analysis of a bottle of cheap port wine;* spirits of wine, cider, sugar, alum, tartaric acid, and decoction of logwood!

retribution in its train. Two-thirds of the instances of adulteration are referrible to this cause. Setting down the rest to the unprincipled cupidity of the evil human heart, let us take our leave of a subject which it has given us more pain than pleasure to write upon.

The high price of champagne in England is a sufficient temptation to fabricate imitations thereof. Even at our juvenile entertainments, gooseberry wine has become the celebrated representative of this noble liquid; and how PUNISHMENTS OF AUTHORS. far and how frequently this homely guest is found under the former title at tables of a higher caste, had better not AMONG the Greeks and Romans, the burning of obbe conjectured. It is positively stated, that some years noxious books by tegal sentence was not unfrequent. ago, some Frenchmen set up a champagne manufactory At Athens, all the copies that could be collected of the in the metropolis, having contracted for a large supply prohibited works of Pythagoras were burnt by the comof the freshly-expressed juice of the pears of Herefordshire; and we have the best authority for stating that had been found in his grave, were condemned to the mon crier. At Rome, the writings of Numa, which cochineal, or strawberries, citric acid, grape wine, French brandy, and water, are very common ingredients fire by the senate, because they were contrary to the of sham champagne. We happen to have it within our religion which he had introduced. During the reign personal knowledge, that in this metropolis there is in of Augustus, 20,000 volumes were burnt at one time: full operation some most ingenious machinery for the among these were the books of Labienus. Cassius sole purpose of impregnating such wines with the gas Severus, a friend of Labienus, hearing the sentence which contributes so much of the brilliancy of appear-pronounced, cried aloud that they must burn him too, ance and piquancy of flavour to the veritable fluid. for he had got all the books by heart. Labienus could Such wine is bottled in the proper champagne bottles; not survive his books; so, shutting himself up in the and-will it be credited?-the compressed appearance of the cork of real champagne is imitated by corks cut tomb of his ancestors, he pined away, and was buried purposely of precisely that distressingly tumid appear- alive. Shortly after this, the writings of the very perance! Cover it with tinfoil, powder it with sawdust, son who had been the cause of the order for burning and the counterfeit may be securely committed to the Labienus's books, shared the same fate, being also pubgullibility and gullets of an unsuspecting world. Ardent licly burnt. Antiochus Epiphanes caused the works spirits are adulterated to an equal, in some cases even of the Jews to be burnt. Eusebius informs us that to a greater extent; and few but those who brew their Dioclesian caused the sacred Scriptures to be burnt. own pecks o' maut,' can hope to have beer altogether The writings of Arius were condemned to the flames free from adulteration. We will close this part of our subject with an anecdote which passes for truth. at the Council of Nice; and Constantine threatened to George IV., in his days of early dissipation, possessed a put to death any person who should conceal them. At very small quantity of remarkably choice and scarce the request of the clergy assembled at the Council of wine. His suite, appreciating its value, and deeming it Ephesus, the Emperor Theodosius II. ordered the works forgotten, exhausted it almost to the last bottle, when of Nestorius to be burnt. Leo I. ordered 200,000 books they were surprised by the unexpected command, that to be burnt at Constantinople. the wine should be forthcoming at an entertainment on the following day. In the midst of their consternation, the copies were most industriously sought after and On the first publication of 'Pasquillorum Tomi Duo,' they applied to a noted wine-brewer, who inquired, Have you any of the wine left for a specimen?' There destroyed; and no wonder, for never were the popes were a couple of bottles. He received one, took it home, and monks attacked with more poignant satire, wit, examined it, and the next day, shortly before the com- and ridicule, than in these celebrated pasquinades. mencement of the entertainment, a sufficient supply of the Owing to this destruction of the copies, it is extremely imitation was sent, and the cheat was never discovered.† rare. Heinsius cheerfully paid one hundred Venetian Milk, coffee, honey, cream, mustard, and a thousand ducats for a copy, which he considered to be the only other articles of domestic consumption, are frequently one in existence. In the present day, copies of it sell and extensively adulterated. The miserably poor, for from three to eleven guineas. Fox, the historian of colicky-looking milk, so called by an insane mistake, the martyrs, relates that in May 1531 Bishop Stokeswith which this metropolis feeds her children, has a ley 'caused all the New Testament of Tindal's translareputation as extensive as the world. In no instance, tion, and many other books which he had bought, to be however, is this hateful practice so sinful, or so lament-openly burnt in St Paul's Churchyard,' where heaps ably common, as in the adulteration of medicines. We of books were thus destroyed on several occasions of may laugh at such tales as those we hear, of a gentle- grand ceremonial. In June 1599, by order of Archman taking six ounces of castor-oil in succession in bishop Whitgift and Bishop Bancroft, nearly all the vain; but the case puts on a far different aspect when copies of Christopher Marlow's translation of Ovid's it is remembered, that to the half-efficacy of a sophis- Elegies, with Sir John Davies's Epigrams (1596), were ticated drug may be committed the lives of our nearest condemned to be burnt at Stationers' Hall. The few and dearest friends. The native exporters adulterate, existing copies of the little volume containing these the importers adulterate, the retailers adulterate; and, two performances are worth from six to eight guineas with thrice-diluted energies, the medicine is placed in each. An old writer tells us that, by command of the the practitioner's hand, a bruised reed, upon which, if pope, and with the consent of the whole clergy of Enghe leans, it will surely break and pierce him.' land, the Bishop of Rochester preached in St Paul's Churchyard against Martin Luther and all his works, and denounced those persons as accursed who kept any of his books, of which many were burnt during the sermon. In 1617, James I. published his famous 'Declaration to his Subjects Concerning Lawful Sports,' sanctioning the public enjoying certain recreations and pastimes on the Sabbath, and positively ordering all parochial incumbents to make his permission known in their respective churches, on pain of the king's displeasure. On March 10, 1643, twenty-six years after its publication, this royal book of sports was burnt by the common hangman in Cheapside, in pursuance of a resolution of both Houses of Parliament,

