- the natives of India in the one common appellation of Kulá, or western foreigners; and it is only since the war of 1825-26, with the British, "that they have learnt to distinguish between the more prominent of the nations lying west of them. But the fact still remains that the Burmese received religion and letters from India."

It now requires a good knowledge of the Burmese language to follow Colonel Phayre. "It does not appear that the Burmese people received their religion and letters through the medium of their cousins, the Arakanese, for that people refer to the eastward as their own source of both. The passage of Indian Budhist missionaries, therefore, from Gangetic India through Bengal and Munnipore to Burma, is a probable event, but it took place much later than has been represented." The Chief Commissioner concludes his valuable paper with allusion to certain customs which "are tenaciously adhered to by the Royal Family of Burma, who consider themselves as ethnologically and religiously the descendants of the Budhist Kings of Kap-pi-la-wot." We shall now conclude this brief and imperfect sketch by referring the reader to Colonel Phayre's valuable paper itself for further information on the Burma race, and by stating from such good authority :-In the matter of the race of the Burmese, they are undoubtedly what is now called Turanian, or by Cuvier and the old authors, Mongolian.* The notion of the descent of the Royal Family from Indian Rajas is regarded as incorrect. But it is now admitted that the Rajpoot tribes of India are Turanian also, the Brahmans being Aryan, or, as formerly called, Caucasian.

The Overland Mail, of 26th of February, 1870, from Bombay, announced the important news that Sir Arthur Phayre, who had been making antiquarian researches in the north of India, was expected to produce "an exhaustive work on Budhism." In such an event, we may fully expect a line of light to clear up what is still one of the great Asian mysteries.—[As even a Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Mauritius may require an occasional holiday, it is not improbable that some such work from Sir Arthur's pen may yet afford food for discussion by eminent Orientalists.-Nov. 1874.]

* In the "Lectures on the Science of Language," by Professor Max Müller, the Professor says, regarding the question, Whether or not origiginally Tatar was a name of the Mongolic races :-"Originally 'Tatar' was a name of the Mongolic races. The Mongolic class, in fact, has the greatest claim to the name of 'Tataric.' The recollection of their non-Tatarici.e. non-Mongolic-origin remains among the so-called Tatars of Kasan and Astrachan."

SIR JOHN KAYE, K.C.S.I.

"Etinim talis est vir, ut nulla res tanta sit ac tam difficilis, quam ille non et consilio regere et integritate tueri et virtute conficere possit."-CICERO: "Oratio pro lege Manilia," cap. xx.*

THE retirement of Sir John Kaye from the India Office, after a long and distinguished period of service, is an important event, on account of the intrinsic merits and vast experience of the late political chief, in whom Conciliation ever found a steady friend, and Annexation a determined foe. Doubtless, the young Bengal Artilleryman, when he arrived in India, in 1833, little contemplated either the transfer of the glorious old Company's government to the Crown, or that (after being for nearly twenty years Secretary in the Political and Secret Department of the East India House and India Office) he should one day retire with so much honour, gained after various political and literary work well and carefully done. But to say that an active mind like Sir John's could be at rest, would be to utter a preposterous fallacy. There is no rest on earth for such men. He, and some of the others whom we have so imperfectly sketched in these pages, remind one of the old Roman alluded to by Sir Walter Scott as anxious to adjust his mantle ere he fell, but who-as the Scottish Shakspeare makes John Philip Kemble say, on his retirement from the stage-like the

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worn war-horse at the trumpet's sound,

Erects his mane, and neighs, and paws the ground,—
Disdains the ease his generous lord assigns,

And longs to rush on the embattled lines!"

"In truth he is such a man, that no affair can be so great or so arduous, which he cannot direct by his wisdom, maintain by his integrity, and accomplish by his valour."

"The retirement of Sir John Kaye from his Secretaryship at the India Office is formally announced."-The Week's News, October 24th, 1874.

Yes-we may easily imagine, on a war-note sounding from Afghanistan or Central Asia, or in the event of another Mutiny (which God forbid!) the historian, rising even from a sick bed-the old fire returning to the fading eye eager to seize his pen again!

Rest! says an eloquent divine,* "what have we to do with that?" Earth for work, heaven for wages; and so must it ever be with men of energy and intellect who are desirous of leaving "footprints on the sands of time."

