mons to breakfast. To unaccustomed eyes, nothing can be more surprising than the spacious saloons thrown open upon these occasions, for the reception of company. I remember once losing my way in the intricate passages connecting the apartments of a tent, fitted up for the accommodation of a large party of ladies.

An Indian breakfast is allowed to be an unrivalled repast, and it is to be found in as full perfection in the midst of a desert, as when spread upon the princely boards of the city of palaces. Indian servants never permit their masters to regret the want of regular kitchens; all places appear to be the same to them, and our déjeunés à la fourchette, in camp, could not be surpassed in the land of cakes. Fish of every kind, fresh, dried, pickled, or preserved, or hermetically sealed in tin; delicate fricassees, risolles, croquettes, omelettes, and curries of all descriptions; cold meats and game of all sorts; patés, jellies, and jams from London and Lucknow; fruits and sweetmeats; with cakes in endless variety, splendidly set out in china, cut glass, and silver, the guests providing their own tea-cups, plates, &c.

There are races at Cawnpore during the cold season, and as they have been long established, they generally afford good sport. These races form a very amusing scene, the male spectators, with few exceptions, appearing in masquerade; for the object being to divest the meeting of all military show, the young men endeavour to imitate, as nearly as their wardrobes will permit, the dress and appointments of English country gentlemen, farmers, and even rustics rather a difficult achievement, where there is so little opportunity of keeping up a stock of plain clothes, and where young men, not anticipating the necessity of assuming a peaceable character, have neglected to provide themselves with a fitting disguise. Ingenuity is racked to find substitutes for the coveted garments; happy are those who possess a single-breasted coat, topped boots, and corduroys; round hats and jockey-caps are at a premium, and native tailors are employed to manufacture fac-similes of uncouth garments from all sorts of materials. Many of the gentlemen ride their own matches, and there is generally a very amusing mêlée, in which all descriptions of horses are entered, and which affords the greatest sport to those lookers-on not interested in the favorites. Prodigious quantities of gloves and lavander-water are lost and won by the ladies, and ruinous consequences too frequently result from the more serious transactions of the betting-stand. Gambling is one of the great evils of Indian life; and though much more limited in its extent than in former times, it is still productive of debt, difficulty, and disgrace to numbers of heedless young men. In Cawnpore, it is sometimes carried to a very dangerous extent; more particularly at those seasons when there are few balls and parties to divert the attention of idle youths from cards and dice: and at those periods the want of a public library is also severely felt. The supply of books is seldom equal to the demand; for though there are numerous clubs established in the various corps,

and a few private collections belonging to the residents, the works which are to be found in all are chiefly of a light and desultory description. Books of instruction and reference are rarely to be purchased or borrowed; and however anxious young men may be to make themselves acquainted with the natural productions of India, or to study its political history, they must remain destitute of the means, unless they can afford to send to Calcutta or to England for the necessary materials. Had the government established libraries at the head-quarters of every district, a trifling subscription from the temporary residents would have sufficed to keep them up, and the advantage to young men of a studious turn would have been incalculable but there are no facilities given for the acquisition of knowledge, and it must be picked up under the most disadvantageous circumstances. This, with the exception of Mhow, where a library has been established, is the case in every part of the Bengal presidency; and when the extreme youth of the cadets who are sent from school to fill up the vacancies of the Indian army, and their want of opportunities for improvement after their arrival, are taken into consideration, the highly intellectual state of society throughout Hindostan, must excite surprise. A church and a well-furnished library alone are wanting to render Cawnpore as delightful a residence, as an eastern climate and military duties will permit. It has not the reputation of being unhealthy, though in the rainy season it shares with other stations the prevalent diseases of fever and ague; and being the high road to the frontiers, many travellers pause on their journey, after having received the seeds of their disorders in distant places, to lay their remains in the crowded cemetery of Cawnpore. During the hot winds, it is burning, stifling, smothering; but all places liable to this terrible visitation (the simoom and sirocco of travellers' tales) are equally scorching, and in some districts the blasts from the gaseous furnace, from which the plague must emanate, blow all night, whereas at Cawnpore they subside at sunset.

Persons, newly arrived from England or Calcutta, may deem Cawnpore a semi-barbarous place, since wolves stray into the compounds, and there are bungalows in which the doors, destitute of locks or handles, will not shut but the arrivals from outstations, dwellers in the jungle, companions of bears and boars (biped and quadruped) look upon it as an earthly paradise. It is well-supplied with every article of European manufacture necessary for comfort, or even luxury, though it must be confessed that they are frequently too high-priced to suit subalterns' allowances. The bazaars are second to none in India; beef, mutton, fish, and poultry being of the finest quality vegetables of all kinds may be purchased by those who have not gardens of their own, there being a sufficient demand to induce the natives to cultivate exotics for the market. In addition to the shops kept by Europeans, there are many warehouses, filled with English and French goods, belonging to Hindoo and Moosulmen merchants; and the jewellers are

scarcely inferior to those of Delhi. Cawnpore is celebrated for the manufacture of saddlery, harness, and gloves; though less durable than those of English make, the cheapness and beauty of the two former articles recommend them to the purchaser; and the gloves offer a very respectable substitute for the importations from France. Prints of fashions supply the mantua-makers and tailors with ideas, and as there is no lack of materials, the ladies of Cawnpore are distinguished in the Mofussil for a more accurate imitation of the toilettes of London and Paris, than can be achieved at more remote stations. Indeed, the contrast between the female residents, and their visitants from the surrounding jungles, is often extremely amusing.

