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are supposed to be inexhaustible, and would of themselves serve to render the province a highly valuable possession.

Kitteans is about a mile and a half in length, and the same in breadth. It stands by the side of a lake, and is surrounded by a stone wall furnished with gates. From a hill near the town we obtain an extensive view of the country round. The inhabitants are robust and warlike.

Tehrea, a less populous town than the preceding, is situated upon the western boundaries of Bundelkund, about fifty-one miles from Chatterpoor.

The forts scattered over the province of Bundelkund constitute some of its most attractive features. They are built on portions chosen with that singular tact which seems to guide the nations of the East in the selection of their places of defence. The most remarkable are the two to which we have before alluded, and of which we here now give a brief description.

ing the ramparts. Two companies were ordered to return the money to Colonel Meisselback, and to convey at the same hour the intelligence, that if he did not immediately effect a retreat, the fort would fire upon him. Colonel Meisselback consequently perceiving the impossibility, in his present position, of securing Ujee Ghur, struck his camp and retired five kos distance.

Another attack, presenting many similar features to the above, was subsequently made upon Ujee Ghur, and though the result was very different, it was one only arrived at by the loss of many brave officers and men. About ten miles from the fort stands Rajolia a fortified hill, the ascent to which is by steep and narrow paths, overhung by projecting rocks which afforded shelter from the enemy's fire, who fired upon the British troops as they passed under cover of the jungle, and committed considerable ravages. Driven from their position, however, the enemy retreated to the summit of the hill, where they hastily constructed parapet walls, behind which they made a resolute stand. As no ladders could be procured to scale the walls, the assailants were recalled and preparations made for renewing the attack on the morning, but the enemy gave them no further trouble, evacuating the post during the night, and the next day Ujee Ghur surrendered voluntarily to the British.

The fortress of Kalingur is situated about twenty miles south of Banda, half that distance from the first range of hills, and stands upon an immense elevation, rising nine hundred feet above the level of the plain, with a

Ujee Ghur stands about a thousand paces from the ridge sweeping round Bundelkund, on an elevated hill on which formerly stood three Hindoo temples, built of stones laid without cement, but fitted with the greatest precision one within the other, and adorned on both sides with sculptures of the most chaste design and exquisite workmanship, and covered besides with inscriptions in One young officer, whose name has now unfortunately unknown languages and characters. The erection of escaped our recollection, brought himself prominently these buildings can be fixed to no precise date. Anti-forward on this occasion. He exposed himself fearlessly quity, the most profound, enshrouds their origin. It is, on the heights, and fell at length mortally wounded. however, related that an ancient Rajah, named Ujee He was buried the next day by his brother officers, and Gopaul caused a fortress to be built round these splendid a stone placed over his grave, on which an inscription is mines, and bestowed his name upon it, so that ever after traced, which records, that at the age of twenty-five he the place was called Ujce Ghur, or the fort of Ujee. It fell covered with wounds in the service of his country. once resisted stoutly a ten months' siege, and was at last only reduced by famine, but in the year 1800 Ujee Baoador obtained possession. Subsequently the British ordered it to be evacuated, and despatched a force under Colonels Meisselback and Zugum Shah to take posses-basis ten or twelve miles in circumference. The mounsion, which journeyed on without interruption until arrived near the hill of Deogaru, five miles from the fort. Here they were suddenly surprised by the enemy under the command of Luckman Doreeuh, who, with part of his followers, was secretly posted in one of the deep ravines that yawn round the fort, while others were distributed through the dark forests spreading far on either side. A skirmish ensued, during which some of our guns fell into the hands of the enemy. Confusion among the camp followers ensued, the baggage was thrown down, and Colonel Meisselback, in desperation, charged in the rear, rushed on the enemy with fixed bayonets, completely routed them, and the reward of his exertions was the recapturing of the guns without the loss of a man. The army thus advanced and encamped close to Ujee Ghur. which the guilidar agreed to evacuate upon the receipt of twelve thousand rupees. The money was accordingly sent up under the charge of two brigadiers, and Colonel Meisselback was immediately, nominally, put in possession of the fort. Luchman Doreeuh, however, determined not to take his defeat so easily; as soon as night came on a vakeel was secretly despatched to the guilidar, tempt-steps to the third gate, called the Surg Rojun, over which ing him with the promise of a sum of eighteen thousand lies a large reservoir of clear limpid mineral water, prerupees if he would allow him to occupy the fort instead sided over by a huge image, carved in the solid wall, of the British. These terms were not of a nature for the and remains of other sculptures of divinities. cupidity of the man to withstand; he not only gave the doorway leading to the left, outside the rampart, carts desired permission, but even assisted Luchman in escalad-were once said to be brought, but it is now closed, owing

