t 



AKBAK, JALAlrUD-DIN MOHAMMED. 



AKENSIDE, MARK. 



tiMai * Utt Btvml piaM of UK Mth^^v*^ w**l RHflfjMi* ; *u*l >to> 

 a eurioas bUory of Cashmere during the 4000 yean previous to it* 

 , by Akbar. remarkable as UM only specimen of historic*! 

 ' i in the Sanscrit language. Abu-I-Kasl long held the highest 

 reak,bota military and civil, under Akbar. His great work, the* Akbar 

 Nam*,' is a lasting monument of his master's lame, and of bis own 

 ifcHngilik 1 111 Hi u I i ' ' J Maniucript copi of it have been 

 multlplMd in abundance, particularly the third volume called the 

 Ayin-i Akberi,' which is descriptive of the Indian empire. 



For a more ample and detailed account of the many admirable 

 works, original and translated, which were written under the poirjuag* 

 of Akbar. the reader i* referred to the first volume of Qladwiu'* trau.- 

 ution of the Ayin i-Akberi.' But of all the measures of Akbsr's 

 i sage, perhaps there is none which redounds more to bis true glory 

 Uuo hi* humane and liberal policy toward* the Hindoos, who formed, 

 as already stated, the majority of his subject*. Thi* injured race had 

 long been subjected to a capitation tax. imposed upon them by their 

 haughty conquerors as a punish moot for what they were pleased to 

 osll their infidelity. This odious impost, which served to keep up 

 animosity between the peopU and their ruler*, was abolished early iu 

 Akbar'* nifu. He at the *ame time abolished all taxes on pilgrimages, 

 nhcsniin " that it wa* wrong to throw any obstacle in the way of the 

 devout, or of interrupting UMU mod. of intercourse with their Maki ' 



Bt though Akbar sho 



,' 



lindtol 



i to the Hindoos in the exer- 



cise of their religion, he was not blind to the abuse* of the Brshminical 

 yatem. lie forbade trial* by ordeal, and the slaughter of animals 

 for senriflf* lie also mjoined widows to many a second time, con- 

 trary to the Hindoo Uw. Abore all, ha positively prohibited the burning 

 of Hindoo widows sgaiast their will ; and used every precaution to 

 aincrtsin. in the case of a suttee, that the resolution was free and 

 wainHaenned. U i* sUtod in the ' Akbar Kama ' (hat on one occasion, 

 rsrinr. that the raj* of Joudpoor was about to force bis son's widow 

 to the pile, he mounted hi* bores, and rode with all speed to the spot 

 in order to prevent the intended sacrifice. It may be observed, that 

 all those ewe* in which Akbar interfered with the religion of the 

 i really abuses originating with the corrupt priestcraft of 

 Such prohibition*, being of a purely benevolent nature, 



would nowia* affect the loyalty and atUchmrnt of the great body of 

 the people. In fact, we have an interesting memorial of the impression 

 mads upon the Hindoos by the mild sway of Akbar in a spirited ninou- 

 trance, sddreejnri a century after to the bigoted AuruugMbe, by the 

 descendabt of the very raja of Joudpoor above mentioned. The then 

 raja eays : ' Your ancestor Akbar, whose throne is now in heaven, 

 oood noted UM affun of his empire in equity and security for the space 

 of fifty year*, lie preserved every tribe of men in ease and happiness, 

 whether they were followers of Jesus or of Moses, of Brahma or of 

 Mohammed uf whatever sect or creed they might be, they all 

 equally enjoyed his countenance and favour ; insomuch that his people, 

 u gratitude for the iadiseriminate protection which be afforded them, 

 distinguished him by the appellation of -Guardian of Mankind.' " 



In the revenue department Akbar effected vast reforms. He estab- 

 lished a uniform standard of weight* and measures, and caused a 

 correct measurement of the land to be made throughout the empire. 

