FROM KASHMIR TO KUSSOWLIE. 121 



it is borne out by the concurrent testimony of those 

 who knew the same man best in after-years. 



" Servetur ad imum 

 Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet," 



is a sound working principle in life as well as art. 



To return to Hodson and his Simla experiences 

 in October 1850. In a letter of the 21st, written 

 under Thomason's hospitable roof, he says: "The 

 change to the utter comfort and civilisation of this 

 house was something ' stunning ' ; and 1 have not 

 yet become quite reconciled to dressing three times 

 a-day, black hat, and patent-leather boots. I need 

 hardly say, however, that I have very much enjoyed 

 my visit and my ' big talks ' with Mr Thomason. 

 He is very grey, and looks older than when I saw 

 him in 1847, but otherwise he is just the same, 

 working magnificently, and doing wonders for his 

 province. Already the North-West Provinces are 

 a century in advance of the Bengal Proper ones. 

 As a governor he has not his equal ; and in honesty, 

 high-mindedness, and indefatigable devotion to the 

 public good, he is facile prmceps of the whole 

 Indian service. Nor is there a household in India 

 to match his ; indeed it is about the only ' big-wig ' 

 house to which people go with pleasure rather than 

 as a duty. I saw Sir Charles Napier, too, and dined 

 with him last week. He is very kind and pleasant, 

 and T am very sorry on public grounds that he is 

 going away." 



On November 4 he writes from Kussowlie : " Mr 

 Thomason will have told you of the power of 

 civility I met with at Simla from the ' big- wigs,' 

 and that even Lord Dalhousie waxed complimentary, 



