The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-04 00:00:00

LITERAI I/ RE,

MEMOIRS OF WARREN HASTINGS,
Volt. 111. Bentley, London, 1841.
We noticed the preceding vorumes of this work
about a fortnight ago in The Sun, and now pro-
ceed to give a brief account of the present one,
which concludes the memoir. It commences
with a sketch of the state of affairs h the Car-
natic, and at the different native Indian Courts
in the, year 1782, when Hastings.still held the
high rei ponsible post of Governor-General; and
closes with his death in the year 1818 at the ad-
vanced age of eighty-five. The volume is more
generally interesting than either of its predeces
sors, for it is less taken up with official 40CU-
rnepts respecting Indian matters, whose value
has now in a great measure passed away; and is
fuller of personal details as regards the private
life, while in Eng:land, of Warren Hastings.
The famous trial before the Lords in Westmin-
ster Hall, where this eminent man stood as
a criminal, is of course alluded to at some length,
.but we are not prepared to concede that the trial
was the result of rancorous party spirit. "
Hastings," says the Editor, " had defeated the fa-
vourite scheme of Mr. Burke's whole public
life., He had driven Mr. Burke and his party
from political power; and Mr. Burke, in. parti-
cular, and his party in general, devoted them-
selves to crush their enemy, under the per
suasion that by convicting him of the' crimes
of oppression, cruelty, and peculation, they
would justify, in the eyes of . the world, the
terms of their own India Bill, and place them-
selves in the light of martyrs to the cause of
justice and humanity." Burke was certainly not
the man to have acted in this flagrantly iniqui-
tous manner. He was of an ardent, impetuous
temperament, but there was nothing, malignant
in his nature ; and we are persuaded that—how-
ever mistaken in his notions—he was conscien-
tiously of opinion that Warren Hastings was
really the tyrant and oppressor he represented
him to be in his celebrated charge:. The trial,
even though it ended in an acquittal, reduced
Hastings to a state of complete bankruptcy,
for, we are assured, that " when for the last
time he turned his back on Westminster
Hall, he could not tell whence the funds were to
come by which the weekly bills of his household
might be discharged; he was, as far as pecuniary
matters were affected, a ruined man." Melsa-
choly reverse of fortune this for a man who
had once wielded the destinies of India ! The
Court of Directors, however, to their credit be it
said, no sooner heard of Hastings's destitute con-
dition, than they granted him an annuity which
enabled him to live in comfort, if not splendour,
for the remainder of his days. Sheridan, it is
well known, was one of the principal movers of
the impeachment against him, and when they
niet each other in company, many years after tie
trial, Hastings thus showed his sense of the
harshness with which he had been treated :

" It happenad about the year 1810 that Mr. Hastings,
being on a visit at Newark Park, the residence of Sir Elijah
Impey, received an invitation from the Prince Regent, then
at Brighton, to dine with his Royal Highness in tbe Pavi-
lion. Mr. Hastings went, Sir Elijah and his son bearing
him company ' • and all three were a good deal surprised to
End that Mr. Sheridan had been especially brought thither
to meet them. The object which the Prince bad in view
was, doubtless, laudable. He was anxious that between
Mr. Hastings and Mr. Sheridan—not the least violent of
the violent men who acted as managers during the im-
peachment—a good understanding should arise, and he
brought them together under the idea that, through his
personal influence, they might become reconciled. Mr.
Sheridan accordingly advanced, at a given signal from his
Royal host, and is some wall-turned sentences delivered
himself of an apology, which arm untcd to this r—' That
the part which he had taken in events long gone by must,
not be regarded as any test of his private opinions, because
he was then a public pleader, %%lose duty it is, under all
circumstances, to make good, if he can, the charges which
he is commissioned to bring forward.' Mr. Hastings re-
treated one step, looked Mr. Sheridan full in the face,
made a low bow, but answered not a word. ' Had Mr.
Sheridan,' said he, after the party returned to Newark
Park, ' confessed as much twenty years ago, he might
have done me some service.' No further intercourse, how-
ever, took place between the parties, nor was the subject
ever again by Mr. Hastings referred to."
Warren Hastings's private habits, like those of
most great men, were simple and unaffected to a
degree. He was fond of reading, loved retire-
ment, and was devoted to' agricultural pursuits.
He was exceedingly temperate both in eating
and drinking; was a great water-drinker, and so
fastidious in the quality of the beverage, that he
would send for it, when in London, from a con-
siderable distance, to the spring which rises near
the barracks that adjoin Kensington Gardens.
His last moments were calm and easy, and when
he felt that death was upon him, and the soul
struggling for release,' he, " not without a visible
effort, drew a cambric pocket-handkerchiefwhich
lay on the pillow beside him, over his own face.
His weeping attendants neither. restrained him,
nor formed any augury from the proceeding ;
wherefore their grief' and horror may be ima-
gined when, finding that he suffered it to lie there
some time, they removed the covering, and be-
held the features of a corpse !" This is a curious
trait, which, adds the Editor, " has a character
about it which I can describe as nothing short of
sublime."

