ideas, like waggon-horses, would not move without bells, or some succedaneum for them. His remedy was curious. Having a great number of servants, and knowing that when under no restraint their noise will at any time match the peal of a cathedral, he contrived to station them in the room next his closet, and letting them understand that their tongues were free, found his lucubrations wonderfully assisted by their clamorous merriment.

The author of the Discourse on the Life of M. Ancillon,' makes several judicious comments on his mode of study. He read, it seems, books of all kinds, romances even, both old and new; but it was his opinion that he derived benefit from them all; and he often used to repeat the words attributed to Virgil—' Aurum ex stercore Ennii colligo.' In certain careless authors, things of a singular nature, he thought, were sometimes to be met with, which could be found no where else. But although he read all kinds of books, he bestowed application on such only as were important; running through the lighter sort, as the Latin proverb has it,sicut canis ad Nilum, bibens et fugiens,'-but perusing the others frequently, and with exactitude and care. He gathered from the first reading the general idea of a book, but looked to the second for the discovery of its beauties. His exact manner of observing what he read, rendered indexes, which many great men have called 'the souls of books,' of little or no use to him; for he had besides a very faithful memory, and especially that local memory so valuable to literary men. He was not always in the habit of reading books from beginning to end; but sometimes chose to search to the bottom the subjects of which they treated; in which case he had to consult a number of authors. Il voyoit souvent la même chose,' says Bayle, from whom we borrow this account of Ancillon, dans differens ouvrages; mais cela ne le degoutoit pas au contraire, il disoit que c'étoit comme autant de nouvelles conches de couleurs qui formoient l'idée qu'il avoit conçue, qui la mettoient dans une entiere perfection.' He had a large table in the middle of his study, which was usually covered with open books. The celebrated Fra-Paolo studied in the same manner; never discontinuing his researches until he had seen whatever related to the subject of his inquiries; that is, until he had made the comparison of authorities, of places, of times, of opinions; and this he did to free himself from doubt, and from all necessity of thinking again on the same subject.

Very extraordinary stories are related of the passion of several individuals for study; but there enters, perhaps, a little of the marvellous into these accounts, as a kind of seasoning to make them more palatable. We have sometimes suspected that, although Aristotle might on particular occasions go to sleep with a brazen basin by his bed-side, and an iron ball in his hand, which he kept stretched out over it, that the ball might drop into the basin, and wake him, in case of deep sleep, yet upon the whole he slept without this apparatus. What historians relate of Peter Castellan, Grand Almoner of

France, seems likewise to require to be understood with some abatement; for they say he scarcely passed three hours out of the twentyfour in sleep, which he snatched stretched out upon the bare ground, with no other pillow than his robe, which he wrapped round his head; and that he was no sooner awake than he rushed to his books with the appetite of a wolf. He was reader to king Francis I., and when he received this appointment, he resumed his amazing application, which he appears to have remitted for some time. Time, in his eyes, was so precious, that he would not spare himself sufficient to eat his dinner, being satisfied with taking a morsel of bread in the morning, and eating supper at five o'clock. Fashionable people keep Castellan's hours now, only that they call supper, dinner, and eat it an hour or two later. Galland, who wrote this book-worm's life, had reason and wit on his side, when he said, he was chained to his books, night and day, as Prometheus was to Caucasus. Castellan used to be present at the king's dinners and suppers, when Francis delighted in hearing him display his wit and learning, which helped his majesty, we suppose, to digest his meals. Thus princes honour literature !

But it must strike every person, that so voracious an appetite as Castellan possessed for other people's ideas, was an indication that he had none of his own. How could so multifarious a reader find time to think or to reason? And what is there in books so vehement to attract a man from sleep, and the duties of life, and the interchange of affection, and the intense delight accompanying original and independent thinking? Books must ever form the object of a scholar's preference, but to an author they are always secondary. His own ideas occupy the first.

These speculations on the whims and peculiarities of authors might be greatly extended; but enough, perhaps, has already been advanced to satisfy the reader's curiosity; we may hereafter pursue the theme at greater length.

EPITAPH ON THE LATE STEPHEN BABINGTON, ESQ.,
*

OF THE BOMBAY CIVIL SERVICE.

Or all who dwell within the tomb, how few

Of whom the tablet tells a tale that's true!

'Tis e'er a flattering sketch which sorrow draws,

Marking perfections, and concealing flaws,

But, in this narrow mansion, rests a youth,

Whom much to praise were most to follow truth;
And yet so meek, of modesty so chaste,
The lightest praise would violate his taste;
He dwelt with us to indicate a worth

Fit but for heaven---too pure for sordid earth.

B. G. B.

*This is the excellent and lamented individual of whom there is a beautiful marble statue, by Chantrey, in the present Exhibition.---ED.

7

IMPORTANT LEGAL JUDGMENTS IN INDIA.

EVERY succeeding year furnishes new and additional proof of the necessity of increasing vigilance being exercised over the proceedings of Government in India. Notwithstanding all the attempts that have been made, and are still making, to keep shrouded in impenetrable darkness the transactions which are every day passing in the interior of that distant country; notwithstanding that the terrors of transportation without trial are held over the heads of those who dare to give utterance to their thoughts on any subject, and in any manner that may be displeasing to the authorities in India; still, every now and then, light is let in upon some small fragment of the general picture, by the colouring of which we may form an accurate judgment as to the character of the whole.

