marked the worship of Vishnu by the Aryans, are apparent; and in the
British Museum the scenes of the vases of the Hamilton collection agree
closely with the Sacti rites of Hindustan.

After having briefly noticed and introduced Vishnu or Hermes to the
notice of the reader, we will now take another of the Aryan
deities--See-Va, the Wine god. This myth was the Dionysus, or Bacchus,
of the Greeks, and the expedition of this "immortal" through the world
to instruct mankind in agriculture, is likened as well as the god
himself by the Egyptians to their deity Osiris--the god of the Nile. The
worship of See-Va, Bacchus, or Osiris extended over Asia Minor, Greece,
and Italy.

The visit and advent of the Wine or Pleasure god Bacchus to India, with
his accompanying train of sylvan and rural deities, and nymphs, is
supposed to have conquered the Hindoos, and taught them civilization,
besides the cultivation of the vine. Strange to relate that when
Alexander and his army reached the present Cabul they found ivy and
wild vines (both sacred to Bacchus) growing in abundance, and they were
met by processions dressed in parti-coloured dresses, playing on drums
like the Bacchic festivals of Greece and Lower Asia of that time.

Female parts were acted by women, but it was not a general custom; and
the Clown of the piece was always a Brahma, or if not, at any rate a
pupil of Brahma.

Also among the minor characters was the _Vita_, "the accomplished
companion," a part sometimes played by men and sometimes by women.
Probably in this in the latter instance we have the origin of the
Columbine and Soubrette part in after years of the European stage as the