ing and consistency, common to everything relating to India, injures the effect of the scene. A mud-hut, or rows of native hovels, constructed of mats, thatch, and bamboos, not superior to the rudest wigwam, often rest against the outer walls of palaces, while there are avenues opening from the principal streets, intersected in all directions by native bazaars, filled with unsightly articles of every description. Few of the houses, excepting those exclusively occupied by Europeans, are kept in good repair; the least neglect becomes immediately visible, and nothing can be more melancholy than the aspect of a building in India which has been suffered to fall into a dilapidated state. The cement drops from the walls in large patches; the bare brickwork is diversified by weather stains, in which lichens and the fungus tribe speedily appear; the iron hinges of the outer venetians rust and break, and these gigantic lattices fall down, or hang suspended in the air, creaking and groaning with every breeze; the court-yards are allowed to accumulate litter, and there is an air of squalor spread over the whole establishment which disgusts the eye.'—vol. i. P. 1-3.

The interior arrangement of these dwellings is such as has been suggested by the necessity of admitting as much air and harbouring as few insects and reptiles as possible. The rooms are large, but the furniture is scanty, and the bare walls and matted floors are more comfortable than elegant. The lower verandahs and halls are crowded with domestics, some asleep, covered with white sheets, and 'looking like swathed corpses,' others huddled together in the midst of all kinds of rubbish, and all together presenting a tableau which to the eye of a person just arrived from Europe is peculiarly barbarous. These people range about the house in perfect freedom, with so little clothing, that at first sight they seem to have none. They wear neither shoes nor sandals, and move with a slow and stealthy step, which gives no warning of their approach; a new arrival,' therefore, on turning round, when she fancies herself to be alone, often finds at her elbow what appears to her to be a naked savage who has crept upon her unawares. But the superior servants, who are almost equally numerous, are well clothed. Every side of every apartment is pierced with doors, and the whole of the surrounding antechambers appear to be peopled with ghosts-servants clad in flowing white muslin glide about with noiseless feet in all directions.'-vol. i. p. 9.

Calcutta is divided into two distinct parts-that which is inhabited by Europeans, and that which is occupied exclusively by Asiatics. The Black town, as it is called, extends along the river to the north, and a more wretched-looking place can scarcely be imagined; dirty, crowded, ill-built, and abounding with beggars and bad smells.'

The state of female society at Calcutta, and more especially the situation and prospects of the fair damsels who come under

the

the designation of 'bridal candidates,' no doubt occupied the early attention of Miss Roberts, and one of her most amusing chapters is devoted to this subject. The whole is well worthy the serious consideration of ladies who meditate transferring their attractions from the shores of England to those of India; but we are not quite sure that they will all participate in the horror' with which Miss Roberts concludes they must regard the prospect of being compelled to make a love match'-a questionable proceeding, no doubt, at all times and in all places; but one for which young women do not, it is to be feared, entertain quite so wholesome a horror as their mammas.

Few opinions' (this competent judge informs us) can be more erroneous than those which prevail in Europe upon the subject of Indian marriages. According to the popular idea, a young lady visiting the Honourable Company's territories is destined to be sacrificed to some old, dingy, rich, bilious nawaub, or, as he is styled on this side the Atlantic (?), “ nabob," a class of persons unfortunately exceedingly rare. Ancient subjects devoted to the interests of the conclave in Leadenhall Street, belonging to both services, are doubtless to be found in India, some dingy and some bilious, but very few rich; and, generally speaking, these elderly gentlemen have either taken to themselves wives in their younger days, or have become such confirmed bachelors, that neither flashing eyes, nor smiling lips, lilies, roses, dimples, &c., can make the slightest impression upon their flinty hearts. Happy may the fair expectant account herself who has the opportunity of choosing or refusing a rara avis of this nature,some yellow civilian out of debt, or some battered brigadier who saw service in the days of sacks and sieges, and who comes wooing in the olden style, preceded by trains of servants bearing presents of shawls and diamonds. Such prizes are scarce. The damsel, educated in the fallacious hope of seeing a rich antiquated suitor at her feet, laden with "barbaric gold and pearl," soon discovers to her horror that, if she should decide upon marrying at all, she will be absolutely compelled to make a love-match, and select the husband of her choice out of the half-dozen subalterns who may offer; fortunate may she esteem herself if there be one amongst them who can boast a staff-appointment, or even the adjutancy or quarter-mastership of his corps.'vol. i. pp. 18, 19.

