between the French and British Governments. It was one main object of Stanhope's journey in January to re-establish harmony; but finding the two Scotsmen irreconcileable, and one of them supreme in France, he, in concert with Dubois, recalled Lord Stair to England, and appointed Sir Robert Sutton his successor. Thus ended Stair's celebrated embassy, which Lord Hardwicke truly calls most important in its objects, most brilliant and spirited in its execution. But this last great error kept him under disgrace, or at least out of employment, for twenty years. In 1733 we find Horace Walpole write of him as one whose haughty intriguing character has drawn upon him the displeasure of the King.'

"The connection of Law with the French Government was very profitable to the latter, who contrived to throw off 1500 millions of public debts from their shoulders upon his; but this very circumstance, and the natural revulsion of high-wrought hopes, soon began to shake his air-built edifice. Two or three arbitrary Royal decrees to support him served only to prove that credit is not to be commanded. The more the public was bid to trust, the more they were inclined to fear, and the more eager they became to realise their imaginary profits. No sooner was the bubble touched than it burst. Before the end of 1720, Law was compelled not only to resign his employments, but to fly the kingdom for his life: a few speculators were enriched, but many thousand innocent families ruined. Still, however, in the early part of that year, the crash had not yet begun, and the rage of speculation spread over from France to England. In fact, from that time downward, it may be noticed that each of the two countries has been more or less moved by the internal movements of the other; and there has been scarcely any impulse at Paris which has failed to thrill and vibrate through every member of the British Empire."

With respect to the South Sea Scheme, there were statesmen in this country who predicted its fallacious and dangerous character. Lord Cowper, for example, compared the project to the Trojan horse, ushered in with great pomp and acclamation, but contrived for treachery and destruction. Indeed, such was the spirit of speculation at the time, that no sooner had the South Sea Bill received the royal assent, than the subscription, which the directors proposed should amount to one million, exceeded two; afterwards the subscriptions assumed a far more extravagant pitch. A thousand other mushroom projects almost simultaneously sprung up. The following are some of the companies that were hawked about during the mania: :-"Wrecks to be fished for on the Irish coast-Insurance of Horses, and other Cattle (two millions)-Insurance of Losses by Servants-To make Salt Water Fresh-For Building an Hospital for Bastard Children-For making of oil from Sun-flower SeedsFor trading in Human Hair." Perhaps a still more extravagant idea was contemplated by the Company, which united "for a Wheel for a Perpetual Motion." Nay, a still grosser mockery was "for an Undertaking which shall in due time be Revealed." Some of the consequences of this enormous infatuation of the nation in general, when the bubbles burst, are thus described by Lord Mahon; and

yet the lesson has not been permanently felt nor acted upon-leaving us to reflect on this melancholy truth, that there is something like periodical fits in the history of a nation, that subject it to the violent throes of unmitigated and unalleviated madness.

"Such extravagancies might well provoke laughter; but, unhappily, though the farce came first, there was a tragedy behind. When the sums intended to be raised had grown altogether, it is said, to the enormous amount of three hundred millions, the first check to the public infatuation was given by the same body whence it had first sprung. The South Sea Directors, craving for fresh gains, and jealous of other speculators, obtained an order from the Lords Justices, and writs of SCIRE FACIAS, against several of the new bubble companies. These fell, but in falling drew down the whole fabric with them. As soon as distrust was excited, all men became anxious to convert their bonds into money; and then at once appeared the fearful disproportion between the paper promises and the coin to pay. Early in September, the South Sea Stock began to decline: its fall became more rapid from day to day, and in less than a month it had sunk below 300. In vain was money drained from all the distant counties, and brought up to London. In vain were the goldsmiths applied to, with whom large quantities of stock were pawned: most of them broke or fled. In vain was Walpole summoned from Houghton to use his influence with the Bank; for that body, though it entered into negotiations, would not proceed in them, and refused to ratify a contract drawn up and proposed by the Minister. Once lost, the public confidence could not be restored: the decline progressively continued, and the news of the crash in France completed ours. Thousands of families were reduced to beggary; thousands more were threatened with the same fate; and the large fortunes made, or supposed to be made, by a few individuals, served only by comparison to aggravate the common ruin. Those who had sported most proudly on the surface of the swollen waters were left stranded and bare by the ebbing of that mighty tide. The resentment and rage were universal. I perceive,' says a contemporary, the very name of a South Sea man grows abominable in every county;' and a cry was raised not merely against the South Sea Directors, not merely against the Ministry, but against the Royal Family, against the King himself."

