Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life

eresting expedition under their auspices. We and some others met them by appointment at Dilkusha, a suburban, ruined house of the former King of Oude from which Sir Colin Campbell had started to fin

d loss to break right through the houses held by the rebels, but to keep more to the right. Sir Frederick pointed out the scenes of several encounters with the enemy, and one spot where he, sent on a message

IEF OF

the Moti Mahal or Pearl Palace. Here Sir Frederick showed us the wall on which the two parties, one on either side, worked till they effected a breach and met each ot

d for so long, particularly as they were then overlooked by comparatively high houses held by the rebels which had since been levelled to the ground. Colonel May indicated all the posts, and the places of greatest danger, but there was danger everywhere, except perhaps in the underground rooms in which 250 women and children of the 32nd were lodged. Cannon-balls were always flying about-he told us of one lady t

t subsequently lost her baby, while her husband was killed in the Mutiny. She, he said, never fully recovered her senses. No wonder,

s in order that they might witness it. Villiers, boylike, tried to ride his pony up the steep bank of a nullah. It fell back with him, and he suffered what was called a "green fracture," the bones

oops on the Ridge. He was therefore able to show us from personal knowledge all the scenes of the fighting and relief, as well as all the well-known marvels of architecture and the glories left by the great Moghuls. His house was near the old fortifications, which I

stopped them at the end of three days. "Yes, you would, had you been there," said Colonel Hanna. It must be very hard to restrain men maddened by weeks of hardship and the recollection of atrocities perpetrated by their foes, if they are once l

M THE KO

attered the vestiges of deserted cities built by the conquerors and emperors of two thousand years, a history culminating on the Ridge of Delhi, where Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress, and where her grandson received in person the homage of the feudatory princes and chiefs ove

cessor Feroz seems to have been a merciful and pious ruler: he compensated the injured as far as possible and got them to write deeds of indemnity, which he placed in Ju

yphoid fever. He seemed to be recovering, and after making arrangements for a nurse and every attention we returned to Delhi on Monday. We were afraid to keep Villier

ect of his accident, and Sir John being a surgeon was able to look after him. Needless to say we visited the famous Taj by moonlight and by day, each time finding fresh beauties. I venture to quote a sentence about it fro

thing is left to the imagination. There are no mysterious arches, no unfinished columns, nothing is there that seems to speak of human longing and unf

ND FUTTEHP

is simply in a raised chamber something like a chapel, whereas Akbar's Show Tomb is on a platform at the summit of a series of red sandstone buildings piled on each other and gradually diminishing in size. The tomb, most

minded us of Pompeii, though perhaps it had less human interest it had a greater imprint of grandeur. The great Archway or High

build no house there: he who hopeth for an hour may hope for eternity

must have been too much absorbed in religious meditation to study the habits of babies, for instead of being startled by the loquacity of his offspring he confided to him that he grieved that the Emperor could not have an heir unless some other person sacrificed his chi

ant children tie little pieces of wool. Apparently a little addition to the offering of wool is desirable, as the priest who acted as guide assured us that an English officer who ha

we saw a little tomb erected by a woman whose husband

r Osterley, made there. They were a long time coming, but they were well worth it. Abdul Kerim, Queen Victoria's Munshi, was a friend of his, in fact I believe that Sir John had selecte

Bunyah (banker and money-lender) caste. He lodged us in a bungalow generally let to some English officers who were tem

HPLACE O

a, there are magnificent temples and rock-carvings in honour of Vishnu and his incarnation Krishna, his birth

it receded and they passed over dry shod. In memory of this event little brass basins are sold with an image within of the man carrying the child in his arms. The child's foot projects, and if one pours water into the basin it runs away as soon as it touches the toe. I do not know what

s place of pilgrimage in the neighbourhood, where they had set up a flag-staff 120 feet high overlaid with real gold. Seth Lachman Das maintained at his own expense twenty-five p

as an enlightened potentate, had unfortunately gone into camp, but we were interested in the many tokens of

when one visits a school. One smiling woman brought me a label inscribed "Bigamy," which struck me as rather ludicrous considering the circumstances, and also a little unfair to the criminal. Indian men are allowed several wives-why

t certainly wanted renewing. The Maharajah was a rarely intelligent man, and he had a particularly clever and agreeable Dewan-or Prime Minister. We made great friends with the English doctor-Dr. Hendley-who not only attended some of the native nobles, but also was able to superintend the English lady doctor and thereby help the native ladies. Formerly when a child was bo

JA

eft in Hindustan proper. Ceylon and Burmah are Buddhist, so are some of the lands on the Northern Frontier, but the Brahmins contrived to exterminate Buddhism in the great Peninsula in the eighth century after it had spread and flourished there for about a thousa

gels worthy of a Gothic cathedral rising to its central point. Around are arcades with pillars and arches, beyond which are numerous small chapels or shrines, each with the figure of a large cross-legged Rishi or Saint with little rishis in attendance. Every inch of arch, arcade, and ceiling is adorned with marvellous carving of ornaments, or of men, ships, and animals. We were told that the cen

AJAH OF B

e Star of India, and attended by his high officials and a guard of honour. We felt very dirty and dusty after a hot journey (thermometer in r

as of right and wrong and of his duty to his people. I expect that, like the rest of us, he often found it hard to carry his theories into practice, and it was rather pathetic when, speaking of what he wished to do, he added, "We must do the

of the country, Captain Ferris, into the middle of the tennis ground, as the only spot free from the risk of spies, and poured his griefs into the Englishman's sympathetic bosom. Captain Ferris's solution was that Mrs. Ferris should call upon the despised Rani, as she did on the more orthodox wives, and that the Maharajah should cling to his English adviser for several

out Ahmedabad the lower castes do not forbid second marriages, and these are less expensive than the first. Therefore a girl was sometimes married

