excited particular alarm in many quarters, as the effect of it promises to be either to put an end at once to these most comfortable and convenient excuses about the paramount necessity of being at one's post, or to create a risk of being followed to the house by one's patriotic partner, who, after sitting for five hours in the gallery, ascertains to a certainty that one has preferred the Charybdis of the club to the Scylla of the senate.

The scene is then changed upon returning home, an hour and a half after the wondering and speculative wife has escaped from the gallery.

"Very long debates, to-night. I thought I never should get home. Nothing very important, after all, but I was compelled to sit every thing out, lest the question should come on. Very provoking, to think I've lost my evening. How is the countess? I had hoped for the pleasure of driving you down to Beulah Spa, before house time. Disappointed, however! One gets chosen upon so many committees."

Surely, my dear Ernest, you're not in earnest now. This is merely a jest. Committees! why I never see your name among the chosen many in the Morning

Herald."

rather odd?"

"Personal pique, perhaps, on the part of the reporter. I'm very sleepy!"

"But then all the reporters agree in the omission. I never find your name in the Morning Post. It is positively a conspiracy!"

"Probably so; you know the press is not to be depended upon. Their lists are always incorrect." "But some members write"

"I hate writing to newspapers: you know I do, Lady Frances. How can you suggest such a vulgarity?" By the by, Ernest, that speech of yours upon the sugar duties, the other night,"

"Speech!"

should have been ignorant-strange, too, that I didn't see you!"

Not so very strange, when one was a long way out of sight. The walls of the house are rather thick, and it is difficult for people outside to see their wives in the gal lery."

"Outside! oh, I apprehend your suspicion. So then, Lady Frances, you really imagine, I see you do you positively suppose, that I have for once, for once in my life, neglected my parliamentary duties; and that-that -well, for once, I have been absent from my post. It's useless to deny it. But, dearest Lady Frances, you are the person of all others from whom I was most solicitous to conceal my solitary transgression. A friend-Sir Jonas, you know-about that affair of his; he carried me out of the house at exactly-when did you arrive there?" "About half past nine."

"At exactly twenty minutes after nine-and he has remorselessly detained me ever since. I was in a deuced rage, and have almost quarreled with him. Well, now, But I must be up early in the morning, and get excused to think of your finding me out on the only occasion!— from those confounded committees; as I am resolved to indulge myself to-morrow by driving you to Beulab Spa!"

C

"Private bills, madam, and thousands of things that the papers take no notice of. The fatigue is dreadful!" It is possible, sir, that a few such scenes as this might "No doubt; but then you must admit it is a little odd, have followed the adoption of the courteous resolution in that, so invariably as you attend the house in your reso-favour of the ladies, had not the hint of the wicked wag lution to be present upon every division, and so often as I have alluded to been taken, by the ladies' committee, you remain till two in the morning, to avoid imputation even before it was offered. Will it be believed, that that of neglect of duty upon a single occasion, the Morning committee of gallants have taken the utmost pains to Herald never inserts your name in the list of voters, devise a scheme for the deliverance of honourable gentlewhether in the majority or minority. Now, isn't that men from all such dilemmas? Their plan is this: no lady can be admitted, save by a ticket to be obtained from the individual member introducing her, who is to write her name, with his own annexed, in a book at the gallery entrance. These tickets are not transferable, and no gentleman can ordinarily introduce more than two ladies in the course of a week. The gallery will contain but twenty-four! Thus, sir, will it be impossible for a wife to detect the absence of her husband, for the hus band will always have notice of the threatened presence of his wife. Her promise of a visit must be registered. We can search the book for tidings of the approach of the enemy. No good natured friend can lend himself to our detection, for the tickets of admission are not transferable! Is not all this cunningly devised? More cunningly than courteously, I must acknowledge. What the ladies themselves will say to the restricted clauses of this pretended bill for gratifying female curiosity, I fear be liberal and indulgent towards my erring brethren, I to guess; but for my own part, with the utmost desire to think the plan denotes on the part of its framers a strong sense of their own deviations, and a corresponding alarm at the possibility of detection. Liberty of visiting, clog "No, believe me; here's the very paper. I looked for ged with such prohibitions, is like emancipation dancing it immediately upon my return home to-night, from-a hornpipe in fetters. It is hardly to be supposed that the ladics will condescend to patronise parliament upon "The paper! Oh, well, let's see. Not reported! Ha, such terms. The "boon" is scarcely acceptable to any yes, here it is-here- An honourable member whose but those who think no pleasure so great as that of seeking pleasure in vain. The shabbiness of the restriction as to number-only twenty-four-struck me forcibly at first; but upon reflection, I freely wave my charge of "Some mistake of my meaning, I suppose. Perhaps illiberality in that respect. My good nature induces me the reporter was drowsy: I am-confoundedly"— to attribute the proposed slenderness of number to ex. I "Really, sir, it is very curious that your name in par-treme diffidence and modesty on the part of the committicular can never be learned by the reporters, and that tee. They rightly conceive, no doubt, that it might be your voice in particular is always inaudible in the gal-difficult in this era of female ascendancy-in this golden lery!"

