736 Extract from Dow's Hiftory of Hindoftan. The Emperor had given inttructions to Afiph to liften to no terms, without a preliminary article, that Lodi fhould be delivered into his hands. The affairs of the Nizam were defperate; and Lodi was afraid that neceffity would get the better of friendship. He now confidered his allies as his greatest enemies, and he refolved to fly from Golconda. The Emperor had forefeen what was to happen, and he placed ftrong detachments in all the paffes of the mountains. Notwithstanding this precaution, in fpite of the general orders for feizing him, difperfed over the country, Lodi forced his way, with four hundred men, into Malava, and arrived at the city of Ugein. Shaw Jehan was no fooner apprifed of his efcape, than he fent Abdalla in purfit of him with ten thousand horfe. Abdalla came up with the fugitive at Ugein, but he cfcaped to Debalpour; and being alfo driven from that place, he furprifed Sirong, where he feized feveral imperial elephants; and with thefe he took the rout of Bundela. Misfortune purfued Lodi wherever he went. The Raja's fon, to gain the Emperor's favour, fell upon him. In the action he loft many of his best friends. Deria was the first who fell, and the unfortunate Lodi gave up his foul to griet. He fled; but it was to accumulate mifery. He fell in, the very next day, with the army of Abdalla; there scarce was time for flight. His eldeft fon, Mahom med Aziz, ftopt, with a few friends, in a harrow part of the road; and devoting their lives for the fafety of Lodi, were cut off to a man. He waited half the night on a neighbouring hill, with a vain expectation of the return of his gallant fon. All was filent; and the unhappy father was diffolved in tears. The noite of arms approached at laft: but it was the enemy, recent from the flaughter of his fon and his friends. He fed towards Callenger; but Seid Amud, the governor of that place, marched out a gainft him. A fkirmifh enfued; Lodi was defeated: Huffein, the only fon left to him, was flain, and his adherents were now 'reduced to thirty horsemen. He was purfued with fuch vehemence, that he had not even time for defpair. Abdalla, hearing of the low ebb of Lodi's fortune, divided his army into fmall parties to fcour the country. A detachinent under Muziffer Chan fell in with the unfortunate fugitive. When he faw the enemy at a fmall distance, he called together his thirty followers: "Misfortune," faid he, " has devoted me to ruin it is in vain to struggle longer against the stream. I have loft my fons; but your attachment, in the lait extreme, tells me I have not loft all my friends. I only remain of my family, but let me not involve you in the deftruction which overwhelms me without refource. Your adherence is a proofthat I have conferred favours upon you: permit me to afk one favour in my turn. It is---that you leave me----and fave yourtelves by flight." They all burst into tears, and told him, that was the only command from him which they could not obey. He was filent, and gave the fignal with his fword to advance. Muziffer was aftonished when he faw thirty men marching up against his nu merous detachment. He imagined they were coming to furrender. But when they came near his line, they put their hories on a gallop, and Muziffer ordered his men to fire. A ball pierced Lodi through the left breaft; he fell dead at the feet of his horfe, and his thirty faithful companions were cut off to a mat For ( 137 ) For the OXFORD MAGAZINE. ESSAY on the CONDUCT of the LADIES. But grant, in public men fometimes the fame advantage over her reputation, T POPE. HE conduct of the Ladies of our age attonishes me. I have been at fome pains to examine it, and for this purpofe I have followed them through all the places of polite refort, through all the haunts of Folly and Fashion, through all the fecret labyrinths of intrigue: At laft I discovered the fecret---They have not Common Senfe. "Tis a blunt affertion, but a true one. The truth is, Common Senfe, like many other good things in this idle world, is not well underfood, and were it better underflood, it would be more valued.--Common Senfe is, in the mind, what gentility is in the body, no particular part or perfection, but a certain amiable refult from the whole, and confifts chiefly in the abfence of aukwardnefs and affectation. It is attainable by both fexes, in all conditions, for it confifts only in acting within the limits of their feveral capacities, and, with a decent humility, condefcending to be what they are. It is loft by the unhappy influence of mifplaced ambition, and we are tricked out of its fpecie virtutis et umbra. I am far from thinking that a Lady may not love drefs, diverfions, and company, without any other view than as they are their own reward, but she will nevertheless offend against Common Senfe, if, by immoderate zeal for distinguishing herself there, the gives her husband the fame uncafinefs, and the world VOL. VIIL which a more criminal conduct would do---Hence it is that Common Senfe is an vail on my country women to be better amiable virtue, and I wish I could preacquainted with it.