pences) to no purpose, went to the provincial physician, who was also lecturer in physics, Dr. Rothmann, to consult him respecting a complaint under which he had suffered for some weeks. In the course of conversation, he likewise made known to the Doctor his sufferings of mind, on the score of his son's fai lure in his studies. Rothmann intimated that he found himself equal to the cure of both complaints, remarking that correct as might be the opinion of his colleagues with respect to the boy's inaptitude for those theological studies to which his father had destined him, so much stronger ground was there for hoping that he would distinguish himself in the profession of medicine, and for expecting him to accomplish great things in the pursuit of natural history. These remarks afforded so much the more comfort to the old clergyman, as they were advanced confidently and decidedly by Rothmann, who at the same time handsomely offered, in case the father's circumstances or inclination did not admit of his son being maintained in that course of studies, to take him into his own house, and to give him board and instruction during the year that it would be necessary for him to remain longer in the gymnasium.

"1727. He went to complete his education at the university. But the rector (that year) of the gymnasium, Nils Krok, worded his testimonium in this manner---viz. Youth at school might be compared to shrubs in a garden, which will sometunes, though rarely, elude all the care of the gardener, but, if transplanted into a different soil, may become fruitful trees. With this view therefore, and no other, the bearer was sent to the univer sity, where it was possible that he might meet with a climate propitious to his progress.

"Provided with this, not very creditable, certificate, he set out for the university of Lund, where his old preceptor Hök, keeping it back, presented him to the rector and dean, as his private pupil, and procured his matriculation."

We ought not to omit that Dr. Maton has prefixed to the work, concise memoirs of the original author, who was as amiable in his private manners, as he was worthy to be imitated in his public energies. They will be read with pleasure by every friend to science and mankind,

MR. GEORGE THOMAS was a na, tive of Tipperary in Ireland. The circumstances which led to his embarkation are unknown; but he arrived in India, on board a British ship of war, in the year 1782, being then a quartermaster. Shortly after landing in the vicinity of Madras, he determined to quit the ship, and seek his fortune in the interior. His first service was among the Polygars of the Deccan. He next traversed the central part of the peninsula, and about the year 1797, arrived at Delhi. Here he received a commission in the service of the Begum Sumroo. He had a commanding figure, being upwards of six feet high, and though uneducated, had noble manners and strong natural talents. The Begum, who had all the discrimination and some of the frailties of her sex, eagerly promoted him in her service; he became the commander of her troops, and the companion of her pleasures. In Mr. Francklin's history of Shah Aulum, is narrated one of the more conspicuous actions conducted by Mr. Tho

mas, during his service with the Begum; but the affair ought here to have been repeated: it forms an essential part of this biography.

After a stay of about six years, Mr. Thomas found himself supplanted in the Begum's favour, by one Levasso, who eventually obtained her hand in marriage. He withdrew to Anopshire, a frontier station of the British army, in the expectation of receiving overtures from some of the native powers. Nor was he disappointed. In 1793 he entered into the employment of Appa-kandarow, a Mahratta chief, formerly in the service of Scindia, but at that tinie in rebellion against him. Mr. Thomas had with him two hundred and fifty cavalry, chosen men of tried va lour.

Huge empires have usually terminated in feudal anarchy. The great land-owners lend one another a silent protection against the sovereign, which at length reduces him to insignificance; each nobleman then finds himself sovereign in his own village;

the squires coalesce under peers; and provincial wars of wapentake against wapentake, and shire against shire, extirpate manufactures, desolate fields, level cities, and quench instruction, Such was the condition of Europe, on the cessation of the Roman empire: a condition distinctly retained in modern Italy, even under the pontificate of Leo X. When every city must defend itself as it can against the plunderings of the neighbour gentry, a race of condottieri naturally grow up, captains of small bands of troops, who are invited to the successive scenes of hostility, and whose hired assistance commonly turns the scale in the skirmish of the moment. Into this state of feudal anarchy the empire of the Moguls was dissolved: and Mr. Thomas was become one of the eminent condottieri of the Punjab. The property he had acquired in the service of the Begum was invested for the pay and maintenance of a troop of horse, the wages of whose transferable alliance were to replace, with a large profit, the capital advanced for keeping them together. By the direction of Appa-kandarow Mr. Thomas increased his horsemen by one hundred, and raised one thousand infantry: for the maintenance of which the pergunnahs of Thajara, Thopookara, and Ferozepoor, were assigned: but these districts were in irregular subjection, and were to be reduced before they could be amerced. One of these predatory incursions will give an idea of a long series of similar ad

ventures.

