Note 163 — Chapter III

In the original, at the beginning of this chapter, there is an historical and critical dissertation on the antiquity of the Vèda, which occupies no fewer than ten quarto pages. The author there controverts the opinion of the celebrated Sir William Jones, who asserted that this book of laws existed 1000 if not 1500 years before the birth of Christ. When Sir William heard that Fra Paolino was of a contrary opinion, he was so angry that he called him Homo trium litterarum; and the latter, in return, called him Homo unius litteræ. So far the two champions were on a level. But we are not impressed with so favourable an opinion of our author, when, after a panygyric on Sir William Jones, whose early death he laments, he concludes by saying: “He wished to explain every thing, but unfortunately left every thing in the dark.” After such an assertion, the intelligent reader, it is hoped, will hardly regret that the translator has left this dissertation in the dark also. F.