S 235 
ence, as when formerly invested with a sirpau, or dress of honour, 
from a tyrannic master: but this indifference, founded on predes- 
tination, is very unlike the heroic firmness which characterized the 
truly noble soul of Phocion, who whilst holding the poison to his 
lips, being asked if he had any commands for his son, answered, 
tell him to “ forget this injury of the Athenians!” of that ungrateful 
country, then rewarding his patriotic love with the cup of death! 
Niocles, his friend, under the same sentence, desired he might 
drink the potion before him; Phocion replied, because he had 
never denied him any thing, he would not even this, the most 
difficult request he had ever made! 
In the court of an Asiatic sovereign we look in vain for true 
magnanimity: the nobles approach him with distrust and fear, 
conscious that his frown deprives them of life; nor can they, on 
so frail a tenure, enjoy wealth or honours: those in the middle 
walk of life, instead of being subject to one tyrant, are oppressed 
by numerous petty despots, who, dead to every feeling of huma- 
nity, rule them with a rod of iron. The lower classes of ryots, or 
husbandmen, are not in a more enviable situation; the despotic 
system pervades all ranks, and whole villages emigrate, in the 
vain hope of finding a more equitable government: they have 
not indeed much to leave; their cottages being generally built of 
mud, and their furniture only a few mats and earthen pots: they 
live scantily on vegetables, rice, or inferior grain. 
In travelling, it is easy to distinguish the ancient inhabitants 
from those whom conquest or commerce have dispersed through- 
out Hindostan; not so much in complexion and outward appear- 
ance, as in the peculiarities of character: the Mahomedan is com- 
