THE Banyan, or Indian Fig-tree, is, perhaps, the most beautiful and surprizing production of nature, in the vegetable kingdom. Some of these trees are of an amazing size, and as they are always increasing, they may in some measure be said to be exempted from decay. Every branch proceeding from the decay. Every branch proceeding from the trunk throws out its own roots, first in small fibres, at the distance of several yards from the ground. These continually becoming thicker when they approach the earth, take root, and shoot out new branches, which in time bend downwards, take root in the like manner, and produce other branches, which continue in this state of progression as long as they find soil to nourish them.

The Hindoos are remarkably fond of this tree, for they look upon it as an emblem of the Deity, on account of its duration, its out-stretching arms, and its shadowy beneficence. They almost pay it divine honours,

and

"Find a Fane in every sacred Grove."

Near these trees the most celebrated Pago. das are generally erected; the Bramins spend their lives in religious solitude under their friendly shade; and the natives of all castes and tribes are fond of recreating in the cool recesses and natural bowers of this umbrageous canopy, which is impervious to the fiercest beams of the tropical sun.

This tree, of which the print contains a representation, is called in India Cubeer Burr, in honour of a famous Saint. It was much larger than it is at present; for high floods have, at different times, carried away the banks of the island where it grows, and along with them such parts of the tree as had extended their roots thus far; yet what still remains is about two thousand feet in circumference, measuring round the principal stems; but the hanging branches, the roots of which have not reached the ground, cover a much larger extent. The chief trunks of this single tree amount to three hundred and fifty, all superior in size to the generality of our English oaks and elms; the smaller stems, forming into stronger supporters, are more than three thousand, and, from each of these, new branches and hanging roots are proceeding, which in time will form trunks, and become parents to a future progeny.

This tree grows on an island in the river Nerbedda, teu miles from the city of Baroche,

in the province of Guzzarat-a flourishing settlement lately in possession of the East-India Company, but ceded by the government of Bengal, at the treaty of peace, concluded with the Mahrattas, in 1783, to Mahdajee, a Mahratta chief.

Cubeer Burr is famed throughout Indostan beauty. The Indian armies often encamp for its prodigious extent, antiquity, and great around it, and at certain seasons, solema Jaltarahs, or Hindoo festivals, are held here, to which thousands of votaries repair from various parts of the Mogul empire. Seven thousand persons, it is said, may easily repose under its shade. There is a tradition among the natives, that this tree is three thousand years old there is great reason to believe it, and that it is this amazing tree which Arrian describes, when speaking of the Gymnosophists, in his book of Indian affairs.

66

These people," says he, " live naked. In rays in the open air; and in summer, "winter they enjoy the benefit of the sun's "when the heat becomes excessive, they pass "their time in moist and marshy places under "large trees; which, according to Nearchus, "cover a circumference of five acres, and "extend their branches so far that ten thou"sand men may easily find shelter under "them."

English gentlemen, when on hunting and shooting parties, used to form extensive encampments, and to spend several weeks under this delightful pavilion of foliage, which is doves, peacocks, bulbulls, and a variety of generally filled with green wood-pigeons, feathered songsters; together with monkies amusing by their droll tricks, and bats of a large size, some of which measure more than six feet from the extremity of one wing to the other. This tree not only affords shelter but sustenance to all its inhabitants, being loaded with small figs of a rich scarlet colour, on which they regale with as much delight as the lords of the creation on their most costly viands.

Milton describes the Banyan tree in the ninth book of his Paradise Lost-Speaking of our first parents, after their fall,

So counselled he, and both together went Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose The Fig-tree, not that kind for fruit renown'd, But such as at this day, to Indians known,

In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms,

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground
The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow
About the mother tree, a pillar'd shade
High over arch'd, and echoing walks between;
There oft the Indian herdsman shunning heat,
Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds
At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.

