The bishop's description of Calcutta and the neighbouring country is highly entertaining; but on this we do not purpose to dwell, being more attracted by his sketches of things native, and to the manner born;' we must, however, make room for his introduction to the durbar or native levee of the Governorgeneral ' which all the principal native residents in Calcutta were expected to attend, as well as the vakeels from several Indian princes.-I found, (says he,) on my arrival the levee had begun, and that Lord Amherst, attended by his aides-du-camp and Persian secretary, had already walked down one side, where the persons of most rank, and who were to receive "khelâts," or honorary dresses, were stationed. I therefore missed this ceremony, but joined him and walked round those to whom he had not yet spoken, comprising some persons of considerable rank and wealth, and some learned men, travellers from different eastern countries, who each in turn addressed his compliments, or petitions, or complaints to the governor. There were several whom we thus passed who spoke English not only fluently but gracefully. Among these were Baboo Ramchunder Roy and his four brothers, all fine, tall, stout young men, the eldest of whom is about to build one of Mr. Shakespear's rope-bridges over the Caramnasa.* 'After Lord Amherst had completed the circle, he stood on the lower step of the throne, and the visitors advanced one by one to take leave. First came a young raja of the Rajapootana district, who had received that day the investiture of his father's territories, in a splendid brocade khelât and turban; he was a little, pale, shy-looking boy, of twelve years old. Lord Amherst, in addition to these splendid robes, placed a large diamond aigrette in his turban, tied a string of valuable pearls round his neck, then gave him a small silver bottle of attar of roses, and a lump of pawn, or betel, wrapped up in a plantain leaf. Next came forwards the "vakeel," or envoy of the Maharaja Scindeah, also a boy, not above sixteen, but smart, self-possessed, and dandy-looking. His khelât and presents were a little, and but a little, less splendid than those of his precursor. Then followed Oude, Nagpoor, Nepaul, all represented by their vakeels, and each in turn honoured by similar, though less splendid, marks of attention. The next was a Persian khân, a fine military-looking man, rather corpulent, and * Of these curious bridges, the bishop elsewhere says, 'Their principle differs from that of chain-bridges, in the centre being a little elevated, and in their needing no abutments. It is in fact an application of a ship's standing rigging to a new purpose, and it is not even necessary that there should be any foundation at all, as the whole may be made to rest on flat timbers, and, with the complete apparatus of cordage, iron, and bamboos, may be taken to pieces and set up again in a few hours, and removed from place to place by the aid of a few camels and elephants. One of these over a torrent near Benares, of one hundred and sixty feet span, stood a severe test during last year's inundation, when, if ever, the cordage might have been expected to suffer from the rain, and when a vast crowd of neighbouring villagers took refuge on it as the only safe place in the neighbourhood, and indeed almost the only object which continued to hold itself above the water.'-p. 65. of of a complexion not differing from that of a Turk, or other southern Europeans, with a magnificent black beard, and a very pleasing and animated address. A vakeel from Sind succeeded, with a high red cap, and was followed by an Arab, handsomely dressed, and as fair nearly, though not so good-looking as the Persian. These were all distinguished, and received each some mark of favour. Those who followed had only a little attar poured on their handkerchiefs, and some pawn. On the whole it was an interesting and striking sight, though less magnificent than I had expected, and less so I think than the levee of an European monarch. The sameness of the greater part of the dresses (white muslin) was not sufficiently relieved by the splendour of the few khelâts; and even these, which were of gold and silver brocade, were in a great measure eclipsed by the scarlet and blue uniforms, gold lace, and feathers, of the English. One of the most striking figures was the governor-general's native aid-du-camp, a tall, strong-built, and remarkably handsome man, in the flower of his age, and of a countenance at once kind and bold. His dress was a very rich hussar uniform, and he advanced last of the circle, with the usual military salute; then, instead of the offering of money which each of the rest made, he bared a small part of the blade of his sabre, and held it out to the governor. The attar he received, not on his handkerchief, but on his white cotton gloves. I had on former occasions noticed this soldier from his height, striking appearance, and rich uniform. He is a very respectable man, and reckoned a good officer.' We find the following entry under date April 21:— 'I entered into my forty-second year. God grant that my future years may be as happy, if he sees good! and better, far better spent than those which