storation of reservoirs form a heavy charge upon the government. These tanks are constantly liable to accidents, and in one district of the Madras presidency, North Arcot, no less than eleven hundred burst in one year, 1827.

Tobacco. India produces some good to bacco, though in small quantities. There is a kind grown to a very limited extent in the northern circars, and converted into snuff at Masulipatam, on the coast of Coromandel. This snuff is highly valued in England. Some good tobacco is also raised in Bundelcund. Capital, knowledge, and care, are probably all that are wanting to render the production of tobacco of marketable quality more general.

Coffee. The cultivation of coffee in India is of recent introduction, the first plantation having been established in 1823.

Sugar.-India may become the greatest sugar country in the world, and it is our duty to the people committed to our rule to secure to them this important branch of trade. The course prescribed by our own interest is not less clear. A large share of the profits of British capital employed in India, will return to increase the resources of our own country. The time, too, is peculiarly fitted for the experiment, and the present circumstances of our West India possessions urge it with a voice which it would be the extreme of folly to disregard. A change has taken place, the consequences of which are yet in the bosom of Time; but the best informed and the most sagacious regard them with gloomy forebodings. Some venture to predict that the period is approaching when all labour will cease in the West Indies, excepting so much as is necessary to preserve existence, in a climate where the wants of man are few. It scarcely admits of doubt that there will be a reduction both in the breadth of cultivation and the amount of produce; and it is worth remembering that the great and sudden prosperity of the indigo trade in Bengal was caused by the destruction of the plantations in St. Domingo.

The East India Company.-The history of the world affords nothing more extraordinary than the present posture of the Company. Formed exclusively for the prosecution of a desirable branch of commerce, it has renounced trade, yet continues to exist for purposes which its founders never contemplated. Called incidentally to the exercise of civil and military power, it continues to wield that power now that its original character has disappeared, and when it has no longer any interest in those commercial advantages which it was the single purpose of its conquests to secure.

Timber. The forests of India might be rendered of far greater importance than they have hitherto been. Dr. Wallich, who visited

many parts of India with an especial view to the forests, states that they contain every description of timber in the world, or a substitute for it.

Effects of Machinery. The piece-goods of India, formerly an important article of export, are now superseded not only in the British market, but in her own; and Manchester and Glasgow furnish clothing to the people of India. The fabrics produced by machinery are not indeed equal in strength or durability to those manufactured by manual labour, but the vast difference in price insures them a preference in every market.

Relations of England and India.--India should not be regarded in the light of a foreign country, but as an integral part of the British empire, separated by distance but united with it by a common interest.

Operation of Commerce.-India, by exporting opium, assists in supplying England with tea. China, by consuming opium, facilitates the revenue operations between India and England. England, by consuming tea, contributes to increase the demand for the opium of India.

Cotton. The soil and climate of India are admirably adapted to the growth of cotton, and every variety is produced there. But from the carelessness and mismanagement which mark every stage, both of culture and preparation for the market, the price which India cotton bears is greatly inferior to that commanded by the cotton of America. Yet the cotton of the East is capable of producing fabrics of unequalled strength and durability.

Trade with Cuubul.-Caubul is a great and increasing consumer of Indian and British commodities. The manufactures of our own country have in a great degree superseded those of Russia, which formerly commanded an extensive sale in Caubul. Through the last-named country both Indian and British goods are transmitted to Bokhara, where the introduction of the latter has had the same effect, of displacing in a great degree the goods of Russia. If this trade were pushed as it might be, the supply of Bokhara with muslins and woollens might be secured exclusively to India and England. With a view to the extension of our commerce with these countries, Lieutenant Burnes suggests the propriety of imitating the Russians, by establishing fairs or bazaars on the frontier of our Indian empire adjoining Caubul, and the suggestion certainly deserves attention.

The Post-The Post Office is in almost all countries a monopoly. India is an excep-> tion to this rule. The present mode of conveying the mail is by runners, who travel at the rate of about four miles an hour. In some parts of the Deccan, a horse post has been tried, and in one instance a light carriage. The nature of the country is at present unfavourable for the use of these improvements ; ›

but as it advances in prosperity, the importance of rapid and certain modes of communication will become apparent, and the means will doubtless be provided. The post is yet little used by the natives, and the revenue derived from it is trifling.

Food for Silk-worms. Silk-worms in India are fed not only on the mulberry, but also on the palma christi, or castor-oil plant,

and several kinds of the laurel tribe.

