The roof was painted with all forts of flowers, falling out of gilded baskets, that feemed tumbling down. On a fofa, raised three fteps, and covered with fine Perfian carpets, fat the Kahya's Lady, leaning on cufhions of white fatin embroidered; and at her feet fat two young girls about twelve years old, lovely as angels, dreffed perfectly rich, and almoft covered with jewels. But they were hardly feen near the fair Fatima, (for that is her name) fo much her beauty effaced every thing I have seen, nay, all that has been called lovely either in England or Germany. I must own, that I never faw any thing fo glorioufly beautiful, nor can I recollect a face that would have been taken notice of near her's. She stood up to receive me, faluting me, after their fashion, putting her hand to her heart, with a fweetnefs full of majefty, that no court breeding could ever give. She ordered cushions to be given me, and took care to place me in the corner, which is the place of honour. I confefs, tho' the Greek Lady had before given me a great opinion of her beauty, I was fo ftruck with admiration, that I could not, for fome time, fpeak to her, being wholly taken up in gazing. That furprizing harmony of features! that charming refult of the whole! that exact proportion of body! that lovely bloom of complexion, unsullied by art! the unutterable enchantment of her smile!

but her eyes!-large and black, with all the foft languishment of the blue! Every turn of her face difcovering fome new graće.

"After my fift furprize was over, I endeavoured, by nicely examining her face, to find out fome imperfection, without any fruit of my fearch, but my being clearly convinced of the error of the vulgar notion, that a face exactly proportioned, and perfectly beautiful, would not be agreeable; nature having done for her, with more fuccefs, what Apelles is faid to have elayed by a collection of the most exact features to form a perfect face. Add to all this, a behaviour fo full of grace and fweetnefs, fuch eafy motions with an air fo majeftic, yet free from ftiffness or affectation, that I am perfuaded, could fhe be fuddenly traníported upon the moft polite throne of Europe, no body would think her other than born and bred to be a Qucen, though educated in a country we call barbarous. To fay all in a word, our most celebrated English beauties would vanifh near her.

"She was dreffed in a Caftan of gold brocade, flowered with filver, very well fitted to her fhape, and fhewed to advantage the beauty of her bofom, only fhaded by the thin gauze of her shift. Her drawers were pale pink, her waistcoat green and filver, her flippers white fatin finely embroidered; her lovely arms adorned with bracelets of diamon's, and her broad girdle fet round with diamonds;

3

diamonds; upon her head a rich Turkish handkerchief, of pink and filver, her own fine black hair hanging a great length, in various treffes, and on one fide of her head fome bodkins of jewels.

"I am afraid you will accufe me of extravagance in this defcription. I think I have read fome where, that women always fpeak in rapture, when they speak of beauty, and i cannot imagine why they fhould not be allowed to do fo. I rather think it a virtue to be able to admire without any mixture of defire or envy. The graveft Writers have spoke with great warmth of fome celebrated pictures and ftatues. The workmanship of Heaven, certainly excels all our weak imitations, and, I think, has a much better claim to our praife. For my part, I am not afhamed to own, I took more pleasure in looking on the beauteous Fatima, than the finest piece of fculpture could have given me. She told me, the two girls at her feet were her daughters, though the appeared too young to be their mother. Her fair maids were ranged below the fofa, to the number of twenty, and put me in mind of the pictures of the ancient nymphs. I did not think all nature could have furnished such a scene of beauty. She made them a fign to play and dance. Four of them immediately began to play fome foft airs, on inftruments between a lute and a guitar, which they accompanied with their voices, while the others danced by turns. This dance was very different from what I had feen before. Nothing could be more artful, or more proper to raise certain ideas. The tunes fo foft!The motions fo languishing!-accompanied with paufes and dying eyes; half-falling back, and then recovering themselves in fo artful a manner, that I am very pofitive, the coldest and most rigid Prude upon earth, could not have looked upon them without thinking of fomething not to be spoke ofI fuppofe you have read, that the Turks have no mufic, but what is flocking to the ears; but this account is from those who never heard any but what is played in the ftreets, and is juft as reafonable as if a foreigner fhould take his ideas of English mufic, from the bladder and firing, or the marrow-bones and cleavers. I can affure you, that the mufic is extremely pathetic; it is true, I am inclined to prefer the Italian, but, perhaps, I am partial. I am acquainted with a Greek Lady who fings better than Mrs. Robinson, and is very well skilled in both, who gives the preference to the Turkish. 'Tis certain, they have very fine natural voices; these were very agreeable.

"When the dance was over, four fair flaves came into the room, with filver cenfors in their hands, and perfumed the air with amber, aloes- wood, and other fcents. After this, they aloes-wood,

ferved me coffee upon their knees, in the fineft Japan china, with foucoups of filver gilt. The lovely Fatima entertained me all this while, in the most polite agreeable manner, calling me often Uzelle Sultanam, or the Beautiful Sultana, and defiting my friendship, with the beft grace in the world, lamenting that the could not entertain me in my own language.

When I took my leave, two maids brought in a fine filver basket of embroidered handkerchiefs; fhe begged I would wear the richest for her fake, and gave the others to my woman and Interpretefs.I retired, thro' the fame ceremonies as before, and, could not help thinking, I had been fome time in Mahomet's paradife, fo much I was charmed with what I had feen. I know not how the relation of it appears to you. I wish it may give you part of my pleafure; for I would have my dear fitter thare in all the diverfions of, Yours, &c. &c."

On this Letter we fhall leave our Readers to form their own remarks and conclufions; for us, we muit here, for the prefent, take leave of an article which has already allured us beyond our limits. This is a bewitching book--there is no knowing when to lay it down. We muft, however, clofe it for this month; but fhall not fail to open it again in the next.

