The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-24 00:00:00

~~ f~ 1~ SUPPLEMENT TO tbr Ribtr --4autartiff - - AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. the state and prospects of this fine territory, which contains about 250,000 square miles of flat and fertile land, plentifully watered by tributaries to the Ganges, and its natural advantages he represents as great. He also acquired much intimate familiarity with men and manners, as these are to be met with in Lucknow, the capital of the kingdom, from the monarch and his immediate ministers down to the meanest sufferers from their despotic ralacity. Both these species of knowledge he imparts With a liberal hand, although, so far as we can judge, seemingly in a spirit of candid impartiality. As a wh)le the book possesses much interest, and is very abusin g ; in point of fact, it reads like an eastern tal3, and, in this latter respect, may challenge comparison with many portions of the " Arabian Nights," particularly in the delineations of individual portraiture, and in the fascinating descrip tions of scenery. The author draws largely upon the members of the Royal Household for his sketches of character, several of whom are delineated with great skill and masterly decision. Of these members, one, the King's barber, a real subject of history, is so gra phically disposed of, that, in point of finish and expres sion, it may safely be placed side by side with any of the cabinet portraits vrhich decorate the galleries of the " Thousand and One Tales." The sketch is as follows, and may be called— THE KING OF OIIDE'S BLE,BEIL The barber was the greatest man of the five. His influence was far greater than the native prime minister, or Nawab. He was known to be an especial favourite, and all men paid court to him. His history ; truly and honestly written, would form one of the oddest chapters of human life. All that I knew of him was this :—He had come out to Calcutta as cabin-boy in a ship. Having been brought up as a hair dresser in London, he had left his ship, on arriving in Calcutta, to resume his old business He was successful ; he pushed and puffed himself into notoriety. At length he took to going up the river with European merchandise for sale ; he became, in fact, what is called there a river-trader. Arrived at Luck now, he found a resident—not the same who was there when I entered the king's service—anxious to have his naturally lank hair curled like the governor-general's. The governor-general was distinguished by his ringlets; and the governor-general is, of course, `the glass of fashion and the mould of form' in India. The resident would be like him; and the river-trader was not above resuming his old business. Marvellous was the alteration he made in the resident's appearance ; and so the great saheb himself introduced the wonder-working barber to the king. That resident is in England now, and writes BI.P. after his name. The king had peculiarly lank, straight hair ; not the most innocent approach to a curl had ever been seen on it. The barber wrought wonders again, and the king was delighted. Honours and wealth were showered upon the lucky coi f feur. He was given a title of nobility. Sofrus Khan (` the illustrious chief') was his new name, and men bowed to him in Oude. The whilom cabin-boy was a man of power now, and wealth was rapidly flowing in upon him. The king's favourite soon becomes wealthy in a native state. The barber, however had other sources of profit open to him besides bribery : he supplied all the wine and beer used at the king's table. Every European article required at court came through his hands, and the rupees accumulated in thou sands. ' What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour ?' is a question as apt now in every oriental court as it was when the Jewish queen recorded it. Nussir put no bounds to the honours he heaped upon the fascinating barber ; unlimited confidence was placed in him. By small degrees he had at last become a regular guest at the royal table, and sat down to take dinner with the king as a thing of right ; nor would his majesty taste a bottle of wine opened by any other hands than the barber's. So afraid was his majesty of being poisoned by his own family, that every bottle of wine was sealed in the barber's house before being brought to the king's table ; and before he opened it, the little man looked carefully at the seal to see that it was all right. He then opened it, and took a portion of a glass first, before filling one for the king. Such was the etiquette at the royal table when I first took my place at it. The confidence reposed in the favourite was, of