3 Review(s)

This three-volume book traverses through the history of India from the ancient times to the suppression of the revolt of 1857 and extinction of the East India Company. Volume 1, which is subdivided into Book I to III, covers the period from ancient India to the exploits of Robert Clive. Volume 2, which is subdivided into Book IV to VI, deals with institutions, literatures, arts, and manners of the Hindus. It covers the period from the rule of Hyder Ali to time of Lord Minto. Volume 3, which has Book VII to IX, takes up the period between East India Company’s hostilities with Nepal to the extinction of the Company and the establishment of British rule in India. The book is different from other books of history which are far from exhausting the subject and have left important blanks, which deprive them of the character of complete histories. The present work is intended to be of a more popular character and was undertaken, to use authors own words, “in the belief that if written after due research, in a perspicuous style, and with strict impartiality, it might supply a want which had long been felt, and to which recent events had given much additional urgency.” The author has not trusted to previous compilations, but derived his materials as much as possible from original and official sources. It contains maps, plans, and numerous illustrations, which bring all the leading topics of the history—its campaigns, battlefields, cities, other localities, and its most celebrated personages—immediately before the eye, in a manner that facilitates an intelligent perusal of history and its events.