"In the march towards his districts, Mr. Thomas retaliated upon the Begum Sumroo, whom he now considered his bitter enemy, laying under contribution that part of her country which came within his route.

He

Arriving at Goorath, a large and populous village, he imposed heavy contributions, These amounted to a considerable sum. found here also, an ample supply of bul locks and forage.

"Continuing his march, after a long and tedious day's journey, he encamped near the town of Tejara, a place in the centre of the Mewattee district. The night was dark and rainy. This and the extreme fatigue of the soldiers conspired to render successful an attempt which the Mewattys made, and they carried off a horse from the very centre of the camp.

"In the morning a party was detached to discover the village to which the horse had been conveyed. The party had not proceeded far, when they were attacked, and obliged to retreat. Orders were then, given for the cavalry to advance, and cover the detachment. And Mr. Thomas himself leading the

infantry, hastily marched, and with his collected force, attacked the enemy at the village, to which, it appears, the horse had been carried. By this time they had assembled and became formidable. The centre division of Mr. Thomas's troops, in a short time, set fire to the village, and there seemed no doubt of a complete victory, when the divisions on the right and left giving way, fled with precipitation. The wounded left on the field, were even at this crisis of the action cut to pieces by the enemy.

"The centre division, under the special command of Mr. Thomas, now following the example of their brethren, left him of his troops only a dozen infantry and a few cavalry.

"Thus discomfited and vexed by the unsteadiness of his troops, Mr. Thomas, as a last resort, encouraged his small party to exert themselves in extricating a nine-pounder, which unfortunately, previously to the battle, had stuck in the bed of a nullah. In this he tain of victory, recommenced a furious athad just succeeded, when the enemy, as certack, and endeavoured to seize the gun.

"The commandant of cavalry, a man of distinguished bravery, still adhered to Mr. Thomas, and desperately with a few others, threw himself between the gun and the ene my. They were cut to pieces, but the gallant effort afforded time to remount and oppose a well directed fire of grape from the nine-pounder. This saved Mr. Thomas and after the discharge of a few rounds, the enemy the brave few of his surviving party. For, retired to the surrounding ravines.

"Mr. Thomas now collected the fugitives, who, with his veteran party, formed a detachment of about three hundred men.With these he unconcernedly challenged the enemy to a renewal of the combat, which they, now, as cautiously declined.

"In its first view so disastrous, this action, by the dread it spread among the enemy, proved highly fortunate. Great as was Mr. 'Thomas's loss of brave and attached soldiers, that of the Mewattys was infinitely more considerable. The immediate consequence was an overture, on the part of their chiet, of terms which shortly led to an amicable adjustment. They agreed to pay Mr. Thomas a year's rent, and to restore to him the property that had been stolen. The performance of these articles was guaranteed by securities.

"The punishment of this village, the strongest in the whole district, and its inhabiants the most refractory, was highly favourable to Mr. Thomas's interest; the more sa as in a preceding campaign, the whole force of Beguin Sumroo had been in vain exerted to reduce it. Mr. Thomas next prepared to march against the remaining districts which were still in rebellion; and having recruited his force for this purpose, he was ordered by Appa-kandarow to assist the collector of the district of Kishnaghur.

"Convinced by experience that vigorous measures could alone ensure success, Mr. Thomas marched towards the refractory villeges, of which having gained possession, they were quickly consumed by fire.

An example so severe, deterred others from pursuing a similar conduct. Of these, the most considerable was the town of Jyjur, which, however, submitting on the approach of the troops, opposition was at an end, and Mr. Thomas returned to Tejara."

