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 tulafi in a little veffel of brafs, or by the book Herivanfa, or the Aone Salgram, or by the hallowed ponds or bafons; all which oaths are ufed at Benares. When the parties When the parties obftinately refused to try the iffue 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 wifhes, and fetting afide thefe forms of trial, in which there could be only a diftant fear of death, or lofs of property, as the juft puuifhment of perjury by the fure 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 iffued for a trial by the red hot ball; and this was at length granted for four reafons; firft, because there was no other way of condemning or abfolving the perfon accufed; fecondly, because both parties were Hindus, and this mode of trial was fpecially appointed in the Dherma Saftra by the ancient law, givers; thirdly, because this ordeal is practifed in the dominions of the Hindu Rajas; and fourthly, becaufe it might be useful to enquire how it was poffible for the heat of fire to be refifted, 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 accufing and accufed 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 prefcribed by the

46

Mitacfhera, or commentary on
Yagyawalcya."

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

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 diffuade the appellor from requiring the accufed to be tried by fire, adding, "if his hand "be not burned, you fhall certainly "be imprifoned." The accufer, not deterred by this menace, perfifted 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 prefented their oblation of clarified butter to the fire, formed nine circles of cow-dung on the ground; aad, having bathed the appellee in the Ganges, brought him with his clothes wet; when, to remove all fufion of deceit, they wafhed his hands with pure water: then, having written a ftate 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, feven blades of darbha grafs, a few flowers, and fome barley moistened with curds, which they faftened with feven 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 ftep by step, the space of three gaz and a half, through each of the feven intermediate rings, and threw the ball into the ninth, where it burnt the grafs that had been left in it. He next, to prove his veracity, rubbed fome rice in the hufk between his hands; which were afterwards examined, and were fo far from being burned, that not even a blifier was raifed 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 aftonished at the event; and this well-wifher 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 accufed, 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 moft refpectable Pandits, that the hand of a man who fpeaks truth cannot be burned; and Ali Ibrahim Khan certainly faw with his own eyes, as many others alfo faw with theirs, that the hands of the appellee in this cause were unhurt by the fire; he was confequently difcharged; 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 feen once or twice by feveral intelligent men, acquainted with natural philofophy, they might be able to affign the true reafon, why a man's hand may be burned in fome cafes and not in others.

Ordeal by the veffel 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 worthips Ganefa, prefents his oblations, and pays adoration to other deities, conformably to the Saftra: then, having read the incantation prescribed, 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 fefamum. 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, or of bilwa: when the leaf is burned, the oil is known to be fufficiently hot. Then,

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

A Brahman named Rishifwara Bhatta accused one Ramdayal, a li-· nen painter, of having ftole his goods: Ramdayal pleaded not guilty; and, after much altercation, confented to be tried as it had been propofed, by the veffel of oil. This well-wisher to mankind advised the Pandits of the court to prevent, if poffible, that mode of trial; but, fince the parties infifted on it, an ordeal by hot oil, according to the Saftra, was awarded for the fame reasons which prevailed in regard to the trial by the ball. The Pandits who affifted at the ceremony were, Bhishma Bhatta, Nanapat'hac, Manirama Pat'haca, Manirama Bhatta, Siva, Anantarama Bhatta, Criparama, Vishnuheri, Chrishnachandra, Ramendra, Govindarama, Hericrishna, Bhatta, Calidafa: the three laft were Pandits of the court. When Ganefa had been worshipped, and the homa prefented, according to the Saftra, they fent for this well-wisher to mankind; who, attended by the two Darɔghas 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 the place of trial; where he laboured to diffuade Ramdayal and his father from fubmitting to the ordeal; and apprized them, that if the hand of the accufed fhould be burned, he would be compelled to pay the value, of the goods ftolen, and his character would be difgraced in every company. Ramdayal would not defist: he thruft his hand into the vcffel, 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 establifhed, and he bound to pay Rishifwa

το

The chief magiftrate therefore caused Ramdayal to pay Rifhifwata feven hundred rupees in return for the goods which he had ftolen; but, as amercements in fuch cafes are not fual in the courts of judicature at Benares, the mulct was remitted and the prisoner discharged.

