453 



and have either built, or purchased from the English on their re- 

 turn to Europe, some of the best villas and gardens on the island. 

 At my last visit I had been absent seven } f ears, during which they 

 had made great advances in wealth and independence, lived in 

 some of the prettiest country houses, and drove thither in elegant 

 carriages of English construction. I am informed their progress 

 in the last twenty years has been still more rapid. 



This party to Salsetle, Elephanta, and Caranjah, was the last 

 of my excursions in India. On parting in the durbar at Tannah, 

 many of us took a final leave of each other — that was to have been 

 expected. Several of us had resided together in Guzcrat, occu- 

 pied in the respective duties of public and private life; our des- 

 tiny was now widely different — separated by an immense distance 

 of sea and land, the pleasures and the pains of memory were to 

 become a substitute for friendly concord and social harmony. 

 When friends take a long leave of each other, they endure a pang, 

 well known to minds of sensibility, which language cannot utter. 

 Twenty-eight years are now elapsed since the separation alluded 

 to : the sensations were renewed within a few weeks on our final 

 departure from Bombay! 



" Behold, fond man ! 



'■' See here thy pictur'd life !— Pass some few years, 



" Thy flowering Spring— thy Summer's ardent strength. 



" Thy sober Autumn fading into age— 



" And pale concluding Winter comes at last, 



" And shuts the scene. Ah ! whither now are fled 



" Those dreams of greatness ? those unsolid hopes 



s ' Of happiness ? those longings after fame ? 



" Those restless cares ? those busy bustling days ? 



