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IN

ples of Taste.

N no art has the passion of novelty had more influence, than in that of landscape gardening, or embellishing, and improving grounds; of which it appears hitherto to have been almost the sole principle. Whenever this art has been practised in countries imperfectly cultivated, as in the ancient Persian and Roman empires; and in the modern kingdoms and states of Europe, till late ly; it has always appeared to delight in a profuse display of labour and expence, and in deviating as much as possible from ordinary nature. Rivers, springs, groves, lawns, and forests, were to be seen every where; and the country was covered with fine trees which exhibited every variety of natural form: but canals, fountains, quincunxes, and parterres, were only to be seen where art and industry had formed them; and trees cut into the shapes of pyramids and colonnades, men and ani. mals were new and unusual objects; and such as were only to be found in highly dressed gardens. Novelty, contrast, and surprize, are naturally so pleasing, that every person was delighted with objects of this kind; and as the word beauty is always ap plied indiscriminately to every visible object, that is in any way pleasing, no one hesitated in calling them beautiful. A great writer has in

deed gone still further, and so com~ pletely sacrificed both his feelings and his philosophy to the fashion of the day, that, in investigating the subject, he discovers that surprize, arising from novelty and contrast, is the genuine principle of beauty; and consequently the Boromean island, in which all these tricks of art are contrasted with wild uncultivated mountains surrounding an extensive lake, is the most beautiful spot on the globe *. Another great writer afterwards discovered, that surprize, or astonishment, was the genuine prin ciple, not of the beautiful, but of the sublime; which, according to him, is as diametrically opposite to beauty as pain is to pleasure t. When: Montesquieu and Burke thus difer upon a subject of common sense and feeling, which each had made the particular object of his investigation, who shall hope to escape error in any theoretical enquiry?

By taking a comparative view of the style of ornamental gardening in the remotest parts of Asia, we shall find a farther illustration of the influence of the same principle of novelty in a directly contrary mode of practice. In the vast and popu lous empire of China, every spot capable of producing food for either man or beast is cultivated to the ut most extent of art and industry, and there the gardens of luxury, and grounds devoted to amusement are affectedly diversified with artificial rocks, irregular lakes and ponds, and other imitations of the wild varieties. of uncultivated nature: for there such objects are rare and novel; and consequently the possessing them displays wealth, taste, and magnifi

cence.

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With the general extension of cultivation and enclosing in England, this style, or at least an imperfect.

* Montesquieu Fragmems sur le gout. Inquiry into the sublime and beautiful.

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imitation of it, was introduced among us; and as novelty recommended it to fashion, it soon obtained the sanction of general usage, which it has now possessed so long, that it will probably soon lose it by the influence of the same restless power which first introduced it. At least it has no other principle to rest upon; and this is, in its nature, a changeable one. may serve indeed to distinguish the great man's place from the adjoining country; and a large space of ground, enclosed by a belt, and dotted with clumps, may shew his wealth and magnificence, and the sacrifices which he makes to his taste: but these sacrifices afford no gratification but to vanity; since, by the very act of sacrifieing it, that is of throwing it open, all the charms of intricacy and variety are demolished, and no other substituted in their place.

Since the introduction of another style of ornamental gardening, called at first oriental, and afterwards landscape gardening, (probably from its efficacy in destroying all picturesque composition) Grecian temples have been employed as decorations by almost all persons, who could afford to indulge their taste in objects so costly: but though executed, in many instances, on a scale, and in a manner suitable to the design, disappointment has, I believe, been invariably the result. Nevertheless, Nevertheless, they are unquestionably beautiful, being exactly copied from those models, which have stood the criticism of many successive ages, and been constantly beheld with delight and admiration. In the rich lawns and shrubberies of England, however, they lose all that power to please which they so eminently possessed on the barren hills of Agrigentum and Segesta, or the naked plains of Paestum and Athens. But barren and naked as these hills and plains are,