---It is the want of it that makes them ridiculous. I could prove it by a thousand instances which I have now in my eye, but a few will do the business better. The following Por traits are taken from real life. We shall call a certain Lady, who is, well know at the Weft end of the Town by being fix feet high, Florinda. Florin da is a Belle, a Beauty, and all that, abroad, at home fhe is a drab and a flattern. On a vifit, or at an affembly, or at a play, or at an opera, or at Fantoccinis, the fhines in all the elegance of drefs and gaiety of behaviour: In her own houfe, the entertains her husband with the fluttish preparations only of her future finery, and the dregs of thofe fpirits fhe has wafted upon the public. She fits in his company in prepetual defhabille, fmeared over with washes, and ftinking with faded perfumes.--What does this arife from ---From not having Common Senfe. This fimple, homely, defpifed quality would tell Florinda, That the neglect of domeftic cleanlinefs is one of the greatest banes to conjugal felicity, for it muft by degrees grow odious to the fondett husband, and offenfive to her friends. A literary Nobleman of the prefent age has carried this matter to a refined length: " I would rather, fays he, fee my wife, neat and well dreffed, in the arms of another man, than to fee her, fluttish and dirty, in my own arms." Cleora, remarkable for being married to one of the oldeft, oddeft Baronets of the realm, is on the other hand intolerably nice. If you are a friend of this Lady's, and come into her houfe to pafs the evening, you are immediately divefted of your fhoes, and prefented with flippers, which the fervant gives you with his mitrefs's fervice, who alfo defires" you would not walk off the carpet." Her husband too, is perpetual ly Efay on the Conduct of the Ladies. 138 ly teazed with her infignificant prudence: But where is the wonder -----She wants Common Senfe. This would teach her, That a ridiculous solicitude about trifles is as inconsistent with decency as the other extreme. If Mrs. B-----n, of Leicester-fields, had Common Senfe, fhe would not make Quadrille the whole bufinefs of her life. This excellent companion would inform her, that diverfions of that kind, when taken to excefs, give a peevithnefs to the temper which it communicates to all her actions, and breaks in upon those hours which Common Senfe would allot to better purposes---Befides, when a woman has lost her money, her husband bears, not only the expence, but the blame too. ---" He prophefied the fhould lofe---He " is the picture of ill-luck---She never "could hold a card when he advised her "not to go"---And then all the irregularities of temper, which decency reftrained before, are freely vented upon him, and the loft games are played over again in bed to the poor fleeplefs man, to convince him his wife did not lofe her money like a fool. Phillis is the difcontented mate of a fober, honeft tradefman in Fleet-ftreet, but would fain pafs upon the world for a woman of fashion. “She dyes, alters, and turns her little ftock of finery into all the changes of the fafhion. Her whole time at home is fpent in preparing herself to fhine once a week in public. Poor woman What pity it is, that she has not Common Senfe! Let her change her drefs how the pleases, and aim at what the will, she can be at moit but the fineft lady in her husband's Ward: She may be envied there, but will be laughed at every where else. On the other fide, if her good man would take courage, and place her in a decent drefs behind his counter, the might then attract cuftomers instead of lovers, and would foon be mortified into a wife of Common Senfe I defire, by thefe few examples, to fhew the Fair what kind of foibles are offences against Common Senfe, that they may know, that to be a wife of Common Senfe is not merely to be what is called a virtuous woman, but to be fomething more. From the want of this ufeful quality proceed thofe indifcretions which flow from falfe notions of themfelves, and make them appear ridiculous or inconfiftent abroad, and thofe negligencies or peccadilloes at home, which reduce fo many couples into a perfect apathy towards each other, and are so frequently productive of fullen filence, tart repartees, malicious hints, nocturnal altercations, and curtain lec tures. As the tea-table feems to be an exempt jurifdiction from Common Senfe, I will not break in upon any of its known im munities or privileges, fuch as fcandal, provided fuch fubjects