ith a cold and careless eye;
to have done nothing in the way of making the people of England better
acquainted with their fellow-subjects in the East, and never to have
felt any desire to assist in the work of their improvement, or to
facilitate its progress. During his subsequent career, India appears
to have been totally forgotten, or remembered only as the scene of
an exile, in which he had found nothing to compensate for the loss of
literary society and the learned idling away of time, from which so
much was expected, and which produced so little.

The eloquence of Sir James Mackintosh, if exerted in favour of British
India, might, years before, have excited that interest in its behalf,
which remained dormant until Bishop Heber created a new feeling upon
the subject; and in this place especially, I cannot help regretting
that the powers of so great a mind should not have been devoted to
the promotion of the welfare of a country dependant upon England for
intellectual and moral improvement, and which, in the eyes of all
reflecting persons, must be looked upon as the strongest support of
England's ancient glory.

The garden of the Horticultural Society, which occupies a convenient
space of ground near Parell, is yet in an infant state, but bids fair
in a short time to add very considerably to the pleasures of those
persons who take delight in the cultivation of flowers and fruits.
Many gentlemen are stimulating their gardeners to make great exertions
for the prizes, which it is expected will be chiefly carried away at
the ensuing meeting by exhibitors from the Deccan. Though there are
several very good gardens in the island, they are, according to all
accounts, greatly excelled in other parts of the presidency.

The system of cultivation carried on by the Horticultural Society
will, no doubt, tend very considerably to their improvement, while the
new method of conveying plants to and from distant places, in boxes
covered with glass, will soon enrich all the gardens, both in India
and at home, with interesting exotics. Several of these cases,
filled with bulbous and other roots, under the inspection of Messrs.
Loddiges, have arrived at Parell, and been planted out in pots; the
eases will be returned, filled with equally valuable specimens of
Indian products; and thus a continual interchange may be kept up.

I wished much to enrich the collection of foreign plants making by
the Royal Botanical Society of London, by