in public or private life, and by all who knew how to appreciate a masculine and generous nature. When he was appointed Zemindar of Calcutta, he determined to effect a great reform in the manner in which the Company's revenues had been farmed. He discovered that their revenues reached not one-half the amount they ought to have done, if honestly collected and accounted for. He exposed the rogues who had robbed their masters, and soon succeeded in doubling the revenue of Calcutta and the 24-Pergunnahs.

rest. In a letter to the Court of Directors, he complained with proper spirit of the injustice they had done him in so readily giving credit and sanction to "information" founded on "infamous surmise or lying report." "I am sensible," he tells them, "that this freedom, to which the Honorable the Court of Directors are such strangers, will cause my dismissal from the service"; and he was, indeed, actually sentenced to dismissal, but he had the prudence to anticipate the Court's intention, by resigning the service before their decision on the subject could reach India, in those days of long voyages and no steam.

Mr. Holwell erected, at his own expense, an obelisk, fifty feet high, on which were inscribed the names of most of his fellowprisoners who died in the Black Hole. It

In a general letter from the Court, dated March 25th, 1757, they speak in high terms of the value of his services. They acknowledge that, while the revenues in Bengal were greatly increased by him, the increase had been effected "without imposing any new duties, or oppressing the poor." They commend, too, his performance of his judicial duties, in which he had exhibited "the greatest integrity and lenity." The same despatch conveys an order that his personal salary should be increased from two thousand rupees per annum to six thousand.

But his sunshine was soon to pass away. The aspect of the Court became at last clouded and threatening. They began to listen to the tales of his detractors. They even consented that he should be the victim of a dishonest faction. He was accused of taking a bribe of Rs. 50,000 from Kissendass, for affording him protection in the fort. The Directors now took serious notice of a charge which they ought to have set aside with the contempt it merited. A sort of court of inquiry was instituted at Calcutta, of which Lord Clive was the leading member. Mr. Holwell was most honorably acquitted. "No doubt," reports Lord Clive, "that Mr. Holwell's innocence will appear as clear to the Court of Directors as it did to us, who were present and witnessed the attestation of Kissendass." This was in 1760.

Mr. Holwell had, indeed, received a present of Rs. 80,000 from another Native, who had defrauded the Company to some enormous amount. Mr. Holwell accepted these rupees as a portion of the public money refunded, and lodged them at once in the public treasury to the credit of his masters. He traced out frauds to the extent of £50,000, the greatest part of which he saw refunded, and obtained security for the

Map of Calcutta, dated 1793, that the obelisk stood directly in front of the principal eastern gateway of the old fort. It was taken down by the Marquis of Hastings in 1818, because, forsooth, it reminded the Natives of a calamity that had befallen the English! But if it reminded them of the fact that 70,000 Indian troops had overpowered, after a struggle of four days and a half, about two hundred Englishmen, and suffocated to death one hundred and twentythree of them in one night, did it not also remind them of a most signal retribution, -a retribution as complete, as extensive, as extraordinary, as any recorded in the history of the world?

Mr. Holwell was not a public character from his official position only. He was also an author. The "India Tracts" (which include his narrative of the Black Hole) were not his only works, though they alone are now remembered. He published a book entitled "Interesting Historical Events relative to the Province of Bengal, and the Empire of Hindoostan," in which he represents the Hindoo Shastras as the most ancient religious code in existence, and the origin of the cosmogony and the mythology of the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. He maintains that the doctrines are of Divine origin. He was the author also of a fantastical work, entitled "Dissertation on the Origin, Nature, and Pursuits of Intelligent Beings," in which he tells us that men are fallen angels, condemned to suffer in mortal bodies. The only result of his early medical studies was a work on the small-pox.

Viewed from any point, Mr. Holwell's character is one entitled to respect and admiration. It is no credit to any man to be honest; at the same time, the civilians then in India had temptation in the way of boundless gifts of jewels, land, and money, of which we can scarcely now have any accurate conception.

OUR SOLDIERS.

