poem was commenced at Keswick, Dec. 2, ingly a Notice sur M. Southey was composed, not 1809, and finished there July 14, 1814. exactly in conformity with the publisher's notions |