It would be easy to multiply extracts, if it were necessary, or if our limits allowed it. But we must make an end. We take leave of Miss Edgeworth with feelings of undiminished respect. 'Patronage' is certainly not equally well written, nor equally entertaining with some of her other works: but neither is it so much inferior to them as unreasonable disappointment founded upon expectations, perhaps, as unreasonable, would suggest. The source of its fault is its length. Miss Edgeworth's manner is not adapted to what the French call' les ouvrages de longue haleine.' Sketches and morality will not carry us through four volumes. There must be strong passion-which she has voluntarily renounced-or an interesting plot, with which her invention has not supplied her. At the same time it would be most unjust to call a work of so much merit as this a failure. Judging from our own feelings, we should say that the languor of some parts is amply compensated in others, by nature, vivacity, and good sense-good sense which every body imagines himself to possess-of which so many people have not one particle--and which, in the degree in which Miss Edgeworth possesses it, is a rare and admirable quality.

Her friends will, of course, tell her that this work is, what all authors wish their last works to be, better than any that preceded it; and, on the other hand, she will hear, indirectly, from ill-natured critics, from those that hope to do themselves honour by condemning loudly what they hear it is not the fashion to praise, and from those that are tired of her reputation, and think that the time is come for reducing it to more proper boundaries, that it is altoge ther unworthy of her. Both judgments are alike unsound. Patronage is not so good as Ennui' or the Absentee,' but it would have been vastly more admired if, in them, she had not recently exhibited models which she now finds it hard to equal. We are not afraid that she should be elevated by undue praise, but she is more likely to feel unjust censure; and if we thought that our advice would not be quite surperfluous, for the purpose of bringing an understanding like her own to a wise decision, we should, above all things, desire her not to be discouraged by the less brilliant success of this work from again appearing before the public. This wave has not reached the mark that was left by the preceding one, the next may perhaps overflow it. It may be difficult to add to the reputation which she had already acquired, but, at any rate, we will 'venture to predict,' with as much confidence as can properly belong to southern soothsayers, that she will never write without adding to the stock of public amusement, and strengthening those impressions that are favourable to virtue. If in our remarks upon some parts of this work we have shewn any thing like asperity, it is because they appear tinctured with prejudices unworthy of their author.

ART.

ART. II.-Letters written in a Mahratta Camp, during the Year 1809, descriptive of the Character, Manners, Domestic Habits, and Religious Ceremonies of the Mahrattas. With Ten coloured Engravings, from Drawings by a Native Artist. By Thomas Duer Broughton, Esq., late Commander of the Resident's Escort at the Court of Scindia. 4to. London; Murray, Albemarle-street. 1813.

THERE is little to admire in the style, and not much in the composition of these Letters. But as the writer lived three years in the midst of a Mahratta camp and, in consequence, must have had abundant opportunities of studying the character, manners, and customs of this singular people; it is next to impossible that he should be able to fill up three hundred and sixty quarto pages, without throwing in such a number of facts and observations as, by selection and arrangement, might convey to the reader both instruction and amusement. In the present state of the book, however, few will probably find themselves disposed to search for either. We are not sure that the compass of a few pages will enable us to apply a remedy; but we will at least endeavour, by lopping off redundancies, and by confining our operations to what relates to the character of Scindia and his subjects, to embrace the main points of Mr. Broughton's epistolary volume. The part which this chief has acted in the wars and politics of India, and the power which the people, as a distinct tribe, still possess on the Peninsula, will always command an interest in this country; and Mr. Broughton thinks, that, as the intrigues of a Mahratta durbar are matters of public notoriety and discussion, he shall be able to convey a tolerably correct idea of that policy and faith which have become as proverbial in modern India, as those of Carthage were among the ancient Romans,' and probably with somewhat more justice.

We shall first give a sketch of a Mahratta camp, and the component parts of a Mahratta army. On the ground where the troops are to encamp, a small white flag is planted to mark the spot where the Maha Raja (the great prince) purposes to pitch his own tents, and those of his family, his ministers, &c. which, collectively, are called the deoorie. The flags of the bazars or markets are placed in straight lines, parallel to one another, and forming streets, from the front to the rear of the army, extending sometimes three or four miles. The chief officers encamp on the right and left of the principal street, generally in the neighbourhood of some particular bazar.

'Their respective encampments are made without the smallest attention to regularity, cleanliness, or convenience; men, horses, camels, and bullocks, are all jumbled together in a mass; which mass is sur

rounded on all sides by others of a similar nature, in a continued series of comfortless confusion.'

The shops of the bazars consist, generally, of a blanket stretched over a bamboo, which is supported at each end by a forked stick, fixed in the ground; they are from three to nine feet high, and proportioned, in size, to the circumstances of the proprietors.

Under these miserable coverings, not only are the goods exposed for sale, but the family of the shopkeeper resides, thoughout the year, and for many years together. The wealthiest merchants in the bazar use these tents.'

The military chiefs of the highest rank inhabit ruoters, a species of tent covered with two or three folds of cloth, closed at one end, and having a flap at the other, to keep out the wind and rain. These are somewhat more sheltered from the weather, but the inhabitants of every description appear to pass a wretched kind of life.

They never feel even the solid and cheap comforts of a snug room, or the light of a candle; but in cold weather huddle round a miserable fire, made of horse or cow dung, or dirty straw, collected about their tents; and wrapping themselves up in a coarse blanket, or cotton quilt, contrive, with the aid of a pipe of bad tobacco, to while away a few hours of listless indolence. In this manner do the more sober of them pass their evenings; others however, it seems, retire, at the approach of evening, to the rack shop, or the tent of the prostitute, and revel through the night in a state of low debauchery, which could hardly be envied by the keenest votary of Comus and his beastly crew. Even these scenes of mirth and jollity are enacted in such tents as have already been described, and are exhibited to the eye through the medium only of half a dozen wicks immersed in thick gross oil, arranged in a dirty brass cruise, and which, together, scarcely afford as much light as a common English rush-light.'

