circumstances, over which mankind could scrcely be supposed to have any control, have modified human character and human modes of thought; and these have had an inevitable influence on religious thought. After all, religion is only one of the many items-important as it undoubtedly is-which form the sum of human happiness; and from this point of view it has varied with the varying circumstances of mankind. What satisfied the craving of the human heart at one period of the development of civilization, could no longer satisfy it at another; and the birth of fresh ideals, of fresh flights of speculation, was the result; and at every new time, these new-born ideals have been stamped and surrounded with the halo of revelation, and the ideals which till then were regarded as sufficient, and which are superseded only by these so-called revealed ideals—to be superseded in their turn by a fresh batch of ideals, also revealed in a certain sense-are branded with the names of superstition, heathenism, paganism, and a string of such epithets. But, howsoever it may be, this much is pretty certain, that the craving after religious ideals, as I should say, is incessant. Prof. Williams tries to give, in the work under notice, an account of the Hindoo people from the standpoint of their pursuit after religious ideals.

What goes under the name of the Hindoo religion is a subject indeed not easy for dissection. One great circumstance which renders difficult an inquiry into the religious and social life of the Hindoos, popularly so called, or the Aryans of India, is the historical fact of their being one of the most ancient civilized people on the face of the earththeir "high antiquity." An inquiry into the religious life and thought of such a people is naturally beset with the difficult speculations of the innumerable other circumstances which influenced their life in a variety of ways-their progress from the savage state of nomads to that of settled agricultural communities; their expansion and growth in the means of material enjoyment and happiness; the natural resources of the country in which they settled, and the physical conditions generally which surrounded them; the influence of these physical conditions on their mental susceptibilities, and so on. Such an inquiry, honestly undertaken and carefully pursued, would be a task, I should think, almost beyond the powers of one man, however able and hardworking; and the result of such an undertaking, should one

be found so bold as to put himself to it, must of necessity be full of numerous specialisms, too hard for the ordinary reader to crack. Prof. Williams has, therefore, wisely eschewed from his account of the Hindoo people as many of such specialisms as was practicable with the attainment of his object; viz., "to present trustworthy outlines of every important phase of religious thought and life in India."

V. M. SAMARTH.

HENRY DEROZIO, THE EURASIAN JOURNALIST. By Thomas Edwards. man & Co., Limited.

POET, TEACHER,

Calcutta: W. New

"Eurasians" (as Mr. Edwards says in his Preface) "are the descendants of native mothers by European fathers, of every nationality, and, as a community, they have cast in their lot, since the days of Albuquerque, with the race to which their fathers belonged." "Albuquerque," we read elsewhere, "encouraged inter-marriage between his officers and respectable native families;" hence, probably, the large number of Eurasians whose names indicate Portuguese origin. From one of these families, named De Rozario, the subject of this biography was descended. His father occupied a highly respectable position in a mercantile house in Calcutta, and was a man of some means. Henry Derozio, born in 1809, died of cholera in 1831, and Mr. Edwards has ably performed a good work in rescuing the memory of his brief life and noble deeds from comparative oblivion.

At six years of age Derozio was sent to school to David Drummond,

"A good example of the best type of the old Scotch Dominie, a scholar and a gentleman, equally versed and well-read in the classics, mathematics, and metaphysics of his day, and trained, as most Scotch students of the close of the last century and beginning of this were, less in the grammatical niceties and distinctions of verbal criticism, though these were not neglected, than in the thought of the great writers of antiquity, and in the power of independent thinking. This culture and power of independent thought Drummond seems to have had the power of imparting in an unusual degree, and on none of his pupils did he more distinctly impress his own individuality than on the young Derozio."

Leaving school at the age of 14, Derozio became a clerk in his father's office, and two years after an assistant in an indigo factory at Bhagulpore, on the banks of the Ganges, where his poetic imagination was kindled by the sights and sounds of country life and by the traditions of the spot. He became a frequent contributor to the Indian Gazette, then conducted by Dr. John Grant, at whose suggestion his poetry was collected and published in a separate form; and at the age of 17, Derozio, finding himself famous, forsook indigo planting, obtained a situation as assistant master in the Hindu College, and "adopted teaching as a profession, and literature as a staff."

The Hindu College, established in 1817-mainly through the instrumentality of Mr. David Hare, a Scotch watchmaker in Calcutta, who, having acquired a competency, devoted his life and fortune to the education and moral improvement of the natives of Bengal-had led but a lingering existence, until, in 1824, the Government resolved to erect new buildings, and to place the school on a new footing. This handsome structure, the present Hindu College, was opened in 1827, the year before young Derozio was appointed Master of English Literature and History in the second and third classes.