We had written thus far, when a friend put Sir John Kaye's "Essays of an Optimist" (of which we had heard, but had not seen before) into our hands. There we found his views on "Rest," including those concerning "Superannuation," and the "Battle with Time;" which we deemed well worthy of attention. In his essay "Of Life," Lord Clarendon advises us to follow the wise rule laid down by an old philosopher-pretium tempori ponere, diem æstimare; to consider that “every hour is worth at least a good thought, a good wish, a good endeavour; that it is the talent we are trusted with to use, employ, and to improve." Sir John has not hidden this talent in the dark, "that the world cannot see any fruit of it;" and it is only a mind conscious of much valuable time well employed that could have produced the pleasing essay on "Rest." He thinks a well-timed retirement a most prudent action. 'The time must come," he says, "when younger men will do our work better, and, if we remain still at the grindstone, we shall be little more than cumberers of the earth. Nay, we may be something worse-miserable spectacles of decay, not even stately ruins. Let us take our pensions thankfully in good time; let us be content to be superannuated; let us go cheerfully into retirement before people say that we ought to be kicked into it." But then, he afterwards says beautifully—“It is only through the gates of death that we can grope our way to the fulness of repose." Sir John's striking lines on the "Battle with Time," probably written "on the eve of a crisis," which fortunately "never came after all," and which might be applied to himself, follow the remark that "it

* Dr. Guthrie.

is not good to be stricken down in the midst of the great battle:"

"His life was one grand battle with old Time.
From morn to noon, from noon to weary night,
Ever he fought as only strong men fight;
And so he passed out of his golden prime

Into grim hoary manhood; and he knew
No rest from that great conflict till he grew
Feeble and old, ere years could make him so.
Then on a bed of pain he laid his head,
As one sore spent with labour and with woe;

'Rest comes at last; I thank Thee, God,' he said,

Death came upon his brow laid chilly hands,

And whispered 'Vanquished!' But he gasped out 'No,

I am the victor now; for unto lands

Where Time's dark shadow cannot fall, I go.' "

Then, reminding us that "death is a fearful thing," and of the immortal lines which Shakspeare puts into the mouth of Claudio,* commencing

"Ay, but to die, and go we know not where,"

the subject of our sketch asks-"Ay, but whither?" and continues:- "It is ill thus to die with the harness on one's back and the battle-axe in one's hand. Better to lay them down ere the dark shadow falls; and, resting as best we may upon earth, pass away into the Perfect Rest." +

* "Measure for Measure."

"The Essays of an Optimist." By John William Kaye, F.R.S., Author of "History of the War in Afghanistan," "Life of Lord Metcalfe," "History of the Sepoy War," &c., 1870 (pp. 285-6-7). We cannot leave such a pleasant volume of essays-written with a smack of the graceful style and humour of Addison, and of the common sense of pious Jeremy Taylor-without turning to one, "The Wrong Side of the Stuff," in a note to which Sir John mentions one day, on passing to office, having seen a Commissionaire, hard by the great palace of Westminster :-"As I neared him, I saw another old soldier approach him-an older soldier, and of a higher rank, with bronzed cheek, and white moustache, and erect carriage, and a noble presence; one whom there was no mistaking, though dressed in the common garb of an English gentleman. When he saw the medals on the Commissionaire's breast, his face brightened up, and he stopped before the man in green, and, with a pleasant word or two, took up the medals, one after another, in his one hand, and then I saw that he had an empty sleeve. And when I looked at the Commissionaire, I saw that he also had an empty sleeve. And I wished I had been an artist to paint that touching scene. Compare the "older soldier" with a dear departed Anglo-Indian General Officer sketched in these pages!

Something is said in the sketch of Anglo-Indian Periodical Literature about Sir John Kaye, and a portion of his writings, so that it may now be sufficient to add, that the grand secret of Sir John's success in Anglo-Indian literature-particularly in his histories and biographies—lies in the admirable execution of the work, rather than in the interest attached by the British public to the subject. People who want to know about the War.in Afghanistan, or Sir John Malcolm, or Lord Metcalfe, go at once to the History and Biographies par excellence; or, about the Mutiny, to the History of the Sepoy War. Beyond a doubt, then, during such a lamentable state of indifference to Indian affairs-such an obstinate want of British -and even in some respects Anglo-Indian-interest in an Empire which tends to make England glorious, the treatment of the matter is of the last importance; and on this the success of any book on India that is to live will always greatly depend. You have first to conquer prejudice, and then, if you can, become fascinating. Sir John Kaye, throughout his literary career, has been eminently successful in both these particulars. Such remarks may excuse the introduction here of a reminiscence of that mighty wielder of the English tongue-Lord Macaulay. It was in the month of June, 1850, while Macaulay lived in the Albany, writing his "History of England," that the writer of these pages having, after some labour and historical research, arrived in London with a manuscript work on "The French in India," submitted the question to the great historian and essayist, Whether he thought the public would care about such a work at such a time? The reply was prompt, exhibiting the kindness of Macaulay to young authors. (He had not long before gracefully acknowledged a copy of "Orissa." *) Coming from, perhaps, the most brilliant writer of modern times—one of the chiefs of Modern Criticism-his remarks may be given:-"It seems to me that the fate of such a volume as you describe must depend entirely on the execution. There is not, I apprehend, much curiosity on the subject of the French in India. But eloquence and vivacity will

* A volume of local, archæological, and other critical sketches, reprinted chiefly from the Calcutta Review. (London, 1859.)