206 



excellency of Carmel and Sharon: they shall see the glory of the 

 Lord, and the excellency of our God! They shall obtain joy 

 and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away!" 



Although the description of Persian and Mogul entertainments 

 at Cambay may convey some idea of modern oriental splendor in 

 water-temples, waving chowries, scented punkas, perfumed sher- 

 bets, and similar accompaniments, they were in my estimation 

 generally counterbalanced by as many inconveniences. At the 

 moment of enjoyment I should have preferred a climate not in 

 need of those extraneous luxuries ; a country where hired sing- 

 ing-men, singing-women, and dancing-girls, are not deemed ne- 

 cessary to domestic amusement ; where the young and happy of 

 both sexes enjoy themselves, and communicate to others, the de- 

 light inspired by harmony, dance, and song, under the auspices of 

 parental hosts, who encourage the innocent cheerfulness appropri- 

 ate to the season of youth, and preside over their festivities with 

 that taste and dignity which elegant and cultivated minds so pre- 

 eminently display. The revolving season of Christmas, anniversary 

 birth-day*, and other family convivialities, afford an ampler scope 

 for hospitality and beneficence — when friends, tenants, and depen- 

 dants of various descriptions partake of their bounty and munifi- 

 cence. Such was no uncommon character anions; the English 

 nobility and gentry some years ago, and is still to be met with in 

 many country mansions throughout this favoured island. 



If the traveller in various countries makes a comparative state- 

 ment of human happiness, he will find, with few exceptions, that 

 the Great Author of Nature has distributed it more equally than 

 be first imagined. He writes of men and manners as he finds them 



