NOTES TO THE APPENDIX.

J6l

the poetical compofitions of the Eaft, abound too much.The editor has not informed us to whole knowledge ofthe Sanfkreet we are indebted for thefe two transitions. ■—4. Some original grants of land, of very ancient dates,tranflated by Mr. Wilkins. It may feem odd , that acharter of legal conveyance of property fhould be rankedamong the literary compofitions of any people. But fowidely Jo the manners of the Hindoos differ from thofeof Europe , that as our lawyers multiply words and claufes,in order to render a grant complete , and to guard againftevery thing that may invalidate it, the Pundits feem todifpatch the legal part of the deed with brevity, but, ina long preamble and conclufion, make an extraordinarydifplay of their own learning, eloquence, and powers ofcompolition, both in profe and in verfe. The preambleto one of thefe deeds is an encomium of the monarchwho grants the land, in a bold ftrain of F.aftern exaggera-tion : “ When his innumerable army marched, the heavens“ were fo filled with the dull of their feet that the birds“ of the air could reft upon it. ” “ His elephants“ moved like walking mountains, and the earth, oppreflbd“ by their weight, mouldered into duft. ” It concludeswith denouncing vengeance agni.nft thofe who fhould ven-ture to infringe this grant: “ Riches and the life of man“ are as tranlienc as drops of water upon a leaf of the“ locus. Learning this truth, O man, do not attempt“ to deprive another of his property, ” Afiatic Relearcbes,vol. i. p. 12;, &c. The other grant, which appears tobe (till more ancient, is not iefs remarkable. Both werefound engraved on plates of copper, lb. p. ;;7 , &c. —s. The tranflation of part of the Shafter, pubbfhe.i byColonel Dow, in the year 1763, ought perhaps to havebeen firft mentioned. But as this tranllacion was notmade by him from the Sanfkreet, but taken from themouth of a Brahmin, who explained the Shafter in Perfian,or in the vulgar language of Bengal , it will faM moreproperly under notice when we come to inquire into the