the hall, every person, except Mr. Perry and myself, threw themselves down as if they had been shot through the head, touched the ground with their forehead, and were up again in a moment even my old friend Mowqua, though so advanced in years, was down and up again as nimbly as a boy: on my remarking this to him, after the interview was over, his reply was, Mister Commodore, I very much long time do that custom."

As the Hoppo approached to Mr. Perry and me, we made him a low bow. I then advanced, with my petition in my hand, to his chair, when he desired his bearers to stop, and, having called Mowqua, he enquired by him of me what I wanted? I said I had a petition, which I was desirous of having the honour to deliver into his own hand. He asked if it was written in Chinese. I replied it was. He then put out his hand and took it from me, saying he was going to visit the Fyane, and that I should have an immediate answer. He gave orders that we should have refreshments, and be conveyed back to the Company's factory in chairs belonging to the palace-made us a chinchin (a complimentary mode of saluting), which was considered by the Chinese present as a mark of great favour towards us-and then passed on out of the palace.

As soon as the Hoppo was gone, we were taken by the Mandarins into another apartment, where several tables were laid, covered with fruit and sweetmeats. I was placed at one table with two Mandarins and Mowqua, Mr. Perry and Howqua at another, with two other Mandarins; the rest of the security merchants and Mandarins were placed at tables of four, agreeably to the Chinese custom. A handsome dinner was served, with great abundance of hot wine, the produce of China, and, after passing a very pleasant hour, we were put into the state chairs, and carried through the city back to the Company's factory-to the astonishment of all the Chinese, and to the no small satisfaction of Mr. Brown, who had been under much uneasiness on our account

Next day there was a heavy fine levied on the security merchants-the port-clearance was issued-the fleet despatched-and here ends my story."

"

year.

Mr. Hugh Lindsay "whose epitaph," writes Lord Lindsay, may be left to the testimony of the hundreds to whom, as Director and Chairman of the East India Company, and as man to man, he proved himself a father and a friend, and whose heart was, in fact, the seat of every kindly quality, that can grace humanity," died in April, 1844, in his eightieth With this announcement may be closed our notice of the agreeable and accomplished family of the "Lindsays in India." We are mistaken, if the extracts we have given do not induce many of our readers to make acquaintance for themselves with the pleasant volumes, from which they are taken. We have necessarily conveyed but a faint impression of the contents of the Lives of the Lindsays. We have only followed the family eastward of the Cape. There are many, who will delight to hold communication with them in the bracing air of their native North.

ART. II.—1. Shishu-bodhak.

2. Annadá Mangal.

3. Nala and Damayanti.

4. Batrish Singhásan.

5. Betál Panchavingshati.

6. Kantukabilásha, &c.

THAT "respectable Natives do not read Bengali books," is one of the axioms of Young Bengal. It matters little, whether it states a fact, or merely expresses a feeling; in either case it is a proof that the educated Bengali despises the literature of his own language. Time was, when the educated German did the same; and that time is separated from our own by the brief interval of a single century. In those days, Latin was, throughout Germany, the dialect of the student, and French that of the courtier. At length the genius of Lessing rescued the German tongue from the contempt into which it had fallen, and called into existence that series of classics, which, in the present day, commands the admiration of the whole civilized world.

Bengal sadly stands in need of a Lessing to develope the resources of her noble language, and to clothe in it the creations of his genius. Young Bengal, in despising his present national literature, may, in some measure, be guided by affectation: but it must be confessed that his judgment is not essentially erroneous. The national literature really is contemptible. But he errs in regarding all hope of its improvement as visionary, and all efforts towards it as doomed to failure.*

Compared with the middle and lower classes of other countries-the European continent not excluded-those of Bengal may be said to be fond of reading, or at least of listening to the reading of others. The sight of a man poring over his book is not uncommon, even in the meanest village. When the crew of a boat is permitted, either by a favourable wind, or by any other circumstance, to leave the oars and to congregate on the poop (for so the roof may be called), the hardy rowers almost invariably form a group of listeners around a man, who professes to read to them. It is amusing to watch the patience and interest, which

