Penny Magazine

No. 229 - THE PENNY MAGAZINE - Oct. 31, 1835

ENGLAND, AS DESCRIBED BY AN EASTERN TRAVELLER SEVENTY YEARS AGO,
(concluded).

IN again bringing before our readers our Indian friend, Mirza Itesa Modeen, whom we lately introduced to them, we regret to be obliged to pass over two curious chapters in which he gives an account of Scotland and the highlands, whither he was taken by his protector Captain S. soon after their return to London from Oxford.

His estimate of the character of the English is upon the whole highly favourable. He dwells particularly on those points in which their conduct or character contrasts advantageously with that of his own countrymen, to whom he thus makes an opportunity of administering either reproof or instruction. It is indeed not at all clear that his favourable report of ourselves does not partly arise from the desire to point his instruction or ridicule with more effect against his own people. Of our modesty he has the highest opinion. He says--

"The caste of English avoid self-praise, and talking of their own exploits they consider disgraceful. If an officer who has greatly distinguished himself by enterprize and courage in any victory be asked the particulars of the engagement, he simply states the facts as they occurred. If another person greatly extols the conduct and valour of that officer (before him), he immediately casts his eyes on the soles of his feet and remains silent, and from extreme bashfulness the perspiration distils from his face. The English in general, then, do not at all relish to be praised before their face;--they are rather annoyed at it, and dislike it. They consider an egotist a coward, and sycophants and flatterers liars. Under these circumstances, in their assemblies flattery is unusual. * * * Flattery is certainly a very foolish practice: however, the sepoys and officers of Hindoostan, and particularly of the city of Delhi, think that flattery and egotism add to their consequence; as, for instance, if a person by a thousand labours happen to kill a fox, he then goes about everywhere and proclaims with a loud voice that he has slaughtered a tiger, and in a most valiant manner twists his moustaches, and swelling with pride, his vesture does not suffice."

This is perhaps exaggeration; but the general truth of his remarks is established by the fact that he was surprised to find a people who did not like to be praised to their face, which he would not have been if the practice had not been very different in his own country. It escaped his notice, however, that a person's being abashed on such occasions is no proof of real modesty. One who loves praise well, may be confused at being an object of praise in company, if only because he is not at liberty to exhibit the satisfaction he really feels. However, those who know how freely and easily praise is assumed in the East, and how exceedingly coarsely flattery is administered, will scarcely think that the Mirza has stated his case too broadly.

The following is perfectly true, although it acquaints us with a class of criminals happily not now known in the country:--

"There are mounted robbers in England who commit their depredations on the highway. Some of these men are the sons of wealthy parents; but having squandered away their patrimony at the gaming-table and in debauched living, poverty overtakes them, and then, being unable to turn their hands to a useful employment, they subsist by robbing. They lie in wait in the open commons, in forests, and in places removed from the habitations of men. When they observe a carriage approaching, they quickly gallop up with a pistol in their hand, which they present at the head of whoever is riding in the vehicle, and order him to surrender whatever he has got about him, if he wishes to escape with his life: he then delivers to the robber whatever property he may have."

The career of these worthies often exhibited many of the qualities which men are accustomed to admire, and which, in a duly balanced course of life, are really entitled to admiration. The very antagonism of qualities which their character exhibited interested the populace greatly about them. That they were bold and hardy was beyond dispute; but then in the midst of their ferocious course they were often polite--for they used, on occasion, the outward forms of courtesy and respect towards those who were terrified by their presence and impoverished by their exactions; and in the midst of their selfish and heartless spoliations, they were also generous--for they sometimes abstained from some article of the property which was particularly dear to the owner, and they sometimes threw back some small fraction of their spoil to supply the immediate wants of the plundered. They were generous like the Arab, who, after having plundered you of all your property, even to the clothes on your person, turns in all kindness towards you, and gives you, "in the name of God," a cloak from his own shoulders to cover your nakedness. The lives of the most distinguished of these personages were printed in a low-priced, if not cheap, form, and until within these few years formed a favourite article in the literature of the lower classes. It is one of the good services which the cheap publications of our own time have rendered to the public, that they have in a great degree superseded this commodity in the market; for it cannot be doubted that the interest which these books created in the career of criminals, and the admiration which was felt for some points in their character, had a serious effect in impairing or confusing that intuitive perception of the distinction between right and wrong which it is the interest of society of maintain and strengthen.

Our Mirza's view of the manner of conducting education in this country is interesting, although it has some unpleasant points as compared with the system which now prevails. It was nevertheless such as called forth is warmest approbation when he compared it with the educational practices of his own country.

"The higher classes of society in England educate their children in a totally different manner from that of the people of Hindoostan (of the same rank), where the teacher is retained as a servant in the house, in order that there may be no chance of the influence of the evil eye falling on the child. In England it is usual for people of rank to send their sons and daughters to a distant place for education.

"First of all they are taught the letters of the alphabet, which are written on a board; then an easy lesson is given them; after this they are taught to read pleasant tales, fitted to amuse children. The school-books have been rendered so easy, that the learner has no difficulty in acquiring knowledge. From the invention of printing, books have so increased, that if a person wishes for a hundred copies of a work, he will be able to purchase the number in a single shop. Books in this country (Bengal), that cost one hundred and fifty rupees, are procured in Europe for the sum of ten or twelve.