are gone by! This day I christened my dear little Harriet. God bless and prosper her with all earthly and heavenly blessings! We had afterwards a great dinner and evening party, at which were present the governor and Lady Amherst, and nearly all our acquaintance in Calcutta. To the latter I also asked several of the wealthy natives, who were much pleased with the attention, being, in fact, one which no European of high station in Calcutta had previously paid to any of them. Hurree Mohun Thakoor observing "What an increased interest the presence of females gave to our parties," I reminded him that the introduction of women into society was an ancient Hindoo custom, and only discontinued in consequence of the Mussulman conquest. He assented with a laugh, adding, however, "It is too late for us to go back to the old custom now." Rhadacant Deb, who overheard us, observed more seriously, "It is very true that we did not use to shut up our women till the times of the Mussulmans. But before we could give them the same liberty as the Europeans, they must be better educated." I introduced these Baboos to the chief-justice, which pleased them much, though, perhaps, they were still better pleased with my wife herself presenting them pawn, rosewater, and attar of roses before they went, after the native custom.' It was on the 15th of the following June that the bishop left Calcutta for his long and arduous visitation of the Upper Provinces. He was now separated from his family, and felt sorely the loss of that atmosphere of home,' as he beautifully calls it, which he had hitherto carried about with him. The course and objects of the journey have been already sufficiently pointed out in these pages ;* so that our extracts will be intelligible to all our readers. For many months, it will be remembered, the bishop and his companions travelled chiefly by water-merely landing when any duty was to be performed, or any object of special interest solicited their attention. 'June 16.-A Bengalee boat is the simplest and rudest of all possible structures. It is decked over, throughout its whole length, with bamboo; and on this is erected a low light fabric of bamboo and straw, exactly like a small cottage without a chimney. This is the cabin, baggage-room, &c.; here the passengers sit and sleep, and here, if it be intended for a cooking-boat, are one or two small ranges of brick-work, like English hot-hearths, but not rising more than a few inches above the deck, with small, round, sugar-loaf holes, like those in a lime-kiln, adapted for dressing victuals with charcoal. As the roof of this apartment is by far too fragile for men to stand or sit on, and as the apartment itself takes up nearly two-thirds of the vessel, upright bamboos are fixed by its side, which support a kind of grating of the same material, immediately above the roof, on which, at the height probably of six or eight feet above the surface of the water, the boatmen sit or stand to work the vessel. They have, for oars, long bamboos, with circular boards at the end, a longer one of the same sort to steer with, a long rough bamboo for a mast, and one, or sometimes two sails, of a square form, (or rather broader above than below,) of very coarse and flimsy canvass. Nothing can seem more clumsy or dangerous than these boats. Dangerous I believe they are, but with a fair wind they sail over the water merrily. The breeze this morning carried us along at a good rate, yet our English-rigged brig could do no more than keep up with the cooking-boat.'-p. 84. The bishop's amiable disposition led him, in his progress, to pay whatever attentions lay in his power to those dethroned princes, whose melancholy remains of pomp and grandeur are among the most interesting objects that any Indian traveller can meet with. A mere accident, however, (having landed to see a pagoda,) was the means of his first introduction to one of these personages. It was on the 18th of June, at Sibnibashi-the Sibnibas of Rennell (who has, however, placed it on the wrong bank of the river,)—that a priest of Rama, having been put into good humour by a handsome fee, for showing his temple, asked the bishop if he would like to see the Rajah's palace also. * Quarterly Review, No. LXX. 'On 'On my assenting, they led us to a really noble gothic gateway, overgrown with beautiful broad-leaved ivy, but in good preservation, and decidedly handsomer, though in pretty much the same style, with the "Holy Gate" of the Kremlin in Moscow. Within this, which had apparently been the entrance into the city, extended a broken but still stately avenue of tall trees, and on either side a wilderness of ruined buildings, overgrown with trees and brush-wood, which reminded Stowe of the baths of Caracalla, and me of the upper part of the city of Caffa. I asked who had destroyed the place, and was told Seraiah Dowla, an answer which (as it was evidently a Hindoo ruin) fortunately suggested to me the name of the Raja Kissen Chund. On asking whether this had been his residence, one of the peasants answered in the affirmative, adding that the raja's grand-children yet lived hard by. By this I supposed he meant somewhere in the neighbourhood, since nothing here