Sir Walter Raleigh thought he had seen many Banyan trees in America, but his description plainly proves that he was mistaken what he took to be the Ficus Indica, being only the Mangrove tree, which is very common in South America, as well as in the East and West Indies. This view contains only about one sixteenth part of the tree; and in the distance is the river Nerbedda and an Indian village. The figures under this tree, in the plate, are a party of English gentlemen, attended by their servants, a group of dancing girls, with musicians, and three Brahmins, in

who still retain the same manners and customs

as those observed by the Gymnosophists, the days of Nearchus.

There are two plants of this tree now in England, one in Kew Gardens, and another in the garden of Dr Lettsom, at Camberwell.

UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF DAVID HUME,

On the Subject of King James the Second's MSS. at Paris: with his Opinion on the Character and Conduct of Charles II.

IN the Mercure de France for Nov. 1807, No. 332, is inserted the translation of an unpublished letter of David Hume, in which he gives an account of his perusing the memoirs of king James II. in the Scotch college at Paris, and states his opinion very frankly n the error of the kings Charles and James in supposing that they could easily establish popery and tyranny in England. Their delusion in this respect, might be thought the more extraordinary, after the fatal proof to the contrary which their father's unhappy end afforded them but it should be recollected, that they formed their opinion on the language of the flattering addresses poured in upon them, and on the persuasion that the resolutely anti-catholic party was too unpopular, and too feeble, effectually to resist their proceedings. Happily for later generations, time evinced the fallacy of their opinions. Having occasionally spoken with little reserve our opinion on the character of Charles II. [Compare Panorama, Vol. I. p. 482 et al.] and especially in our late account of Mr. Fox's work, we presume that our readers will not be displeased with an opportunity of adding a comparison of Mr. Hume's opinion. We have therefore retranslated his letter into English. If ever the original should be published, we hope that the dissimilarities will be found excusable: and possibly some curious philologist may amuse himself with remarking by what different turns of expression the same ideas may be conveyed. Mr. H. describes these MSS. as being all folios: Mr. Fox, more accurately we presume, describes some as being

folios and others quartos. Compare Panorama Vol. IV. p. 663.

The following is a translation of the whole article. It adds to our wishes for the publication of whatever remains of these MSS.

HISTORY.-We have been favoured with translated from the English original, which an unpublished letter of Hume the historian, was in the hands of M. de Joncourt, librarian to the Prince of Orange. As this letter explains the motives that determined Hume to change his, opinion on a matter of great importance in the last edition of his history, we presume that the insertion of it in the Mer

cure will interest our readers.

FROM DAVID HUME TO LORD HARDWICK.

Compiègne, 23d July, 1764.

My Lord ;-Soon after my arrival at Paris, I had the curiosity to consult the Memoirs of James II. They form about thirteen volumes in folio, all written with that king's own hand, without being reduced into regular history. Such is, for instance, an account of the negotiations that preceded the second Dutch war; a point of history which has always appeared to me extremely obscure, and perplexed with a multiplicity of contradictions. Father Gordon, principal of the Scotch college, an obliging and communicative person, nevertheless made some difficulty of permitting me to peruse this passage; but after I had assured him of my having been employed in the office of the secretary of state, and that I was waiting for an authoritative permission to consult the French Registers which were expected to contain the treaty concluded between Charles II. and Louis XIV. all his scruples ceased, and I inspected the MS. I am about to mention its contents, by recollection, My Loid, for I have left at Paris the different extracts, that I made from it, for all of which I had the consent of father Gordon.

The treaty was concluded at the end of 1669, or the beginning of 1670, the memoirs of the time have not assigned it a precise date. It was Lord Arundel, of Wardour, who signed it secretly, in a journey which he made to Paris for the purpose. The two principal articles stipulate the re-establishment of the Catholic religion in England, and an offensive alliance between the two powers against Holland. Louis promises to Charles an annual subsidy of £200,000; with 6,000 troops in case of insurrection. As to Holland, that was to be divided according to the basis afterwards described by the Abbe Primi. England was to have Zealand, and the seaports: all the rest was to form the division of the king of France and the prince of Orange. Besides that, there was no mention made of establishing arbitrary power in Great Britain. Because, probably, the king regarded that event as a necessary consequence of the projected revolution, and

