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thing is more simple than to know what is the will of a Being of perfect wisdom and goodness, which must be, in substance, that each individual should do what he can to make himself and every other being happy. But if, on the other hand, the priests can persuade the people, that the will of God is something unaccountable, guided by no principles of wisdom and goodness (for then all men would understand it) but subject to the influence of all manner of weak and wicked passions, with unbounded power for their gratification; among other things, that he is subject, in a great degree, to the influence of the malignant passions, and very apt, when not well pleased with men, to bring evil upon them, to the full extent of his power; that the mode of pleasing him is not that which would please a very wise and good man, but that which is best calculated to please a weak and wicked one-not wise and good conduct, but an excessive courtship to himself; it is easy, in that case, for the priest to frighten the people with an idea that they cannot know the will of God, and that infinite evil will fall upon them in consequence; but that the priest does know it; and that they can therefore do nothing better than throw themselves upon the priest, and follow implicitly his directions." "In the course which they pursue, to make a number of modes of offending the Deity sufficiently great to keep the minds of men in a continual state of apprehension, and consequent dependence upon themselves, is found the motive for multiplying excessively ceremonies and rites. If these are so numerous and so intricate, that a man is every moment of his life in danger of neglecting, or mis-performing some of them, and thereby of incurring the dreadful displeasure of an Infinite Being, his need of the priest as an intercessor is incessant, and his dependence extreme."

*

ART. IX.-The Life of Major General Sir Thomas Munro, Bart. and K. C. B. late Governor of Madras; with extracts from his Correspondence and private papers. By the REV. G. R. GLEIG, M. A. M. R. S. L. &c. In 2 volumes. London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley: 1830.

Ir, in an age when not only poets, but authors of all kinds, in numerical comparison to those of the present time, were as the rocks that are scattered here and there in the ocean to the grains of sand upon its shore, Horace exclaimed "scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim," in dismay at the number of pretenders to columns which he affirmed would be denied to them by both Gods and men, what would be his ejaculation if he were permitted now to revisit the earth, on observing the immense. quantities of leaves that the press almost daily sends forth! Would he not be induced to suppose that either the standard of literary excellence has been greatly lowered, or that talent and genius are now far more generally diffused, or, in fine, that men are infinitely more conceited and presumptuous than they formerly were? And when he should discover how large a portion of those leaves is devoted to the biographies of worthies who have recently made their exit from the stage of life, would he not imagine that this age has been exceedingly prolific in great

men? But we have shrewd doubts, whether he or any other person would find, on investigation, that to be the cause why the world is favoured with so many accounts of so many individuals, who, in consequence, are much better known after their deaths, than they ever were during their lives.

The reason must be looked for elsewhere; and we suspect it will be discovered principally in the scribble-mania with which almost every body seems to be infected, and which has occasioned the complete surfeit in every branch of composition, that gave rise to our first remarks. Every modest and otherwise distinguished person, therefore, as soon as the evil he has done lies interred with his bones, and for detailing whose eminent qualities to the world there can be the slightest shadow of an excuse, is made the property of some determined scribe, who dresses him up in such a way as will best introduce, not the subject, but the author of the book, to the acquaintance of his contemporaries, or will best serve to keep the acquaintance up, if he has already made his bow. But there are some estimable characters, whose modesty being too excessive to permit them to entertain the hope of having their merits recorded by others, after the termination of their mortal career, and who being likewise solicitous that their fellow creatures should not lose the benefit to be derived from the history of their lives, have philanthropically accomplished the task of writing them, themselves; and auto-biographies, in consequence, occupy no inconsiderable space on the shelves of the modern venders of learning. Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter is indeed the universal motto at the present day.

Seriously speaking, however, we do not regret that so much attention is bestowed upon the biographical department of literature, for certainly "the proper study of mankind is man," and the existence of few can be so barren as not to afford some food for reflection, some lessons from which instruction may be obtained. Even "wasteful and ridiculous excess,” is in some cases preferable to scantiness or deficiency. If the moderns are obnoxious to the charge of sinning in the former extreme, with respect to the numbers of their biographical compilations, the ancients may be accused of having erred the contrary way. If we judge from the paucity of ancient biographical works that are extant, we may be justified in affirming, that comparatively little care was taken in former days to disseminate the knowledge of the virtues and actions of even the most illustrious men ; notwithstanding the assertion made by Tacitus, in the commencement of his life of Agricola, " Clarorum virorum facta moresque posteris tradere antiquitus usitatum, ne nostris quidem temporibus quanquam incuriosa suorum ætas omisit, quotiens magna aliqua ac nobilis vicit ac supergressa est

vitium parvis magnisque civitatibus commune, ignorantiam recti et invidiam."

Among the biographies that have recently issued from the press, few, we think, are better entitled to an attentive perusal, and few will better repay it, than that of Sir Thomas Munro, by the Rev. Mr. Gleig. The subjugation and government, by a company of merchants, of a country vastly greater in extent than the remote island which they inhabit, is an event so singular and unprecedented, that it may be said to be an anomaly in the annals of mankind; and every publication tending to enlarge our information on the subject, must be welcomed with pleasure, and read with interest. No where, we may safely affirm, can a more satisfactory knowledge of the transactions of the last fifty years in the British East Indies be obtained, than in the work we have just mentioned, and which it is our purpose, in the present article, to notice. The personage whose life forms its subject, bore a prominent part in almost all those transactions; filled various dignified and responsible offices in India; and was connected by friendship with most of the distinguished British characters of the age; "all of which circumstances," says Mr. Gleig, "contributed to draw him more generally into notice, than almost any Indian functionary of modern times." Of him it was that Mr. Canning remarked, in a speech delivered on the occasion of a vote of thanks being passed in favour of the army employed against the Mahrattas, that "Europe never produced a more accomplished statesman; nor India, so fertile in heroes, a more skilful soldier." Such eulogy, from such a man, Mr. Gleig may well observe, is a sufficient apology for the attempt he has made to render his countrymen better acquainted than they are with the history of the individual upon whom it was bestowed; and it likewise furnishes us with a motive for begging the attention of our readers to an abstract of the work.

