should return into the country, where I enjoyed such health, and would quit this city, which I pray God to overthrow!"

Unicorns in Asia.-A writer in the Universel, whom we suspect to be M. Klaproth, adverting to the information obtained by the late Major Latter,* respecting the existence of an animal in Tibet closely resembling the unicorn of the ancients, has revived the belief of naturalists in the existence of this hitherto fabulous animal, by adducing testimonies thereto from oriental writings. He remarks that, previous to Major Latter's report, the Catholic missionaries, who returned to Europe from China, by way of Tibet and Nepal, in the seventeenth century, mentioned that the unicorn was found in that part of the great desert which bounds China to the west, where they crossed the great wall; that Capt. Turner, when travelling in Tibet, was informed by the raja of Boutan, that he had one of these animals alive; and that Bell, in his Travels to Peking, describes a unicorn which was found on the southern frontier of Siberia. He adds: "the great Tibetan-Mongol dictionary, entitled Mingghi ghiamtso, a copy of which is deposited in the Royal Library (at Paris), mentions the unicorn, under the name of serou; and another work, not less authentic, the Geographical Dictionary of Tibet and Central Asia, printed at Peking by order of the emperor Keen-lung, where it describes a district in the province of Kham, in Tibet, named Sera-zeong, explains this name by 'river of unicorns,' because, adds the author, many of these animals are found there. In the history of the Mongol-Khans published and translated by Mr. J. J. Schmidt, at St. Petersburgh, we find the following fact stated: 'Genghiz Khan, having subjected all Tibet, in 1206, commenced his march for Hindustan (Enedkek). As he ascended mount Jadanarung, he beheld a beast approaching him of the deer kind, of the species called serou, which have a single horn at the top of the head; it fell on its knees thrice before the monarch, as if to pay respect to him. Every one was astonished at this incident; the monarch exclaimed, "the empire of Hindustan is, we are assured, the country where are born the majestic Buddhas and Bodhisatwas, as well as the potent Bogdas and princes of antiquity: what can be the meaning, then, of this animal, incapable of speech, saluting me like a man?" Upon this, he returned to his own country." "This story (continues M. Klaproth) is also related by Mahomedan authors who have written the life of Genghiz; something of the kind must, therefore, have taken place. Possibly some of the Mongol conqueror's suite may have taken a unicorn, which Genghiz thus employed, to gain a pretext for abstaining from an expedition which promised

When we consider that eight years have elapsed since the account of Major Latter was given, and that, notwithstanding our increased opportunities of intercourse with Tibet, no fact has since transpired which supplies a confirmation of that account, except the obtaining a supposed horn of the supposed unicorn, we cannot participate in these renewed hopes.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

Remarks on Free Trade to China. London, 1830. Rivingtons.

This is a short, perspicuously-written pamphlet, confined wholly to the question concerning the expediency of throwing open the China Trade, as regards the interests of the people of England, laying out of view the "vested rights" or peculiar claims of the Company, and even the exigencies of their condition as Governors of India. The

See Asiat. Journ. vol. xi. p. 154.

author proposes to show, first, "the impracticability of establishing a free trade with China;" secondly, that "if that trade could be established, the anticipated advantages would not result from it ;" and thirdly, that "the experience of the past, and all the other grounds from which men are wont to draw conclusions for the future, are in favour of the continuation of the East-India Company (i. e. their exclusive enjoyment of the China trade), as the most beneficial mode of conducting our commercial relations with China,"

Scenery, Costumes, and Architecture, chiefly on the Western Side of India. By Captain Robert Melville Grindlay, M.R.A.S. &c. Part VI. London, 1830. Smith, Elder, and Co.