"Yes; don't you remember when you staid so very late, in case you should miss an opportunity of delivering your sentiments this session ?"—

"Well, Lady Frances!-I'm cruelly exhausted?"
"I never saw that reported, though I believe you spoke

for more than an hour."

"Didn't you? Strange enough. Oh, it must have appeared!"

from-the countess's."

name we could not learn!"

“Indeed !—hum !--But, Ernest, these are not your sentiments; I thought you were pledged against”—

66

'Come, dear Lady Frances, it is quite time to retire.

Was the countess".

age of the genius of woman, to find more than two dozen ladies at a time, who would think it at all worth their while to employ two or three precious hours in listening to dialogues so very questionable for sense and wit, as the things which are dignified by the name of" debates" in our honourable assembly. And indeed the house will be

complimented, if, when female intellect and intelligence so universally prevail, they can by any means induce only four-and-twenty ladies to hearken for a whole evening to them.

FONTENELLE.

M. P.

From the Asiatic Journal.

STATE PRISONERS IN INDIA. Allow me to assure you, sir, on my own behalf, that I high rank in the Bengal presidency, and it was supposed There are at present three prisoners of state of very have not the slightest interest in this question, other than that the refractory Rajah of Joudpore would be destined what arises from my interest for that sex which I consi- to make a fourth. The principal personage of this meder to have been mocked by the mere promise of a "re-lancholy triumvirate would excite more compassion, were form." On my own account, I have nothing to conceal; it not for the treachery and ingratitude which caused and, therefore, I advocate the admission of ladies under him to take up arms against a power with whom he had more gracious and gallant regulations. In fact, sir, I contracted a friendly alliance. While the government court female enquiry into my conduct. I never tell my under Lord Hastings was engaged in the Pindarree war, wife that I am going to vote for economy, when I am the great Mahratta chieftains, Scindiah, Holkar, the going to make one at écarte. I never insist that I must Rajah of Berar, and others of inferior note, combined speak, when I know I mean to smoke. I do not oppose together to deprive the British of their empire in India. the printing of authorised lists of the divisions, lest my The peishwa, who, though originally a minister of the frequent absences from the house should be noted, not in Rajah of Satara, was looked up to as the real chief of my borough in the country, but at my house in town. the Mahratta states, agreed to head this confederacy, notMy wife never complains-she cannot. My conduct is withstanding his obligations to his European allies, and exemplary; and, though I have been distinguished from the confidence they reposed in his good faith. Had the my childhood for my modesty, I unpretendingly believe design been executed as adroitly as it was planned, there myself to be the best creature alive. I have not heard a would have been some doubt respecting the issue; but, single murmur at home respecting the constancy and as usual with native princes, there was a want of proper punctuality of my attendance to my partiamentary duties, concert, and of mutual trust. Instead of taking the field for these five years-having become a widower in the simultaneously, they appeared one after the other, and year 1830. were beaten in detail. The peishwa commenced his aggressions by falling upon a body of Madras troops at Poonah, the capital of his dominions. They made a gallant defence, holding out for two days against their assailants, who expected an easy prey, and who, disappointed by the check they received, and alarmed at its consequences, were obliged to fly. A large force, however, rallied round a leader, who was at that time the prop and hope of the Mahratta states, and he kept the grand army, under Lord Hastings, in full employment during several months. At length, in April 1818, the division commanded by Colonel Adams came up with the peishwa at a place called Sewnee, where he sustained a signal defeat, and he soon afterwards surrendered to Sir John Malcolm. He lost all his camp equipage in this engagement, was obliged to abandon his guns, and an immense quantity of spoil fell into the hands of the victors of that well fought field. Elephants, horses, camels, shawls, jewels, weapons, and camp furniture of every kind, changed masters upon that day. The readiest and most satisfactory mode of appropriating and dividing the plunder taken in battle, is by a sort of drum-head auction, upon the field, in which, besides the great amusement afforded by bidding for the different lots, the proceeds are instantaneously transferred into the pockets of the captors, who are thus saved the slow process which ever precedes a final adjustment, when government takes the affair in hand. The most expert dealers in London never get such bargains; but if property sold for less than its real value, the persons who received the benefit were those who possessed the greatest claim to such an advantage. It is amusing to hear military men dilate upon the glories of the Mahratta war, and describe the shawls, strings of pearls, and other gauds, which fell to their share in combating with an enemy, who seem always to burthen themselves with an immense quantity of wealth during the most hazardous campaigns.

The intimate society of the Hotel de Breteuil, was composed at most of twenty habitués, for whom plates were daily laid out for supper, according to the custom of the times and the hospitality of this opulent and generous house. To give you a brief idea of it, it is sufficient to tell you that my uncle and aunt had, in Paris only, forty-four domestics. Monsieur Fontenelle came there to supper regularly on Thursdays. He was then forty-five years of age, but one would never have supposed him to be more than thirty-six. He was a pretty handsome man, five feet eight inches high, with an intelligent look. His countenance was open and eminently cheerful. He was the best formed man imaginable; and, though he had acquired the habit of walking bent, all his motions were graceful and easy; in a word, his personal appearance was particularly courtly and elegant. I assure you that Fontenelle was benevolence and charity exemplified; he gave yearly a quarter of his income to the curate of his parish for the poor, and I never heard him accused of egotism or insensibility. He related before me that ridiculous story of the asparagus with oil, but he named it as having happened to a doctor of Sorbonne, and it was forty or fifty years afterwards, when Voltaire had the treachery to produce it again, as if Fontenelle had been its hero. "How can they accuse you of wanting sensibility, my dear and good Fontenelle?" said my aunt one day to him. "Because I am not yet dead," replied he, smiling. He had the greatest confidence in strawberries, in consequence of having regularly had a fever every spring. He used to say, "if I can reach the season of strawberries!"-He had the happiness to reach it ninety-nine times, and it is to the use of strawberries that he always attributed his longevity.-Memoirs of the Marchioness de Créquy.

A COMPLIMENT TAKEN.-" How very lovely you look," said a gallant cavalier to a brilliant dame, at a recent fancy ball. The lady smiled and simpered, and replied, as she twirled and twisted her jewels, so that the light might shine fitly upon them, "Oh yes! I assure you I've got on thirty thousand pounds!" And so she had, and was fairly worth that sum.

The conduct of the peishwa was deemed to have been so base and unjustifiable, that his deposition was determined upon by the ruling powers, and he was therefore detained a prisoner, and sent to a place of confinement, where his intrigues could no longer endanger the security of the government.