tains, or rather the vast rock on which it is erected, affords remarkable security to those once possessed of the stronghold. A large extent of level table-land, five miles in circumference, extends over the summit, terminating in a crest of black crag, forming the basis of the wall, which sweeps round the whole summit, and overhanging a steep abrupt descent, down which are cut numerous roads and pathways leading to the plain below. The fort is built within the enceinte of the wall. Starting from the valley we ascended by a broad winding road, cut along the eastern face of the rock, to a height of a hundred feet above the level of the plain, and here found our progress obstructed by the first of the seven gateways, which, in reference to the seven planets, have to be passed through before reaching the summit; it is called the pass of Hogs. A little to our right lies the town of Kalinghur, surrounded by a ditch, and a wall twenty-five feet thick, and composed of huge projecting points of rock fitted, without cement, one into the other. From the first to the second gate, named the Kafir Ghautie or the Gate of Infidels, the ascent is rugged, stony, and difficult. And thence by

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to the incursions of the tigers and leopards, who, emerging from the jungle covering the slopes of the hills in dense masses, lie in wait for prey, and springing on the passer-by, devour him, or carry him into the heart of the wood. Passing through the last gate we enter the fort, and the eye is immediately attracted by numerous Hindoo figures scattered here and there. The next object which claims attention is a large gun, formed of bars of iron, compressed together with hoops of the same metal, lying without any carriage, upon an elevated bed of stones. Other ancient guns, composed of silver and copper mixed, are to be found in several parts of the fort. Wild custard-apple trees grow thickly over the fertile soil, laden with delicious fruit of a surprising size. The puppyah, the tamarind, the peepul, thrive luxuriantly, and reach to an enormous height, and form, with their dense and brilliant foliage, shady places, clustering round the walls overgrown with wild balsams. The fertility of the soil is great, and resembles that found in the diamond districts near Pannah, and transparent chrystalline pebbles glisten here and there over the sand.

Turning round, and descending a flight of steps to the left of the main gate, we reach the ramparts, which are seven feet in height, and built in the form of mitres, with embrasures between each, about eighteen inches wide, continued all round the fort, a mile and a half in diameter. Walking on a little further we come to a spring, which depends for its moisture upon the rains, since it is dry in the hot season. Few paces beyond is placed the curious Patal Gunga, or subterranean Ganges, which can only be examined by the light of torches, and the small earthen lamps called churajs; descending carefully an abrupt and rugged flight of steps we obtain, as we pass through little apertures in the rock, glimpses of a fearful precipice without, descending perpendicularly down to the depth of eight hundred feet. Forty feet below the level of the rock the termination of the steps is reached, and the traveller finds himself in a cave of impenetrable darkness, which the light of the torches fails sufficiently to illumine. When the eye becomes more accustomed to the dim light, a reservoir of water is perceived, which, though doubtless somewhat enlarged by manual labour, was first formed by water dropping from the rock. It is cold, clear, limpid, and deep. By ruffling it with the hand into tiny waves the lamps are floated over its surface to the furthest extremity, and thus a perfect view is obtained of the interior of the cave, to the roof of which the bats cling, or whiz and flutter overhead, and, by their nauseous effluvia, send one back again as soon as possible up the flight of steps.

Passing on yet further along the wall, through ruined openings here and there, we obtain glimpses of dizzy heights, descending precipitously to the plains. Dislodging a large stone of about one hundred-weight, and rolling it down the hill, it is amusing to mark its course as it rushes madly on, bounding, rebounding, and bounding again, from shelf to shelf, finding no resting-place on the abrupt side of the hills, dashing out a sheet of fire at each collision with the rock, until it rumbles into the forest below, rousing up a succession of echoes, and frightening with its fearful noise the black monkeys, whose agitation is discernible by the uneasy motion of the trees, as in their dismay they leap from bough to

bough, from tree to tree, and express their terror by yells and screams. These creatures are esteemed as sacred, and may be seen daily in the forest, bounding with surprising vigour and agility from battlement to battlement.

Further on is a flight of steps, descending to an excavation under a shelving portion of the rock, on the face of which are inscriptions, denoting the dates when pilgrims arrived from afar, performed here their devotions, and departed again.