We observe, with something like regret, that the concluding part of this splendid work is now before the public; a work which reflects the highest credit upon all who have been concerned in its execution. Capt. Grindlay (who acknowledges the assistance he has derived from various friends, during the progress of the work) has certainly redeemed the pledge he gave, if he has not exceeded promise: we doubt if this concluding part be not superior to the others. The first plate is a view of Sassoor, in the Deccan, in which the rich and delicate hues of eastern light are brilliantly shewn, as well as in the next, the town and temples of Dwarka, in Guzerat. The exterior of the great cave-temple of Elephanta, from a drawing by Westall on the spot, is exquisite, and with its companion, the Great Triad, in the interior of the same temple, affords an excellent idea of these curious objects. A view of Rajpootana, from a drawing of the late Capt. Auber, and portico of a Hindoo temple, with other Hindoo and Mahomedan buildings, from the pencil of Capt. Grindlay, are the subjects of the remaining plates,—both of dazzling beauty.

The Cabinet Cyclopædia.-Natural Philosophy.-Mechanics. By Captain Henry Kater, and the Rev. Dr. Lardner. London, 1830. Longman and Co. and Taylor. This excellent work continues to uphold its character. The volume published during the past month is a succinct and able treatise on Mechanics, by two very competent persons, Capt. Kater of the Royal Society, and Dr. Lardner the conductor of the work : the portion written by the former is a chapter on balances and pendulums, in which is comprehended a brief history and description of the various machines invented in modern times for accurately measuring weight and time, illustrated by the necessary plates and diagrams. The whole volume is written in a very clear and concise style; it may be read by the young student without embarrassment, and even by the idler for

amusement.

The Family Library, No. XII.-The Life of Nelson. By Robert Southey, Esq. LL.D. London, 1830. Murray.

This is a new edition of Dr. Southey's most interesting biography of Lord Nelson; a work which never tires. Its merits are already so well appreciated, that it is only necessary for us to commend the judgment which has selected it for a volume of the Family Library.

The Family Library ;-Dramatic Series, No. I.—The Plays of Philip Massinger, Vol. İ. London, 1880. Murray.

The early British Drama forms so important a portion of our literature, that a "Family Library" would be incomplete without it. A formidable obstacle to the publication of our early plays, however, consists in the occasional impurity of their dialogue. "The neglect of the old English Dramatists, in an age so favourable to works of imagination as the present," it is observed in the advertisement to the work before us, "can only be ascribed to that occasional coarseness of language, which intermixes with and pollutes the beauty of their most exquisite scenes." The editors of the Family Library have therefore judiciously determined on publishing a selection of old plays, omitting all such passages as are inconsistent with modern delicacy, whereby "the living beauty will be separated from the dead weight of corruption to which it is unnaturally joined."

The task of separation requires great skill and discretion; but these qualities we have no apprehension of not finding, in the fullest degree requisite, in the editors, who by this purifying process, will perform a service both to the public and to the authors, whom they will thereby draw forth from unmerited obscurity.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

MARITIME COMMERCE OF BRITISH INDIA.