6

The advantages of the company's civil service' make the young 'writers' rank amongst the most eligible candidates for the hearts and hands of the beauties of Calcutta, and a supply of these desirables, by no means adequate to the demand, is brought out every year.'

This is the dangerous period for young men bent upon making fortunes in India, and upon returning home. They are usually younger sons, disregarded in England on account of the slenderness of their finances, or too juvenile to have attracted matrimonial specu

N 2

lations.

lations. Launched into the society of Calcutta, they enact the parts of the young dukes and heirs-apparent of a London circle, where there are daughters or sisters to dispose of. The "great parti" is caressed, fêted, dressed at, danced at, and flirted with, until perfectly bewildered; either falling desperately in love, or fancying himself so, he makes an offer, which is eagerly accepted by some young lady, too happy to escape the much-dreaded horrors of a half-batta station. The writers, of course, speedily acquire a due sense of their importance, and conduct themselves accordingly. Vainly do the gay uniforms strive to compete with their more sombre rivals; no dashing cavalry officer, feathered, and sashed, and epauletted, has a chance against the man privileged to wear a plain coat and a round hat; and in the evening drives in Calcutta, sparkling eyes will be turned away from the military equestrian, gracefully reining up his Arab steed to the carriage window, to rest upon some awkward rider, who sits his horse like a sack, and, more attentive to his own comfort than to the elegance of his appearance, may, if it should be the rainy season, have thrust his white jean trowsers into jockey boots, and introduced a black velvet waistcoat under his white calico jacket.'-vol. i. P. 20-22.

But even the young writer does not appear to be any very great prize after he has been, by dint of skilful angling, firmly hooked. His allowances are still small, and he is forced to borrow money, and contract debt and marriage together. As for the lady,

The bride,' (says Miss Roberts,) who would not find it quite so easy to borrow money, and whose relations do not consider it necessary to be very magnificent upon these occasions, either contrives to make her outfit (the grand expense incurred on her behalf) serve the purpose-or, should that have faded and grown old-fashioned, purchases some scanty addition to her wardrobe. Thus the bridal paraphernalia, the bales of gold and silver muslins, the feathers, jewels, carved ivory, splendid brocades, exquisite embroidery, and all the rich products of the East, on which our imaginations luxuriate when we read of an Indian marriage, sink down into a few yards of white sarsnet.'vol. i. pp. 23, 24.

This is hard-but there are worse cases than that of the poorest writer's bride. Miss Roberts speaks with very peculiar sensitiveness of feeling in this next paragraph.

• There cannot be a more wretched situation than that of a young woman who has been induced to follow the fortunes of a married sister, under the delusive expectation that she will exchange the privations attached to limited means in England for the far-famed luxuries of the East.........Soon after their arrival in India, the family, in all probability, have to travel to an up-country station, and here the poor girl's troubles begin: she is thrust into an outer cabin in a budgerow, or into an inner room in a tent; she makes perhaps a third in a buggy, and finds herself always in the way; she discovers that she is

a source

a source of continual expense; that an additional person in a family imposes the necessity of keeping several additional servants, and that where there is not a close carriage she must remain a prisoner. She cannot walk out beyond the garden or the verandah, and all the outof-door recreations, which she may have been accustomed to indulge in at home, are denied her....... If she should be musical, so much the worse: the hot winds have split her piano and her guitar, or the former is in a wretched condition, and there is nobody to tune it; the white ants have demolished her music-books, and new ones are not to be had. Drawing offers a better resource, but it is often suspended from want of materials; and needle-work is not suited to the climate. Her brother and sister are domestic, and do not sympathize in her ennui; they either see little company, or invite guests merely with a view to be quit of an incumbrance. If the young men who may be at the station should not entertain matrimonial views, they will be shy of their attention to a single woman, lest expectations should be formed which they are not inclined to fulfil. It is dangerous to hand a disengaged lady too often to table, for though no conversation may take place between the parties, the gentleman's silence is attributed to want of courage to speak, and the offer, if not forthcoming, is inferred.'-vol. i. p. 33-36.

