by a mode not conformable to the practice of the Company's Government, and recommended an oath by the water of the Ganges and the leaves of tulasi in a little vessel of brass, or by the book Herivansa, or the Aone Salgram, or by the hallowed ponds or basons; all which oaths are used at Benares. When the parties obstinately refused to try the issue by any one of the modes recommended, and infifted on a trial by the hot ball, the magiftrates and Pandits of the court were ordered to gratify their wishes, and setting aside these forms of trial, in which there could be only a distant fear of death, or loss of property, as the just punishment of perjury by the sure yet flow judgment of heaven, to perform the ceremony of ordeal agreeably to the Dherma Saftra; but it was not till after mature deliberation for four months, that a regular mandate issued for a trial by the red hot ball; and this was at length granted for four reafons; first, because there was no other way of condemning or abfolving the person accused; fecondly, because both parties were Hindus, and this mode of trial was specially appointed in the Dherma Saftra by the ancient laws givers; thirdly, because this ordeal is practifed in the dominions of the Hindu Rajas; and fourthly, because it might be useful to enquire how it was poffible for the heat of fire to be resisted, and for the hand that held it, to avoid being burned. An order was accordingly fent to the Pandits of the court and of Benares to this effect; " Since the parties accu"fing and accused are both Hindus, " and will not confent to any trial " but that by the hot ball, let the "ordeal defired be duly performed " in the manner prescribed by the "Mitacshera, or commentary on "Yagyawalcya."

When preparations were made for the trial, this well-wisher to mankind, atrended by all the learned professors,

by the officers of the court, the Sipahis of Captain Hogan's battalion, and many inhabitants of Benares, went to the place prepared, and endeavoured to dissuade the appellor from requiring the accused to be tried by fire, adding, " if his hand " be not burned, you shall certainly " be imprisoned." The accufer, not deterred by this menace, persisted in demanding the trial: the ceremony, therefore, was thus conducted in the prefence of me Ali Ibrahim Khan.

The Pandits of the court and the city, having worshipped the God of Knowledge, and presented their oblation of clarified butter to the fire, formed nine circles of cow-dung on the ground; and, having bathed the appellee in the Ganges, brought him with his clothes wet; when, to remove all fufion of deceit, they washed his hands with pure water : then, having written a state of the cafe and the words of the mentra on a palmyra leaf, they tied it on his head; and put into his hands, which they opened and joined together, feven leaves of pippal, feven of jend, seven blades of darbha grafs, a few flowers, and some barley moistened with curds, which they faftened with seven threads of raw white cotton, After this they made the iron ball red hot, and, taking it up with tongs, placed it in his hands: he walked with it step by step, the space of three gaz and a half, through each of the seven intermediate rings, and threw the ball into the ninth, where it burnt the grafs that bad been left in it. He next, to prove his veracity, rubbed some rice in the husk between his hands; which were afterwards examined, and were so far from being burned, that not even a blifter was raised on either of them. Since it is the nature of fire to burn, the officers of the court, and people of Benares, near five hundred of whom attended the ceremony, were astonished at the event; and this well-wisher to man

kind was perfectly amazed. It occurred to his weak apprehenfion, that probably the fresh leaves and other things which, as it has been mentioned, were placed on the hands of the accused, had prevented their being burned; befides that the time was but short between his taking the ball and throwing it down: yet it is pofitively declared in the Dherma Saftra, and in the written opinions of the most respectable Pandits, that the hand of a man who speaks truth cannot be burned; and Ali Ibrahim Khan certainly saw with his own eyes, as many others also saw with theirs, that the hands of the appellee in this cause were unhurt by the fire; he was consequently discharged; but, that men might in future be deterred from demanding the trial by ordeal, the appellor was committed for a week. After all, if fuch a trial could be seen once or twice by several intelligent men, acquainted with natural philosophy, they might be able to assign the true reason, why a man's hand may be burned in some cafes and not in others.

Ordeal by the vessel of hot oil, according to the comment on the Dherma Saftra, is thus performed: The ground appointed for the trial, is cleared and rubbed with cow-dung, and the next day, at sunrise, the Pandit worships Ganesa, presents his oblations, and pays adoration to other deities, conformably to the Saltra: then, having read the incantation pre. scribed, he places a round pan of gold, filver, copper, iron, or clay, with a diameter of fixteen fingers, and four fingers deep; and throws into it one fer, or eighty ficca weight, of clarified butter or oil of sesamum. After this, a ring of gold or filver or iron is cleaned and washed with water, and caft into the oil; which they proceed to heat, and, when it is very hot put into it a fresh leaf of pippala, orof bilwa: when the leaf is burned, the oil is known to be sufficiently hot. Then,

having pronounced a mentra over the oil, they order the party accused to take the ring out of the pan; and, if he take it out without being burned, or without a blister on his hand, his innocence is confidered as proved; if not, his guilt.

