Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life

residency. Being rather remote from the usual routes of visitors it is perhaps less known, and has been called the "Benighted Presidency," but many of the natives are exceptionally intelligent, a

i who belonged to the "Advaita" sect, which holds that everything is part of the Divinity; the other-an ascetic-held a refined form of what is called the "Sankhya" philosophy, which presupposes eternal matter with which the Eternal Mind unites itself. After all, such fine drawn distinc

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o this result by the gradual purification in successive incarnations of "Karma," which may perhaps be described as the residuum of unconquered passions and unexpiated sins after death. When the Munshi was explaining this theory of upward progress Mr. Rees asked him what happened to devil-worshippers and such like ou

il. There seemed no unwillingness to accept Christ in some such way as this. As one said to me, "I do not know His history as well as I know my own sacred books, but if what is told of Him is true, I believe that he

d as my creed he would be satisfied, and hoped that I would be content if he were as good as his. He had catechised Mr. Rees about me before he would condescend to talk to me, as he did not think that "European females" were generally sufficiently interested in Hindu religion to make them worthy of his expositions. He had been a Vakil of the High Court, but had given up his position to embrace an ascetic life, and had devoted his property to founding a library, only reserving enough for himself and his wife to live upon. His wife had become a sort of nun. He was a curious-looking man with long shaggy black hair and very white teeth-rather handsome. His costume consisted of a cotton dhoti (cloth) of doubtful whiteness wrapped round his legs and a green shawl twisted about his body. There is no doubt that he was very earnest in his fait

EDUCATE

reat respect and affection for the Principal, but he was not a professing Christian. He said that he believed in one God, but was obliged to continue Shiva-worship to please his mother. I hope that h

his daily conduct. "Oh, yes," he said; "if I did anything wrong I was quite frightened of the images of the gods in the house"-so I suppose they have a real effect, but

of our visit to Madras was partly due to unfortunate circumstances which it is unnecessary to detail at length, though they have since in broad outline become public property. Briefly, shortly after our arrival Lady Connemara, who had been s

we visited the Prendergasts at Baroda, to discover that Sir Harry Prendergast and his daughters, who had stayed at Government House in the midst of the trouble, had never discovered that Lady Connemara was not there, but thought that she was ill in her own rooms all the time! I cann

yhow, Lady Connemara came back for a time, and ultimately-some time in the following year, I think-returned to England. The end, as is well known, was a divorce. She married the doc

e other hand it enabled us to see a good deal that we could not have done in the short time which we had or

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arind, and other trees. As we approached we saw a large bungalow on the top of a small hill, and noticed a number of people seated in the verandah. It was evident that they saw us from their elevation, but it did not seem to have struck them

hown the doors of Kathiawar wood rather well carved, and beyond there was a kind of Sanctuary with two large paintings of Mahatmas behind doors like those of a Roman Catholic altarpiece. I believe that it was behind those doors that Madame Blavatsky was supposed to have performed a miracle with broken tea-cups, but I am not clear as to details and Colonel Olcott was too cute to attempt to foist the s

o respect a bishop. The bishop proved to be black! Poor Olcott! He made another attempt to convert me while at Madras by lending me copies of a rather colourless magazine-always assuring me that his Society was in no sense anti-Christian. When he called to

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dorned with beautiful emeralds. The right of succession in Travancore is peculiar, being transmitted to males through females. As there were no directly royal females in 1857, this Maharajah's uncle adopted two Ranees to be "Mothers of Princes." The elder Ranee was charming and highly educated, but unfortunately had no children, a

ure. He did not strike me as much of a man, and he and the Maharajah were reported not to be on friendly terms. Ladies marry in Trava

ies and innocently said that he would like to send her a cloth from Madras as a specimen of the handiwork executed ther

t of the Presidency which Lord Connemara kindly arranged for us, as it is less well known than Madras itself and othe

feet from the base to the top of the gilded Kalasum, which takes the place of our Cross, is most imposing. It is covered with carvings, and amongst them we were shown the head and bust of an Englishman in a round hat commonly called "John Bright." The attendants point to this with pride, saying that it was put there when t

