No doubt the laws of literary art are, on the whole, more elastic and less mechanical than the rules of grammar, and give greater scope to individual judgment; consequently many of the criticisms passed in these notes on Macaulay's style will not commend themselves to all readers. It is even probable that qualities here praised may by some be considered unworthy of imitation. Granting this, it remains that there is still in every case of tentative change or modification an exercise of judgment or discrimination. This in itself is of

superlative value; for, as all teachers of English composition know very well, the initial difficulty lies in awakening pupils to the necessity of considering how the ideas that are in their mind may be expressed with greatest effectiveness. As soon as the habit of weighing alternative modes of expression is inculcated, more than half the battle is won.

It will be objected that there is too much repetition, and that the same points come up again and again. The reply is that, when the teacher finds a point driven home successfully, there is no reason why he should not pass on. Moreover, while it is advantageous to study the general plan and arrange

ment of the essay as a whole, there are certain passages more worthy of detailed inspection than others, notably the parts relating to Hyder Ali, Benares, and the great trial.

Macaulay's spelling of Indian names, although now out of date, has naturally been retained in the text. And for the sake of uniformity as well as to avoid confusion the same spelling is adopted in the

notes.

The Life of Macaulay is transferred, with some alteration, from the edition of Milton already referred to.

ABERDEEN, May, 1892.

INTRODUCTION.1

INDIA, like many other countries, has been ruled at different times by different races. Long before the dawn of history it was peopled by numerous tribes, which, although they must have come from over the Himalayas, and dispossessed still earlier inhabitants, of whom we know nothing, are called aborigines. They are also named NON-ARYAN, in contrast to their successors and conquerors. They still exist in a more or less pure state in India; and their numbers at the present time are estimated at 15,000,000. They were thrust out of the richer plains into the recesses of the mountains by a nobler race-THE ARYANS.

These people, who are fair in complexion in contrast to the brown-complexioned non-Aryans, be

1 A subject so complicated as the history and people of India cannot be satisfactorily treated in a few pages; still a brief summary is attempted in order that the pupil may better understand Macaulay's narrative, where some knowledge of Indian history is assumed.

long to the same stock as the English and other European nations. They crossed from their home in Central Asia into the Punjaub, and spread themselves over India, under the name of Rajpoots and Brahmins. Their language was the ancient Sanscrit preserved in their writings-the Vedas. The Brahmins gradually acquired priestly functions as the highest caste1 and now stand forth as the most cultured type of Indian mankind. For twenty-two centuries they have been the teachers of the Hindoo people, and the religious history of the Hindoos is a narrative of the attacks on the Brahminical system, and its gradual modification by outside influences. The first external influence was the preaching of Buddha in the sixth century before Christ; and modern Hindooism is the joint product of Brahminism and Buddhism, which ran together in the eighth century of our era. Buddhism

1 The caste system, whereby certain classes or grades of society are kept rigidly distinct. was not apparently, at first, a part of the Vedic religion. It arose subsequently with a religious sanction still maintained. The Brahmin, or highest and purest caste, is held to have something divine in it, but it includes many who do not follow a priestly employment. The lower castes are (2) the military; (3) the mercantile; (4) the servile, whose function it is to serve the three classes above. Outside these ranks are the Pariahs or outcasts.

was absorbed, but supplied the basis upon which Brahminism finally developed from the creed of a caste into the religion of the whole Hindoo people. Other influences were the Greek invasion of Alexander the Great in 327 B.C., and the northern inroads of the Scythians (non-Aryan Tartars), which continued down to the sixth century A.D.

The pure Aryans of to-day number 16,000,000, and they are called Hindoos, but that name has a more appropriate application to the MIXED POPULATION, which forms the great bulk of the population of India. These are composite in type, and have grown out of the gradual combination of the Aryan and non-Aryan elements, until they have assumed a character by themselves. These are the modern Hindoos.1 Including pure high caste Aryans, they number 188,000,000.

The fourth branch of the Indian population is the MOHAMMEDAN, or Mussulmans, who number about 50,000,000. Mohammed was born in 570 A.D., and in the eighth century the tide of Mohammedan invasion flowed on through Persia to the banks of

1 The word Hindoo is used in various senses. Generally, it means all who profess the Hindoo or Brahminical faith, which, however, consists of many sects.