Notes of an Overland Journey Through France and Egypt to Bombay | Page 4

for so long a period away from the metropolis of British India,
which exhibits but a mongrel kind of Eastern society, that the English
public owe those admirable pictures of Indian scenery and manners,
which have conquered, or contributed to conquer, its habitual distaste
for such topics.
Whilst at Cawnpore, Miss Roberts committed to the press a little
volume of poetry, entitled _Oriental Scenes_, which she dedicated to
her friend Miss Landon, then rising into eminence under the
well-known designation of L.E.L. This volume, which she republished
in England, in 1832, contains some very pleasing specimens of glowing

description, graceful imagery, and well-turned expression, which show
that her powers required only cultivation to have secured to her a
respectable rank among modern poets.
Mrs. M'Naghten died in 1831, and about this time (either soon after or
shortly before the death of her sister), she exchanged provincial scenes
and society for the more cheerful atmosphere of Calcutta, where a new
world of observation and of employment opened to her. The sketches
she has given of the City of Palaces, and of its inhabitants, prove how
accurately she had seized their characteristic features. Here her pen was
called into incessant activity; besides various contributions to Annuals
and other ephemeral works, Miss Roberts undertook the formidable
task (doubly formidable in such a climate) of editing a newspaper, and
the _Oriental Observer_, whilst under her direction, was enriched by
some valuable articles written by herself, indicating the versatility of
her talents, the extent of her resources, and the large area of knowledge
over which her active mind had ranged.
This severe over-employment, however, entailed the inevitable penalty,
loss of health, and in 1832, being now bound by no powerful tie to
India, and looking forward, perhaps, with innocent ambition, to a less
confined theatre for the display of her talents and acquisitions, she
quitted the country, and returned to England, the voyage completely
repairing the injury which the climate of India had wrought upon her
constitution. The reputation she had acquired preceded her to this
country, where she had many literary acquaintances, some of whom
had reached a high station in public esteem; and her entrance into the
best literary circles of the metropolis was thereby facilitated; but the
position which she was entitled to claim was spontaneously conceded
to talents such as hers, set off by engaging and unaffected manners,
warmth and benevolence of heart, equanimity and serenity of temper.
The fruits of her observations in the East were given to the world in
several series of admirable papers, published in the _Asiatic
Journal_,[A] a periodical work to which she contributed with
indefatigable zeal and success, from shortly after her return to England
until her death. A selection of those papers was published, in three
volumes, in 1835, under the title of _Scenes and Characteristics of
Hindostan_, which has had a large circulation, and (a very unusual
circumstance attending works on Indian subjects) soon reached a

second edition. This work established Miss Roberts's reputation as a
writer of unrivalled excellence in this province, which demands a union
of quick and acute discernment with the faculty of vivid and graphic
delineation. Of the many attempts which have been made in this
country to furnish popular draughts of Indian "Scenes and
Characteristics," that of Miss Roberts is the only one which has
perfectly succeeded.
Her pen now came into extensive requisition, and the miscellaneous
information with which she had stored her mind enabled her, with the
aid of great fluency of composition and unremitted industry, to perform
a quantity and a variety of literary labour, astonishing to her friends,
when they considered that Miss Roberts did not seclude herself from
society, but mixed in parties, where her conversational talents rendered
her highly acceptable, and carried on, besides, a very extensive
correspondence. History, biography, poetry, tales, local descriptions,
foreign correspondence, didactic essays, even the culinary art, by turns
employed her versatile powers. Most of these compositions were
occasional pieces, furnished to periodical works; to some she attached
her name, and a few were separately published. Amongst the latter is a
very pleasing biographical sketch of Mrs. Maclean (formerly Miss
Landon), one of her oldest and dearest friends.
It was now seven years since she had quitted British India, during
which period important events had occurred, which wrought material
changes in its political and social aspects. The extinction of the
East-India Company's commercial privileges had imparted a new tone
to its government, given a freer scope to the principle of innovation,
and poured a fresh European infusion into its Anglo-Indian society;
steam navigation and an overland communication between England and
her Eastern empire were bringing into operation new elements of
mutation, and the domestic historian of India (as Miss Roberts may be
appropriately termed) felt a natural curiosity to