Of the heterogeneous mass which composes Scindia's force, one of the most noted corps is a risalu, or troop, called the baruh bhaees, or twelve brothers, from the number of leaders which originally commanded them; they are reckoned the most licentious part of the army, hardly excepting the pindaras who support themselves entirely by plunder; whereas the bhaces receive pay, and plunder into the bargain.

Another very distinguished corps in this motley camp, though not, strictly speaking, a military one, is that of the Shohdajs; literally, the Scoundrels. They form a regularly organized body, under a chief named Fuzil Khan, to whose orders they pay implicit obedience. They are the licensed thieves and robbers of the camp, and from the fruits of their industry, their principal derives a very considerable revenue. On marching days they are assembled under their leader, and act as

porter

porters for the Muha Raj's baggage; at sieges they dig the trenches, erect the batteries, and carry the scaling ladders. But their grand concern is the gambling houses, which are placed under their immediate controul and superintendance; and where they practise all the refinements of accomplished villany, to decoy and impose upon the unwary.'

Scindia had but two brigades of regular infantry, and these were commanded by two Portugueze, named Baptiste and Jacob. The rest were under no kind of discipline, and each individual was accoutred according to his circumstances or his fancy: they are chiefly Musselmans; and their name (Ali-gols) is derived from their practice of falling upon the enemy in a gol or mass, invoking the name of Ali. They have little pay, but to make them amends, they are allowed to plunder at discretion. Mendicant faquirs, jugglers, and dancing girls, the invariable appendages of all Îndian armies, swarmed in the camp.

For

Wide spreading desolation and ruin attend the march of a Mahratta army; and care is always taken, whenever it can be done, to put it in motion when the green crops are on the ground. many miles on each side of the line of march, these crops wholly disappear, the miserable inhabitants fly from their villages, which are frequently levelled with the ground: in every direction on the open plain, men, women, and children, may be seen tearing the young corn up by the roots, while their cattle are turned loose amongst it, to graze at liberty. The cavalry generally halt where the grain is most flourishing, to allow their horses to get a good feed.

The Mahrattas, as an army, are formidable to their opponents only from the great number of their cavalry. The jinsee, or park of artillery, is contemptible. The number of guns which Scindia had with his army, Mr. Broughton informs us, was sixty-six ; twenty-seven with the park, of which ten were of large calibre, and the rest of various sizes and descriptions; seventeen attached to Jacob's brigade of regulars, and fourteen to Baptiste's; besides these, he has eight curricle guns, each drawn by a pair of bullocks.'

We have a curious specimen of the mode in which the Mahrattas conduct a siege, in their operations against the fort of Doonee. To demolish this place, surrounded with a mud wall, Scindia brought before it his whole army. He established a line of posts, within musket shot, entirely round the walls, with batteries against three of its sides. One of these mounted on a rock overlooked the place, from which, says Mr. Broughton, a sixpounder, well managed, would easily lay the whole town in ruins.' A flag of truce was then sent in, to endeavour to prevail on them to accede to the Maha Rajah's demand of a contribution; the an

swer

swer was, 'We defy the Maha Raja; we are but earth ourselves, like our walls, and we are resolved to stand or fall with them.' The firing then began and continued at intervals for a week, without any apparent progress being made; the garrison plastering up, during the night, the mud which had been knocked down the preceding day. A faquir then offered to take the fort for a certain sum; he advanced boldly to the walls, calling on his prophet, who ungratefully suffered a shot to strike his devotee, and break his leg. The fanatic exclaimed that his blood lay on the head of Surjee Rao, who had employed him, which so alarmed the minister, that he gave orders for him to be accommodated with every thing he might wish for. This wily fanatic, says Mr. Broughton, 'makes the best of his situation; he bespeaks the richest dinners, and summons to his presence the choicest sets of dancing girls, whenever he feels an inclination for such amusements.'

At the end of a fortnight the garrison made a sally by night and carried off a gun, which they mounted on the wall, and drove off that part of Scindia's army encamped opposite to it. Little if any progress was made by this powerful chieftain, at the end of twentyfive days, in the siege of a place, which four companies of sipahees with one six-pounder, would have taken in as many hours.'

After the capture of the unfortunate piece, which belonged to Mamma, the uncle of Scindia, the guns of the besiegers were regularly removed from the batteries at night, and carried back again at break of day. In this manner the siege was carried on for a month longer, when an ambassador arrived from Jaypoor, and negociations commenced, which, after another month, terminated in the adjustment of all difficulties. Among other knotty points, the gun taken from Mamma's battery was agreed to be restored.

The gun was accordingly sent into camp on the evening of the 9th, and the troops were withdrawn from the trenches on the following morning. This important gun had not been fired at all during the latter days of the siege; and, on examination, a ball was found sticking in the chamber, from the cartridge having been put in the wrong way; a mistake which the people of the garrison were unable to remedy.'

Such is the army of Scindia, whose name has become famous and in some degree formidable in the East. However numerous the forces may be, which this restless chieftain can, in the best of times, bring into the field, (for their numbers depend on his ability to pay them,) they are utterly unable to make any effectual stand against a well disciplined body of Europeans, or of sepoys trained in European tactics and led by European officers. The Maha Raja himself, has no pretensions to the title of hero. From Mr. Broughton's account it would appear that he is addicted to every species of vicious folly, wasting his days and nights either in the

most