The spot selected for the residence of the ex-peishwa is a small village on the banks of the Ganges, about twelve or fourteen miles above the military station of Cawnpore, called Baitoor. Though placed under constraint, he is not strictly confined, and has every indulgence that the most liberal enemy could grant, consistent

with the measures necessary for his personal security. | virtue of their rank. Ram Chunder's appointment is He could scarcely, at the head of his government, have fully equal to that of a general officer, and he is usually been surrounded by a greater number of domestics or a greeted by that title by Europeans, who, in consequenc more numerous suwarree, and he keeps up all the state of the introduction of soubadahs into sepoy regiments, do and grandeur of a prince. A very large mansion has not attach the same importance to the name as the nabeen allotted for his residence, and his suwars and mili- tives, who are accustomed to hear rulers of provinces en. tary retainers are under the direction of Ram Chunder, a titled soubadahs. Ram Chunder has throughout his life Mahratta general, who was taken with him, but who has borne a very high character; and the trust now reposed been admitted to his parole, and frequently joins the in him, and the liberty he enjoys while in close commusocial circle at Cawnpore. The appearance of this per-nication with the ex-peishwa, his master, are the strongest sonage at the public balls and parties of the station is testimonials in favour of his former good conduct. very striking. He dresses richly in the Mahratta cos- The great Mahratta leader himself is held in much tume, which is rather cumbrous, and not nearly so grace- closer imprisonment, and still remains an object of sus ful or so becoming as the tight fitting vests worn by the picion, although the position of affairs in India is now so natives of the upper provinces of Bengal. Neither can completely altered, that many acute politicians are of the turban compare with the claborately plaited puggrees, opinion that he might be set at liberty without the slightdisplayed by noblemen and gentlemen of rank, which, est chance that his appearance, amid the scenes of his though the usual distinguishing mark of a Mahomedan, former exploits, would endanger the peace of the coun is sometimes worn by Hindoos. But if the style of Ram try. Native influence does not extend over any protract. Chunder's garments be not so tasteful as that displayed ed period; new combinations arise, new interests are by the exquisites of Lucknow and Delhi, no fault can be created, and the man who a few years ago was the rally. found with the splendour of his jewels. He wears a rowing point of thousands, would now find difficulty in of pearls, the size of pigeon's eggs, round his neck, which, attaching a single partisan to his cause. The once rea princess might covet, nor is this valuable ornament nowned and redoubted Bajee Rao, is, at the present laid by upon ordinary occasions. It forms an appendage period, little better than a dead letter, and it is impossible to his usual attire, not much in keeping with the every-to speak of his views or his feelings with any degree of day dress, which consists in the cold weather of common certainty, so difficult it is, for those who live in the immechintz, lined and wadded. The material is not better diate neighbourhood of the place of his confinement, to than that worn by the domestics of the country, and such learn any thing conclusive concerning them. It is said, as no person of rank would appear in upon any public that, on the visit of the governor-general to the upper occasion-shawl, broadcloth, or velvet, being the articles provinces, he was anxious to obtain an interview, but employed; but the Mahrattas have always been noto- that the great perplexity respecting the ceremonial prerious for the simplicity, not to say meanness, of their vented the meeting. The peishwa could not brook the attire. They affect to despise all the effeminate pomp of idea of appearing in the character of a prisoner before costly array, and to pride themselves only upon their the British viceroy, and Lord William would not consent war equipments, their coats of mail and offensive wea- to