We now arrive at a ruined portion of the wall; it is the place where the breach was once attempted. Opposite to it stands the little hill of Kalinjaree, which rises nearly to a level with the fort, but is, however, distant from it 825 yards. In their endeavour to break through the wall of Kalinjaree many brave officers and men fell, but were killed chiefly by the stones rolled down from the garrison. Their tombs scattered near the Bhagur Nudee, two miles from the fort, stand as mementoes of an ineffectual attempt on the fort, rendered so by an obstacle opposed by nature, in the shape of a huge perpendicular rock. Passing out of the Bunsahir Gate, named by Colonel M⚫Morra the Pannah Gate, guarded by two others on the outside, and turning to the left, we arrive at an ever-flowing spring, which the watercarriers are deterred from visiting, owing to the incursions continually made by the leopards and hyenas. The next object of attention is another spring of cold translucent water, constantly dropping, and sometimes flowing, from a stratum of rock. Proceeding further, we find a black marble image of a hog. Here we must pause, and, before hurrying on into the temple of Neelknuth, standing on the south of Kalinjur, cast a glance at the surrounding landscape which stretches, like a huge panorama, beyond.

Immediately in the vicinity of Kalinjur the country is low, flat, and marshy, until the middle of the cold season. The hills on which the fort is built descend, clothed with verdure, to the plain, now stretching out into a sort of terrace, now abruptly descending; now we behold slopes covered with jungle and its festooning creepers ; and now groves of peepul or tamarind trees, with their waving blossoms, on the boughs of which the baya and other birds, of every variety of plumage, cluster and warble their songs through the air. On the plains the cattle feeding seem, from the elevated position from which the view is obtained, as no larger than sheep, and the Bundelas tending them like a pigmy race. Fields of the cotton plant, waving their white blossoms to the fanning breeze, spread like broad sheets of water here and there. The forest rises abruptly from the plain; and here, again, the vision is bounded by a narrow chain of hills, and here a lake sparkles in the rays of the sun.

Withdrawing our gaze from the country, we pursue our course without the ramparts. Descending a flight of steps cut from the rock, we perceive, on our passage down, numerous inscriptions and ancient sculptures, and at length arrive at a subterraneous reservoir, hewn, after considerable labour, from the rock, of which the pillars are left to support the upper part. It extends further than the eye can reach. The water is very deep, and drips constantly over the temple, which is below. Descending another flight of steps, we meet with a huge mutilated sculpture. The temple of Neelknuth is a semicircular cave, about twenty-eight feet in diameter,

excavated in the solid rock. The figure of Neelknuth | abruptly, he retired into the thickets above the first

is a large hyena painted black, with two ill-shaped silver eyes, about three feet in height, and two in circumference. In front is a slab of black marble, on which is a Sanscrit inscription, rendered partly illegible by the grains having been macerated upon it. It is supposed to commemorate the deeds of Rajah Purmaul, and appears to have been engraved 669 years ago. Many sentences and proverbs can, however, still be deciphered.

range of hills, in which he concealed himself, and with his followers from time to time made incursions below, rushing down upon the plains, spreading confusion and dismay around, and then suddenly retreating and taking refuge in the rugged valley between the first and second range of the Vindyan hills. The marauding attacks of Gopal Singh continued at intervals to disturb the quiet, and delay the pacific settlement of the country. After retiring now and then, suddenly attacking the enemy opposed to him, and making the most audacious enterprises, and being pursued up the

We now find ourselves again near the main gate, by which we entered, and passing onward, come to the ancient palace of Rajah Chuttur Saul, which is now con-hills, he was at length surprised in his hiding-place by verted into a powder magazine. At a short distance stands a Hindoo temple, with a dome, surrounded by cupolas and ancient gateways. The Koth Teeruth, an immense reservoir of water, about a hundred yards long, and forty broad, lies near here. It is excavated from the rock, and supplied by copious springs. Near this is another tank, also hewn from the rock. The waters are, however, mineral, and unwholesome. Besides this, numerous other tanks are distributed through the fort.