We believe this paper will do good. If it will show in any fresh light the short-sighted folly which seems the characteristic passion of the present age-the rage for cheapening everything-it will do both the state and the people some service. In this Journal, again and again has this subject been referred to; the present article may give some force to the previous remarks, by exhibiting, and in no over-wrought colours, one of the inevitable consequences of this cruel, hard-hearted, bargain-seeking spirit, as carrying its own measure of

*We suppress the quantities.

† Beckman. History of Inventions. Bohn's Ed.

which commanded all persons having any copies of that work in their hands to deliver them forthwith to be burnt according to the order. For writing his Altrare Christianum' (1637), and 'Sunday No Sabbath,' Dr Pocklington was deprived of all his livings, dignities, and preferments, disabled from ever holding any place or dignity in church or commonwealth, and prohibited from ever coming within the verge of the king's court, and his works were ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. 'I am afraid,' says Southey, 'that this act of abominable tyranny must mainly be attributed to Archbishop Williams, who revenged himself thus for the manner in which Dr Pocklington had foiled him in a controversy.' On August 27, 1659, all Milton's books were burnt by the common hangman, according to an order altogether worthy of the prince who had Cromwell's mouldering bones taken up and exposed on a scaffold. Dr J. Drake's very curious 'Historia AngloScotica, or Impartial History of the Kings and Kingdoms of England and Scotland from William the Conqueror to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth' (1703), was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. The Scottish parliament having pronounced William Attwood's work, entitled 'The Superiority and Dominion of the Crown of England over the Crown of Scotland' (1704), to be scurrilous and full of falsehoods, commanded it to be burnt by the hangman of Edinburgh. When Linnæus first published his works, the pope ordered them to be burnt; but some time afterwards, his holiness unseated a professor of botany for being ignorant of the writings of that illustrious Swede. In France, in 1790, above 4,194,412 books were burnt, which were in the suppressed monasteries. Two millions were on theology, and 26,000 were manuscripts. In the city of Paris alone, 808,120 volumes were burnt.

