Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/114

108 superiors and subordinates, and visits to jails and police-stations, is accomplished before breakfast.

Cornwallis writes to his son. Lord Brome, an Etonian, that life at Calcutta was perfect 'clockwork.' 'I get on horseback just as the dawn of day begins to appear, ride on the same road and the same distance, pass the whole forenoon after my return from riding in doing business, and almost exactly the same portion of time every day at table, drive out in a phaeton a little before sunset, then write or read over letters or papers on business for two hours; sit down at nine with two or three officers of my family to some fruit and a biscuit, and go to bed soon after the clock strikes ten. I don't think the greatest sap at Eton can lead a duller life than this.' In explanation of the above it should be remembered that the usual dinner-hour at Calcutta in those days was 4 p.m., and the evening meal alluded to in the above letter was a kind of light supper. Hours have long altered much for the better, and nearly everybody in India dines at 8 p.m., or at 7.30 at earliest, after the evening ride or drive.

By many persons the early morning ride has now been given up, at least during the hot weather and rains. In the glorious cold season, the race-course and the cantonment, the Mall and the parade, are full of life and animation. In those times no hill-stations had been acquired or discovered. There were no steamers to convey invalids or hard- worked officials