mother! How many pains, how many difficulties, have you had with me? What have I done for you? Alas! alas! had you been long sick, I might have done something for you. Ah! you told me, disobedience would be my ruin. You are gone: why did I not obey you? My fate, my fate! my mother, my mother! will you not look at me? Are you asleep? You told us you should die before our father.* My mother, will you not again let me hear your voice?"

If the daughter be married, such exclamations as these will likewise be uttered:-"When I am in pain, who will say, 'Fear not, fear not?' I thought you would have lived to see the marriage of my daughter. Come hither, my infant, look at your grandmother. Was I not nursed at those breasts? You said to my father, when you were dying, 'Love my children.' You said to my husband, Cherish my daughter.' Ah! did you not bless us all? My mother, my mother! that name I will not repeat again.'

The son says to the mourning women :-"Ah! was she not the best of mothers? Did she not conceal my faults? Can I forget her joy when she put the bracelets on my wrists? O how she did kiss and praise me, when I had learned the alphabet! She was always restless whilst I was at school; and when I had to return, she was always looking out for me. How often she used to say, 'My son, my son, come and eat!' but now, who will call me?" Then, taking the hand of his deceased mother into his own, he will often ask:"And are the worms to feed on this hand which has fed me?" Then, embracing her feet:-"Ah! these will never more move about this house. When my great days are come, in whose face shall I look? joy? When I go to the distant stantly saying, 'Return, return?' Ah! how did she rejoice on my wedding-day! Who will now help and comfort my wife? If she did not see me every moment, she was continually saying, 'My son, my son!' Must I now apply the torch to her funeral pile? Alas! alas! I am too young for that. What! have the servants of the funeral-house + been anxious to get their money? Could they not have waited a

Who will rejoice in my country, who will be con

• Hindoo females greatly desire to die before their husbands, because they are believed to be blessed of the gods.

+ Washermen, barbers, and others.

few years? What do those bearers want? Have you come to take away my mother?" Then, lying on the bier by her side, he says, "Take me also. Alas! alas! is the hour come? I must now forget you. Your name must never again be in my mouth. I must now perform the annual ceremony. O life, life! the bubble, the bubble!"

Listen to the affectionate brother over the body of his sister:-"Were we not a pair? Why are we separated? Of what use am I alone? Where is now my shade? I will now be a wanderer. How often did I bring you the fragrant lotus? but your face was more beautiful than that flower. Did I not procure you jewels? Who gained you the bridegroom? Have I not been preparing to make a splendid show on your nuptial-day? Alas! all is vanity. How fatal is this for your betrothed! For whose sins have you been taken away? You have vanished like the goddess Lechimy. In what birth shall we again see you? How many suitors waited for you? You have poured fire into my bowels: my senses have gone, and I wander about like an evil spirit. Instead of the marriage-ceremonies, we are now attending to those of your funeral. I may get another mother, for my father can marry again: I may acquire children; but a sister, never, never! Ah! give me one look: let your lotus-like face open once-one smile. Is this your marriage-ceremony? I thought one thing, but fate thought another. You have escaped like lightning: the house is now full of darkness. When I go to the distant town, who will give me her commissions? To whom shall we give your clothes and jewels? * My sister, I have to put the torch to your funeral pile. You said, 'Brother, we will never part; we will live together in one house!' but you are gone. I refused to give you to the youth in the far country; but now, whither have you gone? To whom shall I now say, 'I am hungry?' Alas! alas! my father planted cocoa, mango, and jack trees in YOUR name; but you have not lived to eat the fruit thereof.† I have been to tell them you are gone. Alas! I see her clothes: take

* These are often given to some sacred object, as the friends cannot bear to see them.

On the birth of a daughter it is common to plant fruit-trees in her name, and these are often given as a dowry in marriage, This practice also is frequently adopted on the birth of a son.

them away! Of what use is that palankeen now?

