of "the Cama family." "The Cama family," he said, "have practiced what they preach. Their exertions in the cause of education show this." The speaker went on to say: "Will any one here say that the social position of our wives is not disgraceful? How do we treat them? As slaves: worse than slaves. Do they share in our enjoyments? Here we are, at this very moment, with a repast before us which the most epicurean European might well envy, and have we a single lady present to share in our festivity? Can we call ourselves civilized beings, when we can regale ourselves in this way without thinking for a moment of our wives and daughters? I am afraid, gentlemen, that the position we have obtained in European eyes of our civilization is not deserved, and never will be deserved until we follow in a body and with a clear heart the Cama family, who have been the foremost to break the great barrier which superstition, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness have raised against the liberty of our partners." An establishment which, in honor of the most celebrated member of the sect, is called Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy Translation Fund, has an annual income of 40,000 rupees for the purpose of translating good European works into the Gujerati language, and of circulating them at a low price or gratuitously among the Parsees. In the schools connected with the Parsee Benevolent Institution, established in 1849 by Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, there were, in 1863, one thousand and seventy-two boys and six hundred and sixteen girls in daily attendance. At an examination of these schools in 1863, Sir Bartle Frere, who presided, remarked that he remembered visiting these schools some ten years since with their founder, his revered friend, the late Sir Jamsetjee, and was happy to find how much they had prospered since that time.

The liberality of the rich Parsees is by no means confined to their own community. The Bombay University has been repeatedly benefited by it. Thus we learn from the Friend of India (March 18, 1863) that Limjee Manockjee and Cowasjee Manockjee, Esqs., offered to the Vice-Chancellor of the University the sum of five thousand rupees for the purpose of founding an annual gold medal, to bear the name of their father, the late Manockjee Limjee, Esq., and to be awarded every year for the best essay by a university student on some

subject of Indian history, or antiquities, or on some question connected with the introduction of European science into the country. More recently the present Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy offered the sum of twenty-five thousand rupees for the erection of a public fountain in Bombay, on the site of the Wellesley statue. Similar facts we find frequently referred to in the journals of East India.

The prosperity which the Parsee community of India has attained, and their great intellectual superiority over the Hindu world in the midst of which they have lived so many centuries, have made the Parsees clannish and proud. They will not permit one of their number to become a beggar or a pauper. This pride has also been one of the reasons which have prevented the progress of Christianity among them. We have seen it stated that no Parsee has yet been converted to Christianity. This is probably an exaggeration, but it is certain that they have hitherto opposed to the missionaries a very determined resistance. The prominence which the faith in the unity of Deity holds in their system has made them, like the Mohammedans, scorn any intimation of a trinity of persons in that unity. More recently they have shown, however, a great appreciation of the missionary schools; and their readiness to offer the presidency of their Theological Seminary to Dr. Haug seems to indicate that they do not mean to continue in an everlasting opposition to Christianity.

In Persia* both the aspects and prospects of the Parsees are less brilliant than in India. The fanaticism of the Mussulmans, which drove the majority of their ancestors to India, has not yet ceased to persecute them. It is especially on the death of the Shah of Persia that they become a victim of the popular fury. They are ill-treated, robbed of their property, and frequently killed. Their sacred books are frequently taken from them and burned, probably in order to efface in them every remembrance of their ancestors. The constant dread of persecution has made them timid and submissive, and they make the utmost efforts to conciliate their Mohammedan neighbors by politeness. They are very poor. Dr. Peterman met in Persia with a rich Parseet of India, who told him that he *They live in particular in Jezd, a city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants; in Taft and the neighboring region, in Kirman, in Teheran, in Ispahan.

Petermann, Reisen im Orient, vol. ii, p. 179. FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XVI.-19

was sent as a delegate to the Shah of Persia in order to ask of him permission for the Indian Parsees to pay all the taxes of their Persian brethren. Their prospects in Persia would greatly improve if religious toleration were fully established.

ART. VIII.-SIR THOMAS BROWNE.

"Religio Medici," "A Letter to a Friend;" "Christian Morals;" "Urn Burial," and other Papers. By SIR THOMAS BROWNE, Kt., M.D. 12mo., pp. 440. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1862. Sir Thomas Browne's Works, including his Life and Correspondence. Edited by SIMON WILKIN, Esq. Four volumes. 8vo. London: 1836.

THE reader who takes up for the first time some work of genius is conscious of a peculiar pleasure. He finds his previous anticipations realized, and a new world of delightful meditation opened before him. This is the experience in reading Sir Thomas Browne. His Religio Medici, Christian Morals, and Urn Burial, have all the simplicity, strength, and moral elevation which characterize the great works of mind.