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they are still, if I may say so, their native hills and plains-the scenery in which they sprung; and in which the mind therefore contemplates them connected and associated with numberless interesting circumstances, both local and historical,-both physical and moral, upon which it delights to dwell. In our parks and gardens, on the contrary, they stand wholly unconnected with all that surrounds them-mere unmeaning excrescences; or, what is worse, manifesly meant for ornament, and therefore having no accessory character, but that of ostentatious vanity; so that instead of exciting any interest, they vitiate and destroy that, which the naturalized objects of the country connected with them would otherwise excite. Even if the landscape scenery should be rendered really beautiful by such ornaments, its beauty will be that of a vain and affected coquette; which, though it may allure the sense, offends the understanding; and, on the whole, excites more disgust than pleasure. In all matters of this kind, the imagination must be conciliated before the eye can be delighted.

Military Character of the Native Armies in INDOSTAN. From ORME'S Historical Fragments of the MOGUL Empire.

THE rudeness of the military art in

Indostan can scarcely be imagined, but by those who have seen it. The infantry consists in a multitude assembled without regard to rank and file some with swords and targets, who can never stand the shock of a body of horse: some bearing matchlocks, which, in the best of order, can produce but a very uncertain fire some armed with lances too long or too weak to be of any service, even if ranged with the utmost regularity of discipline.

Little

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As the Moors are the lords of the country, they are of consequence the warriors of it. These derive from their originals, the Tartars, the affection which that people are famous for bearing towards their horses; and the love of ease in an inclement climate, has fixed this preference. The strain of all the war rests upon the number or goodness of the horse which are found in an army.

Every man brings his own horse, and offers himself to be inlisted. The horse, and not the man, is carefully examined; and, according to the size and value of the beast, the soldier receives his pay. A good horse will bring thirty or forty_rupees a-month. Sometimes an officer contracts for a whole troop which he has enlisted.

A horse in Indostan is of four times greater value than in Europe. If the horse is killed, the man is ruined. Strange that such a regulation should be established, as makes it the interest of the soldiers to fight as little as possible.

The privileges of free booty and plunder, together with sudden and sanguinary excursions, in some measure, check this consequence. The officer who commands a troop which he has raised himself, is responsible for the behaviour of his men he therefore brings them of his own family, or at least such as he can depend on. These interests and con

April 1806.

nections do but indifferently supply the defects of a real love to their country, or a real attachment to their prince; principles which are very rarely found to influence the people of

Indostan.

The victory is commonly decided by the fall of the principal men in the army. These begin the onset, and are followed by the hardiest of their partizans; who no sooner see their chief destroyed than they take to flight. Numbers of such skirmishes compose what is called a battle in Indostan. The greatest slaughter falls around the commander in chief, as the victory is confirm. ed in the instant of his death.

Armies more encumbered with the conveniences of life, than with the preparations for war, form loose, straggling, and disorderly camps, and make irregular dilatory marches.The mutual inactivity becomes the general security; for as it is a custom of the east to make the great meal at night, and of consequence to fall into deep sleep immediately after it, a handful of resolute men might easily beat up a camp of many thousands.

The courage of the people depends on the climate. In the northern parts of the kingdom, firmer fibres produce a proportionable degree of resolution: in the southern, all is sensibility; and fear must be predominant in such as are infinitely susceptible of the minutest impres

sions.

Persons of high rank and distinction are as seldom wanting in an intrepidity, as little sensible to the apprehensions of danger, as the pusillanimity of the lower and meaner people is incapable of resisting such impulses.

Force

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Force possessed by SCINDEAH and subordination, undisciplined, nor

HOLKAR, in 1852.

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Remarks by M. THOMAS. It is proper to observe, that Mr Perron and Ambajee are now levying troops, which may cause a material error in this statement a few months hence. Ambajee and Perron are possessed of artillery exclusive of the above-mentioned; and Scindeah, by the artillery taken from Holkar, is able to add considerably to his own part.

