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stacles; but heedless sloth is ever more degrading, dangerous.

I remember being on the box of the Quicksilver mail aforesaid, when the roads were all ice-it was the same famous 7th of January that made Murphy a meteorologist-and seeing that our Jehu was driving furiously, I half suggested slower caution. "Lor bless your innocence, sir; they'd all be down if I didn't keep 'em on the gallop; they haven't time now to think o' falling :" and off we went faster than ever.

Sometimes, rashness is the truest wisdom; and when it's no use considering because things must be done, give them their heads.

That same independent daring and dashing spirit of galloping is in old Æsop's very blood and bones; to be a wild Arab, free as the air he breathes,-to court rather than shun the report of eccentricity, simply because it leaves him so much the freer to do as he likes,--to be one of the incomprehensibles of society, licensed to have his own way and to speak his own word-to leap your ditches of etiquette, break your fences of usual ity, and make a dash at the current truth of any sort when and as and as fast as he wills-that's the same spirit which my galloping Brenda infuses into me when she makes me an exulting Bashi-bazouk !

PUPPETS AND WIRES.

A poor haggard-cheeked Italian, with a very antiquated piece of machinery, whereby two dolls danced together to the music of a primitive drum, came within my ken as I rode by. He was surrounded by a wondering group of school children, and seemed born under an affirmative planet; at least his "Si, signor," enunciated from smiling lips, with a copious illustration of bright eyes and teeth, was both amiable and inces

sant.

A small donation at the last, made his "Gracias" equally profuse. He changed the tune of his tambour from the doleful to the happy in my honor, and the puppets danced merrily forthwith.

As for me, I jogged onward athinking.

That acute and needy Neapolitan, I ruminated, is the Pope; the dolls, a bedizened female and a gilded prince, make out church and state; the drum is Hudibras's drum; the machinery of secret strings being Jesuitical. The school children, thought I further, constitute this credulous, intelligent age; the perpetual affirmations, universal philanthropy; the donation, our too charitable homage in all silly liberalities to Rome; and the merry doll-dance typifies the vain triumph of Antichrist.

And yet, I thought still further, does all this really do worse than amuse those poor work-a-day children, and avail to instruct me? Let them laugh, and let me think; and beyond my eleemosynary mercy, is Ambrosio after all any the mightier? The Pope's pipe, and "pulpit, drum ecclesiastic, beat with fist instead of a stick," and the courteous prince, and the flattered lady, and the simple multitude, and the alms, and affirmations, and exultations, and all, are they not, when all's said, servants to right reason? Will not power, if insolence occur and need be, take up that meek Italian and make a gaol example of him, supposing the va grant-amuser to turn thief, or lewd, or drunken?

There's plenty more, said I as I cantered off, in that fellow with his puppets and wires.

Dear me he's an Editor, possibly of the and he makes those dolls dance (in capitals) in his leaders; and all the school children look on and wonder, and here and there one outsider thinks. And the Cisalpine takes pay, too, somehow, and his dolls dance accordingly: and still, the outsider thinks. Does the Editor remember that?

In effect, your public puppet-mover is nothing but a servant to that calm outsider who thinks, even as those puppets are obedient to him that pulls the strings: but the paid Italian, influenced both by largess and enthusiasm, has mighty little self-control, unless in acquiescence; and your utterly disinterested outsider remains, after all, master of the position, puppet-watching, meditative, eleemosynary.

FATTENED TOADS.

My nephew Robert pets toads. His humane fishing with the bare hook will have prepared you for this congenial point of character. He has taken it into his head that the toad has not had justice among men, and that he will do his school-boy best to better its condition. So, scorning the gentle rabbit, the generous dog, the docile pony, and the graceful array of fowls, pigeons, and the like, my eccentric nephew pets toads.

Each in its independent garden-pot, covered with a tile, there Bob's toads grow fat in moss on bread and milk. One grudges such luck to such creatures; and moreover, they remain venomous as ever, and are, after all, by no means happy.

I'm afraid we fatten toads in penitentiaries. I'm afraid that convicted crime is pampered by many comforts, denied all life through to industrious and innocent poverty. No sooner does a wretched rustic become a criminal, than county ladies and gentlemen begin to pet him; as a mere day labourer or parish pauper he would have starved in his uninteresting virtue; but crime makes all the difference, and even the sleepiest of rectors will hasten to make an impression, if possible, on one so thoroughly vicious.