Sir Thomas Browne was born in London, October 19, 1605, and died on his birthday at Norwich in 1682, aged 77. His father came of an ancient family in Cheshire, and enjoyed a good name as an honest merchant. His father used to uncover his breast when he was asleep, and kiss it in prayers over him, as is said of Origen's father, that the Holy Ghost would take possession there. But this most excellent parent died while his son was yet a child. Notwithstanding a dishonest guardian, who defrauded him of part of his patrimony, he found his way to school at Winchester, where he acquitted himself with honor, and finally, in 1627, graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford. Under the direction of his step-father, he traveled extensively through Ireland, France, and Italy; and finally, returning through Holland, took his doctor's degree at Leyden. On coming back to London, at thirty years of age, he wrote his Religio Medici, one of the most remarkable productions in the language.

"For a character of his person," says the Rev. John Whitefoot, who lived for many years the constant friend and neighbor of Sir Thomas, "his complexion and hair were answerable to his name; his stature was moderate, and habit of body neither fat nor lean, but evσaρkoç. In his habit of clothing he had an aversion to all finery, and affected plainness both in the fashion and ornaments."

"He was never seen to be transported with mirth or dejected with sadness; always cheerful, but rarely merry at any sensible rate; seldom heard to break a jest; and when he did, he would be apt to blush at the levity of it. His gravity was natural without affectation." "His modesty was visible in a natural habitual blush, which was increased upon the least occasion, and oft discovered without any observable cause."

Sir Thomas was learned, accomplished, and prepossessing; and yet, it would seem by a passage in his writings, was singularly indifferent to marriage, expressing his belief that it were just as well that men should propagate as trees, if that had only been divinely appointed. The most noticeable fact of all is, that these views did not prevent him from marrying a most charming woman, with whom he lived very happily, raising an affectionate and talented family. He no doubt felt himself sufficiently secure in his domestic enjoyments from the polished shafts of the Encyclopedists and reviewers, who have not failed to ridicule this eccentricity.

Edward, son of Sir Thomas Browne, was sent in 1657, at fifteen years of age, to Cambridge, and in 1665 took his degree of Bachelor of Medicine. He traveled over Bohemia, Hungary, and Friuli, and returning, settled in London, and published in 1673 the observations of his travels. He became. distinguished for his superior learning, was made Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and of the Royal Society, Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and first physician to king Charles II. King Charles said, "he was as learned as any of the college, and as well-bred as any at court." He continued to hold the office of President of the College of Physicians until 1708, the time of his death.

Thomas, another son, a brave and noble youth, distinguished himself in the Royal Navy. The following language, which belongs to him, shows of what stuff he was made. He says,

"it is impossible to express unto another how a smart sea-fight elevates the spirits of a man and makes him despise all dangers.' The time of his death seems only to have been conjectural. How often a cloud of mystery rests upon the last hours of the brave!

We will trace but one more link in the domestic life of this great and good man. Of his favorite daughter Sir Thomas says: "Thou didst use to pass away much of thy time alone and by thyself in sober ways and good actions, so that noe ⚫ place how solitary soe ever can be strange to thee, nor indeed solitary, since God whom thou servest is everywhere with thee."

But the distinguished merit of Sir Thomas Browne did not exempt him from the assaults of criticism. Such men as Johnson, Hallam, Hazlitt, and Coleridge have passed judgment on his writings, and it is necessary to consider that judgment in order to estimate his genius.

Dr. Johnson does not appear to appreciate the poetical figures of Browne. Of his style the author of Rasselas says: "It strikes, but does not please. His tropes are harsh, and his combinations uncouth." But Dr. Johnson admits that he has great excellences, and observes, "it is not on the praises of others but on his own writings that Sir Thomas Browne is to depend for the esteem of posterity; of which he will not easily be deprived while learning shall have any reverence among men; for there is no science in which he does not discover some skill, and scarce any kind of knowledge, profane or sacred, which he does not appear to have cultivated with success."

Hallam, in his "Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries," judges Sir Thomas Browne with too great severity. After admitting that the favorable estimate of Dr. Johnson is in the main correct, and that the mind of Browne was "fertile and ingenious," and "his analogies original and sometimes brilliant," he observes: "He was, however, far removed from real philosophy; both by his turn of mind, and the nature of his erudition, he seldom reasons; his thoughts are desultory; sometimes he appears skeptical or paradoxical; but credulity and deference to authority prevail." Again he says: "His egotism is equal to that of Montaigne, but with this difference, that it is the egotism