It is impossible for any person, who has examined the arguments employed by those who advocate the abolition of the few remaining privileges of the East-India Company, not to have been disgusted with the spirit of selfish injustice in which they are urged. The declaimers at Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and Bristol, seem really to imagine that the people of India were created solely for their advantage; that those who are entrusted with the administration of our eastern empire are bound to rule it in complete subservience to their views; that the activity or depression of our cotton and woollen manufactures, and the prosperity or decline of our shipping interests, are the infallible criteria of the wisdom or folly of their government. It is amusing, on the occasion of such exhibitions of ignorance or cupidity, or of both, to note the professions of disinterested generosity with which they are introduced: "I trust, sir, that a British parliament will never think of governing India solely with a view to its own advantage ;"-" God forbid that I should advocate any measures likely to affect the happiness and prosperity of the countless population which the inscrutable decrees of Providence have subjected to our yoke." Such is the parade of hypocritical philanthropy by which attacks on the system of the East-India Company, and the true interests of their subjects, are usually prefaced. Scarcely, however, has the languid applause excited by the exordium of the harangue died upon the ear, before we find that the "blessings of civilization "_" the cultivation of the arts of peace"-" the consolations of religion," are, in the vocabulary of the patriotic speaker, mere synonimes for the more extended use of British cotton and woollen goods, the employment of a few more spinning jennies, the rise of freights, or the revival of the peculiar branch of domestic industry in which he may happen to be engaged. Now, though we heartily despise the contemptible cant which dictates effusions of this description, we have no objection, particularly in the present distressed state of the country, to a manly and open avowal on the part of the merchants, manufacturers, and ship-owners of this country, of their desire to have every opportunity of commercial intercourse with Asia fully and fairly thrown open to them. All we ask is, that, before their request be complied with, they condescend to consult other interests besides their own, and to inquire, ere they reproach the East-India Company, how far the proposed innovations may consist with the prosperity of our Indian empire. Undoubtedly, as subjects of the English Crown, the Directors of the Company are bound to use every honest exertion to render our Indian possessions of advantage to this country; but they are held by a much higher obligation to rule India in justice to its inhabitants, and to esteem the promotion of their happiness and welfare as superior to all other considerations. Supposing, therefore, for the sake of argument, that the admission of British merchants to the trade with China and the traffic in tea were demonstrated to be measures not only attended with no danger, but highly conducive to the advancement of British commerce, it would still remain to be proved that the proposed change would be productive of good Asiat. Jour. N.S. VOL. 2. No. 6.

to India, before the Directors of the East-India Company would be justified in consenting to its adoption. In their capacity of sovereigns, they have the same duties to perform as the legislative bodies of England, of France, and of the Netherlands. They cannot destroy vested interests, they cannot depress thriving manufactures, they cannot consign all those, the value of whose property depends on the maintenance of the present system, to bankruptcy and ruin, merely to afford additional facilities to British commerce, without gross and flagrant injustice. It was the boast of Mr. Canning that, wishing well to all mankind, and by no means envying the prosperity of other states, the chief object of his policy was the interest of England. That sentiment was worthy of the great man who uttered it, and is indeed the true motto of a British statesman; but it would come with an ill grace from the Directors of the East-India Company, who are bound by every consideration of justice and of honour to prefer (should they chance to clash) the interests of India to the interests of England.

We have been led to this reflection, the abstract justice of which, we believe, few men of right principle will venture to deny, by an inquiry into the probable effects on our Indian dominions of any further relaxation of the restrictions on British commerce with Asia. The direct trade to India is, to all intents and purposes, free; the coasting trade of India is also free; the circuitous-trade acts have removed all fetters from the intercourse between India and Europe; nor is there any restraint on the commerce with the islands of the eastern Archipelago but the prohibition to touch at Canton and of all traffic in the article of tea. It is supposed that, by removing these prohibitions, a great demand for British manufactures would be created, and that an immense export of goods from England would be repaid by large returns of the produce of China and of the Eastern islands. In confirmation of these expectations, the great increase of trade at Singapore is referred to; and it is argued that, if there be any impediment to the direct intercourse of British merchants with the Chinese at Canton, the teas may be brought by the junks to some free port, and there exchanged for the commodities of Europe. Now, all this seems at first sight extremely plausible, and consistent with the most enlightened theories of trade and the soundest principles of political economy. To a certain extent, also, it obviates those objections urged against the participation of private merchants in the tea-trade, which are founded on the known jealousy entertained of foreigners by the Chinese. Singapore, Banjar Massin, or whatever port might be selected, would thus, no doubt, in course of time, be raised to great opulence; and if no interests were to be consulted but those of cotton and woollen manufacturers, and of persons who are content to drink bad tea cheap, it might be admitted to be a plan not altogether unworthy of adoption. Unfortunately, however, there are certain ports beyond the Cape of Good Hope, on the prosperity of which immense multitudes of human beings depend, of which the rapid rise into mercantile and political importance has no parallel either in the old or the new world, and which the contemplated scheme of direct intercourse between England and China has an inevitable tendency to destroy. If the inhabitants of