A gentleman named Collingbourne was executed on
Tower Hill for the following couplet, alluding to Catesby,
Ratcliff, and Lovel giving their advice to Richard III.,
whose crest was a white boar :-

6 The cat, the rat, and Lovel our dog,
Rule all England under a hog.'

|

George Withers the poet was imprisoned for several months in the Marshalsea, as a punishment for the offence he gave by his satires, in a little book entitled Abuses Stript and Whipt' (1633). In James II.'s reign, Richard Baxter, the eminent divine and nonconformist, was committed to the King's Bench, by a warrant from the detestable Judge Jeffries, who treated this worthy man, at his trial, in the most brutal manner, and reproached him with having written a cart-load of books, 'every one as full of sedition and treason as an egg is full of meat.' Bussy Rabutin, maliciously betrayed by the Marchioness of Beaume, as the author of 'Amours des Illustres de France,' published at Cologne in 1717, was sent to the Bastile, and then exiled seventeen years on his own estate.

Thomas Wilson, who was seized at Rome, and thrown into the Inquisition, in consequence of the heresies contained in his 'Arte of Rhetorique, for the Use of all such as are Studious of Eloquence' (1553), would have been burnt, if the prison itself had not taken fire; for the people then broke open the doors, that the prisoners might save their lives if they could, and Wilson made his escape. Henry Stephens the printer was condemned to be burnt for publishing a work entitled Introduction au Traité de la Conformité des Mervailles Anciennes avec les Modernes' (1566), which is so full of amusing anecdotes and satire against monks, priests, and popes, that many authors have been tempted to extract from it without acknowledgment. While Charles II. had the portrait of Hobbes on the wall of his bedroom, in reverence of his aristocratical principles, the bishops were strongly urging the necessity of burning him, in abhorrence of his religious doctrines.

For writing An Appeal to Parliament, or Sion's Plea against the Prelacy' (1628), Dr Alexander Leighton was twice publicly whipped and pilloried in Cheapside, his ears cut off, his nose twice slit, his cheeks branded with a red-hot iron, and he was also eleven years imprisoned in a filthy dungeon in the Fleet. William Prynne lost his ears for writing Histrio - Mastix; the Player's Scourge, or Actor's Tragedie' (1633), a scarce and famous work, in two volumes. The recent recommendation of his works in the Oxford Tracts have brought them again into considerable demand.

Queen Elizabeth being enraged at a book that was written against her, and which she did not believe was

title-page, declared that she would have him racked to discover its real author. Nay, madam,' said Bacon, 'he is a doctor; never rack his person-rack his style. Let this pretended author have pen, ink, and paper, and help of books, and be enjoined to continue his story; and I will undertake, by collating the styles, to judge whether he were the author or not.' Voltaire, when at Berlin, wrote an epigram on his patron and host, the king of Prussia, for which he was rewarded with a flogging on his bare back, administered by the sergeant-atarms, and was compelled to sign the following curious receipt for the same:-Received from the right hand of Conrad Bachoffner, thirty lashes on my bare back, being in full for an epigram on Frederick the Third, king of Prussia. Vive le Roi.'

The unfortunate versifier having been hung, was cut down immediately, and his entrails were then extracted and thrown into the fire; and all this was so speedily performed, that Stow says, when the executioner pulled out his heart, he spake, and said "Jesus, Jesus!" W. Thomas, author of A Historie of Italy, a Boke Ex-penned by the person whose name appeared on the cedyng Profitable to be Redde' (1549), enjoyed the confidence of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., but was hanged by order of Queen Mary, for the bitterness he evinced towards the pope and others in that curious and now very scarce book. The printer of a work entitled 'Doleman's Conferance about the next Succession to the Crown of England,' imprinted at N. with license (1594), was hung, drawn, and quartered; and it was enacted by the 35th of Elizabeth, that whoever should have this book in his house, should be condemned as guilty of high treason. Cardinal Allen, Sir Francis Englefield, and Father Robert Parsons the Jesuit, are supposed to have written this work, the object of which was to support the title of the Infanta against that of King James, after the death of Elizabeth. It is now so very rare, that as much as fifteen pounds has been paid for one of The present king of Prussia, conversing with George the few copies that exist; and even an imperfect copy Kerwegh, a celebrated poet of very liberal opinions. has been sold for L.1, 10s. Archbishop Laud was said, 'I have to be faithful to my mission as a king, and beheaded for compiling Charles I.'s 'Book of Sports' I desire that you may be faithful to yours as a poet, for (1633). Jacques Boulay, canon of St Pierre en Pont, I do not like want of character. A warm opposition, wrote 'Le Vigneron Français' (1723), containing an ex-founded upon conviction, pleases me; and I therefore cellent account of the French vineyards, and so faith-like your poetry, although it sometimes contains a bitter ful an exposure of the frauds and adulterations prac- dose for me.' tised by the growers and sellers, that tradition says he was found one fine morning hung up in the midst of his own vineyard, as a public warning to those who make people too wise by telling the tricks of trade. Campbell the poet called Bonaparte the literary executioner, because Palm the bookseller was executed in Germany by order of the French.

