ummmma President Whjte Library, Cornell University. The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024120317 Cornell University Library DS 486.C2B98 1897 Echoes from old Calcutta :belng chief! r 3 1924 024 120 317 ECHOES mm OLD CALCUTTA. ECHOES OLD CALCUTTA: BEIKG CHIEFLY REMINISCENCES OF THE DAYS OF WARREN HASTINGS, FRANCIS AND IMPEY. BY H. E. BUSTEED, CLE. THIRD EDITION. CONSIDERABLY BNLABGED, WITH ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co. London: W. THACKBR AND CO., 2, CREED LANE, LUDGATE HILL, B.C. 1897. (^ [All rights reserved."] LONDON : w. 1. mchardson, pbinter, 4 and 5, great queen street, Lincoln's inn fields, w.c. PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. The favour continued to this book, by readers in India especially, calls for a third Edition. In preparing this, the writer has worked in much fresh material, gathered since the issue of the previous Edition. Access to sources of information on the subject of the first article, not previously made use of by him, has led to the recasting and amplifying (without enlarging) Chapters 1 and 2. It has been well said that the merit of a book rests fuUy as much on what is left out as on what is put in ; with this truth in view, a good deal of matter which might be deemed lacking in interest for the general reader has been withdrawn. Under this head faUs the consideration of the well-worn contro- versy connected with the trial of i^uncomar, which may now be well permitted to rest where the late Sir James Stephen left it. Lastly, the book has been largely illustrated, in the hope of bringing more vividly before the reader the time and the persons with which it deals. 1897. H. E. B. PEEFACE TO SECOND EDITION. The First Edition of this book met with a more generous reception than the writer could have reasonably expected. In the hope of making the Second Edition more worthy of the favour of its readers, the book has been submitted to thorough revision, which has resulted in the greater part of it being re-written. The Chapters have been re-arranged, and much new matter has been supplied to each. An ampler selection is given from the letters of "Warren Hastings to his wife, to which have been added a few characteristic specimens of letters written by Mrs. Hastings, all hitherto unpublished. A short extra Chapter and an Appendix also appear in the present Edition. The first article, which has now been expanded into a long one, treats of an event in Indian history long anterior in point of time to the period mainly contemplated in the title page. Still the subject is one which almost of necessity finds a place in any book purporting to speak of Old Calcutta. Two of the views illustrating this article (i.e., the Frontispiece and that at page 21) were drawn by Mr. S. de WUde from, data supplied by me. The available information regarding the structural or architectural features of Old Fort William is too meagre to admit of accuracy in representing them. These views therefore are but approximate restorations of a portion of a building which has long ceased to exist. What has been chiefly aimed at in them is, to show the relative position of the rooms, verandah and other details, referred to by cotemporaries, nearest to the barrack cell ; so that the reader may more readily understand what the Black Hole reaUy was, and how its victims got entrapped. Allusion has been made in the text to the strange misconception which rather widely existed — even in VIU PREFACE. Calcutta itself — on these points, from a period not very long after the occurrence of the notorious calamity. I have to express my thanks to Major W. Antrobus Holwell, recently residing in Canada, now in Jamaica, for kindly placing at my disposal phptographs of two old family portraits, of his great-grandfather. One of these has been reproduced for this volume. The photograph of the other (a picture of great historical interest, in which the chief survivor of the Black Hole is seen superintending the erection of a monument to his "fellow-sufferers") did not take in all the figures and details, and for this and other reasons was, I regret, considered not weU adapted for reproduction on a small scale. The frequent topographical allusions throughout the book show that it was originally written for Calcutta readers especially. Though it professes to be mainly a mere gossiping volume of light reading, dealing chiefly with social Anglo-Indian life during a very' interesting period in the last century, let me venture to say that I have spared no effort to at least try to make it historically accu- rate — so far as it goes — even in trivial details. The materials for the following sketches have been gathered in many instances from perishable sources not easily accessible, such as old graveyards, decaying newspapers and records, and similar chronicles, which Father Time and his devastating allies seem to devour more hungrily in India than anywhere else, to the irreparable loss of the searcher after trustworthy historical evidence. Wherever I could find a cotemporary authority (even though comparatively obscure) which the ravages of the white ants and the damp, &c., had still spared, I have made use of it in preference to any other. "The only history worth reading is that written at the time of which it treats ; the history of what was done and seen, heard out of the mouths of those who did and saw. One fresh draught of such history is worth more than a thousand volumes of abstracts and reasonings and suppositions and theories " (Ruskin). 1888. H. E. B. PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. It is convenient sometimes to put old wine into new bottles, not with the object of improving it by the transfer, but so that, when brought from its cellar and decanted, it may be more ready for the table. Something similar to this has been attempted in the following pages; in other words, the writer has gone to sources of information mostly old and mouldy, and has drawn from them some account of the by-gone times and celebrities of Calcutta, with the view of putting it into an accessible form, unencumbered with details, and suitable for the majority of readers. The subjects thus dealt with are those which will always be historically associated with this city, and which, it may be pre- sumed, all who come to India would wish to read about, or would be expected to be reasonably acquainted with. These papers lay no claim to commendation as regards their literary setting ; several of them appeared from time to time in the Englishman with the object of interesting rather than instructing the general newspaper reader, and by the courteous permission of its proprietor they are collected and reproduced now with but little change from their ephemeral garb. The article on Madame Grand appears now for the first time, and it may be added that the account of the famous trial contained in it is derived from official and other records not before printed. The extracts from the series of private letters from the Governor- General to Mrs. Hastings are also now published for the first time. 1882. H. E. B. CONTENTS. THE BLACK HOLE. CHAPTER I— CAPTUIIB OF CALCUTTA. Growth of Calcutta, 2. — Its extent and general condition in 1756, when Siraj ud Dowlah became Nawab, 5. — Tarious alleged reasons for his animosity to the English, 7. — Seizes Kasimbizar, and marches an army to attack Calcutta, 8. — TJnpreparedness of Calcutta, hurried, ill-directed attempts at defence; strength of garrison, 9. — Attacked on 16th June, 14. — Amidst terrible confusion fort deserted by Governor Drake and his chief civil and military officers, 18. — Drake's own excuse for his conduct, 19. — Defence maintained under Mr. Holwell for two days longer, 21.— Fort taken, 25. CHAPTER II.— IMPRISONMENT. Brief description of rooms in fort used as barracks and as punishment cell, 27. — Number of prisoners j how thrust jnto Black Hole, 29. — Extracts from Holwell's account of the dreadful night, 31. — Personal details regarding a few of the survivors, 38. — Short account of Holwell, the chief survivor and historian of the tragedy, 42. — The monument which he erected in Calodtta suffered to go to ruin, 48. — Demolition of Old Port ; recent identification of some sites in it, 49. CHAPTER III. PHILIP FRANCIS AND HIS TIMES. PhUip Francis, the now reputed author of the letters of Junius, appointed Member of Council, Calcutta, 53. — His nomination a surprise, 54. — Lord Brougham's high tribute to his integrity, 55. — His colleagues ; his opinion of himself, 55. CHAPTER IV.— THE ARRIVAL OF FRANCIS IN CALCUTTA. The newly-appointed Member of Council and the Judges leave England early in 1774 ; Maorabie's diary of the voyage, 58. — Land at Madras ; hospitahty shown them there, 59. — Arrive at Calcutta ; ceremony of reception official letter from Warren Hastings to Court of Directors about it. xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER v.— NUNCOMAR. Historical notoriety due mainly to Francis, 66. — Charged with forgery, com- mitted for trial, and sent to common jail, where he pleads caste objections, and refuses to eat, 67. — Where trial was held, 71 .—Preliminary objection to interpreter ; and to indictment, 74.— Trial lasts eight days, 77. — ^Accused proposes to his counsel to throw up the case owing to treatment of his witnesses by judges, 78. — Chief Justice sums up in the early morning of eighth day ; verdict and sentence, 81. — Petitions in favour of condemned, 83. — Complimentary addresses to Judges, 84. — Scene and account of execution, 85. — A few personal details about the four judges who conducted this trial, 90. CHAPTER VI.— DUEL BETWEEN FRANCIS AND HASTINGS. Origin and Provocation, 96. — Francis challenges Hastings in Council House ; hostile meeting arranged, 99. — Where duel occurred ; account of it, 100. — Letters from Hastings to his wife about it, 104. CHAPTER YII.— HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. Where Francis lived in Calcutta, 107. — An ordinary day's life, 110. — Servants, 114. — Origin of hanging punka, 116. — Servants before the poHce magistrate, 117. — Introduction of pillory, 119. — Slaves, 120. Part II. — Francis in Society, 121. — Mrs. ImhofE, 122. — Reference to her and other ladies in Francis's Calcutta Diary, 123. — Her marriage with Hastings, 124. — Amuse- ments : Masquerades, private theatricals, dancing, 127. — Some social queens and their attractions, 130. Pakt III. — GambEng ; Francis's success ; his chief victim, 134. — Francis's opinion of his colleague Barwell, and of his matrimonial aspirations, 137. — Death of General Clavering, 139. — Marriage of Barwell to a celebrated beauty ; his retirement, 142. Pakt IT. — Deaths amongst Francis's friends in the Settlement, 144. — Unsavoury condition of the streets of Calcutta ; its maladies and its medical men, 147. — Francis's opinion of an Indian career ; its break-up of bis home domestic peace ; his bitterness on reviewing it, 155. CHAPTER VIII.— LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. No newspaper in Calcutta until 1780 ; then was started Bengal Gazette, pro- prietor and Editor a Mr. Hicky,.161. — Some samples of its contents, 165. — Soon became indecorous, personal, and offensive, and was shut out from the post office, 167, 174. — Miss Wrangham, 175. — Gazette especially venomous against Hastings and Impey, 178.— Mr. Hicky sent to jail, but paper still conducted from there, 182. — Paper finally crashed by seizure of the type and the continued imprisonment of Editor, 188. CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTBK IX.— MADAME GRAND. Much inaccurate gossip atout her, 193. — Mr. Grand's early career before entering Indian Civil Service, 194. — Married at Calcutta to Mdlle. WerlSe before she was fifteen, 199. — Remarkable beiuty of Madame Grand, 200. — Philip Francis becomes enamoured of ber and effects an entrance by a_ ladder into her apartments by night, when her husband is out, but is caught and detained by servants till rescued by his companion, 201. — Challenged by Grand, but declines, 203. — Francis sued for criminal trespass and seduction ; enormous damages claimed, 206. — Trial comes off, February, 1779; detailed account of it, 209. — ^Verdict and jndgment, 227. — Madame Grand under protection of Francis at Hooghly until her leaving India before him, 235. Part II. — Grand; subsequent career in India tiU his return to Europe and appointment to the Cape, 239. — After the lapse of several years Madame Grand appears in Paris, 1796, as the mistress of Talleyrand, 249. — Her personal attractions at this time, 251. — Is granted an interview by Napoleon, 252. — Married to Talleyrand, 263. — Uses her influence to get Grand the Cape appointment, 259. — As Princesse de Benevento becomes hostess to the Spanish Princes at Valeucay, 263. — Does not bear prosperity well, 266. — The Robinson Crusoe story, 269. — Her death and her grave, 272. CHAPTER X. LETTERS FROM WARREN HASTINGS TO HIS WIFE. From Calcutta to Hooaihly in 1780, 279. — From Chunar to Baughulpore, 1781, 286.— Prom Calcutta to England, 1784, 291. Letters from Mrs. Hastings, 315. CHAPTER XI. AN OLD CALCUTTA GRAVE. Rose Aylmer ; her death ; where buried ; her association with Landor ; his elegy on her, 321. Supplement. — The neighbouring grave, that of the author of the ' Wreck of the Jono,' is also associated with the name of a great English poet, 326. APPENDIX. The Hamilton tradition, 330.— List of Survivors, 332.— Mr. Belli, 334.— The intrigues of a Nabob, 335.— Princess Talleyrand, 340. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Black Hole as seen from the Ve hand ah .... Frontispiece An enlarged view of the Southern end of the chambers, showing the prison cell as led into from the barracks, and the piazza between the double row of arches where the prisoners were sitting when ordered to go behind into the barracks, whence they were immediately driven into the Black Hole. FoET William at Bengall, 1736 5 From a print of the original painting in the India Office. The gh^t leading down from the large water-gate is probably that by which Governor Drake and others fled to the boats. The steeple is that of the first Calcutta Ohuroh, which stood outside the forh, opposite the E. curtain, nearly midway between the N.E. bastion and main gate. The Church was destroyed during the fighting in June, 1756. In the year following the publication of this print the steeple is said to have been blown down during a furious hurricane which occurred in October, 1737. Black Hole feom Parade Ground 38 General view of the arrangement of the chambers (with their arched openings) which were built against the portion of the E. curtain, lying between the main gate and the S.E. bastion, the end j-oom nearest to the bastion being the Black Hole. The ground plan at the foot of this view is a modification of that given by Mr. Bayne, C.B., to the Asiatic Society's Journal. Mrs. Mills (wife of Captain J. Mills, a survivor of the Black Hole) . . 41 Prom a mezzotint, by J. R. Smith, of a painting by G. Engleheart. J. Z. Holwell 48 From a family painting (now in the possession of the Govt, of India), in which he is represented as superintending the erection of his monument. The central figure only is here shown, the picture as a whole being ill-adapted for the necessary reduction. Sir Philip Francis 56 From a painting by Lonsdale ; engraved by Freeman. Street View in Calcutta, 1786 71 Showing Writer's Buildings (now Bengal Secretariat) and the Old Mayor's Court. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xr PAGE POETKAITS OF THE GHIEr JUSTICE AND OS TWO OF THE FlEST Puisne Judges or the Supreme Couet, Calcutta 95 That of Sir Elijah Impey is from a painting by Tilly Kettle, that of Mr. Justice Hyde from a painting by R. Home, and that of Mr. Justice Chambers from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (permis- sion to reproduce which was courteously given by the publishers of the engraving, Messrs. Hy. Graves & Son, PaU Mall). A presentable reproduction of the portrait of Sir Robert Chambers, in judicial costume (in Calcutta), proved impracticable. An effort to find a portrait of Mr. Justice Lemaistre was, it is regretted, unsuccessful. Street View in Calcutta, 1786 112 Showing ramparts of the old fort, i.e.. Eastern Curtain with its bastions and gate. Also Holwell's monument. Miss Benedetta Ramus (who became Lady Dat) 131 From a painting by Romney. Richard Barwell, Esq 143 Sir Joshua Reynolds, in writing to his nephew, Wm. Johnson, then (January, 1781) going to Caleutte, says : "I am now drawing a whole length of Mr. Barwell and his son for Mr. Hastings ; when the picture goes to India, I shall write at the same time in your favour." A note in the life ofReynolds by Leslie and Taylor says : " There is a small portrait of Hastings represented on the wall in this picture." There is certainly no resemblance to any other likeness of Hastings in the small portrait. Madame Grand 200 From a photograph of the painting now in the Baptist Mission College at Serampore, near Calcutta. The tradition and belief at Serampore are that this portrait was taken by Zoffany. This great painter could not have arrived in India until late in 1783. If he was the artist who executed this portrait, the subject must have sat to him in Europe in 1781 or 1782. There is no explanation forth- coming as to how her portrait got to India (if not painted there), and especially to where it now is. She had near relatives living at Ohandemagore ; if the portrait was the work of Zoffany (in Europe) it may have been sent out to them by her, and found its way thence in course of time to the neighbouring Danish settlement of Serampore (?) The photographic presentment is disappointing; her beauty lay mainly in her exquisite colouring, its varieties and contrasts, and these photography cannot recall. Caricature op Philip Francis 232 Madame de Talleyrand 255 From the small portrait by Gerard in the Musee at Versailles. Me. and Mrs. Hastings 278 Warren Hastings. From a painting by Reynolds. Mrs. Hastings. From a painting by Ozias Humphrey. ECHOES EROl OLD CALCUTTA. CHAPTEE I. THE BLACK HOLE, 1756. 1. — The Capture op Calodtta. A GREAT writer has told us that he always thought it strange that- the actions of our countrymen in the East should even among our- selves excite little interest. Every Englishman, he says, might reasonably be curious to know how a handful of his countrymen, separated from their home by an immense ocean, subjugated in a few years one of the greatest empires in the world ; nevertheless, this sub- ject struck him as being to most readers insipid or even distasteful. Macaulay contents himself with merely noticing this indifference ■without attempting to refer it to a cause. Yet he, who so thoroughly recognised the importance of engaging attention by " writing what people like to read," and who is never tedious, could have suggested at least one very probable cause in the neglect, or the want, of this talent, which is as essential to the historian as to the writer of fiction. If the reproach, however, of indifference applies to the English even when they are living in the country whose history has such claim on their interest, some excuse for them may be found in the fact that they come to India but to sojourn as very busy workers ; engrossed in the present they do not concern them- selves with the past ; it is a sealed book which it would be unprofitable to open. This, at least, is the case with nearly all whose lot is cast in the presidency cities, and other centres of commerciaL and official activity, and so the generation of to-day goes on, know- B 2 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. ing or caring little about those whicli went before, and dragged a lengthening chain over the same ground. StiU, to those who are tired of the anxieties and routine of business, and take but a languid interest in the warfare and -controversies of modern politics and literature, one may suggest tbat it would be a relief to seek refuge in a bygone world, and in its records to learn something of the official and every-day life of their predecessors in Indian exile. Such a retrospect, far from being profitless or dull, would afford fresh and instructive enter- tainment even to those who are restricted to the occupations of -social life, and must grow weary of " the constant revolution, stale and tasteless of the same repeated joys." Confining the looking back to the capital of British India alone, it would at least enable many to take an intelligent interest in those sites and scenes in their midst which are intimately associated with memorable doings, and with the historic names of their own people, which are now daily passed by without even curiosity being awakened, because so little is known of those who flourished or who faded in Calcutta of the olden time. The 20th of June (destined to become a very auspicious date in the Victorian era) is associated with a tragedy which occurred in the infancy of the chief city in India, for which it will be for ever notorious. So universal is this notoriety, that perhaps it is no exaggeration to say that the words " The BJack Hole of ■Calcutta " have grown into a proverbial expression of comparison, peculiarly suggestive, among all English-speaking and European nations. The facts about the taking of Calcutta in 1756, and the calamity in which it culminated, are of course known in a general way to most readers, and familiarly to the students of history ; still it may be worth while to retell, in the interest of the busy and the curious, a few of the leading events which led up to, attended on, and followed the capture of the settlement, when struggling into growth; to enter into one or two topographical details connecting old with modern sites, which may seem necessary for illustration, and while bringing into prominence some personal doings, to unbury a few of the half-forgotten names of those actors who played their parts in the scenes, which chiefly conspired to stamp the main incidents with the notoriety attaching to them. At the outset it may be useful to trace very briefly what the settlement on the Eastern bank of the Hooghly had grown into as regards territorial extent, population, and commercial importance. THE BLACK HOLE. 3 English trading in Bengal had been in existence for nearly fifty years when the many quarrels and conflicts between the Company and the Mogul authorities issued in the withdrawal to Madras, in the end of 1688, of the Company's head Agent, the Et. Worshipful Job Charnock, and his entire establishment, involving a suspension of all commercial relations for close on two years. Aurangzeb, who recognised the advantage to his treasury of European traders in his country, directed his Bengal Viceroy, Ibrahim Khan, to invite the English to come back. The Agent, after some consideration, accepted the invitation, and set sail for the " The Bay," accompanied by his factors and writers and a few soldiers. The river-side village of Sutanutti had been the latest site of English enterprise in Bengal, and it was to this that Charnock now returned in August, 1690, and where he and his people literally set up their tents, and sheltered themselves as best they could in those and in huts and boats, as the houses of their previous occupation had disappeared during their absence. Under the matured guidance of the old chief, trading was resumed, and building operations of the simplest kind at first, were gradually taken in hand. As the result of conciliating the local powers, and of winning general confidence, Arnienians and other wealthy merchants were attracted to the English, and as success followed industry, th6 settlement extended itself southward along the river's bank, bringing into the sphere of occupation the contiguous villages of Calcutta and Govindpur. The former, the intermediate one of the three, was probably the first to be supplied with buildings of a more substantial kind to serve as magazines for the Company's increasing wares and investments, and so the middle territory came to give its name to the whole. When in course of a little time further a factory grew into existence, the Company's servants, who learned the necessity of possessing some central stronghold, sought permission to surround it with defensive fortification. Circumstances exceptional and opportune happened to favour the obtaining of this concession, which the policy of the native powers had hitherto wisely forbidden to European traders in the country. The walls of a future fort accordingly soon began to arise. This was in the end of 1696. A year or two later certain territorial privileges were judiciously _ secured, which added greatly to the assurance of the English position; so much so, that in December, 1699, the Court of Directors were able to write out (rather grandiloquently considering what a mere shell their "fort" was yet): '' Being now possessed of a B 3 4 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. strong ffortification and a large tract of land, hath inclined us to declare Bengali a Presidency, and we have constituted our Agent (Sir Chas. Eyre) to be our President there and Governor of our .ffort, etc., -which we call ffort "William." Job Charnock, indeed, saw but the dawning of these better days. He did not live to welcome prosperity coming, through difficulties and interruptions, to abide with the settlement that he had thrice selected. But he planted the foundation on which his countrymen were destined to build a mighty edifice, and thus he crowned a long life and faithful service of much warfare and many hardships and vicissitudes, ere he was laid to his rest (January, 169.3) under the mau soleum which still recalls his name in Calcutta. rT^he fifty years which follQji^sl_hrought with them rapidly extending and lucrative t rade. /The CompMy*S' agentt! ' we j e efl aWgd to send handsome remittances to their masters in England, and to trade profitably on their own account; also to divert many goodly sums into the yawning coffers of the never sated native rulers. Each succeeding Bengal Viceroy was more extortionate than his predecessors, and his ministers more rapacious. When money was needed by the Court at Murshiddbdd or at Delhi, the remedy was to vex the stranger sojourning in their land. The expedient was always ready of finding a pretext for hindering the Company's trade and imperilling their investments, until the Viceroy's favour and forbearance had to be purchased. A feeble show of resistance was sometimes offered to this shameless bullying, but it was found on the whole safer and cheaper to truckle to it. Once, indeed, the worm turned, and had the temerity to appeal — greatly to his chagrin — over the head of the Viceroy to the Emperor at Delhi. The Company sent an embassy (well laden with presents) to the Great Mogul, as he was called, to pour out their grievances and seek redress. This, after two years of tedious intriguing and lavish bribery, returned (1717) fairly successful, bringing the TmpftTia.l firman frn- t.hp cTay ed territorial and cnrm mfircial privileges^ The latter comprised some valuable concessions~in~th& W3y~of~ facilities for freer trade, which, amongst other results, brought an increased inflow of the inhabitants around to live under the protection and liberty of the favoured settlers. From this onward the career of the " United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies " may be said to have steered a progressive and profitable course (always tempered by the necessity of " soothing the Nabob," * See Appendix — The Hamilton Tradition. THE BLACK HOLE. 5 as the irregular tribute to him was euphemistically described) until the epoch which immediately concerns us. By 1756 Calcutta had reached such a stage of industrial progress, that its trade is stated to have exceeded one million sterling yearly, and that some fifty vessels, or more annually visited its port. Its territory extended in a crescent along the bank of the river from north to south for about three miles (say from modern Chitpur Bridge to site of present fort). Standing nearly midway between these limits was the little fort. The houses of the English iahabitauts were scattered in large enclosures for about half a mile to the north and to the south of the fort, and for about a quarter of a mile to the east of it. Beyond the English houses were closely clustered the habitations and huts of the natives ; the better classes of them, including the " Black Merchants," dwelt to the north ; the lower sort in the bazaars to the east and south. The circumlerence of the black town, as it was called, was alleged to be about four miles. The European Collector of Calcutta officially recorded in 1752 that he computed the native population lying within the Company's bounds to be considerably over 400,000 " without reckoning the multitudes that daily come in and return, but yet who add to the consumption of the place." * About a mile, or a little further, east of the river was a wide fosse dug in 1742 as an obstacle to apprehended Maharatta raids. It was intended to go all round the Company's bounds from north to south, but when the panic which suggested it died away, the work was discontinued, only three miles or so having been dug : the southern portion was never executed. It was known as the Maharatta Ditch. To these insanitary surroundings were added the near vicinity of a dense jungle, of unsavoury marshes to windward, and of an inundating river. We shall see later on what the European population was. Modern Calcutta can scarcely realise the appalling insalubrity amidst which those poor forgotten pioneers had to maintain a perilous struggle for existence, and what a tale the glutted graveyard close by their factory could teU. The year 1756 brings us to the close of the reign of the Nawab Ali Verdi Khan, a Tartar adventurer who in 1740 had acquired the Subaship, or Viceroyalty, of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, by * The earlier attempts at estimating the population of Calcutta gave very conflicting results. Mr. C. R. Wilson has, I just see, shown that that of 1752 must he far too high, and arrived at also by including some outlying villages, beyond the Maharatta Ditch, not then belonging to the Company. 6 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. usurpation, accompanied with the not unusual formalities of perfidy and ingratitude to his predecessor, and aided by bribery of irresis- tible magnitude to the Mogul Court at Delhi. The dignity to which he had intrigued his way did not bring Ali Verdi repose. His restless life was mainly passed in the tented field (where he was known by his title, Mahdbat Jung = terror of war) clearing his dominions of the marauding and hungry Maharattas, from whom at last he purchased a sort of peace by cession of territory in Orissa and by yearly tribute. To the English in Bengal his treatment was not on the whole oppressive : he applied to them of course for money occasionally, on the rather plausible pretext that he was protecting them from other and less considerate robbers. He wished them to be in his dominions, but simply as traders, and showed marked jealousy of any dominant power, save his own, arising in the country. He had the sagacity to recognise the sea- power of England, and was wont to tell his courtiers of the respectful apprehension in which it would be prudent to hold it. Though this old warrior's career had been passed amidst scenes of bloodshed, he was in private life mild and amiable, much given to domestic virtues. Orme tells that he was that phenomenon amongst Oriental potentates, a disapprover of the seraglio, and the husband of one wife. Hence his descendants were few, and he had none in the direct male line. Accordingly, when three years before his death he saw the necessity, owing to age and infirmi- ties, of nominating his successor to the Subaship, his choice fell on his favourite grandson, who was also his grand-nephew. To him he at once delegated the practical government of the proviuces in supercession of bis two uncles, and to the consternation of many influential subjects. For in truth the object of the old man's dotage was badly equipped for ruling. He had been a spoiled child from infancy, brought up in his grandfather's palace as an over-indulged little despot, surrounded by profligate favourites. He grew up in ignorance, seeing nothing and hearing nothing except through the eyes and ears of his barbarous and corrupt environment. It would have been strange if his early manhood had not been marked by evil temper and by a disposition at once cruel and revengeful. His name was Murza Muhammad, but he is better known to history by his title of Siraj lid Dawla (lamp of the state). On the death of the old N awab at the age of eighty-two, in April, 1756, this youth, then about twenty-five years old, ascended the musnud. After his three years' de facto introduction to rule, his THE BLACK HOLE. T actual elevation wasj sullenly acquiesced in by the nobles at Murshiddbdd, more readily perhaps as his provident grandfather had left him an army, which might prove useful in case of his accession being disputed. Immediately after being proclaimed, the new Nawab was not- slow to find reasons for quarrelling with the English settled in Bengal ; in furtherance, probably, of a long- formed design founded on the anticipation of getting possession of the vast wealth which, rumour credited them with having accumulated. Varying degrees of importance are attached in the official con- troversies of the time to the alleged pretexts. Of the two most prominently assigned, one was that the Calcutta authorities were harbouring a subject of the Ifawab's, one Kissendas, whom he accused of absconding with certain treasures that had not been accounted for. The other, that they were extensively increasing^ their fortifications without acquainting or getting permission from- the Nawab, who peremptorily ordered them to desist and to destroy those recently added. The Governor wrote to the .Nawab that they were merely repairing their fortifications in expectation of another war between France and England, and that they apprehended the French might sack the English settlement at Calcutta as in the last war they had that at Madras. Siraj lid Dawla was at this time at Eajmehal, having just arrived with a large force destined, for Purneah, the Eajah of which, his own cousin, he proposed to chastise for withholding submission to him. The Governor's letter reached him there. The explanations in it had the very opposite effect to that intended ; they increased his ill-feeling. The prospect represented of two European nations introducing' their- quarrels into his country, and conducting them with fire and sword, added, probably, some apprehension to his wrath. He at once countermanded the Purneah expedition, and resolved on another against a foe more worthy of his resentment. Directing, the march of his army on Murshidibad, he sent forward a large- detachment to invest the Company's out-factory at KdsimbAzdr close to it. By the 1st of June the Nawab himself was back at MurshidabM. What immediately followed is an interesting and painful story in itself which must not detain us now. Suffice it to- say that partly by threats, partly by treachery, the Nawab's people managed to seize the chief (Mr. W. Watts) and other officials at KAsimbdzdr, and to gain unopposed possession of the fortified factory with its guns, ammunition, stores, etc. This was completed by 4th of June, under circumstances of such contumely that- ■8 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Ensign Elliot, commanding the small garrison, became so unhinged as to take his own life. The easy and ample success of this the first act of hostility put the Nawab in heart for following it up ; he had encountered no resistance ; he was now well provided with artillery ; what was to prevent him from driving the foreigners out of Calcutta also, and capturing and^ plundering their settlement, if he only acted with promptitude and vigour before they could proceed further with their defences, and before the season of the south-west monsoon was advanced enough to bring them assistance by sea ? He imme- diately set out for Calcutta by forced marches so as to get over the ^ound before the daily-expected rains should delay his progress. The number of the forces constituting his army have been variously estimated ; adopting those given by the Adjutant-General of the time, he had with him 30,000 foot, 20,000 horse, 400 trained elephants, and 80 pieces of cannon, most of them light guns taken at Kdsimb^zdr. About 20,000 of his troops were armed with muskets, matchlocks, and wall pieces, the rest with lances, swords, bows and arrows, etc. Fully 40,000 followers and banditti of aU sorts are said to have attended the army to take part in the plunder of Calcutta, so strong was the confidence in the success of the -expedition. Messrs. Watts and Collet accompanied the march as prisoners in the Nawab's camp. In seven days this host covered the distance between Murshiddbdd and Hugli, whence and from Chandannagar the immediate crossing of the river was effected in an immense fleet of boats assembled there for the purpose. From the French and Dutch factories at Chandannagar and Chinsurah, Siraj lid Dawla demanded submission and aid in his -enterprise against the English. But these pleaded their peaceful trading occupation and the- international treaties existing between their respective governments in Europe. They appeased him, how- ever (for the time), with promises of substantial donations of money. The Nawab thought it politic to dissemble, and while insisting on the fulfilment of the promises, to reserve any overt act of hostility till he could dispose of the English. In the meantime, how was Calcutta prepared, from a military point of view, for the approaching visitation 1 We have seen what was the origin of the fortification there. It was a protective work enclosing the blocks tof buildings where valuable and bulky merchandise was stored, and where a large export and import TDUsiness was conducted by the Company's servants, some of -whom, as well as of the garrison, being provided with resident THE BLACK HOLE. 9 accommodation — of a sort. The fortress (which was of brick- work strongly cemented) was designed as a defence, and a possible refuge, against "a country enemy" mainly. It had been added to and strengthened from time to time as occasion seemed to suggest, or as opportunity offered for doing so without arousing the watchful jealousy of the Nawab's people. The entire enclosure is often spoken of by contemporaries as the factory or the fort indifferently. Regard being had to the fact that the river reclamations of the intervening years have thrown the bank some 250 yards outwards, or to the west, it may be said that old Fort William, standing on the river's bank, occupied nearly the site .now comprised between Coelah Gh^t Street and Fairlie Place. It was irregular in shape, the east and west curtains being longer than the other two, and the southern being again longer than the northern. The enclosed area roughly measured 210 yards by 120. It had four bastions, the two to the land side mounted ten guns each, those to the river eight each. The outer walls, or curtains, were not 4 feet thick, and were about 18 feet high. The terraces which these helped to support, formed the flat roofs of ground chambers inside. A little less than half the east side was opposite what was then called "the Park and Great Tank," still such a notable feature in "Tank Square." The main gateway projected from the eastern wall and carried five guns. Those standing in it could look up the road then known as " the avenue leading to the eastward," now recognised as Dalhousie Square Iforth. Under the west face, on the river's bank, was a line of cannon mounted in embrasures of masonry. The weakest part of the fort was to the south, where the erection of a most ill-plaeed building (called " the new go-downs ") had been allowed.* Its terraced roof carried a battery of light guns. * The nature and position of this unmilitary excrescence will "be understood from this description of it by a contemporary, viz. : — ' ' About fifteen years ago the Company being in want of warehouses, Governor Braddyl built a very large one against the south end of the fort j it was nearly square, for it extended from the S.E. to the S.W. bastion, and projected 60 or 80 feet beyond them. By these means these two bastions were rendered of very little use for defending the south end of the fort. For the curtain between them was now become the inner wall of a warehouse, and a large passage broke through it into the fort by way of a door to this new warehouse. The outer or south wall of this warehouse being now in place of the curtain, was not stronger than a common house wall. It was also fuR of very large windows, and by projecting beyond the bastions could not be flanked by their guns. It is true there was a terrace and a parapet with embrasures upon this warehouse, but the terrace would only bear a 2-pounder, and there was nothing after this to prevent them from scaling the warehouse wall, 10 ECHOES FBOM OLD CALCUTTA. This so-called fort was unprotected by any ditch or outwork, and was quite commanded on the land faces by the houses nearest to it. Poor as the defensive arrangements were at the best, their insufficiency was intensified by the state of disrepair into which they had been allowed to fall. The terraces had become so shaky as to preclude the use of the lightest guns on them, and their parapets were too low for the effective employment of musketry. Heavy fire, therefore, was restricted to the bastions and main gate, but even there the embrasures were dangerously wide. To ventilate the chambers against the east curtain several windows had been struck out, " so many breaches made for the enemy." The records from the. year 1754 show that this state of things was the subject of much anxious correspondence between the Court of Directors and the local government. The letters from the latter are fruitful in promises and nothing more. " We sbaU pay due regard to your orders in regard to the fortification." "The death of Colonel Scott put a check to our pursuing his plan for securing the settlement from any attack of the country forces." " We were cautious about laying out much money until," etc., etc., and so on. Amidst many pages marked by this sort of procrastination, one is gratified to come on a few which can be commended for their vigorous call to action. They present a refreshing little oasis where all around is barren through irresolution and feebleness. In August, 1755, one of their military officers pointed out officially to the Bengal Government, how unfairly they were treating their employers' interests, in not even mounting the new guns they had sent out, "while not a gun mounted is fit for service," " po that we seenT to look more like a ruined and deserted Moor's fort than any place in possession of Europeans." He exhorted them to set their house in order, " this the sooner we set about the better whether we have to do with an enemy or not, as it at present shows a sloth and idleness which make us in some measure the ridicule of our neighbours." He told them that he thus which was equal in height to the curtain, and joined both to it and the bastions." There are still in existence (I believe) at the site of the southern limits of the old fort the remains of an arcaded structure pronounced to be contemporary with it, which have exercised arohseologists and given rise from time to time to some friendly controversy. Hence I have given the above details verbatim, written by one who knew the locality well and was there in the siege. They may prove locally interesting aind useful. They occur in a letter written in 1766 to Orme, the historian, then at Madras, headed " Eeflections on the Loss of Calcutta," by Captain David Rennie, a mariner. THE BI,ACK HOLE. 11 addressed them " in vindication of myself," adding with, prophetic pessimism " for fear it may be asked who was your Captain of Artillery after the loss of your Settlement t " * As a matter of fact the only defensive preparations attempted, in obedience to the latest and most earnest warnings from home, were the repairing and strengthening the line of guns towards the river, the erection of some trifling works, the chief of which was a redoubt near the river and ditch at Perrin's garden (Chitpur), but even these were suspended in deprecation of the Nawab's anger. It was known in Calcutta on 1st of June that Kasimb4zdr was threatened, but not till the 7th did authentic information arrive that it had fallen without striking a blow, and that an immediate descent on the Chief Settlement was proposed. " When the Nawab's intention of marching on Calcutta was known " (reports the officer, Captain Grant, who was appointed Adjutant- General of the garrison) " it was felt time to inquire into the state of defence of a garrison neglected for so many years, and the managers of it lulled in so infatuate a security that every rupee expended in military service was esteemed so much loss to the Company." Preparations thus deferred till invasion was imminent could result only in disaster. Urgent calls for help were sent by small native vessels to Madras, and an appeal was made to the Chinsurah and Chandannagar Factories to stand by the English in the common cause. The Dutchmen begged to be excused. The French offered a defensive and offensive alliance, provided the English would quit their settlement for that of the French, which, they said, was much better adapted for resistance. " We wrote them a very genteel letter " (says a contemporary youthful member of the Civil Service), " thanking them for their offer of assistance, and as we were in very great want of ammunition, requested they would spare us a quantity of powder and shot. To this we had no reply till the Nabob was near Calcutta, when the Frenchmen put off their grimace, assuring us of the impossibility of complying with our demands, as they might provoke the Nabob by it. That we * The only tribute that I can pay to the memory of this honest gentleman is, to here recall his homely name ; it was Jasper Jones. The OounciL Board sent him a curt acknowledgment of what they called " his sentiraents on the fortifi- cations of the place," and an intimation that his letter was " irregular, improper, and unnecessary." Having thus asserted their claim to superior wisdom, they resumed their attitute of iutending to do something. Poor .Tones did not live to see the crowning proof of the accuracy of his military foresight, for, as the Board recorded, he " demised of a violent fever " in less than four months after he had so plainly reminded them of their duty. 12 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. should expect the French would assist us and be dupes of that fantastical nation is intolerable. However, when the Nabob demanded supplies of powder from them soon after, they could then find sufficient to give him 150 barrels, and could connive also at the desertion of near 30 men which joined the Nabob's army." The Adjutant- General also mentions that the enemy had with them " 25 Europeans and 80 Chittygong Fringeys under the command of one who styled himself Le Marquis de St. Jaque, a French renegard {sic), for the management of their artillery.* The English also had si French officer fighting on their side, a Monsieur Le Beaume, who behaved very gallantly before he escaped. Thus left to fight for themselves, the English mustered their force. The garrison proper at this time consisted of about 250 men including Eurasians and native "Portuguese." The European element barely amounted to 60 soldiers and gunners. None had any active military training. Their experience was limited to guard and- sentry duty and to the escorting the Company's merchandise to and fro, by land or by river, between headquarters and the out factories. All the inhabitants, therefore (including the sea-faring people who could be spared from the vessels in port), capable of bearing arms were enrolled as Militia and formed into two companies. " About 50 persons," says a resident, "detached themselves from the Militia and entered , volunteers among the military to remain during the troubles, 34 of these were Company's Servants." Counting these, the Militia numbered about 260, largely made up, however, of Armenians, Portuguese, and Slaves. " The Black Militia " were found to be " entirely useless," many of them " not capable of even holding a musket." We get a tolerably close idea of what the small European population of Calcutta was at this time when told that between the military proper and the Militia not more than 180 Europeans could be mustered. Peons were also enlisted in large numbers for quasi-military duty, but took the earliest opportunity for deserting. The military were under five principal officers, of whom Captain Minchin was the senior, and who to general military incapacity and inexperience added an indolence which from the first filled the * EfPorts were secretly made to try and get the Europeans and Faringis, etc., to withdraw from the Nawah. Letters from the Priests in Calcutta were oonveyed to them, representing how contrary to Christianity it was for them to he fighting with the Moors against their co-religionists. The letters reached, but the recipients said there was no chance for them to escape. THE BLACK HOLE. 13 Civil Authorities with misgivings. Captain Clayton, the next, was also without experience. Captain Buchannan was the only one of the seniors who had seen active service. The Artillery officer, or " Captain of the Train," was named Witherington. The Governor and President of the Council was Roger Drake. Ill adapted as the fort was for defence, still the best hope of a protracted holding out, till relief or withdrawal offered by the river, lay in trusting to it, and in concentrating the garrison and European inhabitants within it, having first demolished as many as possible of the adjacent houses overlooking it, or occupied them in force. The fort was, however, pronounced incapable of defence, and it was arranged by the too many counsellors who were suffered to have a voice in the matter, to meet the enemy in the principal streets and avenues, and at improvised outposts. 2To better scheme for spreading out and wasting the untrained and insufficient defending force could have been devised. It is very evident, from the contemporary records, how little Calcutta realised, even at the eleventh hour, what an avalanche was about to burst on it. One writer says, "The military were very urgent for demolishing all the houses, knowing that if once the enemy got possession of the white houses there would be no standing on the factory walls. However, the pulling down the houses was a thing they would not think of, not knowing whether the Company would reimburse them the money they cost." Captain Grant says, on the same head : — " It may be justly asked, why we did not propose the only method, that as I thought then, and do now, could give us the least chance of defending the place in case of a vigorous attack — the demolition of all the houses adjacent to the fort, and sur- rounding it with a ditch and glao6 1 But so little credit was then given, and even to the very last day, that the Nawab would venture to attack us or offer to force our lines, that it occasioned a general grumbling and discontent to leave any of the European houses without them. . . . And should it be proposed by any person to demolish as many houses as should be necessary to make the fort defensible, his opinion would have been thought pusilanimous and ridiculous." Further on, however, this authority gives another reason, viz., that both time and gunpowder were wanting for the necessary destruction of buildings. Trenches and breastworks were therefore made, and all the narrow passes leading to the town were obstructed by ditches. "Intrenchments were begun to be thrown up across the park, and a ravelin to defend the front gate of the factory, but had no time to finish them." 14 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Three principal outlying batteries were also constructed aijd. mounted. One about 300 yards in front of tbe main gate (about where now stands the Scotch church). Another to the south of the fort, at the edge of a creek leading to the Salt-water I.ake {i.e., at the corner of the eld burial ground, about where Hastings Street, Council House Street, and Government Place now meet). The third was to the north on the bank of the river (about at the foot of Clive GMk Street). A large number of peons and burkundauzes occupied posts at the Maharatta Ditch, but they went over to the enemy. In fact, with their smaU. force, no serious attempt was made to defend this work. Early on the 16th June the approach of the enemy was announced. A large proportion of the native inhabitants now fled in all directions into the country. The military and Militia were called to their posts, and the " white houses " were only then, on an arranged signal, deserted for the very poor shelter of the fort by the European women. Amongst these, it must be borne in mind, were delicately nurtured ladies with their little children, to share in the humiliations and sufferings of 1756, as their countrywomen a hundred years later shared with patient heroism, in those of the great military revolt in India. And the work which devolved on these poor souls throws, an additional ray of light on the general unreadiness. " Our women," writes Governor Drake, " diligently employed themselves in making cannon cartridges." By noon the van of the Nawab's army was at the northern bounds, and tried to force an entrance across a deep rivulet there connected with the Maharatta Ditch and river. Here stood a redoubt and drawbridge. This attack was successfully resisted, a small party having been detached to strengthen the post under Ensign Piccard, who, when the enemy desisted at night, crossed over, beat up their quarters, and spiked their guns. On the 17th the enemy did not renew the attack at the north, but the whole force turned eastwards towards Dum Dum, and from that direction entered the Company's bounds.* In the afternoon they set fire to the great bazaar within " It was alleged that the enemy were guided to the undefended eastern en- trance by the head Jemadar of Omichimd's peons and retainers, incensed at the dishonour put on his master by his arrest and imprisonment in the fort. Huzzoormnll, Omichnnd's brother-ia-law, was also apprehended concealed amongst the latter's women. The same Jemadar (Jaggemant by name) wiped out tfis stain by (according to Drake) " Mling thirteen women and three children with his catary, and afterwards set his house on fire, where was believed were deposited several letters." Omichimd (Amin Chaund) was a wealthy and inttuen- tial merchant who lived in Calcutta. He was confined, with Kissendas, as he was suspected of communicating with the Nawab. He is best Imown to fame as the victim of Clive's forged treaty afterwards. THK BLACK HOLE. 16 half -a- mile of the fort on the north-east, and generally gave them- selves up to plundering. On the same day the English also set fire to as many bazaars as they could to their front and to the south as far as Govindpur, " where many of our people being detected plundering were instantly punished with decapitation." The Portuguese women and children and such-like unfortunate creatures who, being country born, went by the name of " black Christians," now thronged into the fort. " In the evening," wiites the Governor, " the general attack being now soon to be expected, a confused noise of the shrieks and cries and entrance into our factory of the several women and children and their attendants was heard who had before situated themselves in the houses within our lines." He computes the number of them to be 2500 ; and the discipline prevailing may be inferred when he adds, "about 500 of them took immediately with our shipping."