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"We do not to aspire be historians, we simply profess to our readers lay before some curious reminiscences illustrating the manners and customs of the people (both Britons and Indians) during the rule of the East India Company." @h£ iooi #ld Jap €f Being Curious Reminiscences During the Rule of the East India Company From 1600 to 1858 Compiled from newspapers and other publications By W. H. CAREY QUINS BOOK COMPANY 62A, Ahiritola Street, Calcutta-5 First Published : 1882 : 1964 New Quins abridged edition Copyright Reserved Edited by AmARENDRA NaTH MOOKERJI 113^tvS4 Price - Rs. 15.00 . 25=^. DISTRIBUTORS DAS GUPTA & CO. PRIVATE LTD. 54-3, College Street, Calcutta-12. Published by Sri A. K. Dey for Quins Book Co., 62A, Ahiritola at Express Street, Calcutta-5 and Printed by Sri J. N. Dey the Printers Private Ltd., 20-A, Gour Laha Street, Calcutta-6. /n Memory of The Departed Jawans PREFACE The contents of the following pages are the result of files of old researches of sexeral years, through newspapers and hundreds of volumes of scarce works on India. Some of the authorities we have acknowledged in the progress of to we have been indebted for in- the work ; others, which to such as formation we shall here enumerate ; apologizing : — we may have unintentionally omitted Selections from the Calcutta Gazettes ; Calcutta Review ; Travels Selec- Orlich's Jacquemont's ; Mackintosh's ; Long's other Calcutta ; tions ; Calcutta Gazettes and papers Kaye's Malleson's Civil Administration ; Wheeler's Early Records ; Recreations; East India United Service Journal; Asiatic Lewis's Researches and Asiatic Journal ; Knight's Calcutta; India. Memoirs of Thomas ; Orme's History of to We do not aspire to be historians, we simply profess some curious reminiscences illustrat- lay before our readers the of Calcutta dur- ing the manners and customs of people India ing the rule of the East Company. have Our scenes are laid principally in Calcutta, but we that we exhibit life occasionally travelled up-country might in the mofussil, and in some few instances we have given notices of occurrences in the other presidencies. Our residence during the time that we have been been far removed from employed in this compilation, having and the Metropolis, and our access to newspapers publica- tions in consequence limited, we have been able to note only a few of the events of the times alluded to. But these notes %i\\ afford both amusement and instruction, showing as and have been they do how rapidly improvement progress condition and lives of the in jroing on, both in the English natives India, and we may add especially of the also, during the Government of the East India Company between the 1858. years 1600 and VIU The work was first taken up as amusement during the leisure hour, but in the course of our reading, so many interesting records came under notice that it occurred to us, that the present generation might take an equal interest with ourselves in a narrative of events which happened during the two centuries alluded to in Calcutta and India generally. Like another Herculaneum that had been buried for ages and afterwards exposed to view to a race unborn at the time of its entombment, the habits and amusements of people which had passed away from the face of the earth are reproduced in the pages we now present to the reader. We seem here to live again among those who were contempora- neous with our great grandfathers, and we can in imagina- tion see a little into their customs and habits, so old fashioned in our eyes as to rise a smile of contempt or ridicule. We see Calcutta before it possessed a single building of magni- ficence or even of importance, and when the Honorable Company of merchants were only in their infancy and ruled the coimtry with a jealous eye and iron hand. The Press was gagged and unable to offer an independent opinion. Adventurers were not allowed to land without a permit from Court in Leadenhall Street those the Honorable ; and who had licences were not permitted to go more than ten miles distant from Calcutta, without another permit. We now present the result of oiu" labors to an appreciat- ing public. Simla January, 1882 W. H. Carey EDITOR'S NOTE The Good Old Days Of Honorable John Company but it is a by W. H. Carey may not be a great book, good book by all manner and means. The author showed extraordinary diligence and zeal in sources and collecting materials from various named acknowledged in his illuminative preface. Though the present day reader may not see eye to eye with Carev in his presentation of some historical incidents, myths of which have since been exploded, and though in course of his marshalling of facts and arguments he some- times wrote, perhaps unwittingly, with an air of superiority, found yet it can safely be said that he had never been guilty of wilful distortion or of schadenfreude. If his remarks about the Indian people at times were rather uncharitable, he did not spare his own countrymen either. And it should not be forgotten that Carey was in this country at the most its was of course on the decadent period of history ; Bengal threshold of the Great Renaissance during his time, but the Carey had not possibly had the opportunity to see result of its full impact. Many a modern Bengali scribe is indebted to Carey for opening the hidden gate of a rich treasure-house wherefrom the writer could take away valuable materials with impunity to write his belles-lettress on Calcutta. Written more than eighty years ago Good Old Days overwhelms us at the amazingly wide range of vocabulary its is and succulent which author possessed ; the style breezy it is at its best. throughout ; King's English In the present edition we have omitted some chapters which appear to have lost their import with the passage of eight decades.