Our readers are already aware that though such an instrument as a press is to be found at each of the presidencies or capitals of the East India Company's territories, there is no such thing existing any where in the interior of that vast region, over which is scattered from eighty to a hundred millions of human beings, with sometimes a single white man-or, at most, a civilian, his assistant, and a surgeon to govern, almost at his will, a tract of country larger and more thickly peopled than any English county, often without understanding the language, still oftener without knowing any thing of the usages and manners, and almost at all times without sympathizing in the slightest degree with the wants or sufferings, of the people. They know also, that should such a miracle as a reformer of his own administration appear among the despots thus installed in sovereign and uncontrolled power, and should he venture to send his own observations on any defects needing a remedy to the press of the Indian metropolis, no editor could dare to print them, if they related at all to transactions of the local councils, or any other authorities connected with the Government of India, (for these, by the existing press-regulations of Bengal, are strictly prohibited, (without incurring the risk of ruin for such an act. The whole of the interior of India is also without any representative assembly, and without any court of justice, except those filled by the East India Company's own servants, the law being framed by the Company's own officers, without any check or restraint whatever, and administered by a judge who rarely understands the language in which the pleadings are made or the evidence given; who seldom even attends to the interpreters when these are used; and who never, it may be safely said, gives judgment from his own knowledge of the facts or the law of the case. There is no jury to give evidence as to the one, and he depends for the other, almost entirely, on the dicta of two Native oracles, one a

Mohammedan, and the other a Hindoo, who unfold the laws of their respective faiths on the subject under trial, and give their oracular interpretations almost invariably in favour of the party who has been able to purchase their decision by the largest bribe. With such a system, and without either the check of an independent population, a bench, a bar, or a press, it would be a wonder indeed if justice were ever duly administered. As might be expected, however, it is not: and we have the authority of Mr. Robert Cutlar Fergusson, formerly the leading advocate at the Calcutta bar, for saying, that throughout the interior of India generally, (and he is good evidence on this subject, for he resided in full practice in that country for twenty years at least,) 'justice was put up to auction, and knocked down to the highest bidder.' These were the expressions used by him in a case in which he was counsel, where bribery, to the extent of nearly 100,000l., was proved to have been practised on the Native lawofficers, moolahs and pundits, to purchase an unjust decision in a case where the whole territory of a certain district was in dispute. We are glad to see that this same Mr. Fergusson, who is now a member of parliament, and a candidate for a seat as Director of the East India Company, has at length brought before the House of Commons a notice of his intention to use his utmost efforts to effect a reform where it is so much needed.

Under these disadvantageous circumstances, and with an almost total absence of all checks on misrule and oppression in India-the supreme courts of law established in that country, though confined to the capitals or presidency towns (but three in number) offer the only hope for the philanthropist, the only refuge for the innocent and the injured. It was for the avowed purpose of protecting these against the arbitrary power of the Company's government, that such courts were established; and had the judges appointed to preside over them been men of virtue and of courage, they might have checked a portion at least of the evil which the tyranny of Eastern rulers has inflicted upon its victims. But, with a very few and occasional exceptions, the judges have been men, who, not being able to withstand the allurements of the Governor's patronage, countenance, society, and favour, have fallen into the degraded position of mere courtiers and followers of their superior's will. As it respects wrongs done to individuals of British birth, such courts are indeed powerless; for, if the Government wishes to oppress a British-born individual, though it cannot prosecute him without legal cause, or imprison him without the benefit of the habeas corpus, yet it can transport him for life from the country and all his possessions in it, without inquiry, and without reason assigned; while the Court, with all the bench and bar at its back, can afford him no protection whatever! This is the state of men who have the misfortune to be born in England, and who may at any time be found residing in

India; while for the Natives of that country, though they cannot be transported or otherwise punished without trial, yet, to defend them in any cause which may occur between an individual of Indian birth and the Government, and, above all, to give a judgment in favour of a native Indian against an English functionary of any kind, is a duty, the performance of which would be so sure to incur the hatred of the Government, and the outpouring of all the vials of their wrath upon any advocate or judge who should dare to attempt it, that it is rarely or ever done. When done, it almost invariably leads to the open persecution of the honest interpreter of the laws, by every means within the power of the Government to invent or execute; and sometimes to the forcible arrest and actual suspension of functions so unsuited to the despotic violence which the tyrants of the East, whether of Asiatic or European birth, have from the earliest days delighted to indulge.

Now and then, however, undeterred by such discouraging examples, a bold and honest man springs up, to cheer the gloom of such a disheartening state of things; who, till he also is chased from his seat and borne down by the persecutions of angry and defeated evildoers, dares to dispense justice with an even hand, and to fulfil, with integrity and courage, the duties he was sent out by his country to perform. We lament, however, to say it, such patriotism and selfdevotion, instead of being rewarded as they should be by his country, are likely to obtain him the censure of those who ought to be his firmest supporters; and to subject him to the reproaches and desertions of men who would either be silent, or even join in the clamour against him, though at the same time they would stand up in the House of Commons to defend such men as Mr. John Adam, Sir Francis Macnaghten, Lord Amherst, or Lord Charles Somerset, and yet call themselves Englishmen, and Friends of Liberty and good government!

This is the invariable, and it would seem the inevitable, fate that awaits those who make any effort whatever for the improvement of the laws, or for purifying their administration, but especially in the colonies and distant dependencies of the empire. Still, however, such efforts have their reward, in the tranquil happiness of an approving conscience, in the esteem of all good men to whom they are known, and the admiration of the just among posterity. This, we are persuaded, is and will be the fate of SIR EDWARD WEST, the excellent Chief Justice at Bombay, with whom we are glad to see so closely associated in character and conduct, his honourable colleague, Sir Charles Chambers, both proud ornaments to the Indian bench. We have before given to our readers the full reports of their judgments in the case of Cursetjee Monackjee against the East India Company, and in the case of the late attempt to register regulations for imposing new restraints on the press at Bombay. We have now the pleasure to present them with a still more elaborate,