Captain Wilson, with a squadron of native infantry, three first battalions of the 16th native infantry, and three companies of the 7th, &c., in the second range above the Ghauts. He contrived, however, to escape, and retired to the south, where he was again pursued, his followers routed and dispersed, while he contrived to escape into the jungle, where he remained with his men. Still unsubdued, soon after he emerged again from his hiding-place, and continued to descend from the hills, but was once more compelled to retreat. Kalinjur, on which so much patient labour has been Colonel Brown being apprised of his position, secretly expended, will probably never again be required for the moved near him, and came suddenly upon the enemy's purposes of war, since it requires far too considerable a camp, pitched at the head of the Dowani Pass, in the force to garrison it. It stands a glorious ruin, belong- Marao hills, on the bed of what was once a swamp, ing to the past, and will long constitute at once an ob- protected by a thick wood on either side, and only to be jeet of curiosity and admiration to travellers. The reached by ascending steep and narrow defiles. A height on which it is erected—the precipices by which volley suddenly fired upon the camp, first warned the it is surrounded—the far landscape over which the eye enemy of the vicinity of their pursuers. They rose and can roam the excavations-the palaces the subter- fled, without attempting resistance. Gopal Sing, stripranean caverns the images of idols and pagan gods-ped of all his resources, a solitary fugitive, his followers all suggest boundless themes for meditation, and days might, therefore, be spent in wandering about its ruins. Kalinjur, after once resisting a brilliant attack, was at length eeded to the British, and the stronghold whose walls had resisted Mahmood of Ghuzni, and sustained a siege of ten years from Ali Bahadur, thus became a British possession. However, after a brief occupancy as a military post, it was finally abandoned.

There is, besides, a magnificent fortress, built upon a small projection of the Vindyan range, overlooking, on either side, two enormously deep glens, through which the two branches of the Dussera river deseend over the table-lands of Bundelkund. This fort cost more than a million pounds sterling in constructing. The works form an acute triangle, with the base towards the table-land, and the two ends hanging perpendicularly over the glen, with the apex pointing to the course of the stream, as they again unite and pass through a deep chasm into the plains. The place is now deserted, and the town occupied only by a police to keep off marauders.

Bundelkund has not been so much infested by organised bands of freebooters as some other neighbouring provinces. It is not, however, wholly free from them. Gopal Singh, the military adventurer who usurped the district of Kotra, the lawful inheritance of Rajah Bakht Sing, the descendant of Chutter Saul, has been a source of infinite annoyance and trouble. The British took the part of the Rajah, and despatched a detachment to put him again in possession of his rights. Gopal Singh came into camp, hastily proffered submission, and as hastily repented again, for, departing

routed and dispersed, at length became weary of the desperate life he had been leading, and now proffered his submission to the British, who granted him a jaghir in the district of Panwari, which is still occupied by his descendants.

Bundelkund, possessing few marauders of its own, from its exposed position, seems to invite aggressions from those of neighbouring States. The deeds of these gentlemen, whether under the denomination of Thugs or any other name, have been the theme of travellers for ages. Instances are continually narrated illustra tive of their extraordinary patience, perseverance, cunning, and the daring with which they often commit their crimes in the very midst, sometimes, of armed men, and carry off their prey under the most perilous circumstances. They prevail more or less all over India, and in Bundelkund peculiar facilities are afforded in its forests, rocks, and caves. In spite of their oil-rubbed slippery bodies, however, they are fre quently outwitted and caught. spring mostly from the same class, and though accustomed in their youth to the practice of thieving, yet when reclaimed, display extraordinary faithfulness, and execute their task of chasing and catching the robber very cleverly, thus aptly illustrating the old proverb, "Set a thief to catch a thief." On a dry arid plain the traces of their footsteps are scarcely discernible, save to those accustomed from their youth to catch suel signs of visitation.

The night-watchers

A night-watcher was once employed to catch a thief who had committed some depredations, and carried off the plate-service of some officers in garrison at Kotra, lle

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adapted to the growth of this plant, which, it is well known, requires a dry sandy soil, and no irrigation. Much water and manure, so far from exerting a beneficial effect upon the plant, only swell the branches, and cause it to expand its richness on an overabundance of leaves. The bushes thrive best, it has been found, on experiment, about four or five feet apart. A contrary opinion prevails in some parts of India, and the planters jumble the seed close to each other, in the hope of extracting a larger, but not a finer crop. The consequence is, that, when the season for gathering arrives, the women and children, the principal persons employed

The Bundelkund landed proprietors consider it highly disreputable to their own characters if a thief be found upon their farms or estates, and are always careful to expel from their villages all persons of suspected charac-in this labour, in passing in and out between the ter. The province, however, is not often the scene of atrocities. Rewan seems to serve as an asylum for all malcontents and criminals.

plants, break the dried leaves, a portion of the capsule, into the fruit, from which it is difficult to detach it, owing to the fine soft texture of the cotton plant.

