respect of all classes. The Maharaja of Vizianagram, K.C.S.I., late Member of the Legislative Council of India, lived there for several years. His knowledge of English, his liberal views, and his abundant generosity secured for him a position of considerable influence. Another former member of the Indian Council, Raja Deo Narain Singh, K.C.S.I., President of the Benares Institute, has won golden opinions, both from the English and native community, for the zeal he has displayed in promoting many useful projects of social and national interest. Nor must I omit to mention the popular and kind-hearted Babu Futteh Narain Singh, Vice-President of the Institute, at whose house the meetings of this society are held; and his accomplished son, Babu Aiśwarya Nárayan Sinh, the Secretary of the Institute. One of the most enterprising men of the city is Babu Siva Prasad, of whom mention has already been made in this work, who, by his personal labours as Joint Inspector of Schools, and by the many valuable books he has written, has done more, perhaps, for the education of the people than any other native in the NorthWestern Provinces of India. As a littérateur, the disguished Mohammedan, Saiyid Ahmad Khán, is the most prominent of his coreligionists. He is the author of a Commentary, in Urdú and English, on the Sacred Scriptures, part of which has already been printed,—a work that has excited no little curiosity amongst various classes of persons. Connected with the Government College are several natives of great learning, the names of some of whom are known beyond their own country; such as Pandit Bápú Deva Sástrí, Honorary Member

of the Royal Asiatic Society, and Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in the Sanskrit College; and Babu Mathuráprasád, author of the valuable Trilingual Dictionary, in English, Urdú, and Hindí, lately published.

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CHAPTER XXII.

SENTIMENTS engendered by the contemplation of the city of BenaresIts history, the history of India.-Principles of progress at work in the city. Changes visible in native society.-The Brahmo Samáj.— Diminished study of Sanskrit. - Diminished faith in idolatry, in Benares and Northern India generally.-Influence of education on Hindu youths.-A Martin Luther for India.-Influence and spread of Christianity.--Priests of Pisách-Mochan Tank.-Literary and Religious Societies amongst the natives. - The Benares Institute — Nature of its discussions. - Lecture of Pandit Lakshmají - His account of the consequences of Hinduism.--Effect of Missions and Education on Benares, and on India.-Religious agitation in India.— What is the destiny of Idolatry, and of Christianity in India ?—The Future in respect of Benares.-Remarks of the Rev. Dr. Thomson, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States, on the religious and social condition and future prospects of India.

THE ancient and modern buildings of Benares and its neighbourhood, about which I have been discoursing, were constructed by a living, earnest people, who have, for the most part, passed away, but have left these remains behind them, illustrative of their power and skill, of their greatness and glory. By examining these buildings, we gain some knowledge of the people who erected them; and this is the main object we should have in view. Undoubtedly, there is a subtle mysterious pleasure awakened in the breast by the contemplation of an old ruin; but it owes all its force to the fact that the old ruin is associated with human existence in a by-gone age, with the forefathers of the

present race inhabiting the earth. These sentiments, again, are modified in proportion to the extent of our knowledge of the past. For instance, if we are able to accumulate data sufficient to compare one epoch with another, we are conscious of experiencing pleasure or pain, in proportion as we find humanity progressing or degenerating. There are few sentiments more elevating to the soul than those which spring from the study of a nation which has carried on a long and desperate struggle with great systems of error and moral corruption, and has come out of the conflict triumphant, with clearer perceptions of truth and purer notions of virtue. On the other hand, there is no sentiment more depressing than that which is produced by the study of a people who have declined from bad to worse; from one abomination to another; from one system of evil to others more and more opposed to truth, to reason, and to God.

Now, in regard to the history of Benares, I cannot say that many pleasurable feelings have been engendered in my mind, as I have pondered over it. Its history is, to a great extent, the history of India; and, therefore, it is hardly fair to isolate the city from the country, and to pass judgment on it alone. Speaking, then, of this great city as representative of an immense empire, one is bound to say, that, while its career has been of long duration, it has not been of a character to awaken much of enthusiasm or admiration. It cannot be said that either the moral, or the social, or even the intellectual, condition of the people residing here is a whit better than it was upwards of two thousand years ago.

One fails to trace, throughout this vast period, any advance in those higher principles of human action, the practice of which alone makes a nation truly illustrious and great. On the contrary, the revelations of the past, brief and scattered though they be, are found to establish the fact beyond all dispute, that, at least in one distant epoch of Hindu History, more respect was paid to truth, honesty, and virtue, than is generally shown by the present inhabitants of India. Now, just as we do not admire a man who happens to be a hundred years old, unless we know that he has lived a life of integrity and uprightness, and has increased in wisdom and probity with his years, so we must withhold our admiration from a city or nation which, from a combination of certain peculiar circumstances, has drawn out an existence of wondrous length, but, in respect of its virtues and moral excellences, in respect of those higher qualities which mainly distinguish man from the brute, and by the possession of which he becomes, in a measure, assimilated to his Creator, has, for many ages, been in an unprogressive and stagnant condition. Such a nation or city may possess fine buildings, fine temples, fine gháts, and fine tanks, as Benares has done for thousands of years; but its material splendour will only augment the pervading gloom, just as the stars of heaven give intensity to the darkness of night.

These remarks are intimately connected with the object of this work, which has reference not only to the physical and external circumstances of Benares, but also to its highest moral relations. While I look with profound regret on much of the past history of India, I