From what has been mentioned, it might be inferred that Sir Thomas Munro was favoured by advantages of birth and fortune, which aided in promoting him to the elevation which he attained; but such was not the case. His career was one that affords complete evidence of the truth of Tasso's remark,—

Che sempre el bravo, el saggio, el forte,
Fabbro à se stesso è di beata sorte,

for although he was not absolutely destitute of interest and money when he entered into the military service of the Company, at the early age of eighteen, yet it was almost entirely, if not altogether, "by dint of his own genius, his own industry, his own integrity, and his own sound discretion," that he reached the loftiest station in the Presidency, to which he was originally attached as a cadet.

Before we commence our abstract of Mr. Gleig's work, we should mention what he says in his preface concerning his situation as connected with its publication. After candidly acknowledging that he "had not the happiness to be in the slightest degree acquainted with the late distinguished Governor of Madras, and never even so much as saw him," he observes, that having been induced by circumstances to pay considerable attention to Indian affairs, he had found many opportunities of estimating, as they deserved, the sound judgment and high talents of Sir Thomas Munro, and that in consequence, as far as a just conception of the principles and order of his public life, qualified him to write his history, he was willing to persuade himself that he was not unfit to appear as his biographer. He then goes on to say, however, that he has not depended on his own qualifications for the task, but that the greater part of the merits of this undertaking is due to J. G. Ravenshaw, Esq. one of the Directors of the East India Company, who had actually prepared a work similar in almost all respects to his, which, with the greatest liberality, he put into his hands to be used merely as materials. "It is but just to add," continues Mr. Gleig, "that Mr. Ravenshaw is not responsible for any opinions which I have ventured to advance; these, whether sound or unsound, are my own."

Thomas Munro was born on the 27th of May, 1761, at Glasgow, in which city his father was a respectable merchant. His infancy was not marked by any memorable circumstance, "for, Mr. Gleig observes with a good deal of naïveté, "it rarely occurs that the infancy, even of the most illustrious men, is distinguished by any event worthy of record." The only thing deserving mention during this portion of his life is, that he suffered severely from the measles, which affected him with a partial deafness, from which he never recovered.

He imbibed the rudiments of education first at an English day-school, and afterwards at the grammar-school at Glasgow, where he was deemed, if not the most industrious, at least one of the cleverest boys of his standing. His mild temper, and open and generous disposition, won him the affection of his companions, whilst his courage, agility, and strength, as well as his knowledge of the pugilistic art, from which he acquired the appellation of "Millie Munro," rendered him no less an object of respect.

When he had attained his thirteenth year, he was removed from the grammar-school, and was soon after entered at the College and University of his native city, where he made considerable proficiency in mathematics and chemistry. He continued at College for three years, during which period he de

voted a good deal of time to reading; "the general line of which evinced a decided predilection for the military art, regarded as something more important than the mere routine of a subaltern's life." One of his greatest favourites was Don Quixote, and to be able to read it in the original, in order that he might fully comprehend and relish its beauties, he made himself master of the Spanish language at the age of sixteen, without any other aid than that of a dictionary and a grammar. Johnson relates, in his life of the poet Smith, that the latter having made application for a particular office to the then prime minister, was told by him, that he must first acquire a knowledge of Spanish, and advised to commence its study without delay. The poet followed his counsel, set himself assiduously to work, soon rendered himself completely au fait of the "lengua de los Dioses," and then communicated to the premier his success. "I envy you the pleasure of reading Don Quixote in the original," was the only reply he received. We wonder if Smith was of the same opinion as young Munro, that "to read Don Quixote in the original," is an adequate recompense for the trouble of its acquisition?

After leaving college, he was placed in a counting-house, where he had not been long when he was offered a lieutenancy, by the magistrates of Glasgow, in a corps they were raising, to serve in the American war, which was then at its height. He was eager to accept the tender, but his wishes were overruled. by his father. Had he gone to America, he doubtless would have risen to distinction in the British army. When he had been in the counting-house about two years, his father's circumstances having become greatly involved, it was found to be impossible, in consequence, to continue him in his situation, and he abandoned the desk. India was then regarded as a land of promise, where every European was certain of making a fortune, and there the elder Munro fixed his eyes as a proper theatre for his son, whose adventurous spirit prompted him readily to concur in the plan. Accordingly, an appointment was soon procured for him, and he was rated as a midshipman on board the Company's Ship Walpole, Captain Abercrombie, "and on the 20th of February, 1779, quitted home, a solitary adventurer, to push his way through life."

He repaired to London, and soon after proceeded to join his ship at Deptford, and had not occupied his berth many weeks, when a change was made in his prospects, most agreeable to his military propensities, his father having procured for him a cadetship from one of the Directors of the East India Company. The following interesting anecdote is related by our author at the end of his first chapter.

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