What a mercy it is to society, that there is a solid substratum of honest English worth even beneath the lowest round of our ladder! Otherwise, such a downright premium on crime would tell fearfully upon us. It is a folly and a blunder, not to say a sin, to pet toads as we do: but then it's so complacent to one's own virtue to show such charities to other folk's vices-and what a luxury a convert is !

Nephew Robert, I wish you would spend your amiable energies on some less worthless reptiles. There's plenty of sorrow to be soothed, plenty of want to be relieved, before you get so far as the felon's ward: go there, if you will, but by all means first make your friendly visit to the garrets and the cellars, overfilled by virtue in affliction.

Turn those toads out of your gardenpots, and give their bread and milk to poor little Jem, scaring birds from the wheat yonder; he hasn't had a full

hot meal like that this many a day. Such a dietary as he is used to would occasion a commission of enquiry against any prison governor; so give the poor lad, whose innocence otherwise were an earthly loss however a heavenly gain- give him the benefit of that kindliness to his virtue which philanthropy would be sure to exhibit to his vice.

BLOODSUCKERS.

One great vice in the constitution of society (moralized I, jogging homeward), is that everybody is bribed to be dishonest; and one most unexpected virtue in human nature lies in this fact, that, notwithstanding selfinterest, average honesty is a pretty common quality.

It must be, for instance, the direct advantage of doctors to disseminate disease, of lawyers to foment quarrels, of food merchants to encourage waste, of your tailor to recommend a cloth that soon gets rusty, of your glazier to put in panes thin enough to cause a job again, of your boot-maker to take care that upper leathers be not tanned to imperishability; nay, in much higher matters, a total stagnation of religion in the parish promotes the home-peace of the Reverend Dr. Drone, a murrain among his kith and kin excites delicious hope in the heart of that far distant possible heir, one's cousin in the Orkneys;-and a glorious victory, with colonels and majors well killed off, is to poor old subalterns prosperity and promotion.

And yet how seldom can we complain of any gross and avowed selfishness exhibited, in spite of all temptations. Notwithstanding all, things rub on pretty fairly, and so give human nature credit; honesty is the best policy, and we are wise enough to know it.

But, when all's said, what a pity it seems that somehow there cannot be managed a wiser organization; as, to pay the doctor so much a year to keep one well, or, at all events, to do his best for it; to fee the lawyer after a like fashion, provided you be not yourself litigiously disposed; to pay for durables avowedly twice as much as for perishables; to infuse a little lay

element of supervision over the results of Dr. Drone's ministry, that his worldly comfort be more or less dependent on his righteous exertionsto pension the expectant heir into kindliness and patience; and as for the poor old subaltern, to shelve his colonel sooner.

So should we all feel a confidence in one another, which now is far too often lacking. Who does not suspect his apothecary of over-dosing at the rate of three-and-sixpence a bottle? or his solicitor of needless notes "in re Smith's trustees," tempted by sixand-eightpence a letter? Could country rectors vegetate with impunity for fifty years of uselessness, if the blessedness of stagnation were not quite compatible with their worldly interests? And who does not now

complain of his parson? Vainly, for the Bishop will not hear of missionary zeal nearer than Timbuctoo, and is too calmly dignified not to dislike your parochial Whitfields.

As things are, the scheme of society is, in sop's ken, one of those frightfully magnified drops of dirty water at the Polytechnic, where all sorts of shocking creatures are eating each other up alive before our eyes. When I go down the High-street of my country town, I seem to recognise a different sort of leech in every hungry shopkeeper-all have an interest under my waistcoat, "Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo ;" and every one of us would make a horrible picture if represented with our innumerable bloodsuckers, thirsty and dependent.

OUDE, AS A KINGDOM.

THE late kingdom of Oude extended about two hundred miles in length by one hundred and twenty in breadth, and was estimated to contain nearly 24,000 square miles of superficial area. The surface is a level plain, intersected by the Ganges, the Goghra, the Goomtee, and the Sai, and by a multitude of minor streams. Its soil is naturally fertile, and produces two crops annually of all kinds of grain except rice.