* This night was anxiously spent under arms by all ; but the enemy made no nearer approach. The next morning (18th) he advanced against the outposts, attacking them chiefly with match- lock fire from the unpossessed houses near. The most resolute assault was made in very strong force on the battery to- the eastward and its outposts in the jail close to it. This post was partly held by a detachment of Militia commanded by Mr. J. Z. Holwell, one of the junior members of Council. It was in a very exposed position, and was very resolutely defended. So heavy was the fire brought to bear on it that only the men neces- sary to work the guns were at last allowed to remain in it, the rest got under cover within the Mayor's Court close by, ready to take the places from time to time of those who' were shot down. At length, Clayton, the military officer in charge, despairing of being able to hold his ground, directed Holwell to go to the fort, report the state of things, and get orders. On Holwell's return with orders to withdraw " and to spike up the cannon which we could not bring off," he found the post in the utmost confusion and already in the course of being hurriedly abandoned, the principal guns, two 18-pounders, being spiked, but so ineffectually that they were drilled before long and turned most damagingly against the fort. * In the following January the Bengal Govei'nmenttold the Court of Directors, " The inconvenience we experienced at the siege of Calcutta from the prodigious numherof Portuguese women who were admittedinto the fort, and the very little service which that race of people are to the settlement, induced us upon our return to interdict the public exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, and to forbid the residence of their priests in our bounds.'* 16 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Only one field-piece was brought away. The loss of this post led to the somewhat precipitate recall of the other batteries the same evening. Thus, after a few hours' fighting, the ill-selected out defences— on which reliance had been foolishly placed — crumbled away, and the garrison found themselves driven to their citadel, having in the meantime lost many brave men in vain. Small parties were now thrown into the buildings which most closely commanded the ramparts, such as the church facing the east curtain (present western end of Bengal Government Offices), a Mr. Cruttenden's house (afterwards site of the Bonded Warehouse), on the north, and the Company's or Governor's House on the south, these being some thirty or forty yards from the fort. Following on these disasters, the utmost consternation prevailed within the fort itself. The Militia drawn from the dusky inhabitants became quite demoralised from fear. The gun lascars disappeared. The English soldiers and inhabitants alone stood firm, but they were nearly jaded to death from constant work, no attempt at regular tours of duty having been organised. " Provi- sions," writes the Adjutant-General, " had been laid in, but proper persons had not been appointed to look after them, and the general desertion of the black fellows, amongst whom were all the cooks, left us to starve in the midst of plenty." All the men at the outposts had no refreshment for twenty-four hours, which occasioned constant complaint and grumbling all this night. "We were so abandoned by all sorts of labourers that we could not get carried up on the "ramparts cotton bales and sand bags for the parapets of the bastions, which were very low." Before eight p.m. the small party occupying the Governor's house were driven out by a stronger fire from a house further south, where the enemy had effected a lodgment. This exposed " the new godowns," which the enemy made a half-hearted attempt to carry by escalade. By a merciful dispensation the Moors on this night also suspended their operations when it became dark. This gave the opportunity for getting the Eurnpean ladies and women and children on board the shipping, as decided at a council summoned for the purpose. The embarkation was so hurriedly done, and with so little order, that several women, the Governor's wife amongst them, were left behind, and were obliged to remain till next day for want of boats. Two members of council, Messrs. Manningham and Frankland, embarked with the ladies, " hiving tendered themselves " for this duty. " Our Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia," writes a very bitter eye-witness, " preferred entering the list among the THE BLACK HOLE. 17" number of women rather than defend the Company's and their own property. Accordingly they went off with them, and though several messages were sent them to attend council if they did not choose to fight, still no persuasion could avail." A second council, or rather public confabulation, since it was open to almost anyone, took place during the night. As thfr possibility of holding the fort against a triumphant enemy now drawing closer to it in every direction, was more remote than ever, the main question was how best to withdraw the garrison and effects, and the families of the fighting men, leaving to the enemy the least possible materiel of any service. And the crisis was one where a decision must be made and a course of action taken promptly. Two conditions were essential to any hope of success, should retreat by the river be decided on, namely, secrecy to the moment of execution, so as to obviate further panic amongst so disorganised a crowd, and some orderly plan of embarkation, under- rigorous discipline, adapted to the means available. The public nature of the so-called council of war quite defeated the first con- dition, and no senior in civil or military authority had the inspiring force and masterful capacity demanded by the second. It is alleged by Mr. Holwell (and by others) that he strenuously advocated their setting to the work of withdrawal at once before the demoralisa- tion spread, or before their necessary means were further crippled. But he and those who agreed with him were out-voted. When a choice between evils has to be made it is easy enough to urge the difficulties of this or that course as being insurmountable ; so " everyone," we are told, on this occasion " was officious inadvising, yet no one was properly qualified to give advice." Amidst such clamour within and the deafening uproar amongst the miscellaneous throng huddled without, a calm survey of the situation was impossible, and the attempt at consultation was, of course, unproductive. All knew that darkness and the ebbing tide favoured instant action, yet the precious night hours flew by, and four o'clock in the morning found the prostrated council still talking, still undelivered of any feasible scheme of providing for the common safety. By this time the flood tide was setting up strongly, so the distracted meeting broke up, agreed upon nothing definite save that retreat was inevitable. " In this state of irresolu- tion, attended with great confusion," writes Captain Grant, "did we remain without fixing on any settled scheme till near daylight, then adjourned to wait what the morning might produce in hopes- of making our retreat next night." c 18 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. What the morning did produce was this : — "19th June, by •daybreak the enemy began playing upon the church and factory from two 18-pounders ; they fired with wall-pieces and small arms from every hole and corner, and all our efforts to dispossess them of the houses proved ineffectual. Appearing in prodigious swarms •all round the factory, they struck a panic in many, expecting every moment the place would be stormed, and as no quarter was given none could be expected ." The artillery from the fort during the •early morning did "terrible execution" amongst the crowded enemy, but did not at all keep down the attacking fire. By nine o'clock the small parties occupying the church and the house on the north being nearly cut off, were ordered to come in, first setting fire to the house. The defenders were thus strictly W o OS w CL, w 33 V) Pi w ca S o w o NUNCOMAR. 95 time in India to a profitable study of Oriental languages. Though. older than any of the colleagues who left England with him, he survived them all. He was but little over nine years in India, having, as is well known, been recalled to answer before Parlia- ment certain charges against his conduct as Chief Justice in India. The motion for his impeachment was lost in the House of Commons. He died at Newick Park, in Sussex, in 1809, and was buried at Hammersmith. He was 43 years of age at the time of the Nuncomar trial. I have a note that it never fell to his lot again to pass another capital sentence, but I am unable to quote any authority for this. There are two portraits of Impey in his ofiicial costume in the Calcutta High Court — one by Kettle, which shows a very marked double chin. This is probably a faithful likeness, as it has been engraved for Impey's memoir by his son. The other* is a more pleasing one. In this his full-length figure is standing with one hand raised, as though the subject were addressing an audience. In both portraits the face wears a self-satisfied and rather benevo- lent expression. Sir Elijah lived in Calcutta on the site of a house now a convent, behind the Roman Catholic Church in Middleton Eow. The map of 1785 shows that there was a round tank where the church now stands. The house was surrounded by an exten- sive deer park (enclosed by walls) lying between, but not quite up to Camac Street and Russell Street ; a gate iu the southern wall opened into Middleton Street. The present Middleton Row was the avenue which led up between trees through the park from " Burial Ground Road " to the dwelling-house. The name of the above road was changed to the more euphonious one of "Park Street," because it led past the Chief Justice's park. The eastern ends of the gardens attached to the houses in EusseU Street {i.e., 12 and 13), occupied a century later by Chief Justices Peacock, E"orman (who was murdered when ofiiciating as Chief Justice), and Couch, where once a portion of the park of their earliest predecessor whose name, thanks to Nuncomar and Macaulay, will be known to fame when those of his successors will be quite forgotten. * The name of the artist printed under this painting is " Zoflany — 1782." If it be by Zoffany the date is wrong, as he did not leave England till 1783 ; he may have arrived in Calcutta in time to paint Impey, who left in December, 1783. A sitting portrait of Impey by Zoffany is in the National Portrait GaUery ; he is in the ordinary dress of the period. CHAPTEE VI. PHILIP FEANCIS AND HIS TIMES. 4. — Duel between Francis and Hastings, 1780. Though it is stepping aside from the order of events, this histo- rical occurrence in the Calcutta life of Francis may now be recalled. Before coming to details, it will not be superfluous, even for Indian readers, to explain the origin of this duel, which has become obscured by the dust of time. Some believers in the cherchez la famme doctrine have pressed this combat into their service as one more proof of its almost universal application. For instance, a Calcutta reviewer, writing about twenty-five years ago, says : — 1. " Nearly opposite Alipore Bridge stood two trees, called ' The Trees of Destruction,' notorious for duels fought under their shade ; here Hastings and Francis exchanged shots in the days when European women were few ; jealousy often gave rise to these affairs of honour." And M. Charles de E^musat, discoursing on Junius and the Memoirs of Francis in the Beime des Deux Mondes, in 1869, writes : — 2. Ce recit prouve que, contrairevMnt d des suppositions souvent rSpetSes, la heaut6 de Madame Grande fut complStement 6trangere aux dImlUs de Hastings et de Francis, et que ce n'est pas elle qui leur mit les armes k la main." (The italics are mine.) Substantially the cause of the quarrel was this (says Francis's biographer) : " Francis had promised Hastings not to interfere with his conduct of the war against the Mahrattas, then carried on near the Malabar coast. Hastings wanted to carry on operations against the same enemy on the Jumna. Francis deemed himself not precluded by his promise from opposing this. Hastings main- tained that he was." Some sort of informal compact had been negotiated between the two, with a view to the public service being carried on harmoniously, when Barwell was about to leave India. If Francis had not given a promise of co-operation with Hastings, THE DUEL. 97 Barwell -would not have gone, as it was Barwell's vote in Council which at this time gave Hastings the preponderance. Francis, it may- be mentioned, wrote a letter to a friend on the night preceding the duel, denying in the most solemn manner that he had given assent to the measures which, it will be seen, Hastings with equal steadfastness said he had. At the end of June, 1780, a minute signed by Prancis and another member of the Council, Wheler, was sent in to the Secre- tary to Government withholding their consent from the military- operations, the immediate execution of which the Governor-General considered of the utmost importance, and making propositions which would frustrate his policy. Hastings, through the personal intervention of Sir John Day, seems to have tried to prevail on Francis to come to some accommodation, but without success, and on the 3rd July he wrote the celebrated hostile minute which provoked the duel. Though -written and dated on 3rd July, it was not made use of for about six weeks. The reason of this delay was probably due to the illness of Francis, who under the above date has this entry in his journal : — •" July 3rd. . . Feeling the approach of a fever very strong upon me, about noon very ill and forced to go to bed." " 4th. "Worse. H. goes up the river with Mrs. H." Hastings, knowing what the result of his minute must be, deter- mined probably to wait for Francis's recovery, and meantime to take Mrs. Hastings out of the way. Both he and Francis also expected despatches in August announc- ing whether or not Hastings was to be continued in the Government;, this, too, may have suggested to him the desirability of waiting. In the local newspaper the Governor-General's departure from the Presidency is chronicled— Sooksagur being given as his destination, accompanied by the intelligence that, on his journey up the Hooghly, he was saluted with twenty-one guns from the Danish and Dutch Settlements of Serampore and Chinsurah. On Monday, 14th August, Hastings returned to Calcutta and wrote to his wife whom he left with the Governor of Chinsurah : " I have seen nobody and heard nothing. But I have a letter from Madras which mentions the arrival of the Company's ships. The only news of consequence is that it is determined that I am to remain as long as I choose, hut with the same associate." The words I have underlined most probably indicated to Hastings the hopelessness of carrying on the- Government harmoniously, and the conviction that the contest H "98 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. "between him and his associate must now be d, outrance. — The minute must no longer be withheld. Francis's journal of this date (14th) records — "Mr. H. does not return till the evening . JSTo Council. At night receive his minute which he says he had reserved till my return, with a private note."* Hastings' minute is long; it will be suflEicient to give an extract or two from the most provocative paragraphs in it. Though called forth by a minute from two of his colleagues, he avowedly treats the latter as solely that of Francis. " I did hope that the intimation, conveyed in my last minute would have awakened in Mr. Francis's breast, if it were susceptible of such sensations, a consciousness of the faithless part which he was acting towards me. I have been disappointed, and must now assume a plainer style and louder tone. In a word, my objections do not apply to the special matter of his minutes, to which I shall separately reply, but to the spirit of opposition which dictated them." "J3y the sanction of this engagement and the liberal professions which accompanied it, I was seduced to part with the friend (to whose generous support steadfastly yielded in a course of six years I am in- debted for the existence of the little power which I have ever possessed in that long and disgraceful period) to throw myself on the mercy of Mr. Francis, and on the desperate hazard of his integrity. My authority for the opinions I have declared concerning Mr. Francis depends on facts which have passed within my own knowledge. I judge of his public conduct by my experience of his private, which I have found to be void of truth and honour. This is a severe charge, but temper- ately and deliberately made, from the firm persuasion that I owe this justice to the public and myself as the only redress to both, for arti- fices of which I have been a victim, and which threaten to involve their interests with disgrace and ruin. The only redress for a fraud for which the law has made no provision is the exposure of it." The G-ovemor-General, as we have seen, sent a copy of this minute to Francis on the evening before the Council day on which it was to be ofBcially read, because he judged it "unbecoming to * In some Cliancery proceedings, taken against Hastings in 1804, it appears " that atout tlie month of July, 1780," he applied to a wealthy native " telling him that he was in great want of the sum of three lakhs of Sicca rupees." He got the loan, paid hy instalments. The coincidence ; of his being in urgent need ■of funds when he knew that a duel must follow liis plain speakini; to Francis, suggests the idea, I think, that he may with this loan have contemplated an additional provision for his wife in case of his death. A copy of the judgment in the Chancery case is given in Mr. Beveridge's Nunda Kumar. THE DUEL. 99 surprise him with a minute at the Council table,* or to send it first to the secretary." What happened on its being read we learn from Francis's journal. " August 15, Eevenue Board. When it was over I took him into a private room and read to him the following words : — " ' Mr. Hastings, — I am preparing a formal answer to the paper you sent to me last night. As soon as it can be finished, I shall lay it before you. But you must be sensible, sir, that no answer I can give to the matter of that paper can be adequate to the dishonour done me by the terms you have made use of. You have left me no alternative but to demand personal satisfaction of you for the affronts you have ■offered me.' As soon as I had read the preceding words to Mr. Hast- ings, he said ' he expected the demand and was ready to answer it.' " A place and time of meeting were fixed before they parted. Francis further writes in his diary on the same day that he " men- tions the affair to Watson, who happens to dine with me ; he agrees to provide pistols in order to prevent suspicions." Colonel Watson was the chief engineer at Fort William. Mr. Hastings engaged the services of Colonel Pearse, the Commandant of Artillery, to whom he wrote on the evening of the 15th August, asking him to breakfast the next morning. He then, after enjoin- ing secrecy, asked Colonel Pearse to be his second in a hostile meeting which had been arranged for between him and Mr. Francis for Thursday morning, the 17th August. The entry in Francis's journal for the 16th August is : — " Employed in settling my affairs, burning papers, &c., in case of the worst — dull work." That for the 17th— " Arrived at the ground near Belvedere near an hour before Mr. H. , who comes about six with Colonel Pearse. Watson marks out a dis- stance about fourteen common paces, the same, he said, at which Mr.- * The Council House where this scene occurred was that shown in Wood's map of 1784, i.e., at the S.B. corner of Council-house Street, over against the buildiog then called Accountant- General's office, now the Treasury. The old Government House stood as now tetwecn Old Court-house Street and Council- house Street, but did not extend so far west as the present Government House does, the Council House intervening between the former and Council-house Street. In other words, the Council House and Government House were together on the^ ground now forming the Government House enclosure, the former being west of the latter. There was an older Council House still which was condemned in 1764, as ill adapted for the " privacy which is often requisite." Tradition, I do not know with what truth, places the older Council House, south of the Exchange, on a site afterwards occupied by the office of the private secre- tary to the Viceroy. H 2 100 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Fox and Mr. Adam stood.* My pistol missing fire, I changed it ; we then fired together, and I was wounded and fell : j thought my back- bone wasbroken, and of course that I could not survive it." Sir Elijah. Impey writes on the same day to a friend : — " This morning Mr. Hastings and Mr. Francis fought with pistols : they both fired at the same time. Mr. Francis's ball missed, but that of Mr. Hastings pierced the right side of Mr. Francis, but was prevented by 3, rib, which turned the ball, from entering the thorax. It went obliquely upwards, passed the backbone without injuring it, and was extracted about an inch on the left side of it. The wound is of no consequence, and he is in no danger." Colonel Pearse, who was Hastings' second, and whose detailed account of the duel has been published,t says : — " The next morning, Thursday, August 17, I waited on Mr. Hastings in my chariot to carry him to the place of appointment. When we arrived there we -found Mr. Francis and Colonel Watson walking together, and therefore, soon after we alighted, I looked at my watch and mentioned aloud that it was half- past five, and Francis looked at his and said it was near six. This induced me to tell him that my watch was set by my astronomical clock to solar time. The place they were at was very improper for the business ; it was the road leading to Alipore, at the crossing of it through a double row of trees that formerly had been a walk of Belvedere Garden, on the western side of the house. Whilst Colonel Watson went, by the desire of Mr. Francis, to fetch his pistols, that gentleman proposed to go aside from the road into the walk ; but Mr. Hastings disapproved of the place, because it was full of weeds and dark. The road itself was next mentioned, but was thought by everybody too public, as it was near riding time, and people might want to pass that way ; it was therefore agreed to walk towards Mr. Barwell's house (the present Kidderpore Orphanage Asylum) on an old road that separated his ground from Belvedere (since the ofiicial residence of the Liieutenant-Governor of Bengal), and before he (we V) had gone far, a retired dry spot was chosen as a proper place. "As soon as the suitable place was selected," continues Colonel Pearse, " I proceeded to load Mr. Hastings's pistols ; those of Mr. Francis were already loaded. When I had delivered one to Mr. Hastings, and Colonel Watson had done the same to Mr. Francis, * The allusion to Fox and Adam's duel, whicli impressed itself on the memory both of Colonel Watson and Mr. Francis, shows that, among the English in India, the standard of propriety or fashion in most things was regulated then, as now, by the customs prevailing in England, and especially in high life in England. The account of the duel which determined the question of distance between the combatants at Alipore could only have recently arrived in Calcutta, as it was fought on 29th November, 1779. t It was originally , furnished in a letter to England to Lawrence Sulivan, Esq., dated October, 1780. THE DUEL. 101 finding the gentlemen were both unacquainted with the modes usually observed on those occasions, I took the liberty to teU them that, if they would fix their distance, it was the business of the seconds to measure it. Colonel Watson immediately mentioned that Fox and Adam had taken fourteen paces, and he recommended the distance. Mr. Hastings observed it was a great distance for pistols ; but as no actual objection was made to it, Watson measured and I counted. When the gentlemen had got to their ground, Mr. Hastings asked Mr. Francis if he stood before the line or behind it, and being told behind the mark, he said he would do the same, and immediately took his stand. I then told them it was a rule that neither of them were to quit the ground till they had discharged their pistols, and Colonel Watson proposed that both should fire together without taking any advantage. Mr. Hastings asked if he meant they ought to fire by word of command, and was told he only meant they should fire together as nearly as could be. These preliminaries were all agreed to, and both parties presented ; but Mr. Francis raised his hand and again came down to the present ; he did so a second time, when he came down to his present — which was the third time of doing so — he drew his trigger, but his powder* being damp, the pistol did not fire. Mr. Hastings came down from his present to give Mr. Francis time to rectify his priming, and this was done out of a cartridge with which I supplied him upon finding they had no spare powder. Again the gentlemen took their stands, both presented together, and Mr. Francis fired. Mr. Hastings did the same at the distance of time equal to the counting of one, two, three distinctly, but not greater. His shot took place. Mr. Francis staggered, and, in attempting to sit down, he fell and said he was a dead man. Mr. Hastings hearing this, cried out, ' Good God ! I hope not,' and immediately went up to him, as did Colonel Watson, but I ran to call the servants." Another part of Colonel Pearse's narrative says that Francis " admired the beauty of Hastings' pistols " when Pearce produced them, and then goes on — " When the pistols were delivered by the seconds, Mr. Francis said he was quite unacquainted with these matters, and had never fired a pistol in his life, and Mr. Hastings told him he believed he had no advantage in that respect, as he could not recollect that he had ever fired a pistol above once or twice." Also — " While Mr. Francis was lying on the ground he told Mr. Hastings, in consequence of something which he said, that he best knew how it affected his affairs, and that he had better take care of himeelf, to which Mr. Hastings answered that he hoped and believed the wound was not mortal, but that if any unfortunate accident should happen, it was his intention immediately to surrender himself to the Sheriff." * A contemporary (G. F. Grand) says in his narrative : " The seconds "baked the powder for their respective friends." 102 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. When Francis was shot, Colonel Pearse says : — " I ran to call the servants and to order a sheet to be brought to bind up the wound. I was absent about two minutes. On my return I found Mr. Hastings standing by Mr. Francis, but -Colonel Watson was gone to fetch a cot or palanquin from Belvedere to carry him to town. When the sheet was brought, Mr. Hastings and myself bound it around his body, and we had the satisfaction to find it (sic) was not in a vital part, and Mr. Francis agreed with me in opinion as soon as it was mentioned. I offered to attend him to town in my carriage, and Mr. Hastings urged him to go, as my carriage was remarkably easy. Mr. Francis agreed to go, and therefore, when the cot came, we proceeded towards the chariot, but were stopped by a deep, broad ditch, over which we could not carry the cot ; for this reason Mr. Francis was conveyed to Belvedere." The place originally fixed for the meeting probably corresponds to the second gate (from the western side) leading into Belvedere compound.- Francis proposed to turn aside into what was seemingly a disused, overgrown ivalk of Belvedere, close to their left ; but Hastings, who, apparently, meant to do mischief that morning (witness his remark about the fourteen paces and his deliberation in firing his pistol), and therefore wished to see clearly, objected on the score of the weeds and darkness caused by the overhanging trees. Somebody then proposed the main Alipore road, but he was outvoted by aU the others. Colonel Pearse does not say (although there were only four of them present) who the individual was who had so little regard for appearances as to suggest the public road ; possibly it was his own principal, the daylight-loving Hastings. After this proposal was rejected, they turned to their right into the cross-road leading to the west, and from which branched off, as we venture to assume, the " old road " already alluded to. It is evident they could not have been far from where they left the carriages, as it may be presumed the servants, from the calling of whom Colonel Pearse returned in "two minutes," were syces and perhaps a chapprassi or two, and Belvedere must have been close at hand, since Colonel Watson himself went there to fetch a cot, leaving the two combatants by themselves. What occurred after the binding with the sheet is not easy to follow. The duellists, on first arriving, drove up to the place of appointment. " Why, then, not take the cot back into the main road to the " chariot " by the way which Colonel Pearse had gone and returned so quickly ? The supposition that occurs to me is this : they probably thought THE DUEL. 103^^ it prudent to carry the wounded man as little in the carriage as they could, as the cot must have been easier for him ; they therefore directed the carriage to go on towards Alipore bridge, meaning to take a short and diagonal cut across country with the cot, and pick up the carriage at the Belvedere side of the bridge ;. so they proceeded through the low marshy ground in the direction of the present Hermitage compound and the Zoological Gardens, till they were pulled up by a deep watercourse, a very likely thing to meet in the height of the rainy season. There they had to- retrace their steps, and finally emerge by the cross-road into the main-road, where they had first assembled. Mr. Francis was probably in much pain and weakness by this time, and was counselled to give up the idea of going into town, but to make for the nearest port— Belvedere. Unless records or trustworthy tradition point to another locality, I am inclined to think that the^ compound of No. 5, Alipore Road, holds near its northern boundary the site of this memorable duel. The account goes on to say thai Hastings and Colonel Pearse went to Calcutta to the residence of the former " to send assistance- to meet Francis, but he had been prevailed on to accept a room at- Belvedere, and there the surgeons, Dr. Campbell, the principal, and Dr. Francis, the Governor's own surgeon, found him. When Dr. Francis returned, he informed the Governor that the wound was not mortal." " After the first confusion had subsided " writes Francis himself, " and after I had suffered great inconvenience from being carried to a wrong place, I was at last conveyed to Major Tolly's * house on a bed." Having escaped Hastings' bullet in the morning, Francis had next to encounter the danger of being put to death during the day by a weU-intentioned, but armed and meddlesome man, for he tells- us that " the surgeon arrived in ^bout an hour and-a-half from the time I was wounded, and cut out the ball and bled me twice in the course of the day." The next entries in Francis's journal are — " August 17. — Mr. Hastings sends to know when he may visit * I have ascertained that Foley as originally printed in Francis' Memoirs was a mistake. There is no cine as to where the " wrong place " was. If hy" Major Tolly's house " Francis meant Belvedere, to which Pearse and Hastings say he was taken, then ToUy must have been occupying it, possibly as the tenant of" Hastings, though it became later on part of Tolly's Estate. The words " pre- vailed on to accept" suggest Francis' unwillingness to go to Belvedere. 1^04 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. " Auymt 18. — In these two days the pain I suffered was very considerable." _ "August 19. — Desire Colonel Watson to tell Mr. Hastings as •civilly as possible that I am forced to decline his visit." " August 24. * — Eeturn to Calcutta." The account concludes with a formal assurance that " both parties behaved as became gentlemen of their high rank and station. Mr. Hastings seemed to be in a state of such perfect tranquillity, that a spectator would not have supposed that he was about an action out of the common course of things, and Mr. Francis's deportment was such as did honour to his firmness and resolution." Warren Hastings, writing a few days afterwards to his friend, Lawrence Sulivan, says : — " I hope Mr. Francis does not think of assuming any merit from this siUy affair. I have been ashamed that I have been an actor in it, and I declare to you upon my honour that such was my sense of it at the time, that I was much disturbed by an old woman, whose curiosity prompted her to stand by as spectatress of a scene so Ifttle comprehended by the natives of this part of the world, and attracted others of the same stamp from the adjacent villages to partake in the entertainment." I subjoin here, as being of special interest, three letters from Warren Hastings to his wife relating to this duel ; they have never been published before that I know of. No. 1 is very steadily penned, though written immediately on his return from the duel. It fully bears Out the state of " perfect tranquillity " vouched for by his second. Like most of his letters to his wife, it is dated merely with the day of the week. "Calcutta, Thursday morning. " My dearest Marian, — I have desired Sir John Day+ to inform you that I have had a meeting this morning with Mr. Francis, who has received a wound in his side, hut I hope not dangerous. I shall know the state of it presently and will write to you again. He is at Belvedere, and Drs. Campbell and Francis are both gone to attend him there. I am well and unhv/rt. But you must be content to hear this good from me ; you cannot see me. I cannot leave Calcutta while * The entry on 24th disproves the old story so often told in Calcutta, viz., that the late Mrs. BUerton rememhers seeing Francis in a palanquin crossing over the hridge at ToUy's Nulla " all hloody from the duel." It is certain that Francis did not cross Alipore hridge for a week after the duel. She may, however have seen him at the Belvedere side. The " all bloody," if indeed alleged, was probahly only poetic license, as the sheet bound round him would have effectually ■ •concealed any bleeding from a buUet-wonnd. t The Advocate-General. THE DUEL. 105 Mr. Francis is in any danger. But I wish, you to stay at Chinsura. I hope in a few days to have ye pleasure of meeting you there. Make my compts. to Mr. Eoss, but do not mention what has passed. My Marian, you have occupied all my thoughts for these two days past and unremittedly. " yours ever, my most beloved, " W. H." "Thwrsda/y evemng. " My beloved Marian, — I despatched a letter to you this ' morning at seven o'clock under cover of one to Sir John Day, whom I desired to break the subject of it to you before he delivered it, that you might not be alarmed by any sudden report of what passed between Mr. Francis and me this morning. I hope you received it before dinner, as the hurkaru had strict injunctions to be quick, and there was no other risk of the letter missing you, but that of Sir John's having left Chinsura or being out of the way. I have now the pleasure to tell you that Mr. Francis is in no manner of danger, the ball having passed through the muscular part of his back just below the shoulder, but without penetrating or injuring any of the bones. As you say, ' Who knows what may happen ; who can look into the seeds of time,' &c. I have sent the rice to poor Naylor, but I fear it is too late for diet or medicine to do him service. Mr. Motte* will return you your key. I have also given him in charge your hundred gold mohurs which you desired me to carry with me. I am obliged to stay in Calcutta at least until Mr. F. is known to be free from all danger, lest my absence should be called a flight, so that I cannot join you this week, but do not let this bring you to Calcutta before the time you have fixed for your return. " I am well and the remains of the influenza are scarcely perceptible about my ancles (sic). You do not tell me how you are. Do not pre- sume upon your good appetite, and be abstemious at night. — Adieu, " Yours very affectionate, " Warebn Hastings." Did I tell you that I had a letter from Scott, who mentions his pass- * This name often oocnrs in the private correspondence of Hastings. Mr. Motte was a free merchant ; in 1766 he undertook a journey to the diamond mines in Orissa by direction of Olive, and wrote an account of it. He afterwards lived at Benares, and moved thence to Hooghly, where the Hastings used to visit Mrs. Motte, who was a great friend of Mrs. Hastinga. For some time Mr. Motte held a police appointment in Calcutta, where his name is still preserved in " Mott's Lane." About that time he must have got into financial difficulties, as in 1781 there is an advertisement in the newspaper calling a meeting of his creditors. Amongst the Impey manuscripts in the British Museum, there is a petition from Mr. Motte written from the Calcutta Jail in 178S, in which this friend of the Governor-General's begs that his creditors will_ assent to his release from prison on the score of humanity. His wife accompanied Mrs. Hastings to England in 1784. 106 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. ing young Touchet, my lion zebra all in perfect health. Pray tell Mrs. Motte so. Calcutta is horridly damp and dismal besides. " Calcutta, Friday morning. "Mt Dear Marian, — I have received yours. You must not be angry j perhaps it is best that what has passed has passed, and it may be productive of future good. My desire that you would not leave Chinsura proceeded only from the apprehension lest, by a precipitate departure, your spirits might be agitated and your health affected by not chusing (dc) proper seasons and making the fit preparation for your voyage. Do now as you please. You will find me here free from both sickness, anxiety, and trouble ; and if you chuse to stay longer where you are, you may have the same satisfaction of knowing that I am so. Mr. Francis continues well and I pronounce his cure certain. Poor Naylor is dead. Will you let Sir J. Day know that there is no reason for his returning to town. " I will write to him myself. I am sorry to hear Lady Day is sick ; my compts. to her, to Bibby Motte, and Mr. Boss, " Yours ever, W. H." You are much obliged to Col. Pearse.* * Colonel Thomas Deane Pearse, of the Artiflery, who died a few miles up the Hooghly, where he went for change of air, in June, 1789. His body was brought to Calcutta and buried in South Park Street Cemetery, where the tomb is still to be seen. The newspaper of the day says that eight officers came from Barrack- pore to carry the body to the grave, but arrived too late. Lord Cornwallis was present at the funeral, or, as the local chronicler puts it, " His Lordship attended and drop't a tear with the crowd.'* CHAPTEE VII. PHILIP FRANCIS AND HIS TIMES. 5. — Home AND Social Life, 1774-1780. (I.) " Tis pleasant tlirougli the loopholes of retreat To peep at such a world." Under this heading it is proposed to say something about the general routine of life in Calcutta during and about the period that Philip Frances sojourned there, keeping him as the central figure, so to say, of the society whose sayings and doings and amusings, &c., may come under review. Culled from many sources, the contents of the next chapter or two must necessarily, I fear, be of a rambling, discursive nature. In thus gossiping upon the social life of Francis and his Calcutta contemporaries it may be interesting to see, as a preliminary, whether there are any data which would help us to say where he resided. In his own and his brother-in-law's letters allusions are found to three houses occupied by Francis. Thus, in the December of the year of their arrival, i.e., in 1774, Macrabie writes : — "The expenses of this settlement are beyond all conception. Mr. F pays £500 a year for a large, but rather mean house like a barn, with bare walls and not a single glass window."* A year later he says : — " You can have no idea of the importance of a large cool house in this climate ; our's is positively the hottest in Calcutta — a torrid zone, and we can't get another." I have found no clue to the whereabouts of this house. The same authority writes that, by the following February, Francis has purchased what Macrabie calls a "Lodge" in the * A lady, writing from Calcutta in 1783, says : — " Glass is a dear commodity to Oaloutte,, and imported solely from England ; on whioli account the Governor's house is almost tlie only one that can hoast that distinction." Venetians and windows of cane-work were mostly in vogue. 108 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA; neigliTDOurliood. of Calcutta, which, he says, " consists of a spacious hall and four chambers, surrounded by a verandah and colonnade, and stands in the midst of twenty acres of ground, pleasant to the last degree." In another letter he says that Francis "talks already of quitting Calcutta, or of having only a small house by way of office and dressing-room. None but friends to be admitted here (the Lodge) ; Lady Impey yesterday. Lady Anne and Colonel Monson to-day." The Lodge so described I believe to be on the site of the house occupied for many years as the official residence of the Collector of the 24-Pergunahs. As Mr. Francis bought the Lodge in 1775, and sold it to Mr. Livius for Es. 30,000 in April, 1780, it is not likely that he lived in any other suburban residence during his sojourn in India. In Colonel. Mark Wood's map " of the country and the banks of the Hooghly from Calcutta to Ooloobareah," and in Colonel Call's map, dated 1786, the names of the residents in many of the suburban houses are given, and that of Mr. Francis is attached to the house on the site indicated. The present house is a double-storied one, therefore the " Lodge " must have been added to or rebuilt, as from Macrabie's description it was originally a bungalow, but on an ample scale, as Messrs. Livius and Collings lived there with Francis for a time. This entry in Macrabie's diary early in 1776 gives further evidence as to the locality. " At the Gardens, being Sunday, we wrote special hard all the morning. Colonel Monson, Mr. Farrer, and Mr. Thompson dined with us, so did Major ToUy, he is cutting a navigable canal close by." It is evident that the Lodge stood on low marshy ground, such as the neighbourhood of Tolly's Nullah might have been expected to be, from the following letter addressed to Francis by some humorous fellow (signing himself D.), who had been reading Pliny's Epistles : — " 31st March, 1779. — I was in- pursuit of you last night near two hours without success. I went first to your ' villa inter paludes,' where I found not the smallest vestige of society. I then returned to town, and, quitting my chariot, I took to my litter and proceeded in it to your house near the Capitol, where, to my utter astonishment, I found the same appearance of desertion and desolation. It struck me that you might have repassed the Rubicon, and with your slaves have gone again upon some private plan of pleasures into Cis-alpine Gaul (i.e., Chandernagore). While I was ruminating upon these things, a Ligu- rian tax-gatherer (Macrabie), whom I remember to have seen among your followers, informed me that, having been forced by certain putrid exhalations from the marshes in which your villa stands to discontinue HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 109 your weekly symposium there, and having at a late meeting at Nasi- dienus drank too deeply of Falernian, you had retired with two females (Contemplation and Temperance), with whom you had been very lately made acquainted, to the gardens of Ruiillus near the fourth stone on the Falernian Way, to enjoy with him and his freedman, Petronius Macer (Watts), the feast of reason and the flow of soul, or to prepare yourself for the more momentous matter that may.be debated in the Senate this day," &c. It would seem, however, that Francis did not content himself with a small house in town for an office, &c., from this entry in Macrabie's journal : — "21st February, 1776. — We have at last engaged a capital house, the best in town ; but such a rent ! £100 a month is enormous ; neighbour CoUings and I must contribute towards it. We are bound to do so, I swear ; we have no wives nor children." He adds a month later : — " There is a drawing-room in the upper storey about 50 feet long, a dining room below as large, besides two spacious halls and a suite of three rooms upon each floor to the E. and W., that is, fourteen rooms in all. 'Tis by far the largest, loftiest, and most superb house in the place." And Francis says, a month later, in a letter to John Burke : — " Here I live, master of the finest house in Bengal, with a hundred servants, a country house, and spacious gardens, horses and carriages, yet so perverse is my nature, that the devil take me if I would not exchange the best dinner and the best company I ever saw in Bengal for a beefsteak and claret at the Horn, and let me choose my company." Where was this vaunted house ? It is stated by a witness at a trial in Calcutta in 1778, in which Francis was a principal, that he recognised the defendant as " Mr. Francis, who lived behind the Playhouse." The Playhouse referred to was one which stood in the block how called " New China Bazaar," behind (north of) "Writer's Buildings.* A reference to old maps shows that the house (apparently a very large one) standing about this time nearest to the theatre, on the north, is' one at the corner of Old Foi-t Ghaut Street and Clive Street ; there is no house near it, and its site exactly corresponds with that occupied by the Oriental Bank afterwards. Tradition assigns this as the site of the house lived in by Clive, whence Clive Street derives its name. * This was known as the "New Playhouse." Mr. R. C. Sterudale, in his, very curious and useful historical account of the Calcutta CoUeotorate, gives the pottah of the original grant of land (1st June, 1775), on which it was built hy private subscription. The old theatre was in Lall IBazaar, on its south side ; Williamson, the auctioneer, or, as he styled himself, " Vendu Master," set up. there afterwards. 110 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. In the absence, therefore, of any direct evidence to the contrary, the probability is great that this was " the finest house in Bengal " for ■which Francis paid 1000 rupees a month. Here he gave his dinners and balls, and here, too, we may suppose he spent the day before his duel with Hastings, in burning papers which it is not unlikely could have thrown much light on the Junius question; and here he was brought wounded a week after the duel. In the last century, work occupied much less of the Euro- pean's time in Calcutta than now. The young civilian, for instance, went to office during the hot weather from 9 a.m. to 12, and during the cooler months from 10 to 1.30, and again from 7.30 to 9 in the evening. When a despatch had to be sent to England special attendance in the evening was enjoined. The easy-going pace* of the official rank and file was adopted by the rest of the community. The periodic arrival and departure of the Europe ships gave a temporary stimulus to all business, and then the comfortable jog-trot was resumed. The comparatively small amount of routine work to be got through admitted of a more rational allotment of time for public or other duties, and for social refreshment than prevails in these busy days. A very good idea of how an ordinary day was disposed of can be gathered from the letters of Miss Sophia Goldborne and of Mrs. Fay, written from Calcutta in the time of Warren Hastings, and from diaries and letters preserved by Philip Francis, and from other similar and contemporary sources. If we follow a day's routine, some obsolete old customs and fashions will be brought into view. The early morning ride or walk was taken by the generality of the men and by some of the ladies, just as now. In the cool season hunting was much indulged in. The Calcutta community maintained a " good pack of dogs, 50 couples " in the time of Francis. A light breakfast came off about 9, or earlier. " The fashionable undress, except in the article of being without stays (and stays are wholly unworn in the East) is much in the English style, with large caps or otherwise, as fancy dictates. No care or skill is left unexerted to render the appearance easy and graceful, a necessary circumstance (adds Miss Goldborne), as gentlemen in the course of their morning excursions continually drop in, who say the prettiest things imaginable with an air of truth that wins on the credulity and harmonizes the heart." * Chief Justice Impey writes to hia tro-.her : — " I take great care to spare myself, never sitting in Court after one at noon." HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. Ill Two o'clock was the usual hour for dinner ; Mrs. Fay gives an ordinary day's bill of fare for this meal for herself and hushand, viz., soup, a roast fowl, curry and rice, a mutton pie, a fore-quarter of lamb, a rice pudding, tarts, very good cheese, excellent Madeira. Not bad for a lady " still much of an invalid," and a rather briefless barrister given to idleness and dissolute ways. She accounts for the abundance, by her experience that the heat in Bengal does not " destroy the appetite." In preparation for dinner " the friseur formed the person anew." Those ladies who did not wear ornamented caps had artificial flowers "intermixed with their tresses." Powder was used in great quantities on the hair. Gentlemen generally sat down in white jackets.* In describing the dinner the lady last quoted says : — " To every plate are set down two glasses ; one pyramidal (like hobnob glasses in England), for loll shrub (scilicet, claret) ; the other a common sized wineglass for whatever beverage is most agreeable. Between every two persons is placed a decanter of water and tumbler for diluting at pleasure. Hosts of men on all occasions present themselves at dinner, but the sexes are blended (I will not say in pairs, for the men are out of all proportion to the female world) so as to aid the purposes of gallantry and good humour The attention and court paid, to me was astonishing. My smile was meaning, and my articulation melody ; in a word, mirrors are almost useless at Calcutta, and self-adoration idle, for your looks are reflected in the pleasure of the beholder, and your claims to first-rate distinction confirmed by all who approach you. " After the circulation of a few loyal healths, &c. , the ladies withdraw, the gentlemen drink their cheerful glass for some time beyond that period, insomuch that it is no infrequent thing for each man to despatch his three bottles of claret, or two of white wine, before they break up." This young lady was a fresh arrival, and was a member of an official's household who saw a good deal of company ; one is not, therefore, surprised at her remarking that " wine is the heaviest family article, for whether it is taken fashionably or medicinally, every lady (even to your humble servant) drinks at least a bottle per diem, and the gentlemen four times that quantity"t Nor to learn, that after such potations "the ladies at Calcutta retire (after dinner) not to enjoy their private chat, for to sleep is the object * It was not till Lord ■WeUealey's_ time that white clothing hegan to be considered too undress for public occasions, and that cloth came into general use. So writes Lord Valentia. t " English claret " cost at this time 60 Rb. the dozen ; " Danish do., 28 Rs. ; porter or beer, 160 Es. the cask. 112 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. of their wishes and the occupation of their time — a refreshment that alone enables them to appear -with animation in the evening. Accordingly both ladies and gentlemen entirely undress and repose on their beds in the same manner as at the midnight hour, and on awakening are a second time attended by their hair-dresser,* and thus a second time in the twenty-four hours come forth armed at all points for conquest." At sunset Calcutta became alive again ; society went out for its airing ; those who could not afford vehicles -walked amongst the trees and shrubs round the great tank in Lall Diggee, or on the ramparts of the old !Fort. The more prosperous went in chariots and phaetons of English build. It is mentioned incidentally in his secretary's diary that Francis, and presumably other high officials, drove four horses. Ladies of ton, we're told, adopted phaetons, and " always make a point of having a gentleman companion who loUs at his ease, the office of managing the" reins, &c., being wholly assumed by the lady — the horses finely set out with silver nets to guard their necks from insects, and reins elegantly decorated. To finish the whole a kittesaw (a kind of umbrella) is suspended not unfrequently over the lady's head, which gives her the true Eastern grandeur of appearance." The roads in and about Calcutta were very bad ; that along the river did not yet exist. The "Course" was the only drive, but the dust, for which it was remarkable, tempered the enjoyment of an airing taken there. Many resorted to the river for its cooling breezes, though its surface and its banks must have presented many unsavoury sights. Private budgerows and pinnaces, many-oared and of a size and magnificence not often seen now, were then iu fashion. Whole families vrent for their evening airing in them. Some carried bands of music. The gilded youth of the period ratlier affected being attended by an African slave or two from Burbon or Mauritius (called Coffres), who to their other accomplishments added that of being able to play on the French horn. On return from the Course, tea or coffee was served in every * The hair-dresser was indispensable in those days of powder and pomatum, not only for ladies, but for gentlemen too, who twice daily parsed under his hands. The lowest pay which a native hair-dresser got was two rupees monthly, but in many instances it ranged much higher ; each gentleman entertained the services of a hair-dresser as well as of a "shaving-barber." There were two Frenchmen settled in Calcutta as special hair-dressers. One of them, M. Malvaist, charged two gold mohurs monthly for dressing ladies' hair ; the other, M. Sivet, charged eight rupees to ladies for one hair-outting, and four rupees for hair-dressing, and half these amounts to gentlemen. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 113 house. Formal and friendly visits were paid at this sensible hour, each visit being very short, as a lady would, perhaps, have several to pay, and then to hasten home to receive her own callers. Gentlemen also were allowed to make their calls in the evening, after tea, and if asked to lay aside their hats it was understood that they were iavited to stay for su-pper. This was generally announced at ten o'clock, cards or music filling up the interval ; the company generally broke up about midnight. " In ten minutes after your return home," writes Macrabie, "the servants desert and leave you to your meditations." This entry in the secretary's diary tells what the social evenings and suppers were like, viz. : — " November 3 (A party at the Claverings). — We have been in the heart of the enemy's camp. The whole house of Barwell, with Sir Impey and Lady. We wanted only the Governor to make it complete. " JEntre nous, the evening was stupid enough, and the supper de- testable ; great joints of roasted goat, with endless dishes of cold fish. With respect to conversation, we have had three or four songs screeched to unknown tunes ; the ladies regaled with .cherrybrandy, and we . pelted one another with bread-pills a la mode de Bengal." It was probably the suppers which were accountable for this entry ; — "September 15, 1775. — This bile is the devil. Mr. Francis has another attack of it, and has headache and fever. I will make him dine quietly at home, though we are invited to a card and supper party. He says he cannot be sick, with any degree of comfort, unless his dear wife is at hand.