stimony. He writes, "If a good
system of agriculture, unrivaled manufacturing-skill, a capacity to
produce whatever can contribute to either convenience or luxury, schools
established in every village for teaching reading, writing and arithmetic,
the general practice of hospitality, and charity among each other, and
above all, a treatment of the female sex full of confidence, respect, and
delicacy, are among the signs which denote a civilized people--then the
Hindus are not inferior to the nations of Europe--and if civilization is
to become an article of trade between England and India, _I am convinced
that England will gain by the import cargo_.

"Even at the present moment, after a century of English rule and English
teaching, I believe that Sanskrit is more widely understood in India, than
Latin was in Europe at the time of Dante.

"There are thousands of Brahmans, even now, when so little inducement
exists for Vedic studies, who know the whole of the Rig-Veda by heart, and
can repeat it, and what applies to the Rig-Veda, applies to many other
books." (Ten thousand and seventeen hymns.)

Speaking of other and later literature, Prof. Mueller says, "It is
different with the ancient literature of India, the literature dominated
by the Vedic and Buddhistic religions. That literature opens to us a
chapter in what has been called the Education OF THE HUMAN RACE, TO WHICH
WE CAN FIND NO PARALLEL anywhere else. Whoever cares for the historical
growth of our language, that is, of our thoughts; whoever cares for the
intelligible development of religion and mythology, whoever cares for the
first foundation of what in later times we call the sciences of astronomy,
metronomy, grammar and etymology; whoever cares for the first intimations
of philosophical thought; for the first attempts at regulating family
life, village life, and state life, as founded on religion, ceremonial,
tradition and contact (Samaya), must in future pay the same attention to
the literature of the Vedic period as to the literature of Greece and Rome
and Germany.

"I maintain then that for a study of man, or, if you like, for a study of
Aryan humanity, there is nothing in the world equal in importance with the
Veda.

"The aristocracy of those who know--_di color che sanno_--or try to know,
is open to all who are willing to enter, to all who have a feeling for the
past; an interest in the genealogy of our thoughts, and a reverence for
the ancestry of our