A Brahman named Rishiswara Bhatta accused one Ramdayal, a linen painter, of having stole his goods : Ramdayal pleaded not guilty; and, after much altercation, consented to be tried as it had been proposed, by the vessel of oil. This well-wisher to mankind advised the Pandits of the court to prevent, if possible, that mode of trial; but, fince the parties insisted on it, an ordeal by hot oil, according to the Saftra, was awarded for the same reasons which prevailed in regard to the trial by the ball. The Pandits who assisted at the ceremony were, Bhishma Bhatta, Nanapat'hac, Manirama Pat'haca, Manirama Bhatta, Siva, Anantarama Bhatta, Criparama, Vishnuheri, Chrishnachandra, Ramendra, Govindarama, Hericrishna, Bhatta, Calidasa: the three last were Pandits of the court. When Ganesa had been worshipped, and the homa prefented, according to the Saftra, they fent for this well-wisher to mankind; who, attended by the two Daroghas of the Divani and Faujdari courts, the Cotwal of the town, the other officers of the court, and most of the inhabitants of Benares, went to the place of trial; where he laboured to dissuade Ramdayal and his father from fubmitting to the ordeal; and apprized them, that if the hand of the accused should be burned, he would be compelled to pay the value, of the goods stolen, and his character would be disgraced in every company. Ramdayal would not defist: he thrust his hand into the vessel, and was burned. The opinion of the Pandits was then taken; and they were unanimous, that, by the burning of his hand, his guilt was established, and he bound to pay Rishifwa

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ra Bhatta the price of what he had Golen; but if the sum exceeded five hundred ashfrafi's his hand must be cut off, by an express law in the Saf era; and a mulct also must be impofed on him according to his circumstances.

The chief magistrate therefore caused Ramdayal to pay Rishiswara feven hundred rupees in return for the goods which he had stolen; but, as amercements in such cases are not sual in the courts of judicature at Benares, the mulct was remitted and the prisoner discharged.

The record of this conviction was transmitted to Calcutta in the year of the Meffiah 1783; and, in the month of April 1784, the Governor General, Imaduddaulah Jeladet Jang Behader, having seen the preceding account of trials by ordeal, put many questions concerning the meaning of Sanfcrit words, and the cafes here reported; to which he received refpectful answers. He first desired to know the precife meaning of homa, and was informed that it meant the oblations made to please the deities, and comprised a variety of things: thus in the agni homa, they throw into the fire feveral forts of wood and grass, as palas wood, c'hadira wood, rafta chandan or red fandal, pipal wood fami and caffia grass, dubha, together with fome forts of grain, fruit and other ingredients, as black fefamum, barley, rice, fugar-cane, clarified butter, almonds, dates, and gugal or bdellium. To his next question " how many species of homa there were," it was anfwered, that different species were adapted to different occafions; but that, in the ordeals by hot iron, and hot oil, the same oblation was used. When he desired to know the meaning of the word mentra, he was refpectfully told, that in the language of the Pandits there were three fuch words, mentra, yantra, and tantra; that the first meant a passage from

one of the Vedas, in which the names of certain deities occurred; the fe cond, a scheme of figures which they write with a belief that their wishes will be accomplished by it; and the third, a medical preparation, by the use of which all injuries may be a voided; for they are said to rub it on their hands, and afterwards to touch red hot iron without being burned. He then asked, how much barley, moistened with curds, was put into the hands of the accused perfon; and the answer was nine grains.

His other questions were thus answered: "that the leaves of pippala were spread about in the hands of the accused, not heaped one above another; that the man who performed the fire ordeal was not much agitated, but seemed in full possession of his faculties; that the perfon tried by hot oil was at first afraid, but perfifted, after he was burned, in denying the theft; nevertheless, as he previously had entered into a written agreement, that, if his hand should be hurt, he would pay the value of the goods, the magistrate for that reason thought himself justified in compelling payment; that when the before-mentioned ingredients of the homa were thrown into the fire, the Pandits, fitting round the hearth, sung the Socas prescribed in the Sastra. That the form of the hearth is established in the Veda and in the Dherma Saftra; and this fire-place is also called Vedi; that, for the smaller oblations, they raise a little ground for the hearth, and kindle fire on it for the higher oblations, they fink the ground to receive the fire, where they perform the homa; and this facred hearth they call cunda." The Governor then asked, why the trials by fire, by the hot ball, and the vessel of oil, if there be no essential difference between them, are not all called fireordeals; and it was humbly answered, that, according to some Pandits, they

were all three different, whilst others insisted, that the trial by fire was distinct from that of the vessel, though the trial by the hot ball and the head

:

of a lance were the same; but that in the apprehenfion of his respectful servant, they were all ordeal by fire.

THE irregularities of genius have

been so often observed that it has at length become almost proverbial to associate a want of prudence with the possession of a brilliant imagination. We easily pardon in others, and excuse in ourselves, an eccentricity of conduct which we fuppose connected with the warmth of feeling or the energies of fancy, and fet down propriety and difcretion as homely qualities, to be valued, perhaps, but not to be envied.