[After STERNE-and a very stern reality.] We have no wish to place a man in a cell, and see the tortures of his mind and soul during that period of incarceration, as did that great man Sterne; nevertheless, we consider that it is necessary we should pourtray, as faithfully as we are able, the soldier as he is in India, and as we find him at the present day, with a view, not to show off any pretensions to writing, but to the amelioration of his condition, to the improvement of his mind, the development of a more elevated idea of morality, and an awakened sense of his duties as a living creature, endowed with life, faculties, and energies, bestowed upon him by a wise Creator, for a wise end. Since the disastrous Crimean war, and the more disastrous Indian mutinies, England has had a constant drain upon her population for soldiers. The standard of height had to be reduced; the strict letter of the law as regards bodily health could not be attended to, or carried out; and, consequently, an inferior set of men have been admitted into the ranks.

A very large percentage of these men are taken from the agricultural and manufacturing districts, where, as soon as they can be made useful, they are employed to assist in bringing in the weekly income that is necessary for the support of the family circle. Most of these men have had no education, or, if any, they have tasted so slightly of learning as to have in no way benefited by it in a company of eighty men, certainly one-half will be found unable to write their own names. These men, therefore, are debarred from one of the most exalting, exhilarating, and interesting amusements, viz. reading, from which thought and action afterwards proceed.

A soldier of the present day, fresh from the field, the loom, or the workshop, enters upon a new career at a very early age. He has been taught some trade, which he cannot always pursue; he has had his holiday now and then, and his Sunday to himselfall these he must forego. In nine cases out of ten, he has no amusements: he either, then, sleeps all day, or drinks

whenever he can get the chance, and falls an early prey to death, by sunstroke, or disease-cholera or dysentery. The mortality in the army is, at the lowest computation, in India, five per cent. Therefore, if we have 50,000 men in India, we lose fifty men in every thousand, or 2,500 per annum; consequently, in ten years, 25,000 men, or exactly one-half, have to be replaceda fearful death-roll, certainly, to look We have stated the mortality at a very low percentage indeed; but at the present moment we have no accurate data to proceed upon.

at.

The mortality amongst officers or civilians is not nearly so great; and the real cause of the difference lies in the fact that the soldier has not the employment and amusements they have, which regulate their mental and bodily faculties. The soldier, accustomed to his drink from mere boyhood, does not consider how he is undermining his health by a continuance in it. The morality of our legislators prevents any interference in social evils that attack the soldier at every turn, or the adoption of any preventive measures where, it is manifest, a cure can never be effected.

So long as profligacy, crime, and drunkenness exist in this world, their votaries will be numerous. A wise and parental Government should earnestly strive, by healthful amusements, to raise the standard of morality amongst its soldiery, to afford instruction where there is a channel for it, and to reward the steady and sober by more substantial marks of its approval, and appreciation of their merits, than so many extra pence per diem.

Whilst we are upon this question, we are glad to find, by a general order, that Sir Hugh Rose has just called upon officers commanding regiments to report on matters connected with recreation for the soldiery; we extract the order in extenso :

"The Commander in Chief wishes to place on a regular and permanent footing, and to render general, the means of recreation, instruction, and employment in useful trades, of the soldiers of the army.

"In this sense, his excellency calls on officers commanding divisions to transmit, to the adjutant general of the army, reports, carefully drawn up, on the means in question, which are actually in existence at the sta

tions under their command, specifying their description, and capability of improvement.

"For example: whether there are barrack accommodations for schools; soldiers' reading and coffee-rooms; workshops for instruction and practice in trades; gardens for the growth of vegetables; gymnasia; single-stick practice, and cricket-grounds; skittle and ball-alleys.

"The reports should also specify the capabilities which each station, and the country around it, afford, for the practice of the various trades which in the soldiers' hands

may be a source of pastime and profit to

themselves, and of essential use to troops in the field.

"Workshops, as a system, may be said to be unknown in this army. The commander in chief is most anxious that they should be introduced into it, and developed to the greatest possible extent; that not only soldiers, but their children also, should learn trades.

"Sir Hugh Rose can speak from his own experience as to the advantage of soldiers knowing trades. It would have been a material advantage to the force under his orders in the late campaign, as well as to the service, if there had been soldiers in its ranks who worked in iron and wood; who could have repaired damaged rifles, saddlery, tents, &c., and made shoes and summer clothing. There was plenty of material-wood, iron, khakee cloth, leather, &c., but, unfortunately, next to no workmen.