receive him in any other. This, however, is merely pons. A Mahratta horseman, when accoutred for the station talk, and perhaps not greatly to be depended upon. field, is a very splendid, as well as a very picturesque, At the period of his capture, the peishwa was in the personage; but it is only as equestrians that these people prime of life, and those who have seen him since describe are seen to great advantage. Ram Chunder, who is of a him to be a man of fairer complexion than the generality kindly temperament and social disposition, appears to of natives, with a pleasing countenance, and a figure intake considerable interest in the affairs of the Anglo-clined to corpulency; his manners are affable and conIndian community at Cawnpore. More than once, he descending, and he has the art of concealing the dark has been introduced, at his own request, to ladies who shades of a character stained by the imputation of a have attracted attention by their intellectual acquirements; thousand crimes. According to common report, no and upon one occasion it was rather amusing to see him eastern despot ever disgraced the throne by more cold looking over the contents of an album, belonging to a and calculating murders, while the perfidy which brought literary lady, which formed an unique specimen in a him to his present condition, has been too indisputably place like Cawnpore. He was particularly struck with proved to leave a doubt of his being capable of committhe drawing of a ship buffeting the billows of a stormy ting the basest acts of treachery. Bajee Rao is happy in sea, and asked a great many questions concerning it. his domestic relations; his wife, who shares his captivity, The natives of insulated districts, in the interior of India, is distinguished for her beauty and the amiability of her entertain very vague notions respecting the occan, and character. She receives European ladies, who come to the vessels which navigate it. Their curiosity seems to visit her; and gentlemen, paying their respects at the be strongly excited upon the subject, though few of the mansion where she resides, sometimes catch a casual higher orders are at the trouble to gratify it by an excur- glimpse; for, though not openly appearing in public, sion to some distant port. Traveliers in India are chiefly Maliratta females are less scrupulous of being seen by confined to two classes, those who have business, and male eyes, than those belonging to any other native comthose who have religious duties for their object, and the munity of India. Imprisonment can make very little majority of the latter belong to the lower orders. Pil- difference in the lives of the females of the peishwa's grims of rank and wealth are not rare, but they bear no household, since they were never destined to taste the proportion to the numbers of poor people, who either seek sweets of perfect liberty; and could their lord forget his remote shrines upon their own account, or as proxies to former dignity, and the power he exercised over a large men who are able to pay for their passport to heaven, and and important territory, he might be happy, or at least who delegate the less agreeable part of the ceremony to content. He possesses every requisite for domestic enothers. The proxies are supposed to derive spiritual joyment, without the risk and turmoil attendant upon advantages equal to those which they procure for their sovereignty; but it would be difficult to convince persons employers, and numbers, therefore, are willing to under- suffering under a reverse of fortune, that the change is take the toils and hardships of a long journey for a very really for the better, and an ambitious mind especially moderate remuneration. The military title of Ram must chafe at the disappointment of all its schemes. The Chunder is soubadah, literally "captain:" but, under peishwa is under the charge of a British officer, who native princes, it gives a larger command than that resides at Baitoor, but not in the same mansion with the which persons bearing a captain's commission in the prisoner, with whose personal arrangements he does not services of European powers, are supposed to hold in interfere. The appointment of this officer is not one of