* But soon after he writes, ' We drank enormously to- day, considering the set.' This was at one of the frequent festive visits to ' Barasutt ' which he praises for its freedom from mosquitoes, ' while we are devoured by them at Calcutta, and forced to use every art to keep them off. ' " Regarding the Calcutta Sunday in the olden time. Miss Gold- borne's letters disclose a privilege allowed to gentlemen which would seem to have been highly valued. It may be premised that the church which she refers to was the room iu the old fort set aside for the purpose. She calls it " a ground floor, with arrange- ment of plain pews." It was near the main gateway, and was used (under orders of Government in 1760) as a church for over twenty- five years, though much too small for the increasing congregation. , * " I charge you," wrote an American cousin to Francis, when starting for India, " not to let Maoratie play the quack with you. He is a mighty man for physic, and' -will he offering you doses every day ; but don't you take them, if you do he wiU work you to death hefore you get to Fort William." I 114 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. " I have been at church in my new palanquin (the mode of genteel conveyance) where all ladies are approached by sanction of ancient custom by all gentlemen indiscriminately, known or unknown, with offers of their hands to conduct them to their seat. Accordingly, those gentlemen who wish to change their condition (which between our- selves are chiefly old fellows) on hearing of a snip's arrival make a point of repairing to this holy dome and eagerly tender their services to the fair strangers." Like most new arrivals in India, Francis and his friend were much exercised at the number of servants that inexorable custom planted on them. The remarks wrung from Macrabie on this head have lost none of their force and appropriateness after the lapse of more than a century : — " One hundred and ten servants to wait upon a family of four people, and yet we are economists ! Oh monstrous ! Tell me if this land does not want weeding ! Ttie domestic cares in this country to the person who thinks it in the least degree essential to his welfare that bills should be examined before they are paid, and that servants who are born and bred rogues should cheat within some degree of moderation, will find full employment for his faculties. To superin- tend this tribe of devils and their several departments we have a numerous collection of banyans, chief and subordinate, with their train of clerks, who fill a large room, and are constantly employed in controlling or rather conniving at each other's accounts. We are cheated in every article both within and without doors. . . . Collings is at this moment scolding a circar who means nothing mor« than to cheat him of £150 by mere confusion of figures. " Oh-ho ! What you have found it out ; you admit it at last do you, Mr. Banyan V Yes, yes, very right what master say ; my way bad way, master's account right. " They are the most indefatigable incorrigible thieves. My greatest comfort is to turn them all out and lock the doors. These brutes possess every bad quality except drunkenness and insolence : indeed they make full amends for the first by stupifying themselves with chewing banff, and their want of the other is pretty well supplied by a most provoking gravity and indifference." The Court of Directors struggled hard against the tendency on the part of their employes to entertain many servants and to become luxurious. In 1757 they directed that a junior civilian without a family should be allowed only two servants and a cook, that he should not keep a horse, or have a garden house, or wear other than plain clothes. From the earliest days of the English settlement in Bengal, servants appear to have been a fertile source of worry, and to have always been adepts at the passive resistance and the organised combination to injure and annoy, which characterise them to this HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 115 day. In the old proceedings of Government it may be seen that this matter was often taken into consideration at the instance of the inhabitants complaining of the " insolence and exorbitant wages exacted by the menial servants." A set of rules were drawn up of a very stringent nature for the mutual observance of master and servants. Rates of wages weie accurately defined for each class of servants, and to avoid the market being spoiled by the wealthy or the careless, to the prejudice of his poorer neighbour, it was ordered that " if any master presume to exceed the established rate of wages on any pretence whatever, he shall be debarred all redress from the Court of Zemindary, and the protection of the Settlement shall be withdrawn from him." Ser- vants leaving without stipulated notice were punished very severely. To show that all the law was not on the side of the Europeans, it may be noted that a Mr. Johnson was visited with fine for striking his servant, and for non-payment and non-appearance he was cast into prison, whence he petitioned Mr. Vansittart for release, urging that he had been three months " rotting in a loath- some gaol, having not the wherewithal to pay or provide the common necessaries of life." In 1766 it was resolved that an ofl&ce be established in Calcutta for keeping a register of all servants, but it was soon found that the Europeans would not take the trouble to combine for vigorous action; they neglected to send their servants for registration, or to employ only registered ones ; they lazily preferred to let the old state of things go on, so that the servants became literally the masters of the situation. Between 1760 and 1787, servants' wages became doubled, and, in many instances, trebled in amount. The average rates existing to day are pretty much the same as those of a hundred years ago. The reason for this is probably that servants look as much to their gains from picking and stealing as to their pay. Many functionaries who have a place in old lists have no representatives now, such as the wig-barber, hookaburdar, soontabardar, crutchpurdar (this person relieved his master of the trouble of making actual pay- ments ; his pay was four rupees a month ; his opportunities may be fancied), "Comprador," who bought the table supplies — pay, nominal, i.e., three rupees ; power of extortion very enviable. The lady who wielded the broom had her native appellation tortured into the composite word " Harry-wench." Her indispensable func- tions were appraised (in the early days of the Settlement) at the modest sum of one rupee monthly, or in case of a whole family, two rupees. I 2 116 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. It is worth, noticing that the designation " punka pullers " does not occur among the list of servants employed at the period with which we are concerned. The swinging punka, as in use now, dates after Francis's time in India. By comparing various ' refer- ences to domestic life in Calcutta at the close of the last century, it is possible to fix within very narrow limits the date of the intro- duction of the hanging punka into India. The letters of Miss Gold- borne were written about 1783-4, but were published under the title " Hartly House, Calcutta," in 1789. In describing a dinner, she says, " during the whole period of dinner boys with flappers and fans surround you, procuring you, at least, a tolerably com- fortable artificial atmosphere." But M. L. de Grandpr^ on his voyage to Bengal, undertaken in 1789-90, says : " To chase away the flies and occasion a free circulation of the air, many houses have a large fan from the ceiling over the eating table, of a square form, and balanced on an axle fitted to the upper part of it; A servant standing at one end of the room puts it in motion by means of a cord which is fastened to it, in the same manner as he would ring a bell. Besides this, there is a servant behind the chair ot each individual with another kind of fan made of a branch of the palm tree. The stalk serves for a handle, and the leaves fastened together and cut into a round or square shape give it the appearance of a flag. By these con- trivances a little fresh air is procured." These two extracts show that the hanging punka came in between 1784 and 1790. The following paragraph, which I found in the Calcutta Chronicle for December, 1792 (quoted from the " Journal "), makes it evident that the institution was in full swing, viz., " It is not generally known that the punkas which we suspend in our rooms are machines originally introduced into this country by the Portuguese ; they are used to this day in Spain," It is probable that the use of the punka was not extended to the bed rooms for a good while after its introduction, and was reserved for meal-times only. Under the heading " Punkah " in the glossary of " Anglo-Indian Terms," by Col. Yule and Mr. Burnell, there is some exceedingly curious and interesting Luformation. Passages are there quoted which show that the true Anglo-Indian punkah was known to the Arabs as early as the eighth century ! The popular tradition in Calcutta is that the present punka was the device of a Eurasian clerk, whose duties lay in one of the small iow-roofed rooms of the present Fort William, and who one day, being driven frantic by heat and mosquitoes, slung the half of the camp table at which he was writing to a beam overhead, and HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 117 attached a rope to it, whioli he put into the hands of a bewildered cooly, with instructions to pull it. If this be the origin of a con- trivance to which succeeding generations of Anglo-Indians owe so much, it is humiliating to be obliged to record that the name of this benefactor remains unknown to fame. Before leaving the subject of servants, a further insight under this head into the customs of the last century, may be got by referring to the summary mode in which the police dealt with this class (and others) when brought up as offenders. This will be fairly exemplified by a few ordinary extracts from the charge sheet of the Superintendent of Police in 1778, C. S. Playdell. "John Ringwell, against Ms cook named Eunjaney, for running away from him and beating another servant who had been engaged in his place. It appears that he had one of his ears cut off tor some offence. The present complaint being fally proved — ordered he receive ten rattans and be dismissed. " A slave girl of Mr. Anderson, Piggy, having again run away from her master and being apprehended by the Chowkedar — ordered her five rattans, and be sent to her master. " Mooleah, a boy, was apprehended by the Pykes of the 8th Division. The boy has been frequently punished in the cutcherry for robbery, and but a few days since received twenty rattans and was sent over the water never to return, nothwithstanding which he has thought proper to come back. Ordered to receive fifteen rattans, and to be again sent over the water {i.e., across to the Howrah side of the Hooghly). " Captain Scott complains against Banybub for not complying with his promise to repair his carriage. Ordered ten slippers. It may be explained for readers not in India that blows with a slipper are considered in the Bast as adding insult to injury. This mode of punishment is still in vogue in China : it is there a brutally severe one. "The blows" (writes a traveller, 1887), "to the number of fifty, were given square on the upturned features." " Col. Watson against Ramsing, as an impostor receiving pay as a carpenter when actually nothing more than a barber. Ordered fifteen rattans, and to be drummed through the Cooly Bazaar to Col. Watson's gates. " Jacob Joseph against Tithol, cook, for robbing him of a brass pot and a pestle and mortar. Ordered him to be confined in the Hurring- Barree till he makes good the things. " Mr. Nottley against Calloo for putting a split bamboo and laying there in wait purposely to throw passengers down and apparently to rob them. Ten rattans. " Ooja Janoose against Sarah, the slave girl of Ooja Offean, for running away ; it appears she has frequently done it. Ordered her fifteen rattans, and to be kept in the thannah, 1st division, till her master returns. 118 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. "Mr. Levitt against Nursing for inducing one of his slave girls, named Polly, to rob him of a quantity of linen of sorts, the above girl Polly giving evidence against him. Five rattans. "Mr. Wilkin's servants having undergone the rice* ordeal, Golaut, a dye (wet nurse) in his employ, appeared to be the guilty person, and on confirmation of her delinquency she gave the Mullah a silver punchu from her arm, and promised a further reward of Es. 10. Ordered she be confined in the thannah of the 3rd division till some further lights can be obtained on suspicion. " Hulloder Gossein against BuUoram Byraggee for cutting from his neck, while he was asleep, a gold necklace, &c. On- examination of the prisoner he confesses the fact, and being from appearance (having lost one of his ears) an old offender, ordered that he be sent to Mr. Justice Sir Robert Chambers, and that the jewels be likewise sent with him as further evidence. " Birnarold Pinto against his slave girl Pekeytase for running away ; this being the second time of her being guilty of the like offence, to prevent her doing the same in future, — ordered she receive five rattans and be returned to her master. "Lourmerey, Bearer, against Mahomed Ally, an old offender, for robbing him of a number of turbands, all of which were recovered and produced in the office. Ordered he receive twenty rattans, and be turned over the water not to return on pain of severe punishment. " Eamhurry Jugee against Eamgopal for stealing a toolsey dannah off a child's neck ; he says he was running along, and his hands caught in it by accident. Ordered him twelve rattans. " Cortib, a Portuguese, against his boy. Jack, for stealing a silver spoon ; the boy at first confessed the fact, and said he had given the spoon to a shopkeeper, who, on being summoned, declared his ignorance of the whole transaction ; he then accused another person, who, on examination, proved to be as little concerned as the first ; in short. Jack * When a theft was committed in a household, it was usual to send for some man reputed to be wise and religious, who assembled all the servants, and on their denying knowledge of the theft, each was sworn to this effect. The wise man then with befitting solemnity took down all their names and went home, he said, to pray. To discover who had made the false oath, the following procedure was adopted next morning by the religious detective : Some rice was half -soaked and then dried in the sun, and a tola weight (generally weighed against a square Akhar rupee) given into the hand of each of the assembled servants. At a signal all were directed to put the rice into their mouths and chew it, and then spit it out on a piece of plantain leaf given for that purpose. All were warned that from the mouth of whoever had Hed to the holy man, the rice would come forth, not like milk, hut quite dry and unaltered. The theory was that fear and ex- citement kept back the saUvary flow necessary to mastication — an effect, how- ever, ,iust as likely to result in the case of those nervous and innocent as in that of the consciously guilty. When Mr. Motte had a police appointment in Calcutta, this method of detection was so successfully adopted that a set of grave men were kept for the purpose called " Motte's Conjurors." See Fanny Parke's " Wanderings of a Pilgrim," Vol. 1st, where an instance of successful resort to this ordeal is related. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 119 appears a complete little villain, and the whole of his account nothing but lies. Five rattans. ''Samah Goalah, confined 5th October, is now released under a penalty of being hanged if ever apprehended by any one." (The " penalty " promised here under such wide possibilities was probably a grim professional joke on the part of the police clerk.) Here follow four cases which I beg to commend to the notice of modem Calcutta Magistrates : — " Banker Mahomed against Eumjanny complaining that the wife of the latter abused his wife. It appearing, on examination, they were both equally culpable, — ordered each to be fined Rs. 5 for giving trouble to the Court by making trifling litigious complaints. " Mr. Cantwell against his Matraney for stealing empty bottles. This she has practised some time, and constantly sold them to a shopkeeper Bucktaram, which he himself confesses. To deter others from following so pernicious an example, — ordered Bucktaram twenty rattans, the Matraney ten rattans, and both to be carried in a cart round the town, and their crime published by beat of tom-tom. " Mr. Sage against Khoda Bux and Peary for receiving advances of wages, neglecting business and hiring themselves to others before their engagements to him are expired. Each ten slippers. " Mr. Dawson against his Mosalchee, Tetoo, for stealing his wax candles and preventing other servants from engaging in his service by traducing his master's character. Ten rattans." The publicity with which prisoners were punished was a notable feature in Old Calcutta. Miss Goldborne describes the machine in which those convicted were conveyed to prison. " The wheels of this machine are fourteen feet high, and under the axle is suspended a wooden cage (sufficiently large to contain a couple of culprits) perforated with air-holes, and in this miserable plight, guarded by Sepoys, they are exhibited to the eyes of the populace.'' The first judges of the Supreme Court do not seem to have done anything in the way of suppressing these public exhibitions. On the contrary, with that complacent belief which judges often hold in the wisdom of the laws they administer, and of the punishments prescribed, they signalized their establishment in Calcutta by invoking to their aid a detestable atrocity which they had been accustomed to in England, and which, as a punishment, was grotesquely unsuitable to India. Sheriff Maorabie thus writes of it in January, 1776 : — "The Supreme Court of Judicature has introduced the use of the pillory among us. I have the credit of drawing the plan, but Judge Lemaistre gave me the outline. The horrors which the common people have here of this machine are not to be described. I suppose it must affect them in their caste, 120 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. a consideration whicli never loses its weight, even with, pickpockets. In a session or two they may perhaps become reconciled to it, and practise the ceremony of pelting as well as an English mob." The following is but a typical instance of what must almost daily have been also seen in the Calcutta streets. I take it from an original note kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Belchambers, Eegistrar of the High Court. The culprit was a poor Hindoo woman — her crime perjury. " Let her be imprisoned in the common gaol until Friday next, on that day let her be taken to the Lall Bazaar and there placed in and upon the pillory for one hour — next day let her be taken to the police office and whipt from thence to the house of Mr. Willoughby Leigh in the Bow Bazaar and back again." This whipping was repeated in public twice more at intervals of a month, and then she was relegated to two years hard labour ! Surely all this was, as Macaulay says, " in the highest degree shocking to all the notions of Hindoos." Yet this happened in 1799, twenty-four years after the execution of Nuncomar. How difficult it seems now to realise the state of things which we just get a glimpse of here. Slavery in full bloom ; the right of ownership under it being so recognised that its mere plea was sufficient to justify (in law) an English Magistrate in ordering a poor girl, who in runniag away had presumably acted in self- defence, to be " beaten with rods " and sent back to the fangs of her master. Some idea may be formed of the ill-usage given to slaves in Calcutta at this time, from the fact that even ten years later, when public opinion was becoming enlightened, the Calautta Chronicle calls out against " the barbarous and wanton acts of more than savage cruelty daily exercised on the slaves of both sexes, by that mongrel race of human beings called Native Portuguese. The same paper refers also to an alleged " intention " of Government to adopt measures to lessen some of the miseries endured by slaves, one of which was to be that " no slave of either sex was to be shackled with the marks of bondage which many of them are now constrained to put on." And the wearer of these shackles would often be perhaps an intelligent little child, such as the one thus advertised for (1780): "Eloped from his master's service, and sujDposed to have gone up country in the service of some officer, a little slave boy about twelve years old ; can speak, read, and write English very well." Most of the slaves were the children of the poor who had been sold by their own parents from their inability to support them. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 121 With our present knowledge it is strange to reflect that, at the time referred to in the police record, a prominent member of the Government, under the Eegis of which this great iniquity flourished, was the champion of political and personal liberty, the renowned Junius. It may be, however, that the hateful aspect under which slavery presented itself to Philip Erancis in Calcutta was not withovit its effect ; for we find him afterwards in Parliament as one of the most ardent and zealous supporters of Wilberforce in his efforts for the abolition of the Slave trade.* (11.) His biographer tells us that Francis had no curiosity about travelling in India. In his voluminous writings he left behind no observations about scenery or places. He never moved a hundred miles out of Calcutta, where he buried himself in business and in a most extensive correspondence. " He keeps four of us in con- stant employment, and is sometimes dictating to all at a time," writes his private secretary. The hours not devoted to this were given up to card-playing and to the other social recreations in vogue. Though he was remarkable for a haughty and unapproachable manner, he seems to have had the good sense to cultivate the social acquaintance of the ladies, even of his official foes. "I profess to admire beauty," he writes, " on both sides of the question, and am not afraid to pay my respects to an agreeable woman even in the enemy's camp. In spite of all their politics Mrs. Hyde and Lady * For some allusion to slavery as it existed in former times in India, and to the barbarous punishment and mutilations executed on crimiuals under the orders of the British Government, see two curious and instructive appendices to Mr. H. J. Cotton's " Revenue History of Chittagong " (1880). The natives of India, however, were not the only slaves there. History and local records mate frequent allusions to Africans, called there Coffrees. In the newspapers of 1781, many advertisements occur as to the disposal by sale of Coffrees. One is offered for 400 rupees who understands the business of butler and cook. Some seem to be valued for their musical skiU, and dexterity in shaving and dressing and waitinpf at table. There is an advertisement also for "three handsome African ladies of the true sable hue, commonly called Cofireesses," between fourteen and twenty-five, for marriage with .three of their own countrymen. The advertisement is long, and is too often repeated to be a, mere joke, though it strains at being suggestively indecent. In all probability it means this, that there were Englishmen in Calcutta a hundred years ago who not only bought and sold African slaves, but went in for the breeding of them for the slave market. 122 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Impey are pleased to except me from my friends, and, as I take care to acknowledge their respective merits, allow me, in that instance at least, to be a just and generous enemy. As long as they show me the same countenance they may be sure of the same attachment." He seems to have been amused, too, by the ordinary gossip of Anglo-Indian society, and even to have cynically recorded the petty heartburnings of ladies arising out of that still vital question as to who should call on whom. Of course the problem which most immediately exercised the upper crust of Calcutta society in those days was, as to what social recognition should be extended to the lady who was to become the wife of the Governor- General, as soon as a legal divorce from her husband had been obtained. The earliest announcement of this lady's arrival in Calcutta is to be found in some curious old letters preserved amongst the Hastings MSS. The writer was a Dr. Tysoe Saul Hancock who in his later life attended more to commercial enterprise than to medicine ; he was in some respects a protege of Hastings, who was very liberal to his family. This gentleman died in Calcutta in 1775. The letters were written to Mrs. Hancock in England. Under the date 17 February, 1772, he writes : — " Mr. Hastings is arrived this day, he is thin and very grave, but in good health." Again in April he says, " I promised to give you some account of Mr. Hastings. He is well and has been in the Government six days, during which time I have seen him twice. His residence at Madras has greatly increased his former reserve, and he seems inclined to break through many Bengal ciistoms. This is not much relished by the present inhabitants." (He then enumerated the members of his staff, and continues) — " There is a lady, by name Mrs. Imhoflf, who is his principal favourite among the ladies. She came to India on board the same ship with Mr. Hastings, is the wife of a gentleman who has been an officer in the German service, and came out a cadet to Madras. Finding it impossible to maintain his family by the sword, and having a turn to miniature painting, he quitted the sword and betook himself to the latter profession. After having painted all who chose to be painted at Madras, he came to Bengal the latter end of the year 1770. She remained at Madras, and lived in Mr. Basting's house on the Mount chiefly, I believe. She is about twenty-six years old, has a good person and has been very pretty, is sensible, lively, and wants only to be a greater mistress of the English language to prove she has a great share of wit. She came to Calcutta last October. They do not make a part of Mr. Easting's family, but are often of his private parties. The husband is truly a German. I HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 123 should not have mentioned Mrs. ImhoflF, but I know everything relating to Mr. Hastings is greatly interesting to you." Again lie writes in the following February (1773) : "Mr. Imhoflf is going to England. I shall give him a letter of introduction to you : his Lady stays here. As He intends returning in the service."* Whether Hastings's love was " patient of delay " in this instance, as has been alleged, is perhaps open to question. But there can be no doubt that his attentions to Mrs. Imhojffi placed her in a very equivocal position, to say the least of it, at Madras first, and at Calcutta afterwards, when his late colleague, Maopherson, could thus venture to write to him from Madras in reference to a lady : the occasion was when the condemnation of Nuncomar became known, and when it was considered prudent that Hastings should take precautions for his personal safety ; " Employ from the hour you receive this no black cook : you are the most moderate of eating men ; let your fair female friend or some trustworthy European, oversee everything you eat while in the cooking room." Mrs. Imhoff could only have been the " fair friend " thus disrespectfully alluded to. Mr. Percy Fitzgerald in his " Kings and Queens of an Hour," says that the Imhoffs were friends of the Eoyal robe-keeper, Mrs. Schwellenberg (the " old hag from Germany," as Macaulay was betrayed into styling her in his indignation about Fanny Burney), and that through her, Queen Charlotte's influence was solicited for leave from the East India Directors for the Imhoffs to go to Madras. Francis also writes on this subject to a friend in England, but the venom in his letter deprives it of the historical value which it would otherwise have : ■' To complete the character, as it will probably conclude the history, of this extraordinary man, I must inform you that he is to he married shortly to the supposed wife of a German painter with whom he has lived for several years. The lady is turned of 40, has children grown up by her pretended husband, from whom she has obtained a divorce * I have copied this exactly as written and punctuated, retaining the capital letters of the old style. It is not very clear what the dash is intended for ; it is a deliberate heavy line, over half an inch in length, with no full or other stop aiter it. It seems to me that the words "He intends, &c.. were the alleged reasons given to society for Mrs. ImhofE's remaining in India, but the dash is meant to convey to Mrs. Hancock the writer's own idea as to the real (unmen- tionable) reason. 124 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. under the hand of some German prince. I have always been on good terms with the lady, and do not despair of being invited to the wedding. She is an agreeable woman, and has been very pretty. My Lord Chief Justice Impey, the most upright of all possible lawyers, is to act the part of father to the second Helen, though his wife has not spoken to her this twelve month." He thinks it worth while to write the following tittle-tattle in his journal : — ■ "July 5th (177'7). — Sup with Hastings at Impey's. — Long faces. " July 9th. — News of Imhoff's divorce, and hopes of her marriage with Hastings. " 12th. — The Chief Justice very low. His lady enraged at the match and distressed about the future visits. " N.B. — The dames for a long time were bosom friends. " 24th. — An entertainment made on purpose this night at the Governor's to effect a reconciliation between Lady Tmpey and Madame Chapusettin ; the former sends an excuse. A mortal disappointment. " 26th. — Sup at Impey's. Her ladyship swears stoutly that Madame Imhoff shall pay her the first visit — an idea which I don't fail to encourage. " 29th. — Mrs. Imhoff sups at Lady Impey's by way of submission." Though the marriage came off ten days afterwards, Francis's journal is silent about it, so we unfortunately lose his sententious account of the festivities with which it was said, by the native historian, to have been celebrated. In the vestry records of St. John's Cathedral, Calcutta, it appears that the marriage was solemnised on Friday, the 8th August, 1777, by the Eev. William Johnson. The bride was married under her maiden mame of "Miss Anna Maria Appolonia Chapusettin." Hastings is described in the marriage register as " The Honourable Warren Hastings, Esq., Governor-General of India." We find nothing in Francis's memoirs of the story told in Syur ul Mutaquerin (popularised by Macaulay) of the great entertainment in honour of this celebration, given by Hastings, and to which he brought Clavering nolens volens a " vanquished rival in triumph," a proceeding which brought on the General's death illness. It would have been quite in keeping with Hastings' amiable character to have held out the hand of social friendship to an official foe at such a- time, but the probability is that the wedding was not marked by any festivities. In some correspondence of Clavering's which I once met with, I remember seeing a note of his to Francis, withia a couple of days after the marriage, in which he discussed the question of visiting Hastings or not, saying that, he was in favour HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 125 of so-doing as it would show that the opposition to him was not personal. But he added (showing that it was not only in official matters that he suhordinated his judgment to that of Francis) that if Francis did not think as he did, he would not visit. It would seem likely, therefore, that Clavering's (and Francis's) relation to Hastings's wedding was limited to an ordinary social visit after it. It is curious that the name " Marian," hy which Mrs. Hastings is best known, was not one of her proper Christian names at all. As she was born in 1747 she was thirty years old at the time of her second marriage. Hastings was fifteen years older. Francis in writing to his wife shortly after the marriage, says of Mrs. Hastings : — " The lady herself is really an accomplished woman. She behaves with perfect propriety in her new station, and deserves every mark of respect." The Governor-General's wife, however, does not seem to have forgotten the humble pie that Mrs. Imhoff had to eat in the matter of that first visit to Lady Impey, for as soon as ever her position is assured she promptly brings the Lady Chief Justice to her bearings : Francis records, " Sept. 20th (1777). — Lady Impey sits up with Mrs. Hastings ; I'jtigio.toad-eating. " 21st. — At the GovernoPs, Mrs. Hastings very handsomely acknow- ledges my constant attention to her. "22nd. — Mrs. Hastings returns Lady Clavering's visit, attended by Lady Impey in formA pauperis. " October, 5th. — Supped at Impey's ; as gracious as ever. Many symptoms convince me that Mrs. H. and Lady Impey hate one another as cordially as ever. " 8th. — Lady Impey furens against Mrs. H. worse than ever. " Nov. 4th. — Sup at Impey's. Explanation with the lady, she swears that Hastings has deserted them. Complains ot his ingratitude, etc. I believe their hatred is sufficiently cordial. But there are some ties which cannot be dissolved. "Jany. 3rd, 1778.— Formal supper at Impey's for Mrs. Wheler ; * Mrs. Hastings sends a silly excuse, an intended slight to Lady Impey." Francis took his share in dispensing the hospitality which was then expected not only from the head of the Government but from the Members of Council also. Twice a week he gave a public break- * Mrs. Wheler had arrived in the previous month. Francis writes of her to hia wife : — " She appeared in public for the first time at our ball in wonderful splendour. At sight of her hoop, all our beauties stared with envy and admira- tion. I never saw the lite in all my life." — She was the first wife of Edward Wheler, Member of Council, and survived the climate only seven months. Her tombstone tells that her name had been Harriet Chichely Plowden. 126 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. fast to about thirty guests. But this was soon reduced to once ; his seoretary remarks that " it was all nonsense at any time.'' His household was at first under the management of a European steward, later of a stewardess who had been housekeeper to Mrs. Clavering— " and being absolutely at the wrong side of forty causes neither scandal or envy." He frequently gave dinner parties also where often fifty sat down. The Governor gave very large public dinners on all national holidays, those on New Year's day and the King's birthday being followed by a ball and a supper to the whole " Settlement."* Of the fii'st Christmas day he spent in India, Macrabie thus wrote. " The Governor gave a public breakfast, dinner, ball and supper, at all which we assisted. The ladies were unanimous in making their appearance in the evening. It is the most absurd of all possible ceremonies. Every Member of the Council, the Judges, the Board of Trade, Field Officers, Clergy, and Heads of Offices are pestered with therepetition of a "Merry Xmas,&c." " New Tear's day was a second part of Christmas, public dinner, supper, ball." Over- flowing loyalty was a very prominent feature of these festive celebrations : " toasts as usual, echoed from the cannorSs mouth," and " merited this distinction," says an old Calcutta newspaper, " for their loyalty and patriotism." There is a record of one of those parties (that of 1st January, 1787, given by Lord Cornwallip, who no doubt merely kept up a time-honoured custom) which lasted from two o'clock one day till four the next morning, as the ladies after supper " resumed the pleasures of the dance and knit the rural braid in emulation of the poet's sister Graces {sic) while some disciples of the jolly god of wine testified their satisfaction in poeans of exultation." Lord Cornwallis, who led the most abstemious life himself, wrote to his young son (Lord Brome) about another festive occasion when he gave a concert and supper to all the Settle- ment, and tried to have illuminations which the rain put out; "the * These were held either at the Old Court House or at the Theatre, Grovem- ment House not heing large enough. GrandprS, the French traveller, com- ments, even in 1790, on the poor accommodation provided for the English Governor-General. "He lives," he -writes, "in a house on the esplanade, opposite the citadel — many private individuals in the town have houses as good. The house of the Governor of Pondioherry is much more magnificent." It was not till the time of Lord Wellesley that the Governor- General of India had a residence in which he could comf ortatly accommodate his puhlic guests. The first occasion on which the State roouas in the present Government House were lit up, was in Janiiary, 1803, when Lord Wellesley gave a ball with a display of illuminations and fireworks in honour of the general peace. Bight hundred persons were supposed to he at the ball. Lord Valentia was present. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 127 supper wHch could not be put out was a very good one : some of the gentlemen who stayed late, however, were nearly extinguished by the claret. Seven of the finest ladies of the place and twelve gentlemen sang the Coronation anthem, so that on the whole it was a magnificent business." In the letters of a gentleman who visited Calcutta in 1779 is given a copy of a card of invitation in which Mr. and Mrs. Hastings "request the favour of his company to a concert and supper at Mrs. Hastings' house in town* — a postscript requests him to bring only his " huccabadar." This introduces us to a custom happily passed away. So indispensable was the hooka that at all parties it was admitted to the supper rooms and card rooms — even to the boxes in the theatre, and between the pillars and walls i f the assembly rooms. Grandpr6 describes all the hooka bearers coming in together with the dessert, each carrying his master's hooka — and the consequent clamour and smoke which filled the room. The rage for this sort of smoking was commoner with " country- born ladies," one of whom fascinated Miss Goldborne with her graceful attitude while enjoying her hooka, the long ornamental snake of which was coiled through and round the rails of her chair. But it extended to some English ladies too ; it was con • sidered a high compliment on their part to show a preference for a gentleman by tasting his hooka. It was a point of politeness in such a case for the gentleman, when presenting the snake of the hooka, to substitute a fresh mouthpiece for the one he was using. Masquerades were a very common means of amusement in the old days ; dominoes were advertised for hire, also various female costumes for gentlemen ; and evidently the fun raged fast and furious. They generally wound up with suppers, at which in the cold weather, fresh oysters and ices were to be had in abundance. Miss Groldborne says the ice came from " some slender inland rivulets of the Ganges," by which she probably meant to indicate the " ice fields " that were worked near Hooghly then and much later. Theatricals were in special favour amongst Calcutta pleasure seekers, the subscription theatre (erected in 1775) being shut off from the southerly wind by "Writer's Buildings, was furnished with wind- sails on the roof "to promote coolness by a free circulation of air." The auditorium consisted only of pit and boxes; the prices of admis- sion were to the former eight rupees, and to the latter one gold * Tradition points to No. 7, Hastings Street, as being this house. 128 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. mohur. The characters were all taken by gentlemen amateurs.* Mrs. Fay saw "Venice Preserved " acted there in 1780, the part of Belvidera being taken by a Lieutenant Norfor. The performances were by no means confined to the cool weather, and in addition to the most ambitious musical entertainments, such as the whole of Handel's " Messiah," included anything from " Othello " or " The Merchant of Venice '' down to the " Irish Widow " or the " Mock Doctor." The bill of fare for one evening included " The Busy- body," followed by the " Recruiting Sergeant " and the " Mayor of Garrett " — in short, Seneca could not be two heavy nor Plautus too light for them. But dancing was the chief enjoyment to which Calcutta society in the last century devoted itself. All writers about the English Settlement in Bengal, remark with surprise the insatiable ardour with which this pursuit was followed. There was no special season for.it, public and private balls went on all the year round. The cool weather merely intensified the dancing fever, and added to the number of ' ' assemblies " which could be concentrated within the month. " I attribute," writes Lord Valentia, " con- sumptions amongst the ladies to their incessant dancing . A small quiet party seems unknown in Calcutta." Even on the nights when, no large dancing party was going on, it was not unusual, according to Miss Gold borne, to have " Nautches of six or seven black girls at private European houses after supper." * Before very long, however, this fatal draw-back to dramatic excellence was got rid of, and lady amateurs took the female characters ; indeed they some- times went further and took a turn at some of the male characters. A Calcutta paper, in 1790, is most enthusiastic about one of these performances, and comes out with an ode " On Mrs. ■ appearing in the character of Lucius in the tragedy of Julius Caesar at the Calcutta Theatre." This begins : — ** When with new powers to charm our partial eyes, Thy beauteous form appears in virile guise, Such tempting graces wanton o'er thy air, By gentle Love's enchanting wiles I swear Bach throbbing youth would" and then the poet becomes so carried away by his theme as to be quotable no further. Mrs. John Bristow had the honour of being the first in Calcutta who brought lady actors into fashion. She had a private theatre of her own in her house in Chowringee, in Lord CornwaUis's time, and was a finished performer; her strong points were in comedy and in humorous singing. " Polly Houfy- combe" (in Colman's play) was a favourite character of hers. Eeferriugto another of her performances, an admiring critic says, " she went through the whole of the humorous part of ' The English Slave in the Ottoman Seraglio ' with a justness of conception and success of execution most admirable. Magnificently decorated by art, and more beautifully adorned by nature, the extravagances of "the amorous Sultan see'iiied^justified by her charms." Mrs. Bristow went to England in January, 1790, and for long Calcutta refused to be comforted. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 129 Minuets and country dances were most in fashion. At public balls it was the custom to lead the ladies out to the minuets according to the rank of their husbands. Those ladies whose husbands were not in the Services, were led out in the order they came into the room, and this was the rule also in the case of unmarried ladies. Country dances, however, were more in general favour ; one notice of a ball says that " the lively country dance runners were bounding and abounding." This active element in the dance appears to have enhanced its merits, because a professor of the art soon established himself in the Settlement, and undertook for one hundred Es. to teach any lady or gentleman "the Scotch step in its application to country dancing," and a variety of other steps in addition to " the athletic and agile." When Macrabie saw dancing first in India, he made this note about it : " If splendour accom- panied heat, a baU in India ought to be uncommonly splendid. The appearance of the ladies, even before the country dances, was rather ardent than luminous. The zeal and activity with which they exert themselves in country dances is exercise enough for the spectators. By dint of motion these children of the sun in a very few minutes get as hot as their father, and then it is not safe to approach them. In this agitation they continue, literally swim- ming through the dance, untU he comes himself and reminds them of the hour." In fact people who had to make the best of Indian life in the times referred to, seem to have acted up to the belief that great heat, like great cold, is best defied by violent exercise. In connection with this hasty retrospect at a few of the hospi- talities and pastimes of Old Calcutta, it may be allowable now to take a cursory glance at some of the queens of society who, in the time of Phillip Francis, graced those festive gatherings. In doing so we shall see whether their cotemporaries have thrown any light on their personal claims to this social distinction. To begin with Mrs. Hastings, and to answer the homely question, " What was she like %" The description left of her by Mrs. Fay will help us. The writer was the wife of a barrister who arrived in Calcutta in May, 1780 ; she spent a day with Mrs. Hastings, she says, at Belvedere (which she found " a perfect bijou, most superbly fitted with all that unbounded affluence can display ") in the same month, and thus recorded her impressions ; — "Mrs. H. herself, it is easy to perceive at the first glance, is far superior to the f enerality of her sex, though her appearance is rather eccentric, owing to the circumstance of her beautiful auburn hair being disposed in ringlets, throwing an air of elegant, nay, almost infantine K 130 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. simplicity on the countenance, most admirably adapted to heighten ■the effect intended to be produced. Her whole dress, too, though studiously becoming, being at variance with our present modes (which are certainly not so), perhaps for that reason she has chosen to depart from them. As a foreigner, you know, she may be excused for not strictly conforming to our fashions ; besides, her rank in the Settlement sets her above the necessity of studying anything but the whim of the moment. It is easy to perceive how fully sensible she is of her own consequence : she is, indeed, raised to a giddy height, and expects to be treated with the most profound respect and deference. She received me civilly, and insisted on my staying dinner," &c. Another extract from Mrs. Fay's letters will exemplify the deference paid to Mrs. Hastings, who attended a party where Mrs. Fay was. The latter was asked by the lady who brought her '• ' If I had paid my respects to the Lady Governess 1 ' I answered in the negative, having had no opportunity, as she had not chanced to look towards me when I was prepared to do so. ' Oh,' replied the kind old lady, 'you must fix your eyes on her and never take them off till she notices you ; Miss C has done this, and so have I : it is absolutely necessary to avoid giving offence.' I followed her prudent advice, and was soon honoured with a complacent glance, which I returned, as became me, by a most respectful bend. Not long after she walked over to our side, and conversed very affably with me." Miss Goldborne gives us another glance at her: — " The Governor's dress gives you his character at once, unostentatious and sensible. His lady, however, is the great ornament of places of polite resort, for her figure is elegant, her manners lively and engaging, and her whole appearance a model of taste and magnificence." Her beautiful hair must have been one of Mrs. Hastings's chief attractions, because when she first appeared at Court, on her return from India, she presented herself in her own simple hair unfrizzed up or unadorned (?) with the pyramid of gauze, powder, feathers, pomatum, &c., then so astoundingly the fashion. This (added to her splendid display of jewels) made her an object of much observation in London society. The translator of the cotemporar/ native chronicle qualifies his admiration for Mrs. Hastings by an allusion to this weakness of hers, viz. : " Indeed, she must have been a ivoman of uncommon merit to have made so lasting an impression on so sublime a genius as Hastings. At the same time it must be acknowledged that she did him some little MISS BENEDETTA RAMUS (Lady Day). From a painting- by Romney. Mezzotint by Dickinson. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 131 hai'm by unseasonably parading in jewels after landing in England." The first introduction that we have to the social queen, who may fittingly be mentioned next, is in a passage of a letter from Johnson to Boswell (1774) : — " Chambers is either married or almost married to Miss Wilton, a girl of sixteen, exquisitely beautiful, whom he has with his lawyer's tongue persuaded to take her chance with him in the East." Frances "Wilton was the daughter of a well-known Eoyal Academician, Joseph WUton.* We have a shght sketch of Lady Chambers, also, from the pen of Mr.o, Fay, who enjoyed her hospitality for a short time in 1780. " She is the most beautiful woman I ever beheld — in the bloom of youthi; and there is an agreeable frankness in her manners that enhances her loveliness and renders her truly fascinating." In "Hartly House " she is mentioned amongst the drivers of gaily caparisoned horses on the Calcutta course. " Lady C — m — rs is one of the most celebrated on this fashionable list, and for attendant beaux-, both as to smartness and variety, yields to no one." The wife of Sir John Day, the Advocate-General, was another lady in Calcutta society who was gifted with beauty of a high order, which the canvas of Eonmey and Gainsborough has not let die. Lady Day had been Miss Benedicta (or Benedetta) Ramus. Mr. Andrew Lang, when referring to this lady, says : " A proof of whose beautiful like- ness by Eomney came into the market at the recent Addington sale at Sotheby's. The engraving by Dickinson is one of the most beautiful things that the art of mezzotint — almost a lost art — has left to us. Horace Walpole's copy of it is in the hands of a collector, and that which I possess belonged to Sir Thomas Lawrence." There is a copy of Dickinson's engraving of Roniney's portrait! in the print room of the British Museum (published 1779). Another portrait of lier with her sister was taken by Gainsborough. Speaking of this, Mr. Lang says: "The portrait of Miss Ramus and her sister, by Gainsborough, has lately beexi uold at Christy's for ten thousand pounds. J The lady looks, not * Mrs. Thrale, in alluding to Chambers, writes, " He married Pauny Wilton, tlie statuary's daughter, who stood for Hebe at the Eoyal Academy. She was very beautiful indeed, aud but fifteen years old when Sir Robert married her." What Mrs. Piozzi referred to probably was the fact that Miss_ Wilton (with Miss Meyer, also an Academician's daughter) sat to Reynolds for his Hebe. t The original Bomney belonged -to-the -late Right Honourable W. H. Smith. j I learned at Mr. Grave's establishment, Pall Mall, that this painting was sold for £7000 to a Mr. Graham in 1873, and that at his sale it recently fetched £10,000, as stated above. ■ K 2 132 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. nearly so bewitching in tlie art of Gainsborough as in that of the less eminent painter." He adds that the ladies on Gainsborough's canvas look like Jewesses— which they probably were. In Mrs. Papendiek's "Court and Private Life in the Time of Queen Charlotte " (1887), to which Mr. Lang refers, it is said that Queen Charlotte objected to the beautiful Benedicta being presented to her on her marriage, because of the position held by her father as the King's page. " But when, shortly after, Sir John Day was appointed Governor of one of our East India settlements, the right of presentation could no longer be disputed." Mrs. Papendiek was probably inaccurate in more than the particular of Sir John Day's appointment. If the Queen ever put forward the objection mentioned, it was more likely got over by conferring knighthood on the lady's husband, to procure which she probably begged her father's intervention. This may be the origin or foundation of an anecdote I found reproduced in an old Calcutta newspaper, headed " Eoyal Bon-mot.'* " When old Eamus, the King's page, solicited in autumn the honour of knighthood for his son-in-law Mr. Day, then about to embark for India, His Majesty observed that he had no other objection than the fear of verifying Mr. Dunning's proposition that 'the influence of the Crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished,' for that he should thus turn Day into knight and make Lady Day at Michaelmas." At all events, the beautiful Lady Day cherished no ill-will against Queen Charlotte, because it appears from a letter of Francis, after his return to England, that he was the bearer of a little present from her to Her Majesty at Windsor. John Day was one of the very few mourners who followed poor Goldsmith's remains to the grave in the Temple : he accompanied a namesake, another young barrister. He died in England in 1808, and Lady Day survived him. So much remains to be said that the briefest allusion to two or three others, whose claims are undeniable, must suffice. Young Mrs. Motte, the inseparable companion of Mrs. Hastings (at whose house Mrs. Fay met her), must not be omitted. Prior to her marriage (in January, 1779) she was' known as pretty Mary Touchet — the very name has sweetness in it — and like her name- sake in French history — she charmed all.* * Je oharme tout : — " Marie Touchet fllle de noble Jean Touohet, Maitresse du Eoi Charles 12. portait ponr devise cet anagramme compose par oe roi." HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 133 Of tlie art of winning and bewitching, so gently wielded by Mrs. Harwell, we shall see evidence in another page.' Of the loveliness of Madame Grand it would be unbecoming to speak in sequence to that of others. This can only be told of with bated breath and whispering humbleness ; she must get a chapter to herself. These few have been instanced from amongst the married ladies who were at the head of society, but whose title to social sovereignty was independent of the accidental position of their husbands. The list might be extended were we to include the known favourites of nature, amongst the fair ones still in maiden meditation. Any one of those named would have been a bright particular star in any society. What must the brilliancy of the small community have been ■which such a constellation illuminated 1 Has the " City of Palaces " ever since been able to show at one time such a garden of flowers 1 — if she has, it is a pity that she should have been " without a bard to fix their bloom." Perhaps the only room now remaining in Calcutta, in which all this grace and comeliness were often gathered together, is the ball- room of Eichard Barwell's garden-house at Alipore.