Bulls of Composition* or Reconciliation. This has the inconceivable virtue of transmitting to the withholder of another's goods, the absolute property in all he has been able to steal without the cognisance of the law. For its validity they require only one condition, which is, that the expectation of the bull did not induce the theft.--Modesty has done well to add, that of not knowing the person to whom the stolen goods belong: but from the cases specified for its application, it appears that this last condition is illusive; for, in a volume, on the virtue of bulls, printed at Toledo, in 1758, by order of the commissarygeneral of the holy crusade, we find that the bull of composition befriends those who hold property they ought to return to the church, or employ in works of piety, or which they have not legally acquired by the prayers of which it was the price. It aids those debtors who cannot discover their creditors, or when the conditions of the loan are oppressive; it assists the heir who retains the whole of an

inheritance loaded with legacies, were it in favour of a hospital. If a demand has not been made within a year, the bull of composition decrees to its possessor a moiety of the debt; but he is required to pay the residue. It bestows the entire right on those who do not know the owner of that which they have obtained unjustly. Thus a watch, a diamond, a purse full of gold, stolen in the midst of a crowd, becomes the property of the pick pocket who has filched it; in fine, it quiets the remorse of the conscience of the merchant who has enriched himself by false yards, false measures, and false weights. The bull of composition assures to him the absolute property in whatever he obtains by modes that ought to have conducted him to the gallows.

The party himself values the article which he is desirous of acquiring by means of the bull of composition, and has to purchase as many bulls as are necessary to make their price, which is fixed, equivalent to six per cent. of the capital he wishes to retain. Only fifty bulls a year can, however, be taken by one person. If the amount of what they cost does not complete the six per cent. of that which is withheld, recourse must be had to the most illustrious Commissary-general of the Holy Crusade. He may extend the permission as much as he pleases, and even reduce the duty.

No bull has any virtue till after paid for,

Composition," in Spanish, signifies an agreement, or accommodation of a dispute.

The bulls of the holy crusade are in Spanish, upon a sheet of very common paper in demi-gothic letters and wretchedly printed.

is

published with great pomp and solemnity at Every two years a new bull of the crusade Caraccas.-The ceremony is performed on St. John's day; in the other churches on that of

St. Michael.

The bulls are at first placed in the church of constituted authorities and people come in the nuns of the conception. All the clergy, triumph to seek them, in order to remove and place them in the cathedral upon a table magnificently decorated. High mass is then performed, after which there follows a sermon entirely devoted to set forth the infinite bles sings of the bull. At this festival, the Comusually a canon, occupies the first place. Mass missary-general of the Holy Crusade, who is being finished, all the faithful approach the table on which the bulls are laid, that each and to his rank; for the price of the bulls may obtain one proportioned to his abilities, of those by whom they are taken. They are varies according to the opulence and situation nevertheless, notwithstanding the difference been no fraud. He who takes a bull of a of price, of equal virtue, provided there has price inferior to that which his fortune or rank require that he should procure, enjoys none of the advantages attached to it.

HEATHEN SUPERSTITIONS.

The interior of the government of Cumana is occupied by mountains, some of which are of an extraordinary elevation. The highest, that of Tumeriquiri, is nine hundred and thirty-five toises above the level of the sea.

In this mountain is the cavern of Guacharo, famous among the Indians. It is immense, and serves as a habitation for millions of nocturnal birds (a new species of the caprimulgus of Linnæus) whose fat yields the oil of Guacharo. Its site is majestic, and adorned by the most brilliant vegetation. There issues from the cavern a river of some magnitude, and within is heard the mournful cry of the birds, which the Indians attribute to the souls that are forced to enter this cavern in order to go to the other world. But they are enabled to obtain permission for it only when their conduct in this life has been without reproach. If it has been otherwise, they are retained for a shorter or longer time, according to the heinousness of their offences. This dark, wretched, mournful abode draws from them the mournings and plaintive cries heard

without.