The great drawback to the advantages enjoyed by a person who is handsomely remunerated for comparatively trifling services, is the want of society in the immediate neighbourhood; for, however well disposed natives and Europeans may be towards each other, it is seldom that they derive much pleasure from very intimate association. What in England would be an easy distance, is fatiguing in India, and it would be difficult to keep up a constant communication with Cawnpore in the hot weather. Consequently, during a considerable period of the year, the European family of Baitoor must depend upon its own resources. In a more temperate climate, persons would not be the subject of pity, who had a large garden to amuse themselves in and a good house over their heads; but the impossibility of out-of-door employments of any kind, and the annoyance attendant upon even moderate exertion within doors, completely preclude any thing like rural enjoyment, and render the European residents of Hindoostan totally dependant upon each other. Sometimes we do see a little lean wiry gentleman, burned as black as a coal, who can emulate the natives in their disdain of a thermometer up to a hundred and thirty; or a slight pale lady, who wonders how any body can find the climate too warm, and who plies the needle with nimble fingers, while her companions are fainting from exhaustion but these are rare cases, and it is seldom that a pair of exiles are so well matched.

great responsibility, he being placed at Baitoor chiefly as | ress, and attended a horse, picketed beneath Trimbuckjee's the medium of communication between the ex-peishwa window. This man amused himself with singing Mahand the government; he is not obliged to remain con- ratta songs; a version of one has been given us from the stantly at his post, and is frequently to be seen at the elegant pen of Bishop Heber, and the whole story has balls and parties at Cawnpore. He has a house to live in, been celebrated in a very pretty poem, which appeared in and handsome allowances, in addition to his regimental the second volume of the Bengal Annual, and for which pay; it is therefore considered a very eligible appoint- the editor was indebted to Mrs. Jourdan, the wife of a ment, the duties being light, and under no control. field officer in the Bombay army. A convenient building has been erected purposely for the accommodation of this enterprising Mahratta, within the walls of the fort; all the windows of this mansion are secured by iron gratings, and the guards are stationed in the surrounding verandahs. While the strictest attention has been paid to the security of the prisoner, care has also been taken to afford him all the alleviations which his situation will admit. The apartments he inhabits are large and airy, and he has the range of a sinall garden, in which a pagoda has been erected, in order that he may perform his religious duties in the accustomed manner. This temple is shaded by a peepul tree, which is esteemed sacred by the Hindoos, and, being a Brahmin of high caste, he employs the greater portion of his time in the ceremonials enjoined on that peculiarly favoured race. He is fond also of cultivating his garden, which he has planted with flowers, displaying some degree of taste in their arrangement; but these are not the appropriate occupations of an active and irritable temperament, and Trimbuckjee does not conceal his distaste for a mode of life so uncongenial to his disposition. Four of his own servants have been retained as his personal attendants, but these men are not permitted to sleep out of the fortress, and they undergo a search whenever they pass in or out. They are useful in bringing news from the town to solace the hours of inaction, which the once bustling, intriguing politician, their master, is now condemned to endure. It is well known that Trimbuckjee has not relinquished the hope of obtaining his liberty, nor of mixing himself up again with the public affairs of India. He has never ceased to importune the government to consent to his liberation, promising to give ample security for his future good conduct, and to manifest his gratitude by the performance of the most important services. however, either strongly distrusted, or it is not considered convenient to allow him to be at large. In the mean time, his property, which has been secured to himself and his family, is accumulating to an enormous amount; perchance in the remote expectation of raising up his political fortunes by means of his wealth, he rejoices over the increase of his riches, and, like many other great men reduced to private life, he descends to petty savings in order to add to the mass. In his state of adversity, he has inspired little respect; he is ignorant to an extent which seems scarcely credible, not being able either to read or write; and to judge from casual intercourse, he seems very ill-calculated for the high situation which he held under the peishwa. With other charac teristics of his country, Trimbuckjee has all the Mahratta partiality for slovenly and dirty attire, taking no pains about his personal appearance, even when in the expectation of receiving distinguished visiters. He is fond of company, and encourages Europeans to pay their respects to him; there is no difficulty in obtaining access, the government not being under any apprehensions that its officers would suffer themselves to be prevailed upon to become the tools of this artful person, however adroit and subtle he might be.

:

A medical officer is also attached to the station, though not resident there, he having other duties, which oblige him to divide his time between Baitoor and Cawnpore. The necessity of visiting patients constantly in the hot weather, entails a very serious inconvenience, and in one instance the life of a lady was sacrificed by an experiment tried between her husband and the surgeon, to ascertain whether he was actually obliged to make daily calls upon the sick. We do not remember how the question was settled, but the subject of the dispute was brought to Cawnpore too late to be benefited by the change. She was beyond all medical aid, and both parties had reason to lament the obstinacy with which they had contested the point.

