others, down to the rank of puisne judges inclusive, are preceded by two men with silver sticks, and two others with heavy silver maces; and they have in society some queer regulations, which forbid any person to quit a party before the lady or gentleman of most rank rises to take leave." +"The Brahminical institution of castes," says Mr. Wallace," seems to have communicated its principles to the ranks and classes of European society in Calcutta. A civilian's lady considers herself as a superior being to the wife of an officer; and the latter looks down with contempt upon the partner of a country captain, who, in her turn, despises the shopkeeper, and frets if neglected by the merchant's wife. Society in Calcutta, is, there fore, a formation of parties, and there is nothing like a general or liberal intercourse among Europeans. Public assemblies are unpopular; but there is no country in the world where hospitality is greater than in those castes into which the sojourners are divided. Large parties sit down every day to dinner; and during the winter, balls and suppers take place every night. In short, the only general society in Calcutta is at the Government-house, to which every man having the rank and character of a gentleman is invited frequently." +

* "During Lady Amherst's progress through the Botanical Gardens, I observed, that, besides her usual attendants of gilt sticks and maces, two men with spears, also richly gilt, and two more with swords and bucklers, went before her. This custom is, so far as I have seen at present, confined to the Governor and his family; but I understand it used to be the case with most persons of condition in Calcutta."-Heber, vol. i. p. 54.

Heber, vol. ii. p. 228.

Fifteen Years in India, p. 396. "The British merchants in Calcutta are a numerous and respectable order of men. Several of them have acquired large fortunes. They here display an expense and splendour in their manner of living, seldom aspired after by the same order of men in any part of the world; and what is

Luxury is said to prevail in Calcutta to a far greater degree than at Madras or Bombay. The usual routine of living is similar, but "much more gorgeous." Of what are called "the luxuries of the East," however, Bishop Heber professes himself unable to give a very exalted description. Speaking of the natural productions, he says:"All the fruits now in season (October), are inferior to those in England. The oranges, though pleasant, are small and acid; the plantain is but an indifferent mellow pear; the shaddock has no merit but juiciness, and a slight bitter taste, which is reckoned good in fevers; and the guava is an almost equal mixture of raspberry-jam and garlic." Of the curries, the palows and the mulligatawnies, and all the delicacies of the native kitchen, the Author does not deign to speak. He even forbears to notice" the greatest delicacy in the world," esteemed by some of the Calcutta epicures, itself worth a voyage of fifteen thousand miles,-the mango-fish of the Hooghly, "which is as beautful to the eye as it is delightful to the taste. With the flavour of the mango fruit, it combines the colour and richness of the trout, and has a fine large roe, which cannot be

greatly to their honour, their acts of charity and munificence have never, perhaps, been equalled by any similar number of men of any rank whatever. Few of these gentlemen are engaged in the service; a circumstance here of more consequence than may be apprehended. The service of the Company has here certain ideas of rank and consequence attached to it, which often produces ludicrous effects upon the intercourse of society. All persons in civil and military appointments affect a degree of superiority over such as are not in the service, which is frequently ill supported either by their talents, birth, or character. At the public entertainments, rank was formerly a matter of much greater concern at Calcutta, than at St. James's. To hand a lady to table or to her carriage, is an affair that requires deep cogitation: if it be aspired to by a gentleinan whose rank is unequal to the office, instead of paying a compliment, he commits an unpardonable offence." Tennant's Recreations, v. i. pp. 57, 8. But this was five-and-twenty years ago.

compared to any thing. For two months in the year, this charming fish is caught in plenty; and the roes are preserved and always appear at table." * The Bishop, in fact, found the artificial luxuries not more remarkable than the natural ones. "They are only inventions," he remarks, “judicious and elegant ones, certainly, to get rid of real and severe inconveniences; while all those circumstances in which an Englishman mainly places his ideas of comfort or splendour, such as horses, carriages, glass, furniture, &c., are, in Calcutta, generally paltry and extravagantly dear. In fact, the real luxuries of India, when we can get them, are cold water and cold air. But, though the luxury and splendour are less, the society is better than I expected."