—retaining all the essential and important of topics. The original text with its quaint spelling proper has names and places (perhaps prevalent in those days) been kept untouched, save some must modifications here and there. We shall consider our efforts amply rewarded if Good Old Days, salvaged from the depth of oblivion, is able to entertain the discerning reader with an hour or two of: pleasurable reading. November 14, 1964 A. N. M. CONTENTS CHAPTER ^ Page 1. First European Settlers in the East ... 1 2. Establishment of the Company in India ... 5 3. The Company's Commercial Operations ... 21 4. Ancient Calcutta ... ... ... 26 5. Calcutta Besieged 1756 ... ... 41 6. Calcutta Restored 1758 ... ... 51 Rebuilding of the City—resumption of trade 51 Street nomenclature ... ... 64 Ghauts or landing places ... ... 69 Places of note in the immediate vicinity ... 70 7. Amusements ... ... ... 74 Public entertainments ... ... 74 Dancing ... ... ... 81 Dignity Ball in 1829 ... ... 85 Theatricals ... ... ... 87 Racing ... ... ... 92 Boat races ... ... ... 94 Cricket ... ... ... 95 Ballooning ... ... ... 95 Garden excursions ... ... 96 8. Law & Justice ... ... ... 99 Establishment of Courts ... ... 99 Sentences ... ... ... 103 Punishments ... ... ... 107 Difficulty in obtaining Justice ... ... 109 9. The Calcutta Press ... ... ... Ill Early newspapers &: journals ... ... Ill Light literature ... ... ... 117 Scientific & useful ... ... ... 118 Vernacular Press ... ... ... 123 xu CHAPTER Page Bengali literature Translation of popular vernacular songs Working of the censorship Fugitive notices of the Press 10. The Press of the Upper Provinces 1 1 . Education Education in its infancy Private schools National Institution Public Class Schools Charitable Institutions Fort William College Mission Schools Government Colleges School Society Education in the Upper Provinces 12. Scientific ^- Other Associations Bethune Society Asiatic Society of Bengal Agricultural & Horticultural Society Miscellaneous 13. Duelling 14. Suttee 15. Thuggism 16. Art in India Tilly Kettle ... ... William Hodges Johann Zoffany Thomas Longcroft Robert Home George Chinnery Mr. Hickey George Farington Ozias Hamphrey Thomas, William &; Samuel Daniell Xlll CHAPTER Page John Smart ... ... ... 231 Arther William Devis ... ... 232 Charles Smith ... ... ... 235 James Wales ... ... ... 236 John Alefounder ... ... ... 237 Francis Swain Ward ... ... 238 Samuel Howitt ... ... ... 238 Henry Salt ... ... ... 239 William Westall ... ... ... 239 William John Huggins ... ... 240 George Beechey ... ... ... 240 Miscellaneous ... ... ... 241 17. Gossip about People ... ... ... 242 Mrs. Johnson (Begum Johnson) ... ... 242 An eccentric character ... ... 243 Young Bengal in 1780 ... ... 243 Funeral of Hindoo Rao ... ... 244 John Farquhar ... ... ... 245 John Shipp ... ... ... 245 Sir John Malcolm's Facetiousness ... 246 Tiger Wood ... ... ... 247 Lieutenant General Clieland ... ... 248 Thomas Corvat ... ... ... 248 Lois Bonnand ... ... ... 249 Colonel Martinez ... ... 250 Rev. George Crawfurd ... ... 250 A veteran Madras Doctor ... ... 252 Begum Sumroo and Lord Lake ... ... 253 Mrs. Carey of Black Hole Notoriety ... 253 General Avitabile's daughter ... ... 254 Henry Vansitart ... ... ... 254 Madame Grand ... ... ... 255 The two brothers Skinner ... ... 256 Sir Herbert Edwardes ... ... 256 Mons. Raymond ... ... ... 257 Sir Thomas Rumbold ... ... 257 Hadjee Mustapah ... ... ... 258 Charles Schmaltze, the inventor of the flute 258 XIV CHAPTER Pagi 259 Sir Charles Napier . Lord Clive 260 Eastern 261 General George Thomas and his City 262 Lord Clive's moderation 263 18. Robberies and Dacoity ... 273 19. I>fDiAN Jugglers . 281 20. Travelling in India THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF HONORABLE JOHN COMPAxNY 1600 TO 1858 The Good Old Days of Honorable John Company CHAPTER I FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLERS IN THE EAST Looked at from a chronological point of view the earliest historical record we have of Europeans in the East first visited is dated B. C. 550, when Scylax is said to have India. He was sent by Darius to explore the Indus, and to his published an account of his journey, which related Greek countrymen many astonishing tales of a traveller. Herodotus, in his short account of India, followed Scylax as of an authority. But it was not until the expedition Alexander (327 B.
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