There are in Bundelkund five descriptions of soil. The mauree, or black marl of the first quality, is peculiar to Bundelkund and Malwah provinces, and produces a most luxuriant crop of cotton, as well as grain, where the rains are not immoderate. The Teer, or other lands extending along the banks of the rivers and

The Bundelas are industrious and obedient, but at the same time bold and crafty. They resist bravely all attacks made upon them; if on the mountains, they take the most effectual method of stopping pursuit, by hurling huge fragments of rock, or a large thorny shrub upon the enemy. Some are fraudulent in the extreme, and scarcely to be equalled for cunning. A proverb pre-around Baudae, which is subject to inundations, is revails in the district, "Nu sou el hund kee, nu ek Bhoondelkundee❞—a hundred retailers of grain (proverbially rogues) are only equal to one native of Bundelkund. The costume in use here much resembles that prevalent all over Hindostan. The natives are particularly partial to green, on account of the dye not being liable to fade, as is generally the case in India. It is said to be composed of the leaves of the ummowah, the havver, and alum-the two latter ingredients being first put into water, in which the ummowah leaves are afterwards boiled.

The hospitality exhibited by the Bundelas towards a stranger is remarkable. If they obtain intelligence of his approach beforehand, no pains are spared to render his reception worthy of his rank. The Rajah, mounted upon elephants, attended by his train, and sparkling in silver brocade and gold turban, comes forth to welcome the traveller. The women throng from the houses, overcoming their natural timidity in their anxiety to gaze upon a stranger. One is chosen, and advancing before the rest, carries on her head a brass jug, brightly polished, full of water, while all the other families of the village surround her, and sing in chorus some rural song, which lasts until the traveller is beyond hearing. The hossjug is held for the purpose of receiving contributions, to be expended afterwards in the purchase of koor or coarse sugar, of which the women alone venture to partake. It is a sacred offering made to their sex, and the men do not presume to share it.

At Sedpoor, the old high priest of the temple projecting into the Sangur district, a man of great wealth, spends the whole in feeding all the members of his fraternity, devotees to Vishnu, as they pass his temple, on their pilgrimage, who are entitled to a good meal and a night's lodging. He feeds in general about a hundred per day.

tained for winter crops. The Purwal, mixed sand and clay, is either sown with the rainy season crops, or with the winter crops, such as wheat and barley, and the soil formed of a mixture of limestone and clay, which is found about the hills and broken ground, where the water washes off as soon as it falls, produces a light vegetation, but is considered scarcely rich enough for any but the rainy season crops. The inhabitants, however, sow it with cotton, and if the crops in the rich soils become damaged by too much wet, they have been known to thrive in Bundelkund. The amount of produce varies according to the character of the soil. The district does not, perhaps, yield one-half what it might be made to produce if more attention were bestowed on the cultivation. Crops are frequently injured, from no fault of the ayots, but from the poverty of the landlords. Were their condition ameliorated, the crops would rise in value.

The time of sowing in Bundelkund commences at the beginning of the periodical rains. The seed is first rubbed with fresh manure between the hands, to prevent the seeds from adhering one to another, and are then sown broadcast. The seed having been scattered, the soil is ploughed. The plants require a first weeding in ten or fifteen days, another in a month, and a third fifteen or twenty days after that. The seeds shoot in about five days; the more freely the air circulates through the plants the better. Some reach the height of six feet, some four, others two, and some only one. They flower in August, and pod about the commencement of September.

The province produces, besides, wheat, grain, and barley. It suffers considerably from want of seasonable showers, and is visited sometimes by scarcity. In the famine of 1833 this affliction was attended with the most melancholy results. The neighbouring province of Malwah supplied streams of grain, which flowed upwards towards Bundelkund, whose population immediately began to flock to the source whence the supplies The productions are numerous and varied, but among of food flowed, hoping to obtain subsistence and the chief and most important must be reckoned its employment. A scene of desolation manifested itsplendid cotton. The soil of this province is peculiarly self all over the district. The houses were

The employments of the Bundelas are chiefly agriculture, and attending to the sugar mills, of which there are great numbers in the province.

crowded with the dead and the dying-the woods were strewed with corpses: and subscriptions were at length set on foot to succour the people in their distress. The degradation of beggary was severely felt by the bold Bundelas; many, rather than submit to it, set forth towards Malwah with wife and children, and becoming at length faint and exhausted, swallowed opium, and shared this death-potion with their families, when exhausted nature could hold out no longer, and quietly lay down on the roadside to die in each other's arms. Hundreds crept into gardens, made themselves quiet retreats in courtyards and old mines, concealing themselves under shrubs, grass-mats, or straw, where they might close their eyes in peace, without having their bodies torn by wild savage beasts of prey.

