ants of India, are owing to the want of mutual understanding, and of mutual knowledge. The happiness of so many millions of our fellowcreatures, now brought still nearer as our fellow-subjects, cannot be a matter of indifference. But we can scarcely be interested for those whom we do not know, and I have, therefore, always thought, that it would be an acceptable service to collect from the more elaborate works on India such a popular view of the history, literature, science and manners of that country, as should excite an interest in its inhabitants; and by exhibiting a sketch of its former grandeur and refinement, restore it to that place in the scale of ancient nations, which European historians have in general unaccountably neglected to assign to it.

This idea induced me to collect the notes in question; I shall send you a portion of them from time to time, and if you have not leisure to read them before your departure, they may, perhaps, serve to amuse you in your passage to "India and the Golden Chersonese and farthest Indian Isle Taprobane."

On looking over the map of modern India, one is astonished at the immense tract of country contained within the lines which mark the British possessions, nor is the wonder lessened by the consideration, that the terri

tory nominally under the government of the Nizam ul Muluc, or Soubadar of the Deccan, and that subject to the Peishwa of Poonah, are guarded and garrisoned by British subsidiary forces, while these princes, not less than the shadow of the Great Mogul, are prisoners in their palaces, to troops paid by themselves. Thus the whole of the immense region from the frontiers of Cabul to Cape Comorin north and south, and from the Indus to the Ganges east and west, is virtually under the British dominion; while the very few really independant chiefs and princes preserve that independance merely by sufferance, as you may convince yourself by an inspection of their geographical positions relatively to the British territory. But after all, it is chiefly the empire of opinion that supports us in our possessions, for the natives outnumber us in such a proportion as must make us tremble, if ever injuries offered to them, or interference in those points of religion or custom to which they are attached, shall rouse them to the exercise of the physical superiority they undoubtedly possess, and to shake off the timid and humble peacefulness which has hitherto distinguished them.

Long before the Mahomedan conquest of Hindostan the great monarchies of that country had been torn by internal commotions, and

divided into many smaller kingdoms, which like their parent states contained in themselves the seeds of destruction, from the vicious principles on which they were founded. Though it might be true, that if angels could descend to rule over men, absolute monarchy would be the best form of government, yet as we are constituted, such a government can scarcely possess stability. And the slight traces of Indian history which remain to us, would confirm, if it were needful, this well known truth. If in one picture we are presented with a Hindoo monarch reigning with justice, or extending his conquests over the whole Peninsula, in the next we see an insignificant race of successors at first governed, and afterwards dethroned, by their more enterprising servants, who, in founding new dynasties, only prepared for their descendants the same train of miseries they had themselves inflicted on their unfortunate masters.

The better authenticated history of the Mahomedan kingdoms of Hindostan presents us with the same scenes; and as the Mussulman sovereigns and usurpers were even more absolute than those of the Hindûs, on whom the sacerdotal class was always a considerable check, the changes were still more sudden and violent; so that, before the arrival of the Europeans in India, the Mahomedan monarchy was already

weakened by the detachment of some of its richest provinces. And although Aureng Zebe succeeded in re-uniting them to the crown of Dehli, and even in extending his dominions beyond the former conquests, his successors were gradually spoiled of province after province, till his throne was filled by a mere shadow of royalty, placed and upheld there by the army of a company of western merchants.

But I must defer entering into the history of Mussulman India at present, as I think I should but ill perform your wishes if I neglected to preface it with that of the most ancient possessors of the soil that we are acquainted with, and there are besides some interesting topics on which it would not perhaps be amiss previously

to enter.

Nature seems to have taken pleasure in embellishing and enriching the favoured country of Hindostan with every choicest gift. Under a pure sky and brilliant sun the soil produces the most exquisite fruits, and the most abundant harvests; the rocks are rich in gems, the mountains teem with gold, and the fleecy pod of the cotton furnishes in profusion the light garment fitted to the climate. In travelling in the interior your eyes will often be enchanted with the most delicious landscapes. Amidst stupendous forests you will not unfrequently be

charmed with a cultivated spot, where, if ever, you might realize the dreams of the poets, and indulge in that impassioned indolence which is the parent of poetry and of the fine arts.

One would imagine Milton had mused in oriental groves when he describes

"Insuperable heights of loftiest shade,

Cedar and pine, and fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan scene-

*

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others whose fruit burnished with golden rind
Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true,

If true, here only, and of delicious taste:
Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks
Grazing the tender herb were interposed

On palmy hillock; or the flowery lap

Of some irriguous valley spread her store,

Flow'rs of all hues, and without thorn the rose.

I might go on to quote all his descriptions of Paradise and all its bowers, before I could exhaust the resemblances.

But, alas! it is not the natural riches of the country, nor the exquisite beauty of its sylvan scenery, that will most attract your attention. Vast cities now too large for their diminished inhabitants, towns embellished with temples and with tombs now falling to decay, and absolutely unpeopled, and stupendous monuments of art,