A Great Novel of 



Anglo-Indian Life and Adventure 



Now ready. Cloth extra, 3^. 6</. 



Before the British Raj 



By Major ARTHUR GRIFFITHS 



FIRST REVIEWS 



" Major Arthur Griffiths is an excellent story-teller. His object is 

 simply to hold your attention while he spins a yarn. He always succeeds, 

 and what is more he deserves to succeed. ' Before the British Raj ' is a 

 story of military adventure in India in the eighteenth century. Major 

 Griffiths never writes about what he does not understand, and his picture of 

 India at the time when his story opens is beyond criticism. The beautiful 

 Begum, who is the mainspring of the story, is undoubtedly worth any 

 man's winning, however magnificent he may fancy himself to be, and 

 Alexander Latouche was not troubled with inordinate vanity." Morning 

 Post. 



" For the theme of his latest novel, Major Griffiths has gone back to 

 those stirring times in Indian history when the British power had not yet 

 established itself universally, and the great continent was still the battle- 

 field of warring nations, and the happy hunting-grounds of the ad venturers 

 of the world. His hero is an officer of dragoons, who, weary of inactivity, 

 leaves the Army and raises a force of cavalry, going forth at the head of his 

 squadron to take service as a free lance. His first employ is under Perron, 

 the French soldier of fortune who acquired so much influence in Oude, and 

 through him the blind Mogul Emperor, Shah Alum, was rescued from 

 oppression. Then Latouche, the hero, captured the strong fortress of 

 Photapore, and fell in love with the beautiful Begum, Zalu, thereby exciting 

 Perron's jealousy. Afterwards came intrigues and treachery and strife, but 

 Latouche and his native bride came unscathed through all, ultimately re- 

 turning to service under the British flag. The tale is for the most part told 

 with simplicity and spirit, though in the early chapters Major Griffiths has 

 condensed into single lines episodes that might well have filled chapters." 

 East Anglian Daily Times. 



42 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 



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