The river's bank affords some very fine situations for bungalows, and the inequality of the ground offers many advantages to those in the interior of the cantonments. The roads are kept in good order; and as they stretch along thick plantations occasionally relieved by glimpses of European houses, or cross the broad paradegrounds and other open tracts, the bits of native scenery, a small mosque, a pagoda, or a well, peeping from the trees, the long alleys of a bazaar, and the open sheds of numerous artisans, present so many pleasing combinations, that the eye must be dull of perception which cannot find an infinity of beauty in the various drives and rides. Lucknow, the capital of the neighbouring kingdom of Oude, is only a few marches distant from Cawnpore, and forms a fovorite excursion, more especially whenever any particular festivities are going on at the court. In the proper season, huntingparties are also frequently made to look for tigers and wild hogs in the islands of the Ganges, or amid the deep jungles of its opposite shore.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

[From "The Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 19.”]

ART. I. Den Danske Billedhugger BERTEL THORVALDSEN, og hans Værker. Ved J. M. THIELE, Professor, Secretair ved det Kongeliege Akademie for de skiönne Kunster. Förste Deel, med

81 Kobbertavle. Kiöbenhavn. (The Danish Sculptor THORVALDSEN, and his Works. By J. M. THIELE, Professor, Secretary to the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts. Vol. I. with 81 Engravings. Copenhagen.) 8vo. 1832.

IT does not often fall to our lot to derive from a work sent for our notice, so much gratification as, under various points of view, we have received from this of Professor Thiele. In the first place we greet with pleasure every biographical notice of remarkable men; and in that chapter of the book of Fame which is dedicated to the fine arts, what living name can compete with Thorvaldsen's? Perhaps we might exchange the epithet "living" for that of "modern" for we believe none but Italians now even question the Danish artist's superiority to Canova himself; but we wish to waive for the moment all comparison of those two worthy successors of the great Hellenic masters, inasmuch as such discussion will find a more appropriate place when we shall have gone through the volume before us. Το return to the cause of our gratification from the said volume, (or rather volumes, for there is one of letter-press and one of engravings,)

we are highly pleased with the talent displayed by Danish artists in the engravings, which present us with outlines of some of Thorvaldsen's best statues and bas-reliefs; we are delighted with such a proof, as the undertaking itself, and the list of subscribers to it, exhibit, of Danish enthusiasm for compatriot genius; and we rejoice that those lovers of the arts who are not free to roam over Europe in search of the widely dispersed productions of Thorvaldsen, should be afforded some means of estimating his merits and the character of those productions.

Our anticipations of biographical enjoyment, however, we must confess, Professor Thiele has not fully realized. With the exception of the artist's genealogy and a few anecdotes of his boyish days, the life consists of little more than an account of his works, and the order in which they were undertaken and executed. We learn nothing of his manners, of his domestic and daily habits; and almost the only trait of character occurs in the Preface, when the author explains

* The Germans and French write Thorwaldsen; we prefer to follow the Danish orthography.

how he came to write his book. We will not however waste our pages with complaints of what we think wanting in the Professor's volume, a deficiency which, by the way, the second volume may perhaps supply, but proceed to give our readers a brief abstract of what it does contain.

Professor Thiele, as he tells us in his Preface, was a constant frequenter of Thorvaldsen's studio during a visit to Rome. At length he was about to return home, and says:

"One of my last days at Rome I passed in the little garden which is surrounded by Thorvaldsen's three lesser studios, in order to enrich my book of recollections with the image of a place so dear to me. Unexpectedly the artist stood behind me, and of his own accord led the conversation to the object then nearest my heart. I regret,' said Thorvaldsen, that no one has yet thought of my biography.' And at these words I was seized with the idea, which, for the six following years, pursued me amidst my dearest labors. I declared that I would gladly devote the requisite time, and such abilities as were given me, to the fulfilling in some measure of his and my own wish, upon condition, however, of his frank communication and assistance to my work. But here difficulties already met me. He averred that he knew but little, the occupations of his later life having year by year drawn the veil closer over the unimportant occurrences of his quiet youth; neither could his now engaged thoughts busy themselves with such matters; but I might apply to the friends of his youth."

From that source, the archives of the Copenhagen Academy, and what could be in any way extorted from Thorvaldsen himself, Professor Thiele has concocted the short account, of which we are about to extract the pith and marrow.

From an annexed genealogical table, it appears that Thorvaldsen descends by females from the royal blood of Scandinavia. His family had long been settled in Iceland, and in that Ultima Thule his ancestors had gradually sunk lower and lower in circumstances, until his father, Gotskalk Thorvaldsen, emigrated or immigrated to Copenhagen, where he earned his livelihood by carving in wood, and that not in the highest style. He appears to have been chiefly employed by shipwrights, and not to have ventured to attempt the figures that usually ornament a vessel's head, until his son was able to assist him by correcting his blunders. But despite this his lowly condition, Gotskalk married the daughter of a clergyman, who, on the 19th of November, 1770, bore him a son christened Bertel, the Scandinavian form of Albert.

The boy early discovered a turn for sketching and modelling, in consequence of which he was admitted as a student into the Copenhagen Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His progress through the different schools was rapid. His father, as we have said, rose in his occupation by his son's aid; and in the year 1787 Bertel won the lowest prize of the Academy, the small silver medal. At this period he was preparing for the church ceremony of confirmation, and, engrossed by his professional pursuits, had perhaps not devoted much time or thought to religious duties.