'Thus have I acted with a will entire,

And wreath'd the passions which distracted others,

Into a sceptre for myself.'-p. 87.

It is needless to proceed.

We have already given one or two tolerable passages: we subjoin another, which has the air of poetry. It is pretty, and naturally expressed.

'But a few moments more, and all is over;

Thanks be to Heaven! my life has not been happy,
But short and void of crime! Had I been doomed
To stay a longer space upon the earth,

What strife, what struggles were prepared for me!
Had I been fortunate, 'twere scarce with innocence!
Had I been innocent, why then not happy!

I was a summer plant, that prematurely
Bloom'd in the early spring.'-p. 117.

But we must conclude. In tragic poetry, some little may be done by intensity of feeling without power of intellect; but nothing by power of intellect without intensity of feeling. In both these qualities we consider this writer to be mainly deficient. We do not mean to say that he has not his fair share of understanding, or that his feelings may not be lively enough to give harmony and pleasure to domestic intercourse. Were the noble author a young man emerging into literary life, it would be our duty to warn him against engaging too seriously in a pursuit to which his powers appear so inadequate. It is a dangerous and ambitious maxim of Machiavel, that men who wish to perform what appears impracticable, should imitate skilful archers, who aim higher when the butt is remote, not that the arrow may reach the pitch of their aim, but that it may stretch to the distance of their object. But neither Machiavel, nor any person of less sagacity and experience, would recommend a man to point his arrow at the heavens, who had not strength enough to bend the bow.

ART. V.-A Memoir of Central India, including Malwa and adjoining Provinces; with the History, and copious Illustrations, of the Past and Present Condition of that Country. By Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G.Č.B. K.L.S. 2 vols. 8vo. London. 1823.

IT has been remarked that the affairs of India, which at one time commanded so large a share of the public attention, are now scarcely mentioned, as if their interest had altogether ceased. There may be some truth in the observation, if limited to those parliamentary discussions which once threw so brilliant a lustre around the events that occurred there. So far, however, are we

from

from considering the silence on India affairs in the House of Commous (with the exception of a dry debate on the periodical renewal of the Company's charter) as any indication of their declining interest or importance, that we rather look upon it as the strongest proof that could be given of their good management and growing prosperity; for we may be well assured that, if the smallest opening was afforded for complaint against the ruling powers in this distant and magnificent appendage to the British empire, it would not long be overlooked, or suffered to remain unscrutinized.

Several reasons, however, might be assigned for this apparent unconcern with regard to what is passing in India. In the first place, we have no longer any European rival on the soil to dispute our empire-our recent conquests, though not less brilliant than those of former days, have been achieved with less misery and less crime-fewer and more moderate fortunes have been poured into the united kingdom by individuals from the treasures of eastern despots; they are no longer extortions under the name of presents, but the slow accumulation of years, the just reward of long and painful service. We may add too, that a more correct knowledge at home of the real characters of those princes, over whose fate a false glare was frequently thrown, forbids the same degree of sympathy as formerly to be excited in their behalf... The calm, however, of which we are speaking, is undoubtedly owing, first, and principally, to the absence of any flagrant abuse of power to call for the interference and investigation of the British parliament; and next, to the increasing prosperity, happiness and tranquillity of every part of India to which the British authority has been extended; for which we are indebted, in a high degree, to the personal character of those servants of the East India Company to whom the internal affairs of the country are entrusted. The exertions employed by these gentlemen, individually and collectively, almost without an exception, to ameliorate the condition, and to improve the moral and intellectual capacities of the numerous people committed to their protection, by the only means likely to prove effectual, are above all praise; nor is the zeal which they manifest in this meritorious service more remarkable than the sound judgment which they exercise in their proceedings, and the ability and the diligence which they display in making themselves and their employers acquainted with the ininutest cir cumstances relating to the country and the people among whom they are resident. Placed in arduous and responsible situations, at a distance from all advice and consultation, the servants of the Company exemplify, in a very remarkable manner, what the human mind is capable of performing when left to depend solely

on its own resources and unassisted energies. Science, politics, statistics, language, manners, every subject, in short, that can elucidate the nature of the country, and the state and condition of its inhabitants, enter into their communications with their respective presidencies; all of which are regularly transmitted to their employers, and carefully lodged in the records of the East India House-where they are most liberally thrown open to every one who may be disposed to make a proper use of them.*

We have now before us a work of very considerable importance from the pen of Major-General Sir John Malcolm, who is too well known as a soldier, statesman and author, to require from us any eulogium. We shall only, in reference to the latter capacity, observe, that his Memoir on Central India' is in every respect worthy of his former productions. It is not his style, which, however, is unaffected and nervous; nor his arrangement, which, perhaps, is capable of some little improvement; nor the clear and copious manner in which he has elucidated his subject, that we so much admire; as the thorough knowledge he displays of the character and habits of the people he had to deal with—of their good and bad qualities—their religious prejudices-the bearing of their political connections, and its influence on the peace of India -the condition of the several classes-and, above all, the ability and judgment, the patience, the good humour, and unremitting personal exertion displayed in turning that knowledge to the benefit and satisfaction of all the parties concerned; in spite of the many serious obstacles that presented themselves, in the conflicting interests, the jealousies, the hatred, the odious vices, the bigotry and superstitions, of such a heterogeneous mass of people as, perhaps, was never before brought together.