* What generations of exiled feet — the gayest and lightest — have not disported on this floor ! The very lamps and wall-shades which were lighted in the consulship of Warren Hastings are sometimes lighted still. What stately minuets and cotillons and romping country-dances long obsolete, have those old lustres not looked down on. Who does not wish that they could speak of the past and its faded scenes, and tell us stories of the merry " ladies and gentlemen of the Settlement" — of their frolics and their wooings — their laughter and their love. (III.) Allusion has been made to the card table as one of the occupa- tions of Francis. High play was one of the prominent fashions of the time amongst the upper society in England. The ladies followed it with almost as much ardour as the gentlemen. * Now "Kidderpore House," where, in the writer's time, Mrs. Colquhoim Grant presided, and gave a Mndly welcome to her many visitors. 134 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. When imported into Calcutta this vice flourished with tropical luxuriance. The games most in vogue seem to have been tredille, put, five card loo, and whist. Mrs. Fay found that "a rupee a fish, limited to ten," were the ordinary stakes at loo ; and Miss Gold- borne says of whist, " What was my astonishment when I found five gold mohurs spoke of as a very moderate sum a comer." Mrs. Fay says the ladies often found whist very nervous work, owing to the high bets made by the gentlemen over and above the stakes. Several allusions to their card enterprise occur in the journal and letters of Francis and Macrabie. Thus the latter writes : — "Sept. 1st, 1775. — In the evening played cards at Lady Anne Monson's, three whist tables and two at chesss. Quadrille is little in vogue here. Lady Anne is a very superior whist-player ; Mr. Francis generally fortunate." " Nov. 1st. — Being Wednesday it may not be amiss for me to look at my card account, and see how the reckoning stands between me and the world. I have been losing all this month. Let me see. Pretty even. I am not ten pounds gainer or loser upon that account since I left England. But that is not right. I want money ; I begin to love money ; and if I can get it fairly I will have money." The card parties were generally held at a tavern where the members of a club met once a week : more frequently at " Barrasut," where Barwell owned what he called a hunting lodge. Even to gaming Francis betook himself with characteristic energy and purpose. For some time, while playing for high stakes, he .seems to have made whist rather a business than a recreation,* The result of his luck, and presumably of his skiU, was that his winnings at cards enabled him to leave India with a moderate fortune much earlier than he could have done if he had been dependent on his savings alone. Very exaggerated accounts of his and his colleagues' gambling, and of his gains, found their way home, and tended to prejudice him in the eyes of the Ministry and of the Court of Directors. Eumour credited Francis with having won thirty lakhs at whist, and lost ten thousand pounds at backgammon. A cynical friend writes to him that people in England are astonished that men sent out to reform India should have contrived to win and lose so much * This passage occurs in a letter which Francis wrote when leaving England to the gentleman who had charge of his son's education. " There is nothing I dread or abhor so much as gaming, and I heg that if hereafter he should die- ccer any turn that way you may do everything in yom- power to check and discourage it." HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 135 in a short time, and he sagely advises him, since he has incurred the world's censure, to he sure and keep the money to console him. From his own letters, however, to friends at home and in India, a much more moderate estimate of his gains may be formed. In March, 1776, he writes : — " An extraordinary stroke of fortune has made me independent. Two years will probably raise me to affluent circumstances." To a friend at Benares, whom he asked to buy diamonds for him, he says : — " I have actually won a fortune and must think of some means of realising it in England. Keep all this stuff to yourself." To another in England, to whom he remits an order for the proceeds of a parcel of pearls sent home, he writes : — " You must know, my friend, that on one blessed day of the present year of our Lord, I had won about twenty thousand pounds at whist. It is reduced to about twelve, and I now never play but for trifles, and that only once a week. Keep all this to yourself." Elsewhere he computes the losings of all at about three lakhs, of which the lion's share (possibly fifteen thousand pounds) fell to him, and the rest to Judge Lemaistre and a Colonel Leslie. It was an accidental burst, he adds, which lasted only a few weeks. Turning again to the diary of the humorous Macrabie, who identified himself so thoroughly with his brother-in-law's interests, we find who the loser was at whose expense Francis was thus enriched : " 2nd February, 1776. — At Barrasut. This day passed in much the same manner as the former ; at the close of it and of our accounts we found that the house of Francis and Co. were winners several hundred pounds. Everything in this country is upon an enlarged scale, and the superior skill and attention of Mr. F. will make him successful both in business and sport." " 6th February, 1776. — Mr. Barwell has lost again, and we have all won. I told you of his heavy losses at Barrasut. We all shared in the spoil, nor has any of this house declined giving him his revenge. Justice Lemaitre, who had before been a very consider- able loser, having recovered his sufferings at the expense of Mr. Barwell, has tied up, as it is called, and plays no more. Colonel Leslie does the same. This a little vexes Mr. Barwell, who is fond of play and will play for anything. We still go on." " 2nd March. — Mr. F. was fortunate in being absent last night, as he would infallibly have lost his money had he been there ; Mr. 136 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Rarwell, against whom he constaBtly plays and hets, won every rubber he sat down to. CoUings was damaged, so was I." With reference to this card-encounter between Barwell, Francis, and Co., there is a curious circumstance alleged as connected with it. There was published in Leadenhall Street, in 1780, a rather stupid and scandalous book called the " Intrigue.s of a Nabob "* which professed to give certain details of Mr. Barwell's private life in India. The writer's object seems to have been revenge for the deprivation of his mistress, for whose loss he had received inadequate consideration. In this book, the production of one who represents himself as knowing Mr. Barwell intimately, or at all events as having had ample opportunity of being familiar with Calcutta gossip, it happens to be mentioned, quite incidentally, that so perplexed was Barwell at the upsetting and overruling of the plans of the minority by their newly-arrived colleagues from England, that he, being wealthy, declared he would willingly part with twenty thousand pounds to break up the oppo- sition, or to bring over one of them to his and the Governor- General's side. The story goes that he fixed on Francis as the one most likely to be amenable to pecuniary influences, and challenged him to high l)lay in the hopes of getting him in his debt, and so in his power, thereby not only mistaking Francis's character entirely, but, as we have seen, catching a Tartar. This book puts Barwell's losses to Francis at £40,000. Kow, though this story comes from a tainted Hource, still it is suggestive that Francis himself professed to believe that even Hastings once contemplated buying off the fivree new councillors, as the easiest way of preventing them from doing mischief. He writes thus in a private memorandum, which Im drew out on the course of public affairs, " He (Hastings) had no conception of what sort of persons he had to deal with. In the first place he concluded it would be' an easy matter to gain us by corruption. His experience had not furnished him with instances of resistance ; his principles excluded the possibility of it. On this ground I am assured he was prepared to meet us with an offer of a hundred thousand pounds a-piece."t In the same memorandum * See Appendix. t Francis may have heard it rumoured that a similar device was rcoasionally resorted to hy Clive. When an influential patron foisted a needy and worthless protigi on the revenues of India, Clive thought it economical and salutary to get rid of him at once by purchase. Accordingly, when the new arrival presented his importunate letter of introduction, the Governor (as the story goes) asked hini, with genial hluffness, " Well, chap, how much do you want .' " HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 137 he had previously commented thus ; " Europeans, by long residence in Bengal, contract the character of the country, and without the insignia of black faces and white turbans are as completely Banyans as the people who serve them. There are no such men in Europe, for example, as Hastings, George Vansittart, and Barwell." Of Barwell, Francis almost imiformly writes contemptuously, and attributes to him the very qualities which might be supposed to give rise to the crafty actions alleged against the " Nabob," viz. (Diary, September, 1777) : " H. and B. are certainly on bad terms, ihojigh they dare not proceed to an open rupture. I have many hints from B., through Mackenzie, of his disposition to, buy Hastings out, if he could be assured that I would not distress him in the government." Again, in the private memorandum, already referred to, he says : — "Mr. Barwell, I think, has all the bad qualities common to this climate and country, of which he is in every sense a native ; but I do not affirm that there is no mixture whatsoever of good in his com- position. He is rapacious without industry, and ambitious without an exertion of hia faculties or steady application to affairs. He would be governor-general if money could make him so ; and in that station he would soon engross the wealth of the country. He will do whatever can be done by bribery and intrigue. He has no other resource.* His mind is strictly effeminate and unequal to any serious constant occupation except gaming, in which alone he is indefatigable." Nor does Francis extend the smallest pity to the victim whom he had phlebotomised so freely. In April, 1776, he writes to a friend, who seems to have addressed some platitudes to him : — "With regard to gaming and all its dreadful consequences, your advice is good, and not the worse for being tolerably obvious. It is true I have won a fortune, and intend to keep it. Your tenderness for the loser is admirable. If money be his blood, I feel no kind of re- morse in opening his veins ; the blood-sucker should bleed and can very well afford it." Even before the whist tournament came off, Francis conceived a rabid dislike to Barwell, which would certainly warn him against plunging into high play without seeing his way clearly. * Francis could see pretty clearly throngh his eoUeague. In Sir James Stephen's " Story of Nurcomar " is aletter from Barwell to his sister (darted on the day of Nnncomar's execution) where this "resource " is suggested with- out much circumlocution.- " The state of our Council remains the same as descrihed in my former letters, and if aDj- alteration is to he hrought ahout by the influence of money, in that case no rist of private loss should be regarded. Nor must you regard the expense of some thousands to secure ultimately any great object to your brother." 138 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. In March, of the previous year (1775), he had written to Lord North : — " It is settled that Barwell shall marry Miss Clavering. After the censures of him to which General Clavering has signed his name, and branded as he is in this country by the utter ruin of a province, by enormous peculation of every sort, and by a personal depravity of character of which he alone perhaps furnishes an example, I cannot but foresee, &c., &c." A few weeks later to another : — " Mr. Barwell in Council supports the Governor, but abroad is endeavouring to make a bank apart in order to screen his own iniqui- ties. He is to marry Miss Clavering, a damnable match, which can produce nothing but misery and dishonour to the lady and her family, and disappointment to himself. He is cunning, cruel, rapacious, tyran- nical, and profligate beyond all European ideas of those qualities." It may be here remarked parenthetically that Francis gives his opinion of most of his oificial contemporaries with an appalling frank- ness. This is what he writes to England of another of them : — " I will not content myself with saying I never knew, but upon my soul I never heard of so abandoned a scoundrel. It is a character to which your English ideas of dirt and meanness do not reach. Nor is it to be met with even in Bengal ; even here it excites execration and contempt." Possibly it is distance that lends enchantment to the view, but we, while reverently contemplating his monument in Westminster Abbey, look back on the man thus described as the great Sir Eyre Uoote. Francis's strongly expressed disapproval of the alleged matri- monial views of Barwell is so hearted that it gives rise to a suspicion that his objection was not founded merely on the appre- hension of the General's being thus officially drawn away from him. Miss Clavering, with her step-mother* and two younger sisters, had been fellow-passengers of Francis's in the ' 'Ashburnham," and it is not impossible that the propinquity and idleness of a long voyage gave rise to a tendresse on his side (he was only thirty-four and she eighteen) suificient to account for his jealousy at the idea of a ^irl, reputed to be very atti active, marrying one whom he cordially disliked. * General ClaTering had heen twice married ; firstly to Lady Diana West, daughter of the Earl of Delaware, by whom he had two sons and three daughters ; secondly to Miss Catherine Torke— the Lady Clavering of the text. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 139 Though allied, in public matters, there was no love lost in private between Francis and General Clavering. Francis, however, seems always to have maintained kind feeling towards Lady Claver- ing and her step-daughters, and very friendly relations with them after their return to England. When the General died (only a month or two after receiving the Order of the Bath) Francis records in his journal ; — " August 30, 1777.— Sir John Clavering, after a delirium of many hours, expired at half-past two p.m., and was buried at eight, in the most private manner. The Governor ordered minute guns. I waited on the ladies and pressed them to remove to my house, but they declined. I attended the funeral on foot to the grave." Clavering was laid in Park Street Cemetery, where his grave may still be identified by the white marble slab on the side of the tomb, which tells that he was Colonel of H.M. 52nd Foot. The tomb should be saved from ruin. The General was a well-known man in England, and popular as a brave soldier. He was Brigadier at the attack on Guadelope in 1759, where he led the British force in person. " Clavering was the real hero of Guadelope," writes Horace Walpole, " he has come home covered with more laurels than a boar's head." His house in Calcutta was in Mission Eow, south of the church. It will serve, as well as any other opportunity for gossiping about those times, to mention here whom Miss Clavering and Mr. Harwell did marry. It would seem that Francis might have spared himself his anxious apprehensions, for we learn from quite an independent source that the General had fully determined that Mr. Barwell was never to become his son-in-law. This is disclosed in a contemporary's (Grand's) narrative. In April, 1775, the General " imprudently and hastily charged Mr. Barwell with malversation in the Salt Department. So ill-founded an accusation"^ drew an instantaneous bitter reply. Mr. B., conscious of * A reference to Mr. Beveridge's most interesting "History of Baoterganj District" (page 138) would seem to show that the G-eneral's accusation was anything but "Ul-founded." We there learn that Barwell held the lease of two salt farms, which he sublet to two Armenians, on condition of an extra consideration to himself of Rs. 1,25,000. One of these merchants afterwards complained that Barwell, having taken the money, dispossessed him and relet the farms to some one else for another lac of rupees. When first called to account about this transaction he naively confessed it, and seemed to imply that he was within his rights as wishing " to add to my fortune " : he concludes, " I cannot recall it, and I rather choose to admit an e^'ror " (risum teneatis ?) "than deny a fact." The matter, which was a complicated one, came after- wards before the Select Parliamentary Committee. Burke (in the Ninth Report) is very sarcastic about it. 140 ECHOES FfiOM OLD CALCUTTA. the unmerited imputation, declared that the man who dared to come forward with such a charge destitute of any proof was a . The General put his hand to his sword, Mr. Harwell bowed and retired. The Council broke ; and in the field next morning, attended by proper seconds, the former had a shot at the latter. "Fortunately no evil consequences resulted, and Mr. Barwell, lamenting a man otherwise of such amiable virtues could in this instance have been so injudiciously biased, would not return his fire. His antagonist, suspecting this delicacy arose from a growing attach- ment which he had observed to prevail between him and Miss Clavering, called out loudly for him to take his chance of hitting him, for, in whatever manner their contest might terminate, the General added, Mr. Barwell could rest impressed that he had no chance of ever being allied to his family ; and in the same passionate tone expressed hia resolution of firing a second pistol. Mr. Barwell, without explaining, but perfectly confident of the good grounds which dictated his mode of acting, persisted in his previous intention, and thus compelled the seconds to withdraw the hostile parties, professing to their opinion that the point d'honneur had been in full satisfied." Francis also alludes to the duel, but his strong bias against Barwell manifests itself in his sarcastic version of the affair : — " The General challenged Barwell, who desired a respite of a few day.s to make his will. They met on the Sunday following. Barwell received one fire and asked pardon. I could easily collect from Olavering's account of the affair that Barwell behaved very indifferently in the field. This circumstance has since been confirmed to me by old Powke. He had reason to be satisfied with his good fortune. The wonder is how the General, who is perfectly correct in all the ceremonies of fighting, happened to miss him. Clavering was highly pleased with hiniself on this occasion, and showed me his correspondence with Barwell with many tokens of self-approbation. It has been since printed." In the month following the duel, Barwell writes a letter about it to his sister (given in Sir J. Stephen's " Nuncomar ") ; — " His daughter at one time plays with my affections, if not with her own. I deal plainly with her, expose my situation, and intimate my expectations from her. Matters are brought to a point. The father then interferes, begins suddenly to doubt my public conduct, and withdraws his daughter. But it is without effect, and having proved me not to be the dupe of passion, he begins to bluster. He threatens me with the terrors of the law — he brings forward a false charge touching the benefits I derived from salt while at Decca. I do not deny the profits I made. I avow them. T always avowed them. They were neither secret nor clandestine, but I object to the conclusions drawn and refute them HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 141 The young lady I sometimes meet in public assemMies, and though. I confess a pleasure in perceiving the same conduct and the same attention on her part that I ever received, yet there is something more due in my opinion, &c., &c." The pugnacity of General Clavering would appear to have heen remarkable even in an age when it was the custom to be ever ready with the pistol. He challenged the Duke of Eichmond for some alleged reflections on his character in the heated debates at the India House after the passing of the Regulation Act. The "challenge," writes Francis, "produced a disavowal of the words." After the lapse of nearly three generations. Sir John Glavering's blood became again represented in Calcutta. Amongst those who had the opportunity of listening, in the crowded Council chamber, to the few dignified and sorrowful sentences addressed to his colleagues in the Government by Lord Xapier, on the occasion of his being sworn in as temporary Viceroy on the murder of Lord Mayo in February, 1872, few perhaps remembered that the speaker was the great-grandson of the General Clavering who, abetted by Philip Francis, had, nearly a hundred years before, attempted to violently seize the Governor-Generalship from Warren Hastings. Maria Margaret, the Miss Clavering, about whose matrimonial fate we have found Francis so apprehensive, married the seventh Baron Napier of Merchistoun. (She died at Enfield in 1821, aged 65.) She left two sons, the eldest of whom was the father of the above Lord Napier and Ettrick, then the kindly and popular Governor of Madras. Again, having recourse to the narrartive above alluded to, we are informed of the quarter in which Mr. Barwell' became a successful suitor. Let the authority (who, by the way, had much experience of feminine attraction, as we shall see) speak for himself, as he throws light on some of the curious frolics indulged in by society in the days which we are discussing : — "In the enjoyment of such society, which was graced with the ladies of the first fashion and beauty of the Settlement, I fell a convert to the charms of the celebrated Miss Sanderson, but in vain with many cithers did I sacrifice at the shrine. This, aiaiable woman became in 1776 the wife of Mr. EichardT Barwell, who will long live in the remembrance of his numerous friends who benefited from the means of serving them which his eminent station so amply aiforded him, and which, to do justice to his liberal mind, he never neglected the opportunity to evince where the solicitation had with propriety been 142 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. applied. To this lady's credit also may be recorded that those who had been partial to her were ever treated with esteem and gratitude. Much to their regret the splendour of her situation lasted not long ; the pain of ohildbearing with the effects of the climate brought on a delicate constitution a decay which too soon moved this fair ilower out of the world. Of all her sex I never observed one who possessed more the art of conciliating her admirers equal to herself. As a proof thereof we met sixteen in her livery one public ball evening, viz., a pea-green French frock trimmed with pink silk and chained lace with spangles, when each of us to whom the secret of her intended dress had been communicated, buoyed himself up with the hope of being the favoured happy individual. " The innocent deception which had been practised soon appeared evident, and the man of most sense was the first to laugh at the ridicule which attached to him. I recollect the only revenge which we exacted was for each to have the honour of a dance with her ; and as minuets, cotillon's reels, and country dances were then in vogue, with ease to herself she obligingly complied to all concerned, and in reward for such kind complaisance we gravely attended her home, marching by the side of her palankeen regularly marshalled in procession of two and two." Eichard Barwell's. marriage with. Miss Elizabeth Jane Sanderson is to be found in the local vestry records for September, 1776. Mys. Barwell survived her marriage a little over two years, as she died in JTovember, 1778. She is buried in South Park Street ground, where her tomb, though without an inscription (as noted by Asiaticus), is recognised by the stupendous size of the massive broad-based pyramid over it. She must have left two infant sons, as Mr. Sterndale's history of the Calcutta collectorate refers to a registered deed of trust for them, executed by Barwell abDut the time of his leaving India. • His retirement in March, 1780, and Francis's consequent promotion in Council were, according to the newspaper chronicle of the day, each honoured with a salute of seventeen guns — a ceremony, I believe, not observed now. The last entry but one about him in Francis's journal is " February 29. — Mr. Barwell's house taken for five years by his own vote at 31,720 current rupees per annum to be paid half-yearly ^ in advance ; Mr. Wheler and I declare we shall not sign the lease." The house so-called was " Writer's BuUdings,'' now the Bengal Government Offices. It is not surprising that a gentleman who looked so keenly after his personal interests should have accumulated a colossal fortune. If it was a fortunate thing for Great Britain that her interests RICHARD BARWELL, Esq. From a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1781. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 14S ia India, in most troublous and critical times, remained in the strong hands of Warren Hastings, it must not be forgotten, in estimating the services of Barwell, that were it not for the steady support of this colleague, Hastings would have been deprived of all power, and early in the struggle must have succumbed to the rash and inexperienced majority. There is a tendency to assume that the Barwell of Macaulay's Essay was a grave official advanced in years ; yet his Indian .-ervice was closed when he was little over eight and thirty. At this age he sat down in England to enjoy the fruits he had gathered in the East. He married again, and had several children. His second wife was a sister of Sir Isaac Coffin, and is described as ■' a lady remarkable for beauty and accomplishments." He pur- chased a fine estate (Stanstead in Sussex) and a seat in Parliament (for St. Ives first, then Winchelsea), and posed as a typical ifabob for a quarter of a century longer. He had also for many years as his London residence (the present) No. 7, St. James' Square. His Indian idea of plenty has been handed down in the " bring more curricles " story, of which he was the hero. He died at Stanstead in September, 1804, aged sixty- three. (IV.) The speedy attainment by Francis of the position of Senior Member of Council is suggestive of a lesson taught by previous and later experience in India, viz., that it is only when young that a tree may be safely transplanted. So impressed was a former Governnjent with the uncertainty of exotic life in Calcutta, that it pleaded this as a reason for not being able to obey orders about fortifying the Settlement properly. When asking for a reserve of qualified engineers (in 1755) their despatch to the Court uiged, " Experience teaches us to verify the general observation that men's lives, advanced to or nigh the age of forty, are very pre- carious in such a change of climate from their native country, therefore successors should be appointed to prevent the incon- venience we now labour under." Over thirty years later, when Lord Cornwallis had some experience of the work devolving on the head of the Indian Government, and the strain that it and the climate put on the health, he wrote to Pitt, " It might therefore be advisable that you should look about for a Governor-Geneial 144 ECHOES PROM OLD CALCUTTA. among your friends in the Civil line. Any person with a good constitution, not much above thirty-five, might reasonably expect to be able to hold the office long enough to save from his salary a very ample fortune."* Of his two fellow-councillors who sailed from England with Francis, General Clavering was fifty-two when he arrived in India for the first time, and Colonel Monson but a little younger; both succumbed to the climate, the former in less than three years, the latter in less than two. Francis had much the advantage of both in point of youth, and for this reason mainly was able to record, " I begin to fancy that I myseK have a very good consti- tution, or I never could have resisted such a climate and such toil in the manner I have done. My two colleagues are in a woful condition — Colonel Monson obliged to go to sea to save his life, and General Clavering on his back covered with boils. I see no reason why Birwell should be alive (he never misses an opportunity for a cut at Barwell), but that death does not think it worth while to kill him. He is a mere shadow. As for Hastings, I promise you he is much more tough than any of us, and will never die a natural death." To Sir John Day, at Madras, he writes : — " I hate the thouglit, for my own part, of dying of the spleen, like a rat in a hole. If I had given way to it neretof ore I should now have been stretched alongside of Clavering, Monson, and Lemaistre with a damned hie jacet upon my heart. I have many reasons for not wishing to die in Bengal." In Francis's diary is a melancholy record headed " Dates of Facts," in which he has methodically entered the deaths amongst his co-pilgrims to Calcutta. The list is headed by the Monsons, who were the first to go. Colonel Monson died at Hooghly seven months after his wife, his grief for whom is described as inexpres- sibly distressing; she died at Calcutta in February, 1776. Their * This was in 1788, when a mail to or from England was "but an occasional event. The speculation would be interesting as to the advice which Lord 0. would have given to the Prime Minister could he have looked forward a century, and seen the quantity and quality of the wort to be got through by the G-overnor-General now. The reflection suggests the practical view to be taken of the hot weather migration of the Indian Governments to the hills. If the charge of the higher interests of the Indian Empire must be entrusted to men old enough to be experienced administrators, and experienced statesmen, such men must be shielded as much as possible from the climatic influences doubly hostile to those Europeans who have attained, or passed, middle life. When one is called to the post of Hercules he is expected to accomplish the labour of Hercules, and this he cannot, if in addition to excessive mental toil and much anxiety, he has got to wrestle with the climate of the plains of India. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 145- remains were interred side by side in two similar but separate graves, over which no tomb bearing an inscription was ever erected.* Macrabie writes in his journal : — " February 18. Lady Anne Monson is no more. After lying speechless through the day,, she departed last night about ten. The loss of such a woman is generally felt by the whole Settlement, but we who had the honour and pleasure of her intimacy are deprived of a comfort which we shall long regret." The love and respect which this accomplished woman won from all during her brief sojourn in Calcutta were testified to by the sincere and universal sorrow at her death. Everyone attended the funeral, at which the pall was borne by the Governor-General and Francis, two of the Judges, Mr. Farrer, and one who lived with the Colonel. At the cemetery gate six ladies took the pall and bore it to the grave. Lady Anne was a special favourite with Francis, who admired and appreciated her cleverness, and her many shining social qualities. They appear to have enjoyed much familiar intercourse from the- time they started as fellow voyagers to Calcutta. He records, for instance, that he " was repeatedly assured " by her that Warren Hastings was the natural son of a steward of her father's, who sent him to Westminster School with his own sons, and where he was- called " the classical boy." This was just the sort of malicious tattle that amused Lady Anne's cynical confidant. In the recent memoirs of Lord Malmsebury it is told that " Sir P. Francis used to say that he had written memoirs which he meant tobe published after his death, which would be the ruin of every lady in society, and have the efiect of destroying all filiation, as he has clearly proved that not a single person was the son of his reputed father." Fortunately for society this bomb-shell has not fallen — as yet. Hastings, " the greatest man who has ever borne that ancient and widely extended name," had no cause to blush for his parentage, or for his ancestry, who, once wealthy, became poor through their fidelity to the Stuarts — from which stock Lady Anne was sprung.f * I took some pains, witli the aid of a memter of the Firm of Messrs. Llewellyn, the undertaters, to identify these graves some years ago. They are mentioned hy Asiatious. They are in South Park Street Cemetery, near that of General Clavering ; they Ue near the path west of his grave — two long graves, covered with low-arohed brickwork hastening to decay. Monson served in the Carnatic Wars ; he is mentioned hy Orme for his great bravery ; he was severely wounded at the siege of Pondicherry ; he also served in the expedition against Manilla under Colonel Draper, (Junius', correspondent. )_ T Lady A^ne would have avoided trenching on this or similar topics in the familiar conversation vrith Francis, if she had had a suspicidn that he was her man who had written this about a cousin of hers, another offshoot of the- L 146 ECHOES PROM OLD CALCUTTA. Even if she believed what was so untrue, spiteful gossip of the kind •came doubly badly from Lady Anne Monson. Her own young days had been saddened by a romance of folly and sorrow (it is no business of the present chronicler to retell an old story long for- gotten and forgiven), which if it had not taught her the charity which is kind, should at least have suggested to her the unwisdom ■of throwing stones. Lady Anne Vane Monson was the great-grand- daughter of Charles II., her mother having been Lady Grace Fitzroy, •daughter of the first Duke of Cleveland, son of Charles IL by Barbara Villiers (Lady Castlemaine). She was the eldest daughter •of the first Earl of Darlington, and had been the second wife of the Honourable Charles Hope- Weir prior to her marriage with the gallant and Honourable George Monson. She must have been at least forty-five years of age when she left England for an unequal ■■struggle against a tropical climate. But the saddest entry in his journal which, perhaps, Francis ever made was that of the death which comes third on the list, viz., " 1776, November 29, Mr. Alexander Macrabie at Ganjam." This ^loor fellow was taken ill in August, and was sent to sea — but getting worse he landed at Ganjam, where he lingered till November. He had just been appointed to a writership in the ^Service. "The loss," says Mr. Merivale, " of this clever, lively, unselfish and most attached dependent evidently affected Francis very deeply. There is something very touching in Macrabie's numerous letters to his chief during this absence, addressed to his ' dearest and best friend,' wishing him once more all happiness, and assuring him, ' sick or well, I am yours with the truest affection.' He seems not ■only to have loved his brother-in-law as a friend, but to have -worshipped him almost as an idol." When Francis had been in Calcutta about two and a half years he wrote to a friend in England, " My health is perfectly established, my spirits high, and with good management, I am a match for the "" Merry Monaroli.'' " The oliaracter of the reputed ancestors of some men has made it possible for their descendants to be -rioious in the extreme -without being degenerate. Those of your Grace, for instance, left no distressing examples of virtue e^en to their legitimate posterity, and you may look back -with pleasure to an illustrious pedigree in Trhioh heraldry has not left a single good quality upon record to insult or upbraid you. You have better proofs of your descent, my lord, than the register of a marriage or any troublesome inheritance of reputa- tion. There are some hereditary strokes of character by -which a family may be as clearly distinguished as by the blackest features of the human face." (Junius to Duke of Grafton.) HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 147 climate." A year later he wrote jubilantly in the same strain to another friend, " I am now, T think, on the road to the Government of Bengal, which, I believe, is the first situation in the world attain- able by a subject. I will not baulk my future ; if that hope be disappointed I shall assuredly not stay here . . . But we shall be still young, my friend, with the means and powers of enjoyment." "What room there was for congratulation in the result of Francis's good " management " as regards his health will be realised . by re- membering that Calcutta at this time stood in what was little better than nn undrained swamp, in the immediate vicinity of a malarious jungle, that the ditch surrounding it was, as it had been for nearly forty years previously, an open cloaca, and that the river banks were strewn with the dead bodies of men and animals. From 1780 and onwards correspondents in the newspapers make frequent complaints about the indescribably filthy condition of the streets and roads, which is fully confirmed by the account of Grandpr^ in 1790, who tells of the canals and cesspools reeking with putrifying animal matter — the awful stench-^the myriads of flies, and the crowds and flocks of animals and birds acting as scavengers. An editor severely censures " the very indecent practice of naked Fakeers parading through the town." " We saw," he says, his indignation finding vent in bad Latin, " about fifty of them on Wednesday last nudus velut ab utero materna." (sic). But the sight which must have most outraged decency and modesty, in addition to every other sense, was the treatment to which the bodies of the dead were subjected. These might be seen at any hour while being earned to the river, " slung loosely across a bamboo from which they frequently fall off," or "the feet and hands tied together and when so slung carried naked through the streets." Often the police authorities are reproached in the public papers for suffering dead human bodies to lie on the roads in and near Calcutta for two or three days. The bodies alluded to were most generally those of poor creatures who had died of want and hunger — sometimes of dacoits or other malefactors who had been executed : occasionally of mutilated dacoits who had crawled into the town to beg. In the times of Hastings and Francis, and for a long time after, dacoity and highway robbery close to the seat of Government were crimes exceedingly prevalent. This, for in- stance, was the state of things within a mile of the Supreme Court, as described in the Calcutta papers of 1 788. " The native inhabi- tants on the roads leading to the Boita-Khana tree are in such general alarm of dacoits that from eight or nine o'clock at night they L 2 148 ECHOES FROM 'OLD CALCUTTA. begin to fire off matcliloGk guns till daybreak at intervals, to the great annoyance of the neighbouring Europeans. The dacoits parade openly on the different roads about Calcutta in parties of twenty, thirty, or forty at so early an hour as eight p.m."* A typical instance of the neglect of sanitation at the period we are most concerned with will be found in the condition of their drinking-water supply, the chief source of which was the tank in Lall Diggee (Dalhousie Square.). A correspondent writes in April, 1780, regarding this to the newspaper of the day : — " As I was jogging along in my palanqueen yesterday, I could not avoid observing without a kind of secret concern for the health of several of my tender and delicate friends, — a string of parria dogs, without an ounce of hair on some of them, and in the last stage of the mange, plunge in and refresh themselves very comfortably in the great Tank. I don't mean to throw the least shadow of reflection upon the sentinels, as the present condition of the Palisadoes is such that it would take a Battalion at least of the most nimblefooted sepoys to prevent them. I was led Insensibly to reflect upon the small attention that is paid by people in general to a point of such unspeakable importance to their health and longevity as the choice and care of their water, the great vehicle of our nourishment." Another writes on the same subject ; — " Should you believe it that, in the very centre of this opulent city, and almost under our noses, there is a spot of ground measuring not more than six hundred square yards used as a public burying ground * The Calcutta Ctironicle in the following year gives a terrible account of the example which was made of a gang of dacoits. Fourteen were sent by a Mr. Redfern from Kishnagur to Sultey to taie their trial at the (Native) Fouzdary Court. On being found guilty the following sentence was ordered to be -carried out at Sair Bazaar, near Calcutta, on the Howrah side of the river. Each man to have his right hand and left foot cut off at the joint. The victims were taken one by one, each in the sight of the others, and pinioned to the ground : a fillet or band was thpn tied over the mouth to drown the cries. " The ampu- tation was most clumsily performed with an iustrument like a carving-knife by hacking to find out the joint : each limb took about three minutes. The stamps were then dipped in hot ghee, and the criminal left to his fate." None died under the operation. Four died soon after, but more (it is said) from the effects of the sun and neglect than from " the savage severity which was applied." The Chronicle regrets the necessity for such examples, '* but we bless God they are not authorised by the laws of England." Scourging to death was another punishment frequently put in force. Sir Boland Wilson (Introduction to the study of Anglo-Mubammedan Law), in commenting on this extract, points out that " the English criminal law, however, was at this period, taken as a whole, considerably more severe tha^ the Muhammedan. It was not till 1790 that the punishments of disembowelling, etc., for high treason, and for burning women alive for petty treason, were abolished." HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 149 by the Portuguese inhabitants, where there are annually interred, upon a medium, no less than four hundred dead bodies ; that these bodies are generally buried without coflBns, and in graves dug so exceedingly shallow as not to admit of their being covered with much more than a foot and a half of earth, insomuch that after a very heavy fall of rain some part of them have been known to appear above ground Moreover, the quantity of matter necessarily flowing from it assimilating with the springs of the earth can scarcely fail to impart to the water in the adjacent wells and tank any morbid and noxious quality, laying by this means the foundation of various diseases among the poorer sort of people who are obliged to drink it, nor can those in more affluent circumstances, from the natural indol- ence and deception of servants, promise themselves absolute exemp- tion from it." No wonder that the inhabitants on whom these unpleasant facts were thus obtruded, took every opportunity of converting the water into arrack punch prior to consumption ; or that those who could afford to do so, gave it the go-by altogether by the substitution of mulled claret or madeira, aU which drinks were, we find, very much in fashion, llfo wonder that a most ordinary formula for accounting for the absence of such or such a one from society, was that, in the unvarnished language of the day, he was " down with a putrid fever, or a flux." Little wonder either that as the close of each October brought round what was considered the end of the deadly season, those Europeans who were fortunate enough to find themselves above ground, all met in their respective circles and thankfully celebrated their deliverance in that truly British device, large banquets. One of them, a poet, who was grateful not only for his own respite, but for that of his lady love, composed, I find, an ode for one of those dismal festivities. It was headed, "On the introduction of the Cold Weather — in opposition to Horace's ' Solvitur acris hiems. '" It begins : — " The summer's raging rays are gone," And ends — " But cease my muse since she is well. And Death's destructive season's o'er. Let's life enjoy nor loveless dwell On summers that can kill no more." " The unwholesome weather which ever attends the breaking-up of the rains," is a text often discoursed on by the old newspapers. One editor tells his subscribers that he has the authority of a medical correspondent for recommending them to " drink deep in 150 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. rosy port " in September, to guard against the influenza. This pre- scription was made public probably because it was an innovation on that in favour with the faculty. In June, on the other hand, the newspapers give the public the much-needed advice not to eat too touch in the hot weather, and the moral is pointed by quoting (June, 1780) the recent and awful fate of " the Surgeon of an indiaman, who fell dead after eating a hearty dinner of beef, the thermometer being 98°." Diseases, too, of a mysterious kind seem to have occasionally appeared and claimed their victims. The local purveyor of news records in perplexity, in August, 1780: — "We learn that several people has (sic) been suddenly carried off within these few days by tumours in the neck, symptoms of a very unusual nature." Possibly this is the symptom alluded to in the following methodical extract from Mr. Justice Hyde's notes. It will be seen that " the fever " was accepted as a matter of course towards the close of the rains. It is sometimes referred to as " pucca fever :" — " The Fourth Term, 1779, in the 19th and 20th year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third. Friday, October 22nd, 1779. The first day of the Fourth Term, 1779. " Present : Mr. Justice Hyde. There were only common motions. " Mem. : Sir E. Impey, Chief Justice, was absent by reason of ill- ness. He has a swelling of the double chin. It came after he had the epidemic fever, which prevailed here in September and this month, and still does prevail here ; but Dr. Campbell told me he did not think the swelling any part of the disorder usually following that fever, but a nervous disorder of the nature of that Sir E. Impey had before he went to Chittagong, which then affected his arm and head. "Sir Eobert Chambers was also absent by reason of iUnes3. Yesterday the fever began with him. " I (John Hyde) have had the fever, and am not yet perfectly free from the consequences, for I have a slight degree of pain and weakness in my left foot, and a slight degree of dizziness still affects my head." Impey himself, when referring to his health, tells his friends in England that, " thank God, it is better, but acknowledges that he has to put up with what he calls the ' Cholera Morbus,' once or twice a year." The strangest disease of all, however, was one (not attributable to climate, perhaps) which I find noted by Asiaticus as having'Caused the death of a young, married lady "celebrated for HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 151 h.er poetry and misfortunes ; " " she died of pure sensibility," he says. It is gratifying to be able to record that this disease — in its aggravated form, at all events — has become extinct in Calcutta. It must be borne in mind that in those days there were no changes to' the hills for the sick; no sanitaria; no steamers to take them away in the face of the long monsoon. Sickness, the almost necessary consequence of climate, aided by the madly unsuitable style of living in fashion, had too often to be encountered where it was incurred. Nor had the poor invalid the benefit or comfort derivable from skilled professional attendance at his sick bed. Medical science was, as yet, unenlightened ; any one announcing himself as a doctor was apparently allowed to prey on his fellow men ; indeed, it is hinted in the local newspaper of 1780 that the practice of medicine was occasionally adopted on no- better qualification than that possessed by a midshipman, " who handles your pulse as he'd handle a rope." It is not surprising^ therefore, to find it recorded that the success attending the efforts- of the medical man was not so marked as to inspire the public with, much confidence in him. The Poet's Corner contains much evidence of this disbelief in the old Calcutta practitioner, one or two instances of which may be given. Amid the forced fun in the following, which is called a " Jeux d'esprit," can be seen the hopeless resigna- tion to his fate, which must have come over many a man when- heavy illness overtook him in India in the last century. " To a man who deny'd ev'ry medical aid, When worn out by a tedious decline, A friend and relation affectionate said, ' Surely never was conduct like thine. " ' Go to Madras by sea, or to Ohittagong Spa, Get Hartley and Hare to prescribe ; ' But still he in obstinate humour cried — 'psha ! How I hate all the physical tribe. " ' What are Hartley* and Hare to grim Dr. Death Who moves slowly, but perfects the cure ? Their prescriptions may rob me too soon of my breath, And heighten the pains I endure. * This was Bartholomew Hartley, M.D., who projected a famous lottery in 1784, for raising a fund in aid of the erection of St. John's Cathedral. 152 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. " ' Commend me to this famed physician of old Who attends folks of ev'ry degree ; Who is staunch to his patient and ne'er quits his hold, But kills — without bolus or fee."