Sketches of some Distinguished Anglo-Indians ; with an Account of
Anglo-Indian Periodical Literature. By Colonel W. F. B. Laurie, Retired, Royal (Madras) Artillery. A new edition, revised and enlarged. (W. H. Allen and Co.)—With the very best intentions, Colonel Laurie has republished his "Sketches," after a lapse of twelve years, and he has added to the original volume a good many pages which augment the bulk without greatly increasing such interest as may belong to his first series. When, as he tells us, manuscript in hand, he asked Macaulay whether the public would care about a book on " The French in India," the historian promptly and truly said i—" It seems to me that the fate of each a volume as you describe must depend entirely on the execution. There is not, I apprehend, much curiosity on the subject of the French in India. Ent eloquence and vivacity will make any subject attractive." That was said in 1830; but although Colonel Lawrie had not the pre.requisites demanded, he persevered in gratifying his laudable desire to impart what he knew, or had laboriously acquired, to the British public. If, however, the higher literary qualities are wanting in his books, he is never deficient in good-nature, modesty, and admiration for great characters and great deeds, and he never fails to show a genuine and loving interest in whatever concerns India and the East. His will, his aspirations to do well, and make India and Indians attractive, are boundless ; if his powers are not equal to his will, some compensation may be found in his evidently ingenuous affection for the chosen theme, and the anxiety of the author to make others share the ennobling admiration which animates him. His book is right-minded and high-minded, and much in the way of literary shortcomings may be forgiven to a writer whose sympathies are so wide both in regard to men and things. Nevertheless, for the sake of India, and the right under- standing thereof, we could have wished that "eloquence and vivacity" had not been conspicuous by their absence from the sketches of distinguished Indians.
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