Page:Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet.djvu/156

Rh cxlviii CORRESPONDENCE WHILE AT RANGPUR. [Intr.

situation here leads me at least to make an attempt. It is pro- bable, when I have settled the business of Rangpiir, that I may take a month's trip into the hills. But I shall regret the absence of my friend the Teshu Lama, for whom I have a hearty liking, and should be happy again to have his fat hand on my head." He had already transmitted 2500Z. of his savings towards paying off the debt on Daldowie, and in this letter he expresses a hope of being able to send home 1500/. a year in future.^ This generous conduct could not have been adopted without much self-denial ; and was a practical proof of his affectionate disposition and love for his relations and his old home.

During his residence at Rangpur, George Bogle received many letters from Warren Hastings, Mrs. Hastings, Sir Elijah and Lady Impey, which show the intimate terms of friendship he was on with them. The Grovemor-General, especially, discussed all the public news with his young friend, and in one letter says how much he is missed at Calcutta, especially in draughting despatches to the Directors. On the 27th of January, 1780, the Governor-General writes : '* I have missed you much, for I am a very bad law casuist,^ and our letters home, though they contain abundance of good matter, and are well expressed, yet want that method and entireness which fix the subjects on the memory." Hastings frequently sent him packets of seeds : on one occasion some seeds of hyson tea, " to aid your benevolent plan of introducing the luxuries and elegances of our world into that of Bhutan." On the 1st .of March, 1780, Warren Hastings wrote a letter to Bogle, in which he enters very fully upon the properties of Bhutan cinnamon, which he correctly suspects to be a cassia, and asks ^ He was in the thick of his battle with the Judges. He calls it " a serious and decided war, which gives me much uneasiness." A true account of the misunderstanding between the Govern- ment and the Judges will be found in chap. vii. of the ' Memoirs of Sir Elijah Impey,' by his son. An account which cannot be so designated is given in Macaulay's 'Essay on Warren Has- tings.'
 * He sent home altogether 4500/.