Page:Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency.djvu/16

 its individual feature in the Rulers of India Series. In his diary, Feb. 15, 1830, Elphinstone writes:—

'I have begun Sir T. Munro's Life, and am quite enchanted with it. It cannot fail to delight even those who had previously no interest in the subject. It is almost all made up of his own letters, which have fortunately been preserved, and which show that his judgment and sagacity at nineteen were as superior to those of ordinary people as they were to those of his contemporaries when his reputation was more extensive. They also most fortunately disclose the many accomplishments which were concealed by his modesty and that delicacy of taste and tenderness of feeling which lay hid under his plain and somewhat stern demeanour.'

This Memoir is mainly based on the Life of Sir Thomas Munro, by the Rev. G. R. Gleig, M.A., late Chaplain-General of the Forces (Colburn and Bentley), 3 vols. 1831, and the Letters have been reprinted from the revised edition, published in one volume by John Murray, 1849. The reader is also referred to Sir A. J. Arbuthnot's Sir Thomas Munro, with Selections from his Minutes, &c., (Kegan Paul and Co., 1881); to Sir W. W. Hunter's Brief History of the Indian Peoples, and to the volumes on Elphinstone and the Marquess of Hastings in this Series. Writing in India I have not had the advantage of seeing the final proofs of this work, but I desire to thank the Editor of the Series for his kindness and for the additional trouble he has had in seeing it through the press. J. B., Oct. 18, 1893.