A SIGH FOR A LAC. 1 Come Fortune smile o'er me, and banish thy frown, 2 My babies are crying, my credit is dying There is nought here of pleasure can give such a smack To one who from creditors soon will be flying, There is reason then surely to sigh for the Lac. 3 A Lac of Rupees, what a generous prize £300 a year, lots of claret and sack, How my wife's cheek would bloom, how 'twould brighten her eyes, The sight of the sighed for, the sensible Lac. 4 Come Fortune my dear, a poor Subaltern cheer, Life's barque then, may sail along smoothly, or tack, I'd care not, since credit no longer l'd fear; There is reason then surely to sigh for the Lac. Thursday, January 25, 1844, POLYPHILUS. No. 12. A Trip from Calcutta to Bundlekund--By a Man of Sentiment. "I am well aware-as both my travels and observations will be altogether of a different cast from any of my forerunners, that I might have insisted on a whole nitch entirely to myself-but 1 should break in upon the confines of the vain Traveller, in wishing to draw attention towards me, till I have some better grounds for it, than the mere novelty of my vehicle." STERNE'S SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. The following letters I received from a near relation, a second Yorick, if I may be so presumptuous, one, en route from Calcutta to Bundlekund, the other on his arrival at Jhansi ; I shall i; give the sentimental Rambler's description as nearly as possible in his own words; but before commencing, allow me to state that he is a man of no common literary talents, the truth of which you will discover before long. Allahabad, 27th April, 1843-Cantonments. MY DEAR POLYPHILUS.-I am now some eight hundred miles up the Ganges! at Allahabad, having arrived here on the 21st ult. by the "Luckia" Flat, in tow of the Hoorungotta steam I believe you have never sailed on the Gan er. ges, tis a majestic river, and what room for contemplation: what history is attached to it, in what a generous manner does it shed fertility o'er a land "where all save the spirit of man is divine;" what veneration is attached to it by the dark sons of idolatry, who even esteem it as a deity; still it flows on unheedful of the distinction, listless to the idolatry of its votaries. Do you remember a verse on the Ganges by one of our sweetest poetesses? "Yet thou art on thy course majestic keeping Unruffled by the breath Of man's vain life or death Calm as the heaven upon thy bosom sleeping." So much for the Ganges; I am living in the Sepahee lines and not in the Fort, and have met with the greatest hospitality during my residence here. I have bought a Palkee, Pettarah, &c. and will proceed by dawk with twelve bearers to Jhansi immediately. The route I take is by Hainurpoor, Calpee, Oorei, &c. I read in the Delhi Gazette yesterday that an officer and his wife who were lately travelling through Bundlekund were stoned for miles by the natives! So I hope they will not sacrifice your old friend. Oh! oh! oh! I have sharpened an old sword, and a large clasp knife, but I have no pistols, and they will not part with any in the Fort; 'tis strange how the natives can be so barbarous, attacking a gentleman and a lady in the case, but as old Tom in Marryat's Jacob Faithful would say, "it is all human natur." In the Flat from Calcutta, I fell in with a very pleasant companion, a Captain in the Indian Army; we went on shore at Rampore Bolcah, when we worried a couple of cats with the Captain's dogs, to the no small astonishment of the natives. We also went on shore at Monghir, an interesting account of which you will find in Bishop Heber. I saw the "Holy City of Benares" of Warren Hastings celebrity, and the Sacred Bulls, about which Bishop Heber says, They are devoted to Siva, of every age, tame and familiar as mastiffs, walk lazily up and down the narrow streets, or are seen lying across them, and hardly to be kicked up (any blows indeed given them must be of the gentlest kind, or woe be to the profane wretch who braves the prejudices of this fanatic population) in order to make way for the Tonjon." The Reverend Bishop's description I found exact, I myself kicked several but to little effect. I also saw a nautch at Benares, but they I believe are pretty much alike throughout India. The greater the dearth of intellectual faculty, the greater the display of 66 " inexplicable dumb show and noise." Modesty I perceive is the leading characteristic of Indian dancing girls, but if they had such snow-white necks as those of our own country, there is no saying how much they would uncover them, from the example they so often have set before them. We went on shore at another spot but I forget the name, there we met with a very narrow escape; it was dusk, and we saw near a large tree, a huge elephant, when we went up to it and the Mahout being there, clapped it and gave it gram, although it trumpeted at us, after that we walked on some distance into the jungle, and on returning repeated our liberties. with Mr. Trunko, but the Mahout was absent. The chief natives rushed out, and begged we would not go near it for our lives, as it was half wild, only three days caught; it had made an advance at me when I presented my stick, it gave a tremendous roar, when we left it; we had not proceeded far, I walking behind the Captain, in a narrow footpath, when he stopped all of a sudden. "Good God, L, look there," he cried, and what should I discover, when bending over where he pointed, but that we were standing on the brink of a high precipice and another step would have dashed us to atoms. "Je l'avoue que cet abord, me |