which proved such a burden in former years is now removed from the hands of authority, and has been made the subject of rules and regulations. Local governments have also their share. In 1894, the officer who wishes to see the Viceroy may or may not obtain an interview; in 1836 every civilian was held to have the right to see the Governor-General, should he desire it, once a week. The Private Secretary is still; as he was in former years, at the mercy of every man with a grievance, a good story, or a friend to provide for. But many who would otherwise have importuned him are now choked off by provisions of Rules or Codes, or find their interest elsewhere.
The Private Secretary in 1836 had not yet bestowed himself in the closet adjoining his master which he now occupies. With his establishment he overflowed that gloomy basement in Government House which, in its contrast to the halls and corridors above, recalls the vast obscurities over which are pillared and by which are sustained the beatitudes in the high places of India. In those spacious vaults Mr. Colvin installed himself; and there, except during the years when he was absent with his chief from Calcutta, he was to be found early and late. His energy was of peculiar use to Lord Auckland, whose habits, though laborious, had not been formed in that Indian school of administration which, itself shrinking from no drudgery, exacts drudgery from all who are in authority. The 'inconceivable grind' of Indian official life to which an eminent Viceroy lately bore