. All three, particularly Limbdi and Gondal, were enlightened men, with various schemes for promoting the welfare of their subjects. The life of many of these Indian Chiefs recalls the days

RO

always been happy in his relations with the British Government. He however proved quite loyal during the late war. When we were at Baroda he had been decorating his Palace in an inferior European style. He had bought some fair pictures, but would only give an average of ￡100, as he said that neither he nor his subjects were capable of appreciating really good ones. In contrast to these modern arrangements we saw the "Chattries" of former Gaikwars. These were funny little rooms, something like small loose boxes in a garden surrounding a shrine. In one was a doll, representing Kunda Rao's grand

rientals remains to be seen. When we paid this first of our visits to India it was perfectly evident that the idea of the Queen-Empress was the corner-stone of government. My husband talked to many natives, Maharajahs and officials, and would sometimes refer to the leaders of the great English political parties. Their names seemed to convey nothing to the Indians, but they always brought the conversation back to "The Empre

embarrassment of the officials. One extremely capable man, however, knew the people well and how to deal with them. He contrived to induce the leading tribesmen to come and see him. In reply to his inquiry they confessed their apprehensions. "You fools," said the Englishman, "it is nothing of the sort. I will tell you the reason. You have heard of the Kaiser-i-Hind?" Yes-they had heard of her. "And you have heard of the Kaiser-i-Roum?" (the Czar). They had also heard of him. "Well, the Kaiser-i-Roum paid a visit

AS LINGU

ce how the English language w

lish. Formerly the lingua franca of the upper, or educated, classes was Persian, of the lower ones Urdu-the kind of Hindustani spoken by the Mohammedan, and afterwards by the English army. Of course both languages still prevail, but all educated Indians learn English in addition to two or three of the hundred-odd languages spoken in the Peninsula. On a later visit a Hyderabad noble was taking my d

lready mentioned as appearing in The Nineteenth Century-from

sea should be filled up until she surrendered the eggs. They summoned the other birds to help them, and all obeyed their call except the eagle. He was the favourite steed of Vishnu, so thought himself exonerated from mundane duties. But Vishnu

animals at all, and all Hindus hold so many as sacred that peacocks, monkeys, and pigeons may be seen everywhere, destroying crops and eating people out of house and home. The people of a town, driven to desperation, may be induced to catch the monkeys, fill a tr

OF A WESTE

s, which I wrote after reading Sir Alfred Lyall's "Meditations of

meseemeth, wherever m

them temples, and in th

e around them has fashio

e and their being from the

rble be instinct with cur

he Beauty and the Lore

p in the mountain and rear

f the thunder and the force

uilders of old time, that w

in springtide to sin

of Walhalla shall crumb

of the World-ash and the h

ical India, I ask ye,

her of spirit, of the tale

mples and legends and da

uld ye tell it, of the sou

our barriers; ah, empires

e its witness, and left a

is the Godhead,' the

Almighty, by which ye sh

ll-Father; yea, Brahmi

f the Buddha, but the p

His creature-the La

e be of profit to man

which to children and not

uplifted? By it shall

ften-forgotten yet ec

f the Father, 'am the Way

the peoples, let priests h

that speaketh, and s

all find it, that in

of his Father, to end

s him the power, the mess

uggle to follow, the Wor

e whirlwind, nor bolt fro

th the tidings-the child k

ns-different from the Arcadia, then the show-ship of the P. and O. fleet. I was amused once to come across an account by Sir Richard Burton of a voyage which he t

have done, and which she did on subsequent visits. The mosques in particular seemed to us inferior to the marble dreams of Delhi and Agra. Moreover on this occasion we did not ascend the Nile and see the wonderful temples. The one thing which really impressed me was the Sphinx, though I regret to say that my husband and son entirely declined to shar

Lady Galloway. On this voyage I performed the one heroic deed of my life, with which bad sailors like myself will sympathise. The crew of this ship was ma

ISH PLU

that it must be boiled for twenty-four hours. Said he, "You shall have a plum-pudding for dinner tomorrow." Then and there he sent for the steward and gave him full instructions. Next evening the plum-pudding duly appeared, but meantime the wind had freshened and the sea had risen. Under such conditions I am in th

les by the very pretty daughter of the American Minister, Clarice Fearn. She was about seventeen and had evidently been almost deprived of young companionship during her sojourn at Athens. She was seated at the British Legation between Villiers and a French Secretary no longer in his first youth, so she promptly turned to the latter and said, "I am not going to talk to you, I am going to talk to Lord Villiers"; result, an animated conversation between the youngsters throughout dinner. She at once ac

EK ROYA

scribing part of a letter to my mother which contains an account o

resented George's suggestion that some beautiful gold things of his might be moved out of the nursery cupboard, as he said 'they have always been there.' Last Sunday we had luncheon there again, and this time the baby was brought downstairs and his brothers and sisters competed for the honour of nursing him, the Queen and several of us finally seating ourselves on the floor in order t

n the same l

ot through the back of his head and she through the small of her back, but, as the Austrian Minister here says, no one knows or ever will know the real truth. I think the tragedies i

ither poverty nor riches, I should be careful to add 'especially not the former,' for I don't see that poverty ensures peace, or security from murder-and it would be hard to be poor all one's l

What would my mother, my au

ny of her relations. She married the Grand Duke Paul later in 1889 and died in 1891 after the birth of her second child. Taken indeed from the evil to come.

AL DER

you ought to like it, for you have heard of the Parthian shafts-those" (pointing to the columns) "are the original Parthian shafts." "How very interesting!" said she. He then proceeded to inform her that the Odeum was used for music (which was true), but added that the music was so bad that they all hated it, and therefore the place was called the "Odium"-also "very interesting." She was taken fo