presents of gold and silver ornaments for the neck, ears, nose, fingers, wrists, ankles, and toes. These she hid under ground lest her husband should find or see them. Alas! I need say no more; you know all the rest. Arima's little feet were slippered in gold, velvet, and silver; her black hair was pearled with gems of ocean; her soft bosom, panting alarm, was covered with muslin, half as soft as herself, and so fine that nothing but a Hindoo finger could produce its threads; and, O Heaven! she moved all warm, all smile, all breath of roses, to meet the embraces of the young Coorg Raja; to leave her own, her heart-confiding husband to despair, insanity, and suicide. "O, frailty!" why did genius call thee "woman!" Thou art the devil; she is an angel! But when fallen? Ha! there you touch me! Yes, Shakspeare, thou art right"O, frailty! thy name is woman!" and "man," too! Well, I went to Seringapatam, leaving a tear at Rajapet, as a monument for poor Bappo Manick. In my way back I inquired how Arima's heart beat? It was colder than marble. She had starved herself to death, and torn the beauties from her face, with her nails, which had destroyed her Bappo! This was the work of remorse. what a hell her bosom must have been, when she was marching arrayed in smiles to meet the young Raja! Of what were her smiles the type? volcanic flowers, if such ever grew over the burning lava of nature's heart. We know they bloom for a moment, on passion's lip; till, nipped by remorse, they die like the dolphin, shewing all the colours of despair. Well has the preacher said, "all his vanity"-but guilty pleasure is most vain. "Why, all delights are vain; but that most vain SHAKSPEARE. N'. II. THE PANJAIT. Plate sin with gold, And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks : SHAKSPEARE. THE engine of Hindoo government, in ancient times, was beautifully simple; and so well calculated to ensure happiness to the full extent of human possible enjoyment, that it is still cherished by the mass of the people, and held as sacred as their religion. It may be useful to draw attention to a subject so interesting. I need say very little of the ministers of a raja, or native prince. All governments, both in Asia and Europe, must divide themselves into departments. A Hindoo raja, like a British king, has his prime minister, his secretaries of state, his chancellor of the exchequer, his civil and military branches, his sirdars or headmen, and his courts of justice, and law officers. The obligations of king and subject are reciprocal; both receive valuable considerations for the parts they perform. These principles were well understood at a very remote period in India; and civilization has left us a monument, in Hindostan, of simple justice, which it would be well if we imitated. I shall confine myself, therefore, to the administration of the laws in India, as that part of the machine which is most useful, and least understood, or practised in this country. To secure men in the possession of acquired property, to protect the weak against the strong, to redress grievances, and to make justice poise the balance of right; neither inclining to the rich, nor declining from the poor; and to pioneer the road towards the gates of equity, so that they may be easy of approach and open to all, are indubitably the duties which government has to perform, as essentially connected with the subject's welfare. Some of its other duties are in self-defence; but these are peculiarly required for political happiness. |