that my preaching is more useful there than it would be any where else. points over when we meet. We may talk these God bless you and your dear children! REGINALD CALCUTTA. DEAREST LOVE, TO MRS. R. HEBER. Bheelwarra, Meywar, February 18, 1825. I have just, thank God, received your letter of February 1st, and I am truly rejoiced at the favourable account which it gives of both our treasures. You say nothing of yourself, and I cannot help being uneasy lest your anxiety should do you harm. God forgive me! I often regret that I left you. Yet I hope and trust that He will take care of you, and I know that it is He only on whose care all must depend, whether I am present or absent. It is this only, and the feeling that I have the opportunity of doing Him service where I am going, which keeps me yet in suspense about turning back to you. He knows how gladly (if I thought myself justified in doing it, now that all preparations have been made in Bombay to receive me) I should set my face eastward. I thought yesterday morning, when the drum beat for our march, of poor Tom Tough in Dibdin's ballad : "The worst time of all was when the little ones were sickly, And if they'd live or die the doctor did not know, The word was given to weigh so sudden and so quickly, I thought my heart would break as I sung out, Yo heave oh!" Yet if good news continues, I shall, like * poor Tom Sometimes I would fain flatter myself that the children may still get so well before the end of this month, as to justify your sailing for Bombay. My own opinion is, I confess, that change of air and sea air above all, is what they want, and that you will risk less by being removed from your present excellent advice, than by remaining in that cruel climate during the rainy season. Had your own health been such as to enable or justify you in coming with me in the first instance, and our children had accompanied you, I am often tempted to think they would both have remained well. But God only knows what is best for us; and while we act for the best and trust in Him, there can be no ground for self-reproach. We both then did, undoubtedly, what we thought our duty, and it is possible that my present notions of the climate of Bengal are too unfavourable. Surely, however, we have no reason to think well of it! * * * Adieu, dearest, God bless and protect you 11 Direct to me at Mhow, if I do not go there your letters will be forwarded. REGINALD CALCUTTA. TO THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WILLIAMS WYNN. Pertaubghur, Malwah, March 1, 1825. MY DEAR WYNN, In Hindostan, which name is confined by the natives to Upper India only, and more particularly to that part of it which was within the usual limits of the Mogul Empire, and is now subject to the Company, there are few natural curiosities, and the distinguished works of architecture are chiefly confined to the great cities and their vicinity. They are, however, far superior to all which I had expected, and very different from the idea generally formed of them in Europe. I had heard much of the airy and gaudy style of Oriental architecture, a notion, I apprehend, taken from that of China only, since solidity, solemnity, and a richness of ornament, so well managed as not to interfere with solemnity, are the characteristics of all the ancient buildings which I have met with in this country. I recollect no corresponding parts of Windsor at all equal to the entrance of the castle of Delhi and its marble hall of audience, and even Delhi falls very short of Agra in situation, in majesty of outline, in size, and the costliness and beauty of its apartments. They are not the Mussulmans only who have surprised me. At Benares, indeed, the Hindoo works are all small, but in the wild countries which I am now traversing, and where the Hindoos have been pretty much left to themselves, there are two palaces, Umeer and Jyepoor, surpassing all which I have seen of the Kremlin, or heard of the Alhambra; a third, Joudpoor, which I have not seen, is said to be equal to either, and the Jain temples of Aboo, on the verge of the Western desert, are said to rank above them all. Of the people, so far as their natural character is concerned, I have been led to form, on the whole, a very favourable opinion. They have, unhappily, many of the vices arising from slavery, from an unsettled state of society, and immoral and erroneous systems of religion. But they are men of high and gallant courage, courteous, intelligent, and most eager after knowledge and improvement, with a remarkable aptitude for the abstract sciences, geometry, astronomy, &c. and for the imitative arts, painting and sculpture. They are sober, industrious, dutiful to their parents, and affectionate to their children, of tempers almost uniformly gentle and patient, and more easily affected by kindness and attention to their wants and feelings than almost any men whom I have met with. Their faults seem to arise from the hateful superstitions to which they are subject, and the unfavourable state of society in which they are placed. But if it should please God to make any considerable portion of them Christians, they would, I can well believe, put the best of European Christians to shame. They are the Sepoys and irregular horse of whom I chiefly speak, for of these it is that I have happened to see most, having taken all opportunities of conversing with my escort, and having, for several weeks together, had scarcely any body else to converse with. I find, however, that my opinion of both these classes of men is that of all the officers in the Company's service to whom I have named the subject; and so far as my experience reaches, which certainly is not great, I have no reason to suppose that the classes whom I have mentioned, are not a fair average specimen of the other inhabitants of the country. The English in the upper provinces are, of course, thinly scattered in proportion either to the multitude of heathen, or the extent of territory. They are, however, more numerous than I expected, though there are very few, indeed, who are not in the civil or military employ of Government. The indigo planters are chiefly confined to Bengal, and I have no wish that their number should increase in India. They are always quarrelling with, and oppressing the natives, and have done much in those districts where they abound, to sink the English character in native eyes. Indeed the general conduct of the lower order of Europeans in India is such, as to shew the absurdity of the system of free colonization which W-- is mad about. To return, however, to the English society in the upper provinces. It is of course composed of |