After the death of Appa, who, being afflicted with a painful and incurable disease, announced and executed the determination to drown himself in a sacred river, Mr. Thomas passed into the service of his nephew, Vavan Row; but having been disappointed of the agreed disbursements, he determined to set up a sovereignty of his own. He fixed on Hurrianeh, which was the quarry of rival chieftains, and which comprehended a district, eighty coss in diameter, situate on the left bank of the Cugger, west or north-west of Delhi. Hansi was the name of his metropolis. This province for a long time submitted to his sway, and enjoyed kis protection, until a French condottieri, named Perron, of whom much mention is made in marquis Wellesley's notes on the Mahratta war, (see Annual Review, vol. iii. p. 186) succeeded in dispossessing him. Mr. Thomas retired to the territories of the India company, to which he transferred his rights, and the care of their vindication. He died before he could obtain the requisite assistance. His character was formed for command, and in circumstances the most difficult asserted its natural supremacy. It was not exempt from faults; his conviviality often degenerated into intemperance, and his anger into ferocity. His allegiance was too much at the service of the highest bidder; his generosity too much proportioned to bis occasional means. Adversity has no resource when party fidelity is neglected; power has no prop when the means of recompence are not reserved.

This biography is valuable, not merely on its own account, but for the many notices it contains, geographical, historical, and statistical, of the provinces in which its hero glittered. The description of Delhi is accompanied with a good engraving of the Cootub Minar, a conical tower of marble, embossed with sculpture, and channelled with inscriptions. The maupoleum of Humaioon, and the sepulchre et khan Khanan, are also noticed: the proprietors are selling for a paltry consideration the marble of these magnificent

remains of departed greatness. Panniput is explored, its mosques and its tombs. The canal of Ali Merdan khan is out of repair, and the paradisial range of country it had created, is withered into a desert. A good account of the Seiks occurs at p. 70.

"The Seiks, though united, have never made any considerable opposition against the force of Zemaun Shah who has frequently attacked them, but it may be urged, that a great difference is to be expected from a formidable army of sixty thousand men, led on by the Shah in person and the princes of the blood, compared with the detached bodies althis nation is not so formidable as they have ready described. Hence it would appear that been represented, and in all probability they never will be formidable when opposed by regular troops.

The Seiks are armed with a spear, matchlock and scymetar: their method of fighting, as described by Mr. Thomas, is singular; after performing the requisite duties of their their hair and beards with peculiar care, then religion by ablution and prayer, they comb mounting their horses, ride forth towards the enemy, with whom they engage in a continued skirinish advancing and retreating, until man and horse become equally fatigued; they then draw off to some distance from the enemy, and, meeting with cultivated ground, they permit their horses to graze of their own themselves, and after satisfying nature by this accord, while they parch a little gram for frugal repast, if the enemy be near, they renew the skirmishing; should he have retreated, they provide forage for their cattle, and endeavour to procure a meal for themselves.

"Seldom indulging in the comforts of a tent, whilst in the enemy's country, the repast of a Seik cannot be supposed to be either with a mat spread before them, a Bramin apsumptuous, or elegant. Seated on the ground pointed for the purpose, serves out a portion of food to each individual, the cakes of flour which they eat during the meal serving them in the rooin of dishes and plates.

"The Seiks are remarkably fond of the flesh of the jungle hog, which they kill in the chace, this food is allowable by their law. They likewise cat of mutton and fish, but these being deemed unlawful, the Bramins transgress their institutes to answer for themwill not partake, leaving those who chuse to selves. In the city or in the field the Seiks never smoke tobacco; they are not however averse to drinking spirituous liquors, in which they sometimes indulge to an immoderate excess; and they likewise freely take opium, bang, and other intoxicating drugs. In their convivial parties each man is compelled to

drink out of his own vessel.

to a life of hardship and difficulty, the Seiks "Accustomed from their earliest infancy despise the comforts of a tent; in lieu of this, each horseman is furnished with two blankets, one for himself and the other for his horse.

