But if you dropt in upon him cleverly and unawares, you would surprise him stretched on his couch with Roderick Random, or something not quite so good, claiming his delighted attention; and probably Herodotus, announcing itself in proud and eminent display on his reading desk, but untouched and unthought of, by its unassuming possessor. 'From Reviews he culled forth the character and titles of different works of our literature, and oftentimes selected a subject for bold descant at a dinner party. And strange to say, this took." Do you know Mr. Woodby?" said a Member of Council one day, "he is remarkably clever, and, I predict, will rise in the service." 'And rise he did. Of his registership I never heard, for he was then in a different part of the country; but as an acting Judge, when little more than four years resident in India, his fame rang loud in every part of it. He was indefatigable in Cutcherry, from sunrise to evening; he gave more business to the circuit than a dozen other districts, and if you believed himself, and he did not assert it unfrequently, his district was in better order, and more clear of decoity than even Kissenagur, under old John Elliott himself, of thief-taking notoriety. Ye powers! how he once held forth at a dinner in the Barrackpore Lodge, on the occasion of a January's meeting. His Police,-his Serishtadar,-his Omlah,-his Cutcherry,-his Jail and Kydees; like Bayes in the" Rehearsal," it was all "his Thunder!"* no wonder we soon heard of him as confirmed Judge of Hooghly; and next as an acting aspirant in the Judicial Secretary's office, conducting its labours, nay looking forward in a brief period to the Secretarial Sceptre itself! 'Now it was that Will began to shine as an orator. If a great man had occasion to renew a portion of his liver, and meditated a voyage to Europe; lo! it was the signal for a meditated speech on the part of Will Woodby! He would write out fair manuscript oratory for every occasion and event, and learning the whole diligently by heart, let but the glimpse of an opportunity present itself, Will was on his legs at the Town Hall, or elsewhere, with a two hours' specimen, ad captandum vulgus; and I must add, most religiously, ad laudandum magnos ! When great men, however, failed him, he would "do" a little benevolence, and hold forth in advocacy of a free, or a Charity school; or, in fact, of any such object for eloquence. He was, in a word, the most public-spirited, the kindest, the charitablest, (as far as speaking went,) and the most laudatory of any man of the three Presidencies. Well, virtue ever meets its reward, and a very few years saw Will Woodby at first Judicial Secretary, then Chief, and from his fame and high standing with the Court of Directors, he at length had " the honourable' prefixed to his name, and the honour of fingering the still more honourable stipend of a Seat in Council. My intimacy, of course, had long since ceased with him, but he was always "delighted" to see me to the last; at least he always said so, and most smilingly patronising and encouraging when we met. It is many years since he retired to England, and though he failed in his canvass for the Direction, yet his interest soon obtained him a seat in Parliament. But, somehow, in that house he defeated the hopes of all his Indian admirers. He spoke, once or twice, it is true, in his best style; but whether they had a distaste for eastern claptrap, and * Our lively Bengalee forgets :-poor Dennis, not Bayes, was the author my thunder," -E. M. R. of " nabob oratory, or whether the field of Humbug was all pre-engaged, or whether, as my wicked acquaintance Frank Touchem has often asserted, "they smoked him there;" I knew not. Certain it is, his exertions in that assembly, and in his new sphere, have since been confined to a silent assent in favour of some great man, or in swelling the steady majority of some omnipotent minister of the day.'-pp. 100-106. It is pleasing to dwell upon the character which our Bengalee gives of the late Marquess of Hastings, whose reputation faded from the memory of some high personages amongst us with such mysterious rapidity. That nobleman, it seems, could find time, amidst his severest political labours, to devote to literature and its interests. The following letter, which he wrote to our author upon the subject of a hymn which he addressed to Intellectual Beauty,' evinces not only his condescension, but the tact and accuracy of taste with which he could perform the office of critic, and define an idea which to most minds would appear to be intangible. "Gorruckpore, May 19, 1818. ""I regret that having been uncommonly occupied, in preparing Despatches for the Court of Directors, it has not been in my power to answer your Letter earlier. Your verses on Gratitude are very good. They are free from the