* It was usual to describe the practice then in vogue as being active and heroic ; and of course it was thought necessary to ^pply it with superlative energy, in a country where experience seemed to show that the crisis was rapidly reached. Accordingly, ■when summoned to the bedside, it became a race between the ■doctor and the disease. A certain rhyming formula addressed in the imperative mood to the apothecary, commencing "physic blister," was promptly brought into force, and the patient who had undergone these vigorous and well-meant invasions, was uncom- monly lucky if he escaped being then and there "cupped and blooded " into the bargain. . It is superfluous to add that the only benefit following this misdirected zeal, was that derived by the apoth- cary and undertaker. It should be added, in justice to the Calcutta medical men of a hundred years ago, that they naturally enough followed the system in which they had been indoctrinated in Europe — they merely energetically adopted the practice which was the orthodox one till far into the present century. The letting of "blood was its panacea. Its time-honoured motto was " seignare, seignare, ensuita purgare." Men and women, even delicate ladies, got themselves bled at regular intervals to improve their blood, as they were told. " Patty has been bled," writes Francis to his wife -about her sister ; " her blood is so bad that Price says she must be bled once a week for two years and some months ? " Even good, sensible Samuel Johnson, who, as Boswell tells us, strongly disap- proved of all this periodical bleeding (though too frequent a victim to the professional practice himself), was unable to impress his opinion upon his own or the next generation. Who has not been amused by his want of patience with Dr. Taylor, whose nose happened to bleed, and who attributed it to his having allowed four days to pass after his quarter's bleeding was due. Johnson suggested other means of bringing about the relief supposed to be needed. " I do not like to take an emetic," pleaded Taylor, " for fear of breaking some small vessels." " Poh," retorted the downright sage, " If you * "Doctors visit in palanquins and charge a gold moliiir a visit." "The extras," adds poor Miss Goldborne, "are enormous." She instances a tolus, one mpee ; an ounce of salts, ditto ; an ounce of tark. three rupees. Such a lot of these commodities had to be swallowed, she ruefully came to the con- clusion that, " literally speaking, you may ruin your fortune to preserve your me." HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 153 have so many things that will break, you had better break your neck at once, and there's an end on't — you will break no small vessels (blowing with high derision)." Eeaders of Madame D'Arblay's memoirs may recall that old Mrs. Delany, the valued friend of George the Third and his Queen, while living as their guest at Windsor, in 1785, and pre- sumably within reach of the highest medical skill in the kingdom, was "blooded" for a little ailment, for which in these unheroic days the poor old body would probably have been advised to take a hot footbath and to stay in bed, as she was eighty-six years old, almost quite blind from age, and with much more than the proverbial one leg in the grave ! Forty years later still, the. half-starved and fever-shattered Lord Byron was bled to death at Messalonghi. In spite of his own piteous appeal, " Have jou no other remedy than bleeding 1" "Two youthful and incompetent doctors did their best and their worst for him." " In these days," adds the Lancut, sixty years after, " we look with wonder at the medical art which in twenty-four hours could bleed three times a fasting man, then blister him, and finally supplement the so-called treatment with two strong narcotic draughts." It has been remarked in a former page that Philip Francis, after the duel, was bled twice in one day for a slight flesh wound in his back, though this was towards the sickly season, when libations of " rosy port " were advocated as a precaution by the unorthodox newspaper. It is curious that in the following year, though not in connection with the instance just alluded to, the local newsprint has a satirical tirade against the indiscriminate use of the lancet. Much of it would be quite unquotable in modern days, but I venture to append some verses of it to show its tendency. It is the first local evidence that I have come across of an impa- tience of the laity under a system which outraged common sense ; it is an early indication of a reaction which slowly gained strength, and culminated many years after in the do-httle systems of Homoeopathy and Hydropathy. " Some doctors in India would make Plato smile ; If you fracture your skull they pronounce it the bile. And with terrific phiz and a stare most sagacious. Give a horse-ball of jalap and pills saponaceous. " A sprain in your toe or an aguish shiver, The faculty here call a touch of the liver, And with ointment mercurii and pills calomelli, They reduce all the bones in your skin to a jelly. l54 ECHOES PROM OLD CALCUTTA. " Broke down by the climate, low, weak, 'twould surprise ye To hear them insist that your blood is too sizey ; If a compound of ills from such treatment you boast, The plan next advised is a trip to the coast. " With a shrug of concern Galen shakes you off easily. And sends you to pester the famed Doctor Paisley ; You may pine on the coast till your money's all spent. And then you return full as well as you went. " If your wife has a headache, let Sangrado but touch her, And he'll job in his lancet like any hog butcher ; Tho' in putrid complaints dissolution is rapid. He'll bleed you to render the serum more vapid. " And for stemming the tide of all " critical fluxes," Doctor Phlebos demands most exorbitant " buxis ;" By such spurious systems Dame Nature they force, And if you escape yoti've the strength of a horse. " In a very few days you're released from all cares — If the Padre's asleep, Mr. Oldham reads prayers ;* To the grave you're let down with a sweet pleasant thump, And there you may lie till you hear the last trump." The writer of this doggrel looks forward, he says, to singing the delinquencies of the Calcutta bar in a future number, but I have failed to find his muse's labour in so promising a field. Yet, though life in Old Calcutta involved the exposure to much physical suffering, with none of the alleviation which art has since introduced, it is significant that when Francis sums up his impres- sions of a residence there, he does not dwell on the active miseries which may be ameliorated, but rather on the passive ones which will be always incidental to, and inseparable from, the life of a European in (the plains of) India. For instance, this is how a man of his amazing energy and his boundless mental resources is reduced to write : — "The waste of spirits in this cursed country is a disease unconquerable, a misery unutterable." " I relinquish my family and friends, and I pass my life in one eternal combat with villainy, * The obliging Mr; Oldham, whose name occurs above, was a very important local personage in the last century. He was the first undertaker proper who settled in Calcutta ; he first cut stones from the ruins of Gour. Before his time Bengal indented on Madras for tomb stones. It goes without saying that Mr. Oldham amassed a fortune before he himself was laid (1788) in Park Street Cemetery, surrounded by numerous specimens of his own handicraft. His tomb-stone tells merely his name, age, and date of death. His epitaph might appropriately have been si monumentum requiris— circumspioe. HOME AND SOCIIL LIFE. 155 folly, and prostitution of every species. If I carry home £25,000 by the severest parsimony of five years, it ■will he the utmost I can accomplish. I would now gladly accept two-thirds of the money if I could he up to the neck in the Thames." After his card- winning he places his wants a little higher, as the possibility of attaining them seems open to him, but his horror 'of India is unabated. " "Whenever I am worth a clear entire sum of forty thousand pounds secure in England, Bengal may take care of itself. No, not for that fortune would I spend the same two years again." It is interesting to see how nearly in the same strain Macaulay writes some sixty years , later, after an experience of a much im- proved Calcutta : — " Let me assure you that banishment is no light matter. No person can judge of it who has not experienced it. A complete revolution in all the habits of life — an estrangement from almost every old friend and acquaintance- — all this is, to me at least, very trying. There is no temptation of wealth or power which could induce me to go through it again.". " We have our share of the miseries of life in this country. We are annually baked four months, boiled four more, and allowed the remaining four to become cool if we can. Insects and undertakers are the only living creatures which seem to enjoy the climate." Elsewhere Macaulay records his experienced conviction that " all the fruits of the tropics are not worth a pottle of Covent Garden strawberries, and that a lodging up three pairs of stairs ia London is better than a palace in a compound of Chowringhee." But to return to Francis. He thus writes to the gentleman who had declined the nomination to India which then came to him :— " We shall meet again, I trust — I mean in this world — and may I be d — d ia the next if ever I venture myself into such a hell as this, with my own consent at least. I certainly am obliged to you for my post, but I fancy by this time you are quite satisfied that you did not take it." To Mrs. Strachey, who had asked him to provide for her children when old enough to go to India, he writes : — " Deab. Madam, — Be so good as to live till I return, and you shall see wonders ; you shall see me, whom India has made neither rich nor saucy. I profess to have one or two qualities at least to which this inlamous climate cannot reach, the rest is at the mercy of the sun, whose light the moment I can command wax candles and a coal fire I solemnly disclaim for ever. Let him ripen his >.'abbages and show peasants the way to their daily labour. I desire to have no further 156 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. communication with him, hut to vegetate in a hot house as a gentlemau should do And so you have determined that I shall stay in Bengal till I have settled your infant colony for you, and can leave it in a flourishing condition. Indeed, madalm, I am not satisfied with the share you have allotted to me in this useful work. I would rather be employed as you are. Leave it to me to provide emigrants, and do you come here and settle them. Soberly and sadly, this is no market for young ladies ; the same heat which ripens the fruit reduces the appetite, whereof the proofs are rather melancholy than pregnant. How long beauty will keep in this country, is too delicate a question for me to determine. You, who can read faces, would see lines in some of them which Time ought not to have written there so soon." But if the Europeans who went to India in the old days had a hard time of it, they at all events got what they went for —money, and if the;j survived they returned home wealthy men. In the year following Francis's departure from Calcutta, the Government of India remonstrated against the number of covenanted servants far in excess of the wants of the country which greedy patronage had sent out, and added, " Many of them are the sons of the first families in the Kingdom of Great Britain, and every one aspiring to the rapid acquisition of lakhs and to return to pass the prime of their lives at home, as multitudes have done before them." The modern average official is lucky if, in a lifetime given to India, he can put by a fifth of the sum which Francis sneered at as attainable in five years. Sir Elijah Impey, after he had been five years in office, wrote : — " I have not been able to lay up more than three thousand pounds in any year." In comparing the conditions of the two periods it must not be lost sight of that, to all the other drawbacks of an Indian life, poverty has in recent years been added. It is not an exaggeration to say that of the Anglo-Indian officials who have got families dependent on them, at least seven out of ten go through their expatriation feeling the pain and knowing the burden " of heavy, tediess penury," till their pensions (which die with them) come. Fortunate are they for whom by that time life has not lost all its salt and all its savour. Then they retire to husband their means in some country town or village in England, where they hope to find a grammar school for their children, for whom during their long servitude abroad they have been unable to make any friendly interest or any influential connection, such as they might reasonably have expected to make in any other community or walk in life. HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 157 A retrospect at tlie life of Francis in India, such as has been attempted, would be incomplete without some reference to the little that is told us regarding the result of his sojourn there on his home domestic welfare. Early in life, when twenty-one years of age, he had married a Miss Macrabie, a well-educated,* attractive girl of his own age, with some of the accomplishments which embellish life. It was a love match, opposed, for prudential reasons, by the fathers of both ; but Francis's ardent temperament could not brook much delay, and his self-reliant nature impelled him to disregard the parental prohibition, and to persuade the lady to marry him without the father's sanction, and when the means of supporting a wife were but slender. And, small as his resources were, he soon found that with a rapidly increasing family he had occasion to be generous, not only to his own father, but to his wife's relations as well. Glimpses at the menage which the struggling couple maintained are got in the good-humoured, and sometimes cynical letters which Francis wrote at the time to his brother-ia-law Macrabie, then in America, viz. : — " If your sister writes to you by this pacquet you must thank me for the injunction laid upon her, for otherwise, between the delightful occupation of scolding her maids and mending her children's stockings, I doubt she would hardly have found time to think of her relations." "Domestic news is as insipid as usual ; children bawling, servants fighting, my wife scolding, your father and mother weeping, and Patty raving mad." When announcing one of the annual domestic occurrences as imminent, he says : — " In the meantime your sister is tormented with only the following disorders, viz,, cramp, tooth- ache, swelled legs and heartburn, to say nothing of a perpetual cholic and slow fever; otherwise she finds herself in perfect health. I am well, and live the life of a prince." In after years, when sending from Calcutta a present of five hundred pounds to his wife to buy " diamond earrings or other jewelry you may think fit," he wrote : — " Fortune has taken extroardinary care of me, and I am much her humble servant. She was certainly in my debt, if it be considered how many years you and I lived upon little or nothing." These, however, were the happiest days of Philip Francis's life ; so little did the narrow income cloud their sunshine that he was able to tell Macrabie, in 1769 : — " I believe I lead a * In referring to one of his wife's early letters to him he compliments her thns : — "You really improve much in your style" — high praise this from the futare Jiniins. 158 ECHOES FROM OLD CALOUTTA. happier life than a prime minister.'' The letters of Francis to his wife before the Indian appointment testify to the strong attachment which existed between them, and to the winning and delicate thoughtfulness on his part regarding her and his children. " My dear soul . . . enclosed you will find a bank-note for ten pounds — don't talk of necessaries. I desire you will have everything you like, and so, dearest, adieu." When ill-health obliges her to go for a short change to Brighton by herself, he tries to amuse and please her with such little domestic trifles as this : — " I had little Betsy in my arms this morning, which made Sarah so jealous that she roared with vexation. But I am very good to them both." " The two children and I played together this morning above half an hour on the carpet." When his little ones are away from home with her, he never forgets to ask her to " kiss my children " and to give him " all the news of them." " My sweetest Betsy, I hope you think of me, and that you really wish to be with me again, &c. — Yours for ever, P.F." Again, " Indeed I am very serious when I say I think your absence long, and the pros- pect of three weeks more appears almost an age. However, if you and ttie children are benefited by it I shall be satisfied. — Yours, my dearest love, always, and with the greatest truth, P.F." Sometimes he writes to her, " My dearest honesty." The following is one of many similar passages : — " Words cannot express my impatience to have you in my arms. At seven on Monday [ expect you. Will the machine bring you to the door, or where shall I order James to wait for you ? To say the truth, my dear girl, I have been dining with honest Fitz and Cj., and am not in my perfect mind, but you see that even while I forget myself I still remember you. It is true I am endowed with a most capricious humour, but I am always wise enough to know that I am possessed of the best girl in the world, and that I never could be happy without hei. Adieu."* * There is plenty of evidence, and some of an amusing kind, furnished by himself to show that during lis pre-Indian career Francis was far from temperate. While the letters under the signatures of Attious, Lucius, and a multitude of pseudonyms prior to the regular adoption of the more famous one, were attracting great notice, Francis on his own showing was leading a joTial, wine-hihhing Hfe. There is hut little if any direct evidence of this during the exact period embraced hy the Junian letters (22nd November, 1768, to 21st January, 1772), as if, when he became conscious of the tremendous inSuence whioh he exerted, and the extraordinary attention which Junius commanded, he recognised the danger involved in forgetting the in vino Veritas ma^m. The following from his letters to his intimate, Macrabie, exemplifies what has just been said : — " But even if I had anything of consequence to communicate, neither my hand nor head at this moment are in a condition to give it utterance : all HOME AND SOCIAL LIFE. 159 Soon after he got the Indian appointment, he tells a lady: — " You already know that Mrs. Francis is not to accompany me to India ; it is her own choice and resolution, and severely felt by us hoth. What are five little girls and a boy to do deprived both of mother and father ! " Few of Francis's letters from India to his wife have been pre- served. Mrs. Francis's communications to her husband in India were mainly in the form of a journal, which was sent to him at regular intervals. It relates altogether to domestic matters, the progress of their children's studies, their gaieties, and " her own little excursions into a social world for which she was by no means made." It is described by Mr. Merivale as the production of a tenderly attached and admiring wife. " She was not, however,, qualified to be a sharer in her husband's plots or a partner in his fierce ambition, nor to partake in his public or literary pursuits ; and her simple cares, hopes and sorrows are better left unrecorded." The same biographer tells, with much feeling, how her poor journal is touching in its homely way, as it teaches a sad lesson when it shows the gradual effect of distance and the evil influences en- gendered by long absence, on domestic love which had been so deeply rooted as theirs ; until she, so absolutely confiding at first in her fondness, is forced to say at last, '* I was but too sure separation for seven years would make a great alteration in your affection, and I am sorry to say I fear it has — a very great one indeed." "My political connections with India since 1774," wrote Francis to Sir E. Chambers, '• have employed the whole of my life and embittered yesterday ! aU last niglit ! an Atlantiok of claret ! Tour friend Nugent furnislied tlie wine, and being one of the company himself took care that it should he excellent. At eleven we aiJiouTned to the Bedford Arms hy way of changing the scene, not the liquor, for there, too, this worthy gentleman assured us he could answer for the claret. In short, he answered for it so well that I left him speechless, the rest of the company stark mad ; notwithstand- ing 'I exerted every possible artifice to preserve my reason I was at last obliged to surrender at discretion, or rather all discretion. But all this is innocent mirth compared to what Nugent threatens us with at his own house next Tuesday. Oh ! is this the temperance, soberness, and chastity which my godfathers and godmothers answered for at my baptism ? " Again, 4th January, 1769 (a fortnight before a Junius letter), he writes to the same : — " I am just returned from spending a riotous fortnight at Bath . . While I lived in Bath, in every species of debauch, my health was unim- paired ; but the moment I returned to this cursed regularity of drinMng nothing and going to bed and getting up early, me voici enrhume co nvme un tjgre. I can hardly see, breathe, or speak ; therefore I see no retison why I should write any more. Sick or well, drunk or sober, yours I remain." "About a month ago I had the satisfaction of losing a note for ten pounds in much the same way, and with the same success — intoxication." 160 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. too much of it." When we read all this, and recall what this ambitious man said of himself in the House of Commons afterwards: " I passed six years in perpetual misery and contest in Bengal, at the hazard of my life, then a wretched voyage of ten months, and two and twenty ypars of labour in the same cause, unsupported and alone, without thanks and reward, and now without hope ; I have sacrificed my happiness and my repose, and forfeited every prospect of personal advantage," — we may incline to be wise after the event, and think that though Francis may have gained much money by going to India, he lost what no money can buy, and that on the whole his fine appointment there was dearly purchased, though his nomination to it won him so many congratulations, and has need- lessly exercised the ingenuity of critics from that day to this. It may be mentioned here that Mrs. Francis died in April, 1806, a month or two before her husband was knighted. A Civil Knight- Companionship of the Bath was " the final reward of Francis's fiercely agitated life." He was passed over for what he never ceased to ardently covet — the Governor-Generalship of India. His indig-. nation and disappointment were extreme, though his friend the Prince of Wales, courteously tried to mollify him in every way that he could. Still he was put aside, by his own party too, the Whigs, and Gilbert Elliott (Lord Minto) reigned in his stead. This dis- appointment, however, was, perhaps, not as bitter to him as that disclosed in these words, wrung from him in the Commons, " I will never be concerned in impeaching' anybody. The impeachment of Mr. Hastings has cured me of that folly. / was tried and he was acquitted." After remaining a widower for nine years, Sir Philip married again at the ripe age of seventy-five, the lady of his choice being a Miss Watkins, who, though forty-three years younger than her husband, rejoiced in being, we are told by Mr. Merivale, " One of the most uncompromising of all possible admirers." Sir Philip was wont to playfully address her as "Infanta Carissima." Francis died peacefully at his house in St. James Square on the 23rd December, 1818, aged 78, four months after his illustrious antagonist Hastings. The house in which he died had been occupied by him from 1790, it was then number 14, its site now is comprised in the Southern portion of the East India Club. CHAPTEE VIII. PHILIP EEAlSrCIS AND HIS TIMES. The Life and Death op the First Indian Newspaper, 1780—1782. . The folio-wing is a copy of a paper affixed to the door of the- Council House and other public places used for advertisements at Calcutta, in September, 1768. "To the Public. " Mr. Bolts * takes this method of informing the public that the want of a printing press in this city being of great disadvantage in business, and making it extremely difficult to communicate such intelligence to the community as is of the utmost importance to every British subject, he is ready to give the best encourage- ment to any person or persons who are versed in the business of printing to manage a press, the types and utensils of which he can produce. In the meantime, he begs leave to inform the public that having in manuscript many things to communicate, which most intimately concern every individual, any person who may be induced by curiosity or other more laudable motives, will be permitted at Mr. Bolts's house to read or take copies of the same. A person will give due attendance at the hours of from ten to twelve any morning." We look back now with surprise and amusement at this primi- tive method of public advertisement in a city, then so rapidly striding into importance, that in six years it will be the seat of a Governor-General and Council and of a Supreme Court of Judica- ture. Yet for over eleven years more did the want, thus so publicly demonstrated by Bolts, remaia unprovided for, and not * Bolts was a Company's servant wlio had resigned the Service and taken to oommeroial pursuits in Calcutta, at which he amassed a fortune in a few years. He was eventually forcibly deported as an interloper. He became the author of ' a valuable work Considerations on Indian Affairs." M 162 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. till 1780 did the first city in Asia possess a medium which com- hined the object of conveying public intelligence in print, with that of promulgating the ordinary business or social wants of its European inhabitants. Enumerated in chronological order the earliest newspapers pub- lished in Calcutta, so far as I can trace them, were: — 1. The Bengal Gazette, 1780; 2. The Iridia Gazette, November, 1780; 3. The Calcutta Gazette (under the avowed patronage of Govern- ment, and as such exempted from postage), February, 1784 ; 4. The Bengal Journal, February, 1785 ; 5. The Oriental Magazine, or Calcutta Amusement, April 6th, 1785 : a monthly paper, in the first number of which " is given an elegant engraving of the late Governor- General, with some account of his life and transactions " ; 6. The Calcutta Chronicle, January, 1786. A correspondent of the latter paper says (February 8, 1787): "All these papers are now existing and are printed in folio except the Calcufia Gazette, which is folded in quarto." This statement is certainly not correct, so far as relates, to the Bengal Gazette, as this came to a premature death in 1782. It is to this paper that I shall direct atteintion, as it was the one nearest in point of time to the period, characters and general society with which this volume deals, and as it dates from the last year of Philip Francis's stay in India. The Bengal Gazette started on Saturday, January 29th, 1780, and announced itself as "A weekly political and commercial paper open to all parties but influenced by none." It consisted of two sheets about twelve inches by eight, three columns of printed matter on each side, much of which was devoted to advertise- ments : the greater portion of the small budget was made up of correspondence from local and distant contributors, and occasional extracts from the news last received from Europe. The paper and printing were very poor. It was the first newspaper printed or published in India. The proprietor was a Mr. James Augustus Hicky, who was probably a printer by trade, and had come out from England, possibly under engagement from the India House, as in one of his early addresses to the public (a form of communication in which he was fond of indulging) he describes himself as " the first and late printer to the Honourable Comp3,ny," and in another as " free of the Printers and Stationers .Company in London." Judging from his editorial notices, which affect a high moral aim, and are variegated with lofty maxims and saucy roughness, he was a very illiterate man. At one critical period of his newspaper career he informs LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 163 the public how he took such an enterprise in hand, but his ex- planation does not go back to his European antecedents, but starts with his being locally engaged in a trading and ship-owning venture. He then states that in the years 1775-76 he met with many very heavy losses by sea — that in the latter year his vessel retiirned to Calcutta with her cargo damaged, while a bond of his became due for some four thousand rupees. To meet this he offered his all, two thousand rupees, but " the black Bengal merchants proved in- flexible." Finally he gave up his vessel, cargo, and all his house- hold effects to his creditors, and in October, 1776, "delivered up his person at the jail of Calcutta to free his bail, and for the first' time in all his life entered the walls of a prison." How he got out again he does not say, but he next appears " striking out a plan of industry to maintain his family and work for his creditors, instead of giving himself up to melancholy reflections and in- dulgence." " With his two thousand rupees he purchased a few types, set carpenters to work to make printing materials, and ad- vertised to print for the public." At this he laboriously continued with fair encouragement from several gentlemen of the Settlement for two years, and then ventured further in the same direction, " although," he explained, " I have no particular passion for print- ing of newspapers, I have no propensity ; I was not bred to a slavish life of hard work, yet I take a pleasure in enslaving mj body in order to purchase freedom for my mind and soul." The result of this magnaminity was, that he put to sea in another vessel which he named Ricky's Bengal Gazette, and "formed a resolu- tion to jog on under easy sail, and by a weU-conducted helm to shape his course right between the rocks of contention." There is a copy of this newspaper in Calcutta in a tolerable state of completeness and preservation, from its commencement down to the end of 1781, and there is a still better copy, though also incomplete, in the British Museum, from March, 1780, to March, 1782. The paper is a curiosity in these days, and helps to give a glimpse at certain phases of the contemporary European social life in Calcutta, which could notj perhaps, be got elsewhere. In returning thanks for the first list of contributors, the proprietor states that " should he be so fortunate in his endeavours as to bring so useful an undertaking as a newspaper to perfection he will think himself amply rewarded, as it may in a very little time prove an antibilious specific, from which he hopes his subscribers will receive more natural benefit than from tincture of bark, castor oil, or columba root." M '2 164 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. During the first few montlis of its existence the new undertaking seems to have led a tolerahly prosperous and peaceful life. It is often dull and is ia variably vulgar, but on the whole it is harmless. As a newspaper it looked for its patrons, both at the Presidency, and in the Mof ussil, mainly amongst the free merchants and traders and the general non-official European classes. To these and to their commercial and domestic requirements the advertising columns are devoted. The editor makes no pretence of advocating native interests, indeed, when he ventures into the region of political discussion, he distinctly holds that these should give place on all occasions to the interests of the governing race. His profession of faith on this head is very simple, as evinced in the following, which must surely have struck a sympathetic chord in the breast of at least one very exalted member of the European com- munity, who had few scruples as to where money was to come from, when it was needed for state exigencies : — "Governor Whittal (Madras) has acted with great judgment and spirit at this critical juncture ('Hyder Alii') by compelling the Armenians and rich dubashes to pay '.nto the treasury at Madras a crore of pagodas at interest, a measure truly politic and justifiable, that those who derive their wealth under the liberality of the English should contribute during exigencies in return for the protection they receive. The banians here who are amassing incredible fortunes by imposition, usury, and extortion, might be made more useful instru- ments to Government than they are at present ; they now in some degree resemble the drones, the rich abbots in England before the time of Henry VIII., that pucca Monarch." Nor does the editor forget to provide recreation for his subscribers, so there is a Uttle space provided for the literary man, and of course there is the indispensable " Poet's Comer " for the would-be funny or for the sentimental contributor. A few random selections will serve as examples of some of the innocent and original productions of the Calcutta muse which Hicky's Gazette saved from oblivion. The sender of the following calls it a "short poem," and modestly hopes that "the singularity of the thought in the last part of it may probably please some of your readers." On a lady whose name was Susana (sic) " lovely Sue, How sweet art thou. Than sugar thou art sweeter ; LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 165 Thou dos't as far Excel sugar JiiXcel sugar As sugar does saltpetre."* This contributor thinks it well to explain in a foot-note that " thou " in Scotland is pronounced " thoo." A less gifted poet, who had not the advantage of being a Caledonian, would probably have satisfied the exigency of the rhyme with a " you," but then the result, perhaps, would not have been poetry. when the aspirants for literary or poetic notoriety begin to feel that a field sufficiently wide is not reserved for them in the Gazette, one of them thus appeals to the proprietor : — " ShaU attic wit be forced to yield To salted beef and pork the field ; Shall Donaldt come with butts and tons, And knock down epigrams and puns. With chairs, old cots and buggies, trick ye ? Forbid it Phoebus, and forbid it Hicky." The following testifies to the many confiicting interests which the distracted editor has to provide for. A dialogue between the driver of the Calcutta vehicle for news, poetry, &c., and a wit : — Wit. " Stop your vehicle, Hicky, one minute for me. And take a small bundle of rhymes to Parnassus ; A draft on the Muses I'll give for your fee — You must know I'm a wit, and my note always passes." * The Calcutta poets were giren to rarasual expressions of comparison when moved to sing of their idols. I fonnd in a later newspaper some verses on a Miss Kate Pawson, whose father is referred to ih Francis's journal as Pay- master-General in 1780. Whether one of the two verses extracted, which seems to feelingly refer to a personal experience, gives any clue to the nationality of the love-sick poet is more than I can say. " Let some talk of Devonshire's grace, Let some recollect Nancy Dawson ; None, sure, for a shape or a face Can compare with my dear K ^y P n. " The itoh, how it tickles the wretch, ■ The tooth-ache, how terribly gnaws one, But I feel not the tooth-ache or itch. When sooth' d by my dear K y P ^n t A local auctioneer. 166 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Driver. " Hang your wit and your nonsense, I'm loaded enough I m brimful abeady of dulnesa and stuff ; Besides, if I take your nonsensical trash in, Where the deuce must 1 put all my people of fashion ? " I've no room for wit, I'm surprised you should ask it ; Must the Circle of Beauty be jammed in the basket ? And as to Parnassus, I've no more to du With the Muses and Phoebus ('od rot 'em) — than you." And the subjoined, excerpta will show how he did dispose of Ms " people of fashion." Beeroool, it may be explained, was at one time contemplated as the Brighton of Calcutta ; a special corres- pondent there, in the month of May, thus extols its virtues for the panting Calcutta readers of the Gazette : — "We are informed that the following persons of figure and consequence are arrived at Beercool for the benefit of their health and fish : — Henry Grant, Esq., and lady and brother-in-law, Major Camac, Captain Eobinson of the Yellow, Dr. Allen (lately returned from Europe), Simeon Droze, Esq., with his lady and son and heir, Miss Burne, an extremely elegant and agreeable young lady, — Naylor, Esq., the Honourable Company's lawyer. And we have the pleasure to assure the friends of the above honourable party and the public in general that they have received the most essential benefit from the salubrious air of that admirable spot, which, we doubt not, will make it a place of fashionable resort every ensuing season, it being proposed to erect convenient apartments for the reception of the nobility and gentry whose constitutions require such refreshments. The sea beach forms, perhaps, the finest road in the universe tor carriages, and is totally free from sharks and all other noxious animals except crabs."- — Selim. " February, 26, 1780. Married last Saturday, at Cossimbuzzar, the Honourable David Anstruther, Lieutenant of the Yellow, to Miss Donaldson, of that place, a young lady of beauty and infinite accom- plishments." This announcement gives birth to the following in the next number : — " Thessilia late joined to a modish young fellow — He was styled in the paper Lieutenant of Yellow, Which in praise of the fair is much as to say That with some 'tis the yellow boys carry the day." Which is followed next week by— " The Bucks qf the Yellow have late borne the Bell (sic), And each week's Gazette with their praises you swell, Which fully evinces the force of a name. For when green was their facing, but small was their fame : Then your marrow-bones bend, boys, to that jolly fellow Who has changed your sad fronts from dull green to bright yellow." LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 167 " April, 1780. A new Cotillon was danced at the last Harmonic to the great wonder and astonishment of many of the spectators. It is universally allowed that this exhibition was infinitely superior to anything known here of late. The merit of this performance is principally attributed to three young ladies lately arrived." " June, 1780. We hear there are several treaties of inarriage on foot which promise the supremest felicity, the consummation of which is postponed only tiU the weather is a few degrees cooler." Had the paper only continued as it began, it might in no very long time have grown into something better, but it soon took to catering for the lowest tastes, and gradually went from bad to worse in this objectionable direction, and admitted contributions which, while hypocritically affecting to teach and uphold public and private morality, in reality pandered to the impulses of the prurient and the vicious. Thus many dreary chapters (each ending with a "to be continued "*) are stuffed with the autobiography of one who is styled " a late very extraordinary man," which is simply the unsavoury details of the alleged progress in the vulgarest vices, of a typical young scoundrel who had not one redeeming feature. Later on, subjects are clumsily paraded which are utterly unfit for public discussion, the introduction of which could have had but one motive. So running through several numbers, in each succeed- ing one of which the raiment of decorum and modesty is offensively raised a little higher, is a florid essay entitled, " Thoughts on the Times, but chiefly on the profligacy of our women and its causes." This is unctuously addressed " to every parent, husband, and modest woman in the three kingdoms." One part treats of "The folly and bad tendency of a fashionable life," another of the " Evils that arise from French refinement," a third denounces the employment of obstetric physicians (less technical language, however, is used) as " tending to destroy the peace of families and endanger virtue " — in this large capitals are used to emphasize the most indelicate allusions, to the violation of all decency. The dulness of these diatribes is profound ; as literary, compositions they are execrable. The trail of the serpent is too visible, if only in the companion- ship provided for them, viz., short paragraphs and rhyming con- tributions reeking with jocular indecency and obscenity, that no English newspaper could now venture even to paraphrase, and when " A grateful correspondent congratulates Mr. Hicky himself, while calling him "the -papa of the press," as being "the composer of the entertaining history -with which you have favoured the- world under the 'signature ' To be Continued.' " 168 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. "we read what has been admitted we can only guess what has been proffered and rejected, from a pharisaical notice like this among "the answers to correspondents : — " Lothario's letter and poetry is received, but is not fit for insertion, nor wiU anything ever be inserted in the Bengal Gazette that can possibly give offence to the Jadies." But if the Bengal Gazette had contented itself with being charac" terised by dulness and want of decency, it might in that tolerant ■age have gradually passed away into obscurity ; its proprietor, how- ever, soon discovered that a certain section of the public always •craves for items of local personal news : accordingly these are provided tentatively at first, but when the managerial troubles (to be presently described) came on, the weekly pabulum for the subscribers becomes more and more highly seasoned with personali- ties, all, no doubt, intended to be more or less funny. A fresh stimulus was given in this direction by the entrance of another newspaper on the scene before the first had been a year old. The rival (a well-printed paper of four pages, each about six- teen inches long, divided into three columns) was started by a Mr. Peter Keed (a salt agent) and Mr. B. Messinck, who had something to do with theatrical speculation or proprietorship. For the purpose •of ridicule and abuse they are always referred to by Hicky as " Peter Mmmuck" (or Obadiah Broadbrim) and " Barnaby Grizzle," and their paper, the India Gazette, is by him nicknamed the " Monitorial Gazette," in allusion to a weekly contribution in it, alleged by Hicky to be from Eeed, addressed, as all letters were, to " Mr. Monitor," which went on for some months. This contribution ■ceased, owing, it was asserted in Hickey, to Grizzle having been detected cheating Mmmuck, which led to the withdrawal of the latter from the joint undertaking. Its disappearance was hoped "to prelude the collapse of the new paper, and was notified by a grimy psean in the Bengal Gazette, where more than the usual raillery, vituperation, and indecency did duty for triumphant humour. A grievance in connection with the new paper was that the type for its production were got by purchase from the venerable mis- sionary, Kiemander. This is too suitable an opportunity for reproof for Mr. Hicky to pass over. Accordingly he appeals to "the aged pastor as " that man whose eve of life is fast verging to the shadow of death, whose silver head bows down loaded with the blossoms of the grave, and whom the sepulchre is already LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIEST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 169 yawning to close upon."* He attacks him with the spiritual weapons which he thinks most appropriate to the circumstances, as directed against a clergyman, and bombards him with texts of Scripture, the burden of his remonstrance being that the plant and type were sent out for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, and not to be used for taking the bread out of the mouths of a "true-born Englishman and his little family." But the unkindest cut. of all felt in regard to the rival newspaper, was that certain privileges in connection with the Post-office were, as alleged by Hicky, conceded to it. In commenting on this, he asserts that he, too, could have had similar concessions if, as he had been advised by a leading public man (his alleged " dialogue " with whom he gives verbatim), he had gone the right way about it, viz., to solicit Mrs. Hastings, who had given out that she was ready for such solicitation, but that Mr. Hicky declined to do so, as he thought " There was something so sneaking and treacherous in going clandestinely to fawn and take advantage of a good-natured woman to draw her into a promise to getting that done which I know would be highly improper to ask her husband, though his unbounded love for his wife would induce him to comply with, &c., &c." This and much more in a similar strain. Impudence directed against his wife was probably the only aggression coming from such a quarter which would have claimed the notice, or aroused the indignation of the Governor-General. Whether the liberty thus publicly taken with Mrs. Hastings' name produced, or only precipitated the following order of Government, which came out before the next issue of the offending newspaper, it is more than likely that Hastings himself was the promoter of it. * The Eevd. Jolin Zaohariali Eaemander proTokingly survived this appeal for nineteen years, dying in Calcntta in 1799, aged 88, after a residence ia India of sixty years. He was a Swede, and the first Protestant missionary sent to Bengal, where he arrived from Southern India in 1758. He had not heen long in Calcutta when he " lost his lady," but, continues the precise Asiaticus, "he had the fortitude not to give himself np to vain lamentations ; on the succeeding year the remembrance of all former sorrows was obliterated in the silken embraces of opulent beanty." The adjective qualifying this last word must not be understood in the physical (orGalKo) sense, but in the pecuniary, as we read that the missionai-y was afterwards able to drive about Calcutta in a four-in-hand and to give banquets, thereby making the judicious grieve. It is stated in Marshall's Christian Mission that Kiernander " ogled from the pulpit vrith two fat and rich ladies of his congregation," and married them. But it should not be forgotten that he devoted much of his wealth to the cause of Christianity, and bralt a church and school at his own expense. This he named Beth-Teplmlah (the House of Prayer) ; to-day it is known as the " Old Mission Church." 170 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. " Fort Wm., lith Nov., 1Y80.— Public notice is hereby given that 3,8 a weekly newspaper called the Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser, printed by J. A. Hicky, has lately been found to contain several improper paragraphs tending to vilify private characters and to disturb the peace of the Settlement, it is no longer permitted to be circulated through the channel of the General Post Office." To deny even a prepaid passage through the Post-office, and so deprive it of all present or prospective subscribers up country, was a measure well calculated to strangle a struggling newspaper ; more especially if, as the elder paper complained, a free passage was at the same time given to its rival. When we take into consideration the jealousy and irritation natural under the circumstances, and that apparently no warning (as to the consequence which would ensue if the alleged vilification did not cease) was given to Hicky before this highly penal blow was struck, it must be allowed that lie was not given very much rope. It would be interesting to know what Francis thought of this high-handed proceeding. Under many Latin aliases, he had been in England the eloquent upholder of freedom of speech and liberty of the Press, " that just prerogative of the people " Did he now oppose, or did he assent to the issue of this order from a Council of which he was the senior member 1 He must have winced when he found the Bengal Gazette, in the very first protest that it had an opportunity of making, appealing to the authority of Junius thus : " Comparison between Mr. Wilkes and Mr. Hicky. The case of Mr. Hicky is exactly similar to that of Mr. Wilkes; the one standing up for the liberty of the Press, the other for that of the subject. Junius makes the following just and elegant remark on the oppres- sion of Mr. Wilkes, ' that the rays of Eoyal indignation tended rather to illumine than to destroy the persecuted object of it, &c., &c.' But though nominally a member of the Government still, the sun of Francis's power in Calcutta had just at this time set for ever. He had virtually acknowledged that he could no longer contend against the stronger will, the calm resolution and tenacity of purpose of his great antagonist, when he confided but a few days before, the last entry but one to his Indian journal. "Nov. 2nd, 1780. — Governor moves that Mr. Eider (who returned with his rank some months ago, and to succeed to the first vacancy in the Board of Trade) shall be allowed the full salary of that office from his arrival till he succeeds. Agreed. Yet nothing, I believe, can be more improper : Mais qu'wnporte ? When the ship is sinking, what LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 171 does it signify how soon we eat up the provisions ? The moment I shall have made my exit, enter desolation." The despairing tone of these words may fitly be contrasted with that of exulting resolution in some sentences of a remarkable letter, written by Hastings to a friend in England in the following week, four days before the thunderbolt was launched against the Bengal Gazette. "... Mr. Francis has announced his intention to leave us. His departure may be considered as the close of one complete period of my political life and the beginning of a new one. ... I shall have no competitor to oppose my designs, to encourage disobedience to my authority, to excite and foment popular odium against me. In a word, I shall have power, and I will employ it." It was with reference to this time, too, that Hastings some few years afterwards wrote, with well-deserved self-congratulation, " I suffered in patience ; I did my duty when I could ; T waited for better and more lasting means. . . . My antagonists sickened, died, and fled ; I maintained my ground unchanged, neither the health of my body, nor the vigour of my mind for a moment deserted me." There is another point in connection with Francis and this newspaper which invites conjecture. Though he was a year in Calcutta with it, neither then nor afterwards does he ever fall under its ribaldry : it cannot be said that his conduct was uni- formly so immaculate as never to afford an opportunity for the moral platitudes so dear to Hicky ; occasions which would fairly justify public comment are either not availed of or are employed in his favour. He almost alone amongst the official leaders of society is dealt gently with. It is pointed out in Francis's memoirs that even he himself evinced a tenderness about putting on record a defeat of his own ; and it is shown as a conspicuous instance of this that in his diary for June, 1777, where many personal and official matters are chroni- cled, he passes by the nineteenth, the day on which the attempt was made to oust Hastin.qs from the Governor-Generalship, and no mention is made of so momentous an occurrence in which Clavering and Francis were so signally discomfited. A notable instance of suppression regarding another defeat of Francis's may be found in Hicky's Gazette. The duel with Hastings occurred on Thursday, 17th August, 1780. The next number of the Gazette is for the week commencing on the following Saturday, 19th. The copy of this number in the British Museum 172 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. is quite perfect (that in Calcutta has heen mutilated) ; still there is no allusion in it whatever to the duel which occurred only- two days previously between the two highest personages in the Government. Yet we may infer that Hicky's readers would have relished such a bonne bouche when we find him serving up in the very next number a vulgar morsel like this : "A few daya ago a dispute arose between two young gentlemen not many miles from Serampore about a lady of a sooty complexion. The friends of both were Tinder some apprehension that a duel would have been the conse- quences, but it happUy ended in a reciprocal bastinado." Mrs. Fay, writing from Calcutta in this very year, says : — " Mr. Francis is highly respected here." Very probably his pronounced hostility to Hastings and His Majesty's Judges was in itself a strong recommendation to the Bengal Gazette; but there was, perhaps, a further reason for the singular immunity noticed. He himself, as proved by his pseudonymous writings in England, could be, when he liked, master of the whole gamut of vulgar abuse,— he had shown himself an adept in the coarse personalities which disgraced the political controversies of the time. He knew the pain thus inflicted, and shrunk from it in his own person as the surgeon dreads the knife, and the flogger the lash — so it is not un- reasonable to surmise that he, who his biographer says had all his life been a controller of the secret influence of the press, contrived means of securing the mute forbearance of the scurrilous Hicky. But to return to the proprietor of the Bengal Gazette. He did not faint in the day of adversity ; he was very wrath at the action of Government, which caused him an immediate loss of four hun- dred rupees monthly. Nevertheless, he was nothing daunted. Writing in the first transports of his indignation, he says : " Before he will bow, cringe, or fawn to any of his oppressors, was the whole sale of his paper stopped, he would compose baUads and sell them through the streets of Calcutta as Homer did. He has now but three things to lose : his honoar in the support of his paper, — his liberty and his life ; the two latter he will hazard in defence of the former, for he is determined to make it a scourge of all schemers and leading tyrants ; should these illegally deprive him of his liberty and confine him in a jail, he is determined to print there with every becoming spirit suited to his case and the deserts of his oppressors." "Shall I," he asks in an address to the public, " tamely submit to the yoke of slavery and wanton oppression ? — no, my case and complaints in my own newspaper shall be con- LIFE ANB DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 173 veyed to the foot of the throne of Great Britain, and the breach of my privilege as Freeman of the first city in the British Empire shall also be presented in my own newspaper to the Father of the City, the Chamberlain* of the City of London. He will soon feel for my case, bearing so strong an affinity to his own, and without doubt he will sympathise more strongly when he considers where I am and who I have got to deal with." Henceforth, all the worst features of the Bengal Gazette become exaggerated ; personality assumes intolerable licence ; many who are conspicuous in official or social life are assailed in terms indica- tive of malicious hostility, while the more prominent amongst them are given up );o public odium and contempt veiled under the most obvious nicknames ; frequently these latter derive their significance from infirmities either real or attributed, which are referred to with inept jocosity in the most cowardly and indelicate manner. Private individuals who incurred the displeasure of the Editor or contributors, are held up to derision in the poets' corner, in spite of the ethics paraded in the following rebuke : — " Trim's poetry is received, but cannot be inserted, as it seems to abound more with rancour and private pique than with innocent mirth and jocularity." Similarly a portion of another correspondent's letter relating to ladies is suppressed, while the following exposition of the Editor's sentiments on this interesting topic is thus set out : — " Mr. Hicky begs leave to say that he is of opinion that the greatest blessing that his sex enjoys in this savage part of the globe, is the refined and delicate conversation of his fair countrywomen ; cheered and animated by their heavenly smiles, we are madeample amends for the intemperance of the climate ; was it not for them we should be unpolished and brutish ; to them alone we stand indebted for all those noble refinements of our manners." Nevertheless, ladies in society are not spared public mention in the Bengal Gazette, though, as a rule, they are spoken of with what is intended to be approbation. They are generally designated by their initials, or occasionally by some peculiarity of dress. Under the heading " Bon Ton " their graces and attractions (and in some instances even their matrimonial successes or prospects) are dealt freely with. They are watched * Jack Wilkes, who after a chequered career of sturdy "patriotism" and defiance of law and order, and after passing through the phases of demagogue and martyr, had settled down into the ahove peaceable and lucrative post. 174 ECHOES PROM OLD CALCUTTA. at the public balls or festive gatherings, or on " the course ; " and the progress which certain gentlemen seem to make in ingratiating themselves, is frankly commented on with congratulation or disap- proval, according as the gentlemen may happen to be on friendly or on hostile terms with the Bengal Gazette. Poetasters, also, are enlisted in their behalf, and their charms are duly complimented in limping verses, entitled " Song " or " Ode " or even " Epitha- lamium," which, like most of the contributions, either in rhyme or prose from this out, it is easier and more becoming to allude to generally than to exemplify by selection. But though one is precluded from bringing before modem readers the most striking examples of those sins against decorum and good tjiste, without enfeebling them by expurgation, still a few instances of the least offensive of them must be culled to justify what has been said, and to give an idea of this old newspaper which it would bs otherwise impossible to convey. " In a few days Edward Hay, Esq., Secretary of State for the Southern Department, is to be married to Miss Wagstaffe, a most beautiful, amiable, and highly accomplished young lady — sister-in-law to Colonel Morgan — a lady endowed with every elegant requisite to render the marriage state (what it was intended to be) a scene of ecstatic joy and felicity." " Married, at Madras, Mr. Eichard Newland to Miss Outhbert, of the same place, with a fortune of 4000 star pagodas and Mr. Cuth- bert's friendship, who intends giviag him the rice contract that Mr. Ferguson lately had ; the lady is well accomplished." "With the view of retaining some connection in the necessary extracts, and of possibly so lending them more interest or amuse- ment, the simplest plan perhaps will be to confine the selection to those referring to a young lady who came in for the most promi- nent notice from the contributors to Hicky's paper, on whom she seems to have made the deepest impression. To maintain continuity it will be necessary to introduce a few extracts which did not appear till a period somewhat later than that.at which we have yet arrived. This social star was a Miss Emma Wrangham : more than the name I regret I cannot give — (a John Wrangham entered the Indian Civil Service, Madras, in 1783 — possibly her brother). She occasionally went on visits to friends at Chinsura. She evidently was the belle of Calcutta while Hicky chronicled its social doings. Her youth and beauty, her graceful accomplishments, her dress, and the merry indifference to the wounds these arrows inflicted, were a favourite theme in Hicky's columns. When not alluded to under LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 175 her christian name or initials, she is spoken of, with reference apparently to the most killing feature of her attire, as " Turban Conquest," or " Hooka Turban," sometimes as the "St. Helena FiUy," or the " Chinsura Belle, or Beauty." Amongst the satellites who most assiduously revolved round this luminary, and for whom also Hicky had nicknames, were a Mr. Livius (" Idea George " or " Titus ") ; he was a 'prot4ge of Francis, who had got him made military storekeeper ; a barrister named Davis (" Counsellor Feeble "), a Mr. Milton (?), who was not limited 1 o one nickname, his least objectionable one, however, was " Jack Paradise Lost ; " a fourth was an official in the Board of trade whose name was pro- bably Taylor, as he is called " Uurgee," often " Peegdany Durgee." Hicky held this last gentleman in abhorrence, for no better reason seemingly than that, while ostensibly one of the young lady's guardians, he suffered much extremity from love, and aspired to a tenderer relation. It is with one or more of this quartette that Miss Wrangham's name is most frequently associated, and to whom the allusions in the following extracts refer : — " March, 1781. Public Notice : Lost on the Course, last Monday evening, Buxey Clumsey's heart whilst he stood simpering at the footstep of Hooka Turban's carriage : as it is supposed to be in her possession, she is desired to return it immediately, or to deliver up her own as a proper acknowledgment." Ode on the birthday of Miss W m, by J. Durgee : — " Celestial nine assist my lay With all your native fire, To sing fair Emma's natal day Mv humble Muse inspire. 