While Bajee Rao enjoys every advantage which it is deemed prudent to grant to a person whom it is necessary to keep under restraint, together with a dubious reputation, some being of opinion that he was rather wrought upon by others, than incited by his own evil passions, his prime minister, Trimbuckjce, is kept in much closer confinement. Upon this man the greatest degree of the odium attached to the peishwa's conspiracy has fallen. Whether justly or unjustly, he is accused of a much deeper participation in the deceit and treachery practised at that eventful period, and he is accordingly more strictly guarded. The strong fortress of Chunar, on the banks of the Ganges, on the opposite side to Benares, and higher up the river, has been selected for the place of Trimbuckjee's confinement. He is very closely watched, having an European as well as a sepoy guard over the house in which he resides, and never being permitted to stir beyond the cognisance of the sentinels. He had contrived to make his escape from his former prison, at Tannah, near Bombay, which rendered it necessary to pay a greater degree of attention to the security of his person. An air of romance is spead over the circumstances of his flight from Tannah, which was effected by the co-operation of a partisan, apparently a syce, who engaged himself with the governor of the fort

He is,

Few places in India have more natural strength than the fortress of Chunar, and were it necessary to do so, it might, like Gibraltar, be rendered impregnable. No native force could effect its capture at present; and, if properly defended, it would make a strong and lengthened resistance against a European army. It is, however, too far from the frontiers to be of much importance in the existing state of our position in India, and it is not