These blankets, which are placed beneath the saddle, with a gram bag and heel ropes, comprize, in time of war, the baggage of a Seik. Their cooking utensils are carried on tattoos. Considering this mode of life, and the extraordinary rapidity of their movements, it cannot be matter of wonder if they perform marches, which to those who are only accustomed to European warfare, must appear almost incredible.

"The Seiks, among other customs singular in their nature, never suffer their hair, or beards, to be cut, consequently, when mounted on horseback, their black flowing locks, `and half naked bodies, which are formed in the stoutest and most athletic mould, the glit tering of their arms, and the size and speed of their horses, render their appearance imposing and formidable, and superior to most of the cavalry in Hindoostan.

"In the use of their arms, especially the matchlock, and sabre, they are uncommonly expert, some use bows and arrows. In addition to the articles of dress which have been described in recent publications* of the times, Mr. Thomas mentions that the arms and wrists of the Seiks are decorated with bangles of gold, silver, brass and iron, according to the circumstances of the wearers, but among the chiefs of the respective tribes, the horse furniture, in which they take the greatest pride, (and which, with the exception of the inlaying of their fire-arms, is their only luxury) is uncommonly splendid, for, though a Seik will scruple to expend the most trifling sum on his food, or clothing, he will spare no expence in endeavouring to excel his comrades in the furniture of his horse and in the richness and brightness of his armour, a circumstance, which appears to bear no inconsiderable resemblance to the customs of the ancient Spartans.t

"Considerable similarity in their general customs may be traced with those of the Jauts; though these, in some districts, apparently vary, the difference is not material, and their permitting an interchange of marriages with the Jauts of the Dooab and Hurrianeh amounts almost to a conclusive proof of their affinity of origin.

"The Seiks allow foreigners of every description to join their standard, to sit in their company, and to shave their beards, but excepting in the instance of the Jauts, they will not consent to intermarriages, nor will they eat or drink from the hands of an alien, except he be a Bramin, and for this cast they always profess the highest veneration.

"If indeed some regulations which are in their nature purely military, and which were introduced by their founder Nanick, be excepted, it will be found, that the Seiks are neither more or less than Jauts in their primitive state. "Thus far, says Mr. Thomas, we have seen the fair side of the picture; let us now consider the reverse. The Seiks are false,

*Consult the history of Shah Aulum.

sanguinary and faithless, they are addicted to plunder, and the acquirement of wealth by any means, however nefarious; instances have occurred of a child's arm being raised against his parent, and of brothers destroying each other.

"Women amongst them, are held in little estimation, and though ill treated by their husbands, and prohibited from accompanying them in their wars, these unhappy females nevertheless attend to their domestic concerns with a diligence and sedulousness deserving of a better fate!

"Instances indeed, have not unfrequently occurred, in which they have actually taken up arms to defend their habitations, from the desultory attacks of the enemy, and through out the contest, behaved themselves with an intrepidity of spirit highly praise-worthy.

"In the Seik army the modes of payment are various, but the most common is at the time of harvest, when every soldier receives the amount of his pay in grain and other articles, the produce of the country; to some is given money in small sums, and to others lands are allotted for their maintenance. Three-fifths of the horses in the Punjab ar the property of the different chieftains, the remainder belong to the peasantry who have become settlers.

"A Seik soldier has also his portion of the plunder acquired in the course of a campaign : this is set aside as a reward for his services, and in addition to it, he sometimes increases his gains, by secreting part of the public plurder.

"The nature of the Seik government is singular, and probably had its origin in the unsettled state of the tribe, when first estab lished in their possessions. Within his own domains each chief is lord paramount. He exerts an exclusive authority over his vassals, even to the power of life and death, and to encrease the population of his districts, he proffers a ready and hospitable asylum to fu gitives from all parts of India. Hence, in the Seik territories, though the government bearbitrary, there exists much less cause for oppres sion, than in many of the neighbouring states, and, hence likewise, the cultivator of the soil being liable to frequent change of masters, by the numerous revolutions that are perpetually occurring, may be considered as one of the causes of the fluctuation of the national force."