'Tis now just eighteen years ago Since the sweet maid was born,' &c. &c. But the homage she commanded was not confined to Europeans ; even the natives were anxious to signify their devotion to this young lady, for it is recorded that Eajah Nobkissen gave a natch and magnificent entertainment (in August, 1781) "in commemora- tion of Miss Wrangham's birthday," at which, after supper, there was a ball, which was opened by Mr. Livius and Miss Wrangham in the characters of " Apollo and Daphne," " and when the minuets were ended, country dances struck up and continued till past three in the morning." "When the Rajah was conducting his fair guest to her carriage he gracefully thanked her " for having illuminated his house with, her bright appearance." Dancing was one of her strong points. Under the heading of " Intelligence 176 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Extraordinary," Hicky announces that at a ball at Chandernagore (January, 1782) — " Many very graceful minuets were walked by tbe beauties of the age, amongst whom the inimitable Miss W excelled in every step and motion, and so minutely graceful was that young lady, and so charmingly easy in the Minuet de la Coeur, that the pen must inevitably fail that pretends to do her justice by description. Suffice it to say, that a band of music might have been led with the exactest time by the motion of her foot." A correspondent, signing himself " Trim," is thus censorious about another of her strong points, in a verse " on the present mode of dress — humbly inscribed to a certain fair damsel : " — *"If Eve in her innocence could not be blamed. Because going naked she was not ashamed. Whoe'er views the ladies, as ladies now dress. That again they grow innocent sure will confess. And that artfully, too, they retaliate the evil — By the devil once tempted, they now tempt the devil." We may fancy what a crowd of suitors must have sighed to this highly-favoured beauty in the Calcutta of a hundred years ago. One poet sends a " Recipe to soften the heart of Miss "W ," while, on the contrary, " A matron of great experience to Miss W " counsels her not to marry, and coarsely conveys sage reflec- tions on post-nuptial disappointment, which in more quotable language were sung for our great grandmothers by Mrs. Gibber on the English stage in " The Way to Keep Him," in Garrick's ballad, commencing — "Ye fair married dames who so often deplore That a lover once blest is a lover no more." And the counsel would seem to have had some effect, for in "Bon Ton Intelligence " the Gazette tells its anxious readers, " The celebrated beauty has again, we hear, refused Idea G . It is true there is a little disparity between the parties, yet there are few ladies in her situation who would have declined the offer on that account, or would have thought it could have counter-balanced a settlement of £20,000. The truth is Counsellor Feeble has capered her out of her senses." The next allusion suggests that two of her rival lovers soon came * In culling from the " Poet's Corner," I have assumed to be original what- ever I may not remember to have met with elsewhere myself. I am very con- scious what a fallacious plan this may be. LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 177 to blows about her, viz., " Turban Conquest has been advised by lier chota guardian, ' Peegdany Durgee,' to remain a few weeks longer at Chinsura in order to let the personal fracas respecting, her between (here follow two unquotable aliases for Mr. Paradise Lost and Mr. Feteble) blow over. It is hoped the hue of Holland will nielliorate her manners, for she has hitherto shown too- much vivacity." A month later a paragraph tells that " A marriage is now much talked of between Counsellor Feeble and the Chinsura belle." And the rival aspirants are thus addressed : " Ye witlings, give o'er ; the contest is vain, for Emma has chose for her partner a swain whom fancy and reason approve, who laughs to behold you, (fee, &c." Two months after (February, 1782) it is mentioned as a fact that " On Thursday last" she "was united in the sacred and indissoluble tie to the elegant Jack Paradise Lost " (to the undis- guised chagrin of the truant trio, 'Idea G' — Feeble and Durgee). This, however, was contradicted in the next issue. Both the marriage and its contradiction are announced with much circum- stantial (and unquotable) detail. Whom this young lady, who thus strutted her hour so gaUy on the old Calcutta stage, did eventually consent to make happy I do not know, nor do the vestry records let us into the secret. I find in the Calcutta Gazette, September, 1784, the marriage of a Captain Dundas and Miss Wrangham recorded ; possibly the bride was "Turban Conquest, the Chinsura belle" ? It may have been only as a means of keeping up an interest in his paper and himself that the Editor startled his subscribers with this announcement one morning in April, 1781 \- — " Mr. Hicky thinks it a duty incumbent on him to inform his friends in particular and the public in general that an attempt was made to assassinate him last Thursday morning, between the hours of one and two o'clock, by two armed Europeans, assisted by a Moorman." Having thus aroused curiosity, he details the circumstances in next week's number, making rather a cock-and-bull. story of it, and wishing his readers to understand that he has become so pestilent to Government as a public censor, that they resorted to assassination in order to get rid of him. Then follows what he calls -.-r- " Reflections in consequence of the late attempt made to assassinate the printer of the Original Bengal Gazette. "Mr. Hicky verily believes that fate decreed that he should come out to India to be a scourge to Tyrannical Villains, and upstart Schemers and Embezzlers of the Company's property, Stainers of the British Flag and Disgracers of the English name ; and notwithstanding the repeated attempts which have been made for iis destruction, Mr. N 178 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Hicky is determined to go on and persevere with redoubled confidence in his plan, unawed by the frowns of arbitrary Tyrants in Power," &c., &c. But Hastings and Impey were, above all others, the target for Hicky's most poisoned missiles ; and bitterly did they pay him out when the time came to strike. The Governor-General he aimed at and insulted through Mrs. Hastings chiefly ; Impey he stung by nicknames and allusions which kept alive the Nuncomar business, and the stories as to his love of money, and the means, direct or indirect, by which he gratified it. It is noteworthy that the satirical or venomous hits at Impey in Hicky's paper, and wWch were presumably but the expression of vulgar contemporary belief, nearly all refer to circumstances on which charges were founded, which the recalled Chief Justice had afterwards to defend himself from. A couple of extracts will serve as instances. "A displaced civilian asking his friend the other day what were the readiest means of procuring a lucrative appointment was answered, ' Pay your constant devoirs to Marian Allvpore, or sell yourself soul and body to Poolbundy.' "* The follovping shows that whatever may have since been urged in explanation of the Chief Justice's part in the transaction, the allegation was locally current at the time, that in accepting the presidency of the Sudder Adawlut, Impey came in for a very sub- stantial extra salary and large patronage, f The Chief Justice is sup- posed to be triumphantly addressing the Sealer of the Supreme * Pul-bandi, i.e., the keeping "bridges or embankments in repair (Beveridge), in allusion to a lucrative contract given to Impey's relative, a Mr. Prazer, Sealer of the Supreme Court. Calcutta scandal alleged that the real con- tractor was the Cluef Justice himself. ITranois thus trenchantly recorded in his Diary his plain opinion of the transaction: — "February, 1778. Poolbundy of Burdwan given for two years to Mr. Parzer ; one lakh and twenty thousand the tirst and eighty thousand the second ; job, job ! This is a wretch of the lowest order, a creature and distant relation of Impey, and already well providedfor in the Supreme Court. The present shameless contract is a clear £15,000 in the contractor's pocket, for whose real profit I submit to the reader." t Francis in his place in Council opposed and strongly minuted against the control of the Sudder Adawlut being vested in the Chief Justice as proposed by Hastings. It is a coincidence worth noting that one of the best known passages in the Essay on Warren Hastings, in which Macaulay sums up his denouncement of the arrangement, viz., "the Chief Jiistice was rich, quiet, and infamous," is an adoption of a sentiment, and almost of the language in which it was conveyed, of Philip Francis, who, writing as Junius (in the last famous letter to the Duke of Grafton, February, 1770), says of another trans- action ; " Your Grace is afraid to carry on the prosecution. Mr. Hine keeps quiet possession of his purchase, and Governor Burgoyne, relieved from the apprehension of refunding the money, sits down for the remainder of his life infamous and contented." LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPEK. 179 Court thus, on the disgust aad discontent of the Company's civil servants at the recent appointment : — " But that which to me is the pleasantest part, No one of the servants dare point out the smart ; Nor do I much wonder, for H s has said No remonstrance from them that may come shall he read, " And should they our door with petitions assail. We'll send all the mutinous scoundrels to jail. However, to keep them from forging of lyes, Mr. H s the feeling, tlie just and the wise, " Has appointed Ad — 1 — ts, whose payments at large, My dear little Archey, are under my charge. What Company's servant, tho' hred up in College, To manage my post has competent knowledge ? " What though the ten thousand friend W n may give, And which condescending I monthly receive. &c., &c." " By which should the Company lose a few pence. They ne'er will perceive it a hundred years hence ; And as long as we jointly can manage the rudder, No douht but I'm snug in my post at the Sudder, " When I talk to Sir E, 1 or dear brother H de. And bid them throw qualms and scruples aside, They preach up old conscience 'till I lose all patience, And leave the poor d Is to their own meditations. " As for you, my dear Sealer, I trust you're grown wise, From my bright example and candid advice : Do never let conscience molest or offend you. For conscience should keep all the time we're in India." A favourite method with the Bengal Oazette for pillorying those whom it desired to show up to public ridicule, was to announce a play or masquerade or concert (which were then fashionable amuse- ments), and to assign certain suggestive parts or characters to members of society disguised under the thinnest veil. "We may as well see two or three of these, as they will introduce us to several old celebrities at once, and will serve as " the abstract and brief chronicles of the time." The pasquinade of this sort which imme- diately follows came out in June, 1781. A couple of characters which would not admit of a reappearance X 2 180 : ECHOES FROM OLD CA^.CUTTA. have been omitted, and the " persons represented " have been added in brackets so far as it has been possible to identify them. PLAYBILL EXTBAORDINARY. At the New Theatre, near the Court-house, is now in rehearsal, A Tragedy, called " TYRANNY IN FULL BLOOM, OR THE DEVIL TO PAY." With the Farce of "ALL IN THE WRONG." Dramatis Personce : Sir F. Wronghead By the Grand Turk. (Hastings)- .In dge Jeffreys , ... ... ... By Ven'ble Poolbundy. (Impey). „ . T • 1. ( By Sir Viner Pliant. (Mr. Jus- Sir Limber I tice Chambers). T i. T> 1 (By Cram Turky. (Mr. Justice Justice Balance .. ■! jjy(jg) Judas Iscariot touching the 40 \ By the Rev. Mr. Tally Ho. pieces ... ... ... ... ( (Rev. Wm. Johnson).* T^ ,-. • i £ i,i- -ii, x\r J TBy the Great Mosul, commonly Don Qui;r.ote fighting with Wind- ^called the Tyger of War. (Hai- ™i"« •' I tings). Whipper Snapper, Balance's Foot- j By Bawton Guinea pig. (Mr. man j Wraughton). ,- , 1 „ T-, . ( By C r Avis from the Mar- Double-fee Ferret | \ho\^^^.. (Counsellor Davis). * This clergyman was a notable figure in Old Calcutta. He tied the nuptial noose for several whose names have become familiar to us in the social records of the time. Not the least memorable of his doings was his own marriage (1774) to a lady whose life would supply materials for an almost incredible romance. She had been a prisoner of Siraj ud Dowla at Moorshedabad in 1766, at which time she was the wife of her third husband, Mr. Wm. Watts, through whose daughter by him she became tlie grandmother of a Prime Minister of England (Earl of Liverpool). She died (1812) the oldest European resident in Bengal, at her house in Calcutta (on the site of the present bonded warehouse). Her tomb in St. John's Churchyard is, or ought to be, well-known to most Calcutta residents. The reverend gentleman to whom she gave her hand for the fourth time, apparently got tired of her, because he left India for good in February, 1788, and she remained behind for nearly a quarter of a centuiy longer, dispensing as the " Begum Johnson " a " fignified hospitality," and delighting society with her anecdotes of old times and with her cheerful aud polished manners. The Duke of Wellington used to tell of his having known the grand- mother of Lord Liverpool in CJaloutta, and erroneously referred to her as a survivor of the Black Hole. There is what seems to be a very speaking likeness of the Rev. Mr. Johnson in the vestry room of St. John's Cathedral — a young looking, healthy round and smug-faced gentleman — with his hair short and brushed down flat over the forehfead. He wears the contented look of a divine who tries to make the best of both worlds. LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 181 ^'^Shan?^'^"^:.."'" ?°^'?.* ^'^:{(Mr.C.Croftes). Cato, also the True-born Enslisli- ( t> ■•, tt- i man ^ ... 1% ^i'- Hicky. Mammon By a German Missionary. (Rev. ( J. Z. Kiernander.) Irish Link- boy crying a brass \ By Sir Barnaby Grizzle. (Mr. farthing, your Honour ( Messinck.) Slaves, Train-bearers, Toad ealers, i d *i, /-< j t and Sycophants ... ; | By the Grand Jury. Libertv Bovs i ^^ ^^^ Honest, Independent L,iDerty Jioys | Disinterested Petty Jury. Between the Play and the Farce will be introduced A Dance of Demons op Revenge bi the Calcutta Lawyers and THEIR Banyans. The Dance to conclude with the song of " From mortal sighs we draw the groan, To make their sorrows like our own." Which Sir Barnaby promises to accompany on the Bassoon, assisted by his German Missionary Brother Printer. Two Ghosts will be introduced for the sake of variety. First Ghost by Nuncomar ; second Ghost by Peter Nimmuck (Mr. P. Reed). Chancellor Murder English from Gothland will entertain the audience with a doleful ditty on the hurdy-gurdy, about his card losses and pluckings at Lady Poolbundy's routs." Why the first character should stand for Hastings wiU be under- stood when it is remembered that Sir Francis Wronghead is a character in Vanbrugh's and Gibber's comedy of " The Provoked Husband," who, says a commentator on the play, "having over- drawn his estate, deems it advisable to quarter himself on the public purse, and who has ventured all for love ' to please his eye and vex his heart,' and if he has been guilty of any libertinism in his youth, he is more than atoning for it by a wedded life of penance and mortification — his wife being thoughtless and extravagant." I have some doubt as to whether Don Quixote also is intended for Hastings. He is often alluded to as the Great Mogul elsewhere in the Bengal Gazette — and his fondness for war is remarked on — but it is strange that he should be under two characters in the same piece. Sir E. Chambers had been Vinerian professor at Oxford. He had a character for being weak and infirm of purpose, easily influenced. Justice Balance is a character in Farquar's play of the " Eecruiting Ofiicer." 182 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. But evil days were now close at hand for our poor news-monger : One day in June an armed band* consisting, he avers, of " several Europeans, some sepoys, and between three or four hundred peons," came to arrest him .under an order from the Chief Justice at the suit of the Governor. His gate having been battered in with a sledge hammer, he says, he saUied out on them with his arms, and, refusing to he forcibly taken away, undertook to attend the Judge in Court on being shown a legal authority for his arrest. The Court having adjourned before he got there, that same day he was lodged in jail, and the next morning before the Supreme Court "two indictments" were read out to him on the prosecution of Warren Hastings, Esq. Bail for forty thousand rupees for his appearance to each of them was demanded ; he offered all that he could muster, namely, five thousand, which was refused, and he was accordingly remanded to jail to prepare his defence as best he could. This is Hicky's own account given pubhcly in his paper, in a letter addressed by him to the Clerk of the Crown, pointing out that excessive bail is unconstitutional, and involves, especially in the case of a poor man, grave injustice. The Bengal Oazette also draws attention to the fact that the bail demanded of Wood- fall, the printer of Junius' letter to the King, was not equal to 20,000 rupees. Amongst the Impey Manuscripts there are a few letters relating to the proprietor of the Bengal Gazette, the earliest of which is • dated three months after the incident just related. Hicky seems to have been in jail waiting judgment ; Impey was at Baughulpore (whence he was soon to set out for Lucknow, a journey which he * Lest tlie reader should "be hastily inclined to regard Mr. Hicky's statement on this head as altogether imaginary, I recall a few sentences from Macanlay's accouat of the high-handed proceedings of the Supreme Court at this time, viz. : " ISo man kaew what was next to be expected from this strange tribunal. It had already collected round itself an army of the worst part of the native popula- tfon, inform ers and false witnesses, and common barrators, and above all a banditti of bailifE's followers, compared with whom the retainers of the worst English Sp Onginghouses in the worst times might be considered as upright and tender hearted. Many natives were seized and flung into the common gaol merely as a precaution till their cause should come to trial. Every class of the population, English and Native, with the exception of the ravenous pettifoggers who fattened on the misery and terror of an immense community, cried out loudly against this fearful oppression. But the judges were immoveable. If a bailiff was resisted, they ordered the soldiers to be called out. If a servant of the Compaiiy, in conformity with the orders of the Government, withstood the miserable catch-poles who, with Impey's writs in their hands, exceeded the insolence and rapacity of gang-robbers, he was fl\mg into prison for a contempt," etc., etc. LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 183 was afterwards to hear so very much about). He writes to Hyde, to Calcutta : — "Nothing occurs to me as material in the Court except Hicky's business (and &c., &c.). . . With regard to the first what think you, if his paper (which I have not seen) should not have been offensive since the trial, of three months imprisonment for the record (recent ? ) contempts, six months for each of the Governor's indictments and foiu? for the Padre's,* with a fine of one thousand rupees for each of the Governor's, and five hundred for the Padre's, if he lays no affidavit to prove his poverty before the Court, and if he does, to add two mouths imprisonment for each of the Governor's and one for the Padre's, or shall we remit the contempts 1" The object of sending Hicky to jail, and keeping him there, was no doubt to extinguish his paper, but in this it failed, for the fact remains (and a very singular one it is in connection with the infancy of the press in India) that though the man who was proprietor, editor and printer, had been imprisoned from June, the Bengal Gazette still managed to struggle on for several months longer, with no falling off in the punctuality of its appearance, nor with any change in the style of its matter. Nor does it mend its manners in the least ; the observation of social and official doings is as watchful, ahd the rebuke or the approbation as prompt and as personal as ever. These are conveyed in all the favourite vehicles as of yore, the Rhymer's " squib," the " Bon Ton Intelligence," the "Contributor's Letter." Lengthy manifestoes headed " Addresses to the Public," are issued, too, which proclaim that in defence of their rights the Bengal Gazette and its proprietor wiU so bear themselves that the opposer may beware. Hicky from his dungeon seems to direct the storm, and hurls defiance at his oppressors with all the resources of his copious invective. This bold front seems to have enlisted much sympathy in the community amongst whom the Gazette found readers, and letters of congratula- tion reach it from many correspondents, one of whom (secure on the outside of a jail himself) thus, with vicarious stoicism, bids the poor captive to be of good cheer. " Do not, I conjure you, bate a jot of heart or hope, but stiU bear up and steer right onward in the glorious cause of the English Nation, even in the gloom of a * There is nothing to show who the Padre is, offence against whom is thus computed by the mouthpiece of the law to he fifty per cent, less heinous than that against the Governor. Possibly the worthy missionary Kiernander may have retorted (for the recent lecture administered to him) by thrusting his spear into the wounded boar ? 184 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. prison. After a few tedious months confinement you -will look back with joy on your past sufferings, and the happy consequence of them to British subjects, and to this poor distressed and exhausted country." As if to show that when called to a martyr's crown, he can wear it as a crown, Hicky ahout this time thus chides a correspondent, and heaps coals of fire on his chief persecutor's head : — " Your letter cannot be inserted, as it is repugnant to a plan of the Editor's previously resolved upon by him — never to lash at the fair sex ; the poorest of those ladies is a very valuable woman, and the other, though highly exalted may have faults, but the Editor is of opinion that the goodness of her heart makes a sufficient and ample atonement in the eight of God for everything laid to her charge. If fo we ought to be content, and although she is nearly allied to a man that has ungenerously and unremittingly pursued the Editor to his ruin, yet as he is unconscious of any part of it being owing to her influence, so he is determined never to give her an uneasy moment from anything published in this paper." Thus the crippled newspaper battled on through the rains and cold weather of 1781. Early in the following year Hastings returned to Calcutta after some months absence. His arrival brought stormy weather for the Bengnl Gazette, which was soon to thus inform its supporters of a fresh disaster : — " In January, 1782, was tried before Sir E. Impey an action brought by Warren Hastings, Esq. , against J. A . Hicky on the same indictment on which the said Warren Hastings had the said J. A. Hicky tried and found guilty at the Assizes last June, and for which the said J. A. Hicky was sentenced to remain one year in prison and pay a fine of 2000 rupees to the said Warren Hastings, who has on Wednesday last had damages given him by Sir E. Impey to the very heavy sum of 5000 sicca rupees, which with the fine of June amount to 7000 rupees, with a long confinement of one year in jail in this dangerous and tcorching climate." Crushing as this blow was, the contumacious liditor does not yet bend the knee. He does not sit down in his prison and ask those who look on him if there be any sorrow like unto his. He arms himself again for the' fight and goes into action in the old fashion. His return fire being as brisk as ever. News had about this time percolated into the Calcutta Jail of the coercive measures employedby4he GovernorOeneralj-afterhis recent -Benares warfare, against certain members of the Eoyal Family at Oude, and of the officious zeal with which the Chief Justice came to his aid, and journeyed from Benares to Oude to take what have since become historically known as "The Lucknow Affidavits." The imprisoned LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 185 Editor was not likely to neglect such an opportunity of letting his oppressors see that he had his eye on them. So a prominent place is assigned them in the Bengal Gazette's .next satire on Society. This takes the form j of a " Congress at S — k — r," and a " Vocal Concert given previous' to the rising of the Congress." The characters in the. latter are very numerous, but it will suffice to instance the most easily recognized ones in each. It may be explained that Sooksagur, the scene of the Masquerade, was a pretty place up the river where the ilite of Calcutta sometimes went excursionising in the cold season on festive pursuits. " In the Congress at S — k — ri some of the most conspicuous masks were : — iln the character of Sir Francis Wronghead (crying we are on a lorlorn hope, and must drive on neck or nothing.) A travelling justice of the peace y taking affidavits gratis, with the Old ********* . . J . following motto on his breast, i '' Datur pessimo," and "all was false and hollow." ^A windmill; he wore the habit in I which he recanted the errors of I the St. Franciscan faith : he had Ned Silent* ^ ^ label on his breast, on which I was inscribed : — " Good tho' late, I if sincere, but seldom sincere '^ when BO late." iAppearedin a Highland dress thrum- ming on the bag pipe. He was overheard whispering to the Dic- tator, " keep all secret, mon, and I'll help thee oot.' * Wheler, Memter of Council : this bactsKdiag of his is curiously confirmed ty Francis himself in his journal in the month following that of the duel, fiz., " Visit Mr. Wheler in the evening at the Gardens. Find his house full of the Government people, and perceive plainly from 'his own discourse that H. and he are not in a state of mortal enmity, nimiun familiariter exercere iivlrmcitiaK videntwr. They are often closted together, &c." Wheler was also uickuamed Ned Wheelahout by Hicky, ^ - - t Macpherson, Member of Council (1781). In his early career he is supposed to have shaken the Pagoda tree with marked success. Lord CornwalUs would seem from his published correspondence to have had but a poor opinion of his abilities or principles. On retirement he was created a Baronet, and became a great friend and confidant of the Prince of Wales. He was of great stature, and of " rare bodily graces," and "went by the name of the Gentle Giant." He acted as. Governor General between the time of Hastings and Lord ComwaHis, 186 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Viner* Justice Balance Jack Paradise Lostt Behar Judge ^Having lost his own character by I his acceptance of a place in May < last, came into the room with his I hands under his shirt in that of a '^ Fiscal. Of No Body. (A. patriot in a coat out at the elbows I which he endeavoured to patch 1 up with a string of love-letters I supplicating a celebrated beauty I to undertake the shortest part in >. "Duke and no Duke." /A Courier laden with affidavits I taken before the travelling Jus- J tice. Sir P. Wronghead was j overheard enjoining him not to I peach, and making him assurances i^ of being highly provided for. r Bepresenting the parable of the ■! foolish virgin in the Scripture (^ carrying a lamp without oil. A Dutchman. Turban Conquest. Pomposo, Her Guardian. In the Concert at S — k — r the following songs were set down for the chief performers : — Songs. Know then war's my pleasure How I am weather-beaten and shattered. By Sir F. Wronghead. j Ditto. Gold from Law can take the sting. By Poolbundy. The laws were made for the little. Ditto. Thane. There's truth and good sense in | friend W n's defence, affi- davits shall answer them all, sirs ( "I'm bubbled, Pm bubbled, oh, ( .^j .. ^ howPm troubled, bamboozled ^ffi*^^^^* Co""^'^- and hit." ( * Cliambers : Hicky announced with disgust in the previous September that the "new office of Judge of Chinsura and Chandemagore had been bestowed with a handsome salary on one of the Judges of the Supreme Court." This extra place of profit conferred by the Company's Goremment, attracted com- paratively Ettle notice considering the uproar created by the similar patronage in Impey's favour. t I have substituted the least objectionable of this gentleman's aliases. LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 187 He that weds a beauty. . . Jack Paradise Lost. ' " o teSl^iXm: " \ """'' { J-'^ P-dise Lost. Our Emma is a sad slut, nor heeds j m, p .. not what we taught her . . ( ® community. And when we fly them, they pur- ( sue us, and leave us when < Turban conquest, they've won us . . . ( The best wines if kept too long \ ,-.■.. wUl turn to vinegar . . ( °' This pleasantry gave the finishing stroke to Mr. Hicky's edito- rial career. It was not enough to scotch the snake ; it must be kiUed ; and killed it very soon was in this unexpected fashion. Early in March, 1782, the following announcement appeared : — " Mr. Hicky addresses his citizens and fellow subjects with heart-felt joy, and tells them that on March 7 the king's judges inclined to admit him to plead m formd pav/peris in defending four fresh actions brought against him this term by Warren Hastings, Esq.; and that Mr. Counsel- lor Davis (for plaintiff) did make a motion and plea in bar of Mr. Hicky 'a types being exempted from seizure, setting fortb that the said printing types did constitute and form a great part of Mr. Hickey's propertv, and hoped their Lordships would not protect the said types from being seized upon should judgment be obtained against him. This motion the honorable the king's judges strongly opposed as repugnant to the British Legislature and constitution, and treated it with the contempt it so very justly merited. Thus, by protecting the types, they have protected the liberty of the subject and the liberty of the press." In the next number he makes this appeal to the public : — " A scene of continued tyranny and oppression for near two years having reduced Mr. Hicky very much in his circumstances, involved him more in debt and injured his business very considerably, though he is still immured in a Jail where he has been these nine long months separated from his family and friends, at the suit of Warren Hastings, Esq., and where he still expects to remain, as the said W. H. has brought no less than six fresh actions against him this term," &c., &o. Then follows the rates at which advertisements,-&c., &c., will continue to be inserted. In the same number he announces the recent appearance of Lady "Wronghead at a masquerade "habited like a Tartarean (sic) princess, almost sinking under the weight of pearls and diamonds. The brilliancy of her dress was only eclipsed by her usual urbanity and vivacity." 188 ECHOES PEOM OLD CALCUTTA. This was the last opportunity allowed to .the Editor of :taking Mrs. Grundy iuto his confidence. His jubilant announcement of the repugnance of the Court to the proposal regarding the seizure of his type was premature. At all events the types were seized. The bound copy of the paper in the British Museum bears this entry on the fly-leaf, "from March, 1780, to March, 1782, The Day the Types were seized by Order." The Be,ngal Gazette was strangled, and the India (?a«eife, , its well-behaved rival, was left blooming alone. The ill-fated proprietor and editor can be traced a few steps further, in two or three letters and petitions of his addressed ivom jail to the Judges of the Supreme Court, which may still be seen in original among the Impey MSS. These are in the heavy, shaky writing of an old man. They are in respectful terms, coming from a mail naturally sunk in misery on realising that his hostages to fortune have been deprived -of support ; their tone is humble, but is not abject. On seeing them, one is not inclined to indulge in obvious moralities, or in unqualified condemnation, but rather to feel pity for the sad plight of an old fellow, who through his stormy career manifested much of the doggedness which characterises John Bull. The first Is dated January 17, 1783, and is addressed to the Chief Justice. In it he complains of " being surrounded by very drunken, riotous fellow prisoners, and his peace and repose interrupted by their clamorous broils." He especially names a Lieutenant Gould for " assaulting his ears with the most gross and ungentlemanlike abuse," though he had shown him many little neighbourly attentions. After his complaint the letter goes on thus : " I have now been confined in this jail upwards of nineteen long months, and nine long months of that time have been deprived of the means of earning one rupee for the support of my family, entirely owing to the seizure of the implements and tools of my profession ; and not being able to pay the rent of a small brickhouse for my children to live in, they have been, until the Christmas holidays, im- mured in the jail with myself. You, Sir, who have many fine children of your own (God bless them) cannot be at a loss in forming an idea what the feelings of a tender father must be who daily beholds his little innpcent children pining away under the contaminated air of a filthy jail,* who has the inclination hut not the power to relieve them. Yet great * In the Eeport of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, pnt- Hshed in 1782, we get a glimpse of what this Calcutta jail was like at this very time. A Mr. Creaasy who had been imprisoned there said ' ' the gaol was an old ruin of a house, formerly the residence of some black native." A Mr. W. Hickey (am attorney, I think), had often visited a friend there. " In the middle of the jail enclosure was a tank about thirty yards square in which the LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 189 and afflicting as those hardships really have been and still will continue to be, I have never complained of them, nor do I complain of them now ; my only motive for this short description being to prove to your Lordship that these afflictions are full sufficient for me to bear without having them wantonly aggravated by a man to whom I never gave the least ofifence. Was it in my power to shift my place of abode to such a distance that my ears could not be offended, and my mind thereby inflamed, I would not have troubled your Lordship." He winds up by saying that he will do very well if Mr. Gould is removed. This letter is thus endorsed in Impey's writing, " Hicky's letter ; gave Mr. Church, the Sheriff, an account of it, and desired tim to redress any grievances he may labour under." In the following August he petitions the Court, and dates from. " Birjee Jail," thus using the native designation for the quarter where the common prison was situated then — as now. He asks for release and remission of the rest of the fines, and points out that " Mr. Hastings last June did generously forgive your petitioner his part ot the fines." I am glad thus to be able to record this instance of absence of vindictiveness towards a fallen man, on the part of one who has often been referred to as implacaible and unforgiving. He urges that he had been " already two years in jail, during sixteen months of which he had been deprived of the means of earning a rupee for the support of his family, twelve in number, whose only subsistence was derived from the produce of a few bills which happily he had by him." The answer to this, he says, was, "that there was no resource but to pay the money, or lie in jail till next term." In a week or two he petitions again, saying that though he has received his release from Mr. Hastings he apprehends detainers from other creditors. He asks the Judges, "who are fathers them- selves, whether they can be devoid of feeling for a man in his prisoners promiscuously bathed and washed their clothes. Europeans were generally indulged by the gaoler with pei-mission to erect and live in small bamboo and matting huts near this tank ;_ it would be impossible for any European to exist for any length of time_ within the prison. The stench was dreadful. There was no infirmary or provision for the sick that he ever heard of. Debtors and criminals were not separated, nor men from women (but of this he was not positive). An old woman prisoner who begged of him said, in answer to his question, that she wanted the money to buy water." From other evidence (see Mill) it appeared that there was no gaol allowance, and that many died from the want of the necessaries of life. Hindoos, Mahomedans, and !puropeans were all together. In addition to this, the prisoners, at the time deposed to numbering 170, there were daily there a number of women and attendants who brought provisions or came to cook them. 190 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. situation, separated from his helpless children, who are now at that age that they ought to be sent to school." His final prayer is that " as he is now stripping his family of the necessary furniture that they had got about them, which he had so long struggled to keep for them, that when they are sold at outcry, and the proceeds paid to the Clerk of the Crown, that he will no longer be detained in prison 'by any other demands upon him relative to this business.'" The Chief Justice sent this petition on to Mr. Justice Chambers with this note : — " Dear Sir Robert, — I send you another letter from Hicky ; please to send your answer, and transmit that and this letter to Brother Hyde." Chanibers wrote at foot of the Chief Justice's letter : — " The improprieties in Mr. Hicky's letter may well be pardoned on account of his distress ; but I do not see how we can relieve his dis- tress. As to his request that he may be informed of all the demands that can be made upon him relative to this business, the Clerk of the Crown will undoubtedly inform him if he applies to that officer." When this reached Mr. Justice Hyde he seems to have made some reference back to Chambers, the purport of which may be gathered from this rather crusty note : — " Dear Brother Hyde, " I had no intention to write more tban you received, and that was not meant to be sent to Hicky, but merely to communicate to you and Sir B. Impey the idea that occurred to me. I do not believe that Sir E. Impey intended that I should compose a written answer to be signed by all the Judges, for he knows that in the present state of my health it would not be proper for me to so employ myself. I agree with you in thinking that it is not necessary to send any writteu answer to Mr. Hicky. " I am, dear Brother Hyde, "Yours affectionately, " R. C."» " August 19, 1Y83." The answer from the Judges was unfavourable, and was verbally conveyed. This is evident from the last despairing wail of the imprisoned Editor that is traceable : — * Chamters signs his notes to Impey, " yours very affectionately." One in wMoh he asks that his ahsence froni_ oonrt may he excused is addressed to the Bight Honourahle Sir B. Impey— a mistake which Mr. B. B. Impey notices in an endorsement. LIFE AND DEATH OF THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER. 191 " The only resource he has now is to implore the assistance of God to give him patience and fortitude to stand the shock which your Lord- ships' memorialists received last Sunday night when Mr. Forbes de- livered him your Lordships' message. " Now every dawn of hope is fled, and nothing but a gloomy picture of horror, con- finement and distress appears before his imagination." All me ! how different all this from that serene evening, the " blest retirement, friend to life's decline," to which he thus told his patrons in one of his addresses his mind's eye looked forward when he embarked on his newspaper enterprise. " I hoped to pay off all my debts, and secure six thousand pounds in England, in order to support me in my old days in a land of freedom and liberty. To purchase a little bouse in the middle of a garden, rise with the lark, sow my own peas or beans, graft or innoculate my own trees accord- ing to the season of the year, and live in peace with all mankind." In the year (or the next) when the journalist was thus letting his fancy roam, there may have reached Calcutta a volume of recently published poems, in one of which, he who had yet to write " The Task," and " John Gilpin," tells how universal is the aspiration of our battered old exile. " The statesman, lawyer, merchant, man of trade, Pants tor the refuge of some rural shade, Where all his long anxieties forgot Amid the charms of a sequestered spot, He may possess the joy he thinks he sees, Lay his old age upon the lap of ease." &c , &c. Whether Hicky's chains were ever broken I have been unable to discover ; or whether the old stranded hulk got refitted and launched on another voyage. That useful but melancholy book, the " Bengal Obituary," does not enshroud him, so there is some room to hope that he managed to return to that country of which it was his boast to proclaim he was a free-born son. He was a worthless man. but as the pioneer of the Indian Press his name and his story should have an interest for Calcutta. CHAPTER TX. PHILIP FEANCIS AND HIS TIMES. Madame Geand, 1777 — 1780. The incident in the Calcutta life of Philip Eranois, which maintains a notoriety second only to that of his duel with Warren Hastings, i? his appearance hefore the Supreme Court as defendant in a suit successfully instituted against him by G. F. Grand, The circumstances which led to a member of the GoTernment being forced to occupy so unenviable a position were first brought directly to the notice of Indian readers by Sir John Kaye, in a very bi±ter article on Francis, in the second volume of the Calcutta Review (1844). Kaye derived his information altogether from the account written by the plaintiff many years after the event in the " Narrative of the Life of a Gentleman long resident in India," from which he gave an extract detailing some of the more prominent facts consti- tuting the wrong which necessitated a recourse to law. Mr. Herman Merivale, who completed and edited the " Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis," published in 1867, when dealing with the Calcutta scenes in this domestic drama, is obliged to rely entirely on the extract quoted in the JRevieto, and alluding to the " Narrative," says, — "I have never scene this very scarce production." English writers and others who have in recent years touched on this subject have followed the account reproduced in the " Memoirs," and seem to have adopted the view held both by the Editor of the latter and by the Calcutta reviewer, that, however desirable it is, as a general rule, to avoid such subjects, there are occasions when they justly fall within the province of the biographer. It will not be difficult, for instance, to show that the incident in question was " not merely a domestic episode in the Life of Francis," but one, the consequences of which tended to embitter his resentment against Impey — an incentive to action on the part of so good a MADAME GRAND. 19S hater as Francis, which, bore fruit a thousand fold a few years afterwards. As regards the lady concerned in the Calcutta proceedings, French writers naturally take an interest in the career of one who emerged from obscurity to occupy a very conspicuous position in the highest Parisian society, as the Princess of Benevento, several years afterwards. Conjecture had, of course, been long busy as to the antecedents of a lady so suddenly exalted, and stories vague and shadowy and remote from truth, were in circulation about them. However, long before her death, even curiosity about her seems to have subsided, and for the generation succeeding, her name ceased to offer a topic of commentary. But, on the publica- tion of the " Memoirs " of Sir Philip Francis fifty years after his death, circumstances were brought into prominence which revived an interest that had long slept ; and English and French reviewers, in dealing with the " Memoirs," recalled a forgotten cause eelebre, and confessed that till they appeared, little was known of the Indian antecedents of a lady, who is thus alluded to by one of them (M. Amed6e Pichot) : " Parmi les contemporaines de Madame Eecamier il en fut une qui, trfes-belle ausi, avait vainement eu pour premier adorateur iin des hommes les plus spirituels de I'Angleterre, Sir Philip Francis, k qui sont attribuees les famenses Lettres de Junius ; et pour epoux M. de Talleyrand, r6put^ les plus fin des- diplomates europe^ns." The same writer says, that the lady arrived in Paris from India after a number of adventures — " sufiisant pour rivaliser avec la fiancee du roi de Garbe."* The comparison is a harsh one, but the fragmentary form in- which anything relating to Madame Grand has come before the general reader, would leave room for much misrepresentation, as would the gossip, resting often on very slender authority, which tradition has associated with her name. It is remarkable that even the author of the " Memoirs " of Sir Ehjah Impey says : — " I do not remember to have once heard my father relate the circumstances of the trial, nor do I find a single allusion in his papers to the cause of Le Grand (sic) versus Francis, which produced so great a sensation in Calcutta at the time." It is proposed, therefore, to now-re-tell, in a more connected form than has yet been attempted, the story of this celebrated cause, and to bring together the circumstances surrounding and arising * Readers of Boooaccio will appreciate the allusion. " Veuve de huit galants, la prit pour pucelle, et dans son erreur par la belle apparement il fut laisse." 194 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. -out of it. With this in , view recourse will be had to a source not hitherto made use of, — viz., the original record of the trial itself as preserved among the archives of the Calcutta High Court. It will be convenient, in the first place, to see who and what the plaintiff was (as after the lapse of so many years some misconcep- "tion exists even on this point), and from this quarter to get a look into Anglo-Indian society in the last century, by tracing him through his career, both before and after the painful domestic ■episode, which has rescued his name from oblivion. Of Madame Grand herself but little can be told up to the time when she left India. After that there is a long portion of her life -during which even tradition is almost, and probably ever will be, silent ; but from the time when her name becomes connected with that of a great historical character, materials are not wanting to follow her career. An outline of this, gathered from French and other sources, will be given to complete the sketch before we take leave of her. Mr. George Frangois Grand was not " established in business at Chandernagore," as the biographer of Francis and other writers assume ; but he was a member of the Indian Civil Service duly appointed in England, and had previously been in the ("ompany's Military Service. It will be best as we go on to let him, as a general rule, tell his own story, by placing before the reader extracts from his quaintly written " Narrative " — a source from which I shall have occasion to make copious drafts. And first a word or two about this book. There is a copy* of it in the British Museum, on the fly-leaf of which, written apparently in a senile hand, is this note signed Jno. Eow : " The annexed Narrative was the first book printed in the English language at the Cape of Good Hope, and was given to me by Mr. Smith." The book is a thin quarto of seventy-five pages, and an Appendix of xxxi. Its full title is — * The India Office library contained, for many years, a copy of this scarce publication, which disappeared a few years ago under accidental circumstances not necessary to be detailed. This was-, most probably, the copy made use of by Kaye, but he extracted from it only enough (and this on one or two special points) to arouse a curiosity to see more, as the writer had e-ridently resided in India during stirruig times. Kaye shows what misrepresentations as regarck the after career of Mr. Grand might have been avoided (notably by Macfarlane) if this little known Narrative had been consulted. The present writer looked for it in vain many years ago in the British Museum, but lit on it there most ■unexpectedly, in 1878, a copy having been obtained by purchase in July, 1874. MADAME GEAND. 195 "NARKATIVE OF THE LIFE OF A GENTLEMAN' LONG RESIDENT IN INDIA, COMi'BBHBNDING " A period the most eventful in the history of that country, with regard, to the revolutions occasioned by European interference, and interspersed with interesting anecdotes and traits, characteristical of those eminent persons who distinguished themselves at that juncture, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE : PBINTffD FOR THE AUTHOE. 1814.' An "Advertisement" on the first page tells the reader that — " I had long determined upon writing a narrative of my life. It was suggested to me by friends who felt for the vicissitudes which I had experienced. I began it therefore in 1801, and continued it from time to time, till in 1808, 1 have brought it to a close. The reason of the delay in its publication has been detailed by Notification inserted in the Cope Gazette. I thank those who have now afforded me the opportunity of giving it to the world without subjecting me to a pecu- niary loss. Where opportunities exist for comparing portions of the Narrative with contemporary or collateral authorities, it will be found to be reasonably accurate, some allowance being made for one who is stating his own case, and who is writing of events long gone by, and at an age when memory must have lost much of its tenacity. When I come to speak of the latter portion of his book, however, I shall have to notice one or two rather disingenuous buppressions. As was not uncommon, the narrative is in the form of a letter to a friend, and thus opens in the old-fashioned stereotyped way. "Born of a virtuous and noble family (my mother's name being Clerc de Virly, which Virly was a seignorial patrimony in Normandy, long the property and residence of her ancestors till the despotism of Louis XIV., by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, drove the Seigneur de Virly to take refuge with his family in England, leaving his fair possessions and wealth to the spoil of a tyrannical king). - o 2 196 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Educated at Lausanne (in the environs of which delightful city and country the Lordship of Ecublano, situated on the banks of the Lake of Geneva, between Lausanne and Morges, had long been the seat of the Grands), in the house and under the superintendence of the best parents, assisted by a private tutor, a clergyman living in the house, and with whom I used to attend the lectures of the first professors of science in that celebrated University, I could not otherwise be formed, when I opened my career in the world, but with a disposition inclined to honour, virtue, and fraught with every social tie." His father having a large family accepted the ofifer of an old mercantile friend in London, Mr. Eobert Jones, of Clement's Lane, Lombard Street (afterwards an East Lidia Director and M.P. for Huntingdon), to receive his son as apprentice for seven years, gratis, with the view of his succeeding at the end of that time to a regular business estimated to bring in about £5000 a year. The next extract will show how Mr. Jones received the youth, who arrived in London " in charge of a voiturier," and how young gentlemen were taught to become British merchants a hundred years ago : — " He welcomed me most roughly ; he asked me indeed how my father and mother were, and if I had brought him any Gru}dre cheese, which, the voiturier answering for me in the affirmative, seemed to work a happy change. He smiled and bade me approach him ; called for the footman, and , observing his spare beds were removed to the country, committed me to the care of him, who was directed to afi^ord me half his bed to sleep on. The next morning, after breakfasting with Mr. Jones, I was introduced into the accounting house, and my first duty prescribed to see it cleaned, the fire well lighted, the desks brushed, the chairs, &c., &c., well placed, and told I should be favoured to run about with bills for acceptance, as soon as I became acquainted a little with the streets of London to be able to find my way in them, until when I was ordered to accompany the footman, who on such errands threw off, his livery jacket, to assume ah old brown coat cast off by his master, and he was enjoined to point out to me the principal resorts where this duty called him, after my pigtail had bf en changed for a cropped head of hair, in order, as Mr. Jones wittily remarked, the people might not take me for a French monkey imported on English grounds. " And now, my friend, view the contrast which so sudden a change created ; picture to yourself a youth dressed in embroidered and laced clothes, curled head and chapeau bras, solitaire and sword by his side, accompanied and introduced by his tutor into the first assemblies, both public and private, taught by the attention of those frequenting them almost to consider himself a man, and behold the transition of the MADAME GRAND. 197 same youth, in a plain Englisi frock, round hat, and hair cut close, trudging after a footman in all weathers through the streets of London ! " The disgust was natural. I seized the first moment of well grounded discontent to absent myself." Finally through the interest of an aunt, he got a nomination to a cadetship in Bengal, and sailed in January, 1766, in the Lord Gmnden, in which he found himself " accommodated with eleven writers, each with a standing bed in the great cabin, not one of which gentlemen, excepting Mr. John Makepeace Thackeray, of Hadley, is now (1802) living." (He refers to William, the grand- father of the novelist.) They anchored in Madras in June, where he waited on Mr.Palk,who from being chaplain had succeeded Lord Pigot in the Government. In Calcutta he was well received by Clive, who regretted that he could not entrust one so young with a commission, but who sent him up to join the second brigade which stood on the roll for field service, with an injunction to its commanding officer to let him act as ensign as soon as he seemed fit. Before very long he got a commission as ensign signed by Clive. In 1768 he became a lieutenant, in which rank he served till 177-3* (without apparently seeing any active field service), when, owing to broken health, he was " ordered by the Faculty to make a trip to Europe." To follow this prescription involved in those days resignation of the service — a step which he most reluctantly took and returned to England. He sailed, March, 1773, in the Marquin of RooMngham, Captain Alexander Hamilton, in which a feUow-passenger was Baron Imhoff. Prior to embarkation he remained three months at Calcutta with General Anthony Poller, vrhen he saw a good deal of Warren Hastings, then the Governor. He gives a curious glimpse into the social life of the Presidency during the sojourn. Jiventually he obtained a wriiership on the list of 1776, "which station was accepted accompanied with the assurance that I should be so recommended to the Government of India as to be deemed eligible to such situations as Factors were placed in." He arrived in Calcutta in June, 1776, and having been entrusted at Madras with official despatches from Colonel Macleans to the Governor- General he " was received by Mr. Hastings with that affability and benevolence which were so characteristic in that great man, and * In Dodwell and Miles' Army List (Indian) the dates of his commissions are, ensign, 1766 (when he could not have been more than 17 years of age) lieutenant, 1768, captain, 1773. 