therefore deemed advisable to construct any new defences. Christians. The Mussulmans have also a holy place in It stands upon the summit of a rock, which is sur- the neighbourhood of Chunar, the mausoleum of two rounded on all sides by steep precipices, and the engineer saints, father and son, and an accompanying mosque, has displayed no small degree of skill in flanking it with built and endowed by an emperor of Delhi. This durga bastions, wherever it was possible to throw up a battery. is very beautifully situated, in the midst of a large garden, The summit of the rock is table-land, which is richly and does not suffer by a comparison with more celebrated clothed with grass in the rainy season, and shadowed at sepulchral monuments. The architecture is extremely all times by several fine trees. The face towards the beautiful, and the perforated stone lattices, particularly river is particularly formidable, projecting very boldly the elaborate workmanship of native chisels, are highly into the water, and, in consequence, boats sometimes find attractive even to those who have seen the splendid mardifficulty in passing when the current runs strongly ble trellises of Agra and Delhi. The tomb of Sheik Soagainst them. The striking of the boat hooks against liman and his son is situated about three miles from the rock produces a curious effect; clouds of birds rush | Chunar, and forms an object for the evening drives of the out of their nests, which they have made in the holes and European inhabitants. The country round about is very crevices, and their twitterings, and the rustling of their romantic, presenting all the attractions which rock and wings, with the dark shadow of the precipice falling over ravine, hill, wood, and water, tastefully disposed by nathe vessel, and the roar of waters below, give a sort of ture's cunning hand, can afford. Chunar is a striking wild sublimity to the scene, which is very exciting. Be- object from the river; the citadel crowning the rock, and yond the fortress, the burial ground of Chunar lies on the its magnificent trees, with handsome buildings peeping side of a hill, sloping into the river. This is one of the through the vistas, render it altogether not inferior to any most picturesque cemetries which the traveller passes in of the views obtained upon the Ganges, beautiful and a tour through the upper provinces of Bengal. The varied, notwithstanding the alleged monotony of that monuments are chiefly of black stone, and it requires river, as they certainly are. The rocky nature of the very little aid from the imagination to fancy that they country, however, and its sandy soil, materially increase are groups of mourners, weeping over the dead who are the heat, which is very sensibly felt during the worst stretched in cold unconsciousness below. Chunar is al- seasons of the year. together a very interesting place, possessing more of pic- Allahabad is the residence of a third prisoner, whose turesque beauty than is usually to be found in European subjugation has been, and will be, productive of the most stations, convenience being more studied than landscape important results to our empire in the cast, and to the in the sites they occupy. The houses belonging to Eu- spread of intellectual cultivation amongst the natives. ropeans are very prettily situated on a declivity, most Doorgun Saul, the usurping rajah of Bhurtpore, is acluxuriantly clothed with trees, and covered with orchards commodated with snug lodgings in the fort, very much and gardens, the native town crowning the summit be- against his inclination. He is a Jaut, a race who sprang yond. Many of the buildings are of stone, there being into notice after the death of Aurungzebe, and whose prefine quarries in the neighbourhood; but it has lost all its tensions to high caste are not borne out by their origin. importance as a station, and now forms one of the asy. They belong to the Sudras, a low tribe, and are not relums for invalid soldiers, both European and native, who cognised by other Hindoos as Khetris, the military caste, are equal