Sketches of naval and military adventure, by one in the service1849 |
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Sketches of Naval and Military Adventure, by One in the Service . Sketches No preview available - 2015 |
Common terms and phrases
acquainted Admiralty Affghanistan Agra Allahabad amid appearance army arrived beautiful Benares berth boat bosom brought Calcutta called camp captain Cawnpore Chancellor Chatham cheroot Chinsurah Chunar command dear deck Delhi delightful distance East India East India House elephants engaged England entered European exceedingly excited eyes faqueer feeling fell Ferozepore followed formed Ganges Government Governor-general H. M.'s Dockyard hand heard heart Hindoo Hindostanee horse hundred Hurrah Jack journey lady land laugh leave London look lordship Lucknow mate Meerut merry miles Miss Sally morning native neighbourhood never night officers once Osborne passed poor possessed present reader regiment replied residence river road Rochester round Royal Marines rupees scene seemed seen Sheerness ship Simla Sir George Pollock skipper Smuggs soldiers Somerset House soon stood sweet thought tion Tomkins town troops vessel
Popular passages
Page 176 - Nothing but ruin, utter ruin, to the North, to the South, to the East, to the West, will follow the prosecution of this contest.
Page 225 - Some of our countrymen, engaged of late in conducting the principal mining association in Mexico *, carried out with them some English greyhounds of the best breed, to hunt the hares which abound in that country. The great platform which is the scene of sport is at an elevation of about nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the mercury in the barometer stands habitually at the height of about nineteen inches. It was found that the greyhounds could not support the fatigues of a long chase...
Page 279 - ... Printing for popular consumption came much more slowly. The first news-paper in Calcutta appeared in 1780, followed by one in Madras in 1785 and one in Bombay in 1789. By the mid-nineteenth century, newspapers and magazines were common elements in 'Anglo-Indian' life. As one commentator noted in 1851, 'The newspaper is as necessary an adjunct to the breakfast table in Calcutta as it is in London
Page 156 - Lucknow, but who, by his skill in spicing wine, and manufacturing peculiarly delicious draughts of an inebriating nature, attracted the notice of his majesty, a man of licentious and depraved habits, accounted an orthodox Mussulman, but exceedingly fond of .the bottle. The monarch having tasted a sample of his bobarchee's elixir, to reward his skill and encourage his merit, presented him with a situation near the royal person, and as, while holding this appointment, he continued to afford him the...
Page 187 - There is a crying for wine in the streets : all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Page 158 - ... victim had been visited over and over again, and no hope of any larger offer remained, would the bribe be accepted. Thus, and by a variety of other means, he gathered a vast amount of wealth. On the death of the monarch who had so blindly favoured and elevated him, he fell, however, into misfortune, for the new king threw him into prison. It was now his turn to bribe, and a timely present of fifty lacs of rupees to an influential person procured his release. Even then he had an immense fortune...
Page 157 - Elated with this chance of escape, the unlucky individual thus fated to be " squeezed," would perhaps offer a sum larger than the minister had anticipated. But even this was sure to be indignantly refused, and not until the victim had been visited over and over again, and no hope of any larger offer remained, would the bribe be accepted. Thus, and by a variety of other means, he gathered a vast amount of wealth.
Page 163 - But it is not thus in this arid and joyless land! We watch the approach of spring with apprehension, for it brings in its train Disease and Death; we shrink, and seek in the mountains a refuge, from the fiery temper and scorching breath of summer; autumn's gloom makes all nature distasteful to us ; and winter, though it affords a temporary relief from pain, is unproductive of pleasure.
Page 278 - ... They are generally the descendants of European fathers by native mothers. The great majority of them are of Portuguese, many of British, and some of French extraction. Altogether they form a community by themselves, as distinct from the European society around them as from the Hindoos and Mahomedans. They do not travel, here they live and multiply, marrying generally among themselves. As they are daily increasing in number they will, of course, in time become so numerous as to consider themselves...
Page 155 - ... nearly to a man. This was sad news for all, but more especially for the families "of the deceased soldiers, whose wives were thus all at once left widows, and their children orphans. Tears, crape, and lamentations, became with "the ladies " the order of the day, but not as in England, of the year ! They were too wise to think of prolonging their grief for such a period. On the second Sunday after the receipt of the " black despatches," the banns of some fifteen or twenty couples were read in...