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ies of the zenana still lingered on in the Palace. Some years after our visit Lord Dufferin told me of his experiences at Tanjore. As Viceroy he was admitted to the zenana, though of course other men could not enter. He was shown into a large, dimly lighted room at the en

very miscellaneous contents. There was a silver-plated canopy intended to be held over bridal pairs-and a divan on which were placed portraits of Queen Victoria and the late Ranee attended by large dolls or figures presumably representing members of the Sivajee family. A

as a picture of angelic white elephants, and other black, red, and purple elephants all with wings. An attendant declared that elephants supported the various quarters of the globe and used to have win

r a Scholarship at the Madras College. The principal living-room was rather like a church, having forty columns in it, and, the floor being on different levels and divided in various ways, it served for sitting-room, dining-, and billiard-room. From one corner a winding stai

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) on his death-bed, 1773, in a gold filigree box of Venetian workmanship. When Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were on their way to India their ship was attacked by a French frigate and Mr. Johnston with the captain's permission took charge of four quarter-deck guns. Mrs. Johnston refused to leave her husband and remained

on an ebony table in the then drawing-room. The natives soon started a legend that the urn contained a talisman, and that whoever possessed it could never be wounded in battle or taken pris

relates the particulars which he had heard from his mother, and further his own experiences, which give an impression of ve

the different languages and native gymnastic exercises. On one occasion he was hunting in company with the chief who was supposed to have the urn, and distinguished himsel

ndeed purchased it for a large sum, not knowing that it was stolen from Mrs. Johnston, and added that one brave man should always attend to the wishes of another brave man no matter of what country or religion, and that h

with many members of his family. He behaved with undaunted courage, and on hearing that he was to die, at once alluded to the story of th

f all gold and silver articles in private possession, they entrusted the urn and its contents to an Englishwoman at Boulogne, wh

parents had been compelled to give up to the Calais municipality. It is, however, unlikely that he would have recovered the h

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ved at the Palace a row of elephants was stationed on either side of the court on to which the principal buildings opened. All the elephants duly salaamed at a given signal except on

uard the door. The Prince, however, feeling that "nice customs curtsy to great kings," put them aside and entered the apartmen

as Alexander the Great is supposed to have camped there, the other Elephantmullai, from a legend that the Chola (Tanjore) King's magician made him a gigantic el

faith. Four g?purams or towers guard the entrances to the halls, galleries, arcades, and courts within the sacred precincts. One hall is called the Hall of a Thousand Pill

races to their faith by admitting their tutelar deities to the Hindu Pantheon. The great flag-staff of Minachi (alias Parvati) is overlaid with gold. There are a thousand Brahmins and attend

e form of elephants, cows, lions, or peacocks constructed of, or overlaid with, gold or silver of

es. At one corner of the latter they put a large figure of an Englishman attended by a small native, at another an Englis

then shut up in a place enclosed with palisades, while a series of notes and messages was interchanged with them. They were much amused by the proceedings, which they evidently regarded as the

ER'S SAC

a former Collector called Rous Peter. He used to worship Minachi in order to obtain any money

A devil was quite as much respected as a beneficent deity, indeed it was even more necessary to keep him in a good humo

-heathen arrangement and later on built a Christian church destined to include their remains. There was some little difficulty with the Christian authorities about this, but ultimately it was amica

ion was not uncommon. We heard of a colonel buried in another part of the Presidency on

ber 16th. We had greatly enjoyed our few days in the new world of Southern India,

he private houses to which Europeans were not generally admitted. Among the excellent representatives of the British Government were the Minister of Education, Mr. Grigg, and Mrs. Grigg. Madras owes much to them both-the native girls particularly to Mrs. G

system of morality was inculcated. I believe that had we gone to Trichinopoly we should have found many more Christians. It is much easier to convert pariahs and low-caste natives, numerous in Southern India, than those of the higher castes, who have to give up social position and worldly advantage if they change the