Milton, in his Treatise for Unlicensed Printing,' shows that in Greece and Rome no books were prohibited which did not blaspheme the gods or were not libellous. And passing on through the times of the emperors, after Christianity had been publicly established, he finds a similar indulgence of all books not blasphemous or calumnious; for even heretical works

EDINBURGH

JOURNAL

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,' 'CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,' &c.

No. 188. NEW SERIES.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1847.

OUR INDIA CONNECTION IN PAST TIMES. I HAVE now attained that age when there is some dignity in remembering-when it is in vain to conceal from myself or others that my recollections carry me back to a time when they had not entered on this bustling, scrambling scene, and that what is matter of tradition to them was reality to me. But so changed is all around and about me, that I sometimes say, and often think-Are my recollections real?-did all this happen?-are persons, and places, and manners so different from what they were half a century ago? Many sad and bitter remembrances dispel the doubt, and tell me that, though customs are altered, gigantic improvements made, and many dear ones lost to me by death, and others as much so by circumstances, I am still the same; and that this is still the same world of trial, perplexity, and anxiety, though war is removed to remote and distant parts of the globe, though steam has almost annihilated time and space, and though free trade is established.

PRICE 14d.

and wayworn the precious missive looked! With what dignity it was delivered, and the heavy postage demanded, and thankfully paid! With what trembling eagerness was the large, closely-filled, well-crossed sheet glanced over! It could not be read till the anxious mother had ascertained that all was well; and then, when from her inmost heart she had blessed God for this mercy, the family were assembled to study it at leisure. It required some ingenuity to decipher the strange names of the localities: the first syllables were variously read; but it seemed likely they were not far wrong if the latter were rendered by pore or gunge. Before the day had closed, first one neighbour, and then another, had dropped in to inquire the news from India; that is to say, the news of their young townsman. Was he a general yet? Had some Hindoo rajah made him a present of countless treasures? Had an Indian princess, or 'Begum,' as they knew they were called, bestowed her hand and kingdom on him? For that a letter which had travelled so far, should only tell that perhaps the writer had got a step in his regiment—that he had been conveying treasure from one station to

Great as are the changes which every one of my age experiences here, I don't know that to one who, like my-another-had been in at the death of a tiger-or, it self, has passed many years in India, any changes are so great as those which have taken place with regard to our connections with that country. Perhaps it may not be uninteresting to the reader to trace some of these improvements. So many are now connected with India in one way or another-by marriage, by relationship, or by friendship-that they may like to hear some of the differences between India in the beginning of this century, and India now; not that they must expect any very learned disquisition on the subject: I only pretend to give a simple account of every-day matters, as experienced by every-day gentlemen, and especially ladies, bound for the East.