The Indians have so little doubt of this fable, supported by tradition, being a sacred truth commanding the utmost respect, that

immediately after the death of their parents or friends they repair to the mouth of the cavern to ascertain whether their souls have met with any impediment. If they think they have not distinguished the voice of the deceased, they withdraw overjoyed, and celebrate the event by inebriety and dances characteristic of their felicity; but if they imagine they have heard the voice of the defunct, they hasten to drown their grief in intoxicating liquors, in the midst of dances, adapted from their nature, to paint their despair.

So, whatever may be the lot of the departed scul, his relations and friends give themselves up to the same excesses; there is no difference, but in the character of the dance.

All the Indians of the government of Cumana and Oronoko not converted to the faith, and even many of those who appear to be so, have notwithstanding as much respect for this opinion as their ancestors could possibly have had. It appears that it is not, like so many others of its kind, the child of imposture or fanaticism; for it is not accompanied with any religious ceremony, the expense of which would increase the revenue of the inventor's benefice. The cavern itself shows no vestige of superstition having at any time obtained there the least monument of the empire imposture might have wished to exercise over credulity. This prejudice then is solely the effect of fear, ever ingenious in creating phantoms, and in imagining those things which flatter the illusion. Among the Indians two hundred leagues from the cavern to go down into Guacharo, synonimous with to die.

M. DE LA HARPE'S EULOGIUM ON RACINE.

(Concluded from p. 1266, Vol. III.)

It may be said, indeed, that the eulogium of Racine ought not to contain a satire against Corneille. Certainly not:-but can the language of truth and justice be fairly denominated a satire? Corneille was not the painter of the passions; he was born with more strength of mind than sensibility of soul: it was this last quality which appeared to predominate in Racine, and which characterised his talents. It is to him we look for the unerring judgement of a heart enlightened by sentiment: he well knew how to mark by scarcely perceptible distinctions, that difference of language which attaches to the different His women always maintain the decorum, the modesty, the delicacy, the impressive softness which distinguish and embellish the expression of their sentiments, which give such an interest to their complaints, such grace to their sorrows, as well as such power to their reproaches, and which should not be suffered to abandon them, even when they appear to abandon themselves. In his page the courage of a woman is never poin

sexes.

|

pous, her anger is never seen to violate decency, her greatness of mind never assumes a masculine character. With what propriety does Monimia conduct herself towards Mithridates, when she positively refuses to unite herself to him; when she thus exposes herself to the vengeance of a man who was never known to pardon an injury. When Iphigenia breaks forth into reproaches against a rival whom she believes to be preferred to herself, she does not debase herself for a moment, and thus becomes far more interesting to the spectator.

Corneille appears to have been ignorant of these delicate distinctions. He knew little of women or of love; the passion which they know the best. The Cid, the only one of his plays in which love produces any powerful effect, was founded on a Spanish plot. The Andromache of Racine was his own work, and when he displayed on the scene those impressive pictures of the inexhaustible passion of love, he opened a new and abundant source for the French stage. That art which Corneille had established on the emotions of astonishment and admiration, and on princi ples altogether ideal, Racine founded on gequine nature and a knowledge of the human heart. He was a creator in his turn, as Corneille bad already been; but with this difference, that the edifice which had been erected by the one struck the eye of the beholder by its irregular beauty and shapeless magnificence, while the other captivated the attention by the beautiful proportions and graceful forms which taste had blended with the majesty of genius.

We are now come to the last species of that creative power which characterizes the original talent of Racine, of which Andromache was the Epocha, and which his most prejudiced detractors and the most enthusiastic admirers of his rival never hesitated to allow him. He may be said to have created the true tragic style of the French theatre. He opened its career and determined its limits, and thereby acquired a degree of fame, which very few indeed have ever enjoyed.

Corneille does not appear to have possessed a right notion of the labour necessary to polish verse, and it is very evident how little attention he paid to embellish those lines which contained no brilliancy of thought. He has given grand outlines; but he knew nothing of shading; and yet it is that which produces excellence in all the imitative arts.

Racine was the first who rigidly adhered to the use of appropriate terms: which is an essential part of fine writing. His expression is always so happy and so natural, that it does not appear as if any other could be adopted: and every word in his sentences is so placed, that it does not appear to be susceptible of any other position. The structure of his