objection which exists to those contemplated by you as a model. In the poem to which I allude, there are many excellent thoughts well expressed, though somewhat disfigured by the adoption of an antiquated usage, in making the final syllable of the participle present a substantive rhyme. But the mind feels an uncertainty as to what it is that the poet is addressing. There is no personifying Intellectual Beauty. Gratitude is a quality or feeling of which the action is precise, as well as common to all men; therefore a statement of it presents an image immediately and universally recognised. Intellectual Beauty cannot be the active impulse; it is the perceived fitness of conduct, of preferences, of selection, of relations, of mechanical exhibitions of objects; and all this is to be squared by standards which will vary in different persons. Whether taste refers to Ethics, or to sensible objects, it is confessedly unsettled, and liable to controversy in its application. Now Intellectual Beauty can be only the conception which moral taste frames on a particular point, so that it is in its very nature disputable, and thence incapable of furnishing the same idea to every one. "In the eighth line of your first Stanza, there is an evident misprint; 'its pleasing power' answers to no other line, yet what you are likely to have written does not suggest itself to me. "Lieutenant "I have the honour, Sir, to remain, "HASTINGS.' pp. 92, 93. We are tempted to subjoin to this masterly piece of criticism a few stanzas from the composition which gave birth to it, and which, it will be seen, are at least fitted for a favourable comparison with some specimens of verse, dignified with the name of poetry, at this side of the Ganges. 'The awful shadow of some unseen Power Floats, though unseen, amongst us,-visiting This various world with as inconstant wing, As summer winds that creep from flower to flower;— Each human heart and countenance; 'Spirit of BEAUTY! that doth consecrate With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon Of human thought or form,-where art thou gone? Weaves rainbows o'er yon mountain river, Such gloom,-why man has such a scope 'Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, like clouds depart, And come, for some uncertain moments lent; Man were immortal and omnipotent, Didst thou, unknown and awful as thou art, Keep with thy glorious train firm state within his heart. Thou messenger of sympathies, That wax and wane in lovers' eyes; Thou; that to human thought art nourishment, Like darkness to a dying flame! Depart not as thy shadow came Depart not,-less the grave should be, * * The day becomes more solemn and serene Which through the summer is not heard or seen, To fear himself, and love all human kind.'-pp. 93-96. The reader will perhaps think that the critical powers of the Noble Marquess were but ill bestowed upon such verses as these. If so, the tone of forbearance and encouragement in his letter, must only be the more admired. The picture given of that great statesman in his study, is in good keeping, as the artists say, with the letter which we have just read. I forthwith despatched a note to the Aide-de-camp in waiting at the Barrackpore park, and laid horses at Cox's Bungalow for the purpose of following it myself the next morning. On reaching Barrackpore, I took the opportunity of visiting Colonel Jhootboll, a very ancient acquaintance and ally of mine; most renowned for his extraordinary shots, and marvellous escapes from tigers, wild hogs, and elephants, with more of eastern adventures, mishaps, and miracles, to his share, than any man in the army. At his hospitable quarters I got a very warm welcome, and most excellent breakfast; and found waiting for me a reply from the Aide-de-camp, appointing the hour for my attendance at Government house. It need not be mentioned that I was punctual at the hour stated. On entering the Government residence at the park, and ascending the stair-case, I was met by a gentlemanly young officer, who very civilly led me to the centre room, and begged me to be seated, until he should proceed to his Lordship's study, or writing apartment in the north-west wing of the building, and ascertain if the Marquess was at leisure. Perhaps there are few things less enviable than those moments of anxious suspense and trepidation, experienced by a doubtful suitor to patronage, when on the very point of introduction to the presence of rank and power. While hastily pondering over and conning an introductory speech, and nervously planning the best mode of prefacing the wished-for subject, how devoutly the suitor wishes himself with Captain Parry at the North Pole, or with Mr. Buckingham at Jericho, or any where, rather than in his present situation of most uncomfortable nervousness. As for myself, I had seen his Lordship