Railways.-Canals must depend for their utility upon a regular supply of water; and in many parts of India it might be difficult to secure it. In such circumstances railways present an admirable substitute. Even where the difficulty of obtaining water was not great, railways might be preferable in cases where the probable amount of traffic was limited. The expense of such works would be far less than in England. In our country an enormous proportion of the expense, varying from a third to a half, arises from the purchases of land, fencings, parliamentary and law proceedings, and other causes independent of the mere construction of the railway. In India some of these charges might be avoided altogether, and others would be very much reduced. The actual expense of the work would also be less than that of similar undertakings in England. As the traffic would be comparatively small, a single road, with occasional passing places, would be sufficient; and as the weight of the carriages and lading would be much less, the rails might be proportionably lighter. Labour in India is vastly cheaper than in England; and, under. these circumstances, the cost of railways would be extremely moderate. At present, perhaps, the use of animal power would be the most advantageous; but this, of course, would form one point of inquiry with those who might be disposed to undertake such works. There are various lines upon which railways would be immediately profitable; and if the resources of India should be improved to the full amount of their capabilities, a necessity for fresh lines would be created, whilst the old ones would become increasingly lucrative.

Steam Communication with India.-Supposing a very rapid communication between England and India to be necessary, it would be indispensable that it should be constant. Neither by the Euphrates nor the Red Sea could this advantage be attained. For several months in the year we could not expect to navigate the former, and the latter would be unapproachable during the prevalence of the south-west monsoon. If it be not physically impossible for a steamer to make way against the monsoon, her progress must be very slow, and the wear and tear of the vessel and machinery ruinous. If effected at all, therefore, the voyage could not be performed with certainty, as to time, and the principal advan

tage proposed would, consequently, be lost. There is yet one most serious objection which applies to the two routes-they both traverse countries frequently visited by the plague.

The Gatherer.

pleasure of reflection and contemplation is Pleasures of Knowledge. How much wanders over the objects that surround it, lost to the ignorant whose outward sense deriving from them but half the delight that fancy is at fault, for fancy itself scarce devises they give the wise and well-informed; even images more strange, and beautiful, and wonderful, than the reality of things presents to those who understand their properties and natures.- Mrs. Butler.

England and America.-Until Americans have found a tongue for themselves, they must still be the children of England, for they speak the words her children speak by the fireside of her homes. Oh, England! noble, noble land! They may be proud of many things, these inheritors of a new world, but of nothing more than that they are de scended from Englishinen; that their fathers once trod the soil whereon has grown more goodness, more greatness, more beauty, and more truth, than on any other earth under God's sun.-Ibid.

Servan was a saint of approved prowess and great good-nature: he slew a dragon in single combat, turned water into wine, and once, when a hospitable poor man killed his only pig to entertain him and his religious companions, he supped upon the pork, and restored the pig to life next morning.- Legend of St. Kentigern.

Kean once played Young Norval to Mrs Siddons's Lady Randolph: after the play, as Kean used to relate, Mrs. Siddons came to him, and patting him on the head, said, "You have played very well, sir, very well. It's a pity, but there's too little of you to do anything.

Our most unreasonable prejudices are generally the strongest.-Jonathan Boucher.

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THE name of Sir John Hawkwood is worthy to be remembered, as that of the first distinguished commander who appeared in Europe, subsequent to the destruction of the Roman Empire. No one occurs previously to the middle of the fourteenth century, the period in which Hawkwood flourished, to whom history has unequivocally assigned the character of a general. "It is very rarely that we find even the order of battle specified. The monks, our only chroniclers, are poor judges of martial exercise; yet, as war is the main topic of all annals, we could hardly remain ignorant of any distinguished skill in its operations. The neglect of military science did not proceed from any predilection for the arts of peace. It arose out of the general manners of society, and out of the nature and composition of armies in the middle ages."*

Sir John Hawkwood has been slightly noticed by his contemporaries, who call him Aucud, or Augutus; and he, probably, would not have been brought into a conspicuous point of view, but for the engraved portrait of him presented to the Society of Antiquaries in 1775, by Lord Hailes; from which print the above engraving has been copied.

Hawkwood is said by the concurrent testimony of our writers, to have been the son of a tanner of Sible Hedingham, in Essex, where he was born in the reign of Edward II. Morant, the historian of Essex, says, the manor of Hawkwood, in the parish of He dingham, takes its name from Sir John. But it was holden before him by Stephen Hawkwood, probably his father, a circumstance which would lead one to doubt the meanness of his birth as well as of his profession. Persons who gave names to manors were generally of more considerable rank;

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and this manor appears to have been in the family from the time of King John.