Now, indeed, connection with India is so rapid and so certain, that the Indian mail arrives with as much regularity as if it were from some port of Britain. But it was not so in my young days: six months, instead of six weeks, was an average passage. The Indian fleet was looked for with anxiety by the few whom it concerned for several weeks before it was due. In the small country town, it was the distinguishing characteristic of one of the many Mrs Smiths, that she had a son in India-now, almost every Mrs Smith has one, if not two, thus conveniently provided for-and when an Indian letter reached the post-office in those days, it could be for no one but the Mrs Smith. How peculiar was the colour and manufacture of the paper on which the said letter was written! for when the Honourable Company monopolised all trade, none but the magnates could afford any other than China paper. How brown was the ink! made after a precious receipt communicated by the doctor of the regiment. How travel-soiled

might be, what was more important still, that a spinster had arrived by the last fleet-that as there were now three ladies, they had serious thoughts of getting up a fancy ball, each individual female to sustain three different characters in the course of the evening, &c. &c.-was inconceivable even to the good folks of those days, and was nearly as uninteresting as the politics, or prospects, or geography of that vast empire. Whether the war was carrying on against the Great Mogul, or the nabob of Oude, or that monster of cruelty, Tippoo Saib, they knew not, till the recollection of the interesting print of the sons of the latter being delivered to Lord Cornwallis made it quite clear, even to the lady who thought the Mysore was in Calcutta, that Tippoo Saib was dead, so that there was no use in making war against him, or those pretty gentle boys in their long white robes who were being taken as prisoners to be lodged in the dungeons of the English. What a cruel blow to the romance of the hardships they were to undergo, could she have seen the large and elegant house, the spacious grounds, numerous retinue, highbred horses, English carriages, and luxurious pleasures that awaited them there; or, some years later, could she have met one of these identical pretty youths, transformed into a fat burly man, driving along the New Road, London! But we have wandered far from the long-expected welcome letters. When every word was known by heart, when a sound was assigned for every place, then came the question, When will the next ships be due? The next fleet may make a better voyage: we may hear again in three months. But if hope whispers thus, a louder voice will be heard, which

tells of French frigates that may intercept-of distant stations where there is no post-of other contingencies and so they must hope on for six weary months longer. But if hope deferred maketh the heart sick,' so 'familiarity breeds contempt;' and now, in this year 1847, an Indian letter is neither so honoured nor so important; maybe it is hardly welcome. There is no longer the dignity of a fleet; no longer the precariousness of wind and weather; of war or peace. All the excitement of uncertainty is removed. The mail is due: it is telegraphed. All important public events are known by this mode; and since the Cabul tragedy, public events have become important; before that, they were as little attended to as the affairs of the moon. Then the Marseilles Express still further blunts the edges of expectation; and lastly, almost to a day, the Southampton budget is distributed.

No doubt it contains many a welcome packet, many balms to lull the pangs of absence, much to make up for the misery of separation. But now that hot-pressed sentimental letter-paper, the most approved steel pens, and the finest ink, are almost as cheap on the banks of the Ganges as in London, whilst the mail starts regularly once a-fortnight, the contents, as well as the appearance of the letters are changed; for it serves to while away the interminable forenoon of a long hot day, to bestow some of its dulness on friends at home; and so even distant connections, if they have nothing to tell of themselves, often indite a closely-written sheet with public news. For now that an interest is excited, it seems impossible that it should ever flag; and if Akbar Khan, and Dost Mahommed, and the Ameers, are exhausted, is there not Lahore, and Goolab Sing, and the Ranee and her favourites? Amongst other precious treasures in the epistolary way, a few pairs of marriagecards, tied together with silver cord, and without any further explanation, may be put into your hands, and set your wits to work to discover which of the dancing beauties who flitted before you at the balls of the last season has, on her return to the land of her birth, bestowed her charms on the glittering Captain Firefly, or which on the stately Mr Bigwig.

The importations of children are now so numerous, that the returns must be in proportion. Many years ago, marriage was never thought of till the Company's servants had reached the higher grades of the service, and till they contemplated following their delicate offspring home. Now, the judge's assistant, perhaps not come to years of discretion, or the lieutenant at a half batta station, thinks himself entitled to set up housekeeping; and before he is quite prepared, is surrounded by a numerous band of olive-branches, seldom the harbingers of peace in any sense of the word. By and by these must be sent to Britain for education. Girls are much more manageable than boys: accomplishments are attainable for them; and when they are finished, they look forward to returning to India, for which they have been specially prepared, and where they hope a life of joyousness awaits them. Some may have been so fortunate as to have a foretaste of gaiety, by a winter at Bath, Brighton, or one of the capitals; but others are shipped off direct from school; and in no more time than the bare voyage out would have required in the beginning of the century, their marriage-cards may be put into your hands, to announce that they are settled.