Sir John Malcolm, in the year 1818, after assisting in subduing, and then in settling the claims of, the rebellious and turbulent chieftains of Central India, was appointed by the Marquis of Hastings to the military and political command of that district; and the result of the information collected during the four years he filled that station, is contained in the two volumes, of which we propose to give some account. The manner in which he executed the important trust is thus summed up in a General Order of the Governor-General in council.

'By a happy combination of qualities which could not fail to win the esteem and confidence both of his own countrymen and of the native inhabitants of all classes; by the unremitting personal exertion

To this praiseworthy and judicious liberality, we owe the inestimable compilation of Mr. Hamilton, which, in two large quarto volumes, contains a more full, detailed and faithful picture of the whole of India than any former work on the subject, and from the notice of which the magnitude of the subject alone has hitherto deterred us.

and

and devotion of his time and labour to the maintenance of the interests confided to his charge, and by an enviable talent for inspiring all who acted under him with his own energy and zeal, Sir John Malcolm has been enabled, in the successful performance of the duty assigned to him in Malwa, to surmount difficulties of no ordinary stamp, and to lay the foundations of repose and prosperity in that extensive province, but recently reclaimed from a state of savage anarchy, and a prey to every species of rapine and devastation.'

The first volume contains the histories of the province of Malwa; of the Mahratta invasion; of the families of the Puars; of Scindea; of Holkar, and the remarkable events at his court; of Ameer Khan; of the nabobs of Bhopul; of the progress and annihilation of the Pindarries; and of the Rajpoot princes and chiefs of Central India,-all of whom, for the last thirty years, sometimes in combination, but more frequently opposed to one another, have oppressed, pillaged and laid waste, this fine and fertile province and the adjoining countries. An outline of this central part of India will not detain us long.

That part of the Peninsula which Sir John Malcolm comprehends under the name of Central India,' extends from 22° to 25° north latitude, and from 74° to 80° east longitude; but the province of Malwa, lying between the Vindhya mountains and those of Mokundra, and between Bhopul and Dohud, is little more than a square of 150 English miles or an area of 22,500 miles. It is an elevated table-land, from whose southern buttress, the Vindhya mountains, seven or eight large rivers run to the northward, till they join the Jumna or the Ganges. The general elevation of the surface above the level of the sea may be taken at 2000 feet, and above the valley of the Nerbudda (which skirts the southern base of the Vindhya chain) at 1,700 feet. The central latitude and longitude (of Mehidpoor) is about 280 N. and 75° E.

The surface of this elevated plain is varied by small conical hills, and is well adapted for cultivation, being capable of irrigation from the numerous streams flowing into the larger rivers; it has a rich productive soil, and enjoys a mild climate, alike conducive to the health of man, and the liberal supply of his wants, and even luxuries. In the rainy months of June, July, August and September, the range of the thermometer is exceedingly small, seldom falling lower than 72° night and morning, or rising higher than 76° or 77° at noon. In December, January and February, the weather is cold, and the thermometer has been seen as low as 28°. The hot season which succeeds is comparatively mild, and of short duration; the nights are invariably cool and refreshing, though the thermometer by day is sometimes as high as 98°.

All the varieties of grain common to India are produced in Malwa, as are also the sugar cane, tobacco, cotton and indigo; but the poppy (for the extraction of opium) may be considered as one of its principal vegetable productions, not less than 350,000 pounds of that pernicious drug being annually procured from it. The forests abound in fine timber, particularly teak; and all the animals, wild and domestic, that are common to India, are found here. The breed of horses is not much esteemed, nor is the soil favourable for the camel.

Some of the cities and towns, of which there are about thirty principal ones, have been much celebrated in ancient and modern history; and many,' Sir John Malcolm says, 'deserve the notice of the antiquary, from the remains of architecture, sculpture and inscriptions to be found amid their ruins.' 'Oojein,' he adds, 'which may still, from its superior magnitude, be deemed the capital of this province, has, perhaps, more undoubted claims to remote antiquity than any inhabited city in India; it being not only mentioned in the sacred volumes of the Hindus, but in the Periplus of the Erythrean sea, and by Ptolemy.' Sir John tells us that its name occurs in Hindoo manuscripts 850 years before the Christian era; and that Puar, a Rajpoot prince, (supposed by some to be the Porus of Greek history,) subsequently established his dynasty here, which continued upwards of a thousand years. About the commencement of our era this city was the seat of Vicramaditya, a prince whom all Hindoo authorities agree in describing as a great encourager of learning and the arts. An epoch, common to a great part of India, called Vicramajeet, dates from his reign, which commences fifty-six years before Christ. Undoubted traces of the ancient splendour of Malwa, under the Hindoo government, every where appear. The city of Dhar,' Sir John says, still presents, in the ruins with which it is surrounded, the history of the invasion of Timur: the materials of its finest temples seem to have been appropriated to build palaces and mosques for its new sovereigns.' Those immense piles, the embellishments bestowed on many of the cities, the numerous armies kept in their employ, the extraordinary degree of pomp and luxury which they displayed, prove the great resources and wealth of the province. Our author states that, according to respectable testimony, seven hundred elephants, in velvet housings, walked at the coronation ceremony of a young prince, through the streets of Mandoo;' a city, whose magnificent ruins still be traced over an extent of ground thirty-seven miles in circumference.

may

6

6

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The Rajpoots or native Hindoo princes, who boast their descent from the sun and the moon, and who are flattered by their

countrymen