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was eventually instructed to decline communi•
eating with the Court through the medium of
such confidants as those above designated.
Colonel Low's energetic remonstrances at last
led to the barber's banishment. He finally
quitted Lucknow, carrying with him the
regrets of royalty, and his little savings, to
the tune of 240,0001. Be it observed, how-
ever, that our author most distinctly, for him-
self and friends, repudiates all connection
with the barber-minister, and his pleasant or
unpleasant vices. He tells us, indeed, that
himself and his one intimate friend among the
five already mentioned (the tutor?) had taken
leave of the King, and voluntarily retired from
Lucknow in disgust at the royal and Ministe-
rial proceedings, some time before the
barber was compelled to beat his retreat.
Whatever might be the faults of the favorite,
it is certain that he acted as a most efficient

life-preserver to his royal master. Nussir•u-
deen did not long survive the barber's dis-
grace. Members of the royal family hitherto
excluded from power obtained influence
within the palace walls ; and King Nussir -u-
-deen died of poison on the 7th of July, 1837
a very natural end for him under the circum
stances.

The " Private Life of an Eastern King"
gives a minute account of the Court during
the time when the barber was in the height of
his power. The King had cast off all the
decorous restraints of Eastern life, and un-
fortunately his taste for European habits led
him only into extravagance and vicious ex-
cesses. Yet hia temper was Asiatic, and there
were moments when he could assert his state.
The bottle and the barber were his evil genii.
The royal dinner usually ended in a drinking
bout, the barber being always seated at his
right hand, eager to pledge the King in
bumpers of champagne, and to get up some
indecent revel for his amusement. The very
caprice, however, which elevated him to
the post of Prime Minister is in the spirit of
those whims of arbitrary power which delight
'us in Arabian fiction , and chapters of this
volume, detailing scenery, manners, modes of
life, incidents, journeys, processions, and
costumes, read like pages from the stories
which once delighted the Commander of the
Faithful. Such are the visit paid by the King
in disguise to the bazaar to ascertain the
causes of the public discontent, and the cir-
cumstances which attended it ; the rise of the
poor nautch-girl to the King's favour, and her
sudden and painful degradation ; the sporting
journey to the lakes, and the ceremonies of
the Mohurrim. The following passage, omit-
ting " the buggy " and other Western allu-
sions, would be a fitting prelude to one of
Scheherazade's tales :

I was driving in a buggy one morning through one of
the finest streets of Lucknow. A friend accompanied me,
and we were proceeding from the vicinity of the Goomty
to one of the king's palaces. The deserted condition of
the streets as we advanced surprised us. There was no
inhabitant to he seen for a considerable distance; and
where one was visible, he or she was hurriedly departing
from the broad line of road on which I drove. So many
strange things occur in a city exposed to the capricious
tyranny of a man without any restraining principle, that
we felt by no means that astonishment which any one
fresh from England would ,have felt under the circum-
stances. Some execution, we whispered to each other,
some fresh example, nothing more.
At length, in the middle of the road, we came upon a
trait pled, bloody mass, bearing still some resemblance to
a human figure. We stopped the buggy to inspect it. It
was the corpse of a poor native female, but terribly disfi-
gured. The body was bruised and lacerated in all direc-
tions, the scanty drapery torn from the form; the face bad
been crushed as if by teeth into a shapeless mass; the
long matted hair, which fell in bundles over the road, was
all clotted with blood. It was altogether as disgusting a
sight as one could well see anywhere. Apparently she
was quite, dead, and we did not delay. A courtier must
not interfere with the vengeance of a king ; an that, even
had we seen signs of life. I candidly confess I do not think
we should have descended from the vehicle to succour her,
impressed as we were with the conviction that the execu-
tion was by the king's orders.
On we went ; still no sign of inhabitants—the houses
everywhere closed—breathless terror reigning on all sides.
it was not long before we came upon the figure of a youth
similarly mangled and destroyed, lying also in the road,
more towards the aide however. On the top of an adjoin-
ing house we saw one of the king's troopers standing,
looking intently up the mad along which we were advancing.
" What is the matter?" 1 asked.
" The man-eater is loose," was the reply; " wallah, but
be has turned again. Look out for your safety, sahebs, he
is wild to-day."
I had heard of a savage horse belonging to one of the
king's troopers that went by this name--adme4-kanawailah,