Reflections on the Government, &c. of Indoftan: With a fort Sketch of the Hiftory of Bengal, from the Year 1739 to 1756; and an Account of the English Affairs to 1758. By Luke Scrafton, Efq; 8vo. 2s. 6d. Millar.

TH

HESE Letters contain a well written account of the Gentoos, natives of the East Indies: preparatory to the main object, which is a detail of the revolutions in Bengal, in which the then Colonel Clive acted fo principal a part. In reading this reprefentation of the manners and cuftoms of thofe Eaft-Indians, with whom we are, in general, but little acquainted, we fhall not find them that wild ignorant people they are commonly imagined to be.

To give fome fpecimen of the method and flyle in which Mr. Scrafton conveys his reflections on this people, we will give his account of their divifion into tribes; which, he fays, forms the moft material diftinction between the Gentoos and other nations.

"The four principal tribes are, the Bramins, Soldiers, Labourers, and Mechanics; thefe are again fubdivided into a mulREV. June, 1763.

Ii

tiplicity

tiplicity of inferior diftinctions. There are Bramins of various degrees of excellence, who have the care of religion allotted to them. These are held facred by the reft: they fwear by their heads; they kifs their feet; and the Bramins have the entire government of their minds; and fuch as do not follow any worldly purfuits, are fupported by the reft, which is a great burden upon the land. It is difficult to draw a general character of the Bramins, as they vary fo much in their purfuits, and in their degrees of knowlege. Some I have converfed with, acknowlege the errors that have crept into their religion, own one Supreme Being, laugh at the idolatry of the multitude; but infilt upon the neceffity of working upon the weakneffes of the vulgar, and will admit of no doubt of the divine character of their LegiaTalk to them of the truth of the Chriftian religion, they fay, They believe it is all very true; but that God has given different laws, and ordered different forms of worfhip for different nations, and has prefcribed them theirs, which their forefathers have practifed for many thousand years, and they have no reason to doubt its being acceptable.' For this reafon they admit no converts, nor are themselves ever converted, whatever the Roman Miffionasies may pretend; except, indeed, the Hallachores, of whom I fhall fpeak hereafter, who are glad to be received into a fociety where they are treated as fellow creatures. But I much doubt, whether there ever was an inftance of any other of the Indians being converted by the Miffionaries; and even thefe do no honour to the Chriftian religion; for as far as my obfervation has reached, thefe half Chriftians are the most abandoned profligate wretches of the human fpecies.

tor.

But to return to the Bramins: fome few there are who, verfed in their learned langues, foar above the vulgar; but the generality are as ignorant as the laity. Such who are not engaged in worldly pursuits, are a very moral, fuperftitious, innocent people, who promote charity as much as they can, to man and beaft; but fuch who engage in the world, are generally the worst of all the Gentoos; for, perfuaded the waters of the Ganges will purify them from their fins, and being exempted: from the utmoft rigour of the courts of juftice (under the Gentoo governments) they run into much greater exceffes.

"The Soldiers are commonly Rajah-poots, (or defcended from Rajahs). Thefe inhabit chiefly the northern provinces ; and it is from hence I conjecture, that the Founder of their religion was alfo King of the whole continent, and that he fent off this tribe to govern the reft; for in all the fouthern provinces, the reft of the inhabitants are quite black; and the family that govern, are a fair complexioned people, of the colour of thofe of the northern provinces. Thefe Rajah poots are

much

much more robuft than the rest; have a great fhare of courage, and a nice sense of military honour, which confifts, among them, in fidelity to those they ferve. Fighting is their profeffion; and they readily enter into the fervice of any that will pay them, and will follow wherever he leads; but as foon as their Leader falls in battle, their caufe is at an end, and they run off the field, without any ftain to their reputation.

"The Labourers are next in rank. This tribe includes farmers, and all who cultivate the land; and the Mechanics include merchants, bankers, and all who follow any trade; thefe again are fubdivided into each profeflion.

"And now I muft mention the Hallachores, whom I cannot call a tribe, being rather the refufe of all the tribes. Thefe are a fet of poor unhappy wretches, deftined to mifery from their birth. They perform all the vileft offices of life; bury the dead, and carry away every thing that is polluted. They are held in fuch abomination, that on the Malabar fide of India, if they chance to touch one of a superior tribe, he draws his fabre, and cuts him down on the spot, without any check, either from his own conscience, or from the laws of the country. How the Legiflator could let fuch an injuftice enter into his fyftem, I can no otherwife account for, than by his fuppofing a neceflity of a regular gradation; and he was obliged to facrifice a portion of his people, to preferve the purity, (or that wherein he defined purity to confift) of the reft. All the different tribes are kept diftinct from each other, by infurmountable barriers; they are forbid to intermarry, to cohabit, to eat with each other, or even to drink out of the fame veffel with one of another tribe, and every deviation in these points, fubjects them to be rejected by their tribe, renders them for ever polluted, and they are thenceforward obliged to herd with the Hallachores."

This divifion of the people into diftinct claffes, affords Mr. Serafton an opportunity of deducing many pertinent obfervations on the good and ill confequences refulting from it; both with regard to their internal oeconomy, and to their general ftrength against foreign invaders.

Not having room to attend to many interefting and entertaining particulars relating to thefe remote people, we will proceed to the hiftorical part; which employs much the greater number of these pages. Of this it will fuffice to fay, that it affords a lefs perfect idea of the Mogul empire in general, than of the history of Bengal in particular, which is traced for fome years back, previous to, and to difplay more intelligibly, the important fuccefs of Colonel Clive; who acquired an influence there,