The sugar cane and the cotton tree flourish in perfection, but indigo and opium are not of the best quality, owing perhaps to some defect in the cultivation. Fruit also is small and deficient in flavour. During the hot season the thermometer is often known to exhibit 115° of Fahrenheit in the shade, but from October to February the mean temperature does not exceed 76,° and at times falls as low as 29° a few hours before daybreak. At this period of the year hoar frost is not uncommon, though the rime disappears immediately after the rising of the sun. The birds and animals met with in other parts of India abound in the Oude jungles, particularly in the Teraie, or belt of wild forest-land lying along the foot of the Nepaul mountains. Hitherto, the commerce of the country has been confined within very narrow limits, owing to

the numerous and vexatious exactions with which traders have been oppressed. Not only were the tolls and duties excessively heavy, but every boat-load of goods was liable to be stopped by some powerful landholder on the banks of the river, and subjected to such imposts as his personal exigencies or caprice might suggest.

The population of Oude has been variously computed at from three and a half to five millions; probably the true estimate lies about midway between these extremes. For the most part the inhabitants of this country are a fine manly race, from which the native army in the East India Company's service has long been recruited to a great extent. According to the late Major-General Sleeman not fewer than 40,000 sepoys of that army are natives of Oude. These are usually Hindoos, and mostly Brahmins and Rajpoots. Their tall athletic stature and martial bearing cause their proffer of military service to be eagerly accepted. And they are as brave as they look; in the heat of battle their courage being some times exaggerated to ferocity. In the northern part of the kingdom there dwells a peculiar tribe called Pasees; short, squarebuilt men, equally renowned for their

dishonesty and trustworthiness. Professionally they are thieves, in whose eyes nothing is of mean value that belongs to another person. They seize indiscriminately on great prizes and on small, and display equal skill, perseverance, and audacity in appropriating an old suit of clothes, or a splendid charger. Nevertheless, they may be trusted with untold gold, and when employed as a police their fidelity is proverbial. Their weapons are those of their forefathers -arrows, and a horn-bow with a double curve, which they bend with their toe and right hand. A nearly similar tribe are the Rungers, whose powers of endurance almost amount to impassibility. "One of them,"says a writer in Saunders' Magazine, a literary periodical formerly published at Delhi-"one of them, while hid under a heap of hay in a stable, where he had concealed himself to steal a fine horse, happening to disturb the animal, allowed the syce, (groom) who was not aware of the thief's presence, to hammer an iron peg right through his hand, without uttering a sigh even. He had then the intrepidity to extricate the mangled limb with his right hand, to loosen the horse, and to gallop off with it."

The ancient capital of Oude was the city of Ajoodhya, famous in the traditionary lore of the Hindoos as the seat of Dasaratha, the father of Rama. Its former magnitude is attested by the extent of its ruins, but it is now only celebrated as a favorite resort of pilgrims. Lucknow, the modern capital, is situated on the Southern bank of the Goomtee, or "the Twister," so called from its meandering course. It is divided into two distinct parts, the old and the new. The latter has been likened to Constantinople as seen from the bridge across the Golden Horn, and is certainly the most oriental in its aspect of all Indian cities.

At a

short distance the coup d'ail is both brilliant and imposing. Numerous palaces, mosques, and mausolea raise their gilded domes and graceful minarets on high, while the meaner habitations are embowered and concealed in the foliage of numberless trees. The intermixture of gardens extends the limits of Lucknow far beyond the requirements of its popuVOL. XLIX.-NO. CCLXXXIX.

lation, which is estimated at three quarters of a million. It is seven miles in length and four in breadth, but it is only the central part of the town that is densely peopled. But however beautiful may be the distant view of Lucknow, the spell is rudely broken on entering the narrow filthy streets of the native town. Barbaric pomp is here strangely mingled with the squalor of poverty, and miserable hovels seem to grow out of the moral corruption that battens within the lofty walls which separate the wealthy and powerful from their lowly and abject neighbours. Many of the royal palaces and other public buildings display, however, the florid magniticence that in a high degree characterized Saracenic architecture in the palmy days of Mahommedanism. One of the most stately edifices is the Imambarra, or tomb of Asoph-oodDowlah, the contemporary of Warren Hastings. The centre room is 167 feet long by 52 wide, and is filled with the most heterogeneous articles, some of great price, others utterly worthless, but all jumbled together without the slightest idea of harmony.