Lord Mahon, with becoming spirit, laments, in his chapter on Literature, that the munificent patronage afforded to learned men during the reigns of William, of Anne, and of George the First, and down to the period when Walpole became prime minister, has never since been revived-the Whigs and Tories in these earlier times. vying with each other in this system of encouragement; for though the sovereign was never an Augustus, almost every minister was a Mæcenas. The consequence has been, even with the most popular authors, that the necessity of looking to their literary labours for their daily bread has deteriorated literature, by bringing into the market a mass of immature productions. The opinion is liberal and honourable to the author which states "that any minister who might have the noble ambition to become the patron of literary men, would

still find a large field open to his munificence; that his intercourse with them on the footing of equal friendship would be a deserved distinction to them, and a liberal recreation to himself; that his favours might be employed with great advantage, and received with perfect independence.'

In his chapter on Methodism Lord Mahon has entered pretty fully into the character of John Wesley, and endeavours to prove that not only was that great man heartily attached to the Church of England, but that were he now alive he would return to the bosom of the Establishment. Methodism, his lordship thinks, was at first conducive to the interests of religion, by not only giving a salutary impulse to the Church which had sunk to a supine condition, but by training up thousands in the paths of virtue and piety. On the other hand, he says, that it was marred by a dangerous extravagance of enthusiasm, while the separation which it occasioned weakened the Church. Now, however, he goes on to remark that it is cheering to reflect, while the good results seem to be lasting and secure, the ill effects have much diminished, and are likely soon wholly to disappear-the author evidently conceiving that the two persuasions ere long will become reconciled, and that the Methodists will return to "the creed of their fathers,"-viz., as upheld by the EstablishThe concluding remarks of his lordship concerning the present state and prospects of the Methodists, will farther exhibit how sanguine he is on this point, and, together with the preceding extracts, afford a fair specimen to go by in judging of his style and opinions. That style, it will be observed, possesses much graceful ease, though the grasp and depth of thought which it elegantly clothes are not equally manifest. More agreeable historical narra. tive cannot anywhere be found; but the impression left on the reader's mind will not be very strong or bright.

"A hundred years ago the churchman was slack in his duty, and slumbering at his post. It was the voice of an enthusiast that roused the sleeper. Truth must condemn alike the overstrained excitement of the one, and the untimely supineness of the other. But the progress of time, and, still more, of mutual emulation, has corrected the defects of each. Sleep has never again fallen on the churchman; enthusiasm has, in a great degree, departed from the Methodist. So closely have the two persuasions drawn to each other, that they are now separated on no essential points, and by little more than the shadowy lines of prejudice and habit. It might be well for the followers of Wesley to ponder whether, in still continuing apart from the Church, they do not keep up a distinction without a difference-whether, by joining the Church, they would not best serve the cause of true religion, and disappoint the machinations of their common enemies. Sure I am, at least, that if Wesley himself were now alive, he would feel and act in this manner; had the Church been in his time what it is in ours, he would never have left it; were he to behold these times, he would acknowledge, that the establishment which once wanted efficiency, now stands in need of nothing but support."

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NOTICES.

ART. XII.-First Impressions and Studies from Nature in Hindostan ; embracing an Outline of the Voyage to Calcutta, and Five Years' Residence in Bengal and the Doab, from 1831 to 1836. By H. BACON, Lieut. of the Bengal Horse Artillery. 2 vols. Lond: 1837. Allen, & Co.

INDIA has of late been deservedly engaging a deeper and wider interest in the mind of Great Britain than ever it did before, although the progress of this interest is by no means commensurate with the value and wonderful features of the subject. We hail however with great pleasure (and thereon build fond hopes,) such works as the present. They infallibly beget and keep up a certain order of feelings, especially on the part of ingenuous spirits, and of those most likely to look to a foreign land, as a scene of enterprize and a theatre for benevolent action, that works out a sure and most desirable result. So long as the British public have month after month presented to them such "Illustrations" and "Impressions," as Dr. Spry, whose work we last month noticed, and Mr. Bacon have published, depend upon it, the awakening interest in regard to Hindostan is, at no distant day, about to achieve some of the most wonderful and extensive reformations, as well as to exalt one of the grandest empires, that history ever made the theme of its narrrative.