There are in Bundelkund many plains covered with fine long grass; there are many varieties of grass in this province, and the people understand their character and qualities extremely well. Some thrive best in dry, some in wet soil, and coarser and inferior qualities thrive where none other will. The finest are two which are

generally found growing spontaneously together-kele and musele.

Birds

The productions of Bundelkund are iron, ebony, timber, agates, diamonds, grasses, cotton, sugar-candy, coarse cloths, honey, fruits, the tamarind, the apple, grapes, chestnuts, saltpetre, opium, sugar, indigo, &c., &c. Beautiful flowers bloom in its retired spots-the most lovely shrubs blossom on its rocky hills. of brilliant plumage haunt the villages unmolested, forming their nests even within hands'-reach, and the Indian boy scorns to touch the homes of the little creature, that seems to seek the civilized parts of the province, and courts his protection.

Such is a brief outline of the province of Bundelkund, but it would take many more pages to render us perfectly familiar with the whole value of its productions, the inhabitants, their manners, the resources it may yet be made to yield, and, in brief, the actual importance of Bundelkund to the British government. These we may take a future opportunity of describing in their whole extent.

SCHLOSSER'S LITERARY HISTORY OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. (Concluded from page 583.)

party of constabulary friends. The very natural instinct which Attila always showed for following the trail of the wealthiest footsteps, seems to argue a most commercial coolness in the dispensation of his wrath. Mr. Schlosser burns with the wrath of Attila against all aristocracies, and especially that of England. He governs his fury, also, with an Attila discretion in many cases; but not here. Imagine this Hun coming down, sword in hand, upon Pope and his Rosicrucian light troops, levying chout upon Sir Plume, and fluttering the dove-cot of the Sylphs. Pope's "duty it was," says this demoniac, to "scourge the follies of good society," and also "to break with the aristocracy." No, surely? something short of a total rupture would have satisfied the claims of duty? Possibly; but it would not have satisfied Schlosser. And Pope's guilt consists in having made his poem an idyl or succession of pictures representing the gayer aspects of society as it really was, and supported by a comic interest of the mock-heroic derived from a playful machinery, instead of converting it into a bloody satire. Pope, however, did not shrink from such assaults on the aristocracy, if these made any part of his duties. Such assaults he made twice at least too often for his own peace, and perhaps for his credit at this day. It is useless, however, to talk of the poem as a work of art, with one who sees none of its exquisite graces, and can imagine. his countryman Zachariä equal to a competition with Pope. But this it may be right to add, that the "Rape of the Lock

Pope, by far the most important writer, Eng-horn at his button-hole, and supported by a select lish or Continental, of his own age, is treated with more extensive ignorance by Mr. Schlosser than any other, and (excepting Addison) with more ambitious injustice. A false abstract is given, or a false impression, of any one amongst his brilliant works, that is noticed at all; and a false sneer, a sneer irrelevant to the case, at any work dismissed by name as unworthy of notice. The three works, selected as the gems of Pope's collection, are the " Essay on Criticism," the " Rape of the Lock," and the "Essay on Man." On the first, which (with Dr. Johnson's leave) is the feeblest and least interesting of Pope's writings, being substantially a mere versification, like a metrical multiplication-table, of common places the most mouldy with which criticism has baited its rattraps; since nothing is said worth answering, it is sufficient to answer nothing. The "Rape of the Lock" is treated with the same delicate sensibility that we might have looked for in Brennus, if consulted on the picturesque, or in Attila the Hun, if adjured to decide aesthetically, between two rival cameos. Attila is said (though no doubt falsely) to have described himself as not properly a man so much as the Divine wrath incarnate. This would be fine in a melodrama, with Bengal lights burning on the stage. But, if ever he said such a naughty thing, he forgot to tell us what it was that had made him angry; by what title did he come into alliance with the Divine wrath, which was not likely to consult a savage? And why did his wrath hurry, by forced marches, to the Adriatic? Now so much do people differ in opinion, that, to us, who look at him through a telescope from the "Lutrin" of Boileau. from an eminence, fourteen centuries distant, he impossible. Neither was it suggested by the takes the shape rather of a Mahratta trooper, 'Lutrin." The story in Herodotus of the wars painfully gathering chout, or a cateran levying between cranes and pigmies, or the Batrachoblack-mail, or a decent tax-gatherer with an ink-myomachia (so absurdly ascribed to Homer) might

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was not borrowed That was

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