In bygone days, if the exportations of young ladies returning to their homes were less, those setting out in search of one were greater; and, sooth to say, it was far to go for such a purpose. True, India was as near then as now; but when we call to mind the obstructions to getting there, the actual distance was, as it were, doubled. The first step of all was to procure an invitation; for however urgent the wishes of the young ladies, all attempts to proceed to the East were vain without this. The East India Directors were not very scrupulous in ascertaining the cordiality with which the invitation was given, but they were peremptory in requiring two respectable householders to become secu

rity, that whatever fortune awaited the errant damsel
in India, the government there should not be burdened
by her. Then, instead of opportunities at least once
a-month via the Cape, in a swift vessel, or by steam
once a-fortnight, arrangements must be made to suit
the fleets, which left England at intervals of about
four or five months; and when it was imprudent to
calculate on a shorter voyage than half a year, the out-
fit deemed necessary can scarcely be imagined. In ad-
dition to the countless dozens of under-clothing, a very
large stock of full dress was considered essential; for as
all articles of European produce, before the opening of
the trade, bore extravagantly high prices in India, it
was thought most unwise not to provide against all
contingencies; and a young lady's wardrobe was gene-
rally so large, that much of it was frequently destroyed
by white ants and cockroaches before it had been put
on. Then what an array of trunks was required for
these treasures, which were to be transported to Ports-
mouth in the heavy wagon-a work of many days!
And here I must be permitted to regret those pic-
turesque monster vehicles, with their eight stately
horses, and good-tempered, ruddy-faced driver, in his
clean white gabardine. How many visions did I con-
jure up, in my happy childhood, of the possibility of
travelling from one end of England to the other, with
all near and dear to me, in one of these moving habita-
tions, stopping now and then for a few days to explore
some spot of surpassing beauty! But these visions have
long since vanished, and much, I fear, the subject of
them has disappeared too, for years have passed since
I saw a heavy wagon.

But to return. Instead of taking a seat in a first-
class carriage, and whistling to Portsmouth between
dinner and tea, as would be the case now, in those
days the journey must be made in a post-chaise; for
stage-coach travelling was eschewed by ladies. Seventy
miles was too much on a stretch, and so a night was
passed on the road; and this leisurely mode of begin-
ning continued to the end. All the ships might not
have arrived; the convoy of his majesty's frigates
might not be ready; the last despatches from the
India House not made up; and somehow it seemed as
if many ships required more fair wind than one; for
certain it is, the fleet often lay between three and four
weeks at Spithead, waiting for what would not come.
During this time many of the passengers lived on board,
to avoid the expense of living at an inn. This added
to the discomfort and length of the voyage; but neces-
sity compelled them to submit. In fact, the time re-
quired to reach India by steam now is not greater than
that often required formerly between embarkation at
Portsmouth and making Madeira, at which island the
fleets invariably stopped to take in wine for the Indian
market, then an immense article of trade, though change
has taken place even in this matter, and sherry is the
white wine now preferred, so that there is no longer any
motive for stopping here. It was, however, a delightful
break, after the horrors of the English Channel and Bay
of Biscay, to explore the luxuriant vineyards, visit the
convents, and take leave of Europe on sunnier shores
than our own island can boast. But to those who did
not land, the delay added to the weary length of the
voyage, and glad were they when they were once more
under weigh. Then, when many of the passengers had
been at least six weeks on board, the voyage might be ||
said fairly to begin. The tedium of the daily routine
soon became felt; the heat made the confinement more
irksome; and any variety was welcome, even that occa-
sioned by the ceremonies attendant on passing the line-
a saturnalia now falling into disrepute, and a custom
more honoured in the breach than in the observance:
however, six months of monotony make strange things
endurable, and so this was tolerated.

The most effectual mode of killing time was usually found in the enacting of a play. Charades were not. Some days were pleasantly consumed in selecting such a drama as suited the performers and audience; several