The map of Hurrianel and the conti guous country is accompanied with important and new geographical matter.

Of Rajpootana much additional knowledge is communicated; of the country of the Batties, and of Beykaneer: but the curious in Asiatic geography must consult the work itself.

Mr. Francklin has executed his task in

+ See Cornelius Nepos, and Pausanias.

a manner which deserves high encomium. He may somewhat forget the actors for the scenery, and the hero for the conquest; but he has made a remarkable life subservient to various instruction, and has carefully preserved that information which is most likely to be useful to the government of Hindostan. For European readers a glossary is sometimes desirable: a nullah we presume to be a torrent, a river which occasionally dries up; but the word is used as familiarly as if it was universally understood in Great Britain. We are pleased to see the productions of the Calcutta press multiply; they attest the growth of an intellectual culture, which

they will stabilitate and diffuse. One painful observation, however, must ac company the perusal of them. How rapidly the English language is becoming in the east a distinct dialect! The vast numbers of oriental words, which have no parallel terms in European diction, compel, no doubt, the use of a macaronic style, in which every twentieth word nearly is alien. By degrees the forms of combination will approximate the Tamul phraseology; the poets of Calcutta, like those of Edinburgh, will begin to compose in the local jargon; and book-language will at length be got up in a great degree unintelligible at London.

A TAYLOR who has no objection to wear motley, may certainly make himself a great coat with half a yard of his own stuff, by eking it out with cabbage from every piece which comes in his way; and after this manner two quarto volumes might be filled with a Life of Sir Walter Ralegh, as well as with a Life of Geoffrey Chaucer. The first minute's inspection of the book before us dispelled this unjust, but not unreasonable suspicion. The volumes are very thin, though with a fairer proportion of type to margin than is usual in this age of quartos. There is an appendix of considerable extent, and the original narratives of Sir Walter's voyages are given at length. After the whole was printed, Mr. Cayley became apprehensive that it might have been better to have given the condensed substance of these accounts in the text, and to have inserted the whole of the originals in the appendix. On this point, he adds, I have now only to listen to the voice of candid criticism, and should the work reach a second impression, shall be ready to alter the present plan, if objected to. We have sel

dom seen so modest or so prepossessing a

preface.

Ralegh, for so he wrote the name himself, was born upon a farm called Hayes, in the parish of Budley, Devonshire, near the mouth of the river Otter, that wild streamlet of the west, upon whose banks to many distinguished men have been born. His father had only the remainder of a lease of the estate; Sir Walter in his prosperity wished to have purchased it; for the natural disposition I have to the place," he says in his letter upon the subject, being born in that house, I had ra

ther seat myself there than any where else." He was born in 1552, a year," says an old astrologer treating of his nativity, "remarkable in our chronicles; first, for that strange shoal of the largest sea fishes, which, quitting their native waters for fresh and untasted streams, wandered up the Thames so high, until the river no longer retained any brackishness; and, secondly, for that it is thought to have been somewhat stained in our annals, with the blood of the noble Seymer, duke of Somerset; events surprisingly analogous both to the life of this adventurous voyager, Sir Walter Ralegh, whose delight was in the hazardous discovery of unfre quented coasts; and also to his unfortu nate death."

He entered at Oriel, but was never, as has been asserted, a student in the Middle Temple; for in his reply to the attorneygeneral on his arraignment, he lays a heavy imprecation on himself, if ever he read a word of law or statutes, before he was a prisoner in the Tower. He served some years with the Hugonots in France, and, as is surmised, took refuge with Phi

lip Sidney, on the night of the massacre,

in the English ambassador's house; afterwards he bore a part with sir John Norris in defeating don John of Austria. On his return home in 1579, he sailed on a voyage of discovery with his uterine brother sir Humphrey Gilbert. The expedition was unfortunate; a weaker fleet than had been designed put to sea, they met with a Spanish force, and were obliged to return with the loss of one ship. Ralegh had now past ten years of severe apprenticeship to war and enterprize; the pains which he took meantime to improve him