course, soon known over India, or at all events in Bengal. The ' low menial,' as the Calcutta Review called him, was the subject of squibs, pasquinades, and attacks, and satirical verses without number ; and marvellously little did the low menial care what they said of him, as long as he accumulated rupees. They had the wit and the satire, and he had the money ; so far he was content. Of the news papers, the most incessant in its attacks on the barber was the Agra Uckbar, a paper since defunct. Shortly before I left Lucialow, he employed a European clerk in the resident's office to answer the attacks of the Uckbar in one of the Cal cutta papers with which he corresponded ; and for this service the clerk was paid 100 rupees (R 10) a-month. So that, if the barber had not his own poet, like the tailors in London, he had, at all events, his own correspondent like the Times. The " Member of the Royal Household" is not less observant of manners and peculiarities of social habit than he is of individual character. His opportunities of witnessing the luxury which could be produced by a profusion of " barbaric pearl and gold" were not wasted, and his book contains many vivid delineations of it. Conspicuous among these were the luxury and orgies of THE ROYAL DINNER TABLE. On my first appearance at the royal table, the amusements for the evening (this was after dinner) were a puppet-show and the usual nautch-girls. His Majesty laughed heartily at the performances of the little burlesques of men and women, and enjoyed himself. The barber saw that his Majesty was pleased, and condescended to express his approbation also of the show. The nautch-girls exhibited their fine figures in graceful attitudes, advancing and retiring, now with one hand held over the head, now with the other. Their faces were not so captivating as those of the female attendants behind his Majesty ; hut their forms were perfectly moulded, and they managed their limbs with a graceful dexterity, not to be sur passed. Voluptuous is, perhaps, the title that most correctly indicates the entire character of their performance. Atten dant musicians played upon a species of lute and tamborine behind them, advancing and retreating with them, and accompanying the instruments with their voices. The instru mental seemed the principal part of the musical performance ; the voice accompanied it, rather than it the voice. But no thing of all this graceful attitudinising and profuse exhibition of fine forms was attended to by the king or his party. The nautch-girls danced, and their attendants played and sang ; but no man regarded them, unless it was myself. The king was taken up with the puppet-show, and every one looked at it and praised it. At length his Majesty gave a whispered order to the barber, who went out, brought something in his hand, and gave it to the king. The regal chair was pushed back, and his Majesty condescended to advance to the front of the puppet-show, going round the table as if to inspect it more closely. The owners exerted themselves to give still more satisfaction, regarding their fortunes as made. The king watched for a little ; his hand was advanced suddenly, and as suddenly drawn back, and one of the innocent marionettes fell motionless upon the stage. It was quite plain that his Majesty had a pair of scissors in his hand, and had cut the string. The performers must have been as well aware of this as we were, but they gazed in affected wonder at the catas trophe. Natives of India require no training in simulation or dissimulation. The king turned round, his face beaming with fun, and looked at us knowingly, as much as to say, " Did I not do that well ?" The barber laughed loudly in reply, and other courtiers joined in the chorus. But this was not the whole of the royal wit. The hand was pushed forward and drawn back again and again; and again and again did one after the other of the puppets fall dead and immovable upon the stage, every successive fall eliciting a shout of laughter from the table, and a blank look of astonishment from the general manager of the show, who was visible directing and superintending. When nearly all had fallen, the royal wit was satisfied, returned to his chair, ordered a handsome pre sent to be given to the owner of the show, and it was with drawn. During the rest of the evening the dancers and singers were criticised with more freedom than delicacy, the wine circulating freely, and his Majesty indulging in it to a far greater extent than prudence would warrant. It will not be supposed that during all this time I kept my eyes altoge ther away from the gauze curtain drawn across one end of the apartment. I