to the performance of garrison duty. There though they assumed that designation immediately upon are, however, many remains to interest those who possess their conquest of a large territory, including Agra, which any antiquarian taste. The fort, in itself a great curios- they had scized in the decline of the Mahomedan power. ity, contains several buildings well worthy of inspection; The chiefs of the Jauts styled themselves rajahs, a one of them, a very ancient Hindoo palace, within the title to which they have no real claim, and they supported highest defences of the fort, has particular claims to no- their pretensions with the utmost insolence, boasting that tice, on account of its interior decorations of painting and they would become the sovereigns of India, and drive carving. The apartments, which are vaulted, surround-out the Europeans with the same ease with which they ing a domed chamber in the centre, are extremely dark had triumphed over the Moghul dynasty. Though in and very low, the only contrivances which the Hindoos strict alliance with the British government, after Shah have thought necessary to exclude the heat, natives not Allaum was rescued by Lord Lake from the hands of the appearing to suffer at all from the want of a free circulation Mahrattas, the sovereign of Bhurtpore, the capitol of the of air. The Mussulman invaders, more luxurious, pur- territory, secured to him by the treaty of 1803, exerted sued a different plan, and the residence of the Moslem himself on behalf of Jeswunt Rao Holkar, after a signal governor, a lofty handsome building, in the Gothic or defeat, admitting that chief and the remnant of his army Saracenic style, now used as an armoury, affords a fine into the citadel, and preparing to withstand the siege contrast to the narrow gloomy cells of the old palace in which was immediately commenced against it. The its immediate neighbourhood. result of the operations under Lord Lake is well known. It possessed the Jauts with a notion that they were invincible, and all the restless spirits of the frontiers, who trusted that in time of war they should be able to carve out more brilliant fortunes for themselves than they could hope to attain during a period of inaction, desired nothing so much as a second trial of strength between the people of Bhurtpore and the British government. The lenient measures pursued by the latter were misconstrued into a proof of weakness. The Rajah of Bhurtpore dying in 1824, left a son and successor, who only occu pied the throne a single month. The decease of this prince led to the events which ultimately occasioned the complete downfall of Bhurtpore. The heir was an infant, not more than seven years old at the period of his father's death; he was recognised by the British government as the legal successor, and his expiring parent had received an assurance of support and protection from Sir David Ochterlony, to the child who, at so tender an age, was left to struggle his way through life. The uncle of the

Chunar may vie with Benares in the sanctity of its character, and indeed, by those who believe in the tradition which ascribes to the Deity a greater predilection to this spot, than to a city styled, par excellence, holy, it must be still more highly venerated. There is a small court, or quadrangle, surrounded by a wall, and darkened by the shade of a large old peepul tree, which contains a slab of black marble, on which it is said that the invisible Creator of the world takes his scat for nine hours every day, while he only spends the remaining three at Benares. A silver bell hangs upon the branches of the tree, and there is a rude hieroglyphic carved on the opposite wall, a triangle enclosing a rose. The gate of this sanctuary is kept locked, and access only given to it at particular times. The Hindoos who obtain entrance, when shown to any casual visiter, evince the most lively satisfaction in the opportunity afforded them of approaching so sacred a spot; and the absence of all idolatrous objects of worship, gives it a degree of holiness even in the eyes of