433 



" The face of gold received ornament in Agra, 

 " From Jehangheer Shah, the son of Akber." 



I mentioned the great alteration which a few years had occa- 

 sioned at Surat, and assigned the cause. I certainly observed a 

 much greater variation in the society and manners at Bombay, 

 without such apparent reason. A constant fluctuation by the re- 

 moval of the civil and military servants from one settlement to 

 another, the influx of strangers in a large sea-port town, with other 

 local circumstances, always occasioned some change in society ; 

 but whether from an extension of the military establishment, a 

 considerable increase in the female circle from Europe, or from 

 what other cause I know not, there was a material alteration in the 

 English character at the Presidency. Etiquette, ostentation, and 

 formality, had too generally supplanted the urbanity, friendship, 

 and conviviality, so delightful in former times. That this remark 

 may not be thought invidious, I insert part of a letter written to 

 me by a very discerning friend, about the same period, after an 

 absence of seven years, in a retired part of Guzerat. 



" I know your partiality for Bombay, but in my opinion it is 

 no longer the same place as when I last resided here. I allow that 

 the little Presidency is become very gay and lively, and I have 

 passed a few weeks here with much satisfaction ; but at all the 

 pleasures and entertainments, I could not prevent the thought 

 from intruding itself, that the high polish had debased the material, 

 and you too plainly see all the more valuable ties of friendship 

 and affection, sacrificed to an ostentatious vanity, which aukuardly 

 endeavours to assume their semblance. It has its merits, and 



VOL. III. 3 K 