A man who has no intentions' is thus placed in a most embarrassing position, and those who have not courage enough to brave the accusation of having retreated unhandsomely, prefer the imputation of want of gallantry, and avoid the dangerous honour of leading an unmarried lady too often to the dinner-table. The consequence is, that young women, from the presumption that their charms are irresistible, are in some instances treated with every appearance of neglect and rudeness. These are sufficiently frequent to be designated by a peculiar phrase: the wife or sister who may be obliged to accept a relative's arm, or walk alone, is said to be wrecked-a catastrophe which appears to be as formidable to an Indian lady as to an India-man.

It seems, however, that whilst some gentlemen exhibit this extreme and questionable caution, others display an adventurous gallantry quite as remarkable; and that if the ladies incur the hazard of being wrecked,' the lords of the creation are exposed to the no less alarming danger of being 'jewaubed :'—

The opinion entertained by the Princess Huncamunca respecting the expediency of short courtships seems to prevail. A gentleman, desirous to enter the holy pale, does not always wait until he shall meet with some fair one suiting his peculiar taste, but the instant that he hears of an expected arrival, despatches a proposal to meet her upon the road: this is either rejected in toto, or accepted conditionally; and if there should be nothing very objectionable in the suitor, the marriage takes place. Others travel over to some distant station, in the hope of returning with a wife; and many visit the presidency on the same errand. Numbers return without achieving

their object, and these unfortunates are said to be members of the jewaub club,' a favourite Indian phrase, which is exceedingly expressive of the forlorn state of bachelors upon compulsion.'-voi. i. p. 40.

Of all the horrors, not excepting that of being compelled to make love-matches,' to which a new arrival' in India is exposed, that of assisting at a great dinner is perhaps the most appalling. With the thermometer at 90° or 100° in the shade, a body of men and women, whose frames are exhausted by a climate which depresses their spirits and extinguishes every symptom of appetite even in the few who have eaten notiffin,' are set down at a board heaped with mountains of smoking meat, and speedily find themselves enclosed in a dense mass of attendants who, surrounding them as with a living wall, exclude every breath of fresh air, and, in the excess of their zeal and kindness, struggling through the crowd with earnest looks and dewy brows, ever and anon thrust before the stifled guest, already loathing the very savour of her food, a mess of steaming viands which might satiate the appetite of a hungry ploughman.

The receipt for an Indian dinner,' according to Miss Roberts, 'appears to be, to slaughter a bullock and a sheep, and to place all the joints before the guests at once, with poultry, &c. to match..... The natives are excellent cooks, and might easily be taught all the delicacies of the cuisine:-their hashes, stews, and harricoes are excellent; but a prejudice exists against these preparations amidst the greater number of Anglo-Indians, who fancy that" black fellows" cannot do anything beyond their own pelaws, and are always in dread of some abomination in the mixture.

In

For these, or some other equally absurd reasons, made-dishes form a very small portion of the entertainment given to a large party, which is usually composed of, in the first instance, an overgrown turkey (the fatter the better) in the centre, which is the place of honour; an enormous ham for its vis-à-vis ; at the top of the table appears a sirloin or round of beef; at the bottom a saddle of mutton; legs of the same, boiled and roasted, figure down the sides, together with fowls, three in a dish, geese, ducks, tongues, humps, pigeon-pies, curry, and rice of course, mutton-chops, and chicken cutlets... the hot season, fish caught early in the morning would be much deteriorated before the dinner hour; it is therefore eaten principally at breakfast. There are no entremets, no removes; the whole course is put on the table at once, and when the guests are seated the soup is brought in. The reason of the delay of a part of the entertainment, which invariably takes the precedence in England, is rather curious. All the guests are attended by their own servants, who congregate round the cook-room, and assist to carry in the dinner: were the soup to enter first, these worthies would rush to their mas

* The ‘jewaub club' means literally the club of those who have had their answer.

ters'