CHAEACTEE SKETCHES 331 
• 
in Calcutta, into which I should go unasked and be sure of 
a hearty welcome ; indeed I may say I have been asked to 
be the guest of more than that number of families. 
A few thumbnail sketches of character, mostly Indian, may 
be added from the letters of these days ; the last, with its note 
of self-reproach for too easy condemnation of unobservant 
stupidity, is especially noteworthy. 
I see by the newspapers that was married. I 
sincerely congratulate his family upon it ; he is now provided 
for, and he had not talents for a profession, interest for a 
sinecure, nor industry enough for anything. I pitied him 
for his cii'cumstances as much as I liked his really amiable 
disposition. 
Mr. X. was a civiHan and known as ' Jemmy Blagite,' the 
greatest liar in all India. His brother, Col. X., inherits the 
title, and says of himself that he killed so many Beloochees 
at Meanee, that Sir C. Napier had to stop him and took 
away his sword, when the gallant Colonel doubled his heroic 
exploits with the scahhard ! 
1 have begun to like Capt. Y. in spite of his v^^ant of 
sense. He is a truly kind-hearted fellow and neither captious 
nor vain. When walking with me the other day, he men- 
tioned that during three years of his childhood he had been 
stone blind. I was very much struck with this, and I felt 
ashamed of the harshness with which I had spoken of him. 
True I never dreamed that what I said would ever come to 
his ears ; perhaps, too, if he had enjoyed the use of four 
eyes all that time he might not have profited by them ; 
still, we really know very little of what we are doing when 
we pass harsh judgments upon others and condemn their 
conduct, and I felt tacitly rebuked for my want of charity. 
