His friend informed him, in a whifp'ring tone, To fave their lives was not in Fortune's pow'r. "At first he thought fome danger might be near, But foon accuf'd his trembling friend of fear, The wild illufion of a flumb'ring brain; "For Heaven's fake hush," with means the other faid, "A Lion's at the bottom of the Bed, "My foot this moment touch'd his shaggy mane." "Parfons affail'd this panic with a jeft, But all his fportive fallies more diftreft His wretched friend, who anfwer'd with a figh, "'Tis not a phantom conjur❜d up by fear, 6 Alas! I'm certain there's a Lion here "But if you're mad, put down your foot and try." "Still Parfons thought 'twas mere fantaftic dread That thus difturbed his dreaming partner's head, Though the poor man feem'd tortur'd on the rack, Refolv'd, howe'er the point to afcerrain, He ftretch'd his leg to find the fhaggy mane, But ftrait in filent horror drew it back. "Too well affur'd his friend was in the right, And both, indeed, were funk in deep difmay- And morn foon light him to his helpless prey. "Some hours they paff'd in the disastrous state, Dumb, almost breathlefs, brooding o'er their fate Their fears increaf'd each time they heard the clock, Left it should break the Monster's dread repofe, When as new terrors with the day arofe, The door alarm'd them with a fudden knock. "As if a peal of thunder fhock the room, The found appeared the fignal of their doom, Nor dar'd they raise their heads to eye the door The Beast seem'd moving, as if just awake, When hark! a knock much louder than before. "While loft in wild fufpenfe, a heavier knock, And feem'd the crifis of their fate to bring; Expecting ev'ry moment he would fpring, "The "The door was open'd, and with eager ftate, And ftrait on tip-toe stole in hafte away. "The news like lightning o'er the mansion spread, "But when they faw the door, the hostile band, While thus they pauf'd-with apprehenfion pale A Serjeant bold, who fent the Waiter there, Let it not, however, be understood, that the more serious compofitions of Mr. Taylor are not, in our opinion, entitled to a very confiderable degree of respect and attention. They undoubtedly are, and the Sonnets in particular have much chafte fimplicity and tenderness. One of thefe we infert "Eight times the Sun his annual courfe has past, Too exquifite the happiness to last, And fate ever robbed me of the matchless prize. "Ah! gentle fhade of her I loved fo well, The faithful homage that I ftill muft pay. "And fince deny'd, to wing my flight with thee, To guide me through this world of vice and care. "So fung the bard that joined our hearts before The Parody which concludes the Volume in a more par şicular manner exhibits those political fentiments of the au thor, which have ever been in unison with our own, and which, upon former occafions, we have been earneft to avow and vindicate, with exertions united in common. It is a very happy, and to us an exceedingly well-timed fpecimen of juft fatire. We think that the Caledonian Comet might as well have been omitted. Surely the author of Marmion ought not to be termed a Ballad-Monger, and leaft of all does he deferve the epithets of " dull and tame." ART. XI. Supplement to the modern History of India; bringing that Hiftory down to the Year of our Lord 1788, when the Imperial Mogul Dynafly, by the Blinding and Dethronement of Shah Aulum, virtually became extinct. 4to. 195 pp. 11. Is. White. 1810. SINCE the commencement of Mr. Maurice's historical la bours no fmall portion of the life of man hath elapfed, and although to himfelf individually, the delay of final completion may have been detrimental, to the public it has proved advantageous, from the great acceffion of new matter, accumulated during more recent invefligation. If the impofitions fo atrociously prtifed by the artful Brahmins on Sir W. Jones, and Mr. Wilford, have, in any degree tended to invalidate the veracity of the ancient hiftoric annals of India, nothing of a dubious nature darkens its modern page, efpecially thefe fupplemental pages: the witnelles are numerous, (fome even yet living) and the facts, however extraordinary, reft upon the firmeft balis of evidence. The conquefts of Clive, the horrors of the black-hele dungeon, the mallacres of Nadir and Abdallah, although they may excite aftonifhment fcarcely lefs profound than the exploits of Ram and Crishna, in the ancient records of India, are too well attefted to admit of doubt or difpute. In the preceding portions of this work we have feen a mighty empire gradually rife to the highest pinnacle of renown and glory, firft under Akbar, and fecondly under Aurungzeb, and in the present final line we behold it utterly funk and fubverted; the fceptre torn from the trembling hand of its monarch, and that monarch himself a menial dependent on the power and bounty of a former vaffal of his throne. Thefe pages, indeed, difplay to us, as the author obferves, " a dreadful picture of crimes and confequent punishments," and hold up an awful example of regal grandeur and degradation to remoteft ages. As we are now about to take a final adieu of Mr. Maurice, at least, as an hiftorian, remembering his zeal and industry in *For an account of those impofitions fee our Review for March, 1810. T BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXVIII. SEPT. 1811. times times that required all the exertions of the well-difpofed, and