"General officers are invited to offer any suggestions which may occur to them, and to elicit information from officers commanding regiments, on the important subject of this

general order, which has for its object the useful occupation of the soldier's long leisure during an Indian hot season, as well as his comfort and welfare whilst in the service, and after he has left it.

"Useful occupation must be the means of raising the moral condition of the soldier ; it causes habits of order and industry to take the place of idleness and intemperance, which enervate the best health, the noblest energies, the ablest intellects.

"Useful occupation has further advantages. It enables a soldier to gain a competency whilst in the service, and a livelihood when he returns to his home. In enables him to

bring up well his family, to assist aged parents, and to settle down into a good and

useful member of the state."

If this order be properly attended to, and its requirements carried out, a great stride in the right direction will have been taken. In a short time, we shall find our soldiery morally and physically improved; a healthier mind and body will be theirs ; a more contented and happier lot for them will be secured. An impetus to action will be given, which, in the end, will redound to their present happiness and prosperity, and secure for them, on retirement, means of

adding substantially to their pensions. We shall mark how the ball rolls, and offer hereafter a few suggestions.

A TRUE STORY.

I was once travelling through a distant part of England-not England as it is now, but England as it used to be, long long ago, when I was a young man. am a very old one now,—so people may judge, from the character of the anecdote I am about to relate. Once, in the course of my wanderings, I suddenly where stopped in the little village of C., I thought it very likely I might derive

some amusement.

It was a cold, dark evening, when I, a weary, solitary pedestrian, knocked at the door of a small house, from the outside of which was swinging a board, and underneath it a dark lantern, which only seemed to add to the gloom. The door was opened by a rather crustylooking female, who, in a surly tone, bade me welcome, and ushered me into a small dingy room, with a deal table in the centre, round which three men were sitting, smoking and drinking. They all looked up as I entered, and it would really be difficult for me to say which man's appearance was the most repulsive.

One, rather an elderly man, was, I discovered, a neighbouring farmer, while the other two were the sons of the cross woman who showed me in. I sincerely hoped she might be blessed in them, and that I was at Jericho ! Well! I sat down amongst them all, and glanced, first round the room, and then at the faces of my companions. The coup-d'œil did not charm me, certainly; and as I felt my presence was a restraint to them, I rose and asked my hostess to show me to my room. She hesitated, and then quickly glanced at her two sons, who as quickly glanced at her. I could not understand what it all meant; but, before I could say anything, my landlady, snatching a candle from the table, stalked out, and stumped up four flights of dingy stairs, which creaked at every step she took, and then, abruptly turning, she pushed open a door, ejaculating, "There!" and, pushing me in, shut it

as suddenly. I must confess I felt rather uncomfortable, finding myself alone in a very small, dusty, uncomfortable-looking place, and feeling rather suspicious of the other inmates of the house. So I resolutely determined everything should undergo a vigilant search. Beginning with the bed, I examined everything I could see, till I happened to look on the other side of the room, and there I espied-what the curtains had before concealed-a large chest, sure enough, very high, and with a lid on the top. It was but the work of a moment to get a chair mount it, and, candle in hand, to remove the lid. Horror of horrors ! I trembled in my very stockings! Could I believe my eyes, that, by the light of the flickering flame, I saw a dead man, standing upright! I put my hand to my brow, and looked once more, and then, carefully shutting the chest, got down, and began to undress. "Probably," said I to myself, "the corpse of some murdered man, whose fate I am destined to share!" Can you wonder, then, gentle reader, that short was the rest I took that night? I put the washing-stand before the door, and a chest of drawers in front of that; and, sitting down in a dilapidated arm chair (the best the room afforded), pistol in hand, I resolved to await my fate. I waited long, and I was not disturbed; when, towards morning, I indulged in a nap, and did not awake till the rays of the sun pierced through the small cracked window-panes. I jumped up hastily, dressed myself, and quickly

removed the furniture from before the door; and, repairing to the shattered bit of looking-glass to take a final, and, shall I add, satisfactory look at myself, went downstairs as fast as I could, and straight into the room below, where I heard my hostess' loud voice, wondering when I was coming down. We all sat down to breakfast as soon as I joined the party, but this time there was only the old woman and her two sons. The old lady asked me if I had had a pleasant night, &c. ; to which I fearlessly replied in the affirmative. I thought she seemed pleased; so this encouraged me to say I had seen the body of a dead man in the chest.