had been told previously that some favourites of the harem were allowed by his Majesty to witness the dinner-parties from behind that screen, and that it would be rude to be observed gazing intently at it. I found many opportunities, however, of inspecting it without violating etiquette. It was thick enough to prevent our recognising faces or figures behind, although we could see faintly the out line of shadowy masses of drapery passing to and fro. One principal figure was seated on a cushion—the reigning favourite, doubtless ; and her jewelled arms and neck glared brilliantly ever and anon as the light flashed upon them. We heard, too, a sweet feminine laugh, as the puppets were cut down, issuing from behind the screen ; for although we could not see distinctly through it on account of our distance from it, those on the other side no doubt could. The revel pro ceeded ; songs were sung. His Majesty became gradually more and more affected with the wine he had taken, until his consciousness was almost gone; and he was then assisted by the female attendants and two sturdy eunuchs behind the curtain, and so off into the harem. It was astonishing how like a drunken king looked to an ordinary drunken unanointed man. FLOWERS. Til lno t tl h i°° „k UPward in every place, dad d " th is beautiful world of ours, t1:11;,,14 smile on an old friend's face geY i t ' l , ll "ile of the bright, bright flowers ! Thh. q t O il Of Wanderings by woods and streams, 414 the „ e L l llle of lanes and trees ; 114. " I ldren of showers and sunny beams %►'lovelier tales than these. , Sey , "a season w h en men were n ot, Nit. teS earth was by angels trod, 11 11 .7 and flowers in every spot wiltilgt forth at the call of God ; Ait,,4 l)lrit s , tinging and glad to ht the highest heaven, rd looked down f c e st what H e had made rom . 6,: ‘ !: 4 ,. leg remaineth upon them still, `o4L't often the storm.cloud lowers, 11 te , l lo 4 e,„_ IA tempests may soil and c "%pest of earth's fair flowers. ~„1144•444id Death, with their sister Grief, (4 e6/ 44 - 4 . home in the hearts of men, Pret,lat of God on each tender leaf Nei'vett their beauty then. Ne TTY t l ovely as when it slept ~ae'e W aters of Eden's lake; htLeetlbine breathes sweetly as when it crept E den from brake to brake. 0 We re left a s a proof of the loveliness Therrkdara and Eve's first home ; % are here as th e types of the joys that bless `Qe just in the world to come. 4 _______________ pi ttlit RE VIE WS A' • ilibixte . , o ,:it Etfe of an Eastern King. By a axitiz...the Household of His late Maksty Ring of Oude. tl4.lllopee h ad ,L'. it s t , tl ( Oude has long been, and to most Zleils 4e lbia..Ll continues a terra incognita, in tilies n 'p w alider., tion, if of a lively turn in its specu bib. de spot : freely amid jewelled favourites, the k.,``ltry,...,: ls nl, revelling in all manner of ostenta ' gr,: l eral tr ren the birds and beasts partaking of , 111 3 r ko a gnifleence and gorgeous beauty ; if of 11 ., 3 7 p eo ', saturnine character, the region is 141 e w ith ;2 1 ed with monsters of cruel rapacity, t '. lordeJ"ogies breathing poisonous odours, the 4.2 eA 4 ove r lOC to b, Y a tyrannical savage, who is t o la hi.' savages as debased and more foul ( 70 L ,1a i t self, One class of conjecturers has Negoi l t a Sort of fairy land, and expect to find h. hal its b road 6' 4 l e „Pp.f lin , e expanse scenes redolent . o s f 4111:1 lend th e el and glittering with all the El oy r i e a . te lgi t t s , ,nu.arrn .of their radiance tothe . -A -o,o4llSve .(14 tertamments :" another views it as ,1014tykt, lienttptebnreoefd robbers ; and some few, of the , regard it as a huge sauce mann tplie te„2s derived their only ideas relative to it Ltqltcl:terable familiarity with the piquant a7 , l % 'ky c i 1 , 11 . as " The Kin.. of Oude's Sauce." wiNtltb„v3: far the most intelligent of the num thmeq% te territory as one rich in all the natural ti e riel l 41e, s° l l, climate and situation for producing 41e est 4 ) aud rice •', indigo, opium, and all 1 ,,, L , st e „, p rod __ , .. . . ( ) ,' O ll r „,,,, , eie of the Indian clime ; wanting only 0 of :Ir is op e ,' s 'l'Y and settled political regulations O r tile 'l4 c ivernment can bestow, to render it ' B r i t 1 : 4 la fertil e and flourishing districts of tl l , la, 11, hs . e loi n , LAI - tic class last alluded to is numerous tiStill a „el'o o a f d urgent in its demands to have . 11,''''lz,",!e , ao li de, which enjoys a kind of quasi e r C o e ,to;ti::ter ii e rr x ed to. the Presidency of Bengal, on , Yea r eazb t of frontier of which it abuts. 41, c , rt e work now under consideration till ities of becoming familiar with