 He ssnertsipid the value of the soil in every inhabited district, and 

 fixed the nte of taxation that each should pay to government, He 

 strictly prohibited bis officer, from fanning any branch of the revenue, 

 the collector, being enjoined to deal directly with individual culti- 

 vate**, and not to depend en the headman of a village or district 

 For the iiialasetreliMCj of justice he appointed oourU composed of 



two oncer, with differtnt powers; the one for conducting the trial 

 and expounding the Uw, and the other, who was the superior authority, 

 far reeling Judgment Thee* were enjoined to be .paring of capital 

 paniehmeai, and, unless, in oases of dangerous sedition, to inflict none 

 until the proceedings were sent to court, and the emperor'* confirma- 

 tion returned. He also enjoined that in no case should capital punish- 

 moat be accompanied by any additional severity. Akbar was fully 

 acute of UM Importance of commerce, which he greatly promoted. 

 Ue improved the roads leading to all part, of the empire, andreudered 

 InveUtsw cafe by UM establishment of an efficient polio*. Above all, 

 I a vast Dumber of vexations imnoel* which merely fettered 



prohibited bis 

 afl M , i. , 

 by Akbar for 

 > country, perhaps the least snoosscful was bu 



. , * TT? l ' |ito *** r- V m - * *" wb J * "a* 



wfll mad ample awbraaattoa In the franeacUoos of the Literary Society 

 of Bombay/ vol. u, contribute b, Cclancl KdUMdy of that presidency 

 It aces not appear that Akbsr's faith made an j great progreu beyond 

 ilaca. In fact it had numberUss foes to encounter 

 d both of Mohammed and Brahma, who throve 

 of their rcspecUve flock* 



he abolished a inet number of ve 



trade without enriching the treasury. He strictly pro 

 owsear* (roes reeeivingTees of any kind, and thus cut of 

 source of abac*. Asaocg the numerous ofbrU made by 

 UM IsjilUfiminl of Us country, perhaps the least SUOOSM 



. 

 the a 



___ , .~MT(..,r. Akbar bad three 

 seeaaaet the Utter days of hi. life were embittered. 

 cut of in early youih Uirougb habits of dMpa- 

 m carvivcr (afterward* Jehan-ghir), repeatedly raised 

 ilien sgciast bis father. These -*Hii-ns. tonther 

 wtU, UM k. of ajceVTl.. l-a.auW.^b^^lT^up^ 



Akbar's wind. He died iu September 1005, in the Cith year of Li* 

 age, after a prosperous and beneficent reign of half a century. In 

 person Akbar U described as strongly built, with an agreeable expres- 

 sion of countenance and very captivating manners. Ue was possessed 

 of great bodily strength and activity; temperate in his habits, and 

 indulging in little sleep. He frequently spent whole nights in those 

 philosophical discussions of which bo wss so foud. His early life 



abounds with in.tanixs of romantic courage, better suited to a kui^ht 

 errant than the ruler of a mighty empire. The first half of his reign 

 required almost bis constant presence at the head of his army, y< t ho 

 never neglected the improvement of the civil government; and by a 

 judicious distribution of his time be was enabled not only tu dispatch 

 all essential business, but to enjoy leisure for study and amusement 



Klpuiustoue, Uiitory of India; Ferihta, JJulory ; 



and Traiuac'iuHt of the Literary Society of Bombay, voL ii.) 



AKENSIDE, MARK, was the second son of Mark Akenside, a 

 butcher of NewcasUe-ou-Tyue, and of his wife Mary LuuisJ. 

 was born in the street called Butchers' Bank iu that town, on Kuv. it, 

 17-1. The Rev. John Brand, who was also a native of Newcastle, 

 states, in his ' Observations on Popular Antiquities,' that a halt which 

 Akeuaide had in his gait was occasioned by the falling of a i . 

