to be remarkably pious in his demeanour. He was fully acquitted of the unjust charges brought against him for his conduct in India. Many years elapsed, from the commencement of his trial, before it was finally declared in Parliament that he was not guilty, and had faithfully served his King and country. Then did he retire to the family seat of his ancestors in Warwickshire, to enjoy that ease which his heart longed for, when he wrote the verses which we have just given. If his cruel enemies had not been able to destroy the good character of Governor Hastings, he would recollect these lines: The wicked watcheth the righteous man, and seeketh to slay him; but the Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged1.

Since the death of Mr. Hastings, the wisdom of his Government in India has appeared more and more. He was kind to such of the natives as were worthy of kindness, and by his wise and judicious arrangements the great majority of them respected and loved the British, who protected the deserving natives and saved them from cruel wars, teaching them industry, peace, and agriculture, which is so very important for mankind.

If Rome was once the mistress of the world, when her great men were husbandmen, and the wise Cincinnatus was brought from the plough to be Consul of Rome; for many years they were

'Psalm xxxvii. 32, 33.

farmers, who had been victorious soldiers. The Romans taught the British to be fond of building, and to cultivate the earth. Mr. Hastings did the same in India, where the taxes are collected from the rice grounds and indigo, and wheat and cattle produce a revenue for the government. Premiums were given by Mr. Hastings to the best farmers, by which means the famine, so common fifty years ago in India, is no longer felt, or, at least, not to that dreadful extent which formerly prevailed when thousands died of hunger.

We have the best authorities to produce in proof of the very mild and prudent government of Mr. Hastings, and one, in particular, of undoubted veracity. There is an interesting work of the History of India and Bengal, which was printed in London in 1783, and which was wholly written by a most respectable officer in the Company's service (Colonel James Capper) during the time when Mr. Hastings was Governor-General. The following anecdote of Oriental history at that period is interesting. The book was printed in London, two years before Mr. Hastings came to England to meet his enemies. The whole work, which mentions the great merits of his conduct, was written before he knew any thing of the very unjust charges against his government. The extract from the work of Colonel Capper is as follows:

Surage Ul Dowla was the grandson of the great Alyverdi Khan, who had a wife, a great favourite,

a woman of uncommon virtue and talents. When the old Khan was dying he knew well the flighty and tyrannical disposition of his grandson, who was to be his successor on the throne, and with great anxiety commanded and advised him, on all important affairs after his death, to consult the good old Queen, whose discernment and foresight would enable her to render him most essential services, which his youth and inexperience required. Some time after the death of the old King, his successor, urged by avarice and love of war, had resolved to attack Calcutta, but first consulted his female oracle. She spoke as follows: Beware what you do; the English are a wise, intelligent, peaceable, and industrious people. They are like bees: if properly managed, encouraged, and protected, they will bring you honey; but beware of disturbing the hive; you might perhaps destroy some of them, but, in the end, believe me they would sting you to death.'" By the prudence, and patience, and great talents of Mr. Hastings, he had made the natives of India fear and love his government; by his mild and firm conduct he had acted thirteen or fourteen years with supreme power. He had sincerely wished to plant Christianity in India, but time and prudence were necessary for that point, when the vast population of the country was considered;-in the province of Bengal only, thirty millions of people, with Brahmins like Princes in power, and far more so than the

:

Princes. Time only, and the progress of education of the young natives, Mr. Hastings said, at Edinburgh, was the only mode of conduct by which the important point of conversion could be attained in India.

THOMSON.

IN these biographical memoirs we have selected the favourite authors of the reverend writer of "Lectures on the Psalms." To him, after he had performed every other active duty in his large and populous parish, books were a constant source of happiness; his pleasure was in reading, or in hearing read, such works as were fitted to impart useful information in an agreeable manner; particularly biographical accounts of those favourite authors, in prose or verse, whose writings had been to him a delightful cordial from his youth. When the Earl of Buchan published his Life of Thomson, he said "I rejoice to see a good and just remembrance of the excellent author of The Seasons, and the Castle of Indolence, and many other works which were in my youthful days a treasure." From it we shall here insert a brief extract:

Mr. Thomson was born at Ednam, in the shire of Roxburgh: his father was minister of the Gospel at that place, and was much respected there, but he died when a young man. His widow, whose maiden name was Hume, was much esteemed, and was heiress of a small estate in Roxburghshire. She came with her four children to