annual tribute,* and the immediate depo sit of an exorbitant fine. The Rajah Zaarmilla, who will soon be introduced to the acquaintance of the reader, appears to have been descended from one of those petty sovereigns, who were obliged to put on the galling yoke of their unfeeling conqueror. He, however, must be supposed to have been among the number who were permitted to remain on their ancient territories, while the family of his friend and correspondent Maandaara, appears to have been banished from the province, and to have taken shelter in the neighbourhood of Agra. This short sketch, imperfect as it is, may serve to give some idea of the state * See Rohilla History. of Hindoostan, not only when the Letters of the Rajah, which are now to be laid before the public, were written, but antecedent to that period. Necessary, however, for the purpose of elucidation, as it may be thought by some readers, it may be censured by others, as a presumptuous effort to wander out of that narrow and contracted path, which they have allotted to the female mind. To obviate this objection, the writer hopes it will be sufficient to give a succinct account of the motives which led her to the examination of a subject, at one time very universally talked of, but not often very thoroughly understood. From her earliest instructors, she imbibed the idea, that toward a strict performance of the several duties of life, ignorance was neither a necessary, nor an useful auxiliary, but on the contrary, that she ought to view every new idea as an acquisition, and to seize, with avidity, every proper opportunity for making the acquirement. In the retirement of a country life, it was from books alone that any degree of information was to be obtained; but when these sequestrated scenes were exchanged for the metropolis, opportunities for instruction, of a nature still more pleasing, were presented, The affairs connected with the state of our dominions in India, were then the general topic of conversation. It was agreeable, from its novelty; and she had the peculiar advantage of hearing it discussed by those, who, from local knowledge, accurate information, and unbiassed judgment, were eminently qualified to render the discussion both interesting and instructive. The names of the most celebrated Orientalists became familiar to her ear; a taste for the productions of their writers was acquired; and, had it not been for, a fatal event, which transformed the cheerful haunt of domestic happiness into the gloomy abode of sorrow, and changed the energy of hope into the listlessness of despondency, a competent knowledge of the language of the originals would likewise have been acquired. Time, at length, poured its balm into the wounds of affliction, and the mind, by degrees, took pleasure in reverting to subjects which were interwoven with the ideas of past felicity. The letters of the Rajah were sought for, and the employment they afforded was found so salutary in beguiling the hours of solitude, and soothing the pain of thought, that the study of them was resumed as an useful relaxation, and, being |