LONDON ALMANACK. OFFICIAL REGIS.
TER, AND COUNTY CALENDAR FOR
1841. Scott and Co , London.
We are glad to find that Oliver and Boyd, the
publishers of the " Edinburgh Almanack," have
found imitators in London, and that Messrs.
Scott, Webster, and Geary, of Charter-house-
square, have produced a year-book on the same
plan, but still more ample and comprehensive
than even that useful publication. The follow-
ing mere outline of the principal contents will
show what a vast field of useful and interesting
information it embraces :—The Calendar, a com-
plete Peerage and Baronetage, existing and ex-
tinct, with the various orders of King-litho:4
the Parliament, the official departments of the
Government, East India Company, the Navy
and Army Lists, Courts of Law, the County
Authorities (extending to 185 pages), the
Bishops, Dignitaries, and all the beneficed
Clergy, with an alphabetical list of the bene-
fices, the Universities, the Corporation of the
City of .London, and all the boroughs in En
land and Wales, together with important sta-
tistical tables of the revenue, trade, currency,
crime, &c., conTilcd. from public documents, and
the commuincations of official authorities. The
want of a comprehensive book of general refer-
ence, such as those published in Scotland, Ire-
land, and many of the Continental States, has
been long felt in England, and the publishers
therefore deserve great credit for having, spared
no expense, and no labour, in supplying the defect
be producing a work which surpasses any of the
kind hitherto published in London, and will bear
comparison with the best in Germany. Among
many other valuable statistical returns, it gives
the constituencies of the English counties, cities,
and boroughs, according to the last revision in
1840, toe-ether with the sitting Members and
the nuinberspolledat the last contested elections.
Some of the tables also are curious, such
as the "peerages conferred, or restored by
each of our Sovereigns, from the reign of
William the Conqueror to Queen Victoria."
In the long list the number conferred
by Gco. 111. flu surpasses that of any other reign.
Edward I. made 164 Peers, Charles I. 130 English
and 57 :Irish, Charles 11. 137 English and 41
Irish, and -George 111. made not less than 234
English, and 268 Irish Peers. The book extends
to 957 pages, printed in good type, some of it
small, but very distinct; it is neatly bound, and,
considering the vast quantity of matter it con-
tains, is sold at the moderate price of 10s. 6d.
The publishers, therefore, deserve every en-
couragement, and we are glad to see from the
concluding pragraph of the preface that they are
preparing to carry out the plan in future editions
to a still fluffier extent. They assure the public
that " having expended a large sum of money in
the compilation of the work, and made arrange-
ments for its annual appearance, no future labour
or expense will be spared to attain the greatest
possible accuracy, so as to make each successive
edition more worthy of their support, and to ren-
der the London Alniauack' a standard of au-
thority as the Register and Calendar for England
and Wales."

ATLAS OF CONS7'RUCTIVE GEO-
GRAP.HY.
We do not remember to have seen any publ

cation of the kind so well adapted for stUdents as
this Atlas of Mr. Hughes' who is Professor of
Geography in the College for Civil Engheers.
The plan pursued is, in several respectT,
Amongst other features peculiar to this periodi-
cal publication is this—the Maps of the conti-
nental divisions of the earth will all be drawn
upon the same scale, a plan which has not hitherto
been pursued in any Atlas, but which, Mr.
Hughes contends, is the only one which can
enable a student to acquire correct ideas of the
relative magnitude of different countries, and
prevent him from confounding the similarity of li
size in the representation with the actual magini-
tude of the countries themselves. The First
Number (there are to be Eight, relating to. Phy-
aart, containing the Western
Hemisphere, will appear next month. It is in-
tended, cluGeography),
the emis-
Second contains the Eastern li
we see, that thefirst portion of the Atlas
shall be confined strictly to Physical Geo-
graphy—each Map to be accompanied by a cor-
respondent blank projection, containing only the
parallels and meridians, and on which the stu-

dent is to draw the map for himself, not merely
copving it from the finished plates, but construct-
ing it step by step, by retelling everything in it
to latitude and longitude.