Our hero, as may be remembered,* is said to have been apprenticed to a tailor in London; but was soon pressed into the service of Edward III. for his French wars, where his valour caused him to be promoted from a common soldier to the rank of captain; and, for some farther good service, he was knighted by the king, though he was ac counted the poorest knight in the army. His general, the Black Prince, highly esteemed him for his courageous conduct, of which he gave extraordinary proofs at the battle of Poictiers.

After the peace of Bretagne, in 1360, Sir John finding his estate too small to support his title and dignity, associated himself with certain companies formed by persons of various nations, who, having found employment in the wars between England and France, and having held governments, or built and fortified houses in the latter kingdom, which they were now obliged to give up, found themselves reduced to the desperate method of supporting themselves and their soldiers by marauding and pillaging, or by engaging in the service of less states, which happened to be at war with each other. By this adventurous mode of life, Hawkwood, in a few months, acquired great wealth. Success, which "colours all things in life," drew around him an accession of followers and power; and thus, he roved from one country to another, till at length he reached the Po. There he made prisoners indiscriminately. The clergy he pillaged, but spared the laity. The court of Rome was greatly alarmed at these outrages, and prepared to oppose the banditti; but, upon the arrival of certain Englishmen on the banks of the Po, Hawkwood resigned his command to them, and professed submission to the king of England, to whose servants he presented a large share of his ill-gotten wealth.

The first appearance of Hawkwood in Italy was in the Pisan service in 1364; after which period he was everywhere considered as a most accomplished soldier, and fought in the service of many of the Italian states. In 1387, we find him in a hazardous service in defence of the state of Florence. One of his most memorable exploits was his retreat to the river Oglio, when he placed his best horse in the rear till the enemy had crossed the river, on the opposite bank of which he stationed 400 English archers on horseback. The rear, by their assistance, crossed the river, and followed the rest, who, after fording the Mincio, encamped within ten miles of the Adige. The greatest danger remained

here.

The enemy had broken down the banks of the river, and let out its waters, swollen by the melting of the snow, to over* See Mirror, vol. xix., p. 77.

flow the plains. Hawkwood's troops, surprised at midnight by the increasing floods, had no resource but immediately to mount their horses, and, leaving all their baggage behind them, marched in the morning slowly through the water, which reached their horses' bellies. By evening, with great difficulty, they reached Baldo, a town in the Paduan. Some of the weaker horses sank under the fatigue. Many of the foot perished with cold, and struggling against the water; and others supported themselves by laying hold on the tails of the stronger horses. The pursuers seeing the country under water, and concluding the whole army had perished, returned. The historian of this event observes, it was universally agreed that no other general could have got over so many difficulties and dangers, and led back his small army out of the heart of the enemy's country, with only the loss occasioned by the floods, which no precaution could have prevented. Muratori considers this retreat paralleled only in the exploits of the most illustrious Roman generals. At the end of 1391, the Florentines made peace, and discharged all their foreign auxiliaries, except Hawkwood, whom they retained, with 1,000 men under his command.

For thirty years, Hawkwood had been continually engaged in the service of the Visconti, of the Pope, or of the Florentines, to whom he devoted himself for the latter part of his life, with more fidelity and steadiness than he had shown in his first campaigns. The Florentines, however, soon lost Hawkwood, who died March 6, 1393, advanced in years, at his house, in the street called Pulverosa, near Florence. His death was received with the general lamentation of the whole city, and his funeral was celebrated with much magnificence. His bier, adorned with gold and jewels, was supported by the first officers of the republic, followed by horses splendidly caparisoned, banners, and other military insignia, and the whole body of the citizens. His remains were deposited in the church of Sta. Reparata, where a monument of him on horseback was set up by a public decree. On the dome of the same church is likewise a representation of Hawkwood mounted on a pacing gelding, whose bridle, with the square ornament embossed on it, is covered with crimson velvet or cloth, the saddle being also red, stuffed or quilted. He is dressed in armour, with a surcoat flowing on from his shoulders, but girt about his body; his greaves are covered with silk or cloth, but the knee-pieces may be distinguished under them: his shoes, which are, probably, part of his greaves, are pointed according to the fashion of the times. His hands are bare: in his right hand he holds a yellow baton of office, which rests on his thigh; in his left, the bridle. His head,