198 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. directly was tauglit to consider myself an inmate of the family, and one partaking in a certain degree of Ms confidence, having the honour of being admitted to his bureau to transcribe his official despatches and secret papers." But let us pass on to where the narrative introduces us tojthe lady whose beauty, and the strange fortune to which it conducted her, made her at one time a celebrity even amongst the highest in Europe. " While I remained in the family of Mr. Hastings I was in the habitude, with my friends Major Palmer and Gall, to make occasional excursions at the end of the week on the river. Our rendezvous fenerally was either at the lamented Mr. Croft's plantation of ooksagur, in which he had introduced the growth of the sugarcane, or at Uhyretty house, the residence of M. Chevalier, the Governor of the French settlement of Chandernagore. At this gentleman's mansion there reigned the truest hospitality and gaiety. His admiration and personal friendship for Mr. Hastings insured the most welcome reception to those who were patronised by this excellent man. In one of these trips from the Presidency I formed an attachment to Miss Noel Catherine Werl^e, the daughter of Monsieur Werlee, Capitaine du Port and Chevalier de Saint Louis, a respectable old man whose services had deservedly merited this mark of distinction from his sovereign. We were not long in expressing to each other our recipro- cal inclinations, and our engagement in matrimonial alliance took place, which we agreed should be solemnised as soon as I could obtain a situation which might enable me to commence housekeeping. "The considerate Mr. Barwell, becoming acquainted with our mutual wishes, and pleasingly, as he said, desirous to alleviate the sufferings of a young couple ardent to be united, opened of himself the subject to me, and with that liberality of mind which he truly possessed, authorised ine to impart to Mr. Hastings that whatever he could devise for my welfare should meet with his hearty concurrence. The Paymastership to the garrisons was the first office which became vacant, and to this I should have been appointed had not Mr. Hastings sacredly engaged his promise for that station to Mr. Kneller. By the removal, however, of Mr. Ooates at the same period to the commercial residency of Chittagong, these worthy friends obtained from the Board of Trade for me the office of Secretary to the Salt Committee, and Head Assistant and Examiner in their Secretary's office, then the present Mr. Charles Grant, the Director. " These situations, producing an income of thirteen hundred rupees per month, I felt at full liberty to claim from the young lady and her worthy parent the performance of their promise. The 10th of July, 1777, was accordingly fixed for the auspicious day, and as Miss Werl6e was of the Catholic persuasion it became necessary for us to be married both in the Eomish and the Protestant church. To these we conformed. MADAME GRAND. 199- On. the morniDg of that day, at 1 a.m. (sic) the Popish priest legalized our union in the church at Chandernagore, and at eight the same morning at Hughely House, where my old Benares friend, Thomas Motte, Esq., dwelt, the Revd. Dr. William Johnson, by special license* from the Governor-General, pronounced, I had fondly hoped,, our indissoluble tie in this world so long as our respective career of life lasted. "I might well have entertained a reliance of this nature, for never did an union commence with more brightening prospects ; on our parts it was pure and disinterested, and blessed with the sincerest attach- ment. This continued, I may aver, to the cruel moment which separated us never to meet again. Those who frequented my house verified the same. When called upim for their evidence before the Tribunal of Justice in order to identify the person who had committed tlie irreparable injury, and who with the boldest effrontery had, as will be seen, denied in writing his trespass, it was evident how they sympathized in my unfortunate lot. To the question repeated by the Bench of Judges to each witness their answer was uniform : ' You were accustomed, sir, to visit at Mr. Grand's house ! did you ever observe any mark of disunion between them 1 ' ' On the contrary, my Lords, the happiest domestic union, and we remarked that the most minute and reciprocal attentions prevailed until this fatal event.' " When Mademoiselle Werl^e became Mrs. Grand,t she was about three months short of fifteen years of age, having been born at the- Danish Settlement of Tranquebar on the Coromandel Coast, on November 21st, 1762. It is customary, especially amongst French writers, to speak of Mrs. Grand as an " Indian." Talleyrand himself writes of her as " Une Indienne bien belle," and JSIapoleon at St. Helena referred to her as " Anglaise ou Indienne ; " Capefique in the " Biographie Uni- verselle," speaks of her as " rare et nonchalante beauts Indienne." These allusions to her Indian origin seem intended to convey the im- pression that she was not directly sprung from unmixed European * The marriage may be seen thus recorded, "by the chaplain who officiated, in the register now existing at St. John's Church, Calcutta. _ "July, 1777. " Mr. Francis Grand, writer in the Hon'ble Company's service, and Miss Varl^,. of Chandernagore. WiiLiAM Johnson, Ohaplam." I am under obligation to the courtesy of M. de Lessard and of Monsieur- I'Ahbe Barthet for the knowledge that the original record of this marriage does not now exist at Chandernagore : the changeful times through which the French settlement passed since then will account for this. t Her husband being an Enghshman (by adoption), it was as "Mrs." Grand that she was spoken of when in Calcutta. As such he always mentions her. The French form, " Madame," by which she is now most generally alluded to,, dates from the period of her European notoriety. 200 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. •stock. But her enduring comeliness, which charmed long after middle life, is opposed to this, as indeed is the physical character of her beauty which contemporaries have handed down. In all probability it would be as inaccurate to designate her as an " East Indian " (in our acceptation of the word), in whose case, as a rule, when youth is ^one all is gone, as it would be so to describe the offspring of European parents because born in Calcutta to-day. All authorities agree in testifying to the extreme beauty of Mrs. Grand : in face, form, figure, and gracefulness of carriage she seems to have presented a combination quite unrivalled. But beyond this she was dowered with woman's crowning glory, a luxuriant head of hair ; an attraction which has ever been found to exercise witchery over men, especially when associated, as in her case, with blonde colours. One enthusiastic French writer alludes to this special beauty of hers as " la plus belle chevelure blonde qui ait peut-gtre jamais exists." I shall have occasion further on to refer to the matured beauty of her later bloom, but the following is from the description of her in the morning of her life, given by Francis to his second wife. All that this lady tells on this subject, as said to come from Francis, must "be taken with the greatest reservation ; but on this point her tes- timony is in harmony with that from independent sources : "'Mrs. •Grand was at that time the most beautiful woman in Calcutta. She was tall, most elegantly formed, the stature of a nymph, a com- plexion of unequalled delicacy, and auburn hair of the most luxu- riant profusion ; fine blue eyes, with black eye-lashes and brows, gave her. countenance a most piquant singularity." The writer in the Caleuita Review, before quoted, says that " her picture painted by Zoffany now (1844) adorns the walls of Mr. Marshman's residence at Serampore ; " and with a discrimination which perhaps is some- what ex post facto, he adds, — " there is more of feminine softness than of strength of character in her fair countenance ; — the sensual prevails everywhere over the intellectual." A painting of her by Gerard may still be seen in the Musee at Versailles. This I shall refer to again. Such was the lady who was singled out in the social life of ■Calcutta for the marked attentions of Philip Francis. To him also nature had been prodigal in her gifts. In addition to his rare mental endowments he was remarkable for an exterior described as " strikingly handsome." His contemporaries speak of his tall, erect, well-proportioned figure ; bis classical features ; his small delicately-moulded ears and soft shapely hands, &c. Lady MADAME GRAND. From a painting in the Baptist Mission College, Serampore, near Calcutta. MADAME GRAND. 201 -brancis (a very devoted witness, however) records, that so notice- ably good-looking was he as a young man, that when in Paris in 1766 he was alluded to as " le bel Anglais." His manner towards ladies is said to have been characterized by an air of easy politeness and attention marked with deferential admiration. A good idea of this may be gathered from the letters scattered through his Memoirs, notably from those to the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire, to Lady Thanet, and others. " Many of his letters to women," says his biographer, '' have that mixture of playfulness, humour, and sentiment which is said to be particularly captivating to them. He had also that peculiar attraction which they are sometimes apt to find in one who is feared by men, and reputed haughty and unyielding among them, but who shows him- self tractable and submissive to the other sex and eager to obtain their favour." It is evident therefore, that he was well equipped with : — ■ " the charms With which a lover Golden Venus arms ; Soft moving .speech and pleasing outward show No wish can give them, but the gods bestow." At the period to which the circumstances about to be related refer, Mr. Francis was eight and thirty years of age. His personal and other qualifications for ingratiating himself would not be worth mentioning ; but that, in recalling the early incidents in Mrs. Grand's life, it would be unfair not to take into account some of those elements of success in what is called " gallantry," to which as a child-wife she was exposed ; and such qualifications, it must be remembered, would have rather an ally than the reverse, in the disparity of years which existed in the special occasion for their employment with which we are concerned. For it is " a tale often told " that a girl's self-love in the first instance is flattered and gratified, at being selected in society, as the object of the preference and attention of a gifted and experienced man of the world ; and such a man's getting into further favour is facilitated in India especially, by high official position, owing to the peculiar constitution of Anglo-Indian society. In the diary which Francis kept in India, and in which official and social matters are mixed up with sententious brevity, we find, under date November 23rd, 1778 — "■ Ball at my house ; Hastings, &c. irectors too he failed to get the redress which he had so calculated on that he had accepted pecuniary advances from friends, to reimburse whom he was obliged to sell all that he had, and to transfer his annuity for their benefit. As I shall have occasion later on to refer to the agency by which Mr. * Edward Cooke, the captain of the English frigate, was quite a young man. He died of his wounds in this fight, three months afterwards. His tomh is in North Park Street cemetery, Calcutta, and his monument is in Westminster Abbey. The action occurred at night, in the Balasore roads. Captain Eastwick, with several other Englishmen, was a prisoner on board La Forte. The French- man fought to the bitter end, losing the admiral, De Sercey (a pupil of SufErein's), the captain, and three lieutenants. The senior surviving officer — quite a lad-— begged Eastwick with tears in his voice to hail the English ship that the French had struck ; La Forte was then a dismasted hulk. MADAME GRAND. 243 Grand was extricated from his difficulties, I had better give verba- tim what he has chosen to tell us on this subject himself : " After suffering privations and hardships which fell heavy at my time of life, I was relieved by the generosity of a friend, who had a lively remembrance of attachment, and obligation for the conduct which I had observed during prosperity. With what was left me out of this sum, being two-fifths of its amount, I departed for the Conti- nent, my tried friends in England approving of the tame, and repeating their assurance ihey would not be unmindlul to bring forward my claims and a reconsideration of my case, when they saw a proper opportunity to exert themselves in behalf of their injured friend. " By 1 his same liberal friend was I offered a handsome pension to live at ease and to enjoy for the remainder of my days where the local (sic) was most agreeable ; and even I was enjoined by the warmest friends of my youth and career in life, through whom this bounty was tendered, viz., Sir Elijah Impey and Mr. Womb well, to accept of it, and quit the paths of ambition and the future trouble which might again arise and befall me from public situations. " I rejected this munificence intended, not from pride, but from a consideration I had other ties which demanded I should not sink into perfect repose whilst active faculties permitted (me) to discharge with credit stations to which I might be elevated. With these sentiments I assented readily to the proposition subsequently made to me from the Batavian Government to repair to the Cape of Crood Hope in a high station, with the promise of a higher, and the eventual assurance of those friends to whose interest in my behalf I felt sincerely grateful, that both rank and fortune were once more within my reach, and that nothing would be spared to throw me into the state during my sojourn- ment abroad of the truly pleasing one — otium cvm, dignitate ; with these prospects and the fullest reliance of performance did I embark, vested with my new honours after the treaty of Amiens, in a time of profound peace, and with the strongest hope of its continuance, for my destination. The unfortunate war which soon burst out after my arri^al, has deprived me of those advantages to which I looked with fond delight, not so much for what concerned me personally, but for the gratification of others, and which, from the honesty of those on whose promises I implicitly trusted, I am persuaded I should other- wise have reaped. Accustomed to vicissitudes, nay seemingly born to experience such, I behold this last with philosophic contemplation, flecti nonfrangi." The occupation of the Batavian Eepublic having gone (on the Cape becoming a British Colony), Mr. Grand was appointed by the new Commander. Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird, to be " Inspector of H.M.'s Woods and Lands ;" but he seems soon to have lost this employment also, and then probably subsided into B 2 244 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. private life. The only other references to him personally that I have seen, are in Sir James Mackintosh's Memoirs, who, on his way home from Bombay (his ship having put in at the Cape), records in his diary : " I6ih Januarg, 1812.— At the African Club, where I went to read Newspapers and Eeviews, I met Mr. Grandt {sic), the first husband of Madame Talleyrand ; he is rather a gentlemnn- like old man, a native of Lausanne, sent here with an office during the peace." And in a book published anonymously in 1816 entitled " Sketches of India, &c., together with Notes on the Cape of Good Hope, &c., written at those places in 1815." The author says " In Cape Town I met with Mr. Grand a gentleman whose life appears to have been an uninterrupted series of vicissitudes and mis- fortunes." Grand must have poured his woes with dramatic effusiveness into this gentleman's ears until he bewildered him, for the version of them which the sympathetic listener retails is this. " When Lord Cornwallis assumed the reins of Government in Bengal, he was expelled to make room for some of his Lordship's partizans ; infamous attacks made on his character — his integrity called in question, and this without any defence being allowed : to use his own words he was prejudged and proscribed. His domestic misfortunes commenced with the seduction of his wife (the present Madame Talleyrand), by Sir Philip Francis, on the day of marriage {sic I), and terminated, if I may use the word, by his being deprived almost of bread by the British Government at the Cape. I found him the gentleman and much esteemed." It iff much to be regretted that there is a wide gap in the history of Mrs. Grand, for the filling up of which no materials of any authentic value seem yet to have come to light. One would like to know how sixteen years in the very bloom of this beautiful woman's life were passed, and would like to believe that she escaped the lot which one, with much experience of woman's frailty, thus tells us invariably overtakes those similarly deluded into early folly : — " For the first step in error none. e'er can recall, And the woman once fallen for ever must fall. Pursue to the last the career she's begun, And be false unto many, as faithless to one." We certainly have what Lady Francis says on these points, and she professed to have open to her a source of information which probably could be most valuable ; but unfortunately what thi§ MADAME GRAND. -^ 245 lady committed to paper concerning the Grand affair, turns out to be such a compound of superficial truth and solid error, in those particulars which can be submitted to proof, that we are bound to regard the whole of it with caution, and with the suspicion that much of what Francis in his old age chose to tell his second wife on this subject, was intended to amuse or to mislead. Stni, there is nothing very improbable in her account, which is briefly this, that, on Francis's arrival in England from India, Mrs. Grand went to reside in France, where she put herself into the charge of two respectable ladies, and though largely (if not mainly) dependent on the slender support which they could give her, she refused any assistance from Francis. That he frequently went to see her in Paris and Spa, but that she, though acknowledging her affection for him and her attachment for no one else, " resisted the temptation of renewing the improper part of her intercourse with him." That he met her suddenly one day in England at the com- mencement of the French Revolution, and that she tried to avoid him ; having been driven from France with other emigrants, she had determined, while in England, to remain concealed from him. And that, on the whole, she conducted herself with such decorum as finally " to secure a most brilliant establishment in marriage and the protection of the respectable Josephine." I may add, as in some degree confirmatory of the above, that a foot-note in Vol. II. of the Memoirs quotes a passage in a letter from Francis soon after his return to England to an intimate friend in India, which very probably refers to Mrs. Grand, viz : " You will be glad to hear that is established at Paris, creditably in the society of Madame Vanl^e." I suspect that the 'n'in this last word is a misreading or a misprint for ' r ' ; and remembering that VarM is given in the Calcutta Marriage Register as the spelling of the maiden name of Mrs. Grand, it seems not unreasonable to infer that the blank stands for her, and that she was living with some relative on the father's side. On the other hand, to show what sort of stories circulated in France relative to the years between Madame Grand's arrival there and her second marriage, one may be quoted, not because I believe it to be in the least more, susceptible of proof than many others, but because it professes to be so circumstantial as to names, places, dates, &c., &c. A work in four volumes published in London in 1834 (four years before his death), entitled " Life of Prince Talleyrand," is without the author's name, but is evidently a translation of a work 246 ECHOES PEOM OLD CALCUTTA. published in French in Paris in the same year, the name of the author being given in the catalogue at the British Museum as C. M. de Villemarest. This book says correctly enough that Madame Grant (sic) was born at Tranqnebar, and it produces what purposes to be a summary of an account given by a British Naval Officer, Lieutenant Nath. Belchier ; namely, that Madame Grant succeeded in the month of August, 1792, in escaping from France, having witnessed under her very windows (in Eue de Mirabeau, afterwards called Rue de Montblanc) the massacre of the porter* of the house in which she resided. In her hurry she left behind everything she possessed, and landed at Dover with her maid, and with about twelve louis in her pocket. There Belchier made her acquaintance, and learned that her property had been sequestered in France. The lady had been married in India to an English gentleman, the union did not prove happy, and she left India before her divorce from her husband was pronounced. This circumstance turned out most favourably, as she was thus still a British subject, and had the light to claim her property from the Government. A gentleman named O'Dryer set off with Belchier for Pari', with full powers to act for Madame Grant in the recovery of what was left there. In this they eventually succeeded ; leaving Paris again on 19th Kovember, carrying with them her property, part of which was gold, and much money and bank bills, diamonds, pearls, and other jewels, &c. Having overcome innumerable difficulties, they delivered her fortune back to Madame Grant, and both refused any pecuniary recompense. The account concludes by recording that Mr. Belchier calls God to witness (why is not apparent) that his only object was to thus succour a Eoyalisi lady then very ill, and, in spite of her sufferings, of remarkable beauty. Though this work seems to have appeared in Madame Gratid's lifetime, the translator in the English copy adds in the form of a foot-note, that the greater portion of the plate and objects of value thus preserved, did not belong to Madame Grand, but to a French nobleman, who was thought to have preceded the Bishop of Autun in her affections, and who, during many years of distress in England, was often * It mil be remem'bered that it was on tlie 10th August, 1792, that the massacre of the Swiss guard occurred. So infuriated were the hrutal mob at the heroic devotion shown by the guard at the Tuileries that almost aU their countrymen, the Swiss porters in the hotels, &c., of the city, were butchered by bands of savages, who rioted through the streets after the sacking of the palace. MADAME GRAND. 247 heard to deplore that she had despoiled him of all the valuables he had left. The nobleman's name is given as Viscount de Lambertye, who is said to have returned some years after to France, and being in want, was advised to apply to the then Madame de Talleyrand. His demands were stated to be granted, he thought, at the suggestion of Talleyrand. Instead of four hundred thousand francs he consented to accept, without any written deed, nine francs daily, which were paid from 1808 till his death in 1813. It is curiously suggestive that another work, published in London many years before the one just quoted from, alludes in an indirect way to the story attributed to Belchier. This book is in two volumes (London, 1805) written in a spirit most hostile to Talley- rand, and says, amongst other things, that, in a petition to the Directory in 1797, Madame Grand proved herself to have been a Danish subject, and that the Minister of Police allowed her as such to return to France with a Danish pass. In a foot-note in this book, reference is made to another, " Les intrigues de C. M. Talleyrand," which is alleged to say that when Mr. Grand heard of his wife's flight to England, not knowing her circumstances, i.e., the wealth recovered for her by Belchier, forgot that he had been injured, and sent her " an unlimited credence from Switzerland." We know, of course, that Mr. Grand was in India in 1797 ; but I quote the statement for what it is worth, lest if, by any chance true, I should be omitting a circumstance which redounds highly to his credit. It will be remembered that in his Narrative he alludes mysteriously to " a friend " who was substantially grateful for conduct of his when in prosperity. Many pages would be occupied were an attempt made to give even a summary of the fables written by French authors as to the first acquaintance of Madame Grand with Talleyrand. Their number seems to suggest how little was really known on a subject, in regard to which information, one must suppose, from the many stories that were current, was eagerly sought. In July, 1797, Talleyrand became Foreign Minister, through the influence, it is said, of Madame de Stael with Barras the Director. Some authors say, that it was very soon after this that Madame Grand came under his notice ; one of them, indeed, declarrs that he had from the Prince himself, whose secretary he vvas, the circumstances of their first meeting which, in one form or another, are given by several writers, namely : that Madame Grand naively presented herself to the Minister of External Kelations, in alarm at ^48 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. "the report . which, she had heard from the best authority, that Bonaparte was about to invade ingland, and had promised to give "the. Bank of England, up to pillage ; her visit was with the object 'of begging Talleyrand to get a guarantee that her property, which was all locked up there, should he saved for her. That her iriends, ■amongst whom was M. de Montrond, had advised her to hasten to 'him for this purpose. The story goes that the Foreign Minister saw the joke that had been played upon her, but being too polite to tell her so, quieted her with a document guaranteeing the safe delivery •of her plate, jewels,, &c., to any person she may name, as soon as ever Bonaparte's army, had entered London ! The one point worth noting in this story is, that it keeps up the idea of the lady being in possession of considerable property in the days of the Directory. A work which passed through several editions, published in London, before and about up to 1808, is entitled " The Female Revo- lutionary Plutarch." It professes to give an outline of the histories of many ladies, and of Mme. de Talleyrand amongst them. The detailing of s.candal seems to be its sole object. The author's name is not given, but is acknowledged to be that of " The Eevolutionary Plutarch," another defamatory production generally attributed to a M. Lewis Goldsmith, father of Lady Lyndhurst. In this book the details of the money and valuables recovered by Belchier (who was then only twenty-one) are given : the amount was over twenty- five thousand pounds. Before her emigration it states, " the train of life she led at Paris was exceedingly extravagant ; she was sur- rounded by depraved gallants." Talleyrand had been in her ■company at Paris before her arrival in England ; but if among her -admirers, he was never supposed to have gone farther. " In court- ing her in London he was at first more in love with her fortune than with her person, or lather by enjoying the one, he hoped to be enabled '.to dispose of the other." This work also says that after passing four years in England Madame Grand returned to Paris under a fictitious name inserted in a neutral pass, and that she continued to reside with Talleyrand, incognito, till 1797. He then presented a petition to the Directory in her name, in which she proved herself to have been born a Danish subject, though married to an English- man. This petition was approved by the Minister of Police, but from prudence she remained under the protection of the Danish Minister, Chevalier Dreyer. Her general Calcutta antecedents are .also told in this book, with tolerable accuracy. ■ Other accounts .say that about 1797 Madame Grand arrived in Paris from London, almost without resources, being charged by some MADAME GRAND. 249 emigres with, certain negociations which got her watched by the Police, and for protection from whom she sought an interview with Talleyrand, who was immediately captivated by her. Even that most respectable authority, Madame de E^musat, in her lately published Memoirs, allows a theatrical element in their first meeting. Her version is this, " Under the Directory Madame Grand wished to go to England, where her husband resided (sic), and she applied to M. de Talleyrand for a passport. Her beauty and her visit produced apparently such an effect upon him, that either the passport was not given, or it remained unused. Madame Grand remained in Paris ; and shortly afterwards she was observed to frequent the Hotel of External Relations, and after a short time she took up her abode there." However, as pointed out by M. Pichot, the accounts which assign 1797 as the date of the acquaintanceship are contradicted by a letter which M. Michaud (Junior) says that he himself saw, and which Talleyrand must have written early in 1796. Whether Talleyrand met Madame Grand in England, where he was early in the Eevolution, or in New York as some allege, or elsewhere, it is circumstantially mentioned in the " Biographic Universelle " by Michaud, that she came to Paris with him from Hamburg in the first days of 1796 ; that Talleyrand had very little money then, and went into a modest furnished lodging. He soon had the vexation to see arrested and sent to prison his travelling companion, on suspicion of her having had intimate relations ■with some emigrants at Hamburg. To obtain her release, Talleyrand himself was obliged to write to Barras, the Director. The characteristic letter, for the authenticity of which M. Michaud vouches, is probably known to many readers, but for those who may not have seen it, I here give it : — " Citoyen Directeur : On vient d'arreter Mme. Grand comma conspiratrice. C'est la personne d'Europe la plus eloignte et la plus incapable de se mSler d'aucune affaire. C'est une Indienne, bien belle, bien paresseuse, la plus d&occuple de toutes lea femmes que j'aie jamais rencontrees. Je vous demande int6r§t pour elle. Je suis stir qu'on ne lui trouvera pas 1' ombre de pretexte pour ue pas terminer cette petite affaire i laquelle je serais bien fachi qu' on mit de I'eclat. Je 1' aime — et je vous atteste k vous, d'homme k homme, qui de sa vie elle ne s'est m&fe'i et n'est en 6tat de se mller d'aucune affaire. C'est une veritable Indienne, et vous savez k quel degre cette espece. .de . femme est loin de toute. intrigue. q^^^^ ^^ attachment, Ch. M. Tallbtkand" 250 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. Keaders in India will, perhaps, conclude from the above, that the astute Talleyrand had something to learn about the dove-like proclivities of veritable " Indiennes." M. Capefigue, who in a later edition of the " Biograpbe Univer- selle" calls Madame Grand "rare et nonchalante beauts indienne," says in allusion to the above letter : — " De T-illeyrand au temps du Directoire avait reclame pour elle la protection de Barras et I'avait publiquement sollicit6 de lui rendre la libertfi. On inserra dans les journaux un petit billet de Talleyrand icrit k Barras ; on en a dupuis nie l'authenticit6, 11 est impossible pourtant que personne ait imit6 ce ton, cette d&involture du grand seigneur le vieil ami de Lauzun, ecrivant k un gentilhome roue, k Barras sur une affaire galante."* To conclude about this hiatus in Madame Grand's life which is so difficult to fill in, I may mention here that as a last resource I had an application madH for information on this subject to the National Archives at Paris. Everything concerning the Foreign Minister's mistress and wife must have been thoroughly known to the French l.'olice, more especially as her name seemed to have been often before them. It occurred to me that possibly something would be on record, which after so long a lapse of time might with- out indiscretion be made available for literary or historical purpose. The answer which was sent to me from Mr. Alfred Maury, the Director-General, was as follows : — " On a trouv6 plusieurs dossiers au nom de Grand ; mais aucun ne ae rapporte k la future Princesse de Benevent. II est k suppoaer que s'il existait un dossier k son nom, 11 a et6 detruit comme bien d'autres pendant le ministere de Talleyrand pt de Fouchg." This will be a good opportunity for seeing what French chroniclers of this time say of the beauty of Madame Grand, which soon became the theme of Paris society. M. Colmache was the author of a small volume, translated into English also, called " Revelations of the Life of Prince Talleyrand." In his position as secretary, he seems to have been admitted to the intimacy of the statesman, whose last moments also he witnessed and wrote an account of. He tells some interesting anecdotes about Talleyrand, and disposes of some venerable ones which had long passed current as genuine. He knew Madame Grand before her second marriage, but it is curious that he lays down rather authoritatively that her maiden name was Dayrl, her father a Breton, and that she was born at L'Orient, but taken in early infancy to India. However, as touching * This letter is given in the Memoirs of Barras as published in 1896. He exerted the influence asked for hut seems to have had some difficulty with his colleagues. MADAME GRAND, 251 her personal attractiveness, his testimony, as that of an eye- witness, should not be open to cavil. " Madame Grand," he says, at the time of her re-appearance with Talleyrand, " had the kind of beauty which is the rarest and the most admired in Europe. She was tall and slight, with that languor in her carriage peculiar to Creole ladies ; her eyes were well open and affectionate (caressants), her features delicate, her golden hair playing in numberless curls, set off a forehead white as a lily. She had, moreover, preserved a child-like grace in her expression and throughout her whole person ; it was this which distinguished her from those Parisian ladies who might, perhaps, rival her in beauty, and made her resemble rather Madame E^camier than Mme. Tallien or Mme. de Beauharnais." " The Female Revolutionary Plutarch," in describing her, remarks, " With manners naturally easy, with passions naturally warm, and with principles light, she unites something pleasing, something seemingly unaffected, unstudied and simple." Madame de Eemusat, says on the same subject : " She was tall, and her figure had all the suppleness and grace so common to women born in the East.* Her complexion was dazzling, her eyes of the brightest blue ; and her slightly turned-up nose gave her, singularly enough, a look of Talleyrand himself. Her fair golden hair was of proverbial beauty." On Madame Grand's return to Paris one writer says that she resided at Montmorency, where Talleyrand visited her, and where high play was indulged in by those frequenting their society. He adds that " she was an inoffensive pleasing companion at table and beautiful as Venus herself, which was all that he (Talleyrand) looked for." If we are to believe what some French authors say on the subject the marriage of Madame Grand with Talleyrand was brought about as dramatically as their first meeting. Up to 1801 Talleyrand was under the ban of excommunication pronounced against him in 1790 by Pius the Sixth, and the liaison * Nineteen years before Madame Grand saw the Hglit, Southern India (Anjengo in TraTanoore) had given birth to another beauty, also, who was destined to bewitch two historical characters of high literary renown, viz., Eliza Draper (wife of a Bombay civilian) beloved by Sterne and by the Abbe Raynal. Some of her captivating graces are, as in the case of Madame Grand above, attributed to her Oriental birth. Eaynal wrote that Eliza's name would for all time rescue the insignidcant Anjengo from oblivion, and adds " Anjenga c'est h, I'influence de ton heureux climat qu'elle devait sans doute cet accord, presque incompatible, de volupte et de decence qui accompagnait toute sa personne. Le statuaire qui aurait eu ik representor la Volupte I'aurait prise pour mod6l. Elle en aurait egalement servi a oelui qui aurait eu i peindre la Pudeur." 252 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. of the ex-Prelate, though, a public scandal, might have been tolerated were it hot that his demi-official receptions as Foreign Minister were held by Madame Grand. One account relates that Fouch6 brought to the notice of the First Consul a scurrilous article in an English newspaper upon him, whereon Bonaparte in a ■ rage sent for Talleyrand : " No wonder," said he, " that we are villified in England when we expose ourselves to it by the conduct of our public Ministers ; the Envoys and Ambassadors for Foreign Courts are, I understand, compelled to wait upon your mistress : this must not continue." " Neither shall it," retorted Talleyrand, " they shall henceforth wait on my wife." It is stated in the memoirs of Baron Meneval, private secretary to Napoleon, that Talleyrand asked permission to marry, but Napoleon for some time discountenanced it as indecorous in one so recently secularized. Madame de Remusat gives a somewhat similar explanation of the marriage, but with the important exception that it was by no means a proposition of Talleyrand's. This lady, from her position at the French Court, had the best opportunities for learning the actual facts, and her version is, in all probability, the true one. From this we learn that Madame Grand did the honours of Talleyrand's table and salon, and " with a good grace ; " but that difficulties arose with the ambassadresses, some of whom would not consent to be received at the Foreign office by the lady presiding there, whereupon the latter complained, and the protests of both sides came to the ears of the First Consul, who at once sent for Talleyrand and told him that Madame Grand must leave the house. This was not so easy to accomplish. Madame Grand, with admirable promptitude, went to Jo;ephine and supplicated her to procure her an interview with Bonaparte. Baron Meneval says that he saw Josephine one day in Napoleon's cabinet to which she had ascended by the private staircase, and that -she induced him to come down to her rooms and hear Madame Grand. Contemporary evidence tells us that at this time she was, though not in the hey-day, still in the rich maturity of her charms ; she was nine and thirty. But what of that 1 A woman is never any older than she looks ; and Napoleon, when afterwards disparagingly alluding to her at this epoch, acknowledged that " elle etait tr&s-belle femme." At the interview with the First Consul she fell on her knees — and very probably it was the old story — woman's best weapons, tears and cajoling, triumphed once again, for the softened Bonaparte MADAME GRAND. 253 dismissed her saying, " I see only one way of managing this, — let Talleyrand marry you, and all will be arranged. You must bear his name, or you cannot appear in his house." Chancellor Pasquier in his memoirs tells that this interview occurred at Malmaison, and that when it was over Napoleon said, "That woman had just shown him how far the wish to satisfy a passionate desire could give eloquence even to the most foolish." Once bent on making a marriage Bonaparte lost no time, but at once conveyed his decision to Talleyrand, and gave him but twenty- four hours to think about it. These hours were so well employed by the lady herself, that Talleyrand reluctantly assented, influenced, as Madame de RSmusat conjectures, by " the remains of love, the power of habit, and also perhaps by the fear of irritating a woman whom it is impossible to suppose he had not admitted to his confidence." Josephine, too, is said to have been a warm advocate for the furtherance of Madame Grand's wishes, an interference which some say Talleyrand did not forget when a few years later he supported Napoleon's scheme for a divorce. The marriage took place on 'the 10th September, 1802, before the Mayor of the 10th arrondissement of Paris, and in the presence of several important and official personages. Talleyrand's age is given as 48. The bride is described as the daughter of Pierre Worlee and of Laurence Allamay, his wife, and as the divorced wife of Gr. F. Grand ; she signed the register as C. N. "Worlee. To this civil marriage it seems that the Cur^ of Epinay was induced to give his benediction in his little church next day ; otherwise there was no religious ceremony in connection with it. In the preceding year Talleyrand had obtained from Pius the Seventh a revocation of the excommunication passed on him by the previous Pope, and a sanction for his return to secular life." Though he himself believed this to be authorization enough for his entry into the marriage state as a layman, the Pope did^ not, and highly resented the step, and, it is said, made it a condition, when he afterwards came to the French Court, that no one should present to him " cette dame."t Talleyrand's own relations also * The words in the Papal Ijrief are, " ouvrant done h. Totre ^gard les en. traiUes de notre oharite paterneUe, nous tous degageons par la plenitude de notre puissance du Ken de toutes les exoommumoations. Nous tous accordons e'pouvoir de porter I'habit seouUer, et de gerer toutes les affaires oiviles. t Pie VII. n' appela jamais Madame de Talleyrand que cette dame—questa- cEo»»a.— (" Biog. UniT.") 254 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. were said to be much outraged, so much so, that his mother declined any longer to accept the allowance which her distinguished son made her. The First Consul also looked askance at the lady whose marriage he had promoted ; whether he did so to wound Talleyrand, whom he really never liked, hut whom he could not do without, or from personal objection to herself, is not very clear. At any rate, according to Madame de Rdmusat ; "He treated her coldly, even rudely ; never admitted her to the distinctions of the lank to which she was raised without making a difficulty about it ; and did not disguise the repugnance with which she inspired him, even while Talleyrand po.-sessed his confidence. Talley- rand boie all this, never allowed the slightest complaint to escape him, and arranged so that his wife should appear but seldom at Court. She received all distinguished foreigners on certain days, and on certain other days the Government officials ; she made no visits, none » ere exacted from her. Provided each per.-on bowed to her on fntering and leaving bis salon, Talleyrand asked no more ; he always seemed to bear with perfectly lesigned courage the fatal ' tu I'as voulu of Moli^re's comedy." In no aspect of the case, therefore, could Talleyrand be con- gratulated ; bullied in the first place by Bonaparte because he was not married, and then in disgrace with the Pope, because he was. The First Consul was remarkable for the want of even the ordinary courtesy of a gentleman to ladies, but so pronounced did his cold demeanour to this attractive woman appear to Court society, that the wits of the day felt bound to seek some cause for it, not lying on the surface ; and accordingly this was one of the anecdotes accounting for his resentment, which v ent around. When Madame de Talleyrand appeared first at Court after her marriage, Bonaparte, with patronizing impertinence, expressed a hope to her, that the future good conduct of the citizeness Talley- rand would cause to be forgotten the indiscretions (legeretes) of Madame Grand ; to which the bride naively rejoined, that in this respect, perhaps, she could not do better than follow the example of the Citizeness Bonaparte !* * Madame Junot gives a oharaoteristio instance of the manner in which Napoleon went out of his way sometimes to disteess ladies "by his insolence. At a hall given at NeuiUy by his sister Caroline, the wife of Mui-at, the Emperor, out of humour, was going the tour of the circle, and stopped opposite Madame Regnault, a heauty of eight and twenty with an exquisite figure. While examining her dress, the simplicity of which made her even more charming and graceful than usual, he remarked bitterly, in a solemn bass voice loud enough for all to hear, " Do you know, madame, that you are looking much MADAME DE TALLEYRAND. From the small portrait by Gerard in the ^lus^e at Versailles, MADAME GRAND. 255 Napoleon himself has given a very sufficient reason for liis action regarding Madame Talleyrand, if lie is to be believed. When speaking to O'Meara at St. Helena in a tone of verj- moral elevation (the austerity of which will perhaps sound strange to modern readers who know his own multitudinous liaisons and moral obliquities), he said : " The triumph of Talleyrand was the triumph of immorality ; a priest married to the wife of another, and who had given a large sum to her husband for permission to retain his wife ; a man who had sold everything and played the traitor to every side and everyone. I forbad Madame T. to come to my Court, chiefly because her reputation was run-dowu (decriee), and because I discovered that some G-enoese merchants had paid her 400,000 francs in the hope of obtaining some commercial favours through the intervention of her husband." If true; not a bad stroke of business, it has been remarked, for one reputed to be a fool. Napolean had spoken of the Talleyrands even more disdainfully than this at Elba in a conversation with which he favoured Lord Ebrington. who in the course of it asked him if Talleyrand was a clever man. The Emperor answered : " certainly, mais que voulez-vous d'un h'omme depourvu de toute prinoipe de toute honte enfin d'un pretre defroque d'un eveque marie, et marie avec une putain." It was at NeuiUy that the Talleyrands lived after the marriage, and that Sir Elijah Impey visited them immediately after the peace of Amiens ; and, if there be any foundation for the senti- mental scandal of Lady Francis, even the mature bosom of the ex-Chief Justice was not invulnerable to the witcheries of his hostess. But as an extraordinary statement, made in connection with this renewal of acquaintanceship between old Calcutta friends, will compel me again to refer to Mr. Grand's Narrative, I must be particular in quoting it exactly, more especially as it seems to have been accepted as true by the English and French writers who have reproduced it. In the life of Sir E. Impey, by his son, page 386, we find the following : — " Among the persons whom we met in the very mixed society of older?" The lady had the philosophy to answer firmly, with a smile, "What your Majesty has done me the honour to observe might have been painful to hear had I reached an age when truth is regretted." "With women," says Madame Junot, "the Emperor never joked, or if he did the joke was a thunderbolt." She then adds najively, " The strange mania that possessed him of telling wives of the infidelities of their husbands was never agreeable, and sometimes gave rise to very painful feehngs. 256 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCTrTTA. Paris, vas the ci-devant Mr?. Le Grand, '(sic), who had lately been married to M. de Talleyrand, then Minister for Foreiga Affairs. "My father renewed his old acquaintance with her; and through the lady he became sufficiently intimate with the extraordinary diplomatist, her husband, to be one of the Englishmen most frequently invited to his table. The soirdes and petits-sov/pers of Madame de Talleyrand at her charming Villa of Neuilly were at this period about the most select in France, being rivalled only by those of the Consuless Josephine, the literary Madame de Stael, and the fashionable and fascinatiDg Madame R&camier. They invited not only the Corps- diplomatique, but all such as were distinguished by their station or talents. " At one of these assemblies, myself being present, this remarkable rencontre took place, of persons not likely even to have met beneath the same roof, under any circumstances less fortuitous. These persons were Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Sir Elijah and Lady Impey, M. and Madame de Talleyrand, Sir Philip Francis, and Mr. Le Grand ! " Mr. Impey writes as an eye-witness. In the first place it may be observed that on bis own showing he was only in Paris during the visit he alludes to, for a portion of December, 1801, and of January, 1802. Now, as we have seen already, there was no Madame de Talleyrand till September, 1802, and Francis was not Sir Philip tiU 1806. But allowing for some little confusion in dates, it would be safer to assume some strange betrayal of memory, or mixing up of circumstances, on Mr. Impey's part, than to beheve that such an unfortunate meeting of conflicting elements would not have been- guarded against by one, of whom Talleyrand's secretary testifies, — " she was unrivalled in the tact and convenanee with which she received company." Philip Francis as a septuagenarian had nothing to gain or lose by not being frank on this particular point with his second wife, who distinctly says, that he told her, that he as well as Sir E. Impey was in Paris after the peace, and that he received a message from Madame Grand telling him of her prospects, and asking him not to attempt to see her, lest M. Talleyrand might take offence ; and sp much did she deprecate even an accidental meeting at that critical time, that, to avoid all chance of it, she expressed her intention of making a little excursion into the country. To carry out her wishes, Francis says that he hastened his own departure from Paris, and that he never set eyes on her again, " that the only intercourse which took place was a few elegant books which she sent him with a short note, merely to tell him that she had not forgotten him." He also said that Talleyrand, whom he did meet then and at other times, was MAPAME GRAND. 257 always ungracious to him in iqanner, and gave no encouragement- to an acquaintanceship. There is quite enough probability in aU this to shake our faith in evidence to the contrary, coming even from a truthful witness who may have got confused about his reminiscences. But Mr. Impey's story was not new ; he published his father's life in 1846, and over thirty years before that, the alleged coming together of incongruities at Neuilly had been in print, and found its way to the Cape of Good Hope, possibly to the African Club there,, where it came under the observation, and aroused the indignation, of poor old Mr. Grand, and inspired this postscript to his Narrative,, dated April 30th, 1814, viz. :— "A miserable author, denominating himseK the Modern Plutarch,* has had the impudence to assert ' that at a dinner given by M. de Talleyrand in 1802, then the Minister of France for Foreign Aflfairs, there sat down to table the former Mrs. Grand with her former husband. Sir Elijah Inipey, who had presided on the Bench in the aotion-at-law brought by him before his tribunal, and Sir P. Francis, who had committed the injury.' I treated the remark at the juncture, when I saw the publication, with the contempt so unfounded an asser- tion merited, and it had accordingly escaped my memory when I was finishing the narrative of my life which I have given I feel myself compelled to animadvert thereon, and, out of justice to both parties implicated in this illiberal and false observation, to refute this calumny in all its points. " I do, therefore, call God to witness that to my knowledge I never saw the first Mrs. Grand, wither in India nor in En/rope from that- melancholy Sunday, viz., December 13th, 1778 — the sensation of which day I have described, and which fixed our eternal separation. We remained from that moment like those who, having lived for a time in the height of happiness, have witnessed that happiness suddenly and unexpectedly interrupted by one being cut off never in this world to meet again. Persons of this stamp never can forget the ties which had existed. We knew the delicacy of each other's sentiments, and never once thought of infringing that line of conduct which such a sense of feeling naturally pre- scribed. Those whose minds are congenial will credit my assertion ;. they will be reckoned in the number of my English readers, for with most of the French such an idea would be condemned as preposterous * The anecdote is not in.the " Modern Plutarch," which is a poor collection of brief biographies published at Berwick in 1811 ; but in the " Female Kevo- lutionary Plutarch," which must be the book that Grand referred to. But even in'this book it is not apparently told for the first time, but is merely quoted ; the anecdote ends with the remark, "It is difficult to carry connubial, toleration and revolutionary politeness farther." a 258 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. in the extreme. I have known some of this nation very amiable men, yet assuming the liberty which an Englishman would, however inti- mate, refrain from, that of entering into your domestic concerns, express themselves to the following effect on this subject: 'faites divorce aujourdhui, mon cher, mais rema/i-iez voiis demain; c'est la plus ieUe femme qui existe." Such was the only sacrifice which the uncommon charms of her beauty had created with such men. They deemed it alone requisite for I'etiquette ou I'usage du monde to be observed in the manner which I have related. Such is the difference of sentiment existing between two nations only separated from each other by a branch of the sea ; nevertheless, each thinking that honour guides their respective nations. " I certainly went to Paris in 1802, and with the exception of the friend of my youth, Mr. Wombwell, and my lamented fried Sir Elijah Impey, saw during my sojournment in that capital none of the other persons mentioned. I lodged at the Hotel du Cerole, Rue de Eichelieu, an hotel for the accommodation alone of male strangers. Madame de Talleyrand was, as I understood, inhabiting Neuilly, a residence in the environs of Paris appertaining to M. de Talleyrand. It was in the height of summer, and few people of rank frequented the city. I gratified my curiosity in seeing the public buildings, &c., and after an abode of a very few days departed for Switzerland, &c., &c." There we may leave the dramatic rencontre at " the charming Villa of Neuilly." But Mr. Grand's postscript suggests some con- siderations en another matter. His solemn statement in this, while perhaps literally true, conveys an impression the reverse of true ; it certainly does so, if, when he parades their mutual delicacy and the absence of all thought of infringing what it prescribed, he wishes it to be believed that he not only did not actually see his former wife, but had no communication, direct or indirect, with her. No one reading this disingenous postscript would suspect, for instance, that a very prominent object in this visit to Paris (which was spent in " seeing public buildings") was the negociating with the Talleyrands for an appointment which would provide him with a livelihood, and which, above all, would get him out of Europe. From his former allusion to the offer of a handsome pension from a certain " liberal friend " tendered through Sir E. Impey, and his acknowledging that he did see the latter during this Paris visit, it may fairly be inferred who the friend in need was, and that the go-between in the final negociations was the wily old Chief Justice. Eor a knowledge of the circumstances attending on Mr. Grand's deportation from Europe to the Cape, I have again to ■express my indebtedness to an interesting little volume of " Kecol- MADAME GRAND. 