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If brilliancy of talents could excuse their misdirection, you, Sir, of all men living, might plead that apology. The variety of powers with which your mind is endowed; the extent of your knowledge, with the vivacity of your imagination; the logical closeness of your reasoning, with that overwhelming torrent of eloquence in which it is conveyed; the rapidity of your thought, with the accuracy of your perception; the intuitive and lightning glance of your own observation, with your just and clear conception of that of others altogether form a combination which aftonishes equally and delights the observer.

But it is by the application, rather than the poffeffion of abilities, that men are useful or respectable in life; and this maxim holds particularly true with regard to public men, to whom difcretion in the conduct of their talents is more absolutely essential than to others, in proportion to the extent of their influence, and the importance as well as delicacy of the situations in which they are placed. In the course of your political Life, Sir, such situations have been un,

commonly frequent; and it was highly favourable to the celebrity as well as to the developement of your abilities, that they rose in a period more eventful than almost any other in the annals of Great Britain, or in the hiftory of Europe.

In those situations, Sir, the public has not perhaps always done justice to your conduct. In the national temper of England there is a downright openness and good-nature, which allows much to purity of intention, which pardons many errors in its respect for general good character while, on the other hand, it is always disposed to detract from abilities or success, if unaccompanied with these estimable qualities. Your great oponent, so long (alas! much too long) in administration, poffefsed the virtues of temperment, which, though they were often vices to his country, its generosity trusted and approved; and it looked with complacency on his amiable domestic character, to which the tenor of your life, and the complexion of your society, were known to be adverse. Your oppofition to him was supposed to be grounded on personal resentment; your opposition to his measures was attributed only to the turbulence of faction. The public had just begun to feel his demerits, when your coalition with him took place; a coalition which the people felt as individuals, and could not, in the antipathy of that feeling, allow for party combination or political expediency. You suffered thus alike from their indulgence and their cenfure of that unfortunate minister; and they gave credit credit to the justice of your former accusations against him, only at that moment when your ill-suited junction laid you under the mortifying neceffity of retracting them. But on the fubject of Lord N--- the public indignation has ceased, and we will not awaken it; though we may be allow ed, with a retrospective sigh for national disaster, or a smile at national credulity, to wonder that so weak an agent could occasion so giant a mischief to his country. That country, in its wonted good-nature, and with a certain reverence for miffortune and infirmity, of which he has not always shewn them an example, has allowed his age to remain unquestioned; has left him undif turbed to the quietism of his nature, if happily it may footh the pangs of recollection, or blunt the dread of that obloquy with which pofterity will cover his name. Or perhaps he owes much of this indulgence to the circumstance of being fo fortunate in a fucceffor-" Deus nobis bæc otia fecit." We are unwilling to disturb the prefent profperity of the nation with a recollection of its distresses, or of those wretched minifters by whom they were occafioned.

From this natural and commendable propenfity in the people to enhance or to lessen the public merits of men according to their private difpositions or private character, you have fuffered a disadvantage which has counterbalanced all your natural endowments, and all your acquired information, great and extraordinary as we are willing to admit them. It is not fufficient for you to answer, that much of the blame imputed to you in this respect is unjust and illfounded; for your friends to tell us of the candour of your mind, the benevolence of your heart, the warmth and disinterestedness of your friendship. Did the public give them credit for their afsertions, it would still reply, Why waste those qualities on

objects so improper? why degrade them by an association with men fo unworthy? But the public is general in its conclufions, and cannot eafily suppose particular exceptions to rules which experience has established. The people look to that circle of which you form a part, and involve you in that general colour it affumes to their eye. They cannot couple dissipation and business, and do not eafily afsociate deep gaming and scrupulous integrity. Some of your friends publicly disclaim gaming, and are content to cheat without it: You play withthat gentlemanlike fairness which marks every part of your conduct; yet with the million, those friends of yours have the merit of their abstinence from play, while you derive none from that honour with which your indulgence in play is accompanied. the profession of play, like every other profession against which public virtue or public prejudice is armed, subjects to the general oblo-> quy of the calling every individual, however honourably he may exercise it. Nor is it often that this general opinion of the public is erroneous; imputed degradation is commonly productive of the real; and an affociation with the mean or the worthless, if it do not corrupt us into vice, will at least blunt our feelings of virtue.

Some of your acquaintance will smile at the word virtue, when applied to political fituation; but this is not the cant of fanaticism; it is the voice of truth and of reason, and a minister of England must hear and obey it. It is for the honour of our country that even private moral rectitude goes so much to the credit of public men, that we can scarce recollect a popular inister who was not poffefsed, or supposed to be possessfed of it. But there are certain virtues that may be termed ministerial, which a statesman must possess in order to be trusted, Industry, attention, integri