The record of this conviction was tranfmitted to Calcutta in the year of the Meffiah 1783; and, in the month of April 1784, the Governor Genetal, Imadu'ddaulah Jeladet Jang Be hader, having seen the preceding account of trials by ordeal, put many queftions concerning the meaning of Sanfcrit words, and the cafes here reported; to which he received refpectful anfwers. He first defired 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 grafs, as palas wood, c'hadira wood, racta chandan or red fandal, pipal wood fami and caffia grafs, 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 queftion" how many fpecies of boma there were," it was anfwered, that different species were a dapted to different occafions; but that, in the ordeals by hot iron, and hot oil, the fame oblation was used. When he defired 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 paffage from

one of the Vedas, in which the nameš of certain deities occurred; the fe cond, a fcheme of figures which they write with a belief that their wishes will be accomplished by it; and the third, a medical preparation, by the ufe 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 accufed perfon; and the answer was nine grains.

His other questions were thus answered: "that the leaves of pippalą 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 feemed in full poffeffion 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 magiftrate for that reason thought himself juftified in compelling payment; that when the before-mentioned ingredients of the homa were thrown into the fire, the Pandits, fit ting round the hearth, fung the Socas prefcribed in the Saftra. That the form of the hearth is established in the Veda and in the Dherma Saftra; and this fire-place is alfo 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 afked, why the trials by fire, by the hot ball, and the veffel of oil, if there be no effential difference between them, are not all called fireordeals; and it was humbly answered, that, according to fome Pandits, they

were

were all three different, whilft others infifted, that the trial by fire was diftinct from that of the veffel, though the trial by the hot ball and the head

Letter to the Right

THE HE irregularities of genius have been so often obferved that it has at length become almost proverbial to affociate a want of prudence with the poffeffion of a brilliant imagination. We eafily pardon in o thers, and excufe in ourfelves, 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.

If brilliancy of talents coule excufe their mifdirection, 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 clofenefs of your reafoning, with that overwhelm ing 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 obfervation, with your juft and clear conception of that of others altogether form a combination which aftouifles equally and delights the obferver.

1

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

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

Hon. C. J. F**.†

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

In thofe fituations, Sir, the public has not perhaps always done juftice 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 refpect for general good character; while, on the other hand, it is always difpofed to detract from abilities or fuccefs, if unaccompanied with these eftimable qualities. Your great oponent, fo long (alas! much too long) in adminiftration, poffeffed the vir tues of temperment, which, though they were often vices to his country, its generofity trufted and approved and it looked with complacency on his amiable domeftic character, to which the tenor of your life, and the complexion of your fociety, were known to be adverfe. Your oppofition to him was fuppofed to be grounded on perfonal refentment; your oppofition 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 fuffered thus alike from their indulgence and their cenfure of that unfortunate minifter; and they gave

credit

credit to the juftice of your former accufations against him, only at that moment when your ill-fuited junction laid you under the mortifying neceffity of retracting them. But on the fubject of Lord N the public indignation has ceafed, and we will not awaken it; though we may be allow ed, with a retrospective sigh for na tional difafter, or a smile at national credulity, to wonder that fo weak an agent could occafion fo giant a mifchief 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 fhewn them an exam-, ple, has allowed his age to remain unqueftioned; has left him undifturbed to the quietifm 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 circumftance of being fo for:unate in a fucceffor-"Deus nobis hæc otia fecit." We are unwilling to disturb the prefent profperity of the nation with a recollection of its diftreffes, or of thofe wretched minifters by whom they were occafioned.

From this natural and commend able propenfity in the people to enhance or to leffen the public merits of men according to their private dif pofitions or private character, you have fuffered a difadvantage 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 refpect is unjust and ill. founded; for your friends to tell us of the candour of your mind, the benevolence of your heart, the warmth and difinterestedness of your friendfhip. Did the public give them credit for their affertions, it would fill reply, Why waste thofe qualities on

objects fo improper? why degrade them by an affociation with men fo unworthy? But the public is general in its conclufions, and cannot eafily fuppofe 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 diffipation and business, and do not eafily afsociate deep gaming and fcrupulous integrity. Some of your friends publicly difclaim gaming, and are content to cheat without it: You play with that gentleman like fairness which marks every part of your condu&t; yet with the million, thofe friends of yours have the merit of their abstinence from play, while you derive none from that honour with which your iuulgence in play is accompanied. the profeffion of play, like every other profeffion against which public virtue or public prejudice is armed, fubjects to the general obloquy 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 vir

tue.

Some of your acquaintance will smile at the word virtue, when applied to political fituation; but this is not the cant of fanaticifni; it is the voice of truth and of reafon, and minifter of England must hear and obey it. It is for the honour of our country that even private moral rectitude goes fo much to the credit of public men, that we can fcarce recollect a popular inifter who was not poffeffed, or fuppofed to be poffeffed of it. But there are certain virtues that may be termed minifterial, which a ftatesman muft poffefs in order to be trafted, Induftry, attention, integri

ty,