K. PAGE Memoir of the Life, Wri PAGE tings, &c. of John Owen, D.D. Vice Chancellor of Oxford during the Commonwealth, by W. Orme 128 Memoir, descriptive of the Resources, &c. &c. of Sicily and its Islands, by Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N... Memoirs of Captain Rock, the celebrated Irish chief- Migault, J. Narrative of the 163 421 602 70 434 638 591 of Discovery under Captain Parry. M. Malcolm, General Sir John, Memoir of Central India May you like it, by a Country Curate Practical Observations in 225, 337 Researches in the South of Ireland, by T. Crofton Ronan's Well, St. by the Russel, Rev. M. Histori- • 324 Selections from the Works 544 S. 279 647 524. Voice of Facts, The, from the Convent of St. Joseph, Ranelagh, Dublin, by the Rev. Joseph Finlayson Ultra Crepidarius; a Satire on William Gifford, by Leigh Hunt.. Wardens and Vestry of Christ Church, a Letter to the, by a Presbyter of the Diocese of New York Warreniana; with Notes, Critical and Explanatory, by the Editor of a Quarterly Review: Waterland, Rev. Daniel, D.D. Works of the, to which is prefixed a Review of his Life and i: Writings, by W. Vant Mildert, D.D. Lord Bi-> shop of Llandaff ..... 624 Zoology, the Philosophy of, by John Fleming, D.D. 148 260 C THE BRITISH CRITIC, FOR JANUARY, 1824. ART. I. A Memoir of Central India, including Malwa, and adjoining Provinces. With the History and copious Illustrations, of the past and present Condition of that Country. By Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G. C.B. K.L.S. In Two Volumes. Svo. 11. 12s. Kingsbury and Co. 1823. WE are informed in the preface of this work, that In January, 1818, the Author was placed by the Marquis of Hastings in the military and political charge of Central India; and during the four years he filled that station, his own attention, and that of the able public officers under his authority, was directed to the object of collecting materials for the illustration of its past and present condition. These he formed into a report, which was transmitted to Calcutta, where it was printed by order of Government. Several copies were sent to England, from which copious extracts found their way into periodical publications. This report having been drawn up amid the hurry of other duties, and when the Author was in a bad state of health, had many imperfections that required to be corrected: he therefore solicited permission from the Honourable Court of Directors to make it the groundwork of this memoir, which in consequence contains the substance of that official document." Vol. I. Preface, p. 3. This passage conveys not only a history of the volumes before us, but a very accurate account of its character. In the liveliness and spirit of the composition wherever the author enters into details, concerning the manners of the people, the character of individuals, the state of the country, and other particulars of a similar hature, an experienced reader at once traces the language and feeling of one who relates what he has seen. While in the desultoriness of the narrative, the confused arrangement of the parts, and the constant recurrence of the same topics and names, and times and things, we recognize all the defects which a work newly remodelled from notes and documents, not originally intended to meet the public eye, might naturally be expected to exhibit. To suppose that this Memoir, as its author modestly calls it, should VOL. XXI. JAN. 1824. B ever become, or at least continue to be, a classical authority among the students of Oriental History, would be, we think, to take a desponding view of the probable success of future labourers in this department; but we certainly cannot point out any single work, at present existing, from which the reader will derive so much, and such valuable information concerning the actual state of manners and society, both domestic and political, among that vast portion of the human race to whom it relates, as will be found in these volumes now before us. The work of the Abbé Dubois might seem at first deserving of being excepted from this remark, so far at least, as regards the domestic institutions of the Hindu. And, to a certain degree, perhaps, we should admit this to be true. But still, taking the Indian character as a whole, a more lively and we believe a more faithful conception of its géneral physiognomy will be learned from the Memoirs before us, than is to be acquired even in the work of that laborious and enlightened missionary. In Sir John Malcolm, the subject is presented to the eye, as if by a picture; in Dubois, it is represented to us in a more regular and systematic way; but the effect, by this very circumstance, is broken and interrupted, and conveys to the mind rather a series of facts than a general and well understood conclusion. Sir John Malcom has divided the subject of his work into two parts. The first is occupied with an account of the origin and history of the different branches of the Mahratta confederacy, concluding with a narrative of those recent transactions which terminated in the dissolution of their power. This part of the work employs the whole of the first volume. In the second volume we are presented with several chapters, in succession, which are devoted exclusively to some general discussions concerning the administration of revenue in India, and the population of that part of India which is the immediate subject of the book; the whole concluding with an Appendix, containing reports relating to the geology of the country, copies of the treaties lately entered into with the several powers by whom it is possessed, meteorological tables, and other matters of subsidiary importance. Of these two volumes the last is decidedly the most valuable and entertaining, as containing the greatest variety of authentic facts and anecdotes, and as throwing most light upon the state of society among the people. In the professedly historical part of the work there is indeed much curious and instructive matter; for the author's situation gave him access to documents and means of information, such as no writer upon Indian history has perhaps ever before possessed. But |