promised shelter to any beings but wild beasts, and as I went along I could not help looking carefully before me, and thinking of Thalaba in the ruins of Babylon; "Cautiously he trode and felt The dangerous ground before him with his bow; Launched at the intruding staff her arrowy tongue." Our guide meantime turned short to the right, and led us into what were evidently the ruins of a very extensive palace. Some parts of it reminded me of Conway Castle, and others of Bolton Abbey. It had towers like the former, though of less stately height, and had also long and striking cloisters of gothic arches, but all overgrown with ivy and jungle, roofless and desolate. Here, however, in a court, whose gateway had still its old folding doors on their hinges, the two boys whom we had seen on the beach came forward to meet us, were announced to us as the great grandsons of Raja Kissen Chund, and invited us very courteously in Persian, to enter their father's dwelling. I looked round in exceeding surprise. There was no more appearance of inhabitation than in Conway. Two or three cows were grazing among the ruins, and one was looking out from the top of a dilapidated turret, whither she had scrambled to browse on the ivy. The breech of a broken cannon, and a fragment of a mutilated inscription lay on the grass, which was evidently only kept down by the grazing of cattle; and the jackalls, whose yells began to be heard around us as the evening closed in, seemed the natural lords of the place. Of course, I expressed no astonishment, but said how much respect I felt for their family, of whose ancient splendour I was well informed, and that I should be most happy to pay my compliments to the raja, their father. They immediately led us up a short, steep, straight flight of steps, in the thickness of the wall of one of the towers, precisely such as that of which we find the remains in one of the gateways of Rhuddlan Castle, assuring me that it was a very good road;" and at the door of a little vaulted and unfurnished room like that which is shewn in Carnarvon Castle, as the queen's bed-chamber, we were received 66 by by the Raja Omichund, a fat, shortish man, of about forty-five, of rather fair complexion, but with no other clothes than his waistcloth and Brahminical string, and only distinguished from his vassals by having his forehead marked all over with alternate stripes of chalk, vermilion, and gold leaf. The boys had evidently run home to inform him of our approach, and he had made some preparation to receive us in durbar. His own musnud was ready, a kind of mattress, laid on the ground, on which, with a very harmless ostentation, he had laid a few trinkets, a gold watch, betel-nut box, &c. &c. Two old arm chairs were placed opposite for Stowe and me. The young rajas sat down at their father's right hand, and his naked domestics ranged themselves in a line behind him, with their hands respectfully folded. On the other side the Sotaburdar stood behind me; Stowe's servant took place behind him, and Abdullah between us as interpreter, which function he discharged extremely well, and which was the more necessary since, in strict conformity with court etiquette, the conversation passed in Persian. I confess I was moved by the apparent poverty of the representative of a house once very powerful, and paid him more attention than I perhaps might have done had his drawing-room presented a more princely style. He was exceedingly pleased by my calling him " Maha-rajah," or Great King, as if he were still a sovereign like his ancestors, and acknowledged the compliment by a smile, and a profound reverence. He seemed, however, much puzzled to make out my rank, never having heard (he said) of any " Lord Sahib," except the governor-general, while he was still more perplexed by the exposition of "Lord Bishop Sahib," which for some reason or other my servants always prefer to that of "Lord Padre." He apologized very civilly for his ignorance, observing that he had not been for many years in Calcutta, and that very few Sahibs ever came that way. I told him that I was going to Dacca, Benares, Delhi, and possibly Hurdwar; that I was to return in nine or ten months, and that should he visit Calcutta again, it would give me great pleasure if he would come to see me. He said he seldom stirred from home, but as he spoke, his sons looked at him with so much earnest and intelligible expression of countenance, that he added that " his boys. would be delighted to see Calcutta and wait on me." He then asked very particularly of Abdullah in what street and what house I lived. After a short conversation of this kind, and some allusions on my part to his ancestors and their ancient wealth and splendour, which were well taken, we took leave, escorted to the gate by our two young friends, and thence by a nearer way through the ruins to our pinnace, by an elderly man, who said he was the Raja's "Mucktar," or chamberlain, and whose obsequious courtesy, high reverence for his master's family, and numerous apologies for the unprepared state in which we had found " the court," reminded me of old Caleb Balderstone.'-p. 94-97. We throw together a few detached passages, which may serve to |