We must candidly own that, to judge from present appearances, the hope of any material improvement in Bengali literature is not likely to be realized very soon, unless the Bible should become a popular book. The style of writing, which is now becoming more and more fashionable, is so similar to the more modern Sanscrit that, so far as popular readers are concerned, it might as well be wholly Sanscrit. The English reader may form an idea of it, by thinking of the semi-Latin style of Johnson. "Good" Bengali now-a-day means Jolmsonianism run to seed.

they manifest on such an occasion. True, their mouths may be engaged in puffing their favourite weed, or their hands busy plying the needle to make some rude garment, either for themselves, or for some members of their distant families; but they are all ear; and any interruption to their intellectual enjoyment meets with an instantaneous rebuke. The reader, sitting on his haunches, with his book laid on the floor before him, spells out couplet after couplet; for all popular books are in verse, or are read, as if they were in verse. His skill, generally, is not very great, and the words that are printed- wrong (except in some very favourable cases) are quite as numerous as those that are printed aright: hence, he is compelled to try over and over again, before he can get at the meaning. But he is as persevering in his efforts, as his readers are in their patience; and by degrees he gets through a few pages. Reading, to a common native, is not the easy task that it is to a European. It is always carried on aloud, and according to a sing-song tune, the modulations of which are not readily acquired. To this music the head beats time, as regularly as the pendulum invented for the pianist by the ingenious German. Now it swings backward and forward, and every now and then makes a sideway movement, to alleviate or regulate the arduous operation. No wonder that an hour's lesson generally proves quite enough at a time; for by that time the joints of the neck, unless inured to the exercise by long practice, must assuredly require some little repose.

This is the orthodox method of reading among the lower classes of Hindus, never deviated from by any but those, who have been so far brought under European influence, as to have learned the distinction between the essentials and the non-essentials in this matter. We have seen the youthful scribe of a darogah, singing aloud to his superior and to ourselves a report of a robbery, containing an enumeration of stolen articles, according to the approved tune, kept in time by the inverted pendulum, with as great solemnity, as if it had been the most affecting story of the Ramayana, or the Mahabharata.

It is an interesting question, but one not easily solved, what is the character of the books most sought after by people of this class? As we have introduced native boatmen by way of an illustration, we feel bound at once to remark that they are for the most part Muhammadans; and that their favourite books are of a totally different nature from those of the Hindus. True, they are printed in the Bengali character, and profess to be Bengali poetry, like all the rest; but the language contains a large admixture of Hindustani, and the subject-matter usually

consists of some Muhammadan legend. These volumes issue from certain presses in Calcutta, and are sold somewhat dearer (because somewhat better got up) than those printed for the Hindu population: but it is very rarely that a larger sum than half a rupee is paid for a volume; and, when it is so expensive, it is regarded as a very precious treasure, and kept with the greatest care.

Among the Bengali books for the lower classes, those most prized are the clumsy poetical epitomes, which pass for translations of the two great epic poems. But as, even in this curtailed form, the Rámáyana and the Mahábhárata are somewhat voluminous, and therefore expensive, they cannot be purchased so readily as smaller books, which may be had for a few coppers, and which therefore are far more widely disseminated-though it is always difficult for Europeans to obtain copies of them.