 from his father's stall upon him when he was a boy ; and " this,'' addd 

 Brand, who was himself bred a shoemaker, " must have been 

 petual remembrance of his bumble origin." It is said that Akeuside 

 wss far from regarding the ever-present memento either with com- 

 placency, or even with the most philosophic composure. Thu butcher 

 was a strict Presbyterian ; and young Mark's original destination was 

 to be a clergyman in that communion, with which view, according to 

 the common account, he was sent to a duseutiog academy in his native 

 town, whence, at about the age of eighteen, that is to say, probably in 

 November 1739, be proceeded to the University of Edinburgh. But 

 it appears from a Memoir of Richard Dawes (the author of the ' Mis- 

 cellanea Critic*') by the Rev. Mr. Hodgson, in the 'Ju.l volume of the' 

 ' Archseologia -Eliaua,' 4 to., Newcastle, 1632, that Akeuside was a 

 pupil under Dawes, who was appointed head master of the Royal 

 Grammar School at Newcastle in July 173S. If this was the cose, his 

 attendance at the school could not have been long. The expense of 

 his residence at Edinburgh, or part of it, was defrayed by the Dissen- 

 ters' Society. But after studying divinity for one session, he deter- 

 mined to change his intended profession, and the remaining two years 

 of his attendance at college were given to the medical classe 

 afterward* returned the money he had received from the Dissenters' 

 Society. In 1742 be went to finish his medical course at Leydeu, and 

 he was admitted by the university to the degree of M.D. May 16, 1744, 

 on which occasion he published a thesis, or Latin inaugural discourse, 

 on the human foetus (' Ue Ortu et Incremento Foatus lluinaui '), iu 

 which he is said to have displayed eminent scientific ingenuity and 

 judgment in attacking some opinions of Leeuweuhoek, and other 

 puthoritiea of the time, which have now been generally or universally 

 abandoned. But if the date of his graduation (given by Johnson, and 

 copied by all his subsequent biographers) be correct, Akenside hod 

 already made a brilliantly successful literary debut before the appear- 

 ance of this professional essay. His English didactic blank verse poem, 

 iu three books, entitled ' The Pleasures of Imagination,' which, accord- 

 ing to one account, be had begun, and even, it is absurdly said, finished, 

 while he was on a visit to some relations at Morpeth, before he went 

 to college at Edinburgh, was published at London in February 1744. 

 He had taken to verse-making at an early age ; in the 7th volume of 

 the ' OeuUeman's Magazine,' published in 1737, is a poem, entitled 

 'The Virtuoso, in imitation of Spenser's Style and Stanza,' dated 

 from Newcastle, having the signature of Marcus, and stated to be the 

 production of a writer in his sixteenth year, which is undoubtedly his ; 

 this was followed by other poetical contributions to the same miscel- 

 lany ; and while at Edinburgh he had written some of the odes and 

 other minor pieces which have since been printed among his works. 

 But he bad as yet published nothing iu a separate form or with his 

 name, and was conqueutly altogether unknown, when he took or 

 sent his ' Pleasures of Imagination to Dodsley the bookseller, with a 

 demand of 1201. for the copyright Johnson, who mentions this, says 

 that he had heard Dodsley himself relate that, hesitating to give so 

 Urge a price, "ho carried the work to Pope, who, having looked into 

 it, advised him not to make a niggardly oiler, for this was no every- 

 day writer." Pope, who diod in the end of May of the year iu which 

 it appeared, lived nevertheless long enough to see his judgment ratified 

 by the extraordinary success of the poem. It reached a second editi >n 

 in May, and continued in constant demand. The poem was first pub- 

 lished anonymously, and a story is told by Boswell, on Johnson's 

 authority, of the authorship being claimed by a person of the name 

 of Roll, who is even said to have had an edition of it printed in Dublin 

 with bis name on the tiUe-page; but in England, at least, the name of 

 the true author appears to have been very well known all along. Akeu- 

 side wa* certainly in England before his poem was published : if tlio 

 date of his graduation be correct, he probably returned to Leydeu to 

 go through t hat ceremony. His firnt attempt to < < .ictice 



as a physician wss at Northampton ; but he only continued there for 

 about a year and a half, during which he appears to have written 

 more poetry than prescriptions. It seems however to have been before 

 he settled at Northampton that ha wrote hi* ' Epistle to Curio,' a satire 