Lieutenant Bacon's work is just as we should expect, and desire from such a writer concerning India-excursive, light, and entertaining. It abounds with stories, anecdotes, conversations, descriptions &c. of British India far and wide, giving pictures of native society, and of very many things, which people at home wish and ought to know. Without, however, being more particular in our account of these "Impressions," one or two examples of the contents, will enable our readers to form a fair and favourable notion of their spirit and style, as well as of some of the interesting subjects described in them.

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Regarding the monstrous Juggernaut, it would appear, that the accounts of the victims here sacrifised, have been greatly exaggerated. Since the year 1821, not a single instance of self-immolation has taken place at Juggurnaut, and for two or three years previous to that date only three examples had occurred, one of which was accidental, and the other two victims gladly embraced death as a happy escape from loathsome and intolerable disease. It is scarcely possible to account for the gross misrepresentations which are daily imported into England. Most true it is, that for many miles around the temple, the sides of the roads are whitened with the bones of devotees who have perished by the way-side, for if a Hindu has reason to believe dissolution at hand, he forthwith collects his remaining strength to make the journey towards Juggurnaut, and should he fortunately succeed in dragging his diseased carcase within sight of the sacred edifice, he will lie him down in peace, and there die with a perfect confidence of future bliss; and then, again, thousands set out upon the pilgrimage, whose subsistence fails them by way, and starvation ultimately terminates their wretched existence." VOL. II. (1837.) No. II.

the

X

Every one has heard of the arts of deception which the Hindus so dexterously exercise. To counterfeit death is one of the most extraordinary instances; and medical men, it is said, have even been deceived by the trick. Here is an example: Lieutenant Shakespeare was sent against the Koles in 1832, who were defending a stockade.

"On entering the place, there were found a great number of dead men lying about the floors of the huts, carefully wrapt up in chuddurs, or sheets, as if they had been formally laid out by the retreating party; nothing else worthy of notice was discovered, and leaving a few men with orders to set fire to the place, our party were about to move forward, when Shakespeare fancied that he saw one of the dead men peeping through his eye-lids; he instantly suspected deceit, and knowing by experience how inimitably a native can counterfeit the breathless appearance of death, he in no very delicate manner strode round the place, treading upon the bodies of the supposed dead.

"Not quite satisfied with this test, Shakespeare called in the assistance of two of the gunners :-' Here, Sullivan, O'Flaherty, take up these dead bodies, and heave them over the breast-work into the ditch below.' O'Flaherty laid hold of a fine strapping corpse by the shoulders:- Sure, and plaise your honour, he's as warrum as a butthered toust, sir; I'm thinkin' he's no rale carkis afther all, Mr. Shakespkare, sir; he's no way stiff then, but as limp as a farden rushlight in Augist, barrin' he's most as black as ould Nick.' Carkis or no carkis, he was raised to the top of the wall, and launched over without the least ceremony, cracking the dried branches as he went rolling down the bank into the water below, evidently as dead as a stone. Sure, then, the grasy divel was a rale body, and not shammin' at all, Pat Sullivan, darlin': and I'd be afther axin' pardon of his black sowl, only I'm not jist perfet in spakin the Moors.'

"Just as Lary O'Flaherty concluded his expressions of contrition to the black sowl,' the 'rale body' was seen to emerge head and shoulders from the thick green cream upon the surface of the stagnant dike, and casting a look of suspicion and timid entreaty at the wondering Paddies, it dived again below the filthy fluid, as if it had really been the spirit of the Kole, come back to the earth to reproach the brother Irishmen with their ill usage of its earthly tabernacle.

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Arrah, by Jasus, then you murtherin black baste, and is it me ye're afther starin' at with yer ugly teeth; by the powers if ye show yer-' out popt the head of the fugitant on the opposite side of the ditch, and having emerged from the water, he was just takin' to his scrapers,' when Lary O'Flaherty and Patrick Sullivan each let drive a bullet at him, which brought the poor fellow head over heels once more to the bottom of the ditch, this time a body in rale arnest, and no misthake,' as Pat Sullivan said. The rest of the dead men were now successively restored."

The author was at Delhi, when Newab Shumsh-ud-deen was executed for the murder of Mr. Fraser. See how the prejudice about caste affected the young nobleman in his last moments.

"When the Nawab arrived at the foot of the gallows, he stepped out of his palki, with an air of dignified indifference, asked Mr. Metcalfe if he should ascend; Mr. Metcalfe bowed, and with a firm step he mounted