and converfation are always fent away with the tea things. Let the miftrefs of the Family, too, avoid that indecent, impertinent cuftoin of making either herfelf or her family the fubject of difcourfe. I will admit of divulging all other fecrets fooner than family-fecrets. I know a Lady who is unhappily of fo retentive a memory, that he is able to recollect every tranfaction of her life, and has at the fame time fo ftrong a regard to veracity and punctuality, that he will not permit you be mistaken in, or ignorant of, the minuteft circumstance. Let her banish, too, every extravagant attachment to every thing,---except her husband: Lap-dogs, children, trinkets, and female friends. Attachments of this kind, when much indulged, will always engrofs too much of a female mind, and leave the husband too little of it for his fhare. I prohibit alfo all attempts to be best at every thing, for 1 declare, that a woman of Common Senfe can be neither the fineft nor the best dreffed, nor the wittieft, nor the wifeft, nor the politeft, nor the moft religious woman: She can only be the best sort of woman in the parish. M. For ( 139 ) Lord CL-'s, Speech in Defence of himself, and upon the prefent State of the Eaft India Company. T Mr. Speaker. HE Prefs has, for fome time paft, teemed with fo many reflections upon the fervants of the Eaft India Company, and particularly upon me, that, were I not first to remove the bad impreffions thus made I am afraid any obTervations I could make upon the prefent fubject of your deliberations would have little or no effect, except perhaps to my own prejudice.---My fituation is delicate, and little accuftomed as I am to addrefs this auguit Houfe, I may fink under its difficulties: but, as my honour is concerned, as neceffity extorts it from me, I muft run the hazard, however much I may fail in the attempt. It is not that I have any doubts of the goodness of my caufe: on the contrary, I hope it will make me full amends for the infufficiency of the Advocate. At any rate, the houle will how fome indulgence to a man, pleading for what is dearer than life itfelf, his reputation and honeft fame. Nor do I with that my defence fhould be folely confined to these walls: I fpeak likewife to the gallery, and, in general, to my country, upon whom I put myfelf, not only without reluctance, but with alacrity. It is well known, that the last time I went to India, I was called upon by the Proprietary in general, without any folicitation on my part, to ftep forth once more to their affiftance, in a very critical emergency. Poffeffed as I was not only of an independent, but of an afflueut fortune, happy in my connections, happy in my relations, happy in my family, happy in my friends, happy in every thing but my health, which I loft in the Company's fervice, never to be regained, how can I be fuppofed to have undertaken the arduous task impofed upon me by the Company from pecuniary motives? I must have been the most mercenary of men, to have, upon fuch principles, again tempted the faithlefs deep, to have again expofed my enfeebled conftitution to the fultry climate of Hindoftan, and to the fatigues and dangers of war. Sir, I undertook this voyage from a nobler view, from a principle of gratitude, from the defite of doing effential fervice to the Company, under whofe aufpices I acquired my fortune and my fame. Were not this the cafe, would I have embarked in this affair upon conditions that left me poorer by many thousand pounds than when I quitted England? This, if neceffary, I can prove by authentic documents and I trust it will at least extempt me from the charge of avarice or rapacity. Suffer me, after this general obfervation, to defcend to particulars. The charges brought against me are all contained in a paper, which was fent me by the Secretary of the Eaft India Company in a letter that begged I would tranfmit to him any remarks, or any defence I chofe to make. I begged to be excufed from that trouble, till I fhould learn what use they meant to make of the paper and of my defence. Here the matter refted. The first charge is, that I carried on an iniquitous trade' in cotton. I anfwer, that, in the first place, I never traded, and that I derive every farthing I am worth in the world from being at the head of the army. In the fecond place I declare, that I know nothing at all of the nature of cotton, and that I cannot conceive whence fuch a fufpicion could arife, as I never was directly nor indirectly concerned in any thing of the kind. One remark, however, naturally occurs upon the fubject, and that is, that Malevolence must have been greatly ftraitened for materials, when the placed fo groundless an accufation at the head of her impeachment. The feeblenefs of her first effort is a prefumption that her fucceeding attacks will be