PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION.
Beside the impressive biographies of Sargent and Dr. Smith Miss Padwick's modest " life " of the great missionary is analogous to Wordsworth's violet. Nevertheless, her book stands a much better chance of being read in these days when brevity is the soul of everything. Before dealing with Martin's work at Dinapore (where he made his great translation of the New Testament into Hindustani) and his travels across Persia and Armenia, Miss Padwick makes an entertaining excursion into the India of the East India Company. Many interesting sidelights on the manners of that forgotten community are afforded by her quotations from contemporary letters :-
"Formal visits are paid in the evening. Centicmcn call to pay their respects, and if asked to put down their hats it is considered as an invitation to supper."
" If ladies were present it was considered a delicate compliment for a beau to whip from his pocket a silver mouthpiece, fix it to his hookah and offer it to the lady at his side."
All this is very pleasant, and we must be grateful that Miss Padwick has not observed the traditional literary advice of the Directors of the East India Company—" the style we prefer is the humdrum."
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