not unmindful of the attacks to which thofe exertions may have given birth in hoftile quarters, we fhall grant to an old friend and correfpondent a more than ufual space in our account of the winding up of a work in which we have taken fo lively an intereft, and to which we have devoted fo many pages of former reviews. We fhall permit him to speak for himself, and plead his own cause before that tribunal, THE PUBLIC, to which he appeals, and to which no advocate in a just cause ever appeals in vain. His preface thus begins: "I have at length the honour of prefenting to the public the concluding pages of the hiftory of Hindoftan, brought down to the year of our Lord 1788, when the late Shah Aulum was blinded and dethroned, and the glory of the Mogul dynasty, a race of princes who had fwayed its imperial fceptre during a period of nearly 300 years, became utterly extinguifhed! This portion of its history will be found by no means the least interesting; and I have only to lament that it makes its appearance before the public fo late, and in this fupplemental form. It was impoffible, confiftently with other occupations, earlier to complete the arduous work, and the form is that which neceffity dictated. This concluding portion being of fo flender a bulk, it was thought proper to carry on the pages from the former volume, in order that, by those who please, it may be bound up with it. The work, however, is diftinét and complete in itself; containing the final fection of the hiftory, from the death of Aurungzeb to the subverfion of the Mogul empire. "In this latter period of the Indian history, it was neceffary to have recourse to an infinite variety of works, publifhed both in Europe and Afia, of which the most important are occafionally pointed out in the notes; but it was deemed useless to burthen the page with multiplied references on fubjects fo recent. It may be proper, however, to inform the reader, that the bafts of what is here fubmitted to his candid confideration is a work written in Perfian, by an author mentioned in the letter to me from Sir W. Jones, inferted below, GHOLAM HOSSAIN KHAN, a native nobleman of Bahar, and the title of it is SEIR MUTAKHAREEN, or a View of Modern Times *. "This "This letter was an answer to one which I had fent him, con. taining propofals for a general hiftory of India; but upon a more limited fcale than that upon which I was afterwards encouraged to undertake it. "Dear Sir, "Chrifhna-Nagar, 10th Oct. 1790. "It is not poffible for me to forget the pleafure which I have received from your converfation, and the opinion which I always entertained of your parts and induftry. The arduous undertaking, of "This work of GHOLAM HOSSAIN commences at the death of Aurungzeb, with which event my fecond volume concluded, and carries us down through feven reigns of Mogul emperors, the feven laft emperors; if indeed, after the calamitous vifitation of Nadir Shah, the term emperor may with any propriety be used. The names of those emperors are Bahadur, Jehandur, Ferokhfeer, Mahommed Shah, Ahmed Shah, Aulumgeer, and Shah Aulum; for Hoffain feems not to have numbered among the legitimate fovereigns of Hindoftan the two young and unfortunate princes, for a few months exalted to the imperial mufnud, after the death of Ferokhfeer, by the rebel SEYDS." Preface, p. iii. In answer to those who object to this work, that the writer is unacquainted with the languages of Afia, Mr. M. repeats his former ftatement, that however important that accomplifhment might be to him who would give a circumftantial hiftory of internal events, or the provincial hiftory of India, it was by no means neceffary to a writer who has all along profeffed to detail only the leading facts, and to fketch the great outlines of Indian hiftory, as connected (fee his title page) with that of the other great empires of Afia, on which enlarged plan that hiftory can alone be rendered generally in To an of which I have juft perufed the plan, fully juftifies my opinion; but I am so oppreffed with a heavy arrear of business, that I can not write at large on the subject of it. I will defire my agent in London to fubfcribe for me, and will do all I can to promote the fubfcription here. Such is the expenfe of printing at Calcutta, that it would cost thirty pounds fterling to reprint the pamphlet ; but the proposals fhall be reprinted, and carefully circulated. Í am confident that you might learn Perfian in fix months, (if you have not learned it already,) fo well at leaft as to read the origi nal text of FERISHTA, whofe work, with fubmiffion, is very highly esteemed by all learned Indians and Indian scholars. hiftorian I must exprefs every truth, even though friendship might induce me to conceal it ; Let me, at the fame time, exhort you not wholly to rely on my authority; for, though I have diligently avoided errors, yet I have made many for inftance, Por, a word which I found for Porus in the Shah-Nameh, is, I now find, pronounced Pur, or Poor, by the native Perfians; and I have reason to believe, from Sanfcrit authorities, that the true name of that prince was PAU. RAVA. If you read Perfian, Mr. Boughton Roufe will, I dare - fay, lend you the Modern History of India, by GHOLAM HOSSAIN. Farewell, my dear fir, and believe me to be, with great regard, * * "Your ever faithful humble fervant, * * "WILLIAM JONES." T 2 teresting |