On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    The King then left him with a guard of twenty-five of his body-guard ; and they stood around him with bent bows , so that Khipil dared not move from his sitting posture . And the masons and the people crowded to see Khipil sitting on his master ' s chair , for it became rumoured about . When they beheld him . sitting upon nothing , and he trembling to stir for fear of the loosening of the arrows , they laughed so that they rolled upon the floor of the hall , and the echoes of laughter were a thousandfold . Surely the arrows of the guard swayed with the laughter that shook them . Now when the time had expired for his sitting in the chair , Shahpesh returned to him , and he was cramped , pitiable to see ; and Shahpesh . said , " Thou hast been exalted above men , 0 Khipil 3 for that thou didst execute for thy master has been found fitting for tb . ee . " Then he bade Khipil lead the way to the noble gardens of dalliance and pleasure that he had planted and contrived . ' And Khipil went in that state described by the poet , when we go draggingly , with remonstrating members ,

    "Knowing a dreadful strength behind And a dork fate before . " They came to the gardens , and behold , they were full of weeds and nettles , the fountains dry , no tree to be seen—a desert . And Shahpesh cried , " This is indeed of admirable design , O Khipil ! Feelest thou not the coolness of the fountains ?—their refreshiugness ? Truly I am grateful to thee ! And these flowers , pluck me now a handful , and tell me of their perfume . " Khipil plucked a handful of the nettles that were there in the place of flowers , and put his nose to them before Shahpesh till his nose was reddened ; and desire to rub it waxed in him , and possessed him , and became a passion , so that he could scarce refrain fromTabbing it even in the King ' s presence . And the King encouraged him to sniff aad enjoy their fragrance , repeating the poet ' s words : —

    " Me thinks I am a lover and a child , A little child and h&ppy lovev , both ! When by the breath of flowers I am beguiled From sense of pain , andlull'din odoi-ous sloth . So I adore them , th * t no mistress sweet Seems -worthier of the love that they awake : In innocence and beauty more complete , Was never maiden cheek in morning lake . Oh , wh 31 e I live , surround me with fresh flowers 1 Oh , when I die , then bury me in their bowers !" And the King said , " What sayest thou , O my builder ? that is a fair quota " tion , applicable to thy feelings , one that expresseth them ?" Khipil answered , " Tis eloquent , 0 great King ! comprehensiveness would be its portion , but that it alludeth mot to the delight of chafing . "

    Theii Shahpesh laughed , and cried , "Chafe not ! it is an ill thing and a hideous This nosegay , O Khipil , is for thee to present to thy mistress . Truly she will receive thee well . after its presentation ! I will have it now sent in thy name , with word that thou followest quickly . And for thy nettled nose , surely if the whim seize thee that thou desirest its chafing , to thy neighbour is pei-mitted what to thy hand is refused . " - So the King set a guard upon Khipil to see that his orders were executed , and appointed a time for him . to return to the gardens . At the hour indicated Khipil stood before Shahpesh again . He was pale , saddened ; his . tongue drooped like the tongue of a heavy bell , that when it soundeth givetli forth mournful sounds only : he had also the look of one battered with many beatings . So the King said" , " How of thy presentation of the flowers of thy culture , O Khipil ? " "„ He answered "Surely , O King , she received me with wrath , and I am shamed by her . "

    And the King said , " How of my clemency in the matter of the chafing ?" Khipil answered , " 0 King of splendours ! I made petition to my neighbours whom I met , accosting them civilly and with imploring , for I ached to chafe , and it was the very raging thirst of desire to chafe that was mine , devouring intensity of eagerness , for-solace of chafing . And they chafed me , O King ; yet" aiot in those parts whicji » ihxobbed for the chafing , but in those which abhorred it . " Then Shahpesh smiled and said , '" Tis certain that the magnanimity of monarchs is as the rain tlxat falleth , the sun that shineth : and in , this Bput it fertilizeth richness ; in that encourageth rankness . So art thou but a weed , O Khipil ! and my grace is thy chastisement . "

