The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

" blacking, and hair-dye in the neighbourhood
"of fringes, pins, and needles ; there are
" gum and gauzes lower down, tooth-brushes,
" flannel jackets, and cigars ; deeper and deeper
" rue found more treasures, till at last the
" contents of the basket are exhausted; and

" after the bohrait has shown his numerous

" goods, all ends in half a yard of ribbon being
" bought fur Madame Sahib's cap ! " This is
the best explanation we can give of the mean-
ing of the remarkable title of this pleasant
book, which, like a pedlar's basket of wares,
as the authoress modestly says, " contains a
" mass of mingled objects, good, bad, and
" indifferent."

This " mass of mingled objects" consists of
selections from Lady Falkland's journal during
her residence in the Presidency of Bombay
and on her route home ; and although it is
not an easy matter to give freshness and
originality to subjects which have been ably
treated by former writers, we are bound to
say that few writers upon India enjoyed the
advantages possessed by Lady Falkland, who
as wife to the Governor of Bombay had access
to every source of information, and hence her
journal has a reality about it which, coupled
with the acute observation and good descrip-
tive power of the authoress, renders it as
pleasant light reading as we could desire.
The forte of Lady Falkland, we should say,
lay in her keen dissection of the peculiarities
of Anglo-Indian society. Coming fresh from
England, she was much struck with the limited
nature of the topics of conversation. Dusty
roads, cool houses, jungle fever, and the
coming monsoon form the staple table-talk;
but who, she asks, can be very communica-
tive after a drive to dinner in India ?"
Those who have passed perhaps twenty or thirty years
in India have lost much of their interest in the "courts,
camps, and cabinets "of Europe; and the younger mem-
bers of society have all their hopes and expectations
centred in the country to which their future belongs. It
is, therefore, natural that who is to be the new councillor,
or who has the vacant collectorate, or who is the newly-
appointed Chief Secretary, should be subjects of greater
interest than whether Lord Palmerston will lose his elec-
tion, or who is to be the First Lord of the Admiralty.
I knew in Bombay an old officer who had been at least
forty years absent from Europe, during which time he had
served his country well in a military capacity. had been in
many climates, and seen many countries. His face was
like a map : here you could see a corner of Sierra Leone,
there you could trace a bit of Canada, and here was Ber-
muda. His career was engraven on his face.
I happened once to mention to him a great event which
had lately taken place in Europe. He stared at me and
said, " I know nothing at all about it."
Not discouraged, I started another topic connected
with public affairs in England ; when I received a decided
check by his answering, " I take no interest at all in it."
I still hoped to rouse him from such a state of apathy, and
spoke of the admirable speech of some well-known politi-
cian ; when to this he calmly replied, " I know nothing at
all about him."
This person belonged quite to the "old school."
People now " run home," as it is called, oftener, get their
ideas brushed up, and, what is far better, bring out new
ones with them.
It is seldom that members of the Company's service
remain so long in India, but worn-out Queen's officers
are occasionally sent there from our colonies by the
authorities at home. Of this last class was my friend
above mentioned. I afterwards knew an ancient
general officer, who was appointed to a command in
India • he was nearly blind and deaf, and, though the
" pink " of courtesy and en amiable man, distinguished
moreover as a soldier in earlier life, of course could no
longer be active in the discharge of his military duties.
His aides de-camp were for ever occupied in preventing
his falling over the footstools in the drawing-room when he
went out to dinner. He was not exactly '' the right man
in the right place."
- - -

- -
Etiquette in Anglo-India is carried to an
absurd pitch. A rigid adherence to rank
and precedence is maintained at every dinner-
table and in every ball-room ; nay, it is even
carried out on board ship, and the poor captain
has enough to do to quiet the petty jealousies
of these bilious men and women
In the cold season, in Bombay, there are more dinner-
parties and halls than at any other time. The former are
very much like dinners in England, except that there
is the punka to cool one; the room is better lighted, and
there is a very great number of servants in attendance,
and more space allotted for each guest here than in
Europe. The ladies at Bombay are more tenacious of
their rank than we are in England. A " burrah bibi " (a
great lady), or wife of a gentleman high in the East India
Company's service, is a very great person indeed. Of
course, the women going into and leaving the dining room
take precedence according to the rank of their husbands
as they do in Europe; but I was at first surprised that at
the end of the evening no one moved to go away till she
whose husband held the highest official position rose to
depart. This wait not the case at balls, for perhaps the