Robert Butler

“ She laboured much to give me a high veneration for the Supreme Being, in so much that, when I could read a little, I was struck with a kind of reverential dread at the words Lord or God, when I saw them in the Bible; but I could form no kind of notion what this Great Being could be. As I grew older, my wonder was so far gratified by my worthy instructor telling me that God was a spirit, and invisible, and that I could not speak, act, or even think, but he was acquainted with it all ”

“ The clear, blue, cloudless sky, and the polished white buildings, of which there is a great number, both in the Fort and along the beach, present a combination entirely new to the British traveller, which is well fitted to give him a very exalted idea of India, and lead him to imagine, after being so long out of the sight of land, that he is entering a new world, something far superior to that which he has left. ”

“ And, when we consider that there are computed to be no less than sixty millions even in India in that lamentable condition, of "being without the knowledge of the true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent," how ought it to stir up our minds to sympathise with their condition, and to give, cheerfully and liberally, "not grudgingly, or of necessity; for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver: and the liberal soul shall be made fat?" ”

“ You will think it strange that we could live at all after so long wanting victuals. I answer, we had a certain quantity of biscuit served out to us, all the colours of the rainbow; and I am sure the pint of water, which we had every day at twelve o'clock, would, from taste and smell, have turned the stomach of any person who had never known any thing of this extremity. A person possessed of the best eyes in the ship could not see to the bottom of a tea-cup full of it, had he got it to himself for his trouble, which would have been the greatest reward that could have been offered to him. ”

“ In giving this sad picture of the wickedness of the regiment, some of my readers may think I have been guilty of exaggeration. They may say, we have heard of soldiers being given to drinking and swearing, and all manner of debauchery; but surely when you tell us that they were given to such things as shooting themselves, or one another, it must certainly be one of those extraordinary stories that travellers are so often accused of telling, in order to excite one's astonishment. ”

“ I now, according to promise, resume my story of the little girl that went to Serjeant Brown at Trichinopoly, when we took home the orphan, to whom my wife had been godmother. This serjeant's wife was attacked by the flux, after we came to Bangalore, and being a woman grievously addicted to liquor, she was for some time abandoned by all the women who wished well to their character; but my wife hearing of her deplorable state, could not think of a countrywoman dying amongst black people, without any European woman paying the least attention to her. ”

“ The pure enlightened soul assumes a luminous form, with no gross body, with no perforation, with no veins nor tendons, untainted by sin, itself being a ray from the infinite Spirit, which knows the past and the future, which pervades all, which existed with no cause but itself, which created all things as they are in ages very remote. ”

“ Restrain, O ignorant man, thy desire of wealth, and become a hater of it in body, understanding, and mind; let the riches thou possessest be acquired by thy own good actions: with this gratify thy soul.
"2. The boy so long delights in his play; the youth so long pursues his beloved; the old so long broods over melancholy thoughts, that no man meditates on the supreme Being. ”

“ And in all the barracks in the country that I have seen, or heard of, they are infested with bugs, in such a degree as often compels the men to take to the barrack square, and to sleep under the canopy of heaven, by which means, while seeking to avoid one evil, they expose themselves to a worse, for the heavy dews during night are almost sure to bring on the flux, the most fatal of all the disorders of this country. ”

“ The Brahmins, in particular, never eat any thing that has had the breath of life: curees of vegetables are their common diet; the chief ingredients of which are turmeric, spices, and the pulp of the cocoa-nut. They esteem milk the purest food; and venerate the cow almost as a divinity.
In manners, they are effeminate, luxurious, and taught to affect a grave deportment. This initiates them early in the arts of dissimulation; so that they can caress those whom they hate, and even behave with kindness to those whom they intend to murder20. ”

“ For the land whither thou goest to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven ”

“ Be not proud of wealth, and thy attendants, and youth; since time destroys them all, in the twinkling of an eye: check thy attachment to all these illusions, like Moyra; fix thy heart on the foot of Brahma, and thou wilt soon know him. ”

“ Oh! what a vast difference there is between the death of the wicked, and that of the righteous; for "the wicked are driven away in their wickedness, but the righteous have hope in their death." It is truly lamentable to see men so hardened; nothing, it would seem, will be a warning to them; for, although this is the Lord's day, and one of their comrades is lying before them lifeless, yet are they playing at cards, whistling and singing, cursing and swearing alternately. ”

“ Her father and mother had been for a number of years in the regiment, and she was born and brought up in it; and when she attained her 18th year, the old people encouraged her to keep company with the drill serjeant of the corps, who was a man of very depraved habits, and who, in point of years, might have been her father, but he knew how to manage their failings by his own experience, and used to give them many a hearty treat of liquor for her sake, and to gratify his own insatiable desire for drinking at the same time. ”