    We hope we have said , if not enough to do justice to " The Shaving o Shagpat / ' enough to make our readers desire to see it . They will find it , compared with the other fictions which the season has provided , to use its own Oriental style , - " as the apple tree among the trees of the wood . "

    Untitled Article

    A . BIBD'S EYE VIEW OF INDIA . . i A Bird ' s Eya View of India . l ? y Sir Erskmc l ' crry , M . P ., late Chief-Justice o Bombay . John Murray . This unpretending little volume is favourably distinguished from the majority of works ou India , by its brevity . It is , nevertheless , a very slovenly specimen of book-making . The First Part consists of two lectures , which the learned knight had intended to inflict upon his constituents at Devonport . The greater portion , hoivuvcr , of the book is taken up with extracts from a . Journal kept during a tour through Upper India and Nepal ; while a concluding chanter—tliirty-seven pages of smaller typereproduces nn essny on " The Geographical Distribution of the Principal Languages of India , " which appeared three years ugo in the transactions of the Bombay Branch of the Hoyal Asiatic Society .

    from long residence in the East , to impart sound and practical knowledge , are for the most part too much occupied with official business to undertake a serious literary task in . that enervating climate . And on their return to Europe they are glad to enjoy their merited repose with their family or at the Club , and wisely avoid the capricious rebuffs of publishers and the comments of newspaper critics . Sir Erskihe Perry is no exception to the average class of Indian writers . Although Chief-Justice of Bombay , his acquaintance with tie native languages barely sufficed for his daily and personal wants . This deficiency he himself honestly acknowledges and deplores ; and yet he undertakes to write and lecture upon the social and moral character

    istics of the natives , and is , we believe , one of those Utopian dreamers who babble about " India for the Indians , " and insist upon a perfect equality between the rulers and the ruled . In former times the returned Anglo-Indian was always represented as a peevish , crotcheity , liverless , yellow-faced mummy , loosely wrapped in nankin , whose wealth and bad temper were a positive nuisance to his family and friends , until pallida mors beat the welltimed tattoo at his door . Nowadays all generic , and nearly all specific distinctions have disappeared ; but there still subsists a notable variety , chiefly recognisable by a half-shy , half-crabbed desire to get into Parliament , by some pet scheme for a railway or canal several thousand miles in length , and by a sudden , affection for the " gentle Hindoo" whom they have kicked and cuffed during the twenty-odd years of their oligarchical despotism . V ^\

    It was in 1850 that Sir Erskine Perry made his tour through tfifc most civilised districts of Hindostan . He was not then so much enamoured with the native character as he has since professed himself ; nor-was he at all disposed to think well of their notions of government . It is with the utmost contempt that he speaks of the Gaikwar ' s Court at Baroda . In Rajpootana , the effects of native rule , according to his own confession , are most disastrous and lamentable , though for thirty years peace had prevailed without interruption , and , notwithstanding the exceeding fertility of the soil , nine-tenths of the country were uncultivated . And both " on this trip and in a former one , through a native state , a murder was committed almost under my nose , and was apparently regarded as a common event . " Again , he bears ample evidence to the wretched condition of Oude . He tells us

    that all disputes are settled by the sword 5 that " the commonest Zemindar ( or landowner ) keeps a hundred matchlocks in pay , and some of the Talackdars ( landowners on a larger scale ) five and six hundred ; " that the husbandman , guides his plough , " girt with sword and shield j" that murders are prevalent ; and that the Farmers-general go forth with horse and foot and artillery to gather in the revenue . Let us turn from this sickening picture to the pleasant contrast afforded by Goraekpur , one of the provinces ceded from Oude . In 1829 the "jungle came up to the very doors ( gates ?) of the town , wild elephants constantly roamed through the cantonment at night , agriculture was quite stationary , population thin , and the revenue of the cpllectorate was only five laks ( jg 50 , 000 ) . " In less than twenty years after

