a short genealogical table of each royal family, which makes it easy for the reader to refresh bis memory, at any period of the history, with the relation the several princes of the blood bear to one another. This idea suggested itself to me many years ago in studying the wars of the houses of York and Lancaster, and I have since usually adopted the plan in the perusal of other histories. In addition to this aid, a chronological synopsis of the events which were simultaneously occurring in Europe and in India is also appended.

In the third volume, instead of a recapitulation of the events of Europe, I have added an abstract of the Portuguese annals in Asia, from Faria-é-Souza, as belonging to the period and the histories of the kingdoms with which the Europeans came in contact in the sixteenth century. To prevent, as much as possible, the confusion which would otherwise have occurred, from princes bearing the same name being engaged in war with each other (as is sometimes the case even in European history), I have been careful to preserve to each family some distinguishing appellation. Thus, for instance, in the first volume, the kings of Ghizny bear the title of Sooltan, which was bestowed on Mahmood the Great by the Caliph of Bagdad. The several other dynasties or families of Ghoory, Eibuk, Altmish, Bulbun, Khiljy, Toghluk, Syud, and Lody, have their fixed designation, and cannot well be confounded. In the second volume, the title of Padshah, assumed by Babur, belongs exclu

sively to the whole race of the Great Mogul. The intermediate Afghan family has its peculiar name of Soor, while the first dynasty of the kings of the Deccan is entitled Bahmuny. In the third volume will be found the kings of the minor Deccany monarchies, with their especial affixes of Adil Shah of Beejapoor, Nizam Shah of Ahmudnuggur, Kootb Shah of Golconda or Hydrabad, Imad Shah of Berar, and Bereed Shah of Bidur. Ferishta laments that he was unable to procure any history of the kings of Golconda or Hydrabad; but begs if such a work should ever appear, that it may be included in his. This deficiency I have been able to supply, and it is added as an appendix in the body of the third volume. In the fourth volume, the title of Shah is affixed to denote the kings of Guzerat, while that of Sooltan is prefixed to distinguish those of Malwa. The Kandeish princes of the race of Farook were content to assume the title of Khan, and may be thus known. The Jam dynasty of Sind, the Lunga family of Mooltan, and the Chuk race of Kashmeer, has each its peculiar denomination; while the titles of Shurky and Poorby serve to mark the kings of Joonpoor and Bengal.

The perusal of this history cannot be otherwise than instructive, if it be merely to show the certain effects of good and bad government among a people whom our ignorance disposes us to consider as devoid of moral energy, and who are prone to submit without resistance to the grossest oppression. It is not my intention to dilate on the origin of this

misconception of the Indian character, and a vo lume would not suffice to point out all the instances to the contrary with which the work abounds. The rapid success of Akbur in subjugating the greater portion of India, by a policy which elevated all classes of his subjects, whether newly subdued or otherwise, and of whatever creed or country, to the level to which their rank in society entitled them; and the rapid downfall of the government of Aurungzeeb, who oppressed the Hindoo population by a poll-tax, and by disqualifications from public employ, are the most striking which occur in the Mahomedan history. The early success of the Portuguese under Albuquerque and Nuno de Cunha may be chiefly ascribed to the confidence they reposed in the natives; and the decline of their power may be dated from the time when, under the name of religion, they persecuted them on account of their national tenets. These events form prominent land-marks in history which our own rulers seem prudently to have avoided.

It was the wisdom, or, perhaps, the good fortune, of the ruling administration in England, to select such governors as Clive and Hastings, in the early part of our Eastern career, who formed the groundwork of our gigantic dominion in the East; and it is to the great men who have subsequently ruled those possessions that they owe their present prósperity.

This is not the place to discuss a question of such magnitude. The present form of administration

has arisen out of circumstances foreign to the objects contemplated in the original institution of the commercial body which now presides over it, but it stands pre-eminent among all the political phenomena in the annals of history. To appreciate this engine of government fully, it is necessary, not only to view it as a whole, but to observe the course of its action; and the more it is examined, the more one is struck with the magnitude of its power, and the energy and efficiency of its operation. It is a subject for deep speculation, how, if it were removed, its place could be supplied; but we may, think, pronounce with confidence, that whosoever shall venture to do so, either by changing its constitution, or even by violently disturbing its motion, will incur the risk of involving in ruin the British power in India.

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No part of the arrangement of the work has given me more perplexity than the adoption of some uniform plan for the orthography of Oriental words. In writing for the English public, I preferred adapting the letters to the familiar pronunciation of our own language rather than to those of the continent of Europe; and my object has been to confine the power of each letter or diphthong to one simple sound, in whatever situation it be placed.

Thus the vowels are pronounced:

a as in water, wall, ball.

e as in met, bell, level.

ias în bit, hill, lips in dus gems esc
o as in hold, bold.

u as in but, must.

y as in truly. Where this letter is placed at

the beginning or middle of a word it is
sounded as in youth, joyous.

The following diphthongs and double letters are used to supply the varied sounds of some of the vowels:

خ

ee as in fleet, feel, seem.

oo as in school, tool.

ou as in our, hour, flour.
ei as in sleight, height.

Of the consonants, the letter c is never used except in conjunction with h, when the two letters have the same sound as in church. The Persian letter ¿is expressed by the letters kh, which combined, have the sound of ch in the Scotch word loch, a lake. The letter & is written with the letters gh, representing a guttural g, which is foreign to any of the western languages. The rest of the consonants have the same sound as in English. For the use of the Oriental scholar an appendix is added, containing all the proper names in the Persian character, with the meaning, as far as was practicable, to each name. These orthographical rules have been applied to the proper names of persons and things, but not always to those of towns or countries, which are written as

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