The Chronicle of Budgepore. By Mans Prichard. 2 vols. (W.
H. Allen and Co.)—This is a satire on Indian society and on Indian government, which, if we are to believe Mr. Prichard, seems made up, in about equal proportions, of knavery and folly. The truth is that the book represents an old quarrel, which is or has been as fierce and bitter as quarrel can be. There have always been Englishmen in India who have hated the English Government as much as Hindoo or Moham- medan could do. What part of Mr. Prichard's book may be true who shall say? But as to the whole, it is enough to ask, how is the fact of this great Indian Empire to be accounted for ? Such a thing never could be raised, never could stand, if this account of its rulers were true. One could as easily believe that a strong man had been fed from his birth On poisons. It should be said that there are scenes in the book suffi- ciently amusing; where, for instance, the judge has to decide between the merits of various elephants at "the Great Exhibition of Budge- pore."
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