The first and foremost among these is an Encyclopædia, called the Shishubodhak, or Child's Instructor. Of this we have managed to purchase a splendid copy, ready bound, with a vignette on the title, a picture alphabet, and an ornamental border round every page-all for six pice (2d.). It contains an alphabet; a treatise on arithmetic and mensuration, with all the rules in poetical language; directions for letter-writing; an invocation of the Ganges; some mythological tales; and what are called the Chanakya Slokes, or golden verses, 108 in number, both in Sanscrit and Bengali; the whole comprised in fifty-four pages. This little book is more extensively used in the indigenous village schools of Bengal than any other. The treatise on arithmetic, which it contains, is really not bad and in all probability it is to it that the marvellous readiness in reckoning, possessed by so many Bengalis, may be ascribed. The Sanscrit slokes are the same which are in almost every body's mouth, and for the extensive diffusion of which it has often been thought so difficult to account. A few samples of them have appeared in No. XXII. of this Review. The compiler of this little work is unknown to us: but he has evidently succeeded in making just the kind of book, that was adapted to the popular taste, and to the most urgent wants of learners. This shows him to have been a man of some judgment. With the exception of the alphabet and the arithmetical tables, the whole of it is in verse. The typography of our copy, though far above the average, can only be characterized as execrable.

It is the principal object of the present paper to communicate such information, as may enable the reader to form a correct estimate of the staple of the popular literature. For this

purpose, it appears very appropriate to give a translation of the Invocation to the Ganges, which has been mentioned among the contents of the Child's Instructor. On the one hand, it is universally admitted to be one of the finest productions, in point of language, of Bengali genius; whilst on the other, it is presented to the youthful mind, at the very threshold of the temple of Learning, being the first lesson, which a child is taught to read or to repeat:

INVOCATION OF GUNGA.

Salutation to thee, O river of the gods. I hear of thy majesty in the Puranas, thou ancient purifier of the fallen. Thou art sprung from the feet of Vishnu; thy name is the Limpid one, the mother of Suras, Asuras, and men. The drinking vessel of Brahma was thy abode; at his side thou didst dwell, and sanctify the city of the gods. Seeing the sad state of mortals, to deliver them from the fear of the future, thou, goddess of the gods, camest upon earth. Bhagiratha, the descendant of the Sun, was the first to show thee the way, and to bring thee down into our world. The most wicked sinner, upon touching thy water, goes to heaven in his body; thy water is spotless; to drink it is very meritorious; Brahma and Vishnu cannot describe its virtues. Placing thee on his head, Shiva regards himself as blessed; who can describe such greatness? Rice, or vegetables, or any other food, cooked with thy water, are things which the gods themselves long after. Such food is like Ambrosia. In the Vedas, Vyasa says that he who eats it, need not fear Yama (Death.) The name of thy junction with the sea is the source of supreme bliss itself; Brahma and Vishnu cannot describe it. The low Sudra, or Sanyasi, on dying, goes to heaven, if he has bathed there, when the sun enters Capricorn. By pronouncing thy name, he obtains admittance to the house of Vishnu; he is spared the sight of Yama's city. When life has fled from the corpse, the father, the mother, the child, and the wife, drag it to the place of cremation. The wife and the child abhor it; they bathe and go away; but thou at that time foldest it to thy bosom. Whilst their means last, affectionate friends and relatives weep for the dead a day or two. In that day of trouble, no friend remains, but thou alone. The lifeless corpse, fed upon by crows and jackals, floats till it reaches thy banks; when hundreds of heavenly courtezans, with fans in their hands, come to attend upon it. Near thee I will abide, even if I should become a lizard, or a crab, or the leanest puppy. Dwelling in a land, where there is no Gunga, the master of a million of elephants is miserable. Worms, and insects, and men, and a thousand other creatures, are all treated alike by thee. The most wicked of sinners, if he but touch thy water, enjoys thy favour in the last extremity. How can I adequately describe the majesty of Gunga? It is fully pourtrayed in the Puranas. Singing thy praises, I, Chakrabarti Kabikankan, pray thee to give me faith in Gobinda (Vishnu,) &c.

These are the sentiments systematically instilled into the minds of thousands of children, as soon as they have managed to learn their alphabet. They are at once initiated into the daily rites of their religion, taught to despise the countries lying at a distance from the Ganges, directed to the waters of that river as the means of washing away the foulest crimes,