"Oh !" said one of the sons, breaking

VOL. I.-8

WE do not purpose a review of the Laureat's poems at the present time; we only wish to draw attention to one characteristic feature in them, which we shall briefly describe. Every one must admire his melodious "In Memoriam"-his great master-piece; his sublime medley of "The Princess,' where the elegant song of "Tears, idle tears," flows in melancholy cadence from the poet's brain. "Maud," and the "Idylls of the King," with his miscellaneous poems, have also many charms for us; in each of which we notice the sublime echo the words are to the sense. One or two extracts will clearly explain our meaning. In an "Idyll" read by the Princess we have,"Myriads of rivulets hurrying through the lawn,

The moan of doves in immemorial trees,
And murmuring of innumerable bees."

From this, who cannot realise, at once, a crisp, summer morning, and hear instinctively the carols of nature? Again,

"They went

These selections are made at random, and could easily be multiplied, for they lie throughout Mr. Tennyson's poems as thick as pebbles on the beach.

We have never seen any allusion drawn to this feature in his poetry before, and only draw attention to it that others, in reading the emanations of his muse, may be directed to see what eloquent echoes his words are to the sense embodied in his poems.

ΑΝΑ.

LAST WORDS.

"How grand those rays; they seem to beckon earth to Heaven."

HUMBOLDT.—May 6th, 1859.

Humboldt was born at Berlin, on the 14th September 1769; consequently, he was nearly ninety years of age at his death.-Vide Life, Travels, and Books of Humboldt (1860), with an Introduction, by Bayard Taylor.

"To die so young-and there was something here!' he added, striking his forehead-not in the fear of death, but in the despair of genius." ANDRE CHENIER. André Chenier was guillotined, July 27, 1794.-See Thiers' History, vol. iv. p. 83:-"Pourtant j'avais quelque chose là "; see also Pushkin and Bulwer's poems on his death.

"I die at least a soldier's death."
GENERAL STRANGWAYS.

This officer had his leg shot off at Inkermann.-Vide the Patriotic Jour

one characteristic more prominent in his nature than another, it was his love of ancestry; and, to be a friend with him, it was necessary to indulge him in this very harmless vanity. Gregory Gordon was one of a numerous class, called "dreamers," and spent much of his time in giving to "airy nothings a local habitation and a name,"

-an agreeable way of indulging in extensive speculations, without risking personal property. His father had been in the army, and fell at the taking of some large fort with a harsh name, whose locality we forget; his last words to a comrade being, to request Gregory to keep up the good name of the family, and not to forget his ancestry.

It was on a delicious morning in July, 18-that Gregory Gordon was seen roaming about in the neighbourhood of Mamusing his mind with the varied scenes disclosed. M- is pleasantly situated, and seems more like fairy-land than a habitation for men. The day was warm and bright; the sun in his meridian strength and beauty; and Gregory's heart was as light and happy as man's could be.

Suddenly, a large mansion arose to his view. Now, although he had often been in this locality before, he had never perceived that M- -contained so large a mansion.

At this sight, curiosity enticed him to wander on, and find out who was the lord and master of this castle. Had he been restrained in this desire, his after peace might not have been affected with the disquiet that will appear before the reader in the sequel, although, from a visit to this castle, and subsequent events, there was given an energy to his character that had been manifestly wanting before.

Imagination pictured this mansion in a more irrational form to his mind than it would have done to another person's, because, not suspecting its existence, he conceived himself wandering in elf-land, and would not argue with himself on its real existence.

66

CHAPTER II.

Our life is a false nature."

CHILDE HAROLD, Canto 4, Stanza 126. CURIOSITY had taken entire possession of Gregory Gordon's breast, and with a beating heart and nervous gait he approached this magnificent dwelling. At the door, he was met by a young man of agreeable manners, who invited him to enter.

He found, as he gazed at the rude architecture of this dwelling, that distance had lent" enchantment to the view"; but nevertheless, his mind was still burdened with a conviction that he had found out elf-land. He entered the house, following his guide, and was ushered into a spacious old apartment.