still weaker and worse supported. The fecond charge is, that I carried on an illegal trade in diamonds, Nothing can be a greater mifreprefentation, The matter of fact is, that, in order to convey home the money arifing from my jagheer, I fent my agents to a diftant country, not under the jurifdiction of the Company, and they bought up fome diamonds, in which my property was S 2 vefted in the H- of C. 140 Lord C's Speech wested, and tranfmitted to Europe. Upon I think, appear, that my inftructions were balancing accounts, I found that they not fo precife and definite, as abfolutely turned out worfe by three per cent. to fix the mode of carrying on this trade. than the original fum which they coit: Being general, I gave them a liberal a clear proof how well I was qualified conftruction, making the intereft of the for trade, and how eager I muft, in con- Company the fole ftandard by which fequence have been, in future time, to every regulation was to be tried. In refume fo gainful a branch of bufinefs. vefted with extraordinary powers, I All this, if it fhould be called for by thought myself juftified in confulting the House, and I have no objection to the fpirit of thole rules which were fo fuch a measure, I pledge myself to indefinitely expreffed: And I trust I prove by original papers at your bar. did not altogether difappoint the exThe third charge is, that I mifmana-pectation of my employers. The priviged the mint, and adulterated the coin in Bengal. During my prefidency, fome alteration was made in the ftate of the coin, I will own, but not at my inftigation. Ignorant as I profefs myself of that bufinefs, it would have ill become, me to have been the original contriver of fuch a delicate operation of government. In that affair I was guided by the light of others, whofe particular I employment and study might rationally be fuppofed to have made them matters of the fubject. lege of trading in falt was claimed by the fervants of the Company as a neceffary falary, which every body knows to be totally infufficient for their fupport. The appointment of a Counsellor is only three hundred pounds, and his annual expences cannot fall fhort of three thoufand: the fame proportion holds among the other fervants. Hence, while Mr. Vanfittart was prefident, they fet up for the first claim. Suja Dowla faw clearly, that if the Company's fervants were to carry on this trade free of every The fourth charge is, that I was import and reftraint, while the native guilty of monopolizing beetle-nut, falt merchants paid large fums, the latter - and tobacco. Here, I believe, the ftrength would be totally ruined, and his reveof the accufation of my adverfaries lies: nues from that article would dwindle to and, as I myself think it a matter of nothing. He therefore infifted upon the importance I muft beg the indulgence of ceffation of this privilege, elfe that he the house, while I difcufs it at large. would throw the trade quite open. The They will hence fee the fuperiority of Company's fervants declared, that they 1 my plan over that of the Direction. I would trade as formerly, without any. know not how it is, but either through reftriction. Hence the war that follow: obftinacy or ignorance, the gentlemen ed, hence the origin of the Select Comwho have held the reins of government mittee. Befides this grievance, there in Leadenhall-ftreet, have acted to im- was another to be redreffed. From time prudent, fo inconfiftent a part, that they immemorial, it has been a cuftom to give have deranged and fruftrated the beft and take prefents. An inferior can concerted plans of regulation in Ben- hardly be perfuaded to approach a fugal. This I hope to make appear un-perior without a gift: The habit of der this and other heads of my fpeech. - It is urged, as my greatest and first crime, that I acted in diametrical oppofition to the inftructions received from : the Direction. Here are thefe inftructions: it would be idle to read them all. The only paragraph deferving your attention is this: "You fhall take from the Company's fervants the exclusive privilege of trading in beetle-nut, falt and tobacco, and fettle it upon the footing the most equitable to the natives, and the most profitable to the Company you can devife."---From thefe words it will, Defpotifm has formed their minds to this mode of tranfacting bufiness. Aċcordingly, when the Company's fervants became the acting fovereigns of Bengal, and the channels thro' which favours paffed, they received prefents, and thus indemnified themselves for the smallnefs of their falaries. The Company thought that the practice had introdu ced many abufes and therefore fent out covenants, which were to be figned by all their fervants, and were to exclude them for ever after from accepting any prefents by direct or indirect means. |