621

the man-eater, because he had been the destruction of
many men.
"He is coming, sahebs," shouted the trooper from the
housetop ; " take care, take care I"
Far along the road in front of us we could see the wild
brute—a large bay entire horse he was, as we afterwards
found—shaking a child whom he had seized as he held it
in his mouth, shaking it savagely, but evidently coming
towards us.
In another moment he had seen the vehicle, threw the
child upon the road, dead no doubt, and rushed forward
with savage fury to attack us.
The most exciting passages in the book are
those descriptive of wild beast fights, scenes
in the arena which the King delighted in wit-
nessing. He decides that the man eater shall
fight a favorite tiger, 13urrhea, who was accord-
ingly kept a day or two without food to render
him more ferocious. After due preparation,
when the animals were brought face to face,
Burrhea began to go stealthily round the courtyard, like
a cat stealing a march on a rat. He made no noise what-
ever. The large paws were placed one after the other upon
the ground, the soft ball of the foot preventing any sound.
Slowly were they raised and depressed, whilst the long
back as slowly made its way forwards—now raised at the
shoulders, now at the hindquarters, as the legs were moved
—the skin glancing backwards and forwards as if hardly
belonging to the bones and muscles beneath it. It was
not a scene to be forgotten ; the king and his attendant
females gazing intently above, the European courtiers
straining with eyes and ears to catch every movement and
every sound—the man-eater in the centre of the courtyard,
slowly turning as the tiger turned, his head, and ears, and
eyes, and neck ever the same ; the tiger stealing along, so
catlike in aspect, and yet so gigantic in strength. Not a
sound was audible but the grating of the man-eater's feet
as they were raised and lowered again, not a sound other;
but all was mute expectation and anxious gazing.
At length the tiger bounded with the rapidity of light-
ning upon his enemy ; the horse was fully prepared. It
had evidently been Burrhea's intention to seize the head
and fore-quarters, but the man-eater was too adroit for that ;
and, by a quick diving motion of his head and shoulders,
had received his antagonist upon his muscular haunches
behind. The claws Rank deeply into the flesh, whilst the
hiud-feet of the tiger made a grasp or two at the forelegs
of the horse, but there was no time to secure his position.
The man-eater lashed up with his iron heels into the air
with tremendous vigour, and in a moment lturrhea was
sprawling on the ground, not at all the better fur his attack.
We could hardly perceive, however, that lie had been
thrown upon his buck, partly against the bamboo-railing,
partly on the ground, when he was on his legs again,
gyrating as before, moving stealthily round as if nothing
bad happened. With an indignant snort the min-eatet
resumed his former position, and awaited another spring,
hie muscular haunches bearing evidence in their lacerated
skin, and in the gouts of blood which disfigured them, of
the sharpness and strength of the tiger's claws.
" Burrhea will kill hits yet !" exclaimed the king, turning
to the nearest European.
" Undoubtedly, your majesty," said the courtier.
The man-eater was, however victorious ;
the King, delighted with his ferocity and
prowess, had an iron cage made for him ; and
when the author left Lucknow the man-eater
was still one of the sights of the city.
Of such fights many graphic descriptions
are given, from the obstinate combats of
partridges set on the King's table after dinner,
to the encounter of elephants animated to the
utmost fury against each other by their
mahouts. One of these battles was fatal to
the poor driver, who happened to fall from the
neck of the elephant he was enraging :
He fell right before the infuriated beast whom he had
been rendering more and more wild and ungovernable •
We were not left in doubt SR to his fate for a moment.
We had just time to see that the man had fallen, and was
lying on his back, with his limbs disordered, one leg
under him and the other stretched helplessly out, whilst
both arms were raised aloft, when we saw the huge foot of
the elephant placed upon his chest, and heard the bones
crackling, as the whole body of the man was crushed into a
shapeless mass !
There was hardly time for a cry ; the swaying of his
form on the elephant's neck—his fall—the Round cringed
by his striking the elastic turf—the foot placed upon him,
and the horrid crushing which followed—all was the work
of an instant or two. lint this did not sate the enraged
animal. Still keeping his foot on the man's chest, he
seized one arm with his trunk and tore it from the body.
In anotht r moment it was hurling high up in the air, the
blood spirting from it as it whirled. It was a horrible
sight. The other arm was then seized, and was similarly
dealt with.

