________________
OF THE HINDUS.
43
you must be unavoidably of a very general nature. The interval that has elapsed since the invitation was accepted has not permitted the preparation of a very comprehensive detail; nor is the subject, perhaps, in that stage of its consideration in which minuteness of detail would be of advantage. What is now wanted, and that as early as possible, is some determinate direction in which inquiry may be prosecuted --some definite point to which the thoughts may be made to converge. In a topic necessarily unfamiliar to the customary tenor of academic study, it is not possible that any exact ideas should have been yet formed as to the degree or kind of preparation that is requisite, and few are likely to be acquainted with the situation and sufficiency of those stores from which they must provide their outfit for an untried voyage. The scene is so new, the prospect so indistinct, that enterprise may lose heart, and zeal may languish in vain aspirations, unless something of a chart, however rude and imperfect, be laid before the adventurer whilst he yet hesitates to make his first advance. It is this help which it is my present purpose to supply, in the hope that some, who, although competent to do honour to themselves and the University, might shrink from encountering they know not what, may be induced, if the mist may be in some degree cleared away, to look a little nearer, advance a little farther into the now - seeming labyrinth, assured that every step they take the path will become less intricate, and the goal be more perceptibly in view; assured,