    this district came into British possession roads had been made ; . large boats built on the river ; capital advanced by Calcutta merchants ; opium , sugar , indigo , and grain , exported to a considerable amount ; and the revenue , under a light assessment , raised to twenty-two laks , or i £ 22 O , O 0 O . On a smaller scale the intense selfishness arid sensuality of the native character maybe seen displayed in Bengal , where Lord CornwalhYs hobby , the " perpetual settlement , " has poured fabulous wealth into the hands of a few individuals , who leave their miserable dependants in hopeless poverty while they pass their own lives in the inidst of barbaric pomp and bestial pleasures . Take for

    instance—The Bettiali Rajah , who pays three or five laks ( I forget which ) and pockets a"bout twelve laks besides , and yet , on diligent inquiry , I cannot learn that such a millionaire is of the least benefit to the country ; and it is certain that if Government had the land instead of the Rajah , by additional cultivation and improved cultivation , the revenue might go "up to thirty laks instead of fifteen . Of the misconduct of the native police various anecdotes arc related . In tlie very heart of the Company ' s dominions , at Saharunpore , the traveller encountered " a number of men , many of them very well dressed , tied together by a rope , under charge of a Naik svnd ten men , " witnesses going up before a native magistrate . Other men are described as being imprisoned or transported for murder—capital punishment being withheld when the corpse has not been found—but after a time proved innocent , though previously confessing themselves guilty , under the influence of terror and torture . On one occasion three prisoners gave a circumstantial account of the murder

    with which thev were charged , and pointed out the soot where the bones with which they were charged , and pointed out tlie spot where the bones would be found . Fortunately , an intelligent medical gentleman discovered that they belonged to three or four different bodies , and at that moment the murdered man walked into court and examined his own bones with much curiosity . He easily accounted for his long absence , and it was evident that false confessions had been extorted by the subordinate native police . Sir Krskine gives some curious details respecting Jung Bahadoor , the famous Nepalese Ambassador , who astonished the London world some four or five years ago . His account , however , does not strictly harmonise with Mr . Oliphant ' s narrative , which , we believe , has never been contradicted or impugned .

    Lecture JNo . 1 is nothing more than a very indifferent outline of the superficial phenomena of India , its aspect , climate , and productions . It is an illchosen commencement ; many persons will be dissuaded by the barrenness of its manner and details from venturing any further . This is tli « more to be regretted , because the second lecture contains much that is generally interesting to the mere English render , in the way of familiar pictures of Hindoo hie and society . There is nothing , indeed , either original or profound in the remarks of the lute Chief-Justice ; and it is much , to he deplored that so many of the accessible works on the subject of India have been compiled by incompetent persons , either roirmntic ladies or travellers ignorant of ft single native langiingu . It is possible that such writers , being most susceptible of novel impressions , may give the most graphic descriptions of scenery and the ordinary incidents of foreign travel . But , clearly , they can obtnm no deep insight into character , nor throw any new Hglit upon undent institutions , whether religious , political , or social . The few who arc «« ttable ,

    Untitled Article

    'Alton Loclw , Tailor and Poet . Am Autobiography . Uy tbo Rev . Charles Kingaley . Cheap Edition . * * Chapman andllall . Wk notice tliis cheap edition of Mr . Kingsley ' s very successful story , for the . sake of the preface , which is new . It is addressed to working - men , and is full of wise and earnest reflections . Mr , Kingsley ' s theory of social and politicul progress , apart from n little mysticism , which is not so prevalent as to confuse tlie general view , is sound , clear , and practical . Ho tells the working men of Grcnt Britain that , during the livo years which have elapsed since he wrote " Alton Locke , " he has seen some things to encourage , some to disappoint hiii ) , none to niter his opinions : — " Much has given me hopo ; especially in tho North of England . I believe that there , at least , oxinta a masa of prudence , aolf-control , genial and sturdy manhood , whioh will bo Kugluud ' a roaorvo-foroo for gonomtiona yet to ooruo . Tho lust five yemx , moreover , havo certainly been yciuvi of progress for the good

    Untitled Article

    January 5 , 1856 . ] THE LEADEB , 17

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 5, 1856, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2122/page/17/