v END OF INDIAN TRIP 155 



Rest assured (he writes to his mother) I will try and 

 make as much as I can out of it as regards informa- 

 tion. First and foremost there is Sir Charles him- 

 self, always ready and willing with his experience 

 and advice when any good to India is likely to come 

 out of it. Fully occupied himself, both in mind and 

 body, he is ever willing to help and guide the young 

 mind, pointing out what shoals and quicksands are 

 to be avoided, and at the same time drawing atten- 

 tion to what his long experience has taught him to 

 be the course most likely to lead to truth. In the 

 next place, I shall meet and hear the opinion of the 

 cleverest men in India, and will have every oppor- 

 tunity of learning the most minute mechanism of 

 the Government ; and last, but by no means least, the 

 Trevelyans have most kindly given me access to 

 all Lord Macaulay's unpublished writings, essays, 

 minutes, etc., dealing with Indian affairs. To pre- 

 pare myself in some small degree to digest as 

 much as possible, I have been reading steadily with 

 Trevelyan four or five hours a day for the last 

 six weeks. 



So he made up his mind to go north to Calcutta to 

 see Delhi, Agra, and other places of interest on his 

 way home. Unfortunately I can find no record of 

 his further sojourn in India, but that it was full of 

 interest and of value to him we may be assured. Per- 

 haps this portion of his life may be closed best in his 

 own words to his mother, in which he sums up his views of 

 the lonely year he had spent among the Neilgherries : 

 My life out here has been a mixture of pleasure and 

 hardships. I shall always look back upon it as a 

 bright spot, but looking back on a thing and looking 

 forward are widely different matters to going through. 

 These kind of expeditions are beautiful and enchant- 



