In Furthest Ind. By Sydney C. Grier. (Blackwood and Sons.)
—The form of this story is a "narrative" purporting to be written by one Edward Carlyon, a gentleman in the East India Company's Service, and " edited " by the gentleman whose name appears on the title-page. It is supposed to belong to the second half of the seventeenth century, when the Hon. Company was as yet but in a humble condition. The hero is located in the factory at Surat, but his most exciting adventures take place in Goa, where he has the misfortune to fall under the imputation of heresy, and but narrowly escapes being burnt alive. Delivered from the danger of fire, he very nearly loses his life by water. He is rescued, however, and kindly treated by the French viceroy at St. Thomas (now a suburb of Madras). He meets with other adventures, but as he never goes beyond HindoostAn, we do not see why the tale is entitled In Furthest lad; surely this means "India beyond the Ganges." The style is cleverly adapted to the supposed date of the story, and the narrative is pleasantly told, while the figures are lifelike. Madame Heliodora, daughter of the viceroy at St. Thomas, is particularly good.
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