“ They have no particular religion, unless it be adherence to truth in their words and dealings. They are the great factors by whom the trade of India is carried on; and, as they believe in the transmigration of souls, they eat no living creature, nor kill even noxious animals, but endeavour to release them from the hands of others who may be intending to destroy them. I have seen them feeding the mice and bandicauts with grain or rice in the bazaar. ”

“ When we arrived at that place, we immediately went to Anderston, and found out the dwelling of William Stevenson, the grandfather, on the mother's side, of Serjeant Lee's child. The old folks received us with great expressions of gratitude, on account of what we had done for the poor, destitute orphans of their deceased daughter. The neighbours also came flocking in, to behold the children who were born in such a far distant land; and expressed their astonishment at the way which the providence of God had taken to bring them home, considering that we were in no wise related to any of them. ”

“ A person goes to the head of the ship, in the garb of Neptune, the god of the sea, according to the heathens, and another person, generally the most dexterous at the harpoon, kills a fish previously to this, and gives it to the Captain to be in readiness. Neptune, from the bow of the vessel, hails it in these words, "What ship, a hoy?" The officer whose turn it is to be on watch, answers "Coutts," or whatever is the name. "Where bound?" Officer on watch.—"India." Neptune then comes on board and enters his triumphal car, which stands in waiting. ”

“ March 3, 1808, I was married to Mrs. Allan. This is the circumstance I told you to mark before we left England, after I had obtained liberty from Colonel Stewart for her to go with her husband. But I had then very little knowledge that I was taking out a wife for myself, and one too, that was to be the means in the hand of Divine Providence of prolonging my days, for had it not been for her nursing care, I must, in all human probability, have gone the way of hundreds of the regiment, as I had much severe trouble after I was joined to her. ”

“ He only knows the forms and essence of the Deity who adores both at once; by adoring the appearance of the Deity, he passes the gulf of death; and by adoring his abstract essence, he attains immortality. ”

“ Although serpents generally love music, yet here, as in most other cases, there are exceptions to the general rule; for I am told there is one species, which, instead of being allured by the charms of music, testifies a very remarkable aversion to it; and we need not wonder at this peculiarity, for we know that, generally speaking, all the human species, whether civilized or savage, are fond of music: but we know also that there are many individuals to whom it is rather an annoyance than a pleasure. ”

“ It is a saying among the Turks, that a "busy man is troubled with one devil, but the idle man with twenty."
The want of exercise for both body and mind therefore, and the natural consequences of a sultry climate upon the constitution, rendered a soldier's life in these circumstances truly a burden, for he was unable to walk abroad through the day because of the intense heat, and, moreover, the regiment was not unfrequently confined to barracks, on account of their misconduct. ”

“ You may think that my state in these circumstances was truly deplorable, and you think rightly, for so it was; but I have not told you the worst, for "the spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity," and my spirit was not easily subdued by affliction, but "a wounded spirit who can bear?" and "The arrows of the Almighty were within me, the poison whereof drunk up my spirits," for here I had time for serious reflection, or rather here it was forced upon me. Here I could not mix with jolly companions to drive away melancholy, and my favourite music could give me no relief. ”

“ Surely, "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: for he shall be as a tree, planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh ”

“ The poor lad came into our room, much alarmed, and told us the woful story; but he was much more so when they both died, and in the order predicted by the drum-major; but whether they went to hell, or whether the one met the other half-way, is not my business to determine; but this I say, from the infallible word of the Lord, "that the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all they that forget God." The trouble both of mind and body of this boy still increasing, his love for his Bible increased with it ”

“ But I can now add, with the same good man, "O Lord, thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back: for the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth: the living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day." O that I may devote my spared life unto thy service.
While we lay at Punamalee, Paddy L—, of our regiment, drowned himself in a tank, at the back of the barracks, upon a Sabbath morning. ”

“ I have often thought, and it appears to me quite scriptural, that the wicked arrive at a state of far greater perfection in sin, and ripeness for hell in this world, than the people of God do in holiness and meekness for heaven, because they are the willing "servants of sin, and free from righteousness;" ”

“ Those who had not the good fortune to reach the boat were taken prisoners. No sooner did the news of this disaster reach the ship than the officers were fired with indignation at the treatment which their men had received, and the soldiers, particularly, for losing several of their comrades, while those who escaped came on board streaming with blood. Such outrages were not to be tamely submitted to by those who had not only the name, but also the courage, of British soldiers. ”

“ O thou, who givest sustenance to the world; thou sole mover of all; thou who restrainest sinners; who pervadest yon great luminary; who appearest as the sun of the creator, hide thy dazzling beams, and expand thy spiritual brightness, that I may view thy most glorious, real form! ”