"The people of wealth in England, commencing at the age of our years, keep their sons and daughters constantly employed in writing, reading, and acquiring knowledge: they never permit them to be idle. If a man or woman be unacquainted with the musical art, be unable to ride or dance, he or she is accounted by people of substance as descended from a mean parentage, and taunts and reproaches are not spared. They then say, 'Such a one's parents have been poor, and being unable to pay the cost of education, their children are therefore ignorant of everything.' Those ladies, in particular, who can neither dance nor sing, are considered in a very inferior light; they will never get well married. To be brief, the manner in which the English are educated and reared is totally different from that of India; for the sons of some of our great men and nobles are taught gratuitously. At school they acquire a thousand bad habits when they are supposed to be acquiring knowledge. However all that is disregarded by our men of rank, and gratuitous education is not accounted disgraceful. In England, however, money is expended in the acquirement of wisdom."

Here the Mirza, as might be expected from an Oriental, dwells more strongly on external than intellectual attainments, particularly in females; or it may be that, in the system of education prevalent at that time, more attention was given to the former than the latter. Things are improved now; but that this is not still the case in the education of females we will not undertake to say. This is a matter into which we cannot now enter. Let us see what our Indian traveller says about the education of the poor.

"The poor people of England," he says, "send their children to be taught in the town-schools, and pay at the rate of a rupee per week *. For the girls there are separate schools. I saw that the boys sat on a form in one line, and in this way studied their lessons. The teacher, with a leathern strap in his hand, heard the scholars repeat their tasks, commencing at one end and going down the whole line. When a boy committed a mistake in his reading, the teacher, without the least pity or remorse, struck him on the back with the strap to such a degree that he wounded the limbs of these silver forms and jessamine-legged youths. Although this appears to be cruelty, yet this saying is nevertheless true:--

'The tyranny of the teacher is better than the father's love.'

"The lower orders, particularly in Scotland, are all able to read and write, with the exception of those whose parents cannot afford to send them to school, or who are of weak intellect and unable to learn. After the children of the poor have acquired a sufficiency of learning, they are put to different trades; as one becomes a goldsmith, another an ironsmith, a third a shoemaker, and a fourth a tailor. Europeans can learn whatever trade they choose. * * * Now the Mussulmans of Hindoostan are ashamed to learn different trades. In England, if a man's father happen to have followed a mean employment, the son will not follow his father's steps, but says, 'I'll be a soldier.' The Hindoos act in a completely different manner; they all follow the same profession as their ancestors did."

This is interesting: but, notwithstanding the unqualified approbation of the Mirza, there are some unsatisfactory points in the picture he has drawn. We are particularly gratified to reflect on two changes which have since taken place: one is, that the unmitigated despotism of the old school system is giving place to a better, which considers that children have feelings and powers of reflection through which they may be managed more effectually, and with more comfort than by a gross appeal to their physical sensations. The reign of the cane, the birch, and the leathern strap is rapidly passing away, and we hope to outlive it altogether. The other matter of satisfaction is, that scarcely any children are now necessarily precluded from the benefits of instruction by the inability of their parents to pay for their education.

There are several passages that we had intended to introduce, but which our limits oblige us to omit. We feel constrained, however, to make room for the following extract, which forms part of a long comparison between the course of life pursued by the English on the one hand, and the Indians on the other. It will be seen that, as it regards the former, some of the statements rather describe what ought to have been than what was.

"The people of England, until the age of thirty, apply themselves to business. They travel and view the curiosities and wonders of the world, and after they have made some money, they then marry and remain at home, and ceasing to wander about, they live quietly with their wives. * * * After the English have made a sufficiency to maintain themselves comfortably, then during their whole life, even though it be extended to seventy or eighty years, they apply themselves night and day to add to their stock of knowledge, and never remain a minute idle. * * *

"The English are naturally good managers; they never throw away their money, and reckon it a very disgraceful thing to be in debt. The middle ranks of society place their money in the hands of a banker, and receive the interest of it monthly; the principal thereof remaining untouched. They are such a calculating race, that it often happens that a wealthy man has only one man-servant to attend upon him, who shaves and dresses him; besides the footman he has a female cook and a chamber-maid, and for the horses there is a single groom; the whole business of the house, then, is carried on by these servants. The master's time is occupied abroad, in making excursions and in hunting: his wife takes charge of all the accounts, superintends the household expenditure, and has the general management of everything.

"Many rich people who have families keep no carriage. People of rank, and even princes, do not think themselves at all lowered by walking the distance of a quarter or half a coss * in the streets and bazaar, either during the day or night: taking a stick in their hand, they go abroad in plain clothes. They do not resemble, in this respect, the rajahs and wealthy men of this country, who are attended by nukeebs, chobdars, esawuls †, foot and horse, rockets and standards, mahe muratib ‡, and great pomp. Now the English consider the profusion, and the ceremony and state of the Indian retinues, as a most absurd and useless expenditure of money, and laugh at the people of this country for being such fools and blockheads. They say if any one (in England) were to appear with a pompous retinue, the boys of the city and bazaar would throw dirt upon his attendants, and would tauntingly clap their hands and throw stones."

It only remains to add, that after an absence of two years and nine months, Mirza Itesa Modeen returned to his own country, after having resisted all attempts to induce him to prolong his stay in England.