259 lections of Talleyrand " brought together by M. Amedde Pichot. Before quoting him, it may be well to premise that in the Act de Mariage between Talleyrand and Madame Grand (September 10th, 1802), she is described as the divorced wife of Gr. F. Grand, by an Act pronounced in Paris in April, 1798 (le 18 germinal, an. vi.) — i.e., just two years before Grand arrived from India. How the divorce (presumably obtained under the law of republican France) was brought about, or whether money facilitated it, I have come across no evidence which wiU show. However, the fact of its having been got nearly four and a-half-years before his marriage, contradicts this statement of Madame de Edmusat, with reference to the alleged necessity for hush-money, — viz. : "It appears that Mr. Grand, who lived in England, although little desirous of receiving a wife from whom he had long been separated, contrived to get himself largely paid for withholding the protest against the marriage, with which he repeatedly menaced the newly-wedded couple." M. Pichot also has it, that the divorce was only obtained just before the marriage, and was not consented to till a large sum was We have already seen what Mr. Grand has told us himself about his going to the Cape consequent on a " proposition made to me from the Batavian Government ; " he also gives a translation of the order defining the appointment, with its emoluments, to which he was nominated : " Extract from the Consultation of an Assembly of the States governing the Batavian Eepublic : — " In this Aasembly it was this day proposed, and after mature de- liberation resolved, to nominate Mr. G. P. Grand to the station of Privy Councillor of the Government at the Cape of Good Hope. He ia accordingly appointed and established in the above situation with a salary annexed thereto of 2,000 Caroli guilders annually. " And further it was resolved to transmit copies of his nomination to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to the Directors of the East India Company, and to Mr. G. F. Grand, in order to serve for their respective guidance. "S. Dassavabl, " Secretary." This is dated ten days after the marriage of the TaUeyrands, i.e., September 20th, 1802 ; and some light is thrown on the spirit which guided the Assembly's " mature deliberations " by the following autograph letter sent a month later by Madame de 3 2 26Q ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. Talleyrand herself to M. Van der Goes, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Batavian Eepublic : — " Monsieur, — Je ne veux pas tarder davantage k vous remercier de votre obligeance, et de tout ce que vous avez bien voulu faire pour M. Grand k ma demands. " L'empressement et la grftce que vous y avez mis, me prouvent, Monsieur, que I'on ne compte pas en vain sur votre amiti6, et cela m'autorise d vous demander un nouveau service. C'est celui de faire enjoindre st M. Grand de s'embarquer sans d6Iai, Itant tout S. fait inconvenant qu'il prolonge son s§jour S. Amsterdam, oil il est d6jS depuis un mois,*/ort mal d propos. " Je vous serai done tres-oblige de vouloir bien lui faire parvenir le plus t6t possible (chez M. M. R. et Tb. de Smeth, a Amsterdam) I'ordre pour son embarquement, vous priant, Monsieur, de recevoir d'advance tous mes remerclments k oet 6gard et d'agreer I'assurance de ma plus parfaite consideration. " Taileyrand-Pbbigobd, N^e 'Woklbb." She was evidently very proud of her new name, because only twelve days after her marriage (1st Vendemiaire, An. XI.), in writing to the same correspondent, she says : " You will see, sir, by the name which my union with M. de TaUeyrand gives me the right to bear, how the tender and sincere affection of that amiable friend has made me the happiest of women." As M. Pichot remarks, it was a stroke of high diplomacy as well as national economy on Talleyrand's part to get the Batavian Eepublic (which could refuse nothing to France since 1795) to provide for M. Grand. That Talleyrand himself was the suggester of an application to his Netherlands' colleague is evident from a passage in a letter from Madame Grand to M. Van der Goes in the month preceding the marriage (3 fructidor, an x = August 20th, 1802) " M. de Talleyrand m'autorise a vous mander qu'Uvous aura ime obligation particuliSre de oe que vous ferez pour moi st cette occasion." And again, when the Batavian Minister announces to her the einbarkation of Grand, in the fulness of her gratitute she writes : " M. de Talleyrand is as sensible as I am of your kind offices, and charges me to repeat to you all that I have already conveyed to you of his recognition, and his desire to give you pro"fs of his attachment and consideration (January 2nd, 1803)." But the putting to sea of Mr. Grand was not destined to quite * It so happened that this delay saved Grand's life. The ship which he ought to have embarked his distinguished person in (the Be Vrede) was wi-ected otf Dungeness, and all the passengers were lost — and with them a piece of luct for the Talleyrands. MADAME GRAND. 261 bring to an end the bride's apprehensions about him ; it was not for nothing that she wished to hasten his departure ; probably no one knew better than M. de Talleyrand how long the Peace of Amiens was going to last. The rupture came ;* but the only concern which the renewal of war had for poor Madame de Talleyrand .was in connection with Grand's voyage. What if it were not over? What if some dreadful British cruiser were to capture the ship transporting him, and land himself back again in Europe 1 Here ■ would be a sorry trick for fate to play her, after matters had been .arranged so nicely too ; this would be "fort mal d propos ".with a ■vengeance ! To whom could she more suitably confide her new anxieties than to her tried ally, Van der Goes ? That sympathizing (friend was equal to the occasion, and with a gallantry that never failed, he again came to her relief, with the intelligence which calmed her fears, that Councillor Grand had arrived at the Cape. Readers are referred by M. Pichot for the proofs of the authen- ticity of this curious correspondence, to a history of the Diplomatic Eolations of the Bavavian Eepublic, published at the Hague, only in 1864, by Professor Wraede, of the University of Utrecht, to whom the autograph letters were communicated by Baron Van der Goes, son of Talleyrand's friend. As we shall have no further occasion to refer to Mr. Grand, it is only fair, before dismissing him, to notice another incomprehensible statement disparaging to bird and to Madame de Talleyrand, which appears in a foot-note in Mr. Impey's Life of his father, and which has been reproduced, with acceptance seemingly, in the " Memoirs of Prancis " : — " Part of the sequel of Le Grand's history I can supply : After the Peace of Paris, in 1815, he came to London ; so did Madame la Princesse de Benevento. His object was to publish the particulars of the lady's life at Calcutta in revenge for his disappointment at Batavia — her'a to seek redress for the publication. I saw it ; it was a paltry book, printed at the Cape. They both applied to me. I advised the author to suppress his work, and the Princess not to go to law. This advice, of course, was very unpalatable to both : the lady took a legal opinion, and the gentleman took himself off. What became of him since T know not ; but the libel shortly disappeared, and the matter seems to have ended as amicably as before." ' AU I can say about this is, that if Mr. Impey read the book, which he says he saw, he would not thus have hashed up an old blunder of MacFarlane's (in " Our Indian Empire ") and called the * May 16, 1803. ■262 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. narrative a libel. Those wlio have gone through the numerous extracts which have been given from it, will have seen that Mr. Grand never imputed even blame to his wife, frail though she was, and that he alludes to her with gentleness and with kindness ; to those who can read between the lines, it will be probable, too, that he writes under a sense of obligation for favour conferred. Where then is the libel for which redress was to be sought 1 He tells us himself of the philosophical way in which he took his dis- appointment about the official post found for him, and his words do not breathe much of the spirit of revenge — against a woman, too, who did her utmost for him, for her own sake as well as for his. The man, moreover, even whose correct name Mr. Impey does not know, never went to Batavia, but to the Cape of Good Hope, which, it is violently improbable, he ever left again, as, with the proverbial triumph of hope over experience, he dared a second marriage, and this time successfully, as we may gather from two or three con- tented passages in his Narrative, viz. : — "I feel blessed in my second domestic attachment, and I thank Heaven daily that what I have been denied in consequence, say worldly honours and riches, it has pleased the Almighty to compensate me in unimpaired faculties and an uncommon share of health and activity far surpassing what might be expected in my years (February 1st, 1808)." "Sir Elijah Impey congratulated me (in reference to his escape from shipwreck), observing that he trusted this Almighty miraculous deliverance portended at once that I am reserved for happier days* than those which I had recently experienced. I thanked him, and must gratefully repeat his prediction has been accomplished, in the enjoyment of the blessings of health, of a composed mind, and of an amiable partner, and a continued cheerful residence with her worthy family." The last sentence in the dedicatory letter (introducing his Narrative) written in 1814, when he was at least sixty-six, and evidently at peace with the world and disposed to stay where he was so, is, " You know the sequel — happy in my second choice of a partner, I upbraided not the worldly opportunity lost. * Those happier days might have "been hittei'ly marred ; poor Mr. Grand just escaped having had occasion to cry, lite Ahah of old : " Hast thou found me, oh mine enemy ? " for ahout 1806 the offer of the Governorship of the Cape, with the Order of the Bath and the rank of Privy Councillor, was offered to Francis, but declined. This appears from a statement of claims submitted by him to the Prince Begent, in which he refers to it, and to his having been unfairly passed over for the Governor-Generalship of India. MADAME GRAND. 263 My happiness oentred alone in domestic concerns. May you be blessed in the like manner, should it ever be your lot to deplore as I did the cruel separation which forced me from the first." I must leave to others the task of reconciling, if they can, these passages vrith Mr. Impey's foot-note ; i cannot fancy a more difficult one. "Whatever may have been the indiscretions chargeable to Madame Grand, her conduct after her acquaintanceship with Talleyrand began seems to have been without reproach. In only one instance afterwards was the whisper of scandal heard about her. When JSTapoleon was attacking Spain he got into his power (1808) the Spanish princes, i.e., Ferdinand, the eldest son of the King, his brother and his uncle. These he sent with their suite to the Chateau of Valencay, the country seat of Talleyrand, who was then Grand Chamberlain, and ordered him to have them there kept in silken bondage, and to do all in his power to amuse them. This was all the harder on Talleyrand, as he is understood to have disapproved of Napoleon's dealings with the Spanish princes, who had thrown themselves into his arms. In the letter in which the Emperor con- veyed his orders to Talleyrand he said, " There would be no harm in sending for some comediitns if you have a theatre at Valencay. Madame de Talleyrand and four or five ladies might also remain at the Chateau. There will be no inconvenience should the Prince of Asturias (Ferdinand) fall in love with a pretty woman, especially if she can be depended on. It is of the greatest importance that the -Prince of Asturias should not commit any blunder. . ' . . . . I have dgtermined to send him to a country seat, and to surround him with pleasures and supervision."* The spiteful tongues of " all Paris " said at the time that Madame de Talleyrand played her part in the arrangements for amusement in a manner much more calcu- lated to please the Emperor than her husband, and proved once more the fallacy of the observation that " a woman of forty is only beautiful to those who loved her in her youth." This little scandal, however, may have only had its rise, when, some few years later, Peninsular affairs going badly for the French, Napoleon desired to treat with Ferdinand for his restoration, to whose over- tures the latter made a dutiful reply, adding, " I have spent five * _ The Prince of Asturias was at this time twenty-f'oiir years old, and a widower, having "been married at so early an age that (as Hooiham Frere, the British Minister at Madrid, wrote to Lord Liverpool), " His innocence and simplicity .were so great as to have -prodnced a very ludicrous embarrassment." Vide' " Lif.e of Lord Liverpool," Vol. I., page 90. ■264 ECHOES PROM OLD CALCUTTA. years and a half very pleasantly, and would willingly pass the remainder of my life at Valencay.* The supplement to this story is, that when rumour brought to the Emperor's ears the secret of Ferdinand's being enabled to enjoy his enforced idleness without ennui, he was mean enough to introduce the matter in conversation to the Chamberlain, to which Talleyrand calmly observed, " It is true, sire, that it would have been better, both for the honour of jour Majesty and for mine, that there never had been anything to do with these Spanish princes." This anecdote is given also in the memoirs attributed to ¥6uch^, who says that it occurred at a lev^e in the midst of courtiers, and adds, " Never did Napoleon -display so much confusion as after receiving this severe lesson, ^iven in a manner which showed such a high sense of good breeding." It is said that Madame de Talleyrand's great elevation gave her but short-lived happiness, and that like most parvenus she went but indifferently through the trials of prosperity. Stories are told of her affectation of royal state, in having maids of honour, pages,' &c., which possibly have some truth in them, as an anecdote relates, that when courtiers came to congratulate Talleyrand on his ■advancement by Napoleon in 1806 to the rank of Prince of Benevento, he stopped them with " Eh ! Mon Dieu, vous vous trompez ; ce n'est pas ici — c'est k Mme. de Talleyrand quil faut faire vos compliments, les femmes sont toujour bien aises d'etre princesses." A conple of those stories are thus told in an article on " Talley- rand at the Congress at Vienna " in Temple Bar for April, 1883. "Talleyrand had been accompanied to Vienna by Madame de Talleyiund, whose eccentricities were hardly compatible with, perfect ■soundness of mind We shall content ourselves with citing two anecdotes on the faith of a most trustworthy eye-witness. The Princess had two young nieces in her suite who had not yit entered their teens. Her practice was on the evenings of her receptions, when a sufficient company had assembled, to direct a pair of folding doors to be thrown open, through which the two young ladies made their entrfee into the salon with their arms encircling each other, and proceeded to execute a series of pi/rouettes round the room, ending at last with a graceful curtsey before Madame de Talleyrand. " This was comparatively an innocent oddity on her part, although it bored her guests. Her second oddity was more mischievous and caused great offence. She would frequently during the evening leceptions ring the bell and order her groom of the chamber to say that she was not at home, and after the lapse of a quarter of an hour * See the " Marriages of the Bonapartes," by the Hon. D. A. Bingham. MADAME GRAND. 265 or twenty minutes she would ring the bell again and give a counter order. The consequence was that husbands who called for their wives had to go home without them, and wives who came in search of their husbands could find no admittance ; and all that Talleyrand could say when a diplomatist ot the highest rank remonstrated with him was, ' Mais, mon cher, que voulez-vous que je fasse. Ma femme est si bite.' " Talleyrand was too much of an aristocrat himself, and had too keen an appreciation of the ludicrous not to feel humiliated at Madame's pretensions ; and this added to his irritation caused by her jealousy of his relations,-and their cordial detestation of her was, perhaps, a factor rendering separate establishments desirable. Possibly, too, he wished for separation on other grounds. Eaikes in his Journal says that this occurred in 1815, and that long before that time he had been the favoured lover of another lady, whose daughter, a fascinating beauty (designated as the Duchess of D ), eventually presided over Talleyrand's house. Against such a formidable conjunction of adverse influences, Madame La Princesse had now but little to oppose, because at this epoch, as we learn from a contemporary. Time was making his inevitable mark, and " the elegance of her figure was injured by her becoming stout," and (alas ! that it should be to tell) " this afterwards increased, and by degrees her features lost their delicacy, and her complexion became very red." Whatever may have led to the separation, or whether it occurred under the Empire or the Restoration, one of tte conditions of it was that Madame was to reside in England on the allowance of sixty thousand francs a year, and not to return to France without Talleyrand's consent. The Duke of Wellington told Lord Stanhope that he was applied to by the Princess in 1815 to mediate a reconciliation between her and Talleyrand. Whether the sojourn in England was long or short we know not, but that she returned to Prance is vouched for in the well-remembered answer of Talleyrand to the king, who slyly asked with affected interest if it was true that Madame de Talleyrand was in Prance. " Rien n'est plus vrai, iSire, il fallait Men que j'eusse aussi mon vingt Mars."* The establishment which Madame Talleyrand maintained after the separation from her husband was at Auteuil, and there she entertained society and regulated her household in strict imitation, it is said, of that of Talleyrand's. All the domestic details being so conducted, and all the surroundings so arranged, as to keep in * On Maroli 20, 1815, Napoleon re-entered the Tuileries on his escape from Blha, Louis XVIII. having quitted them at midnight on the 19th. 266 ECHOES FKOM OI.D CALCUTTA. active life a memory that was very dear to her. M. Colmaohe says that in those days he was often the bearer of kind messages to her from Talleyrand, if it ever became known to him that she was in the least out of health. In M. Pichot's collection of souvenirs there is one relating to the Princess's life at Auteuil, which may be quoted, as the author vouches that he had it direct from the proprietor of the Villa Beausejour there, which she 'rented. It appears that there was attached to her as companion a countess of the old regime, one of whose duties was to follow her at a respectful distance when she went out on foot : if the countess happened to come a little too near, the Princess turned and said severely, " Comtesse, vous perdez le respect." There are (to use a homely phrase) " many ups and downs in life," but we doubt that there is often seen a stranger contrast than the one which this anecdote suggests — namely, between the position of this " Princesse " censuring a gentlewoman of high birth for coming too close to her nobility, and that of the trembling young wife of some years back, whom we saw at midnight appealing in vain to a native servant in India, to release her captured lover and so to save her reputation. In spite of the high position that Madame Grand made for herself, there is no observation more common about her, than that she was a very stupid woman ; so widely has this been disseminated that its belief has been established, and, perhaps, the most prominent characteristic now recalled of this half-forgotten celebrijiy is her proverbial silliness. Most reigning beauties, it may be observed, are credited with dulness ; the impression seems to have been always general that a pretty face and a comely figure are incompatible with any other endowment. One has not to be long in the world to learn that " Mrs. So-and-So is certainly very hand- some, but insipid to a painful degree, nothing whatever in her ; " indeed, there would appear to be something rather soothing than otherwise in the reflection that our neighbour's beauty is counter- poised by stupidity, and that " Fortune wiU never come with both hands full." It is not improbable that something of this too hasty generaliza- tion, coupled with a litrle envy, helped to propagate the belief that has so long outlived Madame Grand. It may be worth while, if only as a matter of curiosity, to see how far a few circumstances in general acceptance regarding her career justify this belief. I have already glanced at the storie.-* connecting her prominently with negociations on behalf of emigres ; she is also mentioned as having at one time been brought to Paris by a Mr. Bellamy — MADAME GBAND. 267 " Pour la meler a des intrigues finanoieres."* All this may possibly have been untrue, but it would never have been said of a woman who was a fool, whatever else she might have been. Again, it is inconceivable that so shrewd a man as Talleyrand would have allowed her during the four or five years prior to their marriage, to conduct his receptions if, as Madame de Eemusat records, " She was so intolerably stupid that she never said the right thiag ; " and this at a periord when Bonaparte's victories and treaties had filled Paris with ambassadors and foreigners of distinction. Yet the same authority says rather inconsistently in another place, " I have heard it said she was one of the most charming women of her time," which seems to suggest that Madame de Eemusat had but little personal acquaintance with her. M. Colmache, speaking from his own knowledge of Madame Grand's demeanour at the Foreign Minister's receptions, says, " She dispensed politeness to each and all alike, contenting everyone." He allows that she evinced a certain inexperience in the social traditions of the world in which Talleyrand placed her, which amused the wits who frequented her society. Talleyrand fell a victimf to her after he had escaped the beauty of Madame K^camier and others, and the fascinations of Madame de Stael : his secretary accounts for this " by the naivete which gave so strong a tinge of originality to all which Madame Grand said or did, so unlike the slavery to forms and etiquette which must ever influence professed women of the world such as those by whom he was surrounded." One of the most hostile, and probably most untruthful, of the contemporary writers who have sketched her, remarks (in the " Female Plutarch," where there is scarcely a good word said ot anyone) " That Madame de Talleyrand has no pretensions to genius everybody who has frequented her society knows ; and she avows * " Biog. Universelle." t M. Colmaelie was constantly at Valenoay with Talleyrand, and in his recollections of the Prince's tahle-taUt, which he was in the habit of noting down, he relates that the latter thus once unbosomed himself to him, showing that under certain circumstances a woman's very foibles can be delusive and charming: "My passion for Madame de Talleyrand was soon extinguished, because she was merely possessed of beauty. The influence of personal charms is limited ; curiosity forms the great ingredient of this kind of love ; but add the fascination of intellect to those attractions which habit and possession diminish each day, you will find them multiplied tenfold j and if besides intellect and 'beauty you discover in your mistress caprice, singularity, and irregularity of temper, close your eyes and seek no further — you are in love for Hfe." That experienced and amusing Hbertine, Casanova, lays down a similar maxim, " La femme qui parvient a inspirer de la curiosite ^ un homme, a fait les trois quarts du chemin necessaire pour le rendre amoureux. " 268 ECHOES FEOM OLD CALCUTTA. witli naivete itself that she is a telle lite. But a long habit, perhaps from her infancy, has naturalized to her an art to impose, a cunning to deceive, and an hypocrisy to delude, &c., &c. . . . She certaiuly does not want that social capacity, that good sense and more light accomplishments which good breeding and good company always confer." A much safer authority, M. Michaud, writes thus of Madame de Talleyrand: "Nous avons eu I'avantage de I'entendre plusieurs fois, notamment k I'epoque de 31 Mars, 1814 (capitulation of Paris), et nous pouvons affirmer que sa conversation sur ce grand ev^ne- ment n'etait point celle d'une sotte." Philip Francis said of her, that "her understanding was much better than the world allowed." We, who know the circumstances of her premature embarkation on life, can understand how her education, iu the ordinary sense, must have been neglected, and this disadvantage must have weighted her heavily ever after ; but she was educated in the school of events, and that she profited by such schooling is evident by her rising, in spite of the terrible drawbacks connected with her early years. If not learned herself, she at least affected the society of the learned, even long after living apart from Talleyrand, as may be gathered from many sources. Eeaders of Moore's Diary will remember his recording that he went in Paris (in 1825) to the Princesse Talley- rand's to hear Viennet, a distinguished author, read his tragedy of " Achille," and may recall the amusing incident, " heard two acts declaimed by him with true French gesticulation'; the ludicrous effect of his missing one of the feuillets in the middle of a fine speech, and exclaiming in the same tragic tone, ' Grand Dieu ! qu'est ce que c'est que gd' ! ! " Moore also tells how, in the previous year, he had sat next her at a dinner party, and that " she talked much of ' Lalla Rookh,' which she had read in French prose," and " praised Bessy's beauty to me." Surely even Madame de Eemusat would acknowledge that, under the circumstances, these were " the right things " to say? There are probably very few who have not heard or read the funny mistake about Robinson Crusoe attributed to Madame de Talleyrand ; the anecdote has been the round of every newspaper in Europe and America, and will perhaps ever be quoted when her name is mentioned. It is more than likely that this anecdote is mainly responsible for the popular impression about her want of sense. If this piece of " evidence " be broken down, there is really little else to support the allegation of stupidity. Though the story MADAME GRAND. 269 has been -worn threadbare, it must be given here again, to show one of the high authorities who have vouched for its truth, and to let the reader see how the narration is tinged with a spite' which weakens it as evidence. ISTapoleon thus told it to O'Meara at St. Helena in 1817 : — " I sometimes asked Denon (whose work* I suppose you have read) to breakfast with me, as I took a pleasure in his conversation, and spoke- very freely with him. Now all the intriguers and speculators paid their court to Denon with a view of inducing him to mention their projects or themselves in the course of his conversation with me, thinking that being mentioned by such a man as Denon, for whom I bad a great esteem, might materially serve them. Talleyrand, who was a great speculator, invited Denon to dinner. When he went home to his wife, he said — ' My dear, I have invited Denon to dine ; he is a great traveller, and you must say something handsome to him about his travels, as he may be useful to us with the Emperor.' '' His wife, being extremely ignorant and probably never having read any other book of travels than that of Robinson Crusoe, concluded that Denon could be nobody else. Wishing to be very civil to him, she, before a large company, asked him divers questions about his man Friday. Denon, astonished, did not know what to think at first, but at length discovered by her questions that she really imagined him to be Robinson Crusoe. His astonishment and that of the company cannot be described, nor the peals of laughter which it excited in Paris as the story flew like wild-fire through the City, and even Talleyrand himself was ashamed of it." The Emperor was evidently but an indifferent raconteur, or his story loses by translation from tlie Italian in which he conversed with O'Meara. An apology is due to the reader for reproducing so poor a version of this well-known anecdote ; as an amende. I give here the original and best one for the benefit of those whci may not have seen it. It appears in " L' Album Perdu," and is attributed to M. Henri Delatouche : — Peu de temps aprds le retour de l'arm6e d'Egypte et des savants qui avaient 6t6 t^moins de cette glorieuse expedition, M. de Talleyrand, invita & diner M. Denon. " C'est, dit M. de Talleyrand a sa femme, un homme trfes-aimable, un auteur, et les auteurs aiment beaucoup qu'on leur parle de leurs ouvrages ; je vous enverrai la relation de son voyage, et vous la lirez atin de pouvoir lui en parler." En effet M. de Talleyrand fit porter dans la chambre de Mme. de Talleyrand le volume promis, et celle-ci I'ayant lu se trouva en mesure de f61iciter I'auteur plac6 \ table i\, c&t6 d'elle. " Ah ! monsieur, lui dit-elle, je ne * ' ' Voyage dans la basse et la haute Bgypte pendant les campagues du General Bonaparte, par Vivant Denon." 270 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. saurais vous exprimer tout le plaisir que j'ai 6prouv6 k la lecture de vos aventures. — Madame, vous Stes beaucoup trop indulgente. — Non, je vous assure ; mon Dieu, que vous avez dti vous ennuyer, tout seul, dans une lie d6serte ! Cela m'a bien interessSe. — Mais il me semble, madame, que... — Vous deviez avoir une dr6le de figure avec votre grand bonnet poinlu ? — En v6rit6, madame, je ne comprends pas... — Ah! moije comprends bien toutes vos tribulations. Avez-vouz assez souffert apr^s votre naufrage ! — Mais, madame, je ne sais... — Vous avez dli §tre bien content le jour oil vous avez trouve Vendredi ! M. de Talleyrand avait donni k lire d sa femme, peu liseuse comme disait la marfeohale, Lefebvre, les Aventures de Robinson OrusoS." The tenacity with which the public cling to a time-honoured story, and the reluctance with which they see any attempt at the deposition of an old favourite, was curiously illustrated some years ago, when the Times opened its columns to a spirited correspon- dence as to the authenticity of this anecdote. The occasion was a Eeview in the Times of Sir H. Bulwer's " Historical Characters," where the author introduces this anecdote, naming not Denon, hut a Sir George Robinson, as the hero of it (others assign this position to Humboldt). M. Pichot, a staunch sceptic as to the conclusiveness of the evidence which attributes stupidity to Madame de Talleyrand, led the way in an admirable letter, humorous and logical, showing that the old story has not even the merit of originality. He was immediately attacked by one who challenged his dates and authority, and threw out doubts as to the year when a translation of Eobinson Crusoe appeared in France : and who also quoted Moore's version as he had given it in his Paris diary of 1821, as though he seemed to imply that this should be regarded as evidence. Mr. Dominic Colnaghi (the eminent engraver, &c., &c., of PaU Mall, who died in 1879) also took part in the correspondence; his argument as to the anecdote's being authentic amounted to this, that his father had heard it in Paris in 1806 from a Miss Dickin- son, then said to be the demoiselle de compagnie of Madame de Talleyrand. A story, too good to be doubted, is often repeated at the time and place of its origin, tiU it comes to be believed in, even by contemporaries, but this does not prove that it may not be hen trovato nevertheless. The source which M. Pichot suggests for the anecdote in the following passage in his letter leaves little doubt in my mind that he was right in suspecting that Madame de Talleyrand's mistake was the " invention of some English wit, or a French bel-esprit : " " Extraordinary again is it not that hitherto English readers have overlooked this passage of a letter of Horace Walpole to Sir H. Mann, MADAME GRAND. 271 dated October 22, 1741. — 'The whole town 18 to be to-morrow night at Sir Thoa. Robinson's Ball, which he gives to a little girl of the Duke of Richmond, &o.' " In a note (Pichot refers to the American Edition of 1812, Lord Dover being the Commentator) to this letter we are told that Sir Thos. Robinson of Rokeby Park, commonly called long Sir Thomaa, is else- where styled the new Robinson Crusoe by Walpole, who says, when speaking of him, ' He was a tall uncouth man, and his stature was often rendered still more remarkable by his hunting-dress, a postilion's cap, a tight green jacket, and buckskin breeches. He was liable to sudden whims, and once set off in his hunting suit to visit his sister, who was married and settled at Paris. He arrived while there was a large company at dinner, the servant announced Mr. Robinson, and he came in to the great amazement of the guests. Among others a French Abb6 thrice lifted his fork to his mouth and thrice laid it down with an eager stare of surprise. Unable to restrain his curiosity any longer, he burst out with, ' Excuse me, Sir, are you the famous Robinson Crusoe so remarkable in history ' ? " At all events a mistake made by a French Abbe may fairly be excused in a lady. M. Colmache says that many of the blunders laid to the charge of Talleyrand's wife bear the unmistakable stamp of the firm of Montrond & Co. As I have referred to this gentle- man as an authority on the subject, I may mention that his questioning Talleyrand as to the truth of the popular anecdote led to his being told one much more likely and nearly as amusing. Tbe Robinson Crusoe incident did not actually happen, said Talleyrand, " but it was guessed at and that was enough; the blunder was ascribed to her without compunction " ; and then he added : " I certainly remember a naivet?- which she once uttered in the midst of a circle of savans and literati at Neuilly, which would be considered quite as good and become just as popular were it as generally known. Lemercier had volunteered after. dinner to read us one of his unplayed and unplayable pieces. The company had gathered round him in a circle ; his cahier lay already unfolded on his knees, and, charing his voice, he began in a high, shrill tone, which made us all start from our incipient slumber, ' La Sc&ne est a Lyon.' ' There now, M. de Talley- rand,' exclaimed the princess, jumping from her chair, and advancing towards me with a gesture of triumph, ' Now I knew that you were wrong ; you would have it that it was the Saone ! ' To describe the embarrassment and consternation of the company would he im- possible. I myself was perplexed for an instant, but soon remembered the difference of opinion to which she had alluded. As our carriage was crossing the bridge at Lyons, a little time before, she had asked me the name of the river that flowed beneath. I had told her it was ' Saone ' ; to which she replied, with a truly philosophical reflection, ' Ah, how strange this difference of pronunciation ; we call it the Seine 272 ECHOES FKOM OLD CALCUTTA. in Paris I ' I had been much amused at the time, but had 6ot thought it worth while to correct the self-confldent error, and thus had arisen this extraordinary confusion in the troubled brain of the poor princess. Of course we all laughed heartily at her unexpected sally ; but we were grateful nevertheless, for it saved us the reading of the dreaded drama, as no one that evening could be expected to retrouver son serieux sufficiently to listen with becoming attention to all the terrible events which Lemercier had to unfold." " The keenest shafts of ridicule," continues M. Colmache, " must have fallen pointless against one who joined with, such hearty good will in the mirth which was thus raised, without at all agreeing with those who deemed that it wasex.cited at his own expense." Silence respecting his private troubles, an appearance of complete indiffer- ence, — politeness, patience, and dexterity in taking his revenge were the weapons, according to Madame de Eemusat, with which Talleyrand raet the general condemnation of his marriage. Madame de Talleyrand lived to 1835, dying on December 10th in that year. Curious to relate even the very close ef her extraor- dinary career was marked by a dramatic incident, which is thus noted by the English papers, though the Paris papers, the Consti- tntionel and the Journal des Dehats, merely notice her death, the latter paper adding, " La Princesse (5tait d'origine Danoise." The Morning Herald of December 17th, 1835, says : " A very curious scene is said to have taken place in the Chamber of the Princess de Talleyrand after she had expired. She had given, in her dying moments a casket containing papers to the Archbishop of Paris who attended her, with the injunction to hand them to the Comtesse d'Estignac : that lady having come, the Archbishop proceeded to fulfil the directions of the defunct, when a personage representing the interests of the prince interfered, and said the papers should not be given up. Madame D'Estignac had also a friend who interfered on her behalf of her right to the casket, and violence threatened to ter- minate the dispute, when a juge de paix hastily summoned came in and declared that he would keep the object of dispute in his possession until the right to it was legally decided." The Times, referring to the same occurrence, adds : — "Report says that the casket contained the Princess' jewels and diamonds, value about i£40,000. The Comtesse D'Estignac ia the daughter of Prince de Talleyrand's second brother, but rumour says that the Duchess de Dino wishes to have them for herself by having them awarded to the Prince de Talleyrand." Thos. Eaikes, who was in Paris at the time, gives in his Journal a somewhat fuller account of this strange incident, and MADAME GRAND. 273- says that it made a great noise, as the dying woman had, when the last religious ceremonies were over asked faintly for the casket and delivered it with much earnestness to the Bishop as her valid gift and last testimonial of her affection for Madame D'Estignac. Eaikes tells that the affair was finally compromised for the sum of 200,000 francs on Talleyrand proving to a mutual friend, by the deeds of his marriage-settlement, that legal right was on his side. The contents were said not to have been divulged. Whether- Eaikes is an authority to be much depended on is somewhat doubt- ful. He describes the deceased as having been a Creole, born at Martinique. From his Journal we learn that the declaration of her death was thus inscribed in the Eegister of the Church of St. Thomas D'Aquin : " On December 12th, 1835, there was presented at this Church the body of Catherine, widow of George Frangois Grand, connue civilement comme Princesse de Talleyrand," aged 74 years, deceased the night before last, fortified with the sacra- ments of the Church, at No. 80, Eue de Lisle (query, Lille?) Her obsequies were performed in the presence of Mathew Pierre de Goussot and of Charles Demon (agent of the Prince), friends of the deceased, who have signed with us." Eaikes coijments on this sententiously : " It is rather curious that, after all the satanic allusions to Monsieur de T — in the public journals, his principal agent should be named Demon."* The curious phraseology in the declaration of his wife's death shows, as Eaikes points out in another entry, that Talleyrand in his latter days seemed little inclined to perpetuate the recollection of his marriage. With this view he gave directions, the same contempo- rary journalist alleges, that the inscription on her tombstone should indicate the fact as slightly as possible, and that she should be there described as the widow of Mr. Grand, afterwards civily mar- ried to M. de Talleyrand. " Here," says Eaikes, " his dominant foible comes out ; he hopes that by treating the ceremony as a civil contract at that period of the Eevolution, he may now palliate that stigma in the eyes of the clergy which is irremissibly attached "to the position of a pretre marie." In the " Biographic Universelle " we are told that Madame de Talleyrand is buried in the Cemetery of Mont Parnasse, " where one can still see her tomb with a modest inscription surrounded by a simple iron railing." The agent's name was, I "believe, ' Demjon.' 274 ECHOES FROM OLD CiiLCUTTA. Having read some few years ago the above quoted passages from Eaike's Journal and Michaud's biographical article on Talleyrand, I felt curious as to the tombstone inscription which the great diplo- matist had finally devised or permitted in memory of his wife. 'I'o settle the point in the only way likely to be conclusive, I proposed to see the grave for myself — a visit to which I hoped to make an opportunity for, while passing through Paris on my return to India. At the last moment, however, another route had to be taken ; in these circumstances it occurred to me to trespass on the good nature of a friend, an English lady then resident in Paris, ar.d to beg her, if convenient, to go to the grave and- to copy for me the -epitaph. My correspondent, with a kindness for which I cannot sufficienily thanlc her, most readily acceded to my request, and made a pil- grimage to the tomb at Mont Parnasse ; as her interesting letter -supplies the information which it was thought desirable to have, the liberty of quoting an extract from it is taken : , . . . . " Regarding the last resting- plase of Mme. de Talleyrand, I went over to Mont Parnasse, and with the aid of an official succeeded in finding the tomb. ^ As you will see by the enclosed extract from the Register kept at the Cemetery,* no mistake was possible in identifying the grave, but it corresponds with the dtscription in one particular only. — i.e., it ia enclosed by a simple iron railing, but as to the ' modest inscription,' if it ever -existed, of which there is not the faintest trace, its extreme modesty caused it long since to retire from the public gaze. The tomb was iii as miserable a state of neglect as could possibly be imagined, thickly overgrown with rank grasps, weeds, and nettles ; in keeping with the utterly desolate forsaken look of those few feet of earth (all the more remarkable among so many carefully-tended resting-places), a wreath -of immortelles hung over a corner of the railing, put there, I suppose, by some good Catholic's hand in pity for that melancholy nameless rgrave. One of the gardeners, a civil young Frenchman, at my request, brought a spade and thoroughly cleared away the accumulated earth and rubbish, with which the stone slab, which is quite level with the ground, was covered to the depth of some five or six inches. Among -the debris we found, very opportunely, an old scrubbing brush (whatever brought it there ?), which served to clean the stone, and eflfectually con- vince us that any inscription it may originally have borne must * The inclosure was a printed tabular form filled in at the time of the visit ; it indicated the grave sought for by a division, line, and number; the corre- sponding entl'y in the Register described the grave as that of " Talleyrand "(Prinoesse de) nte WorUe (Catherine Noel)." MADAME GRAND. 275 have been a readily eflfaceable one ; certainly not deeply graven, as not the slightest indication of previous word or letter now remains."* Now we are able to see how thoroughly Talleyrand gave effect, so far as his poor wife's grave is concerned, to what Eaikes de- scribes as his disinclination " to perpetuate the recollection of his marriage." Here I conclude this attempt at collecting and wianowing the scattered records of one whose captivations were celebrated from the Ganges to the Seiae ; whose beauty — not when at its zenith, but when approaching its decline — was pre-eminent in a brilliant society remarkable for attractive women ; and whose name was closely connected with those of actors conspicuous on the world's stage, and was familiar to some of the great historic personages of a memorable epoch. As such, Calcutta may fairly claim her as not the least prominent of its passed-away notorieties.! * I saw tliis grave myself in June, ]886, and found it just as my correspon- dent desoribed it, even to the. wreath, which is of thin metal (at a later visit the vrreath had gone). The railings are very low (about 24 inches). The top of the grave is quite covered with nettles. It is between the tomb of the family " Parisot " and that of one which bears the names " Halbout " and " De Cusse " on it. But should any visitor to Paris care to see it, the locality wiH be at once indicated by the officials in charge of the accurately kept registry. + See Appendix — "Prinoesse Talleyrand." T 2 CHAPTER X. LETTERS FROM WARREN HASTINGS TO HIS WIEE. ExTEACTS from some letters of Warren Hastings to Ms wife, to whicli have 'been added a few letters written by Mrs. Hastings (hitherto unpublished). PREFATORY NOTE. The fact of a large number of unpublished letters from Warren Hastings to his wife being in existence and available to the public, was first made known to readers in India by Mr. Beveridge in 1877 in his valuable articles on Warren Hastings in the Cahutta Review. These letters, with a vast amount of other papers relating to Hastings which have yet to be explored and utilised by the historian, were acquired by purchase by the British Museum only in 1872. It is with the letters to Mrs. Hastings only that it is proposed to deal at present ; these are considered so worthy of special care that they are not shown to the applicant for them in the large general reading-room, but in a smaller one in connection with that containing selected manuscripts. They are bound in a thin quarto volume, and an attempt has been made to arrange them in chronological order, which has not been very successful, owing to many of the earlier letters being dated with the day of the week only. In the extracts given from them I have endeavoured to rectify this defect. The letters may be divided into three series : the first comprises those written from Calcutta in 1780, and are endorsed " Letters from my excellent Husband when I was at HughJy and Chinsurar " (sic) ; during this absence of Mrs. Hastings the duel with Francis occurred. The second series of letters are not in original, but are thus endorsed in very faint ink — " This paper contains a faithful copy of the letters conveyed in quills to Mrs. Hastings while Mr. Hastings was atChunar : the originals are in Mrs. Hastings's possession, together with the quills in which they are enveloped." The third relate to Mrs. Hastings's LETTERS FROM WARREN HASTINGS TO HIS WIFE. 277 voyage to England, and her husljand's own doings afterwards until he prepared to follow her. It may be useful to explain how these letters in all probability got separated from those, not superior in interest, which were long ago printed and published. We may learn this from what Mr. Gleig says in Ms preface to the memoirs of the life of Hastings. Warren Hastings died in 1818 : soon after that the whole of the family papers were put into the hands of Mr. Southey, with the proposal that he should become the biographer of the late Governor- General ot Bengal. Having kept the papers a good while, Mr. Southey returned them with the avowal that he could not undertake so complicated a task. After a long interval a similar proposal was made to Mr. Impey, and to him the papers were sent. He kept them and laboured at them for six years, but when he died not a word of the memoir had been written. Again the voluminous and deterrent documents found their way back to Daylesford, where they lay in absolute confusion until 1835, when Mr. Gleig got them and was occupied with them for six years. With all these moves and changes it would be strange if some of the family papers did not get lost or separated. The disadvantage at which the compiler of the memoir was thus placed, finds expression in this passage in his introduction : — " The letters entrusted to me are not always consecutive, and it has unfortunately happened that precisely at points where most of all it was essential that I should find materials for my biography in the handwriting of the subject of it, such materials are wanting." Accordingly, in the letters from Hastings to his wife which Gleig gives as being " full of interest," there are many allusions which are scarcely intelligible from want of letters that must have preceded them, and whose absence must have .greatly perplexed the biographer. The letters of Hastings to his wife, remarks Macaulay, who had seen only the few given by Gleig, " are exceedingly characteristic. They are tender and full of indication of esteem and confidence, but at the same time a little more ceremonious than is usual in so intimate a relation." A more extended acquaintance with Hastings' domestic letters will, perhaps, show that this qualification was not altogether justified. He evidently was an inexhaustible correspondent. The letters to his wife were written in the most ungrudging frequency, and although he was thus under no obligation to recompense rarity by length, the length to which most of his letters to her did go was some- thing miraculous in the case of such an Atlas who had such a world on his shoulders. The burden of nearly everyone of them is the same — the assurance of his unceasing love — of the aching void her absence has created — his morbid apprehensions and repinings, and his passionate yearning to regain her. All indicate what a lonely man Warren Hastings really was. No one can doubt the earnestness or the depth of sincerity and truth from which these fond outpourings flowed. " He seems to have loved her with that love which is peculiar to men 278 ECHOES FROM OLD CALCUTTA. of strong minds, to men whose affection is not easily won or widely diffused" (Macaulay). , ;: In the excerpta that follow, I have, as a general rule, given the shorter notes of the first series in full ; from the rest I have only attempted to extract such portions as may have a local interest and significance for Indian readers especially, and which may tend to elu- cidate personal character and feeling, and help to afford a nearer view of the inner life of one who helongs to history. " The business of the biographer," says the prince of biographers — quoting the Ramhler — "is often to pass slightly over those performances and incidents which produce vulgar greatness ; to lead the thoughts into domestic privacies, and display the minute details of daily life." 00 in 0, g H >^ X Tliaclcer, Spink Sf Co., Calcutta. FICTION, POETRY, &c. A Naturali&t on the Prowl; or In the Jurgle. By Eha. Wibh 80 Illustrations by E. A. Sterndat.b. Ks. 8. Excurtions into the District? around an Anglo-Indian Home. "A charming record of wild life in the juDgle. . , . Science and entertainment are happily allied in ' A Naturalist on the Prowl.' It is full of curious ' out-of-the-way' observation, set forth in an unconven- tional style. Ihe illustrations by Mr. B. A. Sterndale are in excellent accord with the hook."— Saturday Review. " While the book is one of an exceedingly humorous character, it cannot be read through by aoy person without the reader acquiring a vast fund of accurate knowledge of the habits and instincts of the animals described. . . . We cannot conclude without recommend- ing this really delightful volume, as equally interesting to the general reader and to theprofessed naturalist." — The Field. The above forms one of a series, which includes — The Tribes on My 5'rontier : an Indian Naturalist's Foreign Policy. By Eha. "With 50 Illustrations by E. C. Maceae. 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A New Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth. Es. 3. 40 Thacker, Spinh ^ Gn., Calcutta. AmeeF Ali and Woodroffe. — The Law of Evidence Applicable to British India. By Sjed Ameer Ali, M.A., CLE , Barrister-at-Law, Judge of the High Court of Judi- cature, and J. G. Woodroffe, M.A., B.C L., Barrister-at- Law. .Demy i^ Laws of Wealth . . . . 21 Ctuient's HaLdbook to Hamilton and Mill 27 Bellew. Races of Afghanistan ., 8 Bengal Code Regulations « . . 33 Beresford, Lord William .. .. 14 Bernard. Indian Military Liw . . 24 Beveridge. Akbar . . « . . 7 Nanda Kumar 7 Beverley. Land Acquisition Acts.. 32 Bhattacharya. Hindu Castea and Sects .. 5 Bignold. Leviora 5 Birch. Management of Children . . 15 Bonavia. the Date Palm . . . . 22 Bcse. Hindoos as they are .. ., 6 Biidgea-Lee. Indigo Manufacture 22 Broughton. Civil Procedure . . 36 Busteed. Echoes from Old Calcutta 6 C— Major. Dog Notes . . . . 32 Horsd Notes n Calcutta. Raeinar Calendar , . ,. 14 Racing Calendar, Volumes 14 Turf Club Rules . . . . 13 University Calendar .. 27 Calthrop. Burmese Tales . . . . 4 Carnegy. Kachahri Technicaliiies.. 43 Cashmir en Famille .. .. ..18 Caspersz. Law of Estoppel .. .. 85 Chalmers. Negotiable Instruments Act 35 Cband. Law of Res Judicata ,. 36 Chan Toon. Bhuddhist Law .. 43 Clarke. Awarifu-1-Ma'arif .. 31 Divan-i-Hiifiz 30 Coldstream. Grasses of the S. Punjab 22 Colebro k. Lilava'i 24 CoUett. Specific Relief in India . . 35 Collier. Bengal L cal Self-Govem- ment .. ..37 Bengal Municipal Manual.. 37 Cowell. ConstitutiLn of the Courts 42 Hitidu Law 41 Cunningham. Indian Eras . . . . 7 Currie. law Examination Manual <3 Cuthell. Indian Idylls .. .. 4 Deaken. 1 irigated India . . . . 23 De Bourbel, Routes in Jammu crd Kashmir .. , 19 46 ISDEX. Page, Dey. Indigenous Drugs ,. ..21 Donogh. Stamp Law . . . . ..43 DufEdiin, La^'y. National Assocla- ' tion ..16 . Three Years' "Work ., ..16 Duke. Bi.ntiDg in India .. ..16. Queries at a Mess Table .. 16 Edwood, Au'.obiography of ■■ — ' Elsie Bllerton.. Spin Eha. Behind the Bungalow. . — Na'uralist on the Prowl Tribes on my Frontier English Selectioas f jr the Caloutta. iBntrance Course Ewing. Exposure Tables —, Handbook of Photography Field. Introiluctioa to Bengal Regu- lations ;. 31' Landhold'ng 33 Law of Evidence ., ..39 Fink. Analysis of Hamilton . . 27 -Aralyeis o* Eeid'a Enquiry 27 Firminger. Manual of Gardening . . 17 Forsyth. Highlands of Central India 13 Probate and Administration Act . . . .| Revenue Sale Law Four-a-nna Railway Guide .. .. 19 Frielberger and Freeh jer's Veteri- nary Pathology 11 George. Guide to Book-keeping . . 28 Godfrey. Tae Captain's Daughter 5 Gordon. From the City of Palaces 20 Qorden-Forbes. From Sioala to Shlpki .. .. 19 Gowau. Kashgaria 7 Gracey. Rhyming Legends of Ind 4 Greenstreet. Lalu - 4 Gregg. Text Book of Indian Botany 22 Gribble and Hehlr. Medical Juris- - prudence 14 and 40 Gricrson. 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Chin Lushai Land . . . . 7 Culture and ■Manufacture of Indigo 22 —Inquiry into the Human Mind- .. „ 28 48 INDEX. Beminlsceuces of Twenty Years Pig- sticking 13 Keynolds. N.W.P. Rent Act .. 32 Richards. Snake Poison Literature 16 Riddell. Indian Djmestic Bconomy 17 Bivaz. Limitation Act . . . . 36 Romance of Tjakote 5 Rowe and Webb. Hints on the Study of English 26 Companion Reaier . . . . 26 Roxburgh. Flora Indlca .. ..22 Rubbee. Origin of the Mahomedans in Bengal 6 Rules cf Polo li Bumsey. Al Slrajlyyah . . . . 41 Bussell,. Malaria 16 Sdndberg. Colloquial Tibetan . . 31 Siraawatl. Hindu Law ol Endow- ments 41 Sen, Guru Perthad. Hindulim .. 6 Shaw and Hayes. Dogs for Hot Climates .. .. — •• 12 Sherring. Hindu Tribes and Castes 6 Light and Shade .. .. 4 Shingham. Phonography in Beng. 11 28 Sinclair. Projection of Mips .. 27 S romanl. Hindu Law, Inheritance 4-2 Skrine. Indian Joumallot . . . S Small. -Anglo-Urdu Medical Manual 15 ,-r : Handbook SO Urdu Grammar . . . . 80 Song of Shorunjung 5 Stephen. Principles of Judicial Evidence .. .. - ..SB Stemdale. Denizens of the Jungles 13 and 21 Mammalia of India . . . . 21 Municipal Work .. ..37 Seonee 13 Stow. Quadruplex Telegraphy . . 24 Sutherland. Digest, Indian Law Reports 40 Swinhoe. Case Noted Pjnal Code.. 38 Talbot. . Translations Into Persian . . 30 Tawney. English People and their Language 27 —. Malavikagnimitra ., .. 31 Two Centuries of Bhartrihari 31 Temple- Wright. Baker and Co jk . . 17 Flowers and Gardens . . IS Thacker. Directory of Chief Indus- tries of India . . Guide to Calcutta Guide to Darjeeling Indian Directory -Map of Indian 20 19 19 21 20 ThuilUer and Sayth. Manual of Surveying 23 Tojnbee. Chaukldari Manual . . 39 Tweed. Cow Keeping in India .. 18 Poultry Keeping in India .. 18 Tweedie. Hindustani and Key .. £9 Tyncke. Sportsman's Manual .. 12 Underwood. 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