Letters from India Volume I/From the Hon Emily Eden to Blank 2
George and all the household, and all our guests, went off at 6 a.m. on Monday, and left Fanny and me and Mrs. and her children to take care of ourselves, with for our ‘European.’ If ever a lady is deserted for a few days by her husband, father, &c., I observe it is a right thing to say, ‘But I hope you have a European in the house.’ For myself, I think the natives are much the more manageable of the two. However, is our European, and orders about him in a grand way, and in a language which it pleases him to call Hindustani. It seems to me rather what is generally termed ‘an unknown tongue.’
We went out riding both Monday and Tuesday, in a horrid fright. I tried to make Rosina teach me how to tell the guards and syces, ‘I have broke all my bones, go and fetch a doctor,’ &c.; but as I cannot master such a simple sentence, we were glad to discover that Webb, the man at the head of the stables, was staying on at Barrackpore, and offered to ride, at a reasonable distance, with us; and the horses were tolerably quiet, for a wonder.
There was such a pretty festival on Tuesday, one of the eternal Hindu festivals; I do not know what about, but the servants all bought horrid clay, misshapen, gaudy-looking figures; and I am sorry to say all mine thought it necessary to present me with some, because they thought I liked modelling, and my room is full of the most frightful-looking toys, which I dare not destroy, as they think them beautiful. In the evening our bearers, who are all Hindus, lit up one side of the house, and the native doctor illuminated one of the bungalows, and they danced, after their fashion, to a tiresome drum, and sang for about six hours, and had a great feast of rice and sweetmeats, for which we gave them money; and the Mussulman servants all sat round, and sang and told stories, though they cannot eat together, and it was one of the prettiest, gayest feasts I haveseen. The illuminations were so pretty. We had the carriage late, and Mrs. drove with us through the cantonments. The Sepoys had illuminated there in all directions, and even scattered lamps on the ground all over the plain; it looked like a large Vauxhall. Dr. Drummond came back on Wednesday, and gave an excellent account of a scientific party George had held at Calcutta. There was plenty to see and to say, and some curious experiments tried, and everybody seemed pleased; and George wrote me an account of it, which showed he was amused.
George is building a school in a corner of the park at Barrackpore, upon Captain Cunningham’s plan, and the schoolmaster is to be taken from the Hindu College, and to teach the little Barrackporeans English. The school promises to be a very pretty building.
I found was going down to Calcutta after dinner on Sunday, in his boat, so I shipped off Rosina and old Anna, and most of my servants, who were too glad to get off a day sooner, and put myself into his boat at 8 p.m., and we were at Calcutta at 10 p.m. It was such a lovely evening on the water, and I escaped getting up at 5 a.m., which invariably makes me sick for the rest of the day. I often wonder what we shall do when we are in camp, and have to get up at 4 a.m.; we are all such bad hands at it, and we have heard shocking accounts of the bore and fatigue of the process.
My Singapore silk has arrived—a beautiful sort of gold and silver brocade, just made for a fancy dress; and it is lucky to have anything, for now this ball is near at hand the ladies are giving 1l. a yard for common satin for slips. We have also got a pair of beautiful bracelets Mrs. C. Elliot ordered for us at Macao, and I had imported a pair of earrings, but George has bought them of me—I suppose for his fancy dress!
Our grand fancy ball went off last night with the greatest éclat. Our little pages were the prettiest sight of the evening, particularly , who is a beautiful child, and being full of odd fancies, took a fancy that night to be a regular page and to carry my train and fan, like a page on the stage; and when I bade him good-night in the ball-room, he said, ‘I am going downstairs with you, it is my duty to see you to the carriage.’ Captain Cunningham was dressed as a Mameluke, Captain as a Sikh Prince, as the Corsair—so utterly disguised by black curls and eyebrows that I should not have known him at all, and the Doctor in his naval uniform. There was a sort of platform arranged for us, to which the steward took us and all our silver-sticks and chowries and peacock’s-feather men, who are glad to shirk their duties on ordinary occasions, but turn out with great pleasure for what they consider a very improper nautch. And George has just given them new scarlet and gold dresses for the cold weather, so they finished off our group very handsomely. Some of the native princes who were there, had some very magnificent jewels, and there were some genuine Chinese dresses made of the sort of embroidered silk which I have always believed in, from knowing that the Chinese were the cleverest people in the world, but never saw. We came away at 12.30 p.m., quite astonished to find ourselves up so late. That is about the time we should be going to a ball in England. I am horridly tired to-day.
We had a long visit from a lady who is just come from Ava, where she has been two years without seeing any European woman, but one—and the Burmese treat the English just as contemptuously as the Chinese do. She was a nice good-humoured woman—all the nicer for bringing us a quantity of pretty Burmese curiosities. She said she was very fond of her one European friend at Ava, and thought her the cleverest woman she had ever seen, ‘but she is not fond of jokes, and sometimes I wanted to laugh, and except a doctor, who came to Ava, and who talked nonsense, I really have not heard any nonsense for a very long time; but I hope at Calcutta everybody is not always grave.’ I cannot hold out to her the most distant prospect of a joke, except the little we do in that way ourselves, and that grows less every day.
We were to go to Dwarkanauth Tagore’s fireworks at night, so I would not ride, as the smallest possible quantity of fatigue is the grand aim of an Indian day, and I took a solitary drive by the river-side, and detected one of our boats coming up the river, and in it a remarkably fat rosy-looking young man, who turned out to be Captain returning from his three months’ cruise, perfectly well. Dr. Drummond, who knew him when he first came out to India, says he thinks him now in much better health than he was then. I could not have believed three months could have made such a difference in anyone. I drove down to the Ghaut and took him into the carriage, and he seemed really glad to be back again. He has brought us a great many pretty things—fans and card-cases and Chinese monsters, and some chessmen for , and even a present for , who nursed him when he was ill.
Gorge, after all, did not go to Dwarkanauth’s party, which was a pity, though I regret it less because if he goes to one party he must go to more; and getting up before six, as he does, it would be bad for him; and he is so well and looking so well now, that any change would be for the worse. We went in great state—three carriages and the aides-de-camp in their gorgeous uniforms, which they have only worn twice since we came; and we sent on fourteen of our own servants, because, as you will at once perceive, it would have been quite beneath us to allow the servants of a native to give us any tea; and we might have been bit by a mad mosquito if we had not taken our own chowry-men, as nobody else can have any when the Governor-General’s are there. Moreover, the servants care about fireworks, if they care for anything. I have seldom seen a handsomer fête. It was very much like one of Lord Hertford’s fêtes—beautiful fireworks; and then all the French actors and singers sat in one room, and dancing in another, and the instant one amusement was over another began. There were a great many of Dwarkanauth’s own relations present in very magnificent dresses, otherwise not many natives. We got away at 12.30 p.m., but the party lasted till 4. I was most dreadfully tired on Tuesday. George and I took a quiet drive, and we put off our ball till this evening.
We had our dance on Wednesday, and our usual levee on Thursday morning, and then came up here. I came with in his boat, and I never felt a more beautiful evening than it was, and the sky and river were such a fine gold colour—the real, Indian, pure gold, not your trashy goldsmith’s mixture, half brass; and then we have little vagaries of pea-green clouds—quite an original thought, rather vulgar, but still picturesque. As I have mentioned about thirty times in each letter to you what a shocking climate this has been, ever since we came, it is but common justice to observe that the weather now is very enjoyable. Of course there can still be but one hour’s going out for those who do not get up at sunrise, but the air that blows into the house all day is pleasant, and the evenings are charming.