The wife of the unfortunate man, witnessing
his fate, rushed forwards with her infant in
her arms, addressing the elephant by
name :
" 0 Malleer, Malleer! cruel, savage beast! see what
you have done," she cried ; "here finish our house at
once. You have taken off the roof, now break down the
walls ; you have killed my husband, whom you loved so
well, now kill me and his son."
To those unaccustomed to India, this language may
appear unnatural or ridiculous. It is precisely the sense
of what she said ; every word of it almost was long im-
pressed upon my mind. The mahouts and their families
lire with the elephants they attend, and talk to them as

622

to reasonable beings, in reproof, in praise, in entreaty, in

anger.
We expected to see the wild animal turn from the
mangled remains of the husband to tear the wife and child
asunder. We were agreeably disappointed. ➢ialleer's
rage was satiated, and he now felt remorse for what he had
done. You could see it in his drooping ears and downcast
head. He took his foot off the shapeless carcass. The
wife threw herself upon it, and the elephant stood by re-
specting her grief. It was a touching spectacle. The
woman lamented loudly, turning now and then to the ele-
phant to reproach him ; whilst he stood as if conscious of
his fault, looking sadly at her. Once or twice the uncon-
scious infant caught at his trunk and played with it. He
had doubtless played with it often before ; for it is no un-
common thing to see the mahout's child playing between
the legs of the elephant—it is no uncommon thing to see
the elephant waving his trunk over it, allowing it to go to a
little distance, and then tenderly bringing it back again—
as tenderly as a mother would.

The elephant knelt at her command. She mounted.
Malleer gave her, first the mutilated carcase, and then her
infant son. She sat upon his neck, in her husband's
place, and left him quietly away. From that day she was
hie keeper, his mahout. He would have no ocher. When
most excited, when most wild, must or not midi, she had
but to command, and he obeyed. The touch of her hand
on his trunk was enough to calm his most violent out-
bursts of temper. She could lead him without fear or
danger to herself; and the authority which she had thus
obtained doubtless her son would possess after her.

The volume can scarcely be called " A Life "
as it relates to a short period only of the reign
of Nussir-u-deen. But for the liveliness of the
whole narrative, and its spirited sketches of the
Court and country of Oude during the period
to which it relates, we know no volume more
calculated to arrest the attention of the reader.

As for the design of the book, that is palpable
enough. It is to popularise the cry against
Oude and its native Government which has
boon so loudly taken up in certain influential
quarters. Whether the ci-dsvant "Member of
the Household " is justified in lending himself
to such a purpose is a question we cannot dis•
cuss ; from the hints given, however, he has
plainly no very high opinion of either the
morality or justice of the rule of the Honour-
able Company.

Monastie Institutions ; their Origin, Progress,
Nature, and Tendency. By Samuel Phillips
Day, formerly of the Order of the Presen-

tation. London : Longmans.
WE could have wished for a different book than
this under a title so suggestive of valuable dis-
cussion and research. The gradual change of
manners and politics which made monachism
a mighty power either for or against the ad
vanco of civilisation—the services of monastic
institutions and persons in the preservation
of learning, and not unfrequently, strange as
it may seem, in the assertion of liberty—the
events which caused the system to become
(like the Church to which it is chiefly attached)
diverted, corrupted, and effete, until it fell
beneath its own weight ;—these were subjects
demanding much more than every-day compi-
lation and desultory extract. What part the
monastery served in the middle ages between
the tyrannical and illiterate barons and the op-
pressed and enslaved villeinage ; how it pre-
served such arts as were known, and chiefly
that of architecture and agriculture ; how the
monkish chroniclers, especially of the later
age, towards the last great overthrow of the
system in these islands, obtained the mate
rials of contemporary history ; in fact, the
work of monachism, more than its manners,
are subjects not yet adequately discussed,
though the materials cannot be difficult of
access.

Such a task, however, Mr. Day did not set
before himself. His work is more devoted to
a calmly controversial view of the subject, to
the exposure of the corruption of manners and
falsehood of teaching by the monks, and to
the general " pernicious tendency of monastic
institutions." From the author's affix on his
titlepage we had expected some facts in the
form of personal narrative, which, judging
from his style, he might have rendered in a
very interesting and readable form. In this,
however, we were disappointed. He devotes
himself to collecting authorities, not of the
rarest kind, on the subject of the monastic
system, and drawing from them conclusions
to fortify the anti-monkish doctrines which he
seems earnestly to lay down. Of these in-
stances there is a large and, to all controver.