In the present state of Scindeah's artillery; they are the worst in India; are not commanded by offic cers of experience, nor well armed, nor cordially attached to the service of their master; they are in arrears of pay, and would be defeated by a small force of regular disciplined troops, with a few pieces of well-served artillery.

Mr Perron's infantry are, in appearance, the best troops belonging to Scindeah; they are under better subordination to their officers, and are more regularly paid, armed, clothed, and disciplined.

Holkar's cavalry are superior to those of Scindeah, being better officered, and more correspondent with the real Mahratta custom of predatory warfare.

The infantry (observes M. Thonas) are very bad. They are ill paid, badly officered, and without

can they make use of their arms in action.

The Rohillas in Holkar's service are a faithless rabble, who will stand true only as long as they find it their interest; they are always ready to leave, or ruin him, if not regularly paid, or when expected to move against an enemy of superior force; or, if by any means they should have accumulated money.

Detailed Statement of the collected Force of KASHI RAO HOLKAR, and JESSIVUNT RAO HOLKAR. Cavalry 30,000

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Pindarees, or Looties, mounted on small horses 10,000

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a hospital, so I first looked into the records of this court, which, though narrow and liable to some exceptions that I shall afterwards mention, have at least the advantage of being, as far as they go, authentic.

Since the institution of this court in the year 1798, I observe that 64 persons have been tried for various felonies; of whom 33 have been convicted, 31 acquitted, and 9 have suffered capital punishment. If I were to estimate the morality of this community from our records alone, I should not form a very unfavourable opinion of it. For, in that part of the British dominions in Europe where capital punishment is much the least frequent, I mean in Scotland, we know, from the authority of Mr Hume, professor of law at Edinburgh, that on an average of thirty years, six had annually suffer ed death out of a population which is probably not far from eighteen hundred thousand. If this state of things be compared with the situation of Bombay, where there have been three capital punishments every two years, out of a population of 150,000, the result is, no doubt, considerably against this island. But the comparison between a large seaport town, as this island may be cal led, and an extensive country, is not fair. A more equitable comparison furnishes a more favourable result. The same author (Mr Hume) tells us, that the city of Edinburgh, which, with its ports and suburbs, cannot contain a population much above 100,000, has, on an average of twelve years, furnished three executions every two years. I believe I may venture to say, without any fear of contradiction, that it is fortunate and honourable for a people to find its morality nearly approaching to that of the inhabisants of Edinburgh. But I fear we cannot make so favourable an ip

ference from our criminal records. Here they are not so exact a criterion of the prevailing moral diseases, as they would be in most coun

tries.

The difference of manners and lan

guage, and perhaps the hostile prejudices of many of the natives, render difficult the detection of crimes, and increase the chances of total concealment, in a proportion which we cannot exactly calculate, but which we know to be very great. Much of what passes among the lowest natives must be involved in a darkness impenetrable to the eyes of the most vigilant police; after the existence of a crime is ascertained, the same obstacles stand in the way of identifying the criminal, and even after he is perfectly known, our local situation, which is that of a large town in a small territory, is that which an experienced offender would select for the opportunity of concealment and the facility of escape; and such is the unfortunate prevalence of the crime of perjury, that the hope of impunity is not extinguished by the apprehension of the delinquent. If to this you add the supine acquiescence of many English inhabitants in the peculations of their domestic servants, which, from an opinion of the rooted depravity of the natives, we seem to look upon as if their vices were immutable and inflexible, like the laws of nature; and if you add also those summary chastisements, which are, in my opinion, almost always useless, as examples, you will not wonder that I do not consider the records of the criminal court as a measure of the guilt of the community. Indeed the universal testimony of Euro. peans, however much I may suspect occasional and partial exaggeration, is an authority too strong for me to struggle with, and I observe that the accommplished and justly celebrated person (Sir W.

Jones

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