When ascending the marble steps leading to the edifice at the bottom of the garden, I imagined for a moment-says Mr. Bayard Taylor-that I beheld a manufactory of chandeliers. Through the open marble arches nothing else was at first visible. The whole building was hung with themimmense pyramids of silver, gold, prismatic crystals, and coloured glass-and where they were too heavy to be hung, they rose in radiant piles from the floor. In the midst of them were temples of silver filagree, eight or ten feet high, and studded with cornelians, agates, and emeralds. These were the tombs. The place was a singular jumble of precious objects. There were ancient banners of the Nawabs of Oude, heavy with sentences from the Koran embroidered in gold; gigantic bands of silver, covered with talismanic words; sacred shields, studded with the names of God; swords of Khorassan steel, lances and halberds; the turbans of renowned commanders; the trappings of the white horse of Nasr-cd-Deen, mounted on a wooden effigy; and several pulpits of peculiar sanctity. I had some difficulty in making out a sort of centaur, with a human head, eyes of agate, a horse's body of silver, and a peacock's tail, but was solemnly informed that it was a correct representation of the beast Borak, on which the Prophet made his journey to Paradise. The bridle was held by two dumpy angels, also of silver, and on each side stood a tiger about five feet long

H

and made of transparent blue glass. These, I was told, came from Japan.

Asoph-ood-Dowlah was one of those whose vulgar-minded individuals means considerably exceed their faculty of enjoyment. On mirrors and chandeliers he contrived to squander a million sterling; his double-barrelled guns cost him £150,000; and on a single Taziah, or model of the tomb of the martyr Hoossein, he expended no less a sum than £320,000.

Another remarkable building is the Furreed Buksh palace, wherein four Kings of Oude have inaugurated their accession to the throne, but which has lately been appropriated as the residence of some of the royal wives and concubines. The view of the palace from the opposite side of the river is extremely picturesque, but the interior arrangements are paltry and inconvenient. The apartments are so crowded with furniture of the most incongruous forms, that it is impossible to judge of their proportions:

The roofs are gaudily painted. Mahomedan purees (female angels) habited in red and yellow, and ornamented with blue wings, are enveloped in the clouds of heaven; two of them are condescending enough to hold the crown of the King of the Fairies" right over the throne. The throne is of massive gold, set with innumerable precious stones, forming foliage and flowers on the sides of it. It is supported by four griffins and flanked by two tigers, all of gold, with eyes of rubies.

The throne-room was once decorated with magnificent pier-glasses and still more valuable oil-paintings, but these have since been destroyed or removed, and the aspect of the hall is dreary and desolate.

The palace of the present exmonarch is described as being thoroughly characteristic of its royal occupant :

The variety and profusion of the decorations, the gilding and foliage, the incrustations of stucco-work, and the intricate ornamental detail about the porticoes, pillars, naves, and arches, of the horse-shoe form, and Saracenic conic sectional curve, with filagree-work and grotesque figures, painted with the most showy colours in wretched taste, and the fine marble-work of the floors, &c., bespeak great splendour and wealth.”

A much more extraordinary struc

ture is the Martinière, or college founded by General Martine, a French soldier of fortune in the service of one of the former Nawabs. Having reason to apprehend that his house and estate would be seized after his death, he left instructions that he should be interred in the basement of the building, thus converting it into a mausoleum. So great is the reverence displayed by Mahommedans for the last resting-place of humanity, that not even royal rapacity dare venture to despoil a tomb. By this means the charitable intentions of the General have been fully carried out, though it is to be regretted that his taste was not equal to his liberality. The college proper has been added to his own residence, Constantia House—so called in allusion to the "constancy” by which he was enabled to attain such a high position--in the form of crescent-shaped wings, flanked by a lofty colonnade. The body of this monstrous pile is composed of an inmense number of terraces, antiquelooking castles, with monster lions by their sides, narrow stair-cases, chambers, and rooms, and statues. The terraces are ornamented with figures of the mythological deities of Greece and Rome, mingled with Sphinxes, Mandarins, Dutch peasants, French milkmaids à la Watteau, and German gardeners. A similar superabundance of ornamentation pervades the interior:-

The roofs are high and lofty, and adorned with groups of small figures and tableaux representing mythological events in altorelievo, with foliage, plants, fruits, flowers, and fancy decorative works of great beauty. The walls are ornamented in a very tasteful and elegant though showy manner, with garlands, festoons, crowns, chaplets, vases, allegorical figures, flowers, fillets, baguettes, and cymas. The niches, which are numerous, are decorated with busts of the founder, and with mythological statuettes; and the columns, which are of the composite order, have bases and cornices profusely ornamented with all manner of flowers, crowns, medallions, heads, dentils, and leaves.

In the streets a motley population flows on in a continuous stream. Owing to the narrowness of the bazaars, horses, elephants, camels, and foot-passengers, are all mingled together in seemingly inextricable confusion. Loud is the din of angry

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