"This appointment, seemingly so insignificant, marks the early development of one of the most important movements in the intellectual history of the native-born subjects of this land. No teacher ever taught with greater zeal, with more enthusiasm, with more loving intercourse between master and pupil, than marked the short term of Derozio's connection with the Hindu College.

"Neither before nor since his day has any teacher within the walls of any educational establishment in India ever exercised such an influence over his pupils. It was not alone in the classrooms and during the hours of teaching that the genial manner, the buoyant spirit, the ready humour, the wide reading, the readiness to impart knowledge, and the patience and courtesy of Derozio won the hearts and the high reverence of his pupils. In the intervals of teaching he was ever ready to aid his pupils in their studies, to draw them out to give free and full expression to their opinions on topics naturally arising from the course of their work in the class-rooms; and before the hour at which the work of his classes began, and sometimes after the hour for closing the day's duties, Derozio, in order to broaden and deepen

the knowledge of his pupils in the thought and literature of England, gave readings in English literature to as many students as cared to take advantage of his self-imposed work.

"In consort with his pupils, he established the Academic Association where night after night the lads of the Hindu College read their papers, discussed, debated, and wrangled, and acquired for themselves the facility of expressing their thoughts in words, and the power of ready reply and argument. To these meetings there frequently came the unassuming large-hearted philanthropist, David Hare, in 'white jacket and old-fashioned gaiters,' or 'blue coat, with large brass buttons, the dress-coat of his youth;' and occasionally Sir Edward Ryan, Colonel Benson, Private Secretary to Lord William Bentinck, Dr. Mills, the Principal of Bishop's College, and others. Poetry and philosophy were the chief themes discussed.

"No doubt, in the meetings of the Academic Association, and in the social circle that gathered round Derozio's hospitable table, subjects were broached and discussed with freedom which could not have been approached in the class-room. Free-will, freeordination, fate, faith, the sacredness of truth, the high duty of cultivating virtue, and the meanness of vice, the nobility of patriotism, the attributes of God, the arguments for and against the existence of a deity as set forth by Hume on the one side, and by Reid, Dugald Stewart, and Brown on the other; the hollowness of idolatry, and the shams of the priesthood, were subjects which stirred to their very depths the young, fearless, hopeful hearts of the leading Hindu youths of Calcutta.

"The establishment of the Academic Association, and the full and free discussion nightly carried on at its meetings, was followed within a few months by the establishment of between twelve and fourteen newspapers, chiefly conducted by natives, advocating views of all sorts, from orthodox Hinduism to materialism, and carrying on in print the discussion of questions raised in the Academic Association, and in the numerous debating societies which sprung up as offshoots of the parent society."

Such mental activity could not exist without attracting the attention of two very different classes-the orthodox Hindus and the orthodox Christians. The former saw that the tenets of Hinduism were giving way in the minds of the young before free enquiry; while the latter charged Derozio with Atheism, and free and immoral opinions on social matters. The result was that Derozio was compelled to

resign his post, after ably and successfully refuting the charges of immoral teaching which had been brought against him.

In a short manuscript history of the Hindu College, Baboo Hurro Mohun Chatterjee bears the following testimony to the effects of Derozio's teaching:

"Such was the force of his instructions, that the conduct of the students out of the College was most exemplary, and gained the applause of the outside world, not only in a literary and scientific point of view, but, what was of still greater importance, they were all considered men of truth. Indeed, the college boy' was a synonym for truth, and it was a general belief and saying among our countrymen, which those that remember the time must acknowledge, that such a boy is incapable of falsehood, because he is a college boy.

Mr. Edwards gives a brief sketch of the career of some of Derozio's most intimate pupil friends, whose later life will be familiar to old Calcutta residents; among them, Dr. Krishna Mohun Banerjee (the only one of the number now living); Ram Gopal Ghose, the founder of a well-known mercantile firm, and a most active sharer in the political, social, and educational movements of his day; Hurro Chunder Ghose, for fifteen years Judge of the Calcutta Small Cause Court ; Radhanath Sickdar, an eminent mathematician, for many years superintendent of the Calcutta Observatory; and others.

Derozio's career, after the severance of his connection with the Hindu College, was essentially that of a public man and journalist. Though but a youth of one-and-twenty, he projected, managed, and edited the East Indian, the first recognised organ of Eurasians, and both in it and on the platform he advocated their claims with eloquence, ability, and power. Had he known that only a few short months of life remained to him, he could not have devoted himself more earnestly to the work of procuring the redress of the grievances under which the Eurasian community suffered. Previous to the year 1791, the Company's services, civil and military, were open to Eurasians. By subsequent orders, issued in 1792 and 1795, they were excluded from all such offices, and up to the renewal of the Charter, in 1834, "the tendency of the rule of the Company was to level Eurasians to the same rank as natives; while, at the same time, offices to which natives were eligible, such as those of Munsiffs and Sudder Ameens, were closed against Eurasians." Besides this,