"There are some circumstances," adds the Bishop, "in Calcutta dwellings, which at first surprise and annoy a stranger. The lofty rooms swarm with cockroaches and insects; sparrows and other birds fly in and out all day; and, as soon as the candles are lighted, large bats flutter on their indented wings, like Horace's cura, round our laqueata tecta,-if this name could be applied to roofs without any ceiling at all, where the beams are left naked and visible, lest the depredations of the white ant should not be seen in time." +

"The

The climate of Calcutta, from October to March, is described as extremely pleasant,- scarcely to be equalled by any which Europe can offer." mornings, from five to eight, are now," writes the Bishop in December, "equal to the pleasantest time of year in England; then follow about eight hours, during which a man does well to remain in the

• Fifteen Years, p. 134. See p. 94 of our first volume.

† Heber, vol. iii. pp. 227—9.

house, but which, under such circumstances, are not too hot either for comfort or any kind of mental exertion; and from four to dark, it is again about the temperature of our summer evening. This is, indeed, the best time of the year. Of the rains and the hot winds, every body speaks with very alarming eloquence; and I apprehend that, during their continuance, a bare existence is all that any man can hope for."*

By the middle of April, the weather becomes very hot. It is then often advisable, on the failure of the north-westers, to shut up all the windows about eight o'clock in the morning, merely agitating the air within by punkahs. By excluding all outward breezes, the temperature may be kept at from 80° to 85°, instead of 100°. Thus confined, it is, however, "close and grave-like;" but, if we go to an open window or door, "it is literally like approaching the mouth of one of the blast-furnaces in Colebrook Dale."

A frightful picture is given by Mr. Wallace of the state of the weather at this season. "Were a country gentleman, in the full enjoyment of all his bodily faculties in this happy climate, to be suddenly transported to St. John's church in Calcutta, during the performance of divine service in the month of June, he would fancy himself seated among ghosts. He would look upon their sallow countenances with fear, and see the big drops like tears, coursing each other on the anxious brow, notwithstanding the large fans suspended over head, and drawn briskly backwards and forwards, by means of ropes passed through the windows, by natives outside, to produce an artificial

Heber, vol. iii. p. 250.

circulation of air. If he followed any gentleman to his home, he would see him there throw off his coat and put on a light white jacket, as a relief from his sufferings.* And on passing the burying-ground beyond Chowringhee, the stranger would there perceive, in the numberless tombs and monuments, ample evidence of the terrible mortality prevailing in the land of his sojourn."+

Calcutta was at one time deemed scarcely less unhealthy than Batavia; and the air of the town is said to be still affected by the vicinity of the Sunderbunds and the swampy rice-fields. The acknowledged improvement of the climate of late years, is ascribed to the attention paid to a general system of drainage, and to the cutting of broad, straight roads through the contiguous woods in the direction of the prevailing winds. The rainy season begins about the 12th of June, and ends about the 14th of October. There have been various estimates of the population of Calcutta, but it does not appear that any very correct census has been taken. In 1752, the four districts into which the town was then divided, contained 9,541 houses, and within the Company's bounds, 5,267; making the whole

* "It was formerly the fashion," Hamilton says, "and is still adhered to up the country, for gentlemen to dress in white cotton jackets on all occasions; but being thought too much of an undress for public occasions, they are now laid aside for coats of English cloth."-Hamilton, vol. i. p. 58.

+ Fifteen Years, p. 30. The mortality among the Europeans is not attributable, however, to the climate only. "Most young men live in India thoughtlessly and luxuriously, as long as they are able. Before they prepare for defence, they are taken by the enemy." Ib. 31. The greater number of those buried here, Mrs. Graham says, are under five and twenty years of age; cut off in the first two or three years of their residence. There are many acres covered so thick with columns, urns, and obelisks, that there seems scarcely room for another. Graham's Journal, p. 141.