but once at a Levee; was known to him publicly, it is true, but still too slightly for so serious an intrusion. However, my state of suspense was not allowed to be very tedious; the Aidede-camp returned to present me, and in a moment I found myself standing before the Governor-General in person. His lordship had risen at my entrance, and moved slightly forward to receive me; politely pointing to a chair near himself for my reception. My eye glanced for a moment upon the Governor-General,-on the noble ruler of British India, the late conqueror of its central empires. How little is sufficient to soothe and tranquillise the heart of a suitor; how intimately the eye scans, in a single glance, the very mind and feeling of its patron! I felt at once assured that I was in the presence of kindness and condescension! 'I soon became myself, and capable of observing; his Lordship had on a plain silk undress coat, having relieved himself from his wonted general officer's uniform, for the purpose of writing more at ease. On the table before him were several boxes containing papers or despatches, with some large thick quarto letter paper for his personal writing. Some of the boxes were open; and at his right hand was one closed, but with a narrow opening in its lid, like a post-office panel, for the admission of closed and sealed letters. Various Secretaries' consultation boxes, containing recent reports, minutes or despatches in circulation for the perusal of the mem bers of Government, were on a side table, awaiting their early turn for consideration. The punkah was moving by some simple mechanism, so as to obviate the intrusion of a servant, and the whole scene betrayed the study and retirement of an indefatigable, ardent statesman, but one necessarily systematic and methodical in the otherwise overwhelming magnitude of his public business. After one or two affable, almost kind enquiries, which proved that the Bengalee was remembered even after the slight introduction of a previous year, I was at once emboldened, without farther trespass on his Lordship's time, to enter upon my solicitation for Mr. Aylmour. I stated the public grounds of my application; adverted briefly to his own recommendatory introduction, as I believed, from home to his Lordship; touched upon the young man's assiduity, and knowledge of the Oriental languages, and then dilated on his peculiar talents for the department to which he aspired. At this moment his lordship bowed to me, as in apology for the interruption, and rising up, proceeded to a drawer, and took out from it a small coloured plan, with the name of A. F. Aylmour, Lt. in the corner; "this, I believe, is by your young friend, and a very creditable performance it is; Mr. Aylmour is not unknown to me." His Lordship then informed me, that some months ago, struck by the name, which was that of a Major also, once well known in America, and a personal friend during that unhappy conflict, he had been induced to make enquiry; and was already in possession of some favourable particulars regarding the Lieutenant, who had proved to be a grandson of an early brother soldier. 'On hearing this, I hesitatingly ventured on an appeal to the well-known generous and somewhat romantic part of his Lordship's character, too often abused by others, as many have sighed to think! and apprised him of Lieutenant Aylmour's situation with the Alport family. I faltered and paused, at first introducing the subject, but his Lordship listened to me with such politeness, such evident kindness and attention, that I briefly detailed the whole circumstance. Never shall I forget the playful smile which illumined his benevolent and noble countenance, when he at length interrupted me by saying, "The young man's happiness then seems in a fair way of realization, for I have already handed, I believe, a memorandum to the proper office for his succeeding to the first vacancy in the desired department; and I apprehend a vacancy has occurred within these very few days." Thanks were not permitted me,-I was immediately pressed to stay that afternoon to dinner at the Government house, and the bow that acknowledged the grateful acceptance of the kindness, seemed to me as a signal to retire.'-pp. 150-154. These interesting anecdotes of Lord Hastings have beguiled us away from the chief object which we had in view in opening this volume. The Bengalee thinks that we in England entertain very erroneous notions of "Life in India," and that we imagine that every British pauper there who is allowed to prey upon the natives, is sure to return home a Nabob. Whatever may have been our notions formerly on this subject, we apprehend that they are now essentially changed. Frequent experience has proved that the A large fan suspended from the ceiling, for the purpose of keeping the apartment ventilated. |