OF NATIV

an suspected of pro-Russian sympathies, and pointed out to him the way in which Russians treated their own subjects. "If Russia took India," he said, "what would you do if a Russian tried

sit it, and to "do poojah," presenting offerings of cocoa-nuts, etc. The statue was in bronze, and they expres

done much for it, and the results of science and engineering had been seriously damaged by a cyclone. As Sir Mount Stuart Grant Duff had sagely remarked, "Any plan is a good one if you stick to it," but the damaged walls were being rebuilt somewhat tentatively and there was no conviction as to the ultimate outcome. Probably there is now a satisfactory structure, but in our time there was not much protection for the boat which carried us to the Pundua. Mr. Rees was to accompany us to Calcutta, a

rd speed with the others. This meant something over nine knots an hour, and, after sticking on a sandbank near the mouth of the Hoogli, we ultimately reached

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of a family of mixed European and Indian parentage. The other children were dusky but respectable. She was white, and rather handsome, and fascinated a luckless young Englishman of good family, who married her, only to discover that she was extravagant and given to flirtation. They were on their way to a post-tea-planting if I remember aright-somewhere to the North of India. When they first left England the husband was very sea-sick, and the wife carried on a vio

oration, and as he could not let him have the sole chance of discovering the beautiful unknown flower of which there were rumours, he set off to hunt him. All the material for a novel, if

iam Beresford, another old friend of my husband's, was Military Secretary, and Colonel Ardagh Private Secretary. Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace, who had been so eminently successful as Private Secretary to the late Vicer

nging out their new frocks for the Viceroy's Christmas Ball. I hope that it proved a consolation to many that the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal gave a ball at Belvedere two days

RAHMO

deas of the Society are based on natural theology, or the human instinct, which tells almost all men that there is a God. The Brahmo Somaj accepts a large portion of the Holy Books of all nations, especially the Vedas and the Bible. It acknowledges Christ as a Divine Incarnation and Teacher of Righteousness, but again it does not regard His atonement as necessar

of His atonement in the sense of at-one-ment, or bringing together the whole human race, and he regards the Sacraments as a mystical sanctification of the ordinary acts of bathin

the wealthy young Maharajah Kuch Behar before that age. This created some prejudice, though the marriage was a successful one, and she was a highly educated and attractive woman. She had a great reverence for her father, and in after years gave me some of his works. Another pundit, later on, started another Brahmo Somaj

who impersonated this same man. The amusing part was that a very excellent couple, Lord and Lady W. (both now dead), were on the same ship. Lady W. was an old friend of Mrs. S. C.-the real man's mother-but, as it happened, had not seen the son since his boyhood. Naturally she accepted him under the name he had assumed, and effusively said that she had nursed him on her knee as a child. The other passengers readily accepted him as the bo

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al visit to the "Maharajah of the people of Benares." It is curious that the Maharajah should have adopted that name, just as Louis Philippe called himself "King of the French" rather than "of France" to indicate less absolute power. The Ma

lated by our friend the Rajah, who squatted on the floor at the Maharajah's feet, we were entertained with native music and nautch-dancing. After we had taken leave of our host we inspected his tigers, kept, I suppose, as an emblem of his rank. Shiva Prashad told us a romantic tale of his own life, according to which he first entered the service of the Maharajah of Bhurtpore, but was disgusted by the cruelty which he saw exerci

Hardinge pronounced these memorable words-'We must fight and conquer or fall here.'" They fought-and first one three thousand, then another three thousand friendly troops joined in, so the Homeric comb

OF INFANTS

assumed for our benefit, particularly as the emancipation of women evidently formed no part of his programme. He gave an entertaining account of a visit paid by Miss Carpenter to his wife and widowed sister. Miss Carpenter was a philanthropic lady of about fifty, with hair beginning to grizzle, who carried on a crusade against infant marriage and the prohibition of the remarriage of widows. "Well," was th