“A thousand years before that event, the goddess Cali had foretold him that he would reign, or rather his _posterity_, according to several learned commentators in the Dokhin, as mentioned by Major Mackenzie, till a _divine child_, born of a virgin, should put an end both to his life and kingdom, or to his dynasty, nearly in the words of Jacob, in Genesis, chap. xlix. ver. 10. The Hindu traditions concerning this wonderful child are collected in a treatise called the _Vicrama Chastra; or, History of Vicrama Ditya_. This I have not been able to procure, though many learned pundits have repeated to me by heart whole pages from them. Yet I was unwilling to make use of their traditions till I found them in the large extracts made by the ingenious and indefatigable Major C. Mackenzie of the Madras establishment, and by him communicated to the Asiatic Society.” In truth, it was to the _certainty_ of this _manifestation_ that the first couplet of an Arabic elegy, preserved by Mons. d’Herbelot in his account of Ibnuzaidun, a celebrated Andalusian poet, refers. In Roman letters, the lines run thus-- “Jekad heïn tenagikom dharmairna Jacdha alaïna alassa laula tassina.” That is, “The time will soon come when you will deliver us from all our cares; the remedy is assured, provided we have a little patience.” The learned President of the Society of Bengal, unaware of the _drift_ of this beautiful stanza, and without ever having so much as _seen_ the original whence it was quoted, offers to alter its import to the following, viz.: “When our bosoms impart their secrets to you, anguish would almost fix our doom, if we were not mutually to console ourselves!” And the only reason he assigns for this novel interpretation is, that _two_ individuals, _neither of whom, he himself admits, knew anything about its meaning_, happened, or rather pretended, to put it for him _differently_ into Arabic words! On the pillar at Buddal, this emanation of the godhead is thus characterised: “He did not exult over the ignorant and ill-favoured: but spent his riches among the needy: in short, he was the wonder of all good men.”[396] Isaiah’s prophecy of the _future_ Messiah would appear a _verbatim_, though more _poetical_ transcript of this inscription, viz.: “He shall not cry, nor lift up; nor cause His voice to be heard in the street; a bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.”[397] At p. 110 of this volume, I have promised to explain the origin of the word _Eleusinian_, as applied to the celebration of certain religious rites. I have very little doubt but that, when reading the declaration, the reader looked upon its offer as, to say the least, gratuitous--satisfied that the term could have no possible other meaning, than as an adjective formed from the substantive _Eleusis_! Well, the rashness of that judgment I very freely forgive; and repay it now by the verification of my contract.