Who

used to come jumping on the road to meet me? If I have

so much sorrow, what must have been that of your mother for ten long moons? Whose evil eye has been upon you? Who aimed the blow? Will there ever again be sorrow like this? My belly smokes. Ah, my sister! your gait, your speech, your beauty, all gone! the flower is withered-the flower is withered ! Call for the bier; call for the musicians!"*

Husbands who love their wives are exceedingly pathetic in their exclamations; they review the scenes of their youth, and speak of their tried and sincere affection. Affectionate allusions are likewise made to the children to whom she has given birth, and, to use an Orientalism, the man is plunged into a sea of grief. "What, the apple of my eye gone? my swan, my parrot, my deer, my Lechimy! Her colour was like gold; her gait was like the stately swan; her waist was like lightning; her teeth were like pearls; her eyes like the kiyal-fish (oval); her eyebrows like the bow; and her countenance like the full-blown lotus. Yes, she has gone, the mother of my children! No more welcome, no more smiles in the evening, when I return. All the world to me is now as the place of burning. Get ready the wood for my pile. O my wife, my wife! listen to the voice of your husband."

CHAP. XXXII.

The people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah.-Verse 8. The margin has, for rested upon, "leaned upon."

Similar expressions of the same import are here of common occurrence :- I lean" (from sārukirathu) "on the words of As the corpse of Hector was taken away,

"With plaintive sighs and music's solemn sound,"

so is it done here. The musicians always precede the procession, and they endeavour, with great success, to make their instruments imitate certain words. The following is a translation of a verse they thus repeat. "The company of relations, weeping, cry Kal. They see the dead body carried to the place of burning. The music and tambours, which gave such joy at the wedding, now proclaim, 'There is yet another! There is yet another!"" Vore-undu! Voreundu! meaning, "Yet another, yet another."

Exclamation of sorrow.

R

that good man." "All people gladly lean on the words of that just judge." "Who would lean on the words of that false man?” “Alas! we leaned upon his words, and have fallen into trouble." "My husband, have I not leaned upon your words? Yes, and therefore I have not fallen."

EZRA.

CHAP. V.

They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus ; Unto Daríus the king, all peace.-Verse 7.

THE people of the East are always very particular as to their manner of commencing a letter. Thus, they take into consideration the rank of the individual to whom they are about to write, and the object which they wish to attain; and then commence in full and florid style: "To you who are respected by kings." "To him who has the happiness of royalty." "To the feet of his excellency, my father, looking towards the place where he is worshipping, I write." A father to his son writes :-" Head of all blessings, chief of life, precious pearl."

When people meet each other on the road, they say, "Salam," "Peace to you." Or, when they send a message, or ask a favour, it is always accompanied by a salam.

CHAP. IX.

I plucked off the hair of my head.-Verse 3.

In great disappointment, fury, or distress, this people tear out their long hair. They also bite their lips and arms.

Our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.-Verse 6.

This phraseology is usual with the natives:-"Ah, that fellow's sins are on his head!" "How numerous are the

"Who

sins on his head!" "Alas for such a head as that!" can take them from his head?" "His iniquity is so great, you may see it on his head.”

Does a man wish to extenuate his crime, to make himself appear not so great a sinner as some suppose? he asks: "What! has my guilt grown up to heaven? No! no!" "Abominable wretch! your guilt has reached to the heavens." "Can you call that little, which has grown up to the heavens ?"

Grace hath been showed from the Lord our God, to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes.-Verse 8. The margin has, or a pin, that is, a constant and sure abode.”

It is worthy of notice, that the Tamul translation has it, "a hut in his holy place." To lighten the eyes signifies, "to give comfort, to strengthen, to refresh." A father says to his son, when he wishes him to do any thing, "My child, make these eyes light." "O woman! enlighten my eyes, lest I be swallowed up with sorrow." "O that our eyes were clear! who will take away the darkness from my eyes?"

CHAP. X.

Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God.-Verse 1.

People on their arrival from England are astonished at the apparent devotion of the Hindoos, when they see them cast themselves down before their temples. Those of high rank, and in elegant attire, do not hesitate thus to prostrate themselves in the dust before the people. How often, as you pass along, may you see a man stretched at full length on the ground, with his face in the dust, pouring out his complaint, or making his requests unto the gods! It matters not to him who or what may be near him: he heeds not, and moves not, till his devotions are finished.

All the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.-Verse 9.

What a marked illustration we have of this passage every wet monsoon! See the people on a court-day, or when they