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in their various gradations, from imperial Akber, dispensing hap- 

 piness to millions, to the wandering fakeer with his staff and lark; 

 from the splendid rajah and proud brahmin, to the wretched Poo- 

 leah and outcast Chandalah! Although he cherishes a hope that 

 ere long, under British jurisdiction, the condition of the latter 

 will be meliorated, he also enjoys some degree of pleasure in ob- 

 serving, that man, in a state of ignorance, is generally reconciled 

 to his situation, and that consequently there is less individual hap- 

 piness or misery than is at first apparent. In this position I am 

 as far from defending the tyranny of despots, the oppression of 

 zemindars, and the degrading distinctions of caste, as I should be 

 in supporting the horrors of the Inquisition, or the miseries of the 

 Bastille: but in contemplating the civilized part of the globe, whe- 

 ther in Europe or Asia, we shall find the concluding lines of Gold- 

 smith's Traveller to contain a true portrait ; whether drawn by the 

 pen of Johnson (to whom they are attributed,) or flowing from the 

 same source as many other striking passages in that beautiful 

 poem, is of little consequence; the truth is evident to all who in- 

 vestigate human nature, and examine with an unprejudiced mind 

 the allotment of Providence to his rational creatures. 



" Vain, very vain, my weary search, to find 

 " That bliss, which only centers in the mind : 

 " Why have I stray'd from pleasure and repose, 

 " To seek a good each government bestows ? 

 " In every government though terrors reign, 

 " Though tyrant kings or tyrant laws restrain, 

 " How small of all that human hearts endure, 

 " That part which Jaws or kings can cause or cure-! 



