FORTY YEARS IN THE WORLD;

OR,

Sketches and Tales,

&c. &c.

N. I.

INDIAN VILLAGE LIFE.

The wind breathed soft as lover's sigh,
And, oft renew'd, seemed oft to die,
With breathless pause between:
O, who, with speech of war and woes,
Would wish to break the soft repose
Of such enchanting scene!

SCOTT.

MANY of the villages in India exhibit all that poets have conceived of rural bliss. Peeping from beneath eternally green canopies, that shade them from the sun's glare, and fan them with umbrageous branches, nothing in idea can exaggerate the charms of such a scene. You often see

the tall palm and the golden plantain growing at the cottage door; the yellow mellon climbing the roof; and the pumpkin creeping and glittering in the garden; whilst the distance is a perfect feast of roses, banyan flowers, fruits, and wonders. You see the pagoda rising through grand vistas of banyan stems; you view the choultry, or dhuramsallah, a place for the accommodation of travellers, supported on pillars of huge stone; you look at the images of Hindoo gods around it with surprise; fine tanks of water, constructed by charitable Hindoos at vast expense, meet your eye, perhaps, near the spot; and you see the village girls, in all the simplicity of scriptural delineation, ready to draw water for

you and your camels. The courts of justice, the public seats under the trees, the numbers of children you behold at play, the mirth and gaiety which laugh in every eye-all, every thing, assures you, that happiness is shedding her perfume on the whole. Such pictures you will often be delighted with in travelling over the Honourable East-India Company's possessions. Security 'and peace have long left industry at ease in the southern parts of

Hindostan. It has been the object of the Court of Directors to attach the people by making them happy. O, how wise! O, how worthy of an eternal monument! What! though some of the Company's servants have done wrong, and inflicted injury, have they not been dragged like tigers from their dens, to suffer from the spears of reprobation; and shall we blame a large body for the acts of an individual? No; British justice, English good sense, and the East-India Company's known intentions to do good, have gained them the hearts of Hindostan. May it be perpetual! Ye who have power, let not colonization commit robbery! O, let not a licentious press disseminate poison instead of instruction, where there is not an antidote in public opinion! Guard the prejudices and religious institutions of the meek and gentle inhabitants from the meddling, foolish attacks of bigots and fanatics, who think that God cannot accomplish his wise purposes, without the aid of creatures framed from perishable dust. Continue to them their own panjaits, or native village courts, for the trial and settlement of all criminal and civil cases. Give them the benefit of education and science, those

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openers of the eyes of human understanding; and when they see error, let it be corrected by a regular surrender, instead of being extirpated by invasion and persecution. Justice, like honesty, is the wisest policy.

I have said, that it always afforded me great pleasure to see happy faces. Village life, therefore, was my study and delight in India. When I was in the Carnatic, in Bengal, in Malabar, in Mysore, in Guzerat, in Kutch, and in the Deckan, as well as in the Koncan and at Bombay, it was the charm of my evenings to walk or ride to the villages, and witness the sports and amusements of the people.

"I love thee, Twilight! for thy gleams impart
Their dear, their dying influence to my heart,
When, o'er the harp of thought, thy passing wind

Awakens all the music of the mind;

And joy and sorrow, as the spirit burns,

And hope and memory sweep the chords by turns."

MONTGOMERY.

At this melting period of time I have frequently seen crowds of Hindoos, male and female, commixed as